Kindergarten Connection ~ March 27th

HAPPY SPRING!

It is spring again. The earth is like a child that 

knows poems by heart.  -Rainer Marie Rilke

Thank You, Parents!

Thank you for taking time to conference with me about your child’s growth in kindergarten. I look forward to partnering with you for the remainder of the year as your child gears up for first grade. 

Literacy Highlights 

We are reading and writing up a storm in kindergarten! We are focusing on using a variety of strategies to read instructional level books. We are learning how to recognize spelling chunks and little words inside of big words to read and write tricky words. This week we worked on the initial consonant blends bl, fl, gr, br and we added –ut, -ud, -ag to our list of known word families. During Writer’s Workshop we wrote more ‘How To’ books and started our 5 Senses books. We also ‘changed out’ our classroom library to reflect the spring season, with an emphasis on informational books. Make time to read and write with your blooming child everyday!

Math Highlights

We are learning how to represent and solve addition and subtraction story problems using objects, number sentences, props, math talk and our math hands. We are working hard to solve problems in more than one way and to justify our math thinking. We know that when we work hard, persevere through stuck points and share our thinking our brains grow and we feel good! 

We are beginning to learn about measurement and will have opportunities to use math tools to measure capacity, weight, temperature and length.  Help your child locate and use measuring tools in your home.

We are learning about two-dimensional and three -dimensional shapes.  Go on a shape walk and identify circles, spheres, squares, cubes, triangles, cones, rectangles, and rectangular prisms.  Ask your child to teach you all about shapes and their different attributes.

Science Highlights

We began a unit on our 5 senses (seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching). Next week will focus on hearing and smelling. The students will explore high, low, loud, and soft sounds with instruments.  They will study a model of the human ear and conduct an experiment to learn how sound travels and how our ears work. Take a listening walk with your child and talk about what you hear. The core idea of this unit is that our 5 senses and brains work together to help us experience the world around us!

Special Guest
Mr. Marino visited our class! He read us a book and taught us all about his trumpet.

Spring is in the air! We are busy reading fiction and informational books all about the spring season and weather .

We celebrated the first days of spring by working on a special art project with Ms. Rowntree's class. The children love getting together as a whole kindergarten community!

We can read and write two more trick (high-frequency words). The children are feeling good about their ability to read and write these words quickly. 

Digraph Bingo
We sorted objects with the sh, th, and ch sounds and played digraph bingo.

We can hear and record shot vowel sounds in CVC words.

Spring Time Poem Activity
The children memorized a beautiful poem about early spring time and pussy willows.

We can read these little words in a snap!

We are color word experts!

Real or Nonsense Words?
The children had lots of laughs rolling consonants and vowels to build real and nonsense words.

We read The Wind Blew by Pat Hutchins and then wrote our own version of this windy story.

Number Corner
Look at all the different ways we can think about and represent numbers!

Measuring
We measured with unifix cubes and recorded our findings.

Mr. Feeley, an expert mathematician, joined our math class.
He was VERY impressed by the students math talk and big math thinking. 

Four Winds
We learned all about deer and their important role in the ecosystem. 

Let's Play! 

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND WITH 

YOUR DELIGHTFUL CHILDREN!

Beginning of March ~ Kindergarten Connection

HAPPY MARCH! 

The new month came in like a lion and will leave like a lamb.

Welcome back!
The children reported that their vacations were packed with fun, family and friends. All of the children agreed that vacations are great, but being back in school learning and playing is great too. J 
March proves to be a magical time in kindergarten as the students’ academic and social skills really take off!
We can rotate independently through literacy and math groups! Ask your child to teach you all about the stations: Guided reading, word study, computer/iPad, ABC (phonics), FUNdations, Writer’s Workshop, number study, partner games, teacher games, Workplaces and math exploration.

Literacy Highlights
We are studying author/illustrator Mo Willems who is well known for his hilarious books Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! Knuffle Bunny and a collection of Elephant and Piggy stories. We

noticed that Mo Willems uses a lot of speech bubbles in his work and we were inspired to use talking bubbles in our own writing.
We can read and write the listed high-frequency words quickly. Make a word wall in your home and encourage your child to practice reading and writing these words often. Hunt for high frequency words in books and magazines. Write a note/letter to someone special. Write a story about an important moment or event. Make time to read and write with your child everyday. J
I am a can the we see will he she it is
in no yes on have like look you are love me for my so go off big little here up and an if Mom Dad cat dog going
We are learning how to put two sounds together to read and write initial blends in words such as flap,

trip, brick, frog... We learned the –ake spelling pattern and discovered that –ake is in make, snake, cake, lake, rake, fake, bake and Jake. We noticed that the e at the end of these words is silent and helps the first vowel a make it’s long sound.

Math Highlights
Our focus this week was on creating, representing and solving addition and subtraction problems in multiple ways. Just for fun, play adding and subtracting games with your child using pennies and beans. Ask your child: How many different combinations to make 5 or 10? What happens to a group when you add or subtract 1? Encourage your child to justify his/her math reasoning with words, objects and equations.
Counting, counting and more counting! We are working hard at counting on from random numbers, counting backwards from 20 and skip counting to 20 by 2’s. We are also working on identifying before and after numbers. In addition, we are learning how to use graphs to collect and analyze date.

Science Highlights
We will begin a 5 senses unit next week. The children will learn about their 5 senses and how their senses help them learn about the world.

Making March Calendars

We practiced writing complete sentences by responding to the prompt, "What will you do today?"
The children are remembering to begin sentences with uppercase letters, space between words and end with punctuation marks. The kids feel so proud when they can read their own writing!

We read The Snowy Day and wrote about what we like to do  on snowy days. We are hopeful that this is the last time we write about our winter weather experiences. 

We love FUNdations!
We can tap, build and read words with magnetic tiles. We are focusing on listening closely for vowel sounds. We played a game called vowel switch-a-roo and changed words by only changing the vowel.

We can build, write and read CVC words.

We learned how to play a new addition game. This game supported our understanding of how to count on as a good addition strategy.

We can build and record addition sentences to 10!

Make 5 Game
This game encourages us to make different combinations for 5.

We are learning how to solve word problems.
We can use white boards to teach others about our math thinking.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DR. SEUSS!
Thank you for making books filled with rhyme, rhythm and fun! 

Writer's Workshop
Our writing sessions last more than a half hour a day!
The children love writing, sharing their writing and adding more to their work. There is no question that this group of kindergarten children view themselves as real authors and illustrators! 

We can include diagrams with labels in our writing. We studied a variety of  mentor texts to understand how/why authors and illustrators use diagrams and labels in their work.

Mrs. Nelson talked to us about what to do when we have strong feelings. She  taught us how to  report to an adult when we don't feel safe. We met Mrs. Nelson's feelings frogs and practiced expressing and naming strong feelings.

Mrs. Nelson's Feeling Frogs