Mighty Mustang of the Week

Updated 9/6/19: Thank you, Ms. Bailey, for coming in to be a guest reader during Divine’s Mighty Mustang week! You were such a great reader!

Each Friday afternoon, one student is selected to be the Mighty Mustang of the Week. This student gets to take home the Mighty Mustang binder, Kindness Cam, and our little stuffed Mighty. The student has a few special privileges and tasks that he/she gets to complete during the week:

• All About Me poster: Help your child complete the poster and include photographs and/or drawings to share with the class. We will display the poster for friends to see all week.

• Play with Mighty!: Your child gets to play with our mascot, Mighty, all weekend long! Help your child write about his/her adventure with Mighty, and include either a photograph and/or drawing of their playtime.

• Kindness Cam: Using the Kindergarten Kindness Cam (iPod Touch), have your child snap a few pictures (no more than 5) documenting how your child demonstrated kindness to others or witnessed an act of kindness from someone else.

• Bring a share Item: Your child can bring a small item that is special to him/her to share with the class. Examples could be a favorite book, game, trophy, toy, collection, photo, etc. Items will be sent back home after sharing. Please avoid sending in very fragile/breakable items.

Parents: Your family is invited to come meet the class and be a guest reader. Simply bring your child’s favorite book to read to the class. Guest reading times are typically Fridays from 2:30 - 2:45 pm.

Please email me (ericadyer@iusd.org) if you will be able to visit, or if you’d like to request a different day/time that might work better for you.

Join the PTA!

Update: 9/12/19: Our school has reached its PTA goal! To celebrate, Mr. Battenfield and Mrs. Snyder will be dressing up as Mario and Luigi on Monday, September 16th, and ALL students are invited to wear any Super Mario themed item. We will also be passing out silly “Mario and Luigi” mustaches for the kids to wear. :0) Thank you to all the families who have helped support our students through the PTA!

The PTA Website is a great way to stay connected with all of the exciting things that are taking place at our school!  On the website, there will be a main information page, calendar of events, and other important information/documents pertaining to the PTA. The exciting part is that when you register, you will be able to buy spirit wear, make your pledge & membership donations, sign up for volunteer opportunities for each event, and will be sent our monthly newsletters or emails directly from the website. It is a one stop shop!  So don't wait, register today!

Monthly Family Time Reading Logs

Update 9/6/19: Don’t forget to turn in your monthly reading logs! New reading logs are sent home in the Conduits when the new month begins.

Every month, your child will receive a new Kindergarten Family Time reading log like the one shown above. Read a minimum of 10 minutes every night, and try to complete the suggested Family Time activity or conversation starter. Turn in the monthly reading log in the Conduit by the end of the month.

Kindergarteners should read or be read to by an adult for a minimum of 10 minutes every night. Reading activities could include: 

• child sits in your lap or next to you to listen to a story

• discuss what is happening in the book

• ask questions to your child about the characters and what is happening

• point to various elements in the pictures

• review any numbers that might shown in the book (i.e. the page numbers)

• ask your child to point out letters that he/she recognizes in the text

• review and practice any sight words that are used in the text (i.e. I, my, he, she, etc.)

• have your child repeat back some of the words to you as you read

• show your child how to use a reading finger to point and track the words

Kindergarten Wish List

Update: 9/6/19: Our Room 2 parents have been SO generous! Thank you all who have donated items from our classroom wish list! We have already started implementing some of the items.

An old African proverb once said, "It takes a village to raise a child," and that indeed still reigns true today. Please consider selecting an item off our classroom wish list to donate. Many times, parents have asked me what they can bring in to support learning in the classroom, and it’s always difficult to think about it on the spot. And so, another parent suggested I make an ongoing wish list for those times when I realize our kids could really benefit from certain school supplies and learning toys.

Items on our wish list are things we could always use in our classroom to help things run smoothly. Items from this list are completely optional, but we do use them routinely for various activities. Please keep us in mind and feel free to send in any of these items throughout the year. Wish list items also make great options as a class gift for student birthdays! Your gift will help benefit and provide countless children great joy for years and years to come! Again, our class greatly appreciates any donations! THANK YOU!

Special Event Donations and Volunteers

Throughout the year, we have multiple special events and holiday celebrations that need various supply donations and volunteers. Please take a look at the online list, and sign up for any item that your family might be able to help with. Our Room Parents will help monitor the list and send out reminders as necessary.

Parents can also sign up as a volunteer for special events throughout the year too. The system will automatically send you a reminder email ten days prior to the sign up event date. I hope that by providing a general sign up schedule early on will allow parents who don't always get to volunteer due to work schedules will have a chance to come join their child for a special event at school! 

Please send items in by the specified date. If you have any questions, please email me. Thank you so very much!

Computer Login Practice

During parent conferences, we discussed different ways you can help your child be successful in Kindergarten! One way is to help them practice their computer logins. 

You were each given your child's login information with their username and passwords. Please help your child practice typing their logins on any computer at home. You may use the attached Google Doc as a way to help your child pay attention to the different color lines. 

There are 5 different colored lines. This is because on desktop computer keyboards (and Apple computers if you have one at home), the letters are UPPERCASE. On the Chrome Books, the letters on the keyboards are lowercase. Children also need to pay attention that keyboards may have the "old-style" version of the letter "a" and they may not readily recognize it as the same letter they practice in school. Please also have your child practice typing the "@" symbol by holding down "command" and "2." 

You may download and use the provided practice form on your home computer with your child. 

***Note: Although your child's login information looks like there are spaces in between, do not ask your child to type spaces (this will cause a login error). The teachers put the spaces in to help the kids visually break up the information. 

Alpha Friends

The Kindergarteners use the Houghton Mifflin Alpha Friends program to teach the children about the letters and sounds. Each letter has an Alpha Friend character's name to help the children remember. The chart below shows all 26 letters. 

Parents, you can help your child master their letters and sounds by practicing at home using the printable versions of the Alpha Friends and singing the Alpha Friends song! There are also hand motions attached to the letters and song. The hand motions serve as a kinesthetic learning tool and provide the children with a visual prompt. 

Parent Volunteer Schedule '19-'20 DRAFT

(Please click on the photo above to enlarge and view the schedule).

UPDATED: 8/23/19: We are in need of parent volunteers to assist in a few more days/times. Please see the weekly schedule above and email Mrs. Dyer if you are available. Thank you!

Please review the DRAFT parent volunteer schedule for 2019-2020. Check to be sure that your name is listed under the correct date, time, and assignment. If there are any errors, please let Mrs. Dyer know as soon as possible so that it can be corrected. If you do not see your name listed, but you would like to volunteer, please email me and I will add you in. 

IMPORTANT: If you have never volunteered at Woodbury Elementary before, please stop by the office to complete the visitor/volunteer registration. You will need to bring your Drivers License to scan in and then you will be given a visitors sticker badge. This is to help keep our students safe. 

I will host a clerical training session on Thursday, August 8th from 11:30 - 12:00. Please try to attend so that I can show you how to use the copy machines in the supply room.

Clerical Parents: This role can start immediately after the training session. Our parent volunteer station is in the Kindergarten pod. Directions for copies are always paperclipped to each original copy. All Kindergarten parent volunteers work together for all of the kindergarten copies. Each set of copies will go into each teacher's bin at the station. 

Conduits: Please begin Thursday, August 8th. Student papers will be filed into each of their Conduits. When the Conduits are stuffed, please put each child's Conduit into his/her cubby to take home that day.

Library (Fridays): Please begin August 9th.

Computer (Wednesdays): Please begin August 14th.

Literacy and Math Rotations: Please begin the week of August 12th.

PE (Mondays): Please begin August 12th. 

Room Parents: Please share your email addresses and contact information so that you can coordinate for parties. We typically have parties for Fall Fun Day (October), Friendship Feast (November), Winter Celebration (December), 100th Day (January), Valentine's Day (February), and End of the Year (June). I will provide you with more information when the dates get closer. 

Home Helpers: Items will be sent home periodically as needed with directions on what to do. 

Raz-Kids

Raz-Kids is an interactive online reading program that students may use in school and at home to improve their reading fluency and comprehension. Every student in class has his/her own login.

1. Visit www.raz-kids.com

2. Click on the Kids Login button.

3. Type in "ericadyer"

4. Select the icon with your student's name on it.

5. Your password is your student's nine digit ID number

Lexia Core5

One of Woodbury's resources for reading intervention is an online program called Core5. Students who are currently reading below grade level are encouraged to use Core5 at home for at least 20-40 minutes per week. In Room 2, a few students have been recommended to use the Core5 program as part of a 20 minute reading rotation when we visit the computer lab or use Chromebooks and iPads in the classroom. These students will be trained and will receive parent letters containing login information (note: this program is not for everyone, and so if you do not receive an email or information in the Conduits, or during the upcoming parent conferences, then the program was not recommended for your child). 

Parents who want to help their child catch up on reading skills should encourage their child to utilize Core5 at home. Students will need headphones to use with the reading program, and parents are NOT allowed to help as the program provides teachers data and information regarding the student's current reading progress. 

The parent letter and access information can be found online.  A Lexia lessons checklist can also be found online. 

To login, please follow the instructions (and screen shot prompts) below. A parent information sheet is also available. 

• Visit lexiacore5.com

• Enter teacher's name: ericadyer@iusd.org (first image below)

• Click "Log In With Clever" (second image below)

• Click "Log in with Active Directory (third image below)

• Type in student's IUSD login email- 32lastnamefirstname@iusd.org (fourth image below)

  • ***Important: If your child’s first or last name is more than eight (8) characters, the system will leave off the last few letters. For example:
    Student Name: “Josephine Sanderson”
    Login Username: “32sandersojosephin@iusd.org”
    The n in the last name, and the e in the first name are left off.

    The first two digits are your child’s high school graduation year.

• Click "Next"

• Type in student's ID number as the password- 9-digit number