Weekly Blog

Friday, October 24th, 2025

Hi Families!

We've had a great week of re-setting expectations after MEA Break! 🙂

Here are a couple of notes from this week:

I sent home the UFLI homework yesterday. With it, I should have included this set of directions. See the attached directions below for some helpful hints in supporting what your student does daily.
School Photos were sent home today! If you ordered photos, but did not receive them, please contact Ludwig Photography. (320) 845-4100 ludwig@albanytel.com. I will let you know when retakes are scheduled.
Check out the lost & found at this link.
Check out next week's concepts below!
Lastly, as the weather changes, please send weather appropriate clothing for your Kindergartener.

Important Dates:

Friday, October 31st: Class Halloween Party
Monday, November 3rd: No School
Monday, November 10th: No School
Fall Conferences: November 18th, 20th, 24th

Thank you for all that you do!

Friday, October 10th, 2025

Hi Families,

We have had an exciting week! Between homecoming royalty visiting to learning about fire safety, we have been on the move and learning lots!

We received some homework from the firefighters. Your kindergartener is supposed to ask you:

Where is our meeting place outside of the house in case of an emergency?
Do you have a fire extinguisher at home?

We also read a Let's Find Out Article about Fire Safety!

Stay away from hot things.
If you see smoke, stay low & go.
If you see a fire, get out and stay out.
Don't be afraid of firefighters.

Here are a few reminders as well as links to important information:

Check out homecoming junior royalty answering questions and playing pass the pumpkin with us at this link.
Check out photos of us learning about Fire Safety at this link & one class photo below!
Early Dismissal on Wednesday, October 15. Please email Kelsey in the office your student's plans if it is not their usual plan. kthelen@district745.org
No School on Thursday the 16th & Friday the 17th.
This week I sent home your child's lunch & library pin. Please have them practice typing their pin over the break.
The Early Childhood Pumpkin Patch Carnival information was sent home on Thursday. It is Friday, October 24th from 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM.
Check out the ELC's Lost & Found at this link. Please claim your item by emailing albanyelc-office@district745.org.
Check out next week's concepts below!

Thank you for all that you do!

Homecoming Junior Royalty

I don't know what I told them to say, but it evidently wasn't cheese! Maybe Huskie Heroes?

Fire Department Visit!

Friday, October 3rd, 2025

Hi Families!

This week, we started learning about the letter Aa and the sight word (heart word) the. We learned about what stations look like while we learn about each letter of the alphabet. We spend two days learning about each letter, so here are a few stations that we do!

Push pin station: students use a push pin and poke tiny holes to create a picture of the letter name. This is fine tuning our fine motor skills!
Dauber Station: We practice daubing the lowercase letter and thinking of other words that begin with the letter.
Letter Craft: These week we made apples! Check out the photos below.
Handwriting: We will practice writing the letter using a variety of methods - pencil & paper, chalk & chalkboard, sand trays, etc.

This next week, we have a lot going on! Check out the monthly calendar for reminders!

Monday: PJ Day
Tuesday: Sports Day/letter m day
Wednesday: Picture Day
Thursday: Pink Out/letter s day
Friday: Purple Pride Dress-up & the Fire Department is coming to the ELC to talk about fire safety.

Today we also practiced switching for our Walk-to-Read groups! We switched to our WTR (walk-to-read) classroom and talked about expectations during WTR.

Additional reminders:

Order a yearbook with the flyer that was sent home or online.
Check out the ELC's Lost & Found at this link. Please claim your item by emailing albanyelc-office@district745.org.
Check out next week's concepts below.

Thank you for all that you do!

Friday, September 24, 2025

Dear Families,

We went to see Elephant & Piggie: We Are in a Play! The students learned how to be an audience member & did an awesome job! Check out the photos at this link.
We also had the Walk-a-thon on Wednesday. We had two stations: playground time and a trail walk. The students did great participating and enjoying their time outside. Check out the photos at this link, too!
This week we learned all about apples!
- We listed to The Story of the Apple Star
- We did apple stamping to try to see the star in the apple
- We read the story about Johnny Appleseed
- We began to learn about the parts of an apple.
- Next week, we will taste-test yellow, green, & red apples & make a graph to see which we like the best!
- Practiced our fine-motor skills by "picking" apples out of trees (play-dough) & played with applesauce oobleck!
Check out the ELC's Lost & Found at this link. Please claim your item by emailing albanyelc-office@district745.org.
Homecoming week is October 6th - 10th. Be on the lookout for dress-up days!
Picture Day is October 8th
Order a yearbook with the flyer that was sent home or online.
Lastly, be on the lookout for our classroom's October calendar.
Check out next week's concepts below!

Thank you for all that you do!

Friday, September 19th, 2025

Hi Families!

We have our Field trip to see Elephant & Piggie this coming Tuesday, September 23rd. Please send your student with their cold lunch if that's what you've chosen. We will eat lunch after we return.
Please return your Walk-a-thon envelope by Monday, September 22nd. The Walk-a-thon is Wednesday, September 24th.
Wednesday, September 24th is also an Early Dismissal Day. Please let Kelsey at kthelen@district745.org know what your student's dismissal plan is (if different than usual) as soon as possible.
Check out the ELC's Lost & Found at this link. Please claim your item by emailing albanyelc-office@district745.org.
Picture Day is October 8th
Order a yearbook with the flyer that was sent home! :)

This week a few things that we learned included...

Learning about germs and how to keep our hands clean.
Made and nearly finished our name rockets! I will send a photo next week.
Began using our writing journals.
Learned about the front cover, title, and back cover of a book.
Practiced making circles and counting to 10.

If you are looking to support what your student is learning at school, check out next week's objectives below!

Reading

Rhyming Words

Vocabulary

Category Words: Numbers

Comprehension

Details

Print Concepts

Parts of a Book
Distinguish Letters from Words
Reading from Left to Right

Writing

Write about the Text
Name
Horizontal & Vertical Lines
Slant Lines

Math

Circles, Rectangles, Squares
Making connections between Math & the real world
More/Fewer, Greater/Less
Subitizing
Writing numbers 1-3

Science (Apples)

Sort objects by color or size then communicate the reasoning for the sorting system.

Thank you for all that you do!

Friday, September 12th, 2025

Dear Families,

I hope that you are all doing well! It has been another week of learning procedures and our names!

This week we've focused on our names and our classmates names:

At Morning Meeting, we practice saying "Good Morning" to each other and calling our classmates by their names. I've been encouraging students to say, "What's your name?" if they can't remember a classmate's name.
We also read the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. The book is about a girl that loved her name - until her classmates started making fun of it. Each time that something unkind was said about Chrysanthemum, she wilted like a flower. We compared it to each other. When someone says something unkind, we wilt or our heart gets wrinkled. Names are special to us and we need to treat each other's names with kindness.

We also learned how to use scissors safely! We practiced our scissor cutting skills by cutting out Pete's head, tail, and his school shoes. Check out the photo below.

This week also marked the beginning of Heggerty (Phonemic Awareness practice) and Math! This week we've practiced following directions, making circles, and finding objects in groups of 2, 3, 4, & 5.

Be on the lookout next week for the following items:

Yearbook order information
Picture Order Form (Picture Day is October 8th)
Library Books were sent home this week! If your student wants a new book, they should return their book by Tuesday, September 16th.

Important Dates:

Monday, September 22nd: Walk-a-thon donation envelope due
Tuesday, September 23rd: Field Trip to Helgeson Learning Lab Theatre (Great Theatre) to see Elephant and Piggie
Wednesday, September 24th: Early Dismissal & Walk-a-thon

Thank you for all that you do!

Friday, September 5th, 2025

Dear Families,

Your Kindergartener has completed their first week of Kindergarten! It has been a wonderful week getting to know your Kinder. We've learned many school routines and had fun along the way.

Here is what we learned this week:

How to use a pencil, glue stick, and crayons.
1. Today we learned specifically about the glue stick. We listened to the book Glue Sticks On Strike and talked about the different ways that we use glue sticks and do not use glue sticks. Then, students practiced creating small dots and pressing lightly with the glue sticks. Lastly, we practiced our fine motor skills by tearing paper and gluing it into a heart.
Bathroom Procedure
Hallway & Line-Up Procedure
Moving around the classroom safely
How to play on the playground safely
Free Choice (play time) clean up
On Wednesday, we made a bracelet with "Magic Beads". We practiced our fine motor skills by putting beads in rainbow order on the chenille stem (pipe cleaner.) There were four magic beads total. We then walked outside and they covered their bracelet while I read a poem that said, "Magic beads, oh so white. I make this wish with all my might. If another color does appear, I'm sure to have a great school year!" We then uncovered our bracelets and the beads mostly changed colors!
We read the book Pete the Cat: Rocking in my School Shoes only to find that Pete had left a note at the back of our book! The book led us on a scavenger hunt around the school to find Pete and to learn the different parts of our school, like Pete did! When we returned to our classroom after the scavenger hunt, Pete (stuffed animal Pete) was sitting on my chair with some coloring sheets that he brought. The kids were so amazed and thought of the different ways that Pete hung up the clues and made it around the whole school.

Here are some helpful reminders for next week:

Crayon Family Project is due Monday
Lunch form for field trip is due Monday (if applicable)
All About Me Poster is due Friday

Next week we will begin learning about:

Routines in reading and math
& we will continue learning about school routines

Thank you for all that you do!

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