Updates

Burr!  It is bitterly cold outside. We couldn't go outside for recess today because the temperature was too cold.  The weather forecast for tomorrow isn't looking so good either.  I predict the kids will be playing indoors.  Below are some winter theme bulletin boards to get you in the spirit.  Thank you Mrs. McCarthy and your talented brother for creating the cutest Olaf bulletin board!

We read The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats.  Afterwards, we graphed our favorite winter activities.  Finally, we wrote about our favorite winter activities using the sight words "I", "like" and "in".  Look closely, and you might be able to see your kindergartener's adorable face in the snowsuit!

We did want to build a snowman.  We took black & white pictures of ourselves and put them on snowman bodies.  Everyone walks by our room and giggles  at our boards.  So much fun!

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This week in reading, we will delve deeper into characters.  Students will learn how to describe what characters look like and act like.  The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett is a great story to teach students about main character.  It is really important for students reading comprehension to describe characters during and after reading.

The sight words for the week are "on" and "can".  We will have fun rainbow writing the words, clapping the words, searching for the words in texts, and reading the words in a poem.  At home to help learn these words, kindergartners can look for sight words in books, on labels, and in store flyers. Here are some other fun ways to practice sight words at home.

Our new Lively Letters for the week are /l/, /r/ and /u/.  Every day we use the letter sounds we've learned to read CVC words (or consonant-vowel-consonant words).  Here are some words we read (these are actually "word families, or CVC words that end with the same two letters):

cat          hot
mat         pot
fat           not
pat          lot
bat          got
rat           dot



Just an FYI about RAZ-Kids:  I am waiting for the teacher login information for the AM class.  I should be sending the information home this week.  


In writing this week, we will focus on labeling our stories with beginning sounds and/or sounding out words.  Many kids are already doing this, but I thought we could use a more direct lesson on it so they begin labeling on their own without prompting.  We will label our Writer's Workshop stories and the gingerbread baby.  


Many fun activities are happening in math this week.  We will be playing subtraction games, working in our addition word problem books, playing math games, and matching numbers to sets.


This link will take you to a sight where you can watch how to play "Disappearing Train" at home.  We will not play until later on in the week, but you are welcome to try it with your kindergartner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2wse2QzhBc


Concepts for the Car ride:

• Practice same 2 ending sounds in words (-at, -it, -ot, -en)
• Oral addition stories
• Looking for objects that have similar shapes (this helps with sorting or categorizing)
• Take family members' names (for example "John").  Think of words that begin with each letter in the name.  J~ jelly, o~octopus, h~ hello, n~nose
• Discuss family holiday traditions (we share these in school)

FYI: We will visit the holiday shop on Friday.  If you are interested in your kindergartner purchasing gifts, please send in money.  You can also check prices online.