Newsletter Updates for the Week of January 11th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Monday, January 18th—Delayed Start

-Thurs., January 21st—1/2 Day—Dismissal @ 11:55

-Fri., January 22nd—1/2 Day—Dismissal @ 11:55

-Friday, January 29th—Report Cards Home

-Friday, January 29th—Homecoming Game

THIRD GRADE READING BUDDIES: 

This week Mrs. Freeland’s 3rd grade class will begin coming down after lunch to work with our class.  They will be working one-on-one with us on important reading skills—letter ID, sounds, recording sounds, blending, sightwords, and oral reading fluency.  This is a great opportunity for our students to build relationships and boost our skills and confidence.  It is going to be a BLAST!

SLEDDING PARTY: 

We are tentatively planning our annual sledding party for Friday, January 22nd, BUT I am not telling the students until it gets closer in case the weather doesn’t cooperate:)  We will go outside around 10:45, sled for a half hour with the other Kindergarten classes, and then come back inside for hot chocolate before going home @ 11:55.  I am looking for a couple of parents, or grandparents, who would be willing to come in around 10:30 and help.  I could use a couple of people willing to go outside and push kids down the hill AND at least 1 person to stay inside and prepare our hot chocolate. Please let me know if you are willing and available to help out!

READING: 

This week, our class will be reading stories about how a community changes their environment—such as by building roads, playgrounds, and community gardens—to improve it.  *We can use our new auditorium as a great analogy:)

Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing.

· Vocabulary—community, improve—Take a walk or drive around your community. Point out ways that the community is working hard to improve.

· High-Frequency Words—Reviewing do, go, to, and, & you—Write each of the words on paper and ask your child to trace them. Then write a sentence using each word.

· Category Words - position words - Play “Simon Says” using position words, such as up, down, over, under, front, back, first, next, and last.

· Phonics—Reviewing Letters Ii, Nn, Cc, Oo, & Dd—Play a guessing game with your child. Ask your child to think of things that begin with each letter.

· Comprehension: key details in sequence—Read a short story to your child. Then ask your child to order the story’s pictures by writing first, next, or last under the pictures. Invite your child to retell the story.

· Beanie Baby Strategies—This week we will introduce a new Comprehension Strategy—Digger Dog who reminds us to dig for the ‘big idea,’ most important details, and the author’s purpose in the texts that we read.

WRITING: 

We will continue to work on writing pattern books throughout this month, beginning with an ‘I can’ book about things we can do outside in the wintertime. 

MATH:  

This week we will introduce another 3D solid shape—the cube.  We will also explore capacity, measuring how much different containers can hold and comparing them.  We will also work on skip counting by 10’s and play Top-it with number cards (a.ka. War).

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES: 

This week we will be reading some narrative stories about snowmen. We will also read several informational texts related to freedom and equality in anticipation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day next week.