Lots of learning happened this week.  I'm so excited!

What we have been working on:

MORAL FOCUS: R e s p o n s i b i l i t y- We have been showing responsibility with our chrome books, toys, water bottles, the toilet, the supply bin and our books.

READING: We have been working on retelling using beginning, middle and end.  This is something you can work on at home with reading to your child and when you're done, you can have them retell the story back to you in sequential order.

MATH: We are working on being responsible with our math tools.  We have also worked on using manipulatives to count.  You can do this at home with cheerios, toys, (my kids at home love doing this with their Hot Wheels), or anything other items you have.  Have your child point to 1 object for the number 1 and separate it from the rest.  Then do the same with the number 2, and so on.

PHONICS: We are working on letters "Mm" and "Aa".  Students are practicing identifying the letter name and sound.  They are also determining if a word starts with either letter.  You can practice at home by playing a game with your student where you take turns saying words that start with "Mm" and then "Aa".

Please don't judge my pictures to harshly!  LOL.

IMPORTANT UPCOMING INFORMATION:

We will be starting MAPS testing next week.  This is an online assessment that lets us know how to better support each student.  

NO school Friday 9/2 or 9/5

Our First Full Week!

 We did it!  Kindergarten rocked their first full week of school!

Just a couple of reminders:

-We do have 2 snacks a day.  Please remember to pack a snack with your child.  We are a peanut-free classroom.  Do not pack anything with peanuts in your child's snack.

-Don't forget to pack your child extra clothes in case of an accident.  

This week we have been focusing on:

-Asking and answering questions about our Read Aloud books.  Raising our hands and waiting our turn to share.

-Holding a writing utensil properly.

-Getting to know each other.  Every morning we have a connection circle where everyone has a chance to answer a fun question and share with the class about themselves.

-We read a book called Me and My Fear.  We discussed how everyone has a fear, fear keeps us safe, but we don't want our fear to be so big that it stops us from making new friends, trying new things  and having fun.  The students drew a picture of themselves at school working in the classroom, playing on the playground, going to P.E. class, etc. and we glued a pom-pom on our picture to show how our fear is with us, keeping us safe and letting us try new things.

-Showing responsibility.  When students arrive in the classroom, they need to put their lunch box in our lunch box wagon, get hang up their back pack and put their "Scribble Stone" in the basket as a way of stating they are here and ready to learn.  They are also showing responsibility with keeping track of their water bottle, putting papers in their "Fun Folders" to take home, empty and bring back to school.  We just introduced Chrome Books as well.  I sent out a previous email stating all of our Chrome Book expectations.  

-Exploring math tools.

-Working at counting to 20.  We have also practiced pointing to an object and counting how many.

-We started our beginning of the year assessments.

 

Important Upcoming Information:

-August 24: Curriculum Back to School Night- I will be sharing wit h you about what Kindergarten will be learning this year.

-August 25: Picture day

-We will be going on a Fall Field Trip!  We do not have all the details set yet, but I will let you know as soon as we do.

Looking ahead:

-Next week we will be starting our phonics and phonemic awareness work.

Success! Our first 3 days of Kindergarten.

 Hello Families!

We have had a great 3 days of Kindergarten!!!!!  

We have read the story The Kissing Hand.  We talked about how our guardians help us get to school in the morning and we will get to see them again in the afternoon.  We colored hand outlines and placed a Hershey's kiss on the hand.

We read the story Scribble Stones  and decorated our own stones to keep in the classroom. We will use these stones to have a sense of ownership in the classroom, as well as responsibility for placing these stones in a basket when we arrive to school as a part of our attendance routine. 

We made a "Code of Collaboration" for the classroom after we read the story Our Classroom is a Family.  The students did a great job making our classroom rules and drawing pictures of those rules for our "Code of Conduct" poster that we will be referring to throughout the year.  We decided we will be emphasizing being a leader for our classmates and the school.

We have spent a lot of time practicing lining up at our number spots, eating lunch, cleaning the classroom and putting things away.

We have had "monkey dance parties", played with play dough and spent time getting to know each other in our Connection Circles.

We started learning the sight word "the".  Students have noticed the word in our books and asked to learn it!  I love their sense of wonder!  Ask your child to tell you how to spell "the", where their tongue should go when saying the word, and what "th" says.

Looking ahead:

Next week I will introduce students to their Chrome Books.  The expectation is that these go home each night and are fully charged for the next day.  Chargers can stay at home.  

Important Items to Know:

1. We will have snack 2 times a day.  Please pack your child a snack that IS NOT stored in their lunch box.  If you happen to forget snack one day, I will have something for your child to eat, during that time.

2. We do have a few peanut, egg and tree nut allergies in the room.  

3. There will be no sharing of food from home.

4. I have loved spending time with ALL of your children this week!  It is going to be a great year!

As always, please reach out with any questions you may have.  

Katie Powell