I am so proud of the Class of 2017!

Way to Go!  And...Keep on Going!

 

 

 

Working on our Inquiry Projects...doing some :research in the computer lab!



At the Zoo!  Listening and Learning During Our Zoo Class!



We Were A-Movin and A-Shakin!

Just Like Animals!



Putting Into Practice What We Learned!




Beautiful...A Group Picture!

It was a Great Day and the Rain Stayed Away!

 

May News

              Four Year Old Kindergarten

                                                                 

Wow!  This year is flying by so quickly, it is already May and I am so amazed at how much the children have grown and how much they’ve learned! 

It has been an exciting year in 4K!

The Inquiry Unit and The Zoo!

Thank you parents for all your help with the inquiry unit animal projects! Some of our students are bringing their projects in and they are very excited about their work and sharing what they have learned with the class!  Please feel free to bring projects in as they are completed.  Students will be presenting them to the class as they come in!

Our Inquiry Fair is taking place the evening of Monday, May 12th!   Please be sure to set this evening aside and come with family and friends to see the wonderful inquiry projects that our students have done.

 Thank you to all the parents who went with us to the zoo!  We had a great time, the zoo class was very interesting and the rain held off!  Hurray! Please be sure to look at the pictures!

 The Letter People

We are almost done introducing the Letter People!  It has been fun listening to the children sing the song of a favorite Letter Friend or referring to a Letter Friend when hearing the beginning sound of a word and knowing it’s the same sound as a specific Letter FriendJ.  This month we will be introducing these Letter People.  We’ll give you some hints about them, but please keep this TOP SECRET!  (We’re just sharing this with you now so you can ask your child about the Letter Person and if they don’t give you an answer, you can help them think of the answer because you know a little about the letter!)

Mr. I’s clothes are covered in miniature rulers because he is covered with “impossible inches”!  They are impossible because they want to measure by themselves and not work together.  He is an illustrator and inventor who wears glasses because it is important to see clearly.  He loves to measure everything, especially insects and his pet iguana.  His regular “i” sound is just like the “i” sound in impossible inches. His Same Name Sound, or long “i” sound is the same as his name: Mr. I.  He is a LetterLight like Ms. A and Ms. E and Mr. O.  A Letterlight friend helps light the way to making words.  There are 3 lowercase “i’s” on his left hand.

Mr. D loves to do his dazzling dance which he demonstrates at his School of Dazzling Dance!  He has a dapper dance costume and a dandy hat with capital D’s all around it!  He will never dillydally.  He also loves dinosaurs and did a dinosaur dig…so we will be learning about dinosaurs and have our own dinosaur dig!  If you have anything you would like to share the third week in May about dinosaurs let us know!

And then finally there is…Mr. X He is different from everyone else.  You might say he is all mixed up!  He walks on his hands and not his feet.  He talks differently, too!  His sound is never heard at the start of a word  – even if his letter is the first letter in the word!  However, his letter is found at the end of many words like fox, box, six,…  Mr. X is exceptionally different from us and we are different from him.  Being different is an excellent way to learn more about people and many other things!  When you listen to his sound, you can hear that Ms. K and Ms. S were kind enough to share their sounds with Mr. X.  His letter sound makes 2 sounds at once! He has hidden 4 lowercase x’s on one of his shoes.

In writing we will continue to work on our journal writing…journals will come home at the end of the school year so  you can continue to work on soooounding out those letters and words and continue practicing at home! As a matter of fact I called Mr. Hill to tell him what a grreat job my 4K friends were doing in writing and he said he would like to do something special to congratulate us on our excellent work…our friends suggested maybe an ice cream party!

In math we continue to work on numbers 1-30, sorting, patterns, and counting to 100and beyond!  We will also continue to do some work in the areas of measuring, quantity and addition.

PALS Assessments      Monday,  May 5-28: I will be assessing our students on their knowledge of letters/sounds, rhyming and numbers.  Please be sure that your child is healthy and at school during this important time…thank you!  And please, keep reviewing those letters and sounds…every moment you work on these is helpful!

Library…I just found out we will not be able to check out books next week because the library will be closed for the book fair, so this might be a great time to make sure that all library books are returned. We will check out books after the book fair and then the last day to check out books will be Monday, June 2^nd! Thanks to all the parents and grandparents who helpe out and have read to us this year!

Reading Folders and Homework

Some of our friends are reading on their own…hurray!  If I sent home a “reading folder” will you please find the time to practice reading with them and then return the folder for a new book please?  I also send home extra “homework” to do if you so choose…again this is your choice. I appreciate the extra attention you give to your child and the discipline they gain when you do this work but again…for some it is important review and needed, but for others just something to help keep those skills going and more review.  At the end of the year I will be sending home another “packet” that I am asking you do with your child over the summer so they do not loose the skills they have learned.

High Interest Day!  Mitchell’s high interest day will be June 9^th.  I am not sure, I am hoping that we can take part in this fun day. If you are able to help out the PTA with this great event…please, please be sure to let them know when they ask for help…our PTA does so much for Mitchell and  they need your support! If you aren’t a member now, please remember to sign up to be a member of Mitchell’s PTA when school begins next year J! 

Thank you to the parents who have helped with something this month!  Celebration treats, baggies, having snacks ready to go, games, chaperoning, etc.  Your help continues to make school special for us! Thank you also for all you have done to prepare your child for school. Each child has made incredible progress because of the work we have done together!  Thank you for Being There for me!

 

4K Celebration!…On the last day of school, June 12^th there will be a special celebration/graduation for 4K during the last hour of your child’s school day.  So AM classes: 10:00 to 11:00 and PM classes 2:30 to 3:30! We will take a look back at the year and celebrate our accomplishments…so please plan on coming!

 

A Final Farewell!  

Parents this will be my last official newsletter as your child's teachers and as a teacher in the West Allis-West Milwaukee School District!   It has been an incredible year, and a wonderful calling to be a teacher. I have so appreciated all my students and their families.   In many ways I can’t bear the thought of letting all of you go, but I know that there are wonderful days ahead and in store for our 4K-ers and I look forward to hearing about them in the future and watching each one fulfill their purpose in life!  Thank you for allowing me to be a part of their education…it is something I will cherish always!  Thank you!

 

Wishing you each the best, and a most wonderful summer!

Sincerely, Mrs. Berka

4K April Newsletter!

We’re ready for the April showers that will bring May flowers!

Thank You!

Thanks go to our parents who helped make our St. Patrick’s and Sledding Day celebrations such a success with treats, sleds and warm clothes! 

Thanks also go for all who also donated canned goods to the Mitchell food drive…we received over 100 items! Thanks for your generosity.  And finally, thank you to April Klipstein, Lisa Winslow, Heather Hawver, and Sarah Schulz for donating milk and cookies for our March Madness Slam Dunk Reading drive!

The Zipper Club

We are happy to report that 100% of our students are zippering their coats and getting themselves dressed and ready to go home each day.  Please continue to encourage my 4K friends to dress themselves and take care their own belongings! This will help next year in 5K when they have more responsibilities.  Great work families J!

 

No New Student Teacher!

We are sad to say good bye to Miss Withington but happy to have had her.  We are not going to receive another student teacher as planned due to a scheduling issue at UWM.  I am sad to miss all the extra hands to help but so happy to be the one who is teaching again, especially as I finish my last year at Mitchell.  Thanks for all the help you do with snacks, homework, etc.  It really does help… especially now! 

Literacy and the Daily News Sentences

We have been enjoying the opportunity to write our daily sentences.  We are also impressed with how many can sound out words to spell them and then read their news to us too!  This is something you can do with your child at home!  We say a sentence, clap count out the word’s syllables and draw a line for each word: a long line if it has two or more syllables and short line if it has just one syllable.  Then we s-t-r-e-t-c-h out the sounds of the word and write it out, making sure we have “finger spaces” between the words and punctuation at the end of the sentence!

 

I hope you have been able to read the Daily News sentences that we have been sending home with your child on Fridays but now we will begin writing our own news in our writing journals, which you can have fun reading with them over the summer! 

In this week’s Friday folders I will be placing some great articles that you can read about how children develop as writers and try some of the things suggested. I am also sending a chart of the letters and the sounds they make. Please use this with your child as you write with them.  We often use the reading wall at school to help us find the letters and sounds as we write and this is sort of a small reading wall!  If your child is writing with you at home please be sure to send “your daily news” to school...we would love to read it too! ☺

 

Letter People

During April we will be introducing the following Letter People.  We’ll give you some hints about them, but please keep this TOP SECRET! Too many students are telling us what letter person is coming next, that means some of you are giving the information away! J We’re sharing this with you now so you can ask your child about the Letter Person and if they don’t know, you can help discuss the letter person because you know a little about the letter! Thanks for keeping this quiet until then.

Mr. O has fun being “opposite”, but is never dangerous or unkind.  When you say “Fast” he’ll say “slow”.  When he says “no” he really means “yes”.  This is confusing fun for the children!  He has 1 eye open and the other closed, one arm up and the other down, one shoe on and the other off, 1 pocket open and the other closed.  He has 1 capital O and 4 lower case o’s on his bare toes and 3 lowercase o’s on each hand.  Being opposite helps everyone remember his regular /o/ sound, just like the /o/ in opposite.  His Same Name Sound, or long /o/ sound, is like his name: Mr. O.  He is a LetterLight like Ms. A.  He lights the way to making words.

Mr. X  is different from everyone else.  You might say he is all mixed up!  He walks on his hands and not his feet.  He talks differently, too!  His sound is never heard at the start of a word – even if his letter is the first letter in the word!  However, his letter is found at the end of many words like fox, box, six,…  Mr. X is exceptionally different from us and we are different from him.  Being different is an excellent way to learn more about people and many other things!  When you listen to his sound, you can hear that Ms. K and Ms. S were kind enough to share their sounds with Mr. X.  His letter sound makes 2 sounds at once! He has hidden 4 lowercase x’s on one of his shoes.

Ms. U Our third letter vowel has a very unusual umbrella…besides teaching us about water and rain it can fly!  We’ll discuss the changes we see coming in seasons and in the weather and do a ton of water experiments.  If you have any weather items (rain gage, thermostat, etc.), or water toys you’d like to donate…we’d like to use them! Thank you!

Thanks for all of you who are helping your child to find items from home that help us hear the letter sound for the week.  If you have not been able to do that yet please consider doing that and sending one or two items that begin with the week’s letter. Thanks!

Library Day

Children are bringing back their library books with out having them read to them and many are NOT bringing them back at all! Parents we need to make sure your child is being read to each week and daily if possible! Thank you! We could also use some readers…just email to let me know if you would like to help out!

Math- Literacy-Science

This month we will continue to learn about the season of spring and begin a unit on ANIMALS~!   Please look for a permission slip to come home shortly for a field trip to the zoo and information about a project that will need your help!

 Our trip to the zoo will be Wednesday, April 30…right after we get back from Spring Break!  A permission slip with details will come home with report cards…April 4^th and need to be RETURNED…Friday, April 11^th! 

The entire field trip is free because a Kohl’s Care Grant we received!  How exciting so please make sure you sign the slip and return!
While at the zoo we will take part I a program entitled Animal Athletes: Run, jump, swing and slither– learn about animal movement as we play an “Animal Locomotion” matching game and practice some unique animal moves! This day will have a different start and finish time for students also so please plan on making arrange-ments for such…we will most likely start at 8:30am and return at 2:00 or 2:30 pm.
We will also continue to work on counting to 30 (and for some to 100), by finding the numbers that come before, after and between other numbers patterns, sorting, and recognizing/writing numbers 11-20.

 

First Stage Theater Workshops

On Wednesday, April 9^th and Friday, April 11^th First Stage Theater will come into our classroom for two more workshops that were part of our Anatole theater experience…they will be presenting a program on Cycles in Nature which will be part of our unit on Animals! Hurray!  We are looking forward to this great opportunity and so please make sure your child is in school these days! J

Homework Packets    Just before Spring Break I will send home a pack of worksheets and activities that you can do with your child before or over the break…they will help reinforce things we have taught in class and therefore hopefully they can mostly be done independently

Screening/ Assessments

 The 4K-5K Dial assessments will begin at the end of the month, right when we come back from Spring Break.  It is so helpful if you make sure your child is healthy if they come to school and have had ample rest and a good breakfast or lunch! Results will be coming home next month. If you have any questions regarding the results please feel free to give me a call,  I may also request conferences to discuss the results and will let you know in the next few weeks.

 

Dates to Remember:

 April 3…Report Cards come home

 April 9 and 11^th…First Stage Children’s Theater Workshops!

 April 16…Spring Break

 April 28…School resumes after spring break

 April 22…Mrs. Berka at a district meeting, sub in class
 April 30…Zoo Field Trip

 May 2…Final Scholastic Book Orders Due

 May 8 and 9^th… Animal Projects Due

  May 12…4:00 pm Student Led Parent Conferences for all parents and students during   Inquiry Fair to display student animal unit projects

Some Reminders:

·         Check Friday Folders...some folders come back with all the stuff in them on Mondays!

·         Snacks...healthier choices are needed please! No fruit snacks and cookies and please help me by having them ready to go! Thanks!

·         We could use the following items if you have extras...

                        SANDWICH SIZE ZIP-LOCK BAGS

                           Plastic jewels (one side flat for gluing on items)
                        Play dough      Thank you!.... 

          Have a safe, wonderful Spring Break and Happy Easter!!

St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone, we hope that enjoy the pictures of our little leprechauns. We decided to make a leprechaun mask to see if we could trick any leprechauns into coming and playing with us! Guess what?  It worked! After returning from the library we found the classroom was a complete mess! However the leprechauns were nice enough to leave us some special treats! 

 

Two leprechauns playing a counting game and enjoying the sensory table.

 

 

Leprechauns enjoying a snack.

 

A group of leprechauns listening to a story in the library.

 

 

The afternoon group of leprechauns enjoying a story in the library.

 



 

 

Sledding Day!!!

Even though the snow is melting fast (hurray for spring!) we had a wonderful time playing in the snow!  Congratulations my 4K friends for reaching your behavior goals for this quarter and for receiving the Golden Paint Brush Award at today's Friday Fish Meeting for your exceptional Anatole art work which can be found right in our hallway~! 

 

Auriemma, Alexis, Isabella, Lalana, Riley, and Jane enjoying the hill.

Fun on the hill.

Hooray for Sledding Day!!

Trey, Hayden and Brody bouncing on the playground.

To the hill for some sledding fun.

Lillie P., Lily R. and Avery sledding down the hill.

 

Jake giving his friends a push down the hill.

Mason pulling a sled full of his friends.

Mason, Jake, Cason and Colin ran out of hill.

Arianna, Lily S. Lilly R., Avery, Lillie P. all bouncing on the playground.

Fun in the Sun.



Anatole

We had a great time this week… first  we read Anatole by Bev Titus and then saw it performed live (for the first time ever) on stage at Milwaukee’s First Stage Children’s Theater!   The play was delightful and my students did a wonderful job practicing their “theater etiquette”! 

 

Below you will see some of the great activities we did as a class with First Stage in two workshops they presented over the course of the week.   

We also had a wonderful time writing and illustrating our favorite part of the story…you will have to come into see our wonderful work (they are posted outside our classroom for all the world to see)!

 

 We would definitely rate the story and the play Four Stars!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have a new reading incentive this month called...

March Madness!

Students will be bringing home small “basketballs” for you to use, as you read to your child please place the title of the book in the basketball, color in the number of basketballs on top to rate the book (4 being the best), sign your child’s name of the bottom and return to school for a chance to win a raffle prize!

 

 

4K March News

                       

While March might come in like a LION, we are hoping for a more

“LAMB-like” weather report in the weeks ahead! J

 

March’s Activities

    Dr. Seuss activities and stories

    Play…Anatole on Tuesday, March 4^th and two workshops…Monday, March 3^rd and Friday, March 4^th!

    St. Patrick’s Day Celebration, March 17th

    This month our community center will become a Shoe Store and Puppet Theater

        

 

During March we will be introducing the following Letter People.  We’ll give you some hints about them, but please keep this TOP SECRET!  (I think some of you are giving information out J.)We’re just sharing this with you now so you can ask your child about the Letter Person and if they don’t give you an answer, you can help them think of the answer because you know a little about the letter!

 

Mr. R loves rainbow ribbons which he wins for the remarkable red roses he raises.  He keeps rabbits and raccoons away from his roses.  He has 2 capital R’s on 2 of his rainbow ribbons on the front of his shirt. 

Mr. B wears beautiful buttons from his head to his toes!  He has 2 capital B’s hidden on buttons on his front and one lowercase b on his back.  He loves birthday parties!  Mr. B finds it hard to share his buttons, but he tries to have “beautiful behavior”.  He likes to ride his bike everywhere.  We’ll talk about bike safety.

Mr. C wears a colossal cap to cover himself because he is shy.  We’ll be focusing on the hard “c” sound which he shares with Ms. K.  Mr. C’s hidden lowercase c letters can be found in his ear and on the back of his head.

 

Thanks to those of you who send things that begin with the letter of the week…it is a great re-enforcement!

LIBRARY TIME

We hope your child is enjoying the books they are able to check out of the libraryJ.  We hope you are taking the time and enjoying the time you have reading togetherJ!  If your book is lost or damaged, the school will send you information on how to replace the book. We ask that you respond as quickly as possible.  It is very difficult for our children when they can’t check out a book.

Thank you to Parker and Chase’s dad, Johnny’s grandmother, Kaitlyn’s mom and Treys’ mom for reading to our friends during our Library Time on Mondays!  The children love having their parents read to their friends at schoolJ. 

Valentine Party

Thanks for all your help making our Valentine’s Day celebrations a great success!  Thanks to our parents for sharing their love and time and/or treats at our Valentine’s Party! We really appreciate your helping out…the children had a great time and we are so thankful that you share your time and talents with us!  We had….FunJ!  

 

Things to Come…

·         We will begin our unit on Rhyming this month and also take part in something called the Nursery Rhyme Olympics…please watch for anything and anything that has to do with rhyming coming home to review! Practice finding rhymes at home as you go about the day!

·         Please look for a phone call to remind you of your turn to help out for the St. Patrick’s Day and Easter/Spring Celebrations!  If you have not had a chance to help out yet please feel free to let us know…we want everyone to have the opportunity to do so and we want everyone to do their share.

·         Also, please remember to have snacks ready to serve…many have done that and it’s great! It takes less time away from our children when I don’t have to prepare a snack…Thank you!

·         Label clothing…so many mittens, hats, etc. are left behind and many children do not know if it is theirs!  So please label clothing and if your family is missing something please be sure to check out the school’s lost and found located off the main hallway or the one I have in my room…there are enough clothes in the lost and found to clothe a small army!

·         Keep practicing those letters and sounds and name writing! Report cards come out at the beginning of April!

·         Check the WAWM and Mitchell Elementary School websites and facebook pages for school information and important messages…and don’t forget to check out my blog for the cutest pics!

·         Read every night to your child!

·         Conferences for some parents will be coming soon…March 25^th!

 

 

   Note!   Our classes have gym on Fridays…please be sure students have tennis shoes on that day…it is very important for your child’s safety!

 

Dates to Remember in March                                                    

           

4^th- First Theater…March 4^th  (10:45-12:40)        

10^th -  No school…Inservice day                                                                                                     

17^th St. Patrick’s Day Party  

Sledding Party…still to be announced!                  

                                                                                 

Help!

 Parents,  if you could help out with any of the following items we can continue to provide some unique experiences for our students.  We need:

                       

White paper

Sticky tape

Tissues

Treasure box rewards, small trinkets

Used toys and games for centers (gently)

Dress up clothes for girls and boys  

Buttons

Larger toy cars, trucks, trains, parking structures, hospitals, gas stations, etc.

Printer ink (black or tri-colored)HP60)                                        

                               Thank you!!!!

Happy March! May spring be on the way and

                                                                                     …May the “Luck o’ the Irish” be with ye all!