Christmas Gift Exchange

This year our classroom Christmas gift exchange will be an art supply gift exchange.  Please stay within the theme of “art supplies” when purchasing your child’s gift for the gift exchange.  Following are some ideas for gifts:

Playdough                                                watercolor paints

Specialty crayons and paper                  special scissors

Stamps and ink pads                               paint with water books

Floam                                                         craft kits

Markers                                                     colored pencils

Colored chalk                                            construction paper

The possibilities are endless!

Gifts should be approximately $4.00-$5.00.  Please make sure the gift is appropriate for either a boy or a girl.  The gift can be labeled as “To: A Friend, From: (your child’s name)”.

Feel free to send the gift in to school early.  You will need to explain to your child that we will play a game and it will be a surprise to see who gets their gift.  We will exchange gifts at the party on Thursday, December 17.  Please send the gift in to school before then so I can prepare the gifts for the game we will play.               Thanks!               Mrs. Green

REMINDERS:

1. Monday is a delayed start. Also on Monday, we return to the book fair to purchase books. If you want your child to make a purchase, please send the order form and money to school with your child. You may pay with cash or check. Don't forget to add Michigan sales tax of 6%.

2. Please send in your parent/teacher conference note ASAP so I can plan accordingly! There is no school for students on Thursday due to parent/teacher conferences. I will have sign-up sheets available at conferences for our Thanksgiving activities and needed items.

3. We had snow at recess for the first time on Friday. We have gotten spoiled with warm temperatures through the middle of November! It is time to get out the winter coats, hats, and mittens! Please send these items to school daily as we do go outside even if it is cold and snowing!

November News:

         November is a busy month for Kindergarten! Here are some things you may want to mark on your calendar.

         Next Tuesday, November 10, is our Elementary Family Night. You are invited to come to the elementary cafeteria between 5:00-6:00 for a free taco supper. This will be followed by activities in the classrooms from 5:30-7:00. Each grade level will have various learning activities set up in the classrooms for the students from their grade to participate in. Please come and be sure to visit Mrs. Brinks’, Mrs. Green’s, and Miss Thompson’s classrooms for some fun and great learning ideas. Please send back the blue flyer your child brought home if you will be attending, so we can get an idea of how much food we need.

         On Thursday, November 12, we will visit the book fair and each child will make a “wish list” of items they would be interested in. They will bring their “wish list” home with them Thursday night. On Monday, November 16, we will go back to the book fair and make any purchases that you might want to have your child make. “Shopping” with 21 kindergartners is always a treat, so if anyone is available to help us “shop” at 12:30 on Monday the 16^th, I would sure appreciate your help. Just drop me a note or an e-mail. We will shop right after lunch, so maybe you would like to join your child for lunch that day and then help us with our shopping afterwards.

         There will be no Holiday Bazaar this year due to construction on the auditorium. The Holiday Bazaar is the biggest fundraiser for the PTO. We are hoping to have increased participation in our book fair and also in our “Labels for Education” program to try to make up for some of the lost revenue. Please keep saving those labels- ask relatives too!

         Look for your child’s first report card to come home next Friday, November 13. Parent/Teacher conferences will take              place on Thursday, November 19. There will be no school for students that day. Appointment times should be coming home from the office very soon, possibly even today. Please try to keep your appointment time if at all possible, because it is very difficult to reschedule conferences for 21 students. However, if your time just will not work for you, please let me know as soon as possible so I can try to make different arrangements.

         The week of Thanksgiving is an exciting and busy week for kindergartners as we prepare a “feast” to share together. On Monday, November 23, we will begin to prepare the feast. We will make homemade butter and cornbread. We will also prepare to make the main course of our feast, our traditional “stone soup” or “Friendship Soup.” For those of you who do not know what Stone Soup is, you can find out by reading the traditional tale Stone Soup, which can be found in many different varieties retold by many different authors. To work together to make this soup, each kindergarten class will be responsible for providing several items for the soup. Each child will be asked to bring something for the soup. There are other items that will be needed for our Thanksgiving celebration as well, so I will have a sign up sheet available at conferences. I will also be looking for parent helpers to help in food preparation that week, as well as parents to help serve the feast on Wednesday afternoon.

         Please remember that you can always keep in touch with me via e-mail through the mcbain.org website. 

SNACKS Needed!

The children are eating up the breakfast items much better/faster than I predicted! On top of those items, we are going through one boxed/packaged snack a day. So if each person would send in one snack for the month (enough for 21 students), that would be a big help! Please plan on providing one snack per month for the snack cupboard for the rest of the school year!  Thanks so much!

Our last coins for kids collection will be this Friday, October 30. Please send in any change you would like to donate tomorrow or Friday morning!  Thanks!

                                 

         The elementary students will celebrate Halloween in the afternoon on Friday, October 30. In the morning we will have our regular academics. We will dress up and parade downtown with the rest of the elementary at 1:00.  Please send a costume for your child to change into in a bag clearly labeled with your child’s name.  I will help the children put on their costumes and will have parent helpers for this as well, but we will not have time to apply any make-up.  If your child’s costume requires make-up, please have them go without it this time, or please come in to apply it for them. Please take care when selecting your child’s costume.  No gory or scary costumes please, and no weapons of any kind. If you are coming to watch the parade and are able to come early to help with costumes, that would be wonderful!  I won’t need as much help after the parade, but the more hands to help with costumes, the better! J  We will begin putting our costumes on at around 12:30.

         After our parade we will enjoy some goodies and a Halloween movie.  We will also have recess.  We will change out of our costumes before going outside to recess.

        

                                     

REMINDERS

Parents,
Please remember that if your child is ill you need to call the elementary office at 825-2021 to excuse them from school.  Also, if your child has a fever, please remember the "24 hour rule."  A child needs to be free from fever without the use of fever-reducing medications for 24 hours before they come back to school.  Giving a child medication and sending them to school only "masks" the fever. The child may still be contagious and is exposing everyone they come into contact with. Also, the medication tends to run out and the fever shows up around lunchtime and the child feels miserable :(
SO......if we send your child home with a fever during the school day, please plan on keeping them out the next day as well.

Please make sure that you empty your child's folder each evening and go over their work with them. Also, reviewing the letter of the day and the numbers we are learning will be a big help to your child! Don't forget to send your child's folder back to school every day- we use them daily!  Thanks!

It would be very helpful if you could label your child's clothing. I keep finding sweatshirts, etc. laying around without any names in them. Many times none of the children will claim them. Putting their name in their clothing will save on the amount of clothing that ends up in our overflowing lost and found!

We will be collecting money for the Coins for Kids program through Pizza Hut during the month of October. If you have any spare change you could donate, we would greatly appreciate it for this worthy cause! Don't forget to ask grandparents, aunts and uncles, etc. if they could help out! This program provides food for hungry children.

Great Start!

These last two weeks have been a great start to the school year! The children are coming along in learning the school and classroom rules and expectations!  They are also making lots of new friends and learning how to treat them with kindness.

We are in the process of learning the alphabet and numbers.  We are also having lots of fun playing in our centers and out on the playground, as well as having fun in Gym and Music.  We have made a visit to the big library and learned the rules we need to follow in that special place!

The library is having an open house this Saturday (September 19) to celebrate their 20th anniversary. Come on out for a good time- story time and crafts for the kids, prizes, and cookies and punch! Hope to see you there!

WELCOME TO KINDERGARTEN!

The first day of school for McBain Elementary is Tuesday, September 8.  Kindergarten students have a shortened day the first day of school, with parents attending school with their child on this important first day.  Please bring your child to school at 10:00 am and plan on staying with them until our day is finished by 1:30 pm.  You will have a chance to meet other students and parents, explore the classroom, take a bus ride, and eat lunch with your child.  In the afternoon, the children will have an opportunity to play on the playground under the supervision of our paraprofessionals while the parents have an information session with the teacher in the classroom.  I am looking forward to meeting everyone!

Parents,

All classroom books and materials must be returned to school and accounted for next week.  Therefore, today will be the last day I will send home reading folders.  Please be sure to return your child’s reading folder and classroom books to school on MONDAY.  Thank you!  All the children have made excellent progress in their reading skills this year.  Please remember to read with your child daily this summer!  There are plenty of easy reader books available in the library for check out.  There are also lots of fun activities planned at the library this summer, so be sure to visit often!

Track and Field afternoon is Tuesday.  Please be sure to dress your child appropriately and send a water bottle labeled with their name.

Final dismissal is at noon on Thursday.  Our awards assembly is at 10:00 that morning.

Report cards will be sent home with your child on Thursday.  Classroom assignments for next year will be mailed during the summer.

It has been an amazing year!  I have enjoyed it and hope that your child has too!  Have a safe and fun-filled summer!

   Mrs. Kathy Green

REMINDERS

The Spring Program is tomorrow at 1:30 in the high school gym.  Please park in the main parking lot and enter through the lobby doors.  Remember to send your child's baseball cap in as a prop for one of the songs if you haven't already!  If they don't have one, please try to find one that they can borrow for the day.
The cost for our field trip on Monday is $4.00.  Please send the money in tomorrow or Friday!

End of Year Activity reminders

This Thursday (May 28) is our Spring Program at 1:30 in the high school gym!  Please be sure your child has someone in attendance!  (Students can leave with their parents after the program.  If you would like your child to go home with someone other than a parent, please be sure to write a note giving your permission.)

Next Monday, June 1, is our field trip to Kettunen Center.

Track and Field is the afternoon of Tuesday, June 9.  Please be sure your child is dressed appropriately (tennis shoes are a must!) and brings a water bottle (water only- no gatorade, etc.)

The last day of school is a half day on Thursday, June 11.  Our awards assembly will take place at 10:00.

Fun to be Fit!

You are invited to attend our fun to be fit event on Friday!  All are welcome to attend, including younger children in strollers, but no pets please!  We will meet up at the high school track for a time of running and/or walking around the track.  The event will begin promptly at 1:30 and will end at 2:00.  You are welcome to take your child home with you at the end of the event.  If you want them to go home with a grandparent or someone else, please send a note with them so we know they have permission.  It should be a fun afternoon!  Event will happen rain or shine!  Remember, no school next Monday on Memorial Day!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Here are some important dates for the last month and a half of school:

Wednesday, May 6:  Third Grade Bookstore- Third graders will be selling used books for small amounts of money to earn money for their class field trip.  Please send in some change for your child to purchase a few books, if possible.

Thursday, May 14:  First day of the Scholastic Book Fair.  We will have an opportunity to go look at the books and make a "shopping list" of books your child would be interested in purchasing.  They will bring the list home to you so you can plan if you would like to make a purchase or not.

Monday, May 18:  We will "shop" at the Scholastic Book Fair.  More information to come!

Friday, May 22:  Elementary Fun to Be Fit event.  We would love to have parents, grandparents, etc. come and join us on the track for an afternoon walk/run event.  Younger children in strollers are welcome!  No animals please!

Thursday, May 28:  Kindergarten Spring Program.  More information to come!  Please set aside the afternoon to come and see your child perform!

Monday, June 1:  Class field trip to Kettunen Center (all day).  More information to come!  We need LOTS of parent volunteers for this event!  Please email me at kgreen@mcbain.org or send a note in with your child if you can help chaperone!

Tuesday, June 9:  Track and Field in the afternoon

Thursday, June 11:  Last day of school.  Dismissal at noon.

READING MONTH

We have had an awesome Reading Month!  Thank you, parents, for encouraging your child with so much reading!  I am very proud of the kids and all the reading they have done!  Our class came in in second place in our reading competition.  We were only 33 minutes behind the winning Kindergarten class, Mrs. Brinks!  So it was very close, and I commend the children on a job well done!  I hope you and the children can continue the wonderful habit of reading together!

Reading Minutes

Literally half the class forgot to bring their reading slips to turn in on Friday.  I will collect them on Monday so please remember to send them in!  Thanks!

Reading Minutes

Don't forget to turn in the slip for your child's reading minutes for the week each FRIDAY!  We will add the minutes up at the end of the week and see which class is ahead in our competition!  REMEMBER, the classroom with the highest number of minutes in each grade level at the end of the month will win a field trip to the Wex for ice skating and broomball!

March is Reading Month!

Every year at McBain Elementary, we celebrate Reading Month in March.  This year's theme is "Sports".  Since there was no school today, look for an informational note to come home with your child on Monday. This note will detail Friday dress up days as well as how to keep track of reading minutes at home.  We will kick-off Reading Month with a special elementary assembly on Monday morning.  On Tuesday we will be experiencing a "Dome Theater", a 3-D mobile digital theater system.  A big thank you to the PTO for helping to sponsor this unique experience for us!

         The Valentine’s Party will take place on Thursday, February 12.

         All of the children enjoy exchanging valentines with their classmates.  You may choose to have your child make valentines for each child in the class or you are welcome to use store bought valentines.  Either type of valentine is perfectly acceptable.  Please be sure though that your child brings a valentine for EACH child in the class (20 valentines).  We do not want anyone to feel left out or have any hurt feelings.  If you feel you are unable to provide a valentine for each child in the class please contact me for other arrangements.  We also do not want any child to feel left out that they do not have any valentines to give.

         Please decorate a box (such as a shoe box or Kleenex box) for your child’s valentines and send it to school.  You may send the box to school whenever it is ready and we will display it in the classroom until the valentine’s party.          Please send your child’s valentines to school on the morning of Thursday, February 12 in a sack or baggie labeled with your child’s name.  The valentines should not have names on them as to who they are to, just that they are from your child.  That makes delivery of the valentines much easier- your child can just drop one valentine in each box.

         Thank you!