Woods' Announcements
January 6, 2017
Welcome back and Happy New Year!
I wanted to say a HUGE thank you to all of the parents that came out to help with the Holiday party! I was a huge success and the children had a bunch of fun! Also, thank you to all of the parents who showered me with gifts ... I was overwhelmed with your kindness! Thank you so, so much!
Happy New Year! I hope that all of you enjoyed your holiday with family and friends and that everyone is rested.
It is hard to believe that we are beginning our second semester of Kindergarten. The skills that the students will be learning are becoming more difficult. Students will need to have mastered previous taught skills to be successful with their new learning. Please continue to work with your child at home. Encourage your child to read, write, and practice their number concepts daily. Ask your child what they are learning in school and have them explain to you what their learning means. It is important that children be able to explain their thinking and be able to communicate effectively.
My goal for the second half of the year is to help your child feel confident and ready for first grade. Please help in this venture by giving your child one or two new chores to do at home such as setting the table, emptying the trash, bringing in the mail, etc. If you usually help your child a great deal, allow them a safe opportunity to gain pride from accomplishing a task on their own. I do not unpack backpacks at school. I do not write answers for them. They can, and do find pride in knowing they can do "grown up" things. We are encouraging more "first grade" type behavior as we enter the second half of Kindergarten. The level of expectation has increased and students are going to be more challenged in how they perform behaviorally each day. I urge you to let this be a time of growth. This is a vital step for success in first grade.
Next Week in Kindergarten
In writing, students will be exploring informational writing. They will be learning to write facts about a topic using words such as can, have, are. Eventually, students will participate in shared research with teacher support regarding winter animals such as penguins and polar bears.
In math, we are beginning our study of 2-D and 3-D shapes. Students will be learning new words such as "flat, solid, and quadrilateral! Students are expected to be able to identify correctly circles, triangles, rectangles, squares, cubes, cones, cylinders, spheres, and hexagons! Please review these words with your child at home and help your child locate these shapes in the world!
Finally in Social Studies and Science our focus will be on objects in the day and night sky and Martin Luther King, Jr. Students will be expected to identify that the sun, moon, and stars are always in the sky and tell about why our country celebrates Martin Luther King, Jr. Kindergarteners should be able to communicate that MLK believed that all people should be treated the same and that he was from Atlanta.
Reading Groups
Students need to return their reading books everyday. They need to be in your child's backpack. Due to scheduling issues (such as going to the media center or computer lab), your child's reading group may not meet. If your child's group did not meet, it is helpful to reread the book from the night before. This helps with confidence and fluency. As always, students are encouraged to read their own books or books from the library.
Supplies needed!
100th Day!
Hip, Hip, Hooray! We are so close to the 100th day!
January 18th is the 100th day of school! We are so excited!
We have a full day of fun activities planned and can't wait to celebrate this exciting day!