Mrs. Donovan's Kindergarten
January
Happy New Year!
I hope everyone enjoyed time together with family and friends over break! It is good to be back! We are very happy to welcome a new student to our class this month. His name is Kento Murai; he and his family have come to Rye from Japan. Please join me in extending the Murai family our warmest greetings!
We are right back into the swing of things in kindergarten. I am happy to report that each student appears refreshed and ready to work! In Literacy this month we will focus on using our "superpowers" to decode unfamiliar text. This simply means utilizing the strategies we have been introduced to in order to read with more accuracy and fluency. I will administer the DRA (Diagnostic Reading Assessment) to each child to ascertain their appropriate reading levels. This information will be used for placement in small reading groups and in order to choose "just right" books to go home for reading practice. This month, Milton School is participating in a Read-a-Thon. Folders with logs and more information have gone home. Any books read can be counted towards the minutes for the reading logs. When the Read-a-Thon is over, we will begin a kindergarten reading log. More information will come home in your child's folder. Please remember to check the folder daily and empty it of old materials!
In Math, students have almost completed the Volume 1 workbook. When it is finished I will send the completed book home for you to keep. The units we are currently working on include finding "partners" for numbers up to ten, understanding that teen numbers are those with groups of ten and some ones, and we continue to identify the attributes that make shapes. Students are also manipulating shapes to make new forms practicing math vocabulary such as slide, flip, rotate, and match. We also continue to count the days in school as well as count down the days until the 100th day! Today is the 71st day in school so we are getting closer and closer to our 100th day celebration!
In Science, we will begin a new unit that takes a closer look at how we use our five senses. The five senses are the over arching theme of our entire science curriculum. In this unit, students will enjoy hands on experiments that focus on each sense individually while utilizing the scientific method. We will also begin an interdisciplinary unit on bears.
Our class continues to tap into their creative selves through story writing. Our writing binders are getting very full. At some point this month we will look through our writing pieces, save some of our favorites from each month and send home the rest. There is so much progress in each child's writing, from the use of sight words to the details in the illustrations, K-D students are becoming great story tellers!
The weather has finally turned colder; we were spoiled for a while there! Please make sure to dress your child warmly as we will make every attempt to go outside, even on cold days. Once the wind chill goes below 32 degrees, we will have indoor drop off and recess.
Please send play-date plans via email in the morning or the day before. Sometimes I don't get a chance to check email in the afternoon until after dismissal.
Happy Winter!
Best,
Meghan Donovan