Kindergarten News
Greenwood Laboratory School
October 2-6, 2023
Updates & Reminders
- The snack calendar for October and family homework project for October were both sent home this week! Please be sure your child's name is on his/her family homework when it is turned in. These are due Thursday.
- The Book Fair is this week! Details about shopping days/times and the donut breakfast were sent home last week. We will preview the book fair on Monday and your child will bring home a wish list. You are welcome to send money back to school to purchase the wish list items, or you can take your child to the Book Fair before or after school.
- October 12th-13th: Fall Break (NO SCHOOL)
- October 20th: Pumpkin Patch Field Trip
- October 30th: Halloween Parade and Party: Halloween is a BIG deal at Greenwood! Students wear costumes and we have a schoolwide Halloween parade and assembly, followed by our class Halloween party. This is a long-standing Greenwood tradition and a lot of fun for our students. More details coming soon!
- October 31st & November 1st: Parent Teacher Conferences (No School for students). I will send out the sign-up link next week.
- November 10th: Bluejay Bash
Snack Days
Monday: Chase
Tuesday: Connor
Wednesday: Eli
Thursday: Elin
Friday: Everett
Content/ Theme: Fire Safety
We will also have our second visit from the zoo on Monday!
Reading
Here are the concepts/ strategies we will be working on:
- Sight Word: to
- Identify what we have learned from a non-fiction book
- Explore features of non-fiction books
- Looking at the first letter and starting the word
- Thinking about what would make sense when we come to a tricky word
Writing
Students will:
- Choose a person to write about
- Use a simple graphic organizer to plan their writing
- Use illustrations and words to write their own non-fiction book
What is Invented Spelling, and Why is it Important?
You may notice that your child is starting to say words slowly or "sound it out" as they are writing. Invented spelling refers to a young child's beginning attempts to spell words. Using what they know and understand about letters and writing, children who use invented spelling are encouraged to create their own spellings based on their phonetic knowledge. As their phonetic knowledge grows, their invented spellings become more and more similar to actual word spellings.
A study published in the January 2017 issue of the journal Developmental Psychology concluded that the most valuable early literacy skill to encourage in kindergarten is neither alphabetic knowledge nor memorization of key sight words. In fact, it's not a reading skill at all. The best indicator of future reading success as a reader is actually a child's ability to use invented spelling as he writes. Simply put, children who use invented spelling developed stronger reading skills over time, regardless of their existing vocabulary, alphabetic knowledge, or word reading skills.
Word Study
- Hear and clap the syllables in words
- Sort pictures/words by the number of syllables
- Write the letters Uu & Vv with correct letter formation
Math
We will:
- Compare and order numerals and quantities
- Tell how many more and how many less
- Tell how many in all
- We will play several games to reinforce these concepts. This is important as it is building the foundation for understanding addition and subtraction.
Mrs. Abby Lowe
Email: abbylowe@missouristate.edu
Location: Greenwood Laboratory School Missouri State, East Harrison Street, Springfield, MO, USA