4K News
April 22
Hope to see you at the Chicken BBQ this Sunday! Stop by the classroom to see our chickens!
Social Emotional Learning
Your child is learning the second Problem-Solving Step, “Think of solutions.” Come up with lots of safe ideas to solve the problem. Knowing how to solve problems in safe ways helps your child get along with other children and make friends. Children who calm down and solve problems in safe ways become better learners at school.
Play a game with your child to practice thinking of solutions. Use a small jar as an “idea jar.” Use pennies or other small items to represent the ideas.
Say: We’re going to play the Think game. I’ll say a problem. You think of lots of safe ideas to solve the problem. For each of your ideas, I will put a penny in the “idea jar.” Play the game throughout the week. At the end of the week, count how many ideas your child thought of.
Use a real problem, make up your own, or use one of these:
• You can’t reach a book on a high shelf.
• Your ball rolled under the bed and is stuck.
• You can’t find your favorite socks.
Literacy
Math
This past week we revisited our math module on measurement. We read the book Buster the Ballon. The book had us comparing objects by their length, weight, and capacity with a focus on measurement language.The first step to understanding the characteristics of length is understanding and using language such as tall, short, and long to describe the length of an object or the height. We then compared the items in the book using words with -er endings, such as taller, shorter, and longer. This helps develop spatial reasoning skills.
*Things to practice at home*
Suggest your child walk around the house to find objects that are longer, shorter, wider, or thinner than their hand or arm.
Summer School
The School District of Waukesha offers a summer program for incoming Kindergarteners. It is a wonderful program for all 4Kers and a great way to continue learning throughout the summer. I included a description of the program below, as well as a link to the website. If you have questions please let me know!
KINDERGARTEN SUMMER EXPERIENCE (for students entering Kindergarten in Fall 2022)
This class is designed to prepare children for the structure of Kindergarten. Each day children will be engaged in whole-group and small-group mini-lessons focused around literacy and math. Literacy concepts may include: alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness, concepts of print, and early writing. Math concepts may include: one-to-one counting, number recognition, patterns and early measurement. Throughout the entire morning there will be an emphasis on independently following routines/directions and being a part of the classroom community. Please note that this class runs from 8:15 a.m.- 12:00 p.m., so please send a snack and water bottle each day.