Kindergarten news
Hi Everyone
We are really
getting into a routine! The past few
weeks have been very busy. We are still working on being good listeners all the
time. Please continue to help with this at home!
In Literacy: We can
now read to ourselves for 15 minutes. This gives Miss Meeks and me a chance to
listen to individual students read or tell us the story from the pictures. We
can reinforce the use of good reading strategies of pointing to the words, using
picture clues, checking the text and making sure it makes sense. Some of the
children are text readers, some are using picture clues and beginning letter
sounds to figure words out and others are telling the story from the picture. With the picture readers Miss Meeks and I are
pointing and reading a page and then the student will point and read after us
(Echo Reading). These are all normal ranges of reading ability in a
kindergarten classroom.
On Mondays just
before lunch or at the end of the day Mrs. Kerr or Mrs. Schaaf’s 5th grade
students read or write with the kindergartners. The children love having 5th
grade reading buddies!
We are working on
letter recognition, letter sounds and letter formation on a daily basis. Some
of the children are able to stretch words and write independently while others
need support for this. Many of them use the resources around the room for support.
In math we are
counting to 100 by 10’s, to 20 by 1’s, writing numbers, learning the terms
greater than, less than, equal to, some simple addition and subtraction of one
more or one less. A lot of the math concepts are taught through our calendar
time.
We are also learning
how to sort things by different attributes. We play a mystery sort game. I have
a group of students stand in the middle of our carpet and the other students
have to figure out what is alike about all of them. It could be they all have
Velcro shoes or they all have blonde hair. This is leading into having them
sort objects or people also by different attributes and to explain their sort.
We will be doing this for math as well as for literacy.
I hope you all
enjoyed the 1st 12 days of Kindergarten book and our body Alphabet Book. The
Bus Ride story is coming home next week.
Please use these books at home as a practice reader. (I'm hoping to get
electronic versions of these class made books - stay tuned!)
We started to bring
home our baggy books this week. The children may keep their book for more than
1 day or exchange it daily, but they should at least trade out for a new one
once a week. Please have them read the book several times before returning it.
Rereading familiar books increases a child’s fluency and comprehension skills.
I hope you are all
enjoying the treasure book activity. This will give you some idea of how to
support your child’s emerging reading skills. I know the children get very
excited when I bring out the treasure chest and pull out our new book. This week's book The Enormous Watermelon
encourages the children to work together to accomplish a tough job.
Last week we
discussed the importance of Constitution Day. We discussed all the wonderful
things about living in America and about all the people that help and protect
us. We discussed how we are all helpers when someone needs help or support. I
hope you saw the booklets the children brought home about the Constitution. We
connected the writing of the Constitution to the rules we have for our school
and classroom. These two subjects are difficult for young children to
comprehend but I feel they did a good job getting the ideas presented.
In Science we are
working on the five senses. We went on a super duper looking hunt. The children
then had to draw and write 4 things they saw on their hunt. Each week we will
focus on a different sense.
Please read with
your child at least 15 minutes a day!
Thank you for
sending only healthy snacks for our morning snack time. The fruits and veggies
have been great! Please remember no cookies or chips as a snack. Having a water
bottle is also a good thing!
**Important up coming
date!**
Our first field trip
will be to Norton Farm on Thursday Oct. 2nd from 12:45-2:30. I drew names from a hat from all those that
volunteered and I will be emailing you individually. (I got picked!)
Wednesday, Oct. 8th
we are having a family reading night from 6:30-7:30. The children are invited
to come in their Pajamas so they can head to bed as soon as you return home.
Have a great
weekend!
Ms. Karen Johnsen
and Miss Meeks
No comments:
Post a Comment