Kindergarten Update 9/17-9/21

Dear Kindergarten Families,

Movie Night is tonight at Rio del Mar!  The movie will start around 7:15.  Get there early to get your spot!

Drive for Schools is a big fundraiser for our school.  All proceeds go directly to our school for school supplies, professional development (like Writer's Workshop and Reader's Workshop), Scholastic News magazine that we use monthly (students love it!), and much more.  If we all sell the packet o tickets that will go home on Monday, we will reach our school-wide goal.  The class that sells the most gets a pizza party and the family that sells the most gets tickets to Universal Studios.  Hopefully we can reach our goal of $20,000. 

Here is what’s going on in Kindergarten next week:

We are excited to have parent volunteers begin assisting in the classroom! Don’t forget to check in at the office to get a visitor sticker before coming to the classroom at 7:55. 

Art/Science/Math:  Students will be using apples to practice the concept of sorting, counting and tasting different colored apples, and graphing which flavor they like the most.  They will learn about different types of graphs through this investigation. Also,  we will be studying the life cycle of an apple tree as well as learning about the different stages that an apple tree goes through during the seasons. 

Friday is the first day of Fall and we will be discussing what happens during this season as we go for a “Fall Walk” around the school looking for signs of Fall. 

Math:  Besides using a variety of graphs with apples, we will be working on different strategies for solving word problems.  First, we start with using manipulatives (counting bears).  Then, we will use white boards to draw pictures to represent addition and subtraction equations.  At home, you can do this by using fingers as well.  

One example: Mary went apple picking.  She picked 2 apples.  How many more would she need to pick to have 8 apples.  (Please use names of people you know to picture that person doing the action).  

There are about 14 different ways to word the word problems. 

Handwriting focus letters: G, S, F

Words of the Week: "can, it"

Reading: We will begin reading the small paper books that focus on sight words in our centers.  When we send these books home, please have your child read them to you until they can read them fluently. 

Writer’s Workshop: The students are all writers!  We immersed ourselves in how "Writers Write".  We have looked at stories to compare how writers talk about their experiences. We are talking about our own experiences.  Please go over past experiences that have had an impact on them.  Example:  I'll talk about a time when I went parasailing for the firs time and lost my hat.  The next step is having them write/draw beginning, middle, and end to the story.

Some are having a hard time remembering events in their own lives.  Think about trips, first times (rollercoaster, etc.), happy moments, surprise moments, etc.  

Mind Up:  We started our brain-focused strategies.  It builds self-confidence and social skills.  

Have a great week!

Brenda Christensen