Kindergarten Update 9/30 - 10/4

Dear Families,

Here is what’s going on in Kindergarten next week:

Art/Science/Theme: We will begin our new theme: Pumpkins! Students will learn about pumpkins through a study of the pumpkin life cycle.  We will also compare pumpkins to apples. The children will observe and investigate if a pumpkin will sink or float.  Students will dissect the pumpkins and study the inside of a pumpkin.

Language Arts/ Writers Workshop: We will focus on the beginning, middle and end of stories as well as the problems and solutions. Students are working on adding more details to their pictures and words.  We will be introducing two different strategies to help students sound out words while writing:  “Ghost talk” is when you stretch a word out very slowly and write each sound that you hear (ie” “cccaaattt”). “Robot talk” is when you quickly say each sound (ie: “c-a-t”).  Ask your child to show you these strategies and try using these terms to help your child with writing words at home.

Handwriting: c, a, o  We will start our magic c letters.  We talk about these 8 letters begin like a magic c.  When they write their name if they have a magic c letter make sure they start like a c first and then continue the letter.

Math: Number Order of 1-10. Keep an eye out for your child’s Pumpkin Number Line and use this at home to help your child practice Number Recognition and Number Sense (ie: “Can you point to the number ___ on your number line?” or “What number comes before/after ___?”).  Besides the number line, students will be introduced to number bonds to help them understand information given to them in the word problems.  

Word wall words of the week: up, down   

RTI has started for Kindergarten. We are still  assessing  students and placing the children accordingly in the correct leveled reading group. RTI is not a school-wide program. In the other grades 1-6 the homeroom teacher is the primary reading teacher and students are pulled out for intervention.  Here is a link to explain the reading program at Rio del Mar school (Reading and Writing Instruction Overview).

In RTI, all groups read the same book and focus on the same comprehension skill however it might be presented differently.  This week, we will be reading informational text on pumpkins and identifying facts.  Besides reading a book whole class, we are in small groups working on independent reading skills.  Some students need practice identifying letter names and sounds, blending and segmenting skills, and practice sight words.  These are all things that you can work on at home when reading with your child daily.

Conferences: If you haven't signed up for a conference time in November, please email me or stop by the classroom so we can schedule it.  

Drive for Schools:   All proceeds go to our school and you have a chance of winning prizes each week.  If all families gave $25.00  we would pass our goal.  The money raised go toward our supplies (paper, pencils, folders, paint, glitter, etc.)  Besides supplies, it pays for our RTI teachers and support staff.  We couldn't do it without your support!  Thank you!

Reminders : 

Toilet paper rolls: Please save and send in empty toilet paper rolls for our "bat" project.  

Field Trip:  Gizdich Ranch,Wednesday, October 2.  (If you have not turned in your child's permission slip, please be sure to turn it in ASAP.)  I have extra ones in the classroom if it was misplaced. Every student needs to have a car seat for the field trip.  Please label your car seat and drop off and pick up in front our classroom.  We are leaving at 8:15 a.m. and returning 11:45 am.

Harvest Festival: Friday, October 11, We need volunteers for the Harvest Festival.  If you could give one hour during the festival, it would be helpful!!!! Thanks!

Wish List:

Amazon Gift Cards (for many of our projects, we order items on Amazon) 

Have a great weekend!

Ms. Werner

Sept. 23-27

Sept. 23-27

Hi Families!

Here is what’s going on in Kindergarten next week:

Our first field trip is coming up in a couple of weeks, October 2, 2019.  Permission slips will be going home on Monday.  Please fill out permission slip and send back by Friday.  There is a donation of $6.00 per student.  Please make sure you have a booster seat with your name and leave it in front of the class window that day.  Also, students need a sack lunch and sweatshirt.  We will be leaving at 8:15 am so please be here on time.  Thanks!

Art/Science/Theme: We will finish up our unit of Apples with a fun lesson about Johnny Appleseed. This week, students started making a seasonal apple tree project. It is truly one of my favorite apple projects. The children are having so much fun learning about the apple life cycle through the four seasons while working in many different art mediums. We will  also weave our apple theme into math with an introduction to addition with apples! To conclude this engaging apple unit, we will celebrate our learning with an Apple Party on Friday!  Today, we had an apple tasting experiment.  Students compared the different taste of 4 apples and choose their favorite.  Ask them the difference of the 4 different types (crimson crisp, pink pearl, fuji, gala).  Thank you to the Pate family for donating all the organic apples.  They were delicious!

Math: Students will continue learning about “5 frames” and “10 frames”.  They are also learning the concept of subitizing, which is the ability to see a small amount of objects and quickly know how many there are without counting (such as memorizing the amount of dots on a dice). Students will play math games at centers with race to 5, spill 5 beans, and recognizing numbers.

Word of the Week: “is, and”.  Students will practice writing an “I like to _____.” sentence.

Handwriting Focus Letters: W, E, Z

Next week we will continue the concept of the growth mindset. We  will talk about how the brain is a muscle and how we need to exercise it in order for it to grow. One way to do this is to have a keep on trying attitude and  to never give up. If we stop trying our brains wont grow to it's super max potential! In kindergarten, we are learning how to exercise our brains and if we don't know how to do something we can use the term, "I can't do that, YET!". In the following lesson, we will discuss the difference between a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset. 

RTI  began  on Wednesday , September 18th.  As we discussed at Back to School Night, RTI (Response to Instruction) is our school-wide leveled reading program.  This program is designed to meet the specific reading needs of each child.  Students will move from group to group according to their ability, needs and growth.  A note was sent home in each student’s folder letting you know who your child’s RTI teacher will be during this time.  There will likely be a few changes throughout the next few weeks as we really get to know your child’s specific reading skills so we might move them to different groups accordingly and we will inform you of these changes as they come up.

Lexia- We have started doing the Computer Program called Lexia Core 5 in our computer lab.  This is a great way to help your child at home with phonics skills.  I sent a login card at Back to School night but if you have misplaced it please be sure to let me know and I will send another with instructions to get on at home. It's probably best to have them just do about 15 minutes per session a few times a week.   

Drive for School:  

We have kicked off  our drive for school!! This is a huge fundraiser for our school!  All the money donated goes directly to our school!  We have prized every week for the family who sells the most, the class that sells the most, etc.  Call family members, etc. This funds our school-wide professional development, peer observations, and extra supplies for our classrooms such as new classroom libraries.  Thank you all for supporting our classes!!!

Thank you for the supplies for the classroom!

Reminders: 

Morning Assembly: Wednesday, Oct. 2

Harvest Festival: Friday, October 11th

Have a lovely weekend,

Cathy Werner

Kindergarten Update 9/16 - 9/20

Dear Kindergarten Families,

We had a very fun week!  Thank you so much for all of the classroom supplies. :)

Next Friday, September 20th is movie night! Show time is approximately 7:15 pm. This year, Rio will be showing  Disney's Aladdin. Come early and bring a picnic. Enjoy mingling with your Rio family. Low lawn chairs and blankets are recommended. It's sure to be a great time for all!

 Here is what’s going on in Kindergarten next week:

We are excited to have parent volunteers begin assisting in the classroom! Don’t forget to check in at the office to get a visitor sticker before coming to the classroom at 12:55. 

Art/Science/Math:  Students will be using apples to practice the concept of sorting, counting and tasting different colored apples, and graphing which flavor they like the most.  They will learn about different types of graphs through this investigation. Also,  we will be studying the life cycle of an apple tree as well as learning about the different stages that an apple tree goes through during the seasons. 

Friday is the first day of Fall and we will be discussing what happens during this season as we go for a “Fall Walk” around the school looking for signs of Fall. 

Math:  Besides using a variety of graphs with apples, we will be working on different strategies for solving word problems.  First, we start with using manipulatives (counting bears).  Then, we will use white boards to draw pictures to represent addition and subtraction equations.    At home, you can do this by using fingers as well.  

One example: Mary went apple picking.  She picked 2 apples.  How many more would she need to pick to have 8 apples?  (Please use names of people you know to picture that person doing the action).  

There are about 14 different ways to word the word problems. 

Handwriting focus letters: K,P

Words of the Week: go,at

Reading: We will begin reading the small paper books that focus on sight words in our centers.  When we send these books home, please have your child read them to you until they can read them fluently. 

Allergies:  Just a gentle reminder, due to the allergies in our room please do not send in any tree, peanuts,peanut butter, strawberries, cranberries in your child's snack.

Writer’s Workshop:  We will learn how "Writers Write".  We have looked at stories to compare how writers talk about their experiences. We are talking about our own experiences.  Please go over past experiences that have had an impact on them.   Then the next step will be having them write/draw beginning, middle, and end to a story.  Please think about trips, first times , happy moments, surprise moments, etc.  

Mind Up:  We will begin our brain-focused strategies.  It builds self-confidence and friendship learning skills.  

Have a great weekend,

Ms. Werner
Wish List:

Stickers
Prize Box Items

Kindergarten Update 9/9 - 9/13

Hi Kindergarten Families!

Here is what’s going on in Kindergarten next week:

New Theme: Apples! Throughout this theme, students will learn about graphing, measuring, sorting/patterning, colors, and the life cycle of an apple. We have sent out an apple to decorate, and put the date due as of Monday, Sept 16^th.  We will be sharing the apples daily when they come in. The apples will be displayed on our Apple Orchard tree in the back of class.

Word of the Week:  to, my

Students will practice writing an “I like my ______.” sentence with their own ending word. Whichever word they decide to write at the end of sentences will be sounded out to the best of their ability. It is normal at this stage of writing for students to write only 2 or 3 sounds in each word and that's all that we want them to write for now. For example if they want to write the word "school" and they only hear the sounds "scl”- that's great! We want them to feel successful in hearing and writing the main sounds of each word. Also, when they're writing at home, please remind them to use "bunny ear finger spaces" between words, a capital first letter and a period at the end of the sentence. Of course we are just at the very beginning stages of writing, but it is always good to keep these things in mind :)

Math Focus: counting (1:1 correspondence), writing numbers correctly and patterns.  

Handwriting Focus Letters: b, r, m, n 

Thank you to everyone who signed up at Back to School Night to volunteer in our classroom! Centers will begin the week of September 16^th  from 1:00-2:00.  Please remember to go to our school’s office to get information about being fingerprinted and getting your TB test prior to this date.  If the school already has this information on file from previous years, then you’re all cleared to volunteer! 

If it is your day to come in, please arrive by 12:55, sign-in at the office and get a visitor sticker, then come to our classroom to organize homework folders and to see what Center activity you are leading that day. If you are ever unable to attend, it is very important that you find a replacement (send out a group email asking for a sub) or let us know in advance because the lessons that we plan rely heavily on adult leadership/supervision.  Thank you in advance!!

Friday, September 20th is Free Movie night at our school with free popcorn.  Please join us in celebrating and getting to know new families at our school.  You can bring picnic or snacks, chairs, blankets, etc.  

Important dates:

Movie night- Friday, September 20

Picture Day- Friday, September 20
Run for Rio-September 15

Field trip- Wednesday, October 2

I hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Ms. Werner