What's happening in Kindergarten?

A look at our learning this week...

Fundations: we learned the lowercase letters a and g.  These were a bit tricky for us and extra weekend homework is in your child's Friday Folder to help with this.  

Verbal prompts:

a-over, around, down (NOT circle, stick)

g-over, around, dow....n, curve up

We have learned the letter name, letter sound and correct letter formation for the following letters this year.  Please hold your child accountable for knowing these: a, b, c, f, g, i, m, n, o, t, u.

Shared Reading: we continued to learn about how "a" and "I" are words, not just letters.  We read some books about Fall to help us.  They were called Autumn (which we learned is a fancy word for Fall) and The Colors of Fall.  

Writing: they are getting SO GOOD at labeling their pictures to tell a story!  This week we started a chart to help them with the steps of writing.  A few parts are covered up, as we haven't learned those yet, but will soon.

Math: check your Friday Folder for what we've been up to this week and fun ways to help practice at home as a family!

Morning Work: during the 8:00-8:20 time we are doing a variety of things.  Some days we work on handwriting sheets to reinforce what we are learning during Fundations.  Some days we do morning tubs that focus on different skills: fine motor activities, board games to work on teamwork, etc.  Although they don't have to be here until 8:20, this is a time that the students enjoy getting here for and is a learning time as well. Thank you for allowing the students to enter the room independently, so they can start their learning with their friends.  Below are some of the morning tubs we have right now that work on fine motor skills and teamwork.

A few reminders:

*September Reading logs are due on Monday

*Picture Day is on Tuesday-please send in your child's order form if you haven't already

*Flu Shot/Mist day is on Monday.  You MUST send in the form if you want your child to receive this

*Monday is our Spirit Day-send the kids to school in their BEU gear every Monday

A visit from Beulah Ralph's daughter

We were so excited and honored to have a special visit from Monica Naylor, Beulah Ralph's daughter!  She visits Kindergarten every year and reads us a story about her mother.  The children brought their own copy of the story home with them today.  You can find it in their Take Home Folders. I hope you enjoy reading and coloring it as a family at home!  What a great book to add to your September reading log!

F is for Feelings

Today we had counselor time with Mrs. Davison.

We learned about feelings by reading the book 

F is for Feelings and drawing some different feelings.

Look for this paper in your child's folder and discuss it with them.  We even talked about how it is okay to have the feeling of anger, as long as we handle it appropriately.  

That's always a tough one for kiddos to understand.

Good-bye Summer, Hello Fall

A look at our learning this week...

Fundations: we learned the lowercase letter name, sound and correct letter formation for c and o.  We learned these are "plane line" letters.  You may have noticed your child bringing home handwriting practice worksheets they completed during our morning work time this week.  Check their take home folder for one today and ask your child to explain the "sky line, plane line, worm line and grass line." 

Please use the following verbal prompts when helping them practice:

c-over, around, open

o-over, around close

Shared Reading: we read the big books A Park and What is it? Both of these books featured our new word wall word of the week.  Our new word wall word of the week was A. We learned that a can be a letter inside of a bigger word or a word on it's own; just like the word I that we learned about last week. They received small copies of these books to keep in their book boxes to read independently at Read to Self time.  We continue to work on pointing to words when we read and noticing our new word wall words I and a when we are reading books.  

Daily 5: they have enjoyed going to two Daily 5 workstations each day this week.  They spend about 20 minutes at each workstation.  Then our 3rd rotation is all together doing Read to Self, which is a time they read independently for 20 minutes.  They read various things: an alphabet chart to practice their letters and sounds, a word wall chart that is updated weekly with our new words (right now it has a and I), familiar reading books (the books mentioned above in Shared Reading from this week and previous weeks) and their poetry folder (filled with poems they have learned this year).  They also have two "wish books."  These are books they can pick from our classroom library to keep in their book box for the week.  They are called "wish books" because many times they can't read all of the words, but they wish they could and one day they will be able to!  They are learning to tell the story by using the pictures if they can't read the words (and that's ok!) . Ask your child what Daily 5 centers they went to this week.  Ask your child what "wish books" they have in their book box this week.

Math: we learned about triangles, listened to a fun story called Rooster's Off to See the World by Eric Carle and learned about how numbers increase by one (a worksheet that went along with this came home on Thursday and I hope your child used the sheet to tell you the story!  If not, get it out and ask them to tell it to you this weekend.  It's super cute listening to them!) and worked on some math story problems.  Check your Friday Folder for fun ways to continue the learning at home. 

Writing Workshop: we are still working on labeling our pictures and they are getting better and better each day!  To adults, it might be confusing as to why labeling is important, but it is a stepping stone to writing sentences and stories!  First a child must be able to verbally tell a story (which they can all do), then they must be able to draw a picture to match their verbal story (still working on this) and labeling comes next.  The labels help tell the story.  Once they are experts at this we can move onto actual sentences.  Even a sentence in Kindergarten is considered a "story."  Ask your child what they wrote about this week.  We write about real things we do in our lives and not made up stories. Things such as going to the store with mom, riding their bike after school, going to the ARC to swim, etc.  

Friday Craft: we love Pete the Cat books, so today we made a Pete the Cat craft!  

Box Tops: don't forget we collect Box Tops to earn money for our school!  Send them in as often as you can!  There is a box right outside our classroom door you or your child can put them in! PTA is going to provide prizes for the classroom that collects the most and we'd love to win!

Reading Logs: September is coming to an end.  Don't forget to read to your child (or have them read to you if they are able) at least 4 times a week for 15 minutes at a time.  September reading logs are due on October 1st. 

If only the little things, such as slides, brought everyone as much happiness as they do for children!  Sometimes it's great to step back and see life through our children's eyes!  They help us see the world in a more positive light!

September Citizen of the Month

Yay Bria!

She was chosen, by her classmates, as the 

September Citizen of the Month!

Every month there is an assembly held that recognizes the Citizen of the Month from each grade level.  Today was the Kindergarten and 1st grade assembly.  One child from each class is chosen, by their peers, for this award.  The specialists teachers also get to pick one child from each grade level.  The class doesn't know who won until the names are announced in the assembly.  Parents are contacted though so that they can attend the assembly, but they know they must keep it a secret from their child.

This award is very special because it isn't chosen by me or their Kindergarten teacher, but by their classmates.  We look for friends who follow the 5 Beulah Ralph Expectations: Kind, Respectful, Responsible, Positive, Problem-Solver.  They know they can't vote for themselves, but other friends might vote for them.  It is a private vote.  They fill out a "ballot" one-on-one with me so that they are choosing who they want to choose and not being persuaded by friends.  We have also talked about how it might feel sad not to win, but they will have a chance each month and it's a good feeling to feel happy for your friends and to celebrate them as well!  All they have to do is show us how to follow the 5 BEU expectations, which I know they can all do, and they might be next months winner!

Welcome back, Mrs. Starbuck

The kids were SO excited that Mrs. Starbuck was back from her maternity leave.  They loved seeing pictures of Baby Charlie during art class today!

A few reminders:

*K-2 family yoga night is tomorrow from 6:30-7:30

*No School on Monday-teacher work day

*Shakespeare's Pizza Fundraiser is due back to school by next Tuesday, September 25th

*Turn in your RSVP forms for Movie Night, which will be held on Friday, September 28th

*Tomorrow is B day, our P.E. day.  Please make sure your child has on tennis shoes

Friday Update

What a wonderful turnout we had at our Kindergarten Families Picnic! Well over 300 people! We heard many positive things about the evening and hope to make this a yearly tradition!  

I hope you met many new families and friends and enjoyed the delicious food!

A look at our learning this week...

Fundations: we learned the letters i and u.  We learned they are called vowels.  

Please use the following verbal prompts at home:

i: down, dot

u: down, curve up, down

Shared Reading: we learned that I can be a letter or a word.  We learned when I is by itself it is a word and is always uppercase.  We read the poem "I Like Stars" and read the big book I Can See to help us learn this new word.  On Friday, each child received a small copy of the book I Can See to keep in their book box and read daily during Read to Self time.  They are so proud to have learned their first "Word Wall Word." 

You can see them reading this book, using their pointer finger, in the pictures below. 

Writing Workshop: we are getting better each day at "saying our words slowly and writing the sounds we hear" to label our pictures to tell a story.  Writing is quite a process!  They must be able to verbally tell a story, then draw a picture to make their verbal story and then try and add labels so we can "read" their story.  They are doing so well though!  Check out some of our friends stories and labels below. 

My dad is a scientist who works on dinosaurs

I was outside.                                                                                                                                               I was playing outside.

Math: we learned a few fun math games this week!  Match It! which is similar to the board game Memory but matching dot cards to help us with counting.  We also learned Top it, which is like the card game War, but with dot cards for counting.  

Computer practice: every day we practice entering our 6 digit student ID number on the practice lunchroom keypad (important even if they don't eat school lunch) and entering our computer username and password on our practice keyboard.  

Please continue to practice with your child for a few minutes each night to help them feel confident when using the computers at school.  Laminated computer practice pages were sent home in last week's Friday Folder. 

Friday Craft: we celebrated International Dot Day at Beulah Ralph this week.  We heard the story on Tuesday during Library Check out and we read it in our classroom today and made our own Dot creations for our hallway bulletin board!  To learn more about this wonderful book and Dot Day click here

We loved having Flash in our room all week as a reward for earning the 

"Fast Pass" award on Monday!  He loves being read to!

Just some cute, random photos from the week!