The Learning Continues...

 

Students are working on "Writing to Sources" from the book "The Little School Bus"

This week we will continue to work on letter identification of letters Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, and Jj. The children are doing pretty well with identification, but some still need to continue to work on identification. We will also continue to work with the words "I" and "am". You may want to put these on flash cards and practice them with your child. Please remember to mix up the order or you can hide them throughout your house and have your child go on a hunt or if you have magnetic letters you can have your child practice building the word on the refrigerator (a cookie sheet works well too). In addition, please continue to work on name writing with your child. This is what we will be focusing on during our writing time.

In math, we will continue to work on showing, counting, and writing numbers 0-5.  Students should be able to model, count, and write to 5 by the end of this chapter.  The homework packet has many great sheets that directly link to our lessons in the classroom and our workbook.
I will also be sending home homework this week.  I have attached a copy of the letter that your child will bring home on Monday or Tuesday!
 

I cannot wait to see the A group on Monday.  I have missed them!

 

This Week in Kindergarten...

This week we will continue to work on letter identification and letter sounds. We will work on the letter Tt and the sound /t/. When working with your child be cautious not to add an /u/ sound at the end. For example, the beginning sound of top would be /t/ not /tuh/. This is important when children learn to blend words together. We will also be continuing to work on our sight words of a and to. We will also be working on the sight word of the. This particular word seems to confuse some of the children. One thing you can do at home is play memory with the sight words by writing the words on index cards and have your child try to match them. In addition, when they find the match they would need to say the word. One of the most valuable things you can be doing with your child right now is simply reading to them. I would recommend taking your child to the library and having them choose some books and throughout the day or evening sit down and read with them. This promotes vocabulary development, fluent reading, comprehension, and word identification.


Almost all the children can write their name with a capital letter and lowercase letters; therefore, we are ready to move forward with writing words and sentences. This will take place whole group and during our small group time.  All the children have writing journals, which we write in and we have been concentrating on drawing a picture to tell the story.  The past few weeks the children have been coming up with their own topic to write about.  Since we are ending Unit 1 in reading street we thought we would have the children answer the big question from the unit "How do we live, work, and play together?"  In addition, the children will write about their favorite book from Unit 1.

In math, we will begin Chapter 3.  First, thank you for completing your homework packets.  We are having a high rate of return, which is fantastic!  This week you will receive Chapter 3's homework, which is due October 29 or 30.  We will be working on the numbers 6, 7, 8, and 9.  One of the big components of this chapter is not only being able to count these numbers, but realize 7 is 5 and 2 more, 8 is 5 and 3 more, and 9 is 5 and 4 more.  We will be posting more information regarding Chapter 3 in the next few days...be on the look out!

Have a great week!

This Week in 116...

This week we will be learning two new sight words: a, to. This brings the total of sight words to 6 (am, I, the, little, a, to). The children are expected to be able to read the sight words in less than 3 seconds. The children practice this daily during our reading group rotations; however, practice at home is necessary too. In addition, we have completed all the letters of the alphabet. Children are expected to be able to identify all the letters. This week we will begin learning the sounds of the letters. We will focus on the letter Mm. We will concentrate on the sound and the writing of Mm. We will also begin to blend words (this is when children see the letter and start saying the sound). I love this part of kindergarten because the children are able to begin reading words. I am sure you will be amazed in the next couple weeks what your child can do in reading.

In math, we will be finishing up Chapter 2. We have worked hard on comparing numbers 0 to 5. The children have learned the vocabulary words greater (more) and fewer (less) to help be able to compare a set. We will take our chapter test on Wednesday and Thursday. In addition, Chapter 2 homework is to be turned in on Wednesday or Thursday.  I am sure the children will do great!  We have also been working hard on counting.  The children are expected to be able to count to 100 at the end of kindergarten.  At the conclusion of 1st quarter children should be able to count to 25 to be considered "making progress."

We will also be sending home progress reports with your child this week.  The report will let you know the letters your child knows and do not know.  It will also let you know how high your child can count.  We will also be letting you know any other important information necessary for your child's success.

I hope you have a great week!

Homework...

We would like to take a moment to explain how homework will work this year. You will receive a “Family Ties” sheet and a “keep at home” story on the first day your child attends during the week. These particular sheets directly correlate with our reading program for the week. The “Family Ties” sheet has various activities you may complete during the week with your child. We encourage you to complete all of the activities, as they will correspond with what we are doing in the classroom and will provide reinforcement for your child.

At the beginning of each math unit you will receive a chapter packet. The packet reinforces what your child will be learning during the particular unit. This packet is not intended for you to do all at once, it should take several days to complete. It should be completed by the date listed on the front of the packet.

Homework will begin this week!  Please check your child's blue folder, which they will bring home on Monday or Tuesday.  This folder should be returned every day!  This is your child's "Take-Home" folder and our "Communication Folder."  Please check your child's folder everyday to see what we are doing in class and for important papers!

We are looking forward to partnering with you this year in making a great educational team for your child. As always please feel free to contact us with questions or concerns.

November Homework...

November Homework

November is Rolling In...

This coming week we will be doing a lot of learning.  In reading street we will continue our study on how animals and plants are unique.  We will be working on the sound of Ss.  Currently the children have learned the sounds m, t, a, and now s.  In addition to know the sounds in isolation, we have been working on putting these sounds together to make words.  Children should be able to blend (saying the sounds to form the word) and read the following words: mat, tam, sat, and sam.  When practicing blending with your child, have your child say the sounds slowly without stopping (mmmmmmaaaaaaat).  Furthermore, children should also be able to read the sight words: I, am, have, little, to, a, the, is.  In addition, please continue to practice letter identification with your child. Many children are doing extremely well with this skill and some need to continue to practice.  I will be sending home your child's October alphabet assessment on Wednesday and Thursday!

In math, we are continue to work on counting and comparing numbers.  Children will work on counting a specific set of objects and identifying the corresponding numbers.  I will also be asking various questions to the children to work on comparing and ordering.  We have been working a lot on this skill to develop a solid foundation of number sense.  Research shows this foundation will make it easier when we begin to add and subtract in the spring.

Since November is upon us I will be sending home a new homework calendar.  Please keep this safe as it has all of our sight words and math activities to complete at home during the month.  In addition, please continue to complete the Family Ties sheet as this corresponds to what we are doing in the classroom.  I am seeing a lot of progress from the children who are completing these quick activities at home.  It is important to continue this practice since children are at school only 2 or 3 days a week.

Reading Groups Begin...

Our reading groups began today and they went smoothly.  The way we are running reading groups is each child will be in their assigned group for 20 minutes.  The other 20 minutes will be for independent work.  This work will be review from our story and our learning skills for the day.  Your child may bring home some papers unfinished.  This is okay.  I will mark on the paper if your child was not working on it correctly or not following directions.  If your child was following directions and working, then you will not see anything marked.  I encourage you to have your child finish these sheets at home as they will help provide extra practice at home on the skills.  These would be great to work on when your child is not at school.  This would allow for the learning to continue between days.

If you have any questions feel free to email or call!  I will post more about reading groups in the next few days!

Snow Day!

I hope everyone is enjoying their snow day! During your time off, I would love for the children to take time to write a "story" about what they did during their day. The children should draw a picture and color it, label a couple parts of the picture, and try to write a sentence. The children should use their inventive spelling and segmenting skills to write the sounds they hear. Of course you may help them, but I would like to see it in their handwriting and their ability to use their sounds. I look forward to seeing their stories and we will read these in class in the next day or so when we return.

In addition, I would also love to find out what books you are reading during your time off. Have your child write down their favorite book they read. You can ask them questions as you are reading with them: who is in the story, where is the story taking place, what happened first, second, last, etc.

Enjoy your day! I cannot wait to see the children when we return!

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!

Fantastic Week...

We had an AMAZING week this week. I cannot believe it is over! We learned the letter Ee and the long sound. Just wait, before you know it your children will become basic readers! We worked on writing the letter Ee! In math, we worked on comparing and the children compared fabrics, cookies, buttons, etc. They have done a fabulous job with this. This past week also was our first week of homework! I was VERY happy because we had a 95% return rate. I am thinking next week we can make it to 100%! If you did not turn in your homework and you would like to, feel free to turn it in on Monday. Just as a reminder homework is sent home on a Monday and needs to be returned by Friday. There is usually 4 practice activities for you to complete, which allows for you to do one a night! In addition, please work on identifying letters of the alphabet, writing their name, and counting!

Finally, today was a special day because we had our first school wide "Buddy Meeting." We met with the third grade (Mrs. Ryba and part of Mrs. Coleman's class...Miss Todd's class meets with Mrs. Matheny and the other part of Mrs. Coleman's class)and completed an activity with BrainPop Jr. regarding bullying. We also will have third grade pals. We are looking forward to working with our third grade pals throughout the year! We had a blast and are looking forward to learning from them!