Kindergarten Times



Kindergarten Times

September 25, 2014

Mrs. Marian Smith

Mrs. Susan Blackman

Student News

The boys and girls are excited that fall is finally here! During the next couple of weeks the children will be learning about fall weather. They'll learn what happens to the leaves and why. They will learn poems about the fall season. They will talk about and write about things that happen in the fall.

The boys and girls have been getting familiar with the letter “Aa” this week. The students are working on the proper way to write upper and lower case "Aa". If you do practice at home, please refer to the handwriting sheet that was given out at Open House. It has the start position and the arrows that show which direction to go. If you notice, all the letters that the children have learned to write so far begin with a “circle back” motion. Forming the letters correctly (this includes starting in the right place) helps cut down on reversals.

Next week the children will practice the letter “Ss”. As always, they will be working on letter recognition, the sound of the letter and the correct letter formation.

We will start Literacy Centers using the Work Board soon. The girls and boys are gaining independence. They will be working on their own while Mrs. Blackman and I work in small groups. I am almost finished assessing each child using the Developmental Reading Assessment. When all are completed, I will begin guided reading groups. (The students will be exposed to many more sight words while working in Guided Reading groups.) The girls and boys will be working on reading strategies. Here they are;

1. Think about the story. (If the story is about a dog, there probably won't be a dolphin in the story.)

2. Check the pictures. (It is okay for an early reader to look at pictures to help figure out a word. They are building self confidence and if the picture helps, then use it!!!)

3. Go back and get your mouth ready. (What sound does the word begin with or end with?)

4. Look for chunks. (Chunks are parts of the word that the children recognize immediately.)

5. Does that make sense? Would we say it that way? (If the story is about a dog, would we say that the dog runned or that the dog runs?)

I think that you get the picture.

Report cards will be given out during Conference Week, beginning October 20. Some of the skills that will be included on this Report are;

*rhyming and non-rhyming words

*reading high-frequency words (these are the words that are on the Word Wall)

*accurately printing all upper and lower case letters introduced

*decomposes numbers within 5 in more than one way (e.g., using objects or drawings)

* correctly names 2-D shapes and describes objects in the environment using names of shapes

This is a standards based Report Card. There will be more skills and the skills and benchmarks (expectations) will become increasingly difficult as the year progresses.

Please let me know if there is a day/time that better meets your Conference needs. We schedule siblings back to back so we do have a bit of juggling to do but we will do our very best to meet your needs. If possible, please give me more than one time for scheduling flexibility

The weather will be turning cool soon. When the children start bringing their jackets (we call them "cover ups") to school, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE put your child's name in them! You would be surprised at just how many boys and girls don't know their own clothing. Mrs. Blackman and I hold clothing for three days and then it goes in the Lost and Found.

Enjoy the beautiful fall weather. The children love it!!!

Riddle of the Week

What’s the best thing to put in an apple pie?

A spoon!!!

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