We have been in school together for one month now, and I am pleased that your children have adjusted to full-day kindergarten and have settled into our daily routine!

 

         Here is an overview of what we have accomplished this month.

Morning Meeting: We are using different greetings to enhance social skills and we have learned the parts of Morning Meeting: greeting, share, calendar routines, pledge, announcements, songs and listening games (phonemic awareness.) We have focused on the theme of Respect during our Character Strong activities as we strive to be good citizens.

 

Letters & Sounds Work: We have learned the formation and sounds of the letters t, f, b, m, n, i & u. We are enjoying writing these letters on whiteboards, on practice worksheets and in books. We think of words that begin with these sounds and  listen for these sounds in read-alouds.We also love to find our letters of the week in picture hunts and around our classroom and school!

 

Writing: During this review and foundational time, we have learned how to hold a pencil, use our helping hand to hold our papers, sit with proper posture and correctly form our letters in order to do our best writing. We have practiced writing our names and letters on our white boards and have used our Fundations tile boards to practice identifying our alphabet letters and letters we have learned so far. We used pictures and letters to tell and write about a special event in our lives. We will soon start to write information Label Books about favorite topics!

 

Reading: We learned the procedures for the three parts of reading workshop (minilesson, reading to ourselves, and reading to our partners). We have filled our book bins with easy letter books, just-right books on our level and look books. We are learning about fiction and nonfiction books and how to point to pictures and words in order to understand our stories, and we are identifying the beginning, middle and end of stories.

  

Math: We spent the last few weeks counting, writing numbers, sorting objects and identifying shapes as a foundation for our upcoming math lessons this year. We are using our new EnVisions workbooks, manipulatives, songs, raps and games to learn in math as we focused on writing and counting to 5 and comparing and creating sets of 1 to 5. 

 

Social Studies & Science: We spent the first few weeks learning about how unique we each are through books, drawing, sharing and games. We have focused on our roles as class citizens and the importance of rules within our school environment as we strive to learn, have fun and stay safe. We observed sunflowers in the courtyard, learned about their parts and life cycle, and acted out the life cycle of a sunflower. We will soon welcome fall by celebrating pumpkins, apples and scarecrows.  

 

 It is a joy to teach your children every day! I look forward to the adventures that lie ahead for us this year! Thank you for your continued cooperation and support in making kindergarten a smooth and magical experience for your child!