KINDERGARTEN newsletter
A bi-weekly newsletter from Kindergarten at Lamplighter.
April 26 - May 23, 2016
Animals!
Literacy
As we wrap up the year in Kindergarten, we are reading books and looking at pictures of animals that we learned about during our animal unit. Each child picked an animal at the zoo to design their very own zoo exhibit. We know to keep their animal's natural habitat in mind while we design. Your children are designing their habitat with pictures and information from books. With their information they will draw and then construct their zoo exhibit.
We continue to read and share our reading with our reading partners and friends. We love non-fiction books because we can learn new fancy words and share our new knowledge with others.
Word Family: _un
Math
In math, students have been exploring fractions through games and books. Our students understand what a fraction is and how objects all begin as a whole. We used food to explore halves, thirds and fourths and did several picture sorts to build their understanding of fractions. During lunch several students have tried to divide their food into half, thirds or fourths! We are so excited that our students are seeing fractions everywhere. At home have your child draw a shape and divide the shape into halves, thirds or fourths.
In math we have also been working on becoming more comfortable with counting money. When counting money our students work primarily with pennies, nickels and dimes. Not only do we have our students count money but we also ask them to find another way to show an amount. Our goal is for our students to see that there are many different ways to show am amount.
At home, work on counting change that you have around the house. You can also give your child a pile of money and ask them to use those coins to show you a certain amount, up to $1.00.
Please continue working on the following:
- Count by 2s up to 30
- Count by 5s and 10s up to 100
- Counting to 110
- Creating Patterns
- Counting back from 20
Science
Kindergarten is having a blast learning about animals in different animal orders (amphibians, reptiles, insects, birds, mammals, and fish). The children are learning about what habitats/environments animals in each order live in, what characteristics the animals have, and identifying examples/non-examples of animals that belong in each order.
During the last two rotations of the school year, the children will select an animal to build a zoo exhibit for that keeps them in their natural environment.
Questions you can ask your children at home:
- What characteristics does a(n) ____________ have? (amphibian, reptile, insect, bird, mammal, fish)
- What are examples of a(n) ______________? (amphibian, reptile, insect, bird, mammal, fish)
- Where does a _____________ live? What might you find there?
Recommended learning activities at home:
- Read books about animals (fiction and non-fiction)
- Visit the Dallas Zoo
Technology
"With ScratchJr, children aren't just learning to code, they are coding to learn."