Fall is Here!

Focus on Curriculum            

September 27, 2013

Handwriting Without Tears:  We wrote the letters R, N, and M in our handwriting book.

Jolly Phonics:  This week we learned the letters e and h.  For the letter e we pretend we are breaking eggs.  To make the sound of the letters h we pretend we just finished running and are out of breath and we say h,h,h,h,h.. We know the sounds of the letters: s, a, t, p, n, c, k, I e, and h.  We like to sing songs and do actions for each sound to help us remember them.   Remember to review the sounds we have learned in the letter and sound packet, which shows 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 each new letter and the sound of that letter.

Reading:  We continued our Unit One.  This week we concentrated on a story titled Flower Garden, which follows a little girl who makes a window box full of flowers for her mother’s birthday.  We talked about how we have done nice things for others and how we felt when we do nice things for others.  We also read the story Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come! and Apples A-Z since fall has just started and apple season is upon us.

Popcorn Words:  This week we cut out the popcorn word in and glued it in our spirals.  We wrote in our small in books.  We also read another small book called The Fall Basket.  Our spirals are going home today.  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.  Please remind your child to bring their popcorn word spirals to school everyday.   

Math: We continued our counting unit.  We continued practicing counting to 20.  We wrote our numbers 7 and 8 this week.  We practiced counting with apple math activities.

Social Studies:  Our Weekly Readers focused on bats and what makes them unique.  Our other weekly reader focused on the fact that no two people are the same and how we are all different from others in our very own special ways. 

Remember: 

Do not forgot to place your Scholastic book orders.

 Bring Library Books on Mondays and Tuesdays

We have gym everyday.  Please remember your gym shoes.

Please check the green folder daily.

Turn in Box Tops to earn money for our school!-  The class with the most box tops wins a pizza party at the end of the year.

Colors!

Focus on Curriculum     

September 20, 2013

Handwriting Without Tears:  We wrote the letters P and B in our handwriting book.

Jolly Phonics:  This week we learned the letters n, c, and k.  For the letter n we pretend we are flying a plane.  To make the sound of the letters c and k we pretend we are playing the castanets. We know the sounds of the letters: s, a, t, p, n, c, k and i.  We like to sing songs and do actions for each sound to help us remember them.   Remember to review the sounds we have learned in the letter and sound packet, which shows 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 each new letter and the sound of that letter.

Reading:  We continued our Unit One.  This week we concentrated on a story titled Cat’s Colors.  The story focused on the cat’s favorite colors.  The cat’s favorite color ended up being orange because that is the color of his mom.  Our vocabulary words in Cat’s Colors were soar, tangled, snooze and drowsy.  We watched a video clip of an eagle soaring with a camera attached to the eagle.  Ask your children if they know what those words mean.  We also read other stories that focused on colors such as Mouse Paint, White Rabbit’s Color Book, and The Mixed-Up Chameleon.  We completed an activity where we figured out if you add one color to another that a new color would be created.  We read The Little Red Hen and did a sequencing activity.

Popcorn Words:  This week we cut out the popcorn word it and glued it in our spirals.  We wrote in our small it books.  We also read another small book called What Is It?  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 continued our counting unit.  We continued practicing counting to 20.  We wrote our numbers 5 and 6 this week.  We played math games on the computer.  We also completed an animal farm project where we lined up 20 animals in number order waiting to get into a barn.

Social Studies:  Our Weekly Reader focused on apple trees and how they change throughout the seasons.

Remember: 

Half Day of school- Friday September 27, 2013

Do not forgot to place your scholastic book orders.

 Bring Library Books on Mondays and Tuesdays

We have gym everyday.  Please remember your gym shoes.

Please check the green folder daily.

Turn in Box Tops to earn money for our school!-  The class with the most box tops wins a pizza party at the end of the year.

Turn in day for the magazine drive:

   Tuesday September 24^th

Generosity!

Focus on Curriculum     

September 13, 2013

Handwriting Without Tears: This week we continued our Frog Jump letters E and D.  We call it a frog jump letter because we make a big line down and then frog jump back up to the point we started at.  We wrote the letters E and D in our handwriting book.

Jolly Phonics:  This week we learned the letters i and p.  We pretend we are Inky the Mouse and are itching our whiskers and saying the sound of short i.  To make the sound of the letter p we pretend we are puffing out birthday candles. We know the sounds of the letters: s, a, t, i, and p.  We like to sing songs and do actions for each sound to help us remember them.   Remember to review the sounds we have learned in the letter and sound packet, which shows 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 each new letter and the sound of that letter.

Reading:  We continued our Unit one.  This week we concentrated on a story titled If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.  In the story a little boy shares a cookie with a mouse and then the mouse starts asking the boy for many more favors throughout the story.  We learned what generous means and how the boy was generous with the mouse.  We discussed, as a class, how each of the children are generous in their own lives. We also read our very own small book I See! I See! that concentrated on our popcorn words I and a.  We learned to use are reading fingers (index fingers) to track words while reading.  The children were introduced to Lips the Fish who tells the children to get their lips ready to read and to Owl Eyes who tells the children to use their eyes to look at the pictures for visual clues to help figure out words.  The children also know to look at the first letter of difficult words, say the beginning sound and then look at the pictures to help figure out the difficult words while reading.

Popcorn Words:  This week we cut out the popcorn word I 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 continued our counting unit.  We continued practicing counting to 20.  We wrote our numbers 3 and 4 this week.  We completed a connect the dot picture with the numbers 1 to 20 where we discovered the closest star to the earth is the sun.  We incorporated the story If You Give a Mouse a Cookie into our math with a mouse project in which the children had to use a color code to color a picture that focused on the numbers 1 through 4.  We also did another counting activity where I told the children to find a particular number and then color that number a certain color.

Social Studies:  Our Weekly Reader focused on School Rules.

Remember: 

Bring Library Books on Mondays and Tuesdays

We have gym everyday.  Please remember your gym shoes.

Please check the green folder daily.

Turn in Box Tops to earn money for our school!-  The class with the most box tops wins a pizza party at the end of the year.

Turn in days for the magazine drive are-

Tuesday September 17^th    Thursday September 19^th    Tuesday September 24th

Welcome!

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