First Sound / Beginning Sounds...

One of the important beginning skills in kindergarten literacy is the ability to isolate the first sound or beginning sound of a word. It is important for your child to be able to hear a word and then tell you the first sound they hear. For example, if you would say "cow" then your child should be able to say the first sound back to you "/c/" not the letter name. You can practice this for about 5 minutes a day anywhere. You can practice while cooking dinner, standing in line, shopping, in the car, etc. All you have to do is say a word and ask your child to tell you the first sound. You can use family member names, various food items, game titles, television shows, etc. When you say the word to your child, say it in a normal tone and at a normal speed. I would only concentrate on first sound. When you notice your child has the ability to identify the first sound, then you move to ending sounds of the word. If your child does not say the correct sound, then tell them the beginning sound and ask them to repeat it to you. For example, if you say "What's the first sound in cow?" and your child says "/mmm/," you should say "I hear the /c/ sound. What do you hear?" and have them say "I hear /c/ at the beginning of cow." You can also go to the DIBELS page and check for more information regarding First Sound Fluency: http://bit.ly/cs3KH2

Vocabulary Parade...

We had a great day on Friday with our vocabulary parade! The children came to school with some great words and great costumes. We were able to parade around the building and show off our words to everyone. In the afternoon our winner was Morgan with the word "static." She had a costume with socks stuck to her. We also had children dress up as: zigzag, champion, luminous, nervous, x-ray, etc. The children did a fantastic job! I dressed up as stamina and wore some of my marathon gear!

I also want to thank our room parents for organizing our "snack party" with some great treats for the kids to eat when we returned from the parade. I will post some pictures in the upcoming days. Stay tuned!

Jamming to Rhymes...

One of the skills in literacy is to be able to recognize and identify rhyming words and also produce rhyming words. We have been working on rhyming words (recognizing, identifying, and producing) during our morning/afternoon carpet time. During this time we also work on our letters, sounds, number identification, and counting. Friday afternoon the kids had a little surprise when we had a jam session to "Make a Rhyme, Make it Move" by Jack Hartmann. Miss Todd's class came over and joined us for the fun! Today we had a chance to do the song with the morning class. I think they loved it! Check it out below to see the fun!

Read Well...

It is amazing the kids are working so hard in our Read Well program. There are lot of things you will see coming home from our program. You may find yourself looking at this and wondering "I do not get this" and/or "I do not know what to do with it." I want you to know you are not alone! Our program is different and I want to help you understand it the best I can. This will only help you help your child at home. Follow the link to read more about Read Well and view two short videos in relation to Read Well: http://bit.ly/99Dh8o . I hope this helps! I want to work together as a team to help your child in reading and math!

Smart Board, Smart Learning...

We have been using our Smart Board to help our learning. This tool we use is like a huge computer monitor you can touch. Just imagine your monitor bigger than a big screen TV that you can touch. This technology is allowing us to help our students learn 21st century skills. This is not the only way your child is learning, but it is allowing us to teach your child using another modality of learning. We are able to tap into the visual, auditory, hands-on, etc. learner. The children love using our Smart Board in literacy, writing, and math. Some of the other technology in the building is our sound system. I wear a microphone which amplifies my voice in an equal setting across the room; therefore, all the children in the room can hear equally my voice. It is amazing how much we are all learning together and at times, the children are learning faster than the adults. If you have not had a chance to come in to the school and check out our Smart Board or the other technology, please feel free to stop in and check it out!

You should check out some of our favorite sites we use on our Smart Board to help us with our letters, sounds, and math:
http://www.literacycenter.net/lessonview_en.php#
http://www1.center.k12.mo.us/edtech/edm/K.htm
http://media.emgames.com/emgames/demosite/demolevel1.html

Letters, Sounds, Oh My...

You may have heard your child coming home singing various songs and chants we do in class. These songs and chants help your child associate letters and their sounds in a catchy way. You can help us at home by asking your child what the sounds of various letters. In addition, you can say a word and ask your child what sound do you hear at the beginning of the word. You can do this in the car, while washing dishes, shopping, etc. because you do not need anything. In addition, letter recognition is important because children need to recognize letters when it comes to writing. Take 5 minutes and show your child a set of letters and ask them to tell you the letter. The best way to do this is to go through the alphabet once and make two piles (ones they know and ones they don't know). Once you go through the pile, take 2 letters from the "don't know" pile and add it to the "know pile" and only go through this pile. Once your child knows all the letters in this pile, choose 2 more from the "don't pile" and add it to the "know pile." Once your child can identify all the letters in the newly formed "know pile" you add 2 more from the "don't know" pile. This process continues until all the letters are known. This process also allows the child not to be frustrated because you are only working on letters they know and 2 unknown letters. Finally, thank you for all of your support at home...the success of your child is a partnership between school and home!

Fall Fun...

In math this week we have been concentrating on counting objects and recognizing a set. We have been working really hard tagging and making sure we touch each item we count. We also been lining up the objects so we do not count an object twice. Yesterday the children were introduced to the ten frame board to help us count. Children rolled a dice and then placed "spiders" on the ten frame boards to represent the number on the dice. The children worked in pairs to allow for children to begin to develop sharing and teamwork skills. Counting is a key skill to be successful in math. Children need to be able to count a certain number of objects. Futhermore, we want children to be able to recognize a number on the dice without counting it. Any type of game using a dice will help with this skill. We will be working on other "dot" arrangements for these numbers. We want the children to be able to able to take their knowledge and apply it in other formats.