Donna Weidman
Kindergarten Teacher
Room A-3
Bear Tavern Elementary School
Twitter @ donna_weidman
609 737-4005 x1102
Mystery Readers - throughout the month of March. Sign up to be a Mystery Reader - a sign -up is now up and ready!!
Dear Parents,
Here are some updates of our learning:
Reading - We have just finished up our “Print Strategies” unit in which children learned ways to figure out unknown words, and realized that knowing those sight words, help with their fluency. Our new unit is called “Identifying Nonfiction Text Features”. In this unit the children will develop strategies to read and understand informational texts. Knowing how to use text features (Table of Contents, photographs, labels, captions, bold print), will help them acquire and synthesize information.
Writing - We have finished up our personal narratives, and you should have seen their finished/published piece. We are now learning how to write book reviews. We have done one together, where we reviewed the book Pig the Pug. In this unit the children will name the title and author of a favorite book, tell something about the book (summary), and tell why they liked the book (opinion). We are working on our second review together The Snowy Day. Once completed, they will choose a favorite book and begin to write their own review.
Fundations - We have learned and practiced all of the letters/sounds. Now we are working towards blending and reading CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words. The children are shown three letter words, and are encouraged to say each sound then go back and blend the word together smoothly. This is something that you can practice at home. We are also learning how to print the uppercase letters correctly. So many of the children start their letters at the bottom of the writing line. All letters must start at the top. Please encourage this at home when you see them writing.
Math - We are close to finishing up Chapter 5 - Addition. We use connecting cubes of two colors to help show the combining of two sets. Children have been working on sums to ten. They are encouraged to use the math vocabulary - sum, plus, add, sets, equal to, as we do our work each day.
Social Skills - Some of the most important life skills, are learned in kindergarten (sharing, taking turns, waiting for directions, working cooperatively, making good choices, and perseverance). All of these things are worked on naturally, throughout our entire day. The things we are learning can be hard for some (whether academically or socially), and we do NOT expect perfection. Little setbacks are expected and a part of learning. Mistakes are how we know they are trying. We learn from our mistakes. The goal is to become independent learners (with guidance, of course), and to persevere. Remember to take time in your busy day to talk to your children about school:
What is something good that happened today?
What is something new you learned today?
What did you do in _________ (reading, writing, math, on the playground)?
Who did you play with?
What was something hard for you today?
How did you help a friend today?
What good choices did you make today?
Thank you for your continued support at home!
Donna