Newsletter Updates for the Week of August 27th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Thurs., Aug. 30th—Gingerbread Day—wear your gray Kindergarten shirts

-Fri., Aug. 31st—No School

-Mon., Sept. 3rd—No School-Labor Day

-Wed., Sept 5th—Picture Day—K-2

SOCIAL STUDIES:

The first few weeks are busy getting to know each other and establishing classroom routines. We will be reading many books about starting school and what it means to be a ‘good friend.’ On Thursday, we will be making our Gingerbread Man. In years past, he has escaped in our school and we’ve been able to meet several important people and visit significant places around the school while searching for him.  We’ll see what this year brings . . . .

SCIENCE:

Our Monarch caterpillars are now in their chrysalises and we will be watching and waiting for them to emerge as butterflies.

READING:

The first 3 weeks, we will be focusing on learning our letters by studying the letters in our names. We will also be reading several alphabet books and learning how to work at literacy stations.

BOOK BOXES:

We will begin reading our own books from home by the end of this week—so please bring in your 5-8 books if you still need to. We will learn 3 ways to read a book—reading by looking at the pictures, retelling a familiar story from memory, & reading the words. Our goal is that students will begin to see themselves as ‘readers.’

WRITING:

This week we will complete a self-portrait, as well as a class Gingerbread book. Students will be practicing writing their names. When practicing at home, please be sure to begin with an uppercase letter and use lowercase for the rest of their name. Also, when forming our letters, we always stress starting our letters at the top:)

MATH:

This week we will learn about pattern blocks as we identify & match shapes & colors. We will also introduce10 frames, & practice counting using 1 to 1 correspondence.