Focus
on Curriculum
September 6, 2013
Welcome to kindergarten! I am so glad that I was able to meet
everyone during Open House!
Thank you for bringing all the school supplies. If you want to help at a party but did not sign up, please write
me a note. I would like everyone to have a chance to help with one of
our class parties. The dates are listed at the end of this newsletter. Only
four parents may attend each party, but all
parents are welcome to send treats or supplies. Thank you to the Room Parents who signed up to organize the
parties. I will send you a copy of the sign up sheets so you will know whom to contact for help with our parties.
The children learned so many new
things during our first week and a half.
Now we hang our backpacks on a hook in the hall with our
number. We wear nametags so everyone in school will learn our names. We discussed our “Good Manners” wall and how
we are all respectful, responsible, and caring.
This week we practiced walking in a line quietly as we
toured the school. We can say,
"Hands at our side, we walk with pride at Elizabeth Ide." We visited the washrooms to check out the automatic flushing
toilets and our very noisy hand dryers.
We found the office where we turn in our attendance report and other
important papers. We learned about playground rules and had recess outside.
This week I read The Night Before
Kindergarten, Curious George’s First Day of School and How Do Dinosaurs
Go To School? We visited the
library on Tuesday and met Mrs. Hayes. She loves to read books to us and help us
check out our books. Please return the library book next Monday or Tuesday so your child will be
able to check out another one. Library day is every Monday and Tuesday.
All students received a green folder.
Please send it to school everyday in your child's backpack.
Each week I will send a newsletter on
Friday via email. You must open the attachment to read it. If you do not
have a computer at home to check your email, I will send you the newsletter by
paper copy. Please write me a note to let me know. If you have questions or
concerns at any time, please write a note and put it in the green folder or send me an email
message. Be sure to put your child's name in the
subject line so I will recognize it as important mail. We do not open mail that
we do not
recognize.
PAWS-itive Behavior Pledge
Everyday we say the Pledge of Allegiance to our flag.
Then we hold up our right hand and say our PAWS-itive Behavior Pledge. It helps us
start the day on a positive note. Here are the words we say.
"I pledge to have PAWS-itive behavior. I
promise to be responsible, respectful, caring, trustworthy, fair, and a good
citizen.
I will do my best at school and be a helpful classmate,
too. "
Handwriting Without Tears: This week we started
our handwriting books. We learned to exercise our pincher fingers, pick
up our pencil and hold it properly, sit up tall, and turn the book for proper paper
position. We also learned to make the Frog Jump letters F and E. We call it a frog jump letter because we
make a big line down and then frog jump back up to the place we started. We wrote the letters F and E in our
handwriting book.
Jolly Phonics: We know the sounds of the letters: s, a,
and t. We like to sing songs and do actions for each sound to help us
remember them. I sent home a packet
today with all the motions and sounds used to make each letter of the alphabet
that we will learn this year. It is for
your reference so you can practice with your children as we learn new letters
and the sounds of each letter.
Reading: We started our new
reading series called Making Meaning.
The children will learn to make connections between the stories we read
and their own lives. This week we
concentrated on a story titled My Friends.
In the story a little girl learns how to hop, run, jump, and walk from
her animal friends. We had a
class discussion on what the children have learned from their own friends and
family. The children drew a picture of
themselves and their friends. We also
read our very own small book that concentrated on own first popcorn word a.
Popcorn Words:
This week we received our spiral indexes. We cut out our first popcorn word a and glued it in our
spirals. Our indexes will be going home
in a few weeks once the children learn a few more of our sight words to put in
our spirals. We are going to keep our
spirals in the front sleeve of our green folder so we can practice our words at
school and at home.
Math: We started our first unit. Counting is our first unit.
We practiced counting teddy bears.
Next, as a group, we practiced counting by ones to 20. We also started writing our numbers this
week starting with 0, 1, and 2.
Social Studies: We
read our first Weekly Reader, Ready, Set, School! The Weekly Reader focused on how we get ready for school. The Reader focused on how important it is to
get a good nights rest up to how we get to school each day.
Star Student: We
picked our first Star Student of the week.
Please look for the Red “All About Me” bag to be coming home on
Fridays. There will be directions in
the bag that explains what happens during each child’s special week.
Remember:
Bring Library Books on Mondays and Tuesdays
We have gym everyday.
Please remember your gym shoes.
Please check the green folder daily.
Halloween Party- October 31, 2013
Winter Party-December 20, 2013
Valentine Party-February 14, 2013
