September has flown by! This month was so much fun with all our apple work. We worked on the letters M and N these last two weeks and also the numbers 4 and 5. Have kids look for these around their house, out shopping, signs seen from the car, etc. Talk about what sounds they make. Kids will get excited when they see the letters and numbers they learn out in their world!
We will continue to work on letter names and sounds. If your child needs help with letter names, practice at home using flash cards. If your child can quickly and easily name the letters, upper and lowercase, work on letter sounds! We have begun to decode words in small reading groups, and the more practice kids get with the letters, the easier this process will be for them!
October conferences are coming up soon! Make sure you sign up for a time and date on the sheet outside the office!
Our whole class is working on better line behavior. Talk to your child about what a good line looks like and what they should be doing to help the line get better. I will be looking at good line kids for Pride Bucks!
**Kindergarten has a Delicious Page! Check out the Link List on this blog! The address is www.delicious.com/skellogg. Click on the Stacks Tab to see what stacks I have made!**
Friday, September 30, 2011
Friday, September 16, 2011
In kindergarten, we have been working very hard on having a positive outlook on school. Please talk to your child about how they can show respect, responsibility, and safety at school and at home. All the kids are learning how much work it takes to become a great kindergartener inside and outside of the classroom.
Please remember that there is NO supervision outside the school before 8:50. Please stay with your child until I come outside to take the line inside to make sure our kids are safe.
We have been working on the letters t, b, and f. We are working on the sounds these letters make, as well as how to write them properly. Any extra practice at home will help your child succeed in the classroom, so when you see these letters on a sign or around the house, point them out to your child. If your child is still struggling with the names of letters, please use flashcards at home. Do 3 letters a week and do not move on until your child can easily name the letters. For those kids who need an extra challenge, have them say the name and the sound of the letter. We will continue to introduce a letter a week.
Sight Word Reader books are going to start going home in Friday Folders. These are books that children practice reading with me in small group. They get a copy of the book to build their own library at home. They will assemble the first book with me, the rest will come in the folder as a sheet of paper that children will need to cut and staple (with your help) at home. These books are great for getting kids excited about reading, and to help them recognize those sight words!
Starting next week, we are going to start our Student of the Week program in the classroom. When your child is selected, they will get a letter and poster in their Friday Folder. They bring in the completed folder, and special items, to class for presenting to the rest of the class. Every child will get a chance to be a Student of the Week, so be on the lookout for this in your child's folder!
We are working on number sense in math. We have been talking about number formation, and what numbers mean/where we see them in our world. The class has been working on a Number Poem and a copy of this will go home soon!
Please remember that there is NO supervision outside the school before 8:50. Please stay with your child until I come outside to take the line inside to make sure our kids are safe.
We have been working on the letters t, b, and f. We are working on the sounds these letters make, as well as how to write them properly. Any extra practice at home will help your child succeed in the classroom, so when you see these letters on a sign or around the house, point them out to your child. If your child is still struggling with the names of letters, please use flashcards at home. Do 3 letters a week and do not move on until your child can easily name the letters. For those kids who need an extra challenge, have them say the name and the sound of the letter. We will continue to introduce a letter a week.
Sight Word Reader books are going to start going home in Friday Folders. These are books that children practice reading with me in small group. They get a copy of the book to build their own library at home. They will assemble the first book with me, the rest will come in the folder as a sheet of paper that children will need to cut and staple (with your help) at home. These books are great for getting kids excited about reading, and to help them recognize those sight words!
Starting next week, we are going to start our Student of the Week program in the classroom. When your child is selected, they will get a letter and poster in their Friday Folder. They bring in the completed folder, and special items, to class for presenting to the rest of the class. Every child will get a chance to be a Student of the Week, so be on the lookout for this in your child's folder!
We are working on number sense in math. We have been talking about number formation, and what numbers mean/where we see them in our world. The class has been working on a Number Poem and a copy of this will go home soon!
Friday, September 2, 2011
First Days in School
I am so excited to teach this 2011/2012 kindergarten class! We have such a great mix of students who are already growing into a community of learners. Thank you for all the parents who came to Curriculum Night! Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns! I am always available before and after school, and I also check my email and voicemail regularly.
What has our class been working on and what do our days look like? Right now we have been working on how to be a responsible, respectful, and safe student. I'm busy teaching our kids how to behave in school and when are the appropriate times to play/talk. Please talk to your students at home about how they should be acting in school so that we can work as a team to get our kids behaving great in class!
We have also been working on nursery rhymes for fluency and to really get kids excited about stories/reading. We will continue to work on nursery rhyme activities and hand gestures for kids to do while they say the nursery rhymes out loud. We have also been working on color words and cutting practice. We worked on pencil grip and how to properly hold scissors. All this takes TONS of practice! Please correct your child at home if you see them holding their scissors improperly or if they hold their pencil in a fist. The more you catch and correct, which is what I do in the classroom, the easier it will get for kids. Like I told a student in class who said it felt funny holding the pencil correctly, "It will take time for your hand to learn what it feels like to hold it right. The more you practice, the more your hand learns, and the less funny it will feel." :)
Looking ahead, we will be doing one letter and one number a week. This will build as time goes on and the classroom's skills get stronger. Eventually we will have two letters a week. Right now, we learned how to write a "t" and are working on what the number 1 looks like in pictures, word, and number. We want to build the kids' confidence in the classroom with successful and happy experiences and push them when they are ready to be pushed to their utmost potential!
September means different apple activities in the classroom. I will talk to kids about Johnny Appleseed, we will create apple books, and do many other activities with apples as our theme. After Labor Day weekend, we will begin our center work. Children will be in small groups in the class with kids who match in skills and I will begin to work with them in guided reading, shared reading, and writing in centers for our literacy block. We start with letters and letter sounds, build into how these letters make words, and then how words become sentences. We take it one step at a time with the goal for every child to be reading by the end of kindergarten.
Have a great long weekend! Next week, a behavior form will be stapled in every Friday Folder to let you know how your child has been performing in the classroom. The week after that, I will post a new blog.
What has our class been working on and what do our days look like? Right now we have been working on how to be a responsible, respectful, and safe student. I'm busy teaching our kids how to behave in school and when are the appropriate times to play/talk. Please talk to your students at home about how they should be acting in school so that we can work as a team to get our kids behaving great in class!
We have also been working on nursery rhymes for fluency and to really get kids excited about stories/reading. We will continue to work on nursery rhyme activities and hand gestures for kids to do while they say the nursery rhymes out loud. We have also been working on color words and cutting practice. We worked on pencil grip and how to properly hold scissors. All this takes TONS of practice! Please correct your child at home if you see them holding their scissors improperly or if they hold their pencil in a fist. The more you catch and correct, which is what I do in the classroom, the easier it will get for kids. Like I told a student in class who said it felt funny holding the pencil correctly, "It will take time for your hand to learn what it feels like to hold it right. The more you practice, the more your hand learns, and the less funny it will feel." :)
Looking ahead, we will be doing one letter and one number a week. This will build as time goes on and the classroom's skills get stronger. Eventually we will have two letters a week. Right now, we learned how to write a "t" and are working on what the number 1 looks like in pictures, word, and number. We want to build the kids' confidence in the classroom with successful and happy experiences and push them when they are ready to be pushed to their utmost potential!
September means different apple activities in the classroom. I will talk to kids about Johnny Appleseed, we will create apple books, and do many other activities with apples as our theme. After Labor Day weekend, we will begin our center work. Children will be in small groups in the class with kids who match in skills and I will begin to work with them in guided reading, shared reading, and writing in centers for our literacy block. We start with letters and letter sounds, build into how these letters make words, and then how words become sentences. We take it one step at a time with the goal for every child to be reading by the end of kindergarten.
Have a great long weekend! Next week, a behavior form will be stapled in every Friday Folder to let you know how your child has been performing in the classroom. The week after that, I will post a new blog.
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