Kindergarten Update 4/6 - 4/10

Dear Kindergarten Families,

I hope home school is going well.  I know how challenging it is and I want to be as supportive as I possibly can!  

Next week is Spring Break so we won't be giving out packets or posting any assignments on Google Classroom .  Please take this time to enjoy your family and take a break from homeschooling!

On the Monday after spring break you may pick up the second packet at school between 8-10.  I highly encourage you to get one as we are trying to stick to our kindergarten themes.  Try to give one page of math , and a writing page each day. Friday, April 10 is a teacher work day so we won't be posting lessons for that day.

I came up with a daily schedule to help keep you on track for the upcoming weeks. Please know that this is only a suggestion and if you have it all under control then don't worry about it! I was thinking about  the break down of time in our Kinder day so it's kind of based on that. I scheduled it in the morning even though we have an afternoon class.Sometimes it helps to get a jump on it straight away. Of course, feel free to change the time frame if your child is sleeping in.

Here is the schedule:

8-9-Read Aloud Story- Read a story or check out Epic books and have your child tell you about the setting, problem and solution. (20 min or so)

Log on to Lexia and do a few lessons(20-30 min)

Word wall words- make some flashcards or have your child write some sentences with their word wall words(20 min)

9-9:30-Recess-get outside and move 

9:30-9:45-Calendar-talk about the date, day, year, etc.how is the weather today? count to 100 by five and tens

9:45-10:15-Math-do a page from the packet, do some addition or subtraction flash cards, practice writing your numbers to 50 and beyond!

10:15-10:45-Check out a Mystery Science Mini Lesson or a Scholastic lesson

10:45-11:15-Do a writing or phonics paper from the packet or write in a journal

11:15-11:30-Do a chore around the house to help out and give mom and dad a hug! 

If you are having a hard time with Google Classroom please know that this is new for me too! It is a learning curve! The kinder team is currently working on our Google Classroom page and making it more user friendly.  After spring break, things will be more organized by subject, and assignments. 

I recently added Epic Books to our Google Classroom. To access your child's reading level, you can click on the F& P link to practice. Unfortunately we are not allowed on to campus so I cannot access our classroom books for you to borrow. Another suggestion is to order leveled books on Amazon.  Bob books are also great for beginning readers.

 I am here to help. Please reach out if you are in need! Also, check out the RIo website for students. There are lots of links/educational sites for your child.

Hope this helps a little! 

Have a nice and relaxing Spring Break,

Ms. Werner

Kindergarten Update 3/16 - 3/20 and Distant Learning

Hello Kindergarten Families, 

Hopefully this update finds you and your family well. Due to school closure it is my sincere goal to partner with you to educate your children. Please find an update of our regular Kindergarten learning plan for next week, some resources, and a distant learning plan ( PVUSD has planned) due to the practice of social distancing.  

First and foremost, your child might be feeling anxiety during this time. Here is a great resource from our awesome Social Emotional Counselor, Natalie Hanneman. The California Association for Marriage and Family Therapists released it as a public announcement to reduce student  anxiety during this time: Reducing Anxiety PSA by CA Association for Marriage and Family Therapists .

This week, it is St. Patrick's Day on Tuesday.  This is one of my favorite holidays because I am Irish! A fun activity  to honor St. Patrick's Day, is to make a  leprechaun trap with your child and see if you can catch a leprechaun.  Leprechauns love anything green or shiny.   

In Language Arts:

Please practice sight words with your child. Our new sight words this week are little and was.

Review all sight words: 

a, at, and, an, be, can, come do, did, for, get, he, I, it, is, like, look, me, my, make, no, on, she, said,  we, you, go, in, have, will, play, this, that, has, had, one, with, jump, here, they

Children often enjoy having their own word wall. I would encourage you to create one with your child. Practice reading word wall  words daily and use it as a resource when your child is writing.

Please practice consonant vowel consonant words.  Here are a few ideas to practice  blending sounds into words. Start with easy CVCwords  Like: cat, hat, cap, lip, hit, met, hen, hop, hot, mug, hut . First you can  model sounding out the word and have them  say it, read it, and spell it. Another idea  is to say the word such as  cat then take away  the /C/ and change the sound to /S/ now what do you have? SAT.

After  three letter CVCwords  you can add words with blends: (CCVC)  e.g.  flat, grip, brat, spit, slip (use all the different short vowel sounds.)

After  working on blends, try long vowels with silent e (CVCe) e.g. bike, hike, fine, hide, hope, etc After silent e words go to phonograms: ai, ay, oa, ea, ie, oi, oy, 

Technology:

Lexia: You can always go on Lexia on our website.  

Here are some Distant Learning Resources from the PVUSD for this week: https://sites.google.com/pvusd.net/pvusdparentideas/home

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Math: 

Play games like uno, card games like "War". Try card game "Making 5"  have child pick a card if it is a five you keep it, if not keep the card face up until you can add the card to make a five like 2 and 3, 1 and 4, etc.  Then you can add subtraction, 7-2, etc. 

Please practice counting to 100 by ones, fives, and tens. For a bit of a challenge practice counting to 100 by 2s. Some students had some trouble counting to 50 when I was assessing for report cards. Please continue to practice writing  numbers correctly. You can  practice with pudding, shaving cream, soap suds, etc. rather than pencil and paper; it's  also more fun to practice with colored pencils and gel pens.

Have some fun with  word problems. Children love it when the word problem is about them or include their name. Have your child help make one up about anything they might be interested in. 

A Leprechaun stole 15 gold coins from Mrs. Sandman's class.  On his way out the door Ms. Werner took 3 gold coins and Mrs. Victory stole another 3.  How many coins did the Leprechaun get?

Science: www.scholastic.com .

Finally, the PVUSD Independent Study plan requires a  20 minute reading log with a list of books read  each day. They also require a P.E. log for 30 minutes of exercise per day.   I would encourage you to share any ideas you have for keeping your child active during this time via the class email group.  I hope you all stay healthy. The best way is to do this is to practice social distancing. I miss the children and our Kindergarten community. I am checking my PVUSD email constantly. Please feel free to contact me. I will send out more information to you as I receive it from our school and the district office. Take good care!

Love,

Ms. Werner

Kindergarten Update 3/9 - 3/13

Hello Kindergarten Families,

Wow, it is March and it is almost spring!  This week, we will be talking about the weather and different types of clouds.  We will be reading many books and learning poems about weather and  clouds. 

In Writer's workshop, we will be starting our new unit on opinion writing.  The opinion pieces  turn out very cute because we ask them to write about their opinions on what we could change to improve our school.  One year, our students opinion pieces helped get the track on the upper playground  repaired because so many children wrote about it. :)

In reader's workshop, students will be introduced to being a "super reader. " Students will be show their powers by looking around the room and other places to identify familiar words.  Then, they will use pointer power to point to words as they read.  

word wall words: little, girl  

In math students will be identifying solid and flat shapes.  We will compare shapes using vocabulary words such as face, sides, corners etc.  Students will be designing an art project using different sizes of shapes.  We will also continue to add and subtract with word problems.



Reminders:
Report Cards go home on March 20
Spring break is the week of March 27 

Have a wonderful weekend,

Ms. Werner