September 12-16

Hello Kindergarten Families!

We are off and running this school year and we are doing a fabulous job getting to know the routines at school! I am having a great time getting to know each and every one of your special kiddos. Please remember to send your child’s writing folder and gym shoes to school if you have not already done so.

Upcoming events:
9/14: Picture Day
9/15:  International Dot Day! Wear something with polka dots to school
9/16: Fitnessswear Friday
9/16: Fox Cities Kids Fun Run
9/19-9/23 Safety Week
9/19: PSC Meeting
9/22: Family Night: Hot Dogs and How to Help


Reading: In reading, the students have been practicing the routine for getting ready for Reader’s Workshop. We are focusing on looking at the cover and thinking about how the pages in the book go together. We talked about using our fingers to search for all different things on the page. This week, we will talk about the importance of rereading. Readers reread by putting all the pages together, thinking more about the book and learning from the words in the book.

Writing: We are currently working on writing about topics we know about. Students are learning how to think of, visualize, and then put what they know about a topic on paper. We are working on adding more details and words to a page when we think we might be done. We will learn that writers might run into problems, like finishing a page or pens running out of ink, but strong writers are problem solvers and decide what they can do to keep on writing! We will be focusing on labeling pictures and stretching out the sounds in words to write them on the page.  When your child brings home their writing, you might ask what his/her book is about or ask him/her to show you where they tried to add labels to their pieces.

Math: We have been learning about many different tools that can be used for math including our eyes, fingers, red/blue counting tiles, and purple number tiles. These math tools can help us think about building numbers, showing numbers and quantities in different ways, and finding different ways to count objects. We have been reading Anno’s Counting Book, which encourages students to count, classify, and compare objects. I encourage students to be counting things all day every day. Help them notice things to count; setting the table is a great way to get kids counting!

Word Study: We have four stations that students rotate around throughout the week.

• Students are given cards with names and pictures of each student in the class. Students take ABC foam pieces and build their own names and friends’ names.
• Students are working on ABC puzzles
• There are I Spy books that focus on a letter on every page at station three.
• Students are using wikki sticks and large letter cards to create the letter of the alphabet. Wikki sticks look like bendy yarn. They are made of hand-knitting yarn and wax, so they stick to most surfaces. 

Social Studies: We have been learning all about what we need to do to make our room a safe and happy place to learn. We will be creating our hopes and dreams wall this week. Each student will pick one thing that they hope to accomplish this year, then we will be generating rules that will help us reach these dreams. These will serve as our classroom rules. I look forward to sharing a picture of our hopes and dream wall with you later this week!

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to call or e-mail.