As we begin our first full month together, I wanted to again say how happy I am with our class this year. We are all learning how to be good friends and helpers to everyone in the class!
In the month of September, our theme will be apples so many activities will be based on this delicious fruit. We will read stories like 10 Apples Up On Top, graph our favorite colored apples, count apples, and learn about Johnny Appleseed (among many other fun things!).
We will look closely at the letters T, B, F, N, M (in that order, one letter/week). Kids will learn how to write the letters correctly using our lines taught in Fundations, the sounds these letters make, and words that start with the current letter. As we begin our exploration into letters, it's very important to work at home with your child to support our learning in the classroom. When work goes home and you see that your child worked on a letter, help them find objects at home that start with the letter, make the letter out of spaghetti noodles, be creative! If you see that your child can't recognize that particular letter yet, capital and lower case, make flash cards and spend time daily practicing. We are partners in your child's education, so please give them opportunities at home to practice and learn with you! :)
In math, we will be looking at the numbers 1-10 closely. There will be counting activities so that we can work on the one-to-one matching, listening to the sound of items I drop in a cup, and practicing how we write our numbers. It's always a good idea to have your child count as much as possible at home! When eating a meal, have them count their goldfish crackers, count plates, put candy in a small cup and have them see how many fit, etc. Kids love to count! It's also important for kids now to start matching the written number to the actual number of things. For example, use index cards to write the numbers 1-10 (or higher if your kid needs a challenge!). On another set of cards, do dots and have your child match the number to the right amount of dots.
Writing will begin with your child practicing writing their name the "kindergarten way." Which means, starting with a capital and the letters written using the lines taught in Fundations. Kids will also create color books and counting books for them to take home. We will also start work describing objects and matching the letter to the object. When ready, students will try to put the first and last letter in that describing word, and finally use that word in a sentence. We use "baby" steps in kindergarten so that kids enjoy writing and build up that confidence.
In reading, I will be working on letter names, sounds, and/or sight words with groups. As always, these groups are differentiated, which means that what kids do in groups will look different from what other groups do. All groups have different goals and activities. We started work in our Sight Word Readers. These are books that your child will practice with me in group, learn how to write the sight words, and learn the words "by heart" (I call them our Heart Words). After we practice, copies of these books go home for your child to keep. It is our goal for your child to build their library with books they feel good about reading with you!
As always, please help your child finish their homework! Like I said above, we are partners in your child's education so what we learn in school HAS to be supported at home. If you see your child struggling with a particular homework assignment, or you know they could use extra practice, please let me know and I will send something home! Homework goes home EVERY Friday with the intent of it being finished on the weekend and returned on Monday. This keeps their homework current to what they are learning in the classroom.
