4K News
March 13
Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!
The past two weeks have been all about Dr. Seuss and we celebrated the beloved author by doing his two favorite things... being silly and rhyming! We read Hop on Pop, Fox in Socks, Ten Apples up on Tops and The Cat in the Hat. While reading these stories we listened closely for "words that sound the same at the end". Rhyming is an important early literacy skill that teaches children to listen for the sounds within words and encourages them to anticipate and predict words within text. Rhyming is also important for writing. It can help children understand that words that share common sounds share common letters, like cat and hat share -at. But most importantly, it makes reading fun! Rhymes, especially Dr. Seuss rhymes, are silly! We did a lot of laughing these past two weeks :) Next week, we will continue focusing on goofy rhyming words.
Math
During our math lessons the children have been working on comparing the quantities one-five to see whether they are more, fewer (or less), or the same. We have also been working on ordering numbers; which means understanding that numbers have a certain sequence and the idea that you know a number by recognizing a neighboring number. For example, “Five comes next after four,” or “Five is more than four.”
*Things to practice at home*
- At meals, ask your child to compare the quantities of items on their plate. For example, they may have three carrot sticks, but only one celery stick.
- Play a card game at home using cards with the numbers 1 to 5 only. As each of you play a card, ask your child which number is more or less than that card.
- Play a game at home using numbered playing cards only. Give one shuffled suit of cards to your child, and keep one for yourself. Then race to see who can put the cards in order the fastest.
- Write the numbers 1 to 10 on sticky notes and stick them around your home. Ask your child to search for the sticky notes and then place them in order on the table.
Social Emotional Learning
Your child is learning how to tell when something happens by accident. An accident is when we do something we didn’t mean to do. When something happens by accident, your child can: • Say, “It was an accident. I didn’t mean to . Are you okay?” • Do something to help Understanding that sometimes things happen by accident helps your child get along with others.
*Things to practice at home*
Play a pretend game with your child to practice responding to accidents.
Say: We’re going to play a pretend game. We’ll take turns pretending something happened by accident. Pretend I spilled milk on your drawing. Model what to say: It was an accident. I didn’t mean to. Say how you’ll help: I’ll wipe it up.
Take turns using other pretend accidents. Say:
• You accidentally tore a page out of my book.
• I accidentally dropped your toy and it broke.
• You accidentally got mud on the floor with your dirty shoes.
Important Dates
No School: Spring Break March 23-27
No School: Friday, April 10 and Monday, April 13
Chicken BBQ: Sunday, April 26
Field Trip to Retzer Nature Center: Wednesday, May 27