Johnson's News
December 4, 2015
Holiday Happenings in Kindergarten
Monday, December 7th is Grinch Day! We'd love to see your child wearing green! Hairstyles like Cindy Lou Who are also welcome! We will be reading The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and writing about how to make a Grinch Grin. We will also be exploring and making "Grinch Goo."
Parent volunteers are welcome to come and work in classrooms on December 8th and 9th from 10:00-11:00. Students will become "producers" on December 8-9 and will earn "wages" for their "work." On Friday, December11th, students will become "consumers" and be able to use their "wages" to purchase holiday gift items.
Kindergarten will be making gingerbread houses the week of December 14th. I am sending home a list of items that we need in your child's orange folder. The highlighted item on your child's list is the item that we are asking for your child to bring to school by December 11th. Thank you so much for your help with this project.
Our class Holiday Party will be Friday, December 18th from 10:00-11:00. Parents are welcome to attend and stay for lunch.
End of Term Assessments
Over the next two weeks, kindergarten teachers will be assessing students and looking for mastery of the standards taught in the 2nd nine weeks for GKIDS and report cards.
Please practice the following skills with your child if he/she does not have mastery of these:
- Reading all sight words taught this year
- Writing at least 1 - 2 sentences about a topic, with capital letters at the beginning of a sentence, correct spacing between words, and grade appropriate spelling.
- When writing the word "I," capitalizing it. (i.e. My mom and I walked home).
- Coins and their values (penny, nickel, dime, & quarter)
- Counting from 1 - 100
-counting objects in a set and recording the correct number
- Writing numbers 0 - 20 written correctly & legibly
-composing and decomposing numbers into tens and ones (18 is one ten and 8 ones)
Literacy Learning
I have been spending time this week formally assessing your child's current reading level. I am so pleased with how well students are learning to read and the strategies they are using. I can tell that your child is learning how to look at pictures, analyze word parts, and even use their own oral language to help them decode and read fluently. Students are learning to read sight words quickly and it's even carrying over into their writing. Thank you for helping your child begin a lifelong journey into the world of reading!
For the next two weeks, we will be reviewing literacy skills taught in these 9 weeks. Our focus will be on main idea and details, making connections between stories and characters, and learning how to use unknown words in a text. You can help with this at home by reading with your child and discussing the characters and action in the story. Also, talk with your child about the pictures and what they see that helps them to understand the story better. Ask them questions such as "What evidence from the story makes you think about.....?" When reading words your child does not understand the meaning of, you can prompt your child to look at words before and after the unknown word to find clues that will help them to understand the text better. Looking at the picture will help them too!
Please encourage your child to turn in their guided reading books. These books need to be returned to the book room for other students to use. The cost for lost or damaged books is $5.00.
Math Memo:
Next week we will be reviewing math concepts taught in the 1st and 2nd nine weeks. Our focus will be on composing teen numbers using ten frames and place value (tens and ones) counting objects with 1:1 correspondence, and money. I am sending home your child's most current math test. Please go over the test with your child.