Kindergarten Newsletter ACES
Week Of January 16th
Highlights from last week....
We are so glad to be back at school with all of our friends. They came back rested and eager to learn. We were able to accomplish a lot!
Thank you to all of those that attended conferences! It is so exciting to share your child's progress with you. They have come SO far and you should be very proud!
We have also been really working hard on making words using our consonants and vowels. We have been "tapping" out the sounds and then building the words. After we build the word, we sound it out using the letters on the board. The kids are doing wonderful. This skill not only helps us spell and write words, but also helps us break down the sounds while we are reading.
In Reader's Workshop, we continued with the strategy of using multiple clues when we come to a tricky word. A strategy that good readers use is to think about what we read. When we sound out the letters in the word and the word we say doesn't make sense or sound right, we will learn that we need to stop and do some reading work. We need to ask ourselves, "Does that make sense?", "Does that sound right?" and "Do the letters match?" We assessed many of our friends this week on their reading and they are doing fantastic.
In Writer's Workshop, we worked "How To" writing. This is SO fun! The students taught us how to do something using the words first, then and finally. They have come so far in just a short time!
In Math, we finished our unit on measurement and began our unit on comparing numbers using the words bigger than, shorter than, longer than, greater than and fewer than.
In Science, we work on our living and nonliving unit. They know that in order for something to be living they have to ask themselves the following questions: Does it move/grow? Does it eat? Does it breathe? Does it reproduce? If the answer is yes to all of these questions, then it is a living thing. They love this unit so far!
In Social Studies, we learned about Martin Luther King Jr.
We read several nonfiction books this week and talk about the difference between fiction and nonfiction. So far, nonfiction books are our favorite!!
A peek at our learning this week....
In Phonics, we will really practice recognizing beginning and ending sounds, writing words using letter sounds, tapping out words and sounding out nonsense words.
In Reader's Workshop, we will continue with the strategy of using multiple clues when we come to a tricky word. A strategy that good readers use is to think about what we read. When we sound out the letters in the word and the word we say doesn't make sense or sound right, we will learn that we need to stop and do some reading work. We need to ask ourselves, "Does that make sense?", "Does that sound right?" and "Do the letters match?" Because this is a newly introduced skill, we will be working on this skill for a few weeks before we can move on. If your child masters this skill before we move on, we will work with them independently to challenge them at their level.
In Writer's workshops, we will continue to work on writing in sequential order using first, then and finally.
In Math, we will be working on numbers using one more and one less.
In Science, we will continue our living and nonliving unit.
We will read nonfiction books during our read alouds.
More information
Remember to put names on all of you kids things!! We have a large collection in the classrooms and in lost and found.
SUPPLIES NEEDED
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 and sounds with your child nightly! Thank you!
Notes from Miss Driscoll
If you are willing or able to donate to our classroom, we are in need of Lysol wipes and paper towels.
Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns, have a great week!
Notes from Mrs. Maillet
We had a wonderful week! Lots of learning is happening in Mrs. Maillet's class! We are mastering our letters and becoming great spellers! We are still struggling with our vowel sounds, so please work with your child at home with these! We are rocking our sight words as well! We are putting it all together in our reading and writing! This is such an exciting time in kindergarten! I hope you are seeing this progress at home!
Please continue to practice the sight words that we sent home with your child and also read the books that we send home weekly with your child every night. This will help build their fluency and vocabulary!
Notes from Mrs. Potter
Please keep practicing the sight word cards at home! Some of our friends are having a little trouble remembering these words when they see them in their books, so a little extra practice might help!
Notes from Mrs. Marcoux
In Math we are working on greater than, less or fewer than by comparing objects in the classroom.
We are practicing building words and tapping them out. The students are working on this in their writing as well. Please keep practicing sight words and letter names/sounds at home, this really helps your children in the classroom.
You may hear a lot of Arctic animal facts at home. We have been learning about living/non-living things and studying Arctic animals.
Thank you to those parents who came in for conferences, it was a pleasure to speak with you about your awesome kids!
Enjoy your week and as always, please contact me at lmarcoux@arrsd.org if you have any questions or concerns.
Mrs. Marcoux
Notes from Mrs. Goldthwaite
I am so proud of the students progress. Please continue to work with them with sight words and sounding out words. This week we practiced with sounding out words that were nonsense words. That was really funny.
We had a guest visit with us and teach us some Spanish color words. Thanks to Mrs. Bonnie Benjamin.
A news letter went home from our PTO. Please read and I hope you can participate in their fundraiser. You can always look up what is happening on their FB page.
When we left on Friday we have had some students with the flu. I washed down everything before I left. I hope having three days off will give people time to rest up and feel better.
Thanks for all your support.