September Newsletter

Kindergarten Monthly

September 2011

Our monthly newsletter will be posted on our blog, as well as on the Kendall webpage. To access the monthly newsletters on the Kendall webpage, please use this address, http://kendall.ipsd.org/Subpage.aspx?id=722, and then click on the tab “newsletters”.  Please check the blog at the end of the month for the next month’s information!  Your child’s teacher will put a week in review on her own classroom blog that will be written with the children and it will go over what was learned that week.

Look What’s Going on…
Literacy

A unique experience in kindergarten is an introduction to each letter of the alphabet.  As your child is introduced to each letter, join him/her in looking for items that begin with the letter/sound of the day.  We encourage the children to complete the back of the handwriting sheet labeled “Extra Practice for Home.”  Students are not required to return them. The sounds and letters that we will be introducing this month are S, A, T, I, P, N, C, K, E, H, R, M, D, G, O, U, L, F, B, ai, J, oa, ie, ee/or, z, w and ng.

In Jolly Phonics, the 42 main sounds of English are taught, not just the alphabet sounds.  For each sound there is an action which helps the children remember the sound the letter makes. 

The letters are not introduced in alphabetical order.  The first group “s a t i p n” has been chosen because they make more simple three letter words than any other six letters.  We will introduce the sounds for the 26 letters of the alphabet, as well as the long vowel sounds, blends ( bl, sl etc.) and digraphs (sh, th, ch). 

Blending the sounds in a word is also focused on with Jolly Phonics.  Blending is a process of saying the sounds in a word and then running them together to make the word, e.g. “c-a-t” is cat. It is a technique your child will need to learn and it improves with practice.  To start with, you should sound out the word and see if your child can hear it.  The sounds must be said quickly to hear the word.  It is easier if the first sound is said slightly louder. 

*We will send home the sounds we worked on at the end of each week.

Each week students will be introduced to a literacy focus skill.  The children will be practicing this skill daily.  The literacy focus skills for September will be predicting, using text provided in the functional classroom to get information (environmental print), distinguishing between a question and a statement, making simple text to self connections and discussing prior knowledge of topics that relate to the text before, during and after reading.

We are also beginning our themes of apples and fall this month.  We will be working on many math skills such as graphing, counting, and measuring as we explore with apples and leaves!

We will be reading and discussing a plethora of fiction and nonfiction books about both fall and apples, such as Apples Apples Apples, Ten Apples Up On Top as well as other non-fiction books.  Please ask your child to tell you about each one of these stories and the fun activities that went along with them.

Math

In September we will focus on creating AB patterns, sorting and counting by 1’s.  We will also begin working on making graphs.  We continue to explore new manipulatives, such as pattern blocks and unifix cubes.  We will also begin counting backwards from 12.

Your child will receive his or her first math Home link this month.  Please use the activity to reinforce the work that we have done at school.  However, your child need not return the Home link.

Social Studies & Science

Kindergartners will continue to learn the school rules (The Patriot Guidelines) as well as discuss specific classroom guidelines with his or her teacher this month. Please post the Patriot Guidelines which came home in a prominent area in your home and review them with your child. 

We are beginning to introduce classroom meetings by reading a book weekly and discussing how to be a good friend. We are also introducing our Stop-Walk-Talk bully prevention program through mini lessons, role-playing and literature. 

We will continue to discuss friends, school and family!  We will be discussing doing “good deeds” as we read and learn about Clifford.  

Reminders…

·         Please notify your child’s teacher if you are unable to attend curriculum night so you can sign up for volunteering in the classroom, as well as conferences.

·         THANK YOU PTA!

We want to thank our wonderful PTA for the delicious breakfast that was provided for us  during the first week back to school. We enjoyed every bite!

·         Kindergartners will bring home their “home folder” each day.  Please be sure to empty the contents of the folder and have your child return it to school in their backpack daily.

       ·         When sending money to school for any reason, please place in an envelope clearly marked     with what it is for (ex. KW field trip)  and write your child’s name on the memo line.

·         Please remember to send in a note with your child if you plan to change their dismissal location.

Wanted…

Periodically, the kindergarten students will do activities that involve cutting pictures or words out of old magazines and catalogs.  We would appreciate any donations of old magazines or catalogs to use within our classrooms throughout the school year.  Please send them to school in your child’s backpack and remind him or her to give them to the teacher.  Thank you!

Important Dates…

September

·        15 – Curriculum Night

     ·        21 – Jets Pizza night

·        23 – PTA meeting 9:15 in multipurpose room

     ·        27 & 28 – Book fair parent purchase

October

·        10 – No School (Columbus Day)