Newsletter Updates for the Week of January 29th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Fri., Feb. 2nd—Smokey the Bear Visits, Groundhog Day, & Homecoming Game

-Wed., Feb. 7th—100’s Day

-Wed., Feb. 14th—Valentine’s Party—pm

-Thurs., Feb 15th—K JR4H—10:00-11:00

-Fri., Feb. 16th—No School—Professional Dev.

-Mon., Feb 19th—No School—President’s Day

-Thurs., Feb 22nd—1/2 day—PTC 4:00-7:00

-Fri., Feb 23rd—Dental Health Presentation

AND THE PACE QUICKENS:

Hopefully you’ve had a chance to look over your child’s report card and assessments. Overall, I’m very pleased with the students’ progress. We’ve established some great routines and foundational skills. Now the pace quickens a bit. We will still be adding 2 new sightwords each week, learning a total of 51 sightwords this year; and instead of 1 letter a week, we will be focusing on 2 letters a week. I am beefing up my interventions at school for those students who need some extra practice and support with skills. You can help as well by reviewing these same skills at home. Now that we have many strategies in our toolboxes for reading—you should be seeing your child grow as a reading. I’ll send home take-home reading folders a couple times a week and they can do Raz-Kids at home as well. Please let me now if you have any questions or concerns related to your child’s progress in Kindergarten.

READING:

This week our class will be reading stories about the kinds of fresh foods grown on a farm. Your child will be identifying different kinds of fruits and vegetables. Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing:

· Vocabulary—fresh & delicious—talk about the fresh fruits and vegetables you buy at the grocery store or farmers’ market.

· Sightwords—he & with—Have your child practice writing these words and using them in a sentence.

· Category Words—fruits & vegetables—Write the names of fruits and vegetables on index cards. Have your child draw a picture to match and then invite them to sort the cards into different categories (size, color, shape, etc.)

· Phonics—Letterss Ff & Rr—Play ‘I Spy’ with your child using beginning sounds. “I spy something that begins with the /f/ sound.”

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES:

This week we will wrap up our Science Unit on Forces & Motion.  Students may bring in a toy from home that moves in some way for our lesson on Tuesday.  We will also learn about the different things that animals do during the Winter—hibernation, migration, & active.  We will check in on Punxsutawney Phil on Friday to see if he does or does not see his shadow and learn what that means for the upcoming weather forecast. Friday, we will also be visited by Smokey the Bear who will teach us how we can be good citizens and help prevent forest fires.

WRITING:

We’ve completed our Pattern Book Unit and will be celebrating by reading our stories to the class. We will begin our next unit of study—Small Moments—by reading several small moment stories and discussing the qualities. This week we will complete a couple of journals—one about hibernating animals, and another about a groundhog.  This is an exciting time of year because the students’ abilities and confidence for writing just seem to blossom.

MATH: 

This week we will learn about the addition symbol and play several games involving addition. We will learn about Spheres and practice arranging 2D shapes into different combinations.

Please be sure to return your January Book-It

Calendar & send in an empty cereal box.