Margaret Kiel's Webpage

 

Welcome to Room 203!

 

Kindergarten Specialist Schedule:
 

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Music	Maker Space	Maker Space	Library	Spanish
Gym	Gym	Spanish	Gym	Music
Library

5/13/2022


All Library books will need to be returned by Thursday, May 19th. This includes student checkouts and leveled literacy cart.

Art Contest:  Mint Orthodontics is hosting an art contest for our students at Carondelet. Encourage your child to submit a piece of their artwork around the theme of "My Perfect Day" by June 1. The winner will have their artwork featured on a billboard. Please deliver the artwork to their Linden Hills office 2804 W 43rd Street Mpls., 55410  Phone Number 612-509-6468.  

DATE CHANGE: Monday, June 6th at 1:30 PM is Fishing at Lake Harriet with our Special Friends. No need to send in fishing poles or tackle from home. Poles and tackle will be provided. Come and join us for the afternoon. Volunteers are Anna Gerken....
The Children can wear their Earth Keeper shirts with uniform bottoms. 
The night before children can dig for worms to use for fishing! 

Birthday Pinata Celebration: We will be celebrating birthdays on June 3rd or 6/7th (weather dependent) with a fun pinata! We will make the pinata together at school. 
We will fill it with pinata items to celebrate all the children who have summer birthdays. So, if your child has a summer birthday, please send 15 items that could fill it. Examples: little balls, stickers, birthday party favors, erasers. cars, special straws... (Please no food). If your child does not have a birthday and want to contribute to the pinata, go ahead! I put all items in 15 individual bags, so each child gets a bag. I will provide a treat to eat! Watermelon! Pinata items are due Wednesday, June 1.

June 8th is Lower Campus Field Day: Volunteers are also needed for this fun event. More details to come. 

Kindergarten Celebration:  Please mark your calendars for the Kindergarten Celebration on Wednesday, June 9th at 10:00 A.M. This is a very special morning! We hope you can join us in celebrating your child's accomplishments and year in kindergarten.  At the end of this celebration, summer vacation begins for the kindergarteners. Attire for the kindergarten celebration is out of uniform.  The children can wear whatever makes them feel special. A picnic is being planned following the Kindergarten Celebration. Summer begins for kindergarteners after the celebration. More information to come. 

VIRTUS Volunteer Training:  All adults volunteering with children are required by the Archdiocese to complete the Essential 3 VIRTUS online training, which includes a Background Check, a Volunteer Code of Conduct, and video training about the protection of children. Volunteers should create an account at   www.virtus.org and the website will guide you through the process. Please contact Julie Stoeger, Carondelet Business Manager. with questions.

Homework: An H on your child's school work means homework. Please have your child complete it and return the next day and please remind your child to put their name on their work. 
 
Highlights: Wood, Assessments, Shoe Tying Party, Out of Uniform, Warm Weather, Tulips, Spring Tree

Art: Spring Kindergarten Tree

Religion: Promise was Jesus is our Good Sheperd

We had our second personal safety curriculum called "MBF Child Safety Matters." We reviewed our five safety rules and learned that they can be applied to online/digital sources. We discussed bullying and how we can be upstanders by helping someone who needs help. We learned the difference between reporting and tattling. An informational sheet was sent home along with a five safety rules coloring poster. 

Communication: The children continue to blow me away with all of their writing. They are so creative and are adding more details to their writing. We continue to practice proper letter formation and remembering sentence structure. 
The sight words "there and were" were introduced

Believe to Read: We continue to review our letters and practice tapping and blending words to read, spell, and write them. The words "there" and "were" were introduced.

Kindergarten Tip:  We always start printing numbers and letters from the top.  We also print our names the “kindergarten way,” which is the first letter capitalized and the rest lower case.

High Frequency Words: the, a, I, like, you, and, see, of, we, out, is, no, in, go, to, do, me, be, said, is, as, was, has, his, her, are, my, by, one, or, for, he, have, they, where, from, there, were

Literature we read: Wood, Bunny Money, The Little Butterfly That Could, From Caterpillar to Butterfly, Monarch Butterfly, From Tadpole to Frog, 

Math: We continue to review our many skills.
We are still having fun with money and clocks. We played our money adding game again - this time we went to the toy store. We reviewed finding partners and unknown partners, adding, subtracting, counting, etc. Math mountains and tiny tumblers were introduced. We started math assessments.

Social Studies: We are working on our addresses. Please practice with your child at home - this is an important skill to learn. Once everyone has learned their addresses we will be writing letters home.

Shoe Tying Party: Was so much fun! We enjoyed oreos, gummy worms, out of uniform, and playing duck duck goose outside. I am so proud of the children and this great accomplishment - keep practicing wearing tie shoes to keep this skill fresh! 

Science: We continued to explore wood. We know that wood floats - so we challenged ourselves to see if we could make it sink. Wrapping paperclips and rubberbands around our samples worked well. We then determined the minimum number of paperclips needed to sink our samples. When we want to change the shape of wood we can sand it with sand paper. Sawdust is produced - which is very fine, light, and soft. Wood shavings were introduced. We discussed, observed, explored, and experiemented with sawdust and wood shavings. Sawdust is smaller, darker in color, and dusty. Wood shavings are bigger, lighter in color, and more rough. When mixed together sawdust sinks to the bottom of a cup while wood shavings stay at the top. This was the same when placed in water - the sawdust sunk while the wood shavings floated. It was exciting to watch the sawdust sink to the bottom. We came up with many ideas on how to separate the wood shavings and sawdust from the water - ultimatly we decided to use strainers to separate them. We used two methods: scooping the strainer into our bins to scoop out the wood particles and dumping the water wood mixture through the strainers. It was interesting how both sawdust and wood shavings got darker and were sticking together when wet. We concluded that while we were able to separate the sawdust and wood shavings from the water, we would not be able to separte the two wood particle parts from each other. 

We conintued to discuss and learn about catepillars/butterflies and their life cycle. As your child about thier unique life cycle and all of the fun facts we have been learning! 

Tadpoles/frogs were introduced. We are excited to learn more about their life cycle next week. 

Our bulbs we planted in the Fall are blooming! It is fun watching them bloom and noticing the different types and colors. 

Assessments: lowercase letter recognition, sight words, writing numbers 0 - 10, letter sound production, letter sound writing, reading CVC words, writing CVC words, writing first and last names

Let's Find Out: 

Mystery Doug: Who invented pizza? Why are Coral Reefs so Colorful? Are butterflies the only animals that start out as caterpillars? Why are butterflies so colorful?`

Science and Book Shares: We had a lot of great science and book shares this week! The children did a great job of presenting their special treasures and answering everyone's questions. We look forward to more shares! 

Library Days are Mondays and Thursdays. Books can be returned and new books can be checked out on either day. All books are due back May 19th, 2022

Choice Time Activities Were: Legos, kitchen, books, free color, science table, magna tiles, dollhouse, kitchen, wood pieces, puzzles, magnetic dolls, science table

We do a lot of creating in Kindergarten and we try to use as many recycled materials as we can! Throughout the year if you find any of the following supplies feel free to send them in for us to create with!

*Paper towel and toliet paper rolls (wrapping paper rolls work too!)
*Magazines
*Brown Paper Bags
*Newspaper

Some weekly reminders for parents:

1. Please read this website every weekend for very important weekly kindergarten information. I will send an email alert on Fridays letting you know when my website is ready.
2. Please read the Carondelet Catholic School news notes every weekend too  .
3. Please read through the information in the Big Green Envelopes (BGE) on Wednesdays and then return them. 
4. Remember to send a fruit or vegetable snack daily with your child. Please no granola bars or nuts. 
5. Please put your child's name on their lunch boxes, water bottles and sweaters.

I am so happy  to be spending the year with you and your children.

Ms. Kiel

For Your Calendar:
5-19-2022 All Library Books Due
6-1-2022 All School Mass - 9:15 Upper Campus Christ the King - Families Invited 
6-3-2022 Happy Birthday Scout
6-3/6/7-2022 Summer Birthday Pinata Celebration
6-6-2022 Fishing with our Special Friends Volunteers Needed 
6-9-22 Last Day of School and Kindergarten Celebration - 10:00 AM
Summer Birthdays - Cary, Teddy, Clayton, Hannah

Here are some  super important notes for kindergarten parents:

Dismissal Procedures:  A big part of every day is going home.  We have your transportation plans on file and in the classroom.  It is so important to us and to your child that they know where they are going after school. Often there are changes, such as doctor appointments, piano lessons or play plans with friends.  If you have a change in plans, other than what you indicated on forms, you MUST Email Holly before 3:00.   

Post the monthly  kindergarten calendars your child brings home. 

If your child has “ kindergarten tummy” (is missing you, which is normal, and often it happens more the 2nd and 3rd week of school) help your child by putting a photo of you in their backpack or pocket.  They can take a peek whenever they want to. 

Sometimes children have food allergies in the kindergarten class, as is becoming the norm in schools.  If a class has a student with allergies, that class will follow allergy awareness procedures and will not bring any food or drink besides water into the classroom. An exception is on days we cannot eat in the cafeteria, safe procedures will be in place on these days as well. To help encourage good hygiene and prevent the spread of germs, the children will wash their hands before starting their day. This will help in reducing illnesses. 

Kindergarteners have an  afternoon snack: fruit or vegetable (parents provide). Please no dips. You may want to chat with your child about saving that afternoon snack food in their lunchbox. 

Birthday Celebrations:  Out of concern for students’ overall wellness, Carondelet has decided to eliminate birthday treats from the school day. Instead, students will be given an out-of-uniform day on their birthday. Teachers will also have their own classroom traditions.  We celebrate summer birthdays during the last week of school with a classroom piñata. We love Birthdays!!

Communication/Newsletters:  Parents must read the important details from the Classroom newsletters that are posted online each Friday (end-of-day, around 5:30). The All-school on-line  newsletter is emailed to parents each Friday. 

It's going to be a GREAT year!!

Kindergarten Tips & Reminders:

Here are some tips about Kindergarten that will help you know some important details about how our classrooms work.  Of course, make sure you read the Carondelet Catholic School Handbook.  Save this information for future reference. 

Books in a Bag:  During the year, we will be sending home, classroom books, beginning readers and Book projects or Math games.  If your child brings one home, help them read the book or play the game and send it back to school.

Dismissal Information:  If your regular plans change, send the information via Email to Holly in the morning or by 3:00. Please no written notes.

Friday News: The Kindergarten Newsletters will be available on-line on Fridays after 5:30.  Please read it.  It gives details about our classrooms, volunteer opportunities and gives you highlights of our week.  Look for a monthly calendar in your child's backpack.

Gym:  Our class has gym on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.  Children should wear gym shoes on gym days.  It is best if they wear gym shoes all day.  

Homework:  We believe that every day, a kindergarten child’s “homework” should be playing outside and reading a book or books with parents.  Readers grow by being read to and children need to run and exercise and play outside in nature and plan their own time.  We will give “fun” homework occasionally, like finding something made of wood to bring in to share, bringing in a favorite folktale, or measuring a favorite animal, as well as Math and communication homework.  

Some children excel in Math.  If they want and are self-motivated to do extra work, we will send home "Challenge Math" starting in October. Additionally, if children excel in reading, we will send home Book projects or extra literacy work. 

But, generally, kindergarten kids work very hard listening and following directions all day and we believe they need unstructured time and family time. 

Library:  We have library on Mondays and Thursdays.  Please help your child remember to return their books each week.

Makerspace: Our class has Makerspace on Tuesdays. and Wednesdays.

Music: Our class has Music on Mondays and Fridays.

Money:  You will be billed for most expenses for school, like Field Trips, lunches etc.  If you do need to send money to school, attach it to the appropriate form.  It is best to send money in a sealed envelope and please include:  your child’s first and last name, the date and the amount of money.

Names on clothing and school items:  It helps if you put your family name on all clothing items; even boots and snow pants.

Snacks:  Every afternoon we will have a “fruit/vegetable break” with a free milk.  Please send one portion of a fruit or vegetable for your student.  Example:  banana, apple, peach slices, carrots, celery.  (No dips please!)  

We additionally will have special snacks to celebrate Holidays and special events.  We will get the word out, and families can volunteer to send a wrapped treat if it is convenient.  We will alert you about when the snack is needed and give a suggestion of what to send.  We will take into consideration any food allergies so that everyone can enjoy.  

Volunteers and Field Trip Chaperones:  All adults need a background check, Virtus training and sign a Code of Conduct form as mandated by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to participate in activities.  All families received the necessary forms. There are more in the office.  Watch for Virtus training dates for our school on the Web site or go to    www.Virtus.org. 
                                                        
We invite you to contact us by email for quick notes.  But, if you have a pressing issue, please let’s talk on the phone or conference together so we can have an open exchange.  We will be checking email several times between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm.

Questions?    

Send us an email or call our voicemail
                                                           
 We invite you to contact us by email for quick notes.  But, if you have a pressing issue, please let’s talk on the phone or conference together so we can have an open exchange.  We will be checking email several times between 9:00am and  4:30 pm.

Additional Kindergarten Information

Kindergarten Behavior Plan:

To read the Kindergarten Behavior Plan   click here.