Kindergarten News
Adventures in Ms. Kovalesky's Kindergarten Class
November 11, 2014
Literacy
We've also been working on the features of books and how we read them. We've practiced reading from left to right and top to bottom. We learned that stories don't make sense if we read the opposite way. We identified a letter, word, and sentence and noticed what makes them different. We've also discovered the 3 things all sentences have. They start with an uppercase letter. There are spaces between the words. And they end with a period (or exclamation mark or question mark).
Home-School Connection
- Have your child use their tracking finger to sweep across the words from left to right and top to bottom. Have them point out the uppercase letter, the spaces between the words, and the period.
In writing we have been working on strong verbs. We read the book I Can to see examples of strong verbs, or things that we can do. We brainstormed a list and then drew a picture and labeled the strong verb.
Home-School Connection
- Take turns choosing a strong verb and having the other person act it out (ex. march, sit, smile, laugh, climb, etc.).
We have continued to add words to our word wall. We've done the following words: the, like, a, is, see, on, I, and, at, was, in, up, are, to.
Home-School Connection
- Have your child play word detective. Select one of the sight words and ask your child to find it in a book.
In our centers we have been working on identifying rhyming words and then writing the words, listening to books with rhyming words, matching beginning sounds, and graphing sight words.
Math
In the second unit we have spent time identifying and matching numbers 6-10. We've worked on writing the number 6. We use the following rhyme to help us make a 6:
Number 6 is easy to fix.
Curve down, loop around
And you've got a 6.
We've also been working on coins, specifically pennies and nickels. We've learned that pennies are worth one cent and nickels are worth five cents, which is the same as five pennies.
Home-School Connection
- Give your child a set of coins that contain pennies and nickels. Have them sort them.
We've been working on finding the group of five in numbers 6-10. We've used 5 pieces and tiles to show a number. Then showed the partners, one of which was a 5. For example, 8 is 5+3. We then used pennies and a nickel strip to find the group of 5. We then used our hands to show the partners by holding 5 fingers on one hand and the other partner on the other hand.
Home-School Connection
- Say a number 6-10. Have your child tell you and show you the partners, including a 5.
We also started math centers. In our math centers we have been working on patterning, finding the 5s in a number, reading counting and shapes books, playing war to identify the bigger number, and using our new iPads!
Inquiry
With each of the nursery rhymes we also identified the characters and setting by answering the questions Who is it about? and Where are they? We drew a picture of both and stretched out the words to add labels to our pictures.
We made our own spiders so we could act out The Itsy Bitsy Spider. Then we made puppets to act out Little Miss Muffet.
Home-School Connection
- Ask your child to say all of the nursery rhymes listed above.
- Ask your child to identify the rhyming words in the the nursery rhymes
Other Activities
- We met our art teacher Mrs. Humphry for our first art lesson. We made a piece inspired by Picasso.
- We had another Sparks lesson with Mrs. Moore. We learned about what it means to be an upstander and brainstormed ways to be one.
Notes From Ms. Kovalesky
Remember, you will see at least one newsletter a month. I know I set the bar high early in the year with the weekly newsletters. :)
There are plenty of opportunities to sign up to volunteer in the classroom. If you did not receive the Sign-Up Genius email please let me know.
There are a few things that we could use in our classroom. If you are out and about and see one of the items below, we would appreciate your help in restocking our classroom.
- sandwich bags
- gallon ziplock bags
- AA batteries (for our cd players)
- board games-most of ours are from my childhood and show their age
- dixie cups
- hand sanitizer
Thanks for your help!
Upcoming Events
Wednesday, November 26: No School
Thursday, November 27: No School, Happy Thanksgiving!
Friday, November 28: No School
Friday, December 5: No School
Contact Info
Kindergarten Teacher
Room 212
Email: kovalesky.katelyn@slpschools.org
Location: 4801 W 41st St, Minneapolis, MN, United States
Phone: 952-928-6663
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ms-Kovaleskys-Kindergarten/280894258774577