Kindergarten Connection
Ms. Solmson's Weekly Newsletter
January 25th - January 29th
Literacy
Last week we had so much fun reading Tacky The Penguin! This story was the perfect way for us to continue working on the important comprehension skills that we have been learning all month. We learned about predicting and about how good readers make predictions as they read. We also discussed that to make a smart prediction, you have to use the clues that the story is giving you. Making our retelling strips was a lot of fun and it really helped us remember all of the important details that happened to Tacky. We each gave our own opinions on our favorite part of the story and made connections to Tacky.
Phonics
This week in our word study we learned three new word families, -ill, -ell, and -all. We had so much fun on Wednesday writing out different words in the word families on our own white boards and were such confident readers while reading Nell and Bob on the Smart Board!
To continue helping us become strong and confident readers, we learned about another important phonetic rule, hard and soft c. This seemed a little tricky at first, but throughout the week we did such a great job recognizing c's that should be said like /k/ and c's that say /s/.
Math
We had a big week in math learning about money! We were first introduced to pennies and nickels. It was so fun learning about the attributes that belong to pennies and to nickels. Our class was very interested in the presidents that were on each coin and the years that the coins were made. As the week continued we learned how you can exchange 5 pennies for a nickel and once we were introduced to dimes we couldn't wait to exchange 10 pennies for a dime! Money is a very tricky concept, so we did our best all week playing games to help us gain some comfort. We played Penny, Nickel, Dime Exchange and Coin Grab and Graph. We will continue working with coins and practicing our counting skills.
On Monday we opened our very first class store! Throughout the week students earned pennies for good behavior and were able to go shopping during rest time. Everyone was so excited when they reached 5 cents and could visit the 5 cent basket! A few of our friends have decided to save up their coins and wait to visit the 10 and 25 cent baskets.
Writing Workshop
In Writer’s Workshop we have started discussing that writers write so that readers can enjoy their work! We talked about three very important things that every easy to read writing needs: neat handwriting, spaces between words, and many letters in every word. We also began discussing important punctuation marks that help our stories make sense. In the next few weeks we are going to be focusing on creating pieces of writing that others can enjoy and understand.
100th Day Reminder
Thank You's!
-Thank you to Jeffrey Fuerst for being our Mystery Reader
-Thank you to Marcia Feldman and Traci Thaler for helping during centers!
Upcoming Dates
-February 4: 100th Day of School
-February 5: 101st Day of School - Please join us for a special Shabbat singing
-February 10: Field Trip to Temple Emanu-El
-February 12-15: Mid Winter Break