Kindergarten Update 11/24 - 11/25

Hi Kindergarten Families, 

Since we only have school on Monday and Tuesday this week, we’ll spend time reviewing prior concepts and Thanksgiving activities.  With Thanksgiving on my mind, I’d like to thank all of you who have volunteered/donated to our class in many different ways this year. Without your support we would not be able to do so many exciting activities in our class. I am very thankful for each and every one of you and your wonderful children!

 On Tuesday, we will have our Writers' Workshop celebration. We will be having Author's Chair and sharing our stories.

Word wall word: Review all Word Wall Words

After our Thanksgiving break, we will start our unit on Gingerbread Man stories.  We will read a variety Gingerbread Man stories that are very different.  We will be comparing the different settings, characters, and events.  Every year, we find more stories with a Gingerbread theme!  If you have any Gingerbread stories at home, please send in to share.  Besides comparing stories, we will measure different sizes of a Gingerbread Man, Boy, and Baby with marshmallows.  We decorate our own Gingerbread Boy/or Girl and a gingerbread house.  We also have a couple math games.  

In math, we are working on fact families and how numbers are related.  We have been using a number line to add and subtract.  We will begin to focus on place value and understand that the teen numbers have a group of ten with some extra.  In counting collections, students have been adding by 1's, 2', 5's, and 10's.  This is something you can do at home too!!!!

Upcoming events:

December 4 - Wednesday Assembly

December 19 - Winter Party in classroom (More info coming)

December 20- No School (Teacher work day)

I wish you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving filled with friends, family, and all the things that you love!

Ms. Werner

Hello Kindergarten Families,                                                                 

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Next week is conference week.  Please get here 5 mins early for your conference time.  I will be in the office in Ms. Green or Mrs. Avey so check in with Jen or Cynthia.  Thanks for all your support this year.  Regular schedule for all Kindergarten and No Centers until after Thanksgiving break. Center will resume Dec. 2.

Mrs. Sandman has a friend that raises monarch butterflies.  She will be sharing her butterflies with our classes. She will discuss the different stages of the butterfly life cycle and explain how important butterflies are to our environment.

         

 Words of the Week: Please review the all the words we have learned this year,

In Math, we will continue looking at solid and flat shapes.  Please point out real world solid and flat shapes when driving or walking around town.  Please work on counting and writing numbers to 10 and beyond.  

In Writer's Workshop, students will be editing and publishing a story this week.  We will celebrate on Tuesday, Nov. 26th.  Students will bring in a stuffed animal to read their story to and read them to their buddy class.

  Star of the Day:  

This is not a stuffed animal share.  Please have your child's sharing be a picture, award, souvenir, trophy, etc. Have them share something that is about a special time in their lives. Return sharing as soon as you can.  

Reminders: 

Regular schedule for Kindergarten next week!

No centers until Dec. 2

Spirit day: Wednesday, Nov. 20 (sports day)

Have a great weekend!  See you next week.

Cathy Werner

Kindergarten Update 11/12 - 11/15

Dear Kindergarten Families,

Conferences are coming up!  Please arrive 5 mins early so that we can start on time and end on time.  Thank you for all of your support this year!  I'm looking forward to another fun trimester with this adorable and sweet class! I will be sending home your conference time reminders in their folders on Tuesday.

No School Monday, Nov. 11.

Language Arts:  We are continuing to blend and segment sounds to make words.  You can do this at home or in the car.  Ask them to sound out the words, For example, you say, "cat" and then they repeat with only sounds (C-A-T).  Then you can say the sounds (C-A-T) and they say the word.  Besides blending and segmenting, we are reading nonfiction books on butterflies and discussing the different stages of life cycle.  We will read the Very Hungry Caterpillar and talk about how Eric Carle, the author talks about time.  We talked about how long a butterfly lives  from egg to butterfly.

We will be beginning to talk about Thanksgiving.  We will discuss things that we are thankful for and how we can say thanks to people who have helped us.  We would like to give a big thanks to all of the families for the support in the classroom with donations to class funds, parent help for centers and parties, and supporting our school with fundraisers! 

Handwriting: We are finishing up our last handwriting letters of the alphabet and will begin reviewing how we write letters in modeled writing. Some students are still needing practice in writing letters of their name.  We have started writing sentences using capital at beginning of the sentence and having spaces between words.  This is something we will continue to practice.  We will be using different types of paper to show them where the letters should be on the lines.

Words of the Week:  play, here

In Math, will start doing our "Number of the Day" poster to strengthen our math strategies.  We are studying solid shapes now, and the students will go on a "shape hunt".  Please continue to practice number writing, and remember, reversals are normal at this age.

In Writer's Workshop, we will continue writing about "first moments".  We  are learning about how to write a story and what it needs to be a story.  Students will continue stretching out words and writing down the sounds that they hear.  Students will pick one of their stories to finish the writing process of editing and then publishing their piece.  We will celebrate in a couple weeks with our buddies.

Reminders:

No school Monday, Nov. 11.

Conference Week: November 18-22

Thanksgiving break Wed. Nov. 27-29

Morning Assembly: Dec. 4

Have a fantastic three day weekend!

Cathy Werner

Kindergarten Update 11/4 - 11/8

Hi Kindergarten Families,

What a crazy week!  Thank you to  Sarah and all the families that came to help out at our Halloween party!!! It was a huge success! The costumes were amazing and a great time was had by all!!! Have a fun and safe Halloween tonight!

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

Word Wall Words: can, in

Writer’s Workshop: Students have made amazing progress with sounding out words.  Remember, the goal is not for their sounded-out word to be spelled correctly, but for them to begin writing the sounds that they hear in each syllable.   

Art/Science: We will study the life cycle of butterflies and learn facts about butterflies.  

Reading: By now students should know most of their letters and sounds as well as being able to identify the names of the letters. Please be sure to review the alphabet letters and sounds if they are still struggling.  Some students are working on reading simple 3 letter words with “short a” and “short i” middle sounds (ie: cat, ran, bit, pin).  Please help your child practice these skills at home if needed. Students are working on reading with fluency, meaning that if they are slowly decoding (sounding out) each word in a sentence, they should go back to read the sentence smoothly again. Fluency builds confidence, motivation, and is an important step for comprehension. Please help support your child with this skill at home by having them read the paper books over and over again until they are reading them fluently and with confidence.  Please review elements of the story of each book they read.  We have focused on characters, setting, problem and solution.

Math: Students are learning how to solve problems using a variety of strategies which include tally marks, ten frames, number bonds, counting on, and drawings.   Please continue to practice number writing at home if your child is still writing some numbers backwards. 

We have been discussing positive behaviors in class and on the playground.  Please review these guidelines at home.  Students should be keeping their hands and body parts to themselves.  We have had a hard time understanding personal space and students are not liking others in their personal space. In class, we will review the definition of bullying which is when a student repeats the behavior after they have been asked to stop.Thank you for your support in helping your child understand the importance of personal space!

I hope you have a great weekend!
Ms. Werner