Hello October

A look at our learning...

September Reading Logs: September has come to an end and reading logs were due today.  if you forgot to sign and turn yours in, please do so on Thursday.  Thanks to everyone who shared a "Sneaky Reading Challenge" photo on our class Facebook page during September.  October Reading Logs are in your child's Friday Folder, along with a new "Sneaky Reading Challenge." Reading is required homework at BEU.  In K-1, the expectation is at least 4 days as week for 15 minutes at a time.  Reading TO your child is what is appropriate right now.  We DO NOT expect Kindergarteners to be readers at this point in the year. 

Fundations: this week we learned the letter name, sound and correct formation for lowercase c and o.  Please use the verbal prompts below to practice at home. Your child should be saying these prompts to themselves every time they write a letter on their homework to ensure they are doing it correctly.  Don’t forget about the weekly handwriting “homework” in the Friday Folder. The extra practice at home really does help your child in the classroom.

c: over, around, open

o: over, around, close

At school, we have learned that the "over" motion should look like a "hill" or a "rainbow." Watch for this when forming these letters . 

Handwriting Homework: please make sure your child's name is on their optional handwriting homework.  Many students are turning it in without a name and it takes up class time to figure out whose it is.  This is also a great opportunity for them to practice writing their name and forming letters learned correctly.  Please make sure the student is writing their name, not an adult. 

Word Wall Words: this week we learned our first two Word Wall Words.  You may think of these as spelling words.  The kids were SO excited!  Our first words are a and I.  We learned how a and I are letters, but can also be words.  We also learned that when I is by itself, it must be uppercase.  

Writing Workshop: we are learning that writers can tell stories through their pictures.  In Kindergarten we write stories about the things we do in our everyday life.  This means we need to get really good at drawing people.  In Kindergarten we DO NOT draw stick people or spider people (ask your child what this is lol).  We are learning to draw people using shapes.  They are doing so well!  The precursor to writing is being able to draw a picture and verbally tell what is happening.  

Ask your child to draw a person for you using shapes, not sticks.  A great thing for them to work on when they are off of school next week! 

Check out the video I posted on our class Facebook page today.  They are so focused working on this skill! 

Math: we are ready to begin unit 2.  Check your child's Friday Folder for a note explaining what we will be learning over the next few weeks and how to support their learning at home. 

Class Celebration: we are trying to earn a Pajama Day in our classroom! Every day that we have a Secret Walker winner we earn a sticker on our 10 frame.  When we earn 10 stickers we will celebrate by wearing PJ’s to school! We are getting close!

Science: we have begun our "Bears through the seasons" science unit.  This is a resource provided by the Missouri Department of Conservation and ties in wonderfully with our Kindergarten science objectives.  We will learn about weather, living and non-living, seasons and more!  This curriculum follows the 4 seasons and will tie in Missouri black bears and their habitat during the seasons.  This week we have been discussing the season of summer.  We have discussed how we dress in the summer, what the weather is like in the summer, fun things we like to do in the summer and what bears do in the summer.  We have also learned about how we know what the weather will be each day and how we know what to wear based on the weather.  We are so lucky to have this amazing resource at school! 

roaring like bears

Counselor: this week's lesson with Mrs. Bergeson was about sharing and cooperation.  A tough, but important, skill!  They had to work in groups to build one tower out of blocks.  For some, this was an easy task. For others, it was difficult to hear and be accepting of other ideas different than their own. These are important skills we work on daily in Kindergarten.

Positive Note: one of our school characteristics is "positive." At the end of each day I will read a Positive Note (aka Happy Note) out loud to the class.  I choose someone to receive this note that had an excellent day!  The note is always on a fun notepad.  This month it is on a star notepad for our space theme.  Once every child has earned a space Positive Note, I will switch to another themed notepad and start again.  It is my goal that every child earns a Positive Note at least once a month. 

Learning next week: I hate that we are missing 3 days of school together next week!  We are just getting into a good school routine with academics! While teachers are attending Professional Development, I hope you can enjoy a little family time together.  To help keep the students in routine and prepare them for their return next Thursday I encourage you to read with your child daily and record on their October reading log, practice writing all the letters we have learned so far in Fundations (t, b, f, n, m, i, u, o, c), practice writing our new Word Wall Words and tie in math skills from the past few weeks.  The weather is going to be beautiful!  So many of these things can be down outside!  Reading, writing letters and words with chalk, etc.!  I hope they are outside daily! 

Kindergarten cuties

Practicing writing our names in chalk

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall

A look at our learning...

Fundations: this week we learned the name, sound and correct letter formation for lowercase i and u.  We learned that these two letters are vowels and the other letters we've learned so far are consonants (t, b, f, n, m). 

Please use the following verbal prompts when practicing letter formation at home, especially if your child has these letters in their name:

i-down, dot (the dot should be just that, a dot.  Not a circle or scribble)

u-down, curve up, down (make sure they are are going straight back down on the last part of the u.  It should be flush with the other part of the letter and not have a space between or "look like a mountain" between the curved part and down part)

Math: they really enjoyed learning about patterns this week.  We talked about how patterns don't have to just be colors, it can be with most anything.  They used classroom manipulatives to make and extend patterns. Being able to make patterns on their own and extend patterns already made is an important Kindergarten skill.  Check out the math parent worksheet in the Friday Folder this week.  I encourage you to ask your child to make and extend a pattern for you and see how they do.  Start with a simple AB pattern and then try more difficult ones such as ABC, AAB, etc. 

Examples of what the letters mean if needed:

AB-square, triangle, square, triangle

ABC-red, blue, yellow, red, blue, yellow

AAB-car, car, truck, car, car, truck

Social Skills: A big part of Kindergarten is learning how to be a learner; in our classroom and beyond.  Overall, the students are doing a nice job learning and following expectations in my classroom.  Unfortunately, many struggle with this when they go to specials (P.E., music, art, media).  We are really working hard to understand that making good choices and following expectations doesn't just apply to our classroom.  It is important to be kind, respectful and responsible for their other teachers as well.   I am lucky to have most of the day with the students.  Specialists only see them for 50 minutes a week, which makes it even more important that students are able to show they know how to be a learner so that those teachers can teach what is needed.  

A few key areas that we are working on/need improved:

1) body control during carpet times (hands to self, stay in spot, eyes on the speaker)

2) body control/following expectations when lining up in specials (bubble, tails, eyes forward)

3) respectfully following adult directions, even if it is something they may not like or want to do. It is not appropriate to tell a teacher no, tell them they don't/aren't going to do something or speak rudely to them.

4) understanding that specials are a time to learn, just like in our classroom, and not a free choice or recess time (this is especially hard for them to understand in P.E., but so important)

5) making good choices for the specials teacher because it's the right thing to do and not just because Ms. Concannon is watching.  

6) making good choices because it's the right thing to do and not feeding off other inappropriate behavior.  Just because other students are doing it, doesn't mean it's the right choice.  

I share these things so you know areas we are working on at school, but also in hopes you can help reiterate these things at home. It takes a village. I kindly ask that you focus on conversations about your child and not on what other students are doing. Ask them what they do well, what they might need to work on (if anything).  Please try to stay away from conversations about "so and so was in the safe seat" or "so and so did this."   We work really hard in kindergarten to worry about ourselves and not others and taking responsibility for our own behavior choices.  Thank you for your support with this.  

Handwashing: learning proper handwashing in Kindergarten is a big deal.  We want to keep ourselves and our friends healthy and at school. Kids this age often wash too quickly, without scrubbing.  To help everyone stay healthy at school, I encourage you to reinforce proper handwashing at home.

1) wet hands (soap "doesn't work" unless hands are wet first)

2) ONE squirt of soap.  Scrub hands, with the water turned off so they aren't tempted to wash it off, while singing the ABC song.  Make sure to get all sides of the hands, between fingers and around the wrists

3) wash off with warm water

4) dry

Nurse Bridget came in for a hand-washing lesson on Thursday. This is part of our Disease Prevention/Health Unit.  She brought a bottle of "germs" (lotion) that she had the children rub on their hands.  Next, she used a special tool to shine on their hands so they could see the germs on their hands.  After that, she had each child wash their hands.  Then they came back and she shone the light on their hands again to see how well they did at washing.  We learned that we often miss our wrists, in between our fingers and around our nails.  She also taught us the proper steps of hand-washing mentioned above. 

Another thing I have noticed is we have quite a few friends who put their hands in their mouth/nose.  We are really working on keeping our hands away from our face, using tissues if needed and nothing should be in our mouth except food or water.  This is a hard habit to break and many don't even realize they are doing it.  We share so many things in the room and we really can't have pencils, crayons, hands, anything up near our lips.  

I know it seems silly, but it takes a lot of practice.  I appreciate your help at home.  

Crafts: this week we made space name rockets.  This helped us with counting, knowing how many letters are in our name, shapes and writing our name.  We also celebrated the end of summer and beginning of fall with these beautiful projects and poems coming home today.  

Sneaky Reading Challenge and September Reading Homework: one week left to snap those "sneaky reading challenge" photos and post to our class Facebook page!  This month's challenge was to read in the car. 

September reading logs are due next Friday.  Reading is an expectation at Beulah Ralph.  Kindergarten students are expected to read or be read to a minimum of 4 nights a week/15 minutes per time, recorded on the reading log that was sent home at the beginning of September, and signed and returned at the end of each month.  

Circus class baskets: all items for our class basket for the circus are due by next Friday, September 29th.  Thank you to all who donated!  There are still several spots available if you'd like to donate to our Lego themed basket. Click here to sign up.  

Play time is the best time