We had a GGGGGREAT week in kindergarten!

Our letter of the week for this week was letter G. Our sight words were "for" and "are".  We read books by Julia Donaldson (our new author study-check out the link on the right) and did some prediciting, and recalling of details. Students also worked on retelling a story with a beginning, middle, and end. They will brought home the characters from the story The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Your child should retell the story to you using the stick puppets. It is important for them to be able to tell the story in order, but not important to tell you EVERYTHING that happened. They should focus on the main ideas and mention the characters, setting, problem and solution. Being able to tell a story orally will help them to transition to writing stories with a beginning, middle, and end during Writer's Workshop.

In math we continued our first addition/subtraction unit. Students are working on understanding the underlying concepts of these skills. We do want students to solve problems accurately....but we want then to know WHY that is the answer and be able to explain WHAT they did. To accomplish this we do a lot of hands on activities and games as well as a lot of talking about what we are doing.

We read a story about Martin Luther King.  We discussed the importance of accepting and celebrating differences in all people and how all people deserve equal rights.

Just a reminder about winter recess. We are now no longer going outside during lunch recess. We will go out every day that it is above 5 for recess at the end of the day. Students need to dress for the weather. It is helpful if you label your children's hats and gloves. Everyday I have a HUGE pile of unclaimed items on my classroom floor! Most of the children can get dressed by themselves and that saves me a lot of time so thank you for working on that at home.

Today your child brought home their first report card. There is lots of information inside that gives you a glimpse of your child's performance at school and some handouts to read-including a new optional at home spelling/writing program that we encourage you to have your child participate in. Over the last few weeks, your child has been given several assessments which have been combined with my knowledge of your child, to form a snapshot of how your child is doing in Kindergarten. Please remember that all children develop at different rates and that success comes in small steps as well as in big leaps! Celebrate your child's accomplishments! I am proud of all my students and the progress they are making. It will be exciting to watch them continue to grow as learners during the coming months. Please sign and return the report card ENVELOPE only! Thanks! Conferences are in February. This round of conferences is usually reserved for students that I have concerns about. If you need to ask me questions about your child's report card or their progress at this time, please feel free to email or call me.

 

Have a wonderful long weekend!