Dear Parents,
I hope you all enjoyed a
wonderful Thanksgiving break. I'd like to thank all of you for making
the Feast such a success! We had a wonderful spread of food, and the
children all looked darling! Thanks to the MANY parents who helped with
that event.
Now...onto a very busy but exciting time in
kindergarten as we prepare for our Nutcracker performance on the 20th,
as well as continue with all the academics & exciting literature!
Language Arts
We
have now completed the introduction of all isolated letters & letter
sounds. At this point in the school year, your children should recognize
all letters and know all of the sounds. If you think your child needs
more reinforcement, please use websites such as starfall.com, or review at home using the letters & sounds songs we used in class, which can be found here. Although we will continue reviewing letter sounds, this is no longer our main focus at this time.
We
are now moving onto word endings-- encouraging children to read by
"chunking" these sounds. For example, using the endings "an" and "at,"
children will manipulate the beginning sounds of words and create words
such as fan, man, ran, can, pan or mat, bat, cat, rat, etc.
Our sight words this week are no and am. At the side of this webpage, there is a tab for "High Frequency Words." Those have now been updated, with asterisks added to all words we've introduced. It would be good to check in on this list with your child to see if s/he recognizes all the starred words.
Our
stories this week will be about Owls, both fiction and non-fiction. We
will be learning and writing about Owls, along with doing an owl art
project.
Parent helpers, we will return to centers for
the next three weeks, then we take a break from centers again the week
of December 17th. Please check the helper schedule. In the upcoming week, I will send out a link to Sign-Up Genius to create the helper schedule. Going forward in 2019, you can select the best days for you to help by using this link. I will continue to add reminders about who is helping each week to the bottom of the email.
Math
We
are continuing Module 2 in Eureka Math: Two Dimensional & Three
Dimensional Shapes. We will study the attributes of the 2D shapes
square, triangle, rectangle, circle, and hexagon. The 3D shapes we will
be studying are the cube, cylinder, cone, and sphere. Parent tips for
this unit can be found here.
STEAM
STEAM centers are back this Friday, and we are looking forward to Hour of Code next
week. In preparation, we will be using a new coding program in the Makerspace this week called CodeSpark. On Friday, we will use a center that we purchased with money from a Home & School Club grant. Children will
look at the laws of physics using a game called Create-a-Chain Reaction. We will also make boats out of foil and test them out by seeing how well they can carry different amounts of pennies.
Upcoming
Please be setting aside time out of your busy holiday schedules to join us for our presentation of The Nutcracker on December 20th at 1:45 p.m.!
This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: Daily 5, Centers (Nisha & Jenny)
Tuesday: Daily 5, Centers (Hiromi & Yvonne)
Wednesday: Recess 101, CodeSpark in the Makerspace, Blue Bags go home
Thursday: Daily 5, Centers (Brandie & Belinda)
Friday: Story time with Grandma Gail, Daily 5, STEAM Centers (Claire & Pablo)
Upcoming Events:
12/3-12/7: Hour of Code/Computer Science Week
Thursday 12/20: Nutcracker Performance @ 1:45
12/21-01/04: Winter Break
Monday 01/07: School Resumes
Friday 01/18: Professional Development Day: No School
Monday 01/21: Martin Luther King Day, No School
Thursday 01/31: 100 Day
02/18-02/22: President's Week Vacation
Saturday, November 24, 2018
Saturday, November 10, 2018
Week of 11/12
I hope you are all enjoying a long weekend. In the upcoming week, we
will continue parent-teacher conferences through Thursday. I have
enjoyed meeting with many of you so far, and have gained some great
insights about your children from you. Thank you for meeting with me and
being such active participants in your child's education. I look
forward to meeting with the rest of you this week. For this week, all
conferences will continue to be in the office conference room, right
next to the principal's office, except for the afternoon conferences.
Those will be in K2. If you need to confirm your conference time, click here.
There will be no classroom centers this week, due to conferences and preparations for the Feast. Centers will resume after Thanksgiving. There will also be no blue bags this week due to the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Wednesday envelopes will come home as usual. Please send the envelopes back on Thursday or Friday at the latest. Thank you!
Please remember to return your Blue Bags on Tuesday, with your child's special turkey project in the bag. We are going to make a book out of the turkey project to circulate around so everyone can see the fun ways that the turkeys were disguised!
There will be no classroom centers this week, due to conferences and preparations for the Feast. Centers will resume after Thanksgiving. There will also be no blue bags this week due to the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Wednesday envelopes will come home as usual. Please send the envelopes back on Thursday or Friday at the latest. Thank you!
Please remember to return your Blue Bags on Tuesday, with your child's special turkey project in the bag. We are going to make a book out of the turkey project to circulate around so everyone can see the fun ways that the turkeys were disguised!
Language Arts
Our final letters will be introduced this week-- Yy and Zz. This means that we will be doing much more blending and spelling short-vowel words now. We will focus on word endings, such as "at," "an," etc. to read and spell words like cat, bat, rat, fan, man, pan, etc. Our sight word his week is is.
We will be reading many stories about Thanksgiving and learning about the Pilgrims and Native Americans as we prepare for our Friendship Feast on Friday.
Math
We will continue Module 2, which covers both 2D and 3D shapes. Shapes we cover in kindergarten are: square, circle, triangle, rectangle, and hexagon as well as sphere, cylinder, cube, and cone. Parent tips for this module can be found here.
Social Studies/Friendship Feast
We will take a closer look at the Pilgrims & Native Americans as we talk about the first Thanksgiving & prepare for our reenactment of this event, our Friendship Feast on the 16th. We have some interesting books that we will be reading to the children about life during the time of the Pilgrims. It would be wonderful if you can all join us for the Feast on Friday, even if you can only come briefly. The children look so cute in their costumes & love sharing the meal with family members. They will sing a couple of songs for you and then we will get started with the meal. Younger siblings are welcome if there is a child care issue. Thank you to those of you who have signed up to help with the event. We do have some "holes" in our sign-ups. You can check out the sign-ups here.
Our final letters will be introduced this week-- Yy and Zz. This means that we will be doing much more blending and spelling short-vowel words now. We will focus on word endings, such as "at," "an," etc. to read and spell words like cat, bat, rat, fan, man, pan, etc. Our sight word his week is is.
We will be reading many stories about Thanksgiving and learning about the Pilgrims and Native Americans as we prepare for our Friendship Feast on Friday.
Math
We will continue Module 2, which covers both 2D and 3D shapes. Shapes we cover in kindergarten are: square, circle, triangle, rectangle, and hexagon as well as sphere, cylinder, cube, and cone. Parent tips for this module can be found here.
Social Studies/Friendship Feast
We will take a closer look at the Pilgrims & Native Americans as we talk about the first Thanksgiving & prepare for our reenactment of this event, our Friendship Feast on the 16th. We have some interesting books that we will be reading to the children about life during the time of the Pilgrims. It would be wonderful if you can all join us for the Feast on Friday, even if you can only come briefly. The children look so cute in their costumes & love sharing the meal with family members. They will sing a couple of songs for you and then we will get started with the meal. Younger siblings are welcome if there is a child care issue. Thank you to those of you who have signed up to help with the event. We do have some "holes" in our sign-ups. You can check out the sign-ups here.
Upcoming Events
We are glazing our clay projects this Wednesday. Please don't send your children in any special outfits that day, as the clay glaze does stain. Please contact Brandie if you can help with this. We will be glazing at about 10:00 at the picnic table outside our classroom.
Looking ahead on your calendars at this busy time of year, I wanted to make sure that you are all marking your calendars for Thursday, December 20th at 1:45pm-- our annual performance of The Nutcracker. This is something that you will not want to miss. To help you clear your calendar, the kindergarten teachers do our class holiday party and the Nutcracker performance all on the same day. We will have a big "cast party" after the performance so that we can send the kids off on a great holiday break!
Have a great week & I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving break!
This Week's Helpers & Activities:
We are glazing our clay projects this Wednesday. Please don't send your children in any special outfits that day, as the clay glaze does stain. Please contact Brandie if you can help with this. We will be glazing at about 10:00 at the picnic table outside our classroom.
Looking ahead on your calendars at this busy time of year, I wanted to make sure that you are all marking your calendars for Thursday, December 20th at 1:45pm-- our annual performance of The Nutcracker. This is something that you will not want to miss. To help you clear your calendar, the kindergarten teachers do our class holiday party and the Nutcracker performance all on the same day. We will have a big "cast party" after the performance so that we can send the kids off on a great holiday break!
Have a great week & I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving break!
This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: No School, Veteran's Day
Tuesday: Return Blue Bags (Yvonne), Daily 5, Song Practice for Feast
Wednesday: Clay, Recess 101, Song Practice, No Blue Bags
Thursday: Return Weds. Envelopes, Daily 5, Song Practice
Friday: Friendship Feast @ 1:30, helpers begin arriving @ noon
Upcoming Events:
11/5-11/15: Parent-Teacher Conferences
Monday 11/12: No School: Veteran's Day
Friday 11/16: Friendship Feast @ 1:30
11/19-11/23: Thanksgiving Break
12/3-12/7: Hour of Code/Computer Science Week
Thursday 12/20: Nutcracker Performance @ 1:45
12/21-01/04: Winter Break
Upcoming Events:
11/5-11/15: Parent-Teacher Conferences
Monday 11/12: No School: Veteran's Day
Friday 11/16: Friendship Feast @ 1:30
11/19-11/23: Thanksgiving Break
12/3-12/7: Hour of Code/Computer Science Week
Thursday 12/20: Nutcracker Performance @ 1:45
12/21-01/04: Winter Break
Saturday, November 3, 2018
Week of 11/5
I am looking forward to meeting with each of you beginning Monday for your child's conference. Remember that the kindergarten schedule does not change at all during conference weeks. All conferences will be held in the office conference room, except for the after school conferences, which will be held in the classroom. The
conference room is located in the main office, 2nd door to the right
after you walk through the swinging half-door. To confirm your conference time, please
click here: https://goo.gl/nFbxE7. Please note that you can no longer edit this form. If you need to change your conference time, please email me.
Language Arts
Our letters this week are Ww and Xx. Our new sight word is and. We are now reading sentences with the words: I, see, my, like, can, go, see, a, the, to, we, me, at, in and now and. We have been sending home a list of sentences each week in your child's Wednesday envelope that they are reading in class. Please be sure to have your child read these sentences to you so that you can see how they are doing with sight word recognition and reading fluency.
We will be focusing on the season of Fall this week as well as making some items for our Pilgrim costumes. We will also be reading the book, Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano. We have a few projects around this book, including a special homework assignment (more on this below).
Math
In math this week, we will begin Module 2, which covers both 2D and 3D shapes. Shapes we cover in kindergarten are: square, circle, triangle, rectangle, and hexagon as well as sphere, cylinder, cube, and cone. Parent tips for this module can be found here.
Special Homework
This week, we will have some special homework based on the book Turkey Trouble, which is a funny story about a turkey who wants to avoid becoming Thanksgiving dinner, so he disguises himself as different animals on the farm. Our homework this week includes a fun project where your child will have the opportunity to disguise a turkey, just as the turkey in Turkey Trouble disguises himself. Feel free to get creative with these disguises! Add some dimension to the pictures with construction paper, stickers, etc. Finished turkeys will need to be cut out and glued down on a 9X12 piece of construction paper, which will be provided. Here is a picture of a sample project I found on Pinterest:
Upcoming Events
As you know, our next big event is the Friendship Feast at 1:30 on November 16th. Children will dress as Pilgrims and Native Americans and come together with their friends in K1 to sing a few songs and share some food. A sign-up form for the food and helping at that event can be found here. Ideally, we would like each family to contribute something from this list. We need many helpers and plenty of food to make this a success. We are looking forward to a fun event!
This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Language Arts
Our letters this week are Ww and Xx. Our new sight word is and. We are now reading sentences with the words: I, see, my, like, can, go, see, a, the, to, we, me, at, in and now and. We have been sending home a list of sentences each week in your child's Wednesday envelope that they are reading in class. Please be sure to have your child read these sentences to you so that you can see how they are doing with sight word recognition and reading fluency.
We will be focusing on the season of Fall this week as well as making some items for our Pilgrim costumes. We will also be reading the book, Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano. We have a few projects around this book, including a special homework assignment (more on this below).
Math
In math this week, we will begin Module 2, which covers both 2D and 3D shapes. Shapes we cover in kindergarten are: square, circle, triangle, rectangle, and hexagon as well as sphere, cylinder, cube, and cone. Parent tips for this module can be found here.
Special Homework
This week, we will have some special homework based on the book Turkey Trouble, which is a funny story about a turkey who wants to avoid becoming Thanksgiving dinner, so he disguises himself as different animals on the farm. Our homework this week includes a fun project where your child will have the opportunity to disguise a turkey, just as the turkey in Turkey Trouble disguises himself. Feel free to get creative with these disguises! Add some dimension to the pictures with construction paper, stickers, etc. Finished turkeys will need to be cut out and glued down on a 9X12 piece of construction paper, which will be provided. Here is a picture of a sample project I found on Pinterest:
Upcoming Events
As you know, our next big event is the Friendship Feast at 1:30 on November 16th. Children will dress as Pilgrims and Native Americans and come together with their friends in K1 to sing a few songs and share some food. A sign-up form for the food and helping at that event can be found here. Ideally, we would like each family to contribute something from this list. We need many helpers and plenty of food to make this a success. We are looking forward to a fun event!
This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: Return Blue Bags (Hiromi), Daily 5, Centers (Elena & Nisha)
Tuesday: Daily 5, Centers (Sarah & Kassie)
Wednesday: Recess 101, Trip to Makerspace, Blue Bags w/Special Project go home
Thursday: Daily 5, Centers (Ellen & ???)
Friday: Storytime with Grandma Gail, Daily 5, STEAM Centers (Brad & Barry)
Upcoming Events:
11/5-11/15: Parent-Teacher Conferences
Monday 11/12: No School: Veteran's Day
Friday 11/16: Friendship Feast @ 1:30
11/19-11/23: Thanksgiving Break
12/3-12/7: Hour of Code/Computer Science Week
Thursday 12/20: Nutcracker Performance
12/21-01/04: Winter Break
Upcoming Events:
11/5-11/15: Parent-Teacher Conferences
Monday 11/12: No School: Veteran's Day
Friday 11/16: Friendship Feast @ 1:30
11/19-11/23: Thanksgiving Break
12/3-12/7: Hour of Code/Computer Science Week
Thursday 12/20: Nutcracker Performance
12/21-01/04: Winter Break