Kindergarten News Sanders St.
Week Of December 7th
Highlights from last week....
In Reader's Workshop, we continued to look at the picture AND the first letter of the word to see if it makes sense! This week practiced our strategy of matching the picture and the first letter and then looking through the whole word. This week our class had SO many "AHA" moments during reader's workshop. Many of our friends were using the strategy successfully this week. It is so AWESOME to hear the children gasp when they figure out the strategy on their own. The excitement of them wanting to share their reading is so wonderful. I hope that you are seeing this at home with the books that we sent home with your child. We will be sending home new books this week. Please keep them in a special spot so that they can build their own library at home. Please have them read to you nightly. As they read to you at home, have them use the strategies that they are working on at school; pointing to each word, looking at the picture and the first letter and sounding out the letters in the tricky word.
In Math, we began our unit on measurement. We compared length and height this week. We are working on using the words; taller, shorter, and longer. At home, please work with your child and have them use these words in a sentence. For example, "The tree is taller than the house". "The soda bottle is shorter than the cereal box". "The pencil is longer than the crayon". Please remember if you are talking about items that are being compared up and down (vertical), use the word taller. If you are comparing items that are side to side (horizontal), use the word longer. The word shorter can be used with both taller and longer. I hope this makes sense. Have your child show you the hand motions to help them with this concept.
In Phonics, we have started to created words with the letters that we know. The kids LOVED tapping out new words.
In Social Studies, we discussed how different people celebrate different holidays in December.
In our Second Step program, we continued to learn about our own feelings.
We will read several fun books to reinforce the love of reading. During these read alouds we will be practicing some of our strategies that we are learning in our retelling unit.
A peek at our learning this week....
In Reader's Workshop, we will practice our strategy of matching the picture and the first letter and then looking through the whole word. I know it seem like we have been at this strategy for a LONG time, however, it is a big concept for our small people. This is the foundation of becoming a successful reader and it requires A LOT of practice. As we mentioned earlier, many of our friends are almost mastering the skill. Once, they have mastered it, we will work with them individually to conquer the next strategy. We are really pushing them to be the best reader they can be! We hope you are seeing this at home!
In Math, we will continue our unit on measurement. We will be comparing length, height and weight this week.
In Phonics, we will practice tapping out the sounds in CVC words in order to read them. At this time, the majority of our friends know their letters, so we will not be having a letter study of the week. Thank you for practicing at home, it has made a HUGE difference. There are still some children that are still struggling with their letters and these friends will be working with us and other teachers during small group time to master their letters. This week we are really practicing on recognizing beginning and ending sounds, rhyming words, writing words using letter sounds, tapping out words. These skills will be introduced this week and practiced continuously over the next several weeks.
In Social Studies, we will continue to learn about how different people celebrate holidays and how they relate to light.
We will be having a holiday party on December 23th. In light of the holiday and literacy, we will be participating in a holiday book swap. Your child will pick another child's name and they will buy a book for that child. The dollar value on the books will be between $1.00 and $5.00 (Ocean State Job Lot and Dollar Tree have a great selection for low cost). If it is a hardship and this is not feasible for you, please let us know in advance. We always have extra books that your child can choose and give to their classmate. If you would like to provide a snack, please let us know.
In our Second Step program, we will continue to learn about our own feelings.
We will read several fun books to reinforce the love of reading. During these read alouds we will be practicing some of our strategies that we are learning in our retelling unit.
More information
Many parents are asking what the class needs for supplies. We could use some Clorox Wipes and paper towels. Thank you in advance.
FLASHCARDS
Please practice letters, sounds, and sight words with your child nightly! Thank you!
Notes from Mrs. Chadwick
This week we started getting notes from the Gingerbread Man. He is sending us clues from all around the world. These clues give us information about the Holiday that country celebrates. The kids are getting very excited every day to find out where the Gingerbread Man is.
So far we celebrated Christmas on the beach of Australia, St Lucia Day in Sweden by making a crown of candles, and Old Befana a "Christmas Witch" from Italy. The Gingerbread Man even sent us some Italian Christmas bread to try.
This week I will be putting in the book order. This will be in for Christmas!
Notes from Mrs. Maillet
We are also learning about Christmas Around the World through our traveling Gingerbread Man. The children LOVE finding out about the cultures and traditions of other people in the world. So far, we have learned about Christmas in Australia, Sweden and Italy. We are making a passport for all the places that the Gingerbread Man has traveled. It will be sent home before Christmas break so that the children can share their knowledge with you!
I placed the book order for the month of December. The shipment will be in before Christmas. Thank you for your support!