Mighty Mustang of the Week

Update: 2/15/19: Thank you, Mrs. Blackburn, for coming in to read to our class!! 

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 Noted journal, 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: Students should complete the poster with facts about the student. The student may draw and color pictures, or printed photos may be glued on.

• Kindness Noted Journal: Students should perform at least one random act of kindness towards another member of the family. Complete a journal entry about the act in the Kindness Noted journal.

• Bring a Share Item: Students may choose to bring a small item to show and share with the class. It could be a favorite stuffed animal, toy, award, picture, etc.

• Bring a Favorite Book: Students may bring a favorite book he/she likes to read. We will read it during our share time.

• Play with Mighty!: Student gets to play with little Mighty all weekend long, taking him on adventures, family outings, playdates, story time, etc. With the help of a grownup at home, the student will write a brief summary of their weekend adventure with Mighty.

Parents: If you are available, you are to invited to visit with your child on the Friday (the last day your child is Mighty Mustang) during Calendar/Mighty Mustang Share Time. Please email me to let me know if you are able to come! We will take a photo and feature you in the photo gallery below! 

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 (Mrs. Chai and Mrs. Blackburn) will be helping to 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!

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 in their Conduits containing login information (note: this program is not for everyone, and so if you do not receive an email or information in the Conduits, 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- 30lastnamefirstname@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: “31sandersojosephin@iusd.org”
       The n in the last name, and the e in the first name are left off.
• Click "Next" 
• Type in student's ID number as the password- 9-digit number

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. 

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. 

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

ST Math

Woodbury Elementary has a math intervention program called JiJi Math. This engaging computer-based program is a fun way for children to practice and solidify their math skills. All Woodbury students have accounts set up for this new program already, and students will have access to JiJi Math both at school and at home. For use at home, please see the attachment below for detailed instructions.

Student Login Information (for first time login). ***Important: If your child doesn't remember his/her picture password, he/she will need to click on the rectangle with the two horizontal lines (like an equal (=) sign) and use their username/password combination. Then the program will take them through a picture password training session first. If your child DOES know their picture password, he/she can just click in their picture password to log in. 

Username: student computer login (i.e. 31smithjohn)
Password: 9-digit student ID number

The program begins with a math placement assessment. It will start off very easy (matching puzzle pieces together), and progress to more difficult levels to measure students' math skills. Students should continue through the initial math placement until it is complete. Afterwards, the program will automatically monitor the child's progress and adjust levels accordingly.

FAQ:

Is ST Math available for use on an iPad or Tablet?

Yes. If you are a school, school district or homeschool family that has purchased ST Math, you may access the software on touch-enabled devices. Technical requirements can be found here.

Do I have to download software?

The program is online and there’s no need to download any software. However, a high-speed Internet connection is required for each device running ST Math. See the Technical Requirements.

Is there a mobile app for ST Math Homeschool users?

Yes! Subscribers can use the ST Math app for Android tablets, Chromebooks, iPads, and Kindles. For more information and to download the app, go to ST Math Tech Requirements.

Monthly Family Time Reading Logs

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 due date.

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

Book Baggies

Periodically, Book Baggies will be sent home with your child. They are ziplock bags with either yellow, green, or blue reading log sheets inside. You will also find a book that your child has practiced reading in class that day. 

When these baggies come home, please practice reading the enclosed book or Scholastic magazine with your child multiple times. Complete the paper form with the date, title of the text, how many times you and your child read together, if your child read it easily/fluently or with difficulty, and your signature. Return the completed form and the Book Baggie to school the next day. 

Important:

• Any published or bound books (like our Houghton Mifflin reading series) must be returned to school in the Book Baggie the next day. We only have a limited number of copies of these books, and they belong to Woodbury Elementary. 
• Any paper copy booklets (like xeroxed copied books or the Scholastic magazines) can be kept at home to read again and again. 

Parent Volunteer Schedule '18-'19 DRAFT

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

UPDATE: 7/27/18: Please review the parent volunteer schedule draft above and let me know if there are any errors or names missing. 

Parent Volunteer Plea!- We could still use parent volunteers to help our little ones in Room 2! 
Library:
We have no parents assisting for library. If you are consistently available Fridays 1:10 – 1:40 pm, please consider helping the children learn how to find books in our library. We have over 20,000 books and a very large space and the children could use another friendly adult helping them get around.

PE:
We have no parents assisting for PE. If you are consistently available Mondays 1:50 – 2:40 pm, please sign up online. There are coaches leading the games and activities, you would simply help cheer on the children, help them participate, and walk them from the field to the bathroom if necessary!

Afternoon Rotations:
We have no parents assisting in the afternoons. If you are available, please sign up online.

Attached is the DRAFT parent volunteer schedule for 2018-2019 (AS OF 7/23/18). Please take a look over the schedule to be sure that your name is listed under the correct date, time, and assignment. If there are any errors, please be sure to 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: I will host a group training session after school on Friday, 7/27/18. 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. 

Clerical Parents: This role can start immediately. 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, July 26th. You will come in to take the filing basket into the front office work room. 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: Please begin the week of July 27th.

Computer: Please begin the week of July 25th. 

Literacy and Math: Please begin the week of July 30th. 

PE: Please begin Monday, July 30th. 

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.