Another Week Flies By!

              

                September 28, 2012                

Another Week Flies By!

Jolly Phonics: This week we hopped up and down and then panted for the sound of h. We put our teeth together like a dog playing tug and said "rrrrrr" for the sound of r. Now we know the sounds of the letters: s, a, t, i, p, n, c, k, e, h, and r.

There is a set of pictures, letters, and words that the student will be keeping in the back of their green folder so we can practice at school.  Please practice sorting these cards into groups at home when possible.

Reading: This week we added another word to our popcorn bag: see.   We continued the theme: Colors All Around. We read Brown Bear, Brown Bear,  What Do You See? The children were so excited to read the words "I see a ...." We, also, listened to the story Caps for Sale. We learned that a peddler is like a salesperson but he does not work in a store. In this story the peddler carries the caps he sells on the top of his head. When he takes a nap under a tree, monkeys take his hats. Ask your child how the peddler gets the monkeys to return his caps.

Math: Chapter 3 includes work on concepts such as above, below, under, beside, next to, between, in front of, behind, inside and outside.  We stacked cubes using our concepts of above, below, under, and between.  We also colored a sheet of blocks where I started giving directions using our concept words and then the students were able to choose a color for a specific block but had to use our concept words to tell their classmates what to do.  For example one student said “ color the cube below the red one yellow.” We also worked with tally marks counting the days we have been in school.  Counting the days of school also allows us to get practice counting by 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s.

Character Counts: The children are learning to be responsible at school for their supply box and green folder. Helpers each day like to take important notes to the office, hand out papers to their classmates, get the milk from the refrigerator, and wipe the tables after snack time. Please encourage your child by giving them some responsibilities at home. Try making a chore chart and award a star or sticker for jobs completed. It will make your job easier ... someday!

Important

Please check your child’s green folder everyday.

Wear gym shoes on Thursday and Friday

Bring your library books on Wednesday

Monday October 8^th Columbus Day NO SCHOOL!

A Colorful Week!

September 21, 2012

Focus on Curriculum

Jolly Phonics: This week we played castanets for the sound of c and k. We cracked eggs open for the sound of e. Now we know the sounds of the letters: s, a, t, i, p, n, c, k, and e.

Reading: We started our second theme: Colors All Around. We read a Big Book called I Went Walking by Sue Williams. We learned a poem called "We Love Colors." Perhaps your child asked for a lunch box this week. I read the story, I Need a Lunch Box. The preschool child in this story wanted a lunch box like his older sister. He dreamed of lunch boxes in many different colors.  We also worked in little books called My Crayon Book.  We read the book as a class and underlined our popcorn words I and a.  We also colored the crayons on each page to match the words on each individual page. We learned the new popcorn "in" word this week.  We now have four popcorn words: I, a, it, and in.  In our journals we wrote about what color we like and were able to draw a picture of something that has our favorite color.

Math: We finished Chapter 1 in our math books. We used these vocabulary words: alike and different. We sorted and grouped objects by color, size, and shape. Next week we will start Chapter 3. We will learn more math vocabulary: over and under, next to and between. 

Star Student:  This week we had our first star student of the week, one in the morning class and one in the afternoon.  Everyone will have there chance to be the star student of the week and we review everyday that it might not be next week or the week after that, but everyone will have their chance and be the star student.

Thank You for all the donations made at the book fair for books for our class library.  Those books include: No Jumping On The Bed, ABC Animal Jamboree, Apples A to Z, Froggy Goes To Hawaii, Happy Birthday Princess, Do Like a Duck Does, Lego City Fire In The Forest, Dixie Loves School Pet Day, I Spy Letters, When Dinosaurs Came With Everything, Dog in Boots, and When a Dragon Moves In.

IMPORTANT: 

 Thursday September 27^th is picture day.  Remember to bring back your order forms by September 27^th, if you would like to order pictures.

 Friday September 28th is a half-day.  Only the A.M. class will attend school.  Kindergarten will get out at 12:00 noon on that day.  

Remember to bring Library books on Wednesday

Wear your Gym Shoes on Thursday and Friday

Week Three!

Focus on Curriculum

September 14, 2012

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 letter F.  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 letter F in our handwriting book.

Jolly Phonics: We know the sounds of the letters: s, a, t. i, p, and n. We like to sing songs and do actions for each sound to help us remember them.   I will be sending home a sheet with our first six letters that has the motions and sounds used to make each letter.

Reading: We completed our first theme in our reading series: Look at Us!   I read The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse.   We talked about the ways life is different in the city and the country. I also read Here Are My Hands by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault.  We drew a picture of ourselves in our own city and town in our journals.

Popcorn Words:  This week we received our red popcorn bags and cut out our first three words (a, I, it) and put those words in our red bags.  We are going to keep our popcorn bags in the front sleeve of our green folder so we can practice our words at school and at home.

Math: We continued to work in Chapter 1 in our math books. We used these vocabulary words: alike and different. We sorted and grouped objects by color, size, and shape. We learned that working in our math books is fun.  We also created a shape book that allows us to learn our shapes at the same time have practice with one of our Popcorn words a.

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.

Wear gym shoes on Thursday and Friday.

Bring your library books on Wednesday.

Please check the green folder daily.

Our Wonderful Week Two!

 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. "

Jolly Phonics

This week we studied the sounds of "t" and "i." We played tennis to hear the sound of t. We met Inky the Mouse who squeaked the sound of i because a bottle of ink fell on him.   Has your child mentioned that we do this work on our whiteboard? It is connected to our computer and a projector. They think that they are watching a movie, possibly because I turn off the lights so the colors are brighter. It's very exciting to play with this new technology.

Reading

This week we read Here Are My Hands to reinforce parts of the body.  We also read Knuffle Bunny and Curious George's First Day of School in which we worked on noting details of what happened during each particular story.


 

                                                 Math

In Chapter 1 we practice sorting things by color, shape, and size. We identify things that are alike and different. It is fun to play with the little objects but we are also learning how to work in our math book.

                          Science and Social Studies 

Every child has Calendar Book that we keep in school. It has a page for every month of the school year. We start each day counting the days we have been in school. Then we sing about the days of the week to the tune of the Addams Family.  We draw a picture of the weather each day on our September calendars. We decide if it is sunny, windy, cloudy, rainy, or snowy.

Handwriting Without Tears

To teach handwriting we use a multisensory approach that uses upbeat songs to make handwriting fun. So far we have learned proper pencil grip. Your child should use their pincher fingers (thumb and pointer finger) to pick up the pencil and rest the pencil on the middle finger. 


Remember Bring Library Books on Wednesday
Wear Gym Shoes on Thursday and Friday

Our First Week!

Welcome to kindergarten! I'm so glad that I was able to meet everyone during Open House! Thanks 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 a class party. The dates are listed at the end of this newsletter. Only four parents may attend each party, but other parents can send in the 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 who to contact for help.

What did we do in school this week?

The children learned so many new things this week. Now we hang our backpacks on a hook in the hall with our number.  We find our supply boxes on a shelf with our number. We wear name tags so everyone in school will know our names.

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 very noisy hand dryers. We found the office to 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 and How Do Dinosaurs Go To School?  We visited the library on Friday and met Ms. Shawen and Ms. Maier. They love to read books to us and help us check out books. Please return the library book next Wednesday so your child will be able to check out another one. Library day is every Wednesday.

On Monday all students received a green folder. Please send it to school everyday in your child's backpack. Do not add stickers to the folder. I will give the children stickers on special days to decorate their folders.

On Thursdays and Fridays we will have gym and meet Mr. K.   Please be sure your child wears gym shoes on Thursdays and Fridays.

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. My address is: ppitassi@ccsd66.org   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.

Jolly Phonics

To help the children learn the sounds letters make, we use a program called Jolly Phonics. This program was developed in England in 1987. The letters are introduced in the order of their frequency in words. In each lesson I tell a story and attach an action to the sound of the letter. Then we listen to a song about the letter and perform the action. This week we studied the sounds of “s” and "a." Soon your child will be singing the songs and doing the silly actions as we review each daily.

Reading

We started our first theme in our reading series: Look at Usl   We read Now I'm Big and Mice Squeak, We Speak by Tomie dePaola.

Dates to Remember

Halloween Party: Wednesday October 31, 2012

Winter Party: Friday, December 21, 2012

Valentine Party: Thursday February 14, 2013