Kindergarten Monthly
January 2012
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
During the course of the school year, your child will be involved in many language arts projects. These projects will be both group and individual efforts. Some will come home and others will stay at school to be used for reading practice. All the projects are designed to extend literature, expose your child to print, and provide enjoyment.
The literacy focus skills for January will be to predict, to tell a story with a beginning, middle and end, and to produce simple written expressions about the text.
The children will also be using simple sequence card to help them think of their own stories and to tell them with a beginning, middle and end. When you are enjoying a book at home with your child, it may be fun for them to retell and draw the beginning, the middle. What a fun project to hang on the refrigerator!
In January we will be learning one sight word each week. The sight words for January are he, she, to and on. A complete listing of our sight words should have come home with your students in their popcorn tubs.
In January we will be learning about the letters G and F. Please continue to review the Jolly Phonics sounds as well as our “letter of the week”.
We will be reading books relating to our literacy focuses, such as The Grouchy Ladybug, The Rainbow Fish, Imagine, Jamaica’s Find, & Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Which story is your child’s favorite?
Writing Ideas
When your child is writing at home, please remember to encourage capitalization at the beginning of sentences, spacing between the words and correct ending punctuation. We thank you in advance for your continued support at home. If you are interested here are some additional writing topics:
I like to pretend, I feel silly when, I know how to, I just love, If I were older I would, I’d use a magic wand to, tell about your favorite game, what do you think is funny, I like to play, what do you want to be when you grow up.Writing is a great way to express yourself.
Math
We will continue to solve simple number stories this month in math. The kindergarteners will also practice reading and writing two-digit numbers. In addition we will play several games to reinforce counting skills.
The students have been introduced to the addition symbol and this month they will learn about the subtraction symbol.
We will be making patterns, playing more attribute games and working some more with 2 digit numbers this month as well. We continue to practice counting by 10’s and practice counting backwards from 15-to-0 every day. Please practice these at home as well.
Social Studies & Science
Throughout the month of January the students will continue to read and discuss books that support our anti-bullying prevention program. It is a great way to support and encourage children to treat all with dignity and respect. We will also discuss the Patriot Guidelines and why they are important.
We will be discussing and reading books about Martin Luther King Jr. in preparation for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 16th.
In Science we will finally begin our unit on Magnets!! We will be doing many whole group experiments and some individual exploration.
Reminders…
· Parents, as winter rolls around and your child(ren) are dressing warmly in boots, coats etc., it is a great time to practice independence with tying shoes, zipping coats, zipping backpacks. Independence in these skills makes the transitions between school, recess and home much more smoothly. Thank you for your assistance at home.
· Stop, Walk & Talk
We continue to encourage and model the stop, walk and talk method for students. Students are becoming more comfortable using these methods to assist them when they come to a difficult situation with a friend. They are also doing a great job following the Patriot Guidelines.
Wanted…
ONE HUNDRED DAY NEWS!!!!!
Monday, February 6th marks the 100th day of Kindergarten!! Can you believe your child has been in Kindergarten for 100 days? Time flies by when you are having fun!! It is time to celebrate. We are asking the children to begin a collection of 100 objects. Ideas for objects are: paper clips, buttons, beads, pencils, barrettes, baseball cards etc. Please make sure the objects can fit into a large Ziploc bag and food items are not allowed. Please assist your child in gathering the items, but they should be able to do most of the counting themselves. Have fun and make groups of 5s, 10s or 20s. An additional note will be coming home next week as a reminder (an example is on the back). It will be great fun to share all of our 100 collections!! Thank you!
Important Dates…
January 20 – Report Cards go Home
February 6 – 100th Day of School!!
February 9 – Open House
