May 25, 2012

Dear Parent(s),

       This is the very last newsletter that will be sent home this kindergarten school year.  I want all of you to know that it has been an honor to be your child’s kindergarten teacher.  I have enjoyed watching each and every child grow with leaps and bounds.  It amazes me how much each child learns not only academically but personally.  They truly are first graders!  Thank you!

This next week, we will have some special days planned for our last few days.  On Tuesday, we will have hat day!  Please make sure your child has a hat to wear for the whole day!  On Wednesday, we will be having a picnic.  Please pack your child a cold lunch and something to drink. No glass please! We are hoping to get to a nearby park but will see if the weather cooperates.  It is also word day.  Please have your child wear a shirt with words on it.  Thursday is gum day. Please send some gum and please remember that it is only a 1/2 day.  The children will have lunch here and then will be released at about 12:00.

       On Friday, of this week, we got to go to Jerry Juven’s farm.  It was a beautiful day and everyone enjoyed it very much!  We got to see piglets, calves, goats, chickens, a horse, and a lamb.  We went on a hayride and saw wheat growing and saw a tractor planting beans.  We also learned about products a farmer grows and about different kinds of equipment that a farmer might need to use.  It was a terrific trip!

We had some visitors this week.  Miss Arielle from the Pubic Library was with us.  She talked about the summer reading program.  What a great way to encourage reading over the summer months. The fourth grade orchestra put on a concert for us too. They were awesome!

Have a great summer

and read, read, and read!

Dawn Ackley

                                          May 18, 2012

Dear Parent(s),

       We had a terrific trip to the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center this week! We had a beautiful day and the children all enjoyed using their senses to find different things at the prairie. We heard and saw lots of different birds, animals, and plants.  We also got to play in the pond water.  We found lots of things that grow in the water.  Ask your child what they found.  Thanks to all the parents who were able to join us!

       Our mother’s program and lunch was terrific.  The children so enjoy sharing their classroom with their moms.  Mostly, the children were very proud of their books and vases they made.  I hope you enjoy them too.

       The children and parents surely loved being outside for our field day.  It was warm but lots of fun!  Thank you Mrs. Lill!

       On Wednesday, the 23rd, we will be going to the farm.  Our bus will be leaving at about 12:40 and returning at about 3:00. Please make sure your child has the appropriate clothing and shoes (no flip flops or sandals!) for this terrific trip!

       We are down to 7 1/2 days left of kindergarten!  Amazing!  We are planning a picnic and a few silly days!  More information will be coming.

Have a good weekend!

Dawn Ackley

                                          May 11, 2012

Dear Parent(s),

       The children have been counting how many days left in kindergarten.  Can you believe that there are only 12 1/2 days left?  Where does the time go?  I do have to say that all of the children are very excited to be called “almost first graders!”   

       We will be going to the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center on Wednesday.  We will be leaving the school at 12:15 and returning about 1:30.  Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately!  They must wear long pants and tennis shoes. If it is a rainy day—maybe some boots. If you are interested in helping, please let me know.  Thanks!

       Friday is our Mother’s Day program.  We are inviting our mom to a little program, a special gift, and hoping that you will stay for lunch with us.  Most parents bring a lunch or buy the school lunch for this day.  If you plan on eating the school lunch, please let Joan know early in the morning,  Our program will begin at 10:30 sharp!!!

       We also have our field day planned for Friday, the 18^th.  We really need some more volunteers to help out.  Even if you can come for an hour or two please let me know.  Thanks!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Fishing!

Have a great weekend!

Dawn Ackley

http://dawnackley.posterous.com

                                          May 4 2012

Dear Parent(s),

       It is hard to believe how close we are to the end of the school year.  One of the children reminds me every day just how many days are left of kindergarten. With so few days left of kindergarten our library is looking for all the books you just might have at home. Thanks for your help!

       We have several activities planned for the last few weeks of kindergarten and we are looking for some volunteers to help us out.

       On Wednesday the 16^th, we will be going to the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center.  We will be leaving at 12:15 and returning at about 1:45.

       Our Mother’s Day is Friday, the 18^th at 10:30.  We will be singing some songs for you, sharing a special gift, and then lunch.  You may bring lunch for you and your child or you may eat the school’s lunch.  Please let Joan, our secretary know if you plan on eating here early that morning.

       Our field day is the afternoon of Friday, the 18h.  We need many, many, many helpers for this one!  Please-if you are able to help let me know as soon as you can!!

       Our farm day is scheduled for Wednesday, the 23^rd.  We will be leaving at 12:40 and returning at about 2:50.

       Please let me know if you are able to help out with any of these trips.  Thanks!

Have a great weekend!

Dawn Ackley

                                                                        Apr. 27,  2012

Dear Parent(s),

The children have been enjoying learning about the farm.  We have learned about many animals and will now start learning about some of the crops that farmers grow.  We are still talking about producers and consumers.  Ask your child what they know about farm animals.

It is hard to believe that we have about 25 days of kindergarten.  It is amazing to me how all of the children have grown over this school year.  They are almost first graders!

            Please remember that we will be celebrating Mom’s Day on Friday, May 18th at 10:30.  Mrs. Lyseng, our music teacher, will be singing a few songs, we will have recess and then we are inviting you to have lunch with us.  Most moms have packed a lunch to share with their child.  Or you can order the hot lunch here at school.  Please let Joan, our secretary, know if you are eating the hot lunch by early morning.   Please do your very best to attend—they are so very proud of their gifts that they made for you.   If you are unable to be here, please have Grandma, aunt, or some other special friend come!  The important thing is that there is someone here for your child.

            Also on the afternoon of the 18^th, we will be having a field day.  We will need lots of volunteers to help with this event.  Please let me know if you are able to help out.

            We will be going to the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center on Wednesday the 16^th. We will be leaving school at about 12:15 and returning at about 1:45.  If you are able to help with this field trip, please let me know.

            We are going to the farm!  This is always an exciting trip for the kindergarten children.  We are going on Wednesday, May 23^rd in the afternoon.  If you would like to go with us, please let me know.

            With our spring weather, some of  the children have been wearing flip flops and sandals.  I really don’t mind the kids wearing these but they must have tennis shoes to be able to play in gym class. Thanks!

Have a great weekend!

Dawn Ackley

                                                 Apr. 20, 2012

Dear Parent(s),

       We have been talking about Earth Day.  We went through a sack of garbage and talked about things that we could recycle or reuse.  We also talked about how we can reduce some of the things we use everyday.  The children came up with some very creative ideas!

       On Thursday, we practiced a tornado drill.  The children did a nice job.  Please discuss what your child should do in case of a tornado at your home. 

       We have been learning about various kinds of farms and animals.  We will continue to do so this next week.  Miss Amber, our student teacher, has been doing some fun activities with the children.  They acted out a story this week.  Ask your child about the story and what part they played.

       We have caterpillars growing in our classroom.  The children are so excited to see what kind of butterflies they will be!

       Show and tell for this next Friday will be the letter Zz.  Please help your child find something for show and tell that begins with the letter Zz.

Here are some upcoming dates that you should know about.  We will need some parent volunteers for our field trips.

Mom’s Day          Friday, May 18^th

Prairie Wetlands       Wednesday, May 16^th

Farm               Friday, May 23^rd

Last Day of             Thursday, May 31st

       Kindergarten

       and early out

Have a great weekend!

Dawn Ackley

                                           Apr. 13, 2012

Dear Parent(s),

       We are off to the farm!  Miss Amber, our student teacher, will be teaching about the different kinds of farms.  We will be learning about the difference between a producer and consumer.  And of course, we will be learning about farm animals too. She has lots of fun activities planned and I know that all the children will become expert farmers!

       We have been learning all about plants this week.  We planted some flowers and even some beans.  We learned about what a plants needs to grow and the parts of a plant.  Ask your child about some interesting facts they learned this week.

       This next week is the letter Yy week.  The children can’t believe that we are almost at the end of the alphabet!  Some are thinking that we will be done with kindergarten too. But I assured them that we have many other things to learn after the alphabet!

       Thank you to our wonderful PTO and parents who helped make our school book fair a huge success!  The children were very excited to share their new treasures with us this morning!

Have a great weekend!

Dawn Ackley

                                          Mar. 30, 2011

Dear Parent(s),

Welcome to our student teacher Miss Amber!  Amber Bjerketvedt joined our class on Monday.  She will be with us for seven weeks and will then be a graduate of Minnesota State University, Moorhead!  We are so happy to have her with us!    

       This next week is the official opening of the baseball session.  We will be doing several activities with the game of baseball.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that the Minnesota Twins will win their first game of the season!  GO Twins!

       In math, we are still working on money.  We have been learning how to exchange the different coins.  We are also learning about addition and subtraction.  We have been doing stories that relate to adding and subtracting and playing some dice games.  We will then start learning about clocks. 

       We will be working on the letter Ww this next week.  Please help your child remember to bring something for show and tell that begins with the letter Ww sound.  Thanks!

Attached to the newsletter is the April snack calendar and there are some summer birthdays on it.  The children still need markers and crayons! Please send some new ones as soon as possible!

Have a great weekend!

Dawn Ackley

dackley@posterous.com

                                    Mar. 18, 2012

Dear Parent(s),

       Those wee little leprechauns visited our classroom during the night.  They made a big mess in our classroom and there were green footprints all over our school! The leprechauns even left us a note!  They wrote it upside down and backwards! But they didn’t fool us!  We were able to read the note. We had a special treat too!  Leprechaun Food!!  Yum!

       We are learning all about African animals.  We all know interesting facts about monkeys, snakes, hippopotamus, and zebras.  Ask your child to tell you at least one interesting fact about each of the animals.  We will continue learning about other African animals this next week.

       We will be learning about the letter Uu this next week.  We need a little help please!  If you have an umbrella at home, could you send it to school on Monday?  We will be doing some sorting and measuring activities with the umbrellas.  Also, please remember to bring something that begins with the letter Uu for show and tell on Friday.

       You know—we are almost first graders!!  I have already told the children this and I am also telling you.  Mrs. Ackley is done tying shoes! The children need to know how to do this on their own.  If not, wear velcro or some type of slip on shoe.

       Attached to the newsletter is an order form for yearbooks. If you are interested in ordering one, please return it to school by Friday, March 30^th.

       Just a note that there is an early out on Friday, Mar. 23^th.  The children will have lunch and then be released at about 12:00.  If your child has a change of plans for going home, please make sure you send a note. Thanks!  AND—WE ALL NEED CRAYONS AND MARKERS!!!!!!!!

Have a great weekend!

Dawn Ackley

                                          Mar. 9, 2012

Dear Parent(s),

       We have had a Seusstatical week! The children have enjoyed reading lots and lots of Dr. Seuss books and have enjoyed all of the activities.  The children were so excited to share all of their silly clothes that they wore.  But most of all--were the faces when we got to try green eggs and ham.  The children were very surprised how good they were!  Ask your child what they thought about the green eggs and ham.  We also had blue jello with fish in from Emmet! He made the special snack for our story of One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish!  Thank you Emmet!

We are off to Africa!  For the next few weeks, we will be learning about African animals and the habitats that they live in.  We will be learning about the letter Tt this next week and will be learning about verbs.  In math we have been learning about 3D shapes and money. We will also be working on subtraction.  This is a hard concept for young children so please make up some silly subtraction story problems for your child to practice.

       We have had a little trouble remembering to bring back our library books.  The books need to be returned by Monday so they can check out another new book.  Thanks for help.

       The children will have new artwork hanging at State Bank-our adopt a class business.  Check it out!

       We also have a case of brand new snowpants missing. If you happen to have an extra pair or see that your child does not have their own, please return them and I will make sure they get to their rightful own.  Thanks!

Have a great weekend!

Dawn Ackley