Close the School...Open Summer!!

Check out what 180 days of Kindergarten can do!  Here are pictures from the first day of school with pictures from this week!  It is amazing the physical growth that has happened!  What is even more amazing is the social and academic growth that cannot be measured by a photograph!  What a fantastic year it has been!


What a celebration of Room 115 we had last Thursday.  At one point I tried counting the people celebrating our class and got to the number 59 before being distracted.  Thank you so much for making our celebration a priority in your day.  If you listened to the words the children wrote in the Important activity, the reoccurring theme was the time spent with you.  Phone calls, household duties, lawn care... all can wait!  Embrace your child and let all those other things slide for the moment!  Parenting is a brief period in time!  The second part of the Important activity will come home on Thursday.




Report cards will be issued at 3:10 on Thursday.  Look for a letter from me in the envelope about things to continue with your child over the summer.

If you need an idea to freshen up things up this summer, give your child an empty box and tell them it is not a box!  Your child will know what to do next...encourage that imagination!

It has been a tremendous honor to be your child's Kindergarten teacher.  Everyday was different and flew by quickly.  If you have any questions about your child's education in the years to come, please do not hesitate to contact me.  Thank you so much for trusting me with your child's education.  It is an honor that I do not take lightly.  Have a wonderful summer!  Be sure to play outside, do puzzles, turn off that television/computer/video games and read lots of books!  Let me know what first grade is like.  It sure looks like fun to me!

Happy Reading and lots of love!

Ending the Year with a Fun Run

Friday had to be one of the best ways to end school.  What a sight to see so many children running for two miles.  The Mighty McDevitt Moonwalkers did a terrific job.  They certainly had a lot of endurance.  Start collecting your pledges.  Checks are made payable to Blount PTA and are 100% tax deductible.  If we collect 100% of the pledges, our school will make over $22,000.  Pledge money is due on Friday, May 20th.  Thank you so much for supporting our school.

Remember that we earned a no uniform day with our number of pledges.  Uniforms do not have to be worn on Monday, May 16.

Our last poem for our poetry journal will come home this week.  Poetry journals will come on Friday and do not need to be returned to school.

Thursday is the day of the big show!  The Kindergarten program will begin at 9:00.  There is a slide show that will start around 8:30.  I've watched the slide show several times and I tear up so I'm just giving you a warning!  After the program, please join us in Room 115 for a small reception and some special surprises.  It is going to be crowded in our classroom so just enjoy the fact that so many people love and support Room 115 and ignore the cramped quarters!   Remember to dress your child in our yellow field trip t-shirt (the one WITHOUT the cloud on the back) and khaki shorts, pants or skorts.  If you are checking your child out on Thursday, do so like on party days.  Hold onto that slip of paper and give to me once back in the classroom for our reception. 

I'm assessing word wall words on Tuesday. 

I wish these next nine school days would slow down. Email me with any questions or concerns.

A New Week

We had so much fun completing our Mother's Day books for our moms.  We had even more fun wrapping those books up for you.  Give your child empty boxes, a roll of tape, a roll of wrapping paper and you have at least 15 minutes of peace to accomplish a task.  Not to mention, wrapping presents is an excellent fine motor activity for young children.  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend full of sweet memories with your children.


Even though the end is noticeable on our class calendar, the learning doesn't stop.  We will be working straight up to the last day of school.  Be sure to check folders nightly and continue to read for 20 minutes a night.

There will be no poetry notebooks this week.  Look for our last poem next Friday.  I hope you enjoyed the mental image activity from last week.

Spirit Night at Jason's Deli is this Tuesday.  A flier went home in Friday's folder.

Library books are due this Friday.  Let's take a lot of AR tests this week.

The official invitation for the Kindergarten program will go home on Wednesday.  Be sure to read the attached note about a special reception in our classroom immediately following the awards program.  The K end of the year program is Thursday, May 19 at 9:00. 

The DIBELS scores for Room 115 were outstanding.  I will be sending your child's scores home either Monday or Tuesday.  Look for them in the folder.

The Booster-thon Fun Run is this Friday at 8:30 for Kindergarten.  Please join us and cheer on the "Mighty McDevitt Moonwalkers."   With the puzzling way Alabama funds education, the poor economy and the population of our school has resulted in the PTA to support Blount financially.  The state of Alabama has not given out teacher allocations for supplies/materials/curriculum for the past two years.  The Blount PTA is supporting the teachers.  Your support of the fun run  supports the PTA.  The pep rally last Wednesday was top notch, I can only imagine how impressive the actual fun run will be.  I hope to see you there!  Thank you for supporting the PTA!

Thank you so much for all the notes/sweet treats/gifts for Teacher Appreciation Week.  Official thank you notes will be coming but please know I felt extremely appreciated.  You are too kind!  I put all the letters together from the homework assignment and came up with the answer of "Mrs. McDevitt cares".  I do care very much for your child.  Thank you for your trust!

Email me with any questions or concerns.
 

The Beginning of May

This week in reading we will be reviewing the vowels and consonant letters of the alphabet.  We will also be working with word wall words.  In math, we will be acting out subtraction stories.  Even though the calendar says May the learning continues all the way up until the last day of school.  Please encourage best behavior and hard working attitudes in your child.

Monday is the final day for placing an order for our classroom scrapbook.  Please let me know if you need extra time to make the payment.

We will have a pep rally on Wednesday to kick off the Boosterthon.  Please read the letter from the PTA president that can be found in last week's blog entry for more information about the Boosterthon.

Our class will have our final DIBELS assessment on Tuesday.

Last week was a very busy week full of excitement and fun.  The zoo field trip was perfect as we had the zoo basically to ourselves, the temperature was cool, the animals were active and the children were excited and well behaved.  Thanks to the many parents that went and helped me.  I appreciate your support of our classroom.


Field day was busy and fun.  There were several comments about it being the best day of school.  By far the favorites from field day were:  Tug of War, cotton candy and the popsicles!  Our class had a fantastic turnout of parents working the games.  Thank you so much for supporting the school.



I'm updating the blog a little bit later than usual but I've been watching the news. Exciting news is breaking as I type.  What a wave of emotions this week has brought with the destruction in North Alabama to the news of Bin Laden's death.  The older I get the tighter I want to hold my children and the more I want to be surrounded by family and friends.  A wave of emotions will hit me tomorrow as we update our calendar to the month of May.  The children know they can talk about summer amongst each other but in front of me we pretend it is October and school is just getting started!  Hang on tight because I know May is going to speed quickly by.  Email me with any questions or concerns.