Monthly Kindergarten Newsletter Weeks # 3-8   August 29-October 7, 2011

  1. Thank you to all the parents and grandparents who went with us on our field trip to Pioneers Park.  We couldn’t do this without you!  The weather was perfect and we had on our best manners.  Everyone listened and followed directions…we all had a wonderful time!
  2. Please continue sending the October Family Art Project.  Remember, this can be an apple, a pumpkin, or a jack-o-lantern.
  3. Parent-Teacher Conferences began last night.  They will continue next week.
  4. Thank you for sending an apple with your child.  We plan to make applesauce with Miss Kathy’s magic applesauce maker this week or next week!

       Literacy:                                               

  • We have been working on rhyming words.  Please continue helping your child with this important skill by saying a word (cat, dog) and asking for a word that rhymes with it.
  • We had a fun 3 weeks reading many versions of  The Gingerbread Man, The 3 Little Pigs,  The 3 Billy Goats Gruff, The 3 Little Kittens, and The 3 Bears.  We acted them out and we learned to retell these classics.  We are learning to name the  characters and the setting.  The setting is where the story takes place.
  • We continue to work on recognizing all the capital and lowercase letters.  We all want to be in the Alphabet Club!!!  Some of us are working on the sounds the letters make. Please continue helping your child with recognizing letters and knowing the letter sounds.
  • Ask your child to say the Alphabet Chant  to you.  We say this every morning…we say the letter, we do an action for each letter, and we say the letter sound.
  • Each week, we focus on one letter of the alphabet using our Alphafriends.  We have introduced 2 Alphafriends, Sammy Seal Ss and Mimi Mouse Mm.  We have an Alphafriend coloring book and we color the Alphafriend letter each week.  When we complete the 26 pages, we will bring the coloring book home.  We are focusing on the beginning sounds, S and M.
  • Word Wall Words:  I,  see,  mom,  dad, my, like, a, to, at, yes, no, me, EXIT, boys, girls   We need to know  these words by the end of the second quarter.

       Math

Thank you for helping your child with the Homework Pages.  We appreciate this extra practice at home. Here is the focus of the first unit in our math program: Counting 1-5 objects,  Identifying  #1-5 out-of-order, Putting  #1-5 in order, Drawing 1-5 objects, Writing #1-5, Identifying objects that are alike and different, Drawing circles, squares, and triangles.

    


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 Theme: Building Community (Weeks 1 and 2)

Naming Our Class: Choosing a class name is a wonderful way to build community.  Our names come from the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear.  This is a great book that we use because many students are familiar with the rhyming words and the animals in this story.  Did you know that you can sing the lines of this book to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star?”  Mrs. Heibel’s class is the Green Frogs, Mrs. Hibbert’s class is the Goldfish, and Miss. Kathy’s class is the Blue Horses.  We used torn construction paper to make banners for each of our mascots and then all the students signed their class banner.  The banners are hanging in the hallway by each Kindergarten classroom.  We also made flags and went on a parade through the school.

Literacy:

  • We can recognize the alphabet letters Aa-Ii, both capital and lowercase.  We have practiced writing them in the air and on our individual chalkboards and whiteboards.  Please continue to practice recognizing and writing these letters at home. 
  • We read the Morning Message every morning.
  • We have read all the environmental print sheets and they are displayed in the classrooms.  Thank you for sending them back to school.
  • Many of us are recognizing our name in print and the names of our friends in print.  We are learning how many letter we have in our first name.
  • We have water colored Brown Bear books and practiced reading them together.  We looked at the printed words, pointed to each word as it was read from left to right.  You will find the book in this weeks Friday Folder.  We will make many little books this year.  Try to save as many as you can and read them together.  Soon your child will have the confidence and the ability to read them independently.   
  • As you read books with your child, look for individual alphabet letters your child recognizes, talk about spaces between words, look for those punctuation marks, count letters in words and count words in sentences.  Reading to your child and letting your child read to you are the best ways to build strong readers and writers.

Mathematics:

  • We are counting “How many days of school?” in many ways each day.
  • We are learning about the numbers 1-5.  We have counted with our fingers, with manipulatives, through songs, and even movements.  We have also practiced writing the numbers 1 and 2.  Continue to practice reading, writing, and counting sets of numbers to 5. 
  • We have looked at vertical and horizontal graphs as well.
  • YOUR CHILD WILL BE BRINGING HOME MATH HOMEWORK SOMEDAYS.  PLEASE COMPLETE THESE ASSIGNMENTS WITH YOUR CHILD AND RETURN THEM TO SCHOOL THE NEXT DAY. 

 Handwriting:  We have been practicing reading and writing our names, we sign-in every morning.  Name writing is a very important skill to practice at home, too.  Remember, only the first letter of a name is capitalized and all the others are lowercase.  We are learning to write our names on lined paper.  We have special names for all the lines.  We call the top line the sky, the dotted line the fence, the bottom line the ground, and the underground is below the bottom line.  Keep practicing name writing at home.

Choice Time:  We have had the opportunity to experience several centers: legos, blocks, writing, puzzles, playdoh, and more.  We are learning to work together and we are taking responsibility for our room by cleaning up.

Special Events/Announcements:  Thank you to all the families who came to Curriculum Night this last week.  Knowing students goals for reading, math, writing, and behavior are very important!  If you could not make it, you should have gotten all of the information in last weeks Friday Folder.  If you could return the Family Art Projects in September that would be great!!!

Thank you all for your support in your child’s learning,

Mrs. Heibel, Mrs. Hibbert, and Miss. Kathy

 Specials

 Library:  All Riley classrooms have been in to check out books from the Riley Media Center. A good way to keep track of books at home is to return books to their   backpack after each time they read at home. They should be returning books each week so they can check out another to enjoy!

 P.E.:  During the first month of school we work on making the students comfortable with the class expectations and procedures.  We begin working on basic movement skills (skipping, galloping, hopping) jumping rope as well as bouncing balls.

 Art:  Kindergarten is learning about primary and secondary colors through experiences with bubbles, mixing colors, and painting with watercolors. After reading the book Peter Reynolds’ “The Dot”, the students will begin to paint their own unique dot using watercolors and the primary and secondary colors.

Music:  This month in music we will be exploring our singing voice. We will also be learning what the beat is in music. We will keep a steady beat on instruments, with body percussion, and will be moving to a steady beat. We will be learning a lot, but having lots of FUN! MUSIC FACT: The largest drum ever made was 12 feet in diameter for the Boston World Peace Jubilee of 1872. It weighed 600 pounds!

Computer:  The Kindergarteners are learning the basics of moving and clicking the mouse and exploring a program called A to Zap.   A to Zap! Prepares early learners for reading and math challenges with 26 activities – each connected to a letter of the alphabet!