Mrs. McCord's Kindergarten

Welcome to Kindergarten!

Hello,

My name is Anne McCord and I am delighted that I am your child's Kindergarten teacher this year!  Just to give you a little information about myself,  I grew up in Massachusetts and attended college there.  I have a Bachelors  of  Science degree in early childhood education and a Masters degree in education.

This is my 25th year teaching Kindergarten in Cobb County--23 years right here at Baker!  I love teaching children this age.  They have so much excitement for learning and I consider it a very important part of my job to make sure they continue to feel that excitement and learn to love school. 

I have two grown children of my own, as well as a grandchild, so I understand your concerns about letting your child go to the "big school".  I promise I will take good care of them and never forget how precious they are to you.  I want us to work together to make sure your child has a great Kindergarten experience. 

January 30-February 3

It’s hard to believe we are starting a new month already!  Wednesday we have WellStar coming to talk about Dental Health, and Thursday is Groundhog Day.  I guess that’s when we’ll find out if we are going to have an early spring!

I hope your child told you about the fun we had for the 100^th day of school!  Thank you for sending in the 100 items for out 100 Day Snack.

We will be working with the letter K next week. We are also doing more work with word families.  They are really doing a good job catching on to these.  I hope you’ve noticed how well your child is writing sentences.  I am really proud of them!

In math we're going to work with reading calendars, clocks, and graphs.  We are spending more time with number words (zero - ten) and (still) learning how to write numbers 0-20.  Those teen numbers are still causing a lot of confusion.  And of course, there are still those pesky coins to learn and trade.  The nickel and quarter seem to be the main culprit!  We'll also be talking about shadows and how they happen.

We were very excited this week to have Haadi come back to our class.  We all missed him and are very happy to have him back!

Looking ahead...

Valentines Day is the next big celebration.  It is one the kids really enjoy.  Next week I will send home a list of names for your child to start writing their valentines for their school friends.  Please let them do this.  It is good practice for writing and it makes it more meaningful to them if they have written the cards themselves.  Please help your child think of and make a "mailbox" to receive their valentines.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and a good week ahead!

 

January 23-27, 2012

This week we will be working with the letter L.  Please don’t forget to help your child find “L” pictures for our dictionaries.  We will also continue talking about winter.

One of our Social Studies standards is for your child to know their complete address.  If your child does not know this yet, please work on this at home.  Also, it seems that everyone is a little rusty on those coins.  This quarter we have to identify by sight and value the penny, nickel, dime and quarter.

Happy Birthday to Aboubacar!  He is joining the ranks of the 6 year olds on Monday, January 23.  I had it wrong on our January calendar… sorry about that!

The big news for next week is the 100^th day of school on Friday, January 27!  Please be sure to send in the 100 items for our snack (letter came home Wednesday) and the collection of 100 items for display.  It will be a fun day with lots of “100” activities.

Looking ahead…Valentines Day will be coming up in a couple weeks.  I will be sending home a list of names so the kids can write valentines to their friends.  In the meantime, be on the lookout for a shoebox or something similar that you can help your child decorate for their own “mailbox”.

That’s about it for this week.  We have a 5 day week next week.  We haven’t had one of those in a while!

January 17-20, 2012

Happy New Year!  We are off to a great start.  We’ve already been working on ending sounds and spelling simple words.  This is usually the time of year when all the things we spent the first half of the year working on starts to “click” and it starts coming together.  It is very exciting to see!  I hope you are noticing at home how much they are learning to read and write sentences!

Report cards come home today.  Please send back the signature card and the brown envelope on Tuesday.

Next week we will be working on the letter F.  Please send in pictures for our dictionaries.  We will continue talking about winter and reading lots of fun winter stories.

Our classroom is sometimes cool, so please be sure your child is dressed for cold weather.  And just a reminder, we do go out every day if the temperature is above 40 degrees.  Please be sure your child has outdoor clothing too.

No school on Monday, January 16 as we honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Looking ahead.… January 27 is the 100th day of school.  This is always a big event in Kindergarten!  You might want to start now helping your child start a collection of 100 items.  This is usually displayed on a paper, poster board or in a zip lock bag.  Some typical ideas are 100 cheerios, 100 pennies,  100 stickers etc.; but we always love to see the other creative ideas that students come up with!  If you can display them in sets of 10, it helps your child learn to count by 10's and helps them to understand how many 100 is!  More on this later.

I hope everyone has a great long weekend—stay warm!

December 2011

Hello,

I need to apologize for the lack of communication lately.  I have been battling pneumonia since Thanksgiving--and many days, I was losing the battle!  Your child may have mentioned that I have been out a lot in the past few weeks.  It's been one of those "two steps forward--one step back" type of thing.  When I have been here, I have been focused on playing catch-up, and consequently, I have not done a very good job of sending weekly newsletters.

As  you know, our holiday party will be Tuesday 10:00-11:00. I am very grateful to Karen Newkirk, our Room Mom for organizing our party.  I know the kids will have a great time!  Parents are welcome to join us for the party.  If you do plan to attend, you are welcome to take your child home with you when you leave.  However, just as we did after our Friends and Family lunch, you need to sign your child out before leaving.

I also want to thank everyone for the generous gift card to California Dreaming (one of my favorites!) for my birthday!  That was an unexpected surprise!  Thank you so much!  I am hoping to use it this weekend!

With a couple of our friends off visiting family, we are down to just 9 kids next week.  We won't be covering a lot of new material (OK-we won't be covering  ANY new material!)  Since second quarter ends in December, I will be doing a lot of assessing for report cards, which will come home in January.

I am hoping to have a fun week next week with some surprises!  This is such a great time of year to be in Kindergarten!  The kids' excitement is mounting every day and it is really fun for me to be with them and get to enjoy Christmas through the eyes of a 5 year old!  I hope you will get some time off work during the holiday so you can enjoy being with your child at this very special time of year.  These "magic" Christmases are gone far too soon.  Enjoy the fun!

Happy Birthday to Starr!  Her birthday will be December 28!

I would like to wish every one of you a very happy Christmas season!  I am grateful to each of you for all the support you have given me this year.  I love this class!  They are aspecial group of very sweet kids.  I look forward to seeing them back here on January 10 (that is a Tuesday).  January in Kindergarten is always a month of tremendous progress.  It is so gratifying to see the light come on for so many of them. 

Enjoy the break!  See you in 2012!

 

November 14-18, 2011

This week we will be working with the letter B.  In math we are still working with the numbers 10-20.  Of course, the main focus will be the Pilgrims, Indians and Thanksgiving!

The final day of the Book Fair is Tuesday, November15.

On Wednesday, besides our Friends and Family Lunch, we also enjoyed a wonderful presentation by "Firefighter Jacob" of the Cobb County Fire Department. I hope your child told you all about it.  It was informative and well delivered in a way that 5 year olds can understand and enjoy.

As you can tell, it has been a busy week; and I’m pretty certain it will continue that way now for the next few weeks!

As you know, there is no school the week of Thanksgiving.  When we return, we will be working on the letter G; learning about our 5 senses; and starting lots of fun activities as we start our final four weeks before winter break.  Since the second quarter ends in December, I will be doing a lot of assessing for the next report card which will be sent home in January.  One of the areas you might want to focus on with your child would be the vocabulary word cards I gave you at our conference in October.  They need to know a minimum of 20 words at this point in order to get a “3” on their report card.  Some of them know all 40 already!  Also, if you could spend some time working with coins; identifying and trading pennies for nickels and dimes, this would be very helpful.

We want to wish Herbie a very Happy Birthday on November 21!  He is only our third friend to turn 6 years old!  It is still a very select group!

I’d like to wish each of you a very Happy Thanksgiving!  One of the many things that I am thankful for is the opportunity to work with your child every day.  As I have said many times, we have a great class this year and Mrs. Saeger and I enjoy them very much.  I won’t be sending a newsletter next Friday since there is no school the following week. I hope you get to spend good times with your families and just relax and enjoy the holiday.   

When we come back, we will begin the month of December!  That’s when the real fun begins!  Things are going to get pretty busy !

 

November 7-11, 2011

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for the outpouring of appreciation I received today!  All the sweet notes, candy, cards, gifts--it was amazing!  I did not realize (or more likely, I forgot) that it was Teacher Appreciation Day, so I was taken completely by surprise as the kids came in with their cards and gifts.  I am very sincere when I say that this year I feel so blessed to have such a great class.  It is a wonderful group of kids--and it is no coincidence that wonderful kids usually have wonderful parents.  Thank you so much for all the support you have shown me this year.

Next week we will be working with the letter S.  In math, we are going to turn our attention away from shapes and focus on numbers 10-20.  Many of the kids are still writing them backward (10, 11, 21, 31 ,41, 51 etc.)  Hopefully we can get that straightened out before we start working on the "20's".

Our Social Studies unit will be on American Indians, Pilgrims, and of course, Thanksgiving.  This will be a two week unit with lots of fun activities.  For one of these activities, we once again are in need of toilet paper rolls (empty). If you could save these as they become available in your house we would appreciate it.

Just a reminder….no school on Tuesday (for students!) ;)

On Wednesday, Cobb County Fire Department will be here in our classroom to present their safety program.  This is a terrific program that they do each year for Kindergarten.  Be sure to ask your child about it.

Wednesday, November 9 is also our annual Friends & Family luncheon.  Our class' lunch time on that day will be 12:00-12:30.  I hope as many of you as possible will be able to join your child for lunch that day.  Information on this came home Thursday in your child’s folder.  This is always a big event, so plan to arrive early to find a parking space.  If you would like to take your child home with you after lunch, please be sure to let Mrs. Saeger or me know, and be sure to sign them out.

The book Fair will be open during the Friends and Family Lunch. This would be a great opportunity to stop by if you would like to purchase any books for your child.

On Friday we will be celebrating Veterans Day.  I would like to take this opportunity to say Thank You to any veterans in our students’ families.  If you have any veterans or anyone currently serving in the armed forces in your family, please be sure to tell your child about them so they can share their story with the class.

There is no school the week of November 21-25 (Thanksgiving week).  After that there will be only four weeks of school before our Christmas break!  The school year will be half over already! We have a lot to do before then!

Enjoy the weekend.  Bundle up--it is supposed to get chilly at night.  Don't forget to set your clocks back one hour Saturday night.  An extra hour of sleep on a cold night--it doesn't get much better than that!

 

October 31-November 4, 2011

I can’t believe it is the start of a new month already!  We will be focusing on the letter C, and talking about night time and nocturnal animals.

In math, we will be learning about plane shapes (circle, squares, triangles etc.) and solid shapes (spheres, cubes, cones).

I really enjoyed meeting with each of you during this past week.  Hopefully you found it as useful and informative as I did.

Tonight is Spooky Bingo here in our cafeteria.  I hope you can be here.  We do not celebrate Halloween here at school, so please do not send your child in with a costume on Monday.  Halloween is a holiday some families choose to celebrate and others choose not to.  We will continue to enjoy some fun fall activities.

Looking ahead…Tuesday, November 8 is Election Day and there will be no school.  Wednesday, November 9 is our annual Family and Friends Day.  This is a day when we encourage families (and friends) to come and enjoy a Thanksgiving lunch in the cafeteria with your child.  We will have a different lunch time on that day.  I will let you know as soon as I know what time it will be.

I hope this wonderful fall weather lasts a long time.  We will go out every day after lunch, so please have your child wear sneakers and play clothes.

This week we will be learning about the letter N.  The days will go by pretty quickly since dismissal is 2 hours early every day because of conferences—but we’ll still get a lot done here.  We will also continue to talk about pumpkins.  In math, we will be working on numbers 10-20.

Because of the shortened day, our lunch time will be at 10:55 every day.  Your child will need only a very small snack, if they need one at all.

I am looking forward to speaking with each of you at our conference.  Conferences are scheduled back to back, so please try to be on time for yours, because someone else’s will probably be starting right away at the end of your scheduled time.  Parking often takes longer than you might expect, so allow extra time.  I will do my best to stay on schedule and be ready for you at your scheduled time.  Please wait in the hall if you see another parent in here with me when you arrive.

Spooky Bingo will be Friday October 26 here at school.  Food will be served at 6:00. (You must order it in advance—order forms available on the Baker website.)  Games begin at 6:30.

As I am sure you are aware, Halloween is next Monday.  Just want to let you know in advance that we do not have Halloween parties and children are not allowed to wear costumes to school.  Not all families celebrate Halloween, so although many of the children will certainly be excited and talking about it, we won’t be  “celebrating” it here at school.

I am looking forward to seeing each of you next week.  Enjoy your weekend!

October 10-14

As we head into the ninth week of school, there are a couple reminders I would like to mention.

Please be sure the snack you are sending in for your child is a healthy snack.  We have had a lot of chocolate and cookies lately.  They don't need a very big snack--just something to tide them over until lunch.

When your child brings pictures of the letter of the week in a plastic baggie, please be sure their name is on it.  This week I had 8 baggies with pictures and no names on them.  It was a long process until everyone agreed that they had the right pictures.   Thank you!

We will be working with the letter A this week (vowel!)  We'll also start a unit on the farm and farm animals and baby animals.  Knowing the names of animal babies is one of the science skills I have to assess for this report card.

We'll celebrate Columbus Day on Monday. It is also a report card skill to be familiar with the fall holidays as well as the flags of GA and USA.

In math, we'll be working on writing 6-10, and recognizing 0-20.  I will be assessing this as well as ordinal numbers.  You might be able to tell that I will be doing a lot assessing for report cards during the next couple weeks.  The math skill that is causing the most trouble at this point is recognizing pennies and nickels, and making trades with pennies and nickels.

I am sending your conference time home in a letter today.  Please send this back Monday if possible, so I can reserve that time for you, or find a more suitable time if this one is not convenient.  I have offered to do some early morning conferences, but have had no one request this, so I hope to see you all during the week of October 24 in the afternoon.

The kids are pretty excited about "Jump Rope For Heart".  They are working on this in their PE classes each week.  Coach Cool has promised to dress up as Hannah Montana if they reach the school goal of $7500.  So far, it does not look like he is in any danger of having to follow through on this promise.  If you would like the link for Jump Rope For Heart so you can complete your fundraising/donating online, here it is: www.heart.org/jump

School Goals & Incentives

*School raises $7,500 - Mr. Cool dresses up as Hannah Montana  : )

*Classroom that collectively receives the largest donation - Big Pie In The Sky pizza party

*Classroom that has the highest percentage of participants - Popsicle party

*Individuals receive thank you gifts depending on donations raised...

This is the first year Baker Elementary has participated in this worthwhile fundraiser and we would love to see it be a huge success. 

Enjoy the beautiful fall weather. Please try to remember to send towels, Poetry Notebooks, and your conference letter back on Monday.

Thanks!

October 3-7, 2011

This week we will be working with the letter M.   Please have your child find a few pictures of things that start with M and bring them in for our dictionaries.  We will also be doing a lot of fun activities with apples this week.  Be sure to get the new page into the Phonics Notebook and keep reading them.  Please send 1 apple in on Monday.  Red, yellow, or green—the bigger the better.  We will be using them for making graphs, and comparing using the terms: “more”, “less”, “fewer” and “equal”.  We will also be exploring ordinal numbers as well as position words.  You’ll be amazed at how much we can do with apples! 

In science, we will continue to talk about the changing season, and we might also have some fun with magnets.

In social studies, we will be talking about Christopher Columbus since Columbus Day is coming up on October 10.  (Not a school holiday )

We are in the process of setting up conferences for the week of October 24-28.  A letter with your specific assigned time will come home on Friday, October 7.  If you have a preference, now is the time to let me know.  I will do my best to accommodate you.

Monday is Baker night at Sweet Tomatoes.  A form is coming home today.  You must present this form when you go Monday night in order for Baker to receive their 20% credit for your participation.

There is also a form for "Book-It" in your child's folder.  This is a program sponsored by Pizza Hut to encourage your child to read (or be read to) at home.  Our goal each month is 20 books.  Just write down the titles of the books that you and your child read together and send the completed form back at the end of the month.  If your child returns the form with 20 books listed, they will receive a coupon good for one personal pan pizza.  I will send a new form home with the calendar each month.  The program runs from October through March, 2012.

It’s hard to believe we are into a new month again! I am loving this cooler weather!  I hope everyone has a great week!