End of 1st trimester

 Wow, how is it already the end of 1st trimester?

I'm so proud of how hard your children have worked during this crazy time.  They are very resilient and have been asked to do things that no other Kindergarten class has ever been asked to do before.  I am very, very proud of them.  This year hasn't been ideal, but they have been nothing short of amazing!  It has been such a blessing to be in-seat with them the past 3 weeks!

I would like you to spend some time this weekend going over the progress report with your child and looking at the handouts I sent home with their progress reports.

A look at our learning...

Fundations: we learned the following letters and verbal prompts to form these letters correctly:

d-over, around, up, down (or they can also say "c turns into a d"...they can show you this trick)

s-over, around, curve

Here are the lowercase letters we have learned during 1st trimester.  Your child should be able to name all of these letters, tell you their sound and correctly form them the "school way."  Check your child, can they do all of this? 

Writing: our new word wall word this week was my.  We are learning to incorporate it into our stories.  

Ask your child to tell you about their new writing folder.  Ask them what the "working" side is for and what the "resting" side is for.

Literacy Workstations: we have been learning about this the last two weeks.  The students will rotate through various workstations (centers) that focus on reading, writing, correct letter formation, spelling, etc.  The goal is to eventually be independent at these workstations so that I can work with children in small reading groups.  

Spelling word wall words at Play-dough workstation

Math: this week we worked on creating patterns. Check your child's Seesaw account to see a pattern they made. 

Science: next week we will wrap up our first Science unit, Living and Non-Living.  We will begin our first Social Studies unit the following week. This weekend or next week, have your child go outside while the weather is still nice and take some photos of living things using their Seek app!

We did get a taste of Social Studies this week when we talked about the Presidential Election, read the books Duck for President! and My Teacher for President and participated in our own election between Duck and Farmer Brown.  Check our class Facebook page for more info on this.  I posted about it a few days ago. 

Fire Department Visit: every year the Columbia Fire Department visits Kindergarteners around Columbia in the Fall.  They usually bring a truck and show us their gear.  Due to COVID, they were unable to visit, but we did arrange a virtual tour.  The children were able to get a tour of the fire station, fire truck and they showed us how they put on all their safety gear!  

We made fire trucks for our Friday craft.  Ask your child to read the sentence on their truck!

We loved the beautiful weather this week!  Perfect for lunch outside!

Happy Halloween!

 Happy Halloween!!!

I hope the kiddos had a great time at their first school party!  We painted and decorated pumpkins from Peach Tree Farms (where we'd normally take Kindergarten for a field trip), ate yummy snacks, played some Halloween games and listened to Halloween music all day!  Here are a few pictures, but you can find many more on our class Facebook page, check it out!

A look at our learning...

Fundations: this week we learned the correct name, sound and letter formation for the lowercase letters a and g.

Please use the following verbal prompts with your child:

a-over, around, down

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

Please make sure they are not drawing a circle, then picking up their pencil and drawing a stick to write the letter a.  Please also make sure they are not drawing a circle, picking up their pencil and drawing the line coming out of the g in the middle of the circle.  This is what we call drawing our letters, but we want to write our letters.  We want the movements to be one fluid motion.  

Check out these photos of your kiddos working on correct letter formation.

Writing: we continue to work on writing sentences using resources in the room to help us and word wall words. This week we learned the word wall word see. So far this year we have learned the following word wall words: I, like, see. We will learn one new word every week.  

In a few weeks, after we have learned a couple more words, we will begin having weekly spelling tests on Friday over these words.  We will begin once we have learned 5 words.  You can begin practicing the words above to get a jump start.  Your child should be able to independently read and write their word wall words.  Next week we will learn the word my.

We are using these words to help us write sentences such as "I see_______. I like______."  They have used color words, family members and friends names to fill in the blanks on these sentences.  We are learning how good writers put spaces between their words when they write and end their sentences with periods.  

Your child brought home their writing journals today.  Check them out to see some of the writing mentioned above.  These writing folders are for you to keep at home in case we ever have to do school on Zoom again.  While I hope it doesn't happen, it is best to be prepared.  Please put this writing journal with your other items for online learning (the Fundations whiteboard, letter board, baggie of tiles, etc.)  I will be giving them new writing folders and paper to use at school on Monday.  

Math: this week we talked more about shapes. We focused on shape attributes, such as how many points a shape has, how many sides, if there are curves, etc.  

By the end of Kindergarten your child should be able to identify the following basic shapes: circle, oval, rectangle, square, triangle, hexagon, rhombus (diamond), trapezoid. 

In the photos below, the children are talking about the basic shapes they see on their playing cards and describing the shapes to their partners. 

Library Check Out: we had our first library check out with Mrs. Fitch this week!  We will have library every other Tuesday.  Mrs. Fitch or Mrs. Canepa (our other media specialist) will Zoom with us during this time.  They will read a story to the class and teach basic library skills. This week the children learned how to fill out a Google Form Interest Survey on their iPads.  This will help Mrs. Fitch, Mrs. Canepa and Mrs. Groner (library clerk) pick out 3 books that match each child's interest.  They will deliver the books to our classroom by the end of the day.  OR If students want specific books, you can go to the destiny catalog service on your child's iPad to help them select three books before our library day (info on how to do this was sent out a few weeks ago.....let me know if you need it sent again). The media specialists will then pull those 3 books out for your child instead.  Students can keep these 3 books for two weeks, until our next library check out day.  We ask that you please keep the library books in a safe place when not looking at them (backpack, a high shelf that a pet or younger sibling can't reach, away from food/drinks, etc.). The children must return their 3 books on our library day in order to check out 3 new ones.  

Our next library day is Tuesday, November 10th.

In the photo below, we are Zooming with Mrs. Fitch during our library time.

Severe Weather and Fire Drills: this week we had our first severe weather (tornado) and fire drills.  We will practice these regularly throughout the year.  We learned that our class will go to the boys bathroom near the tech lab and gym in case of severe weather.  We learned how to cover our necks to keep us safe during this drill.  We learned to calmly walk outside to our safe spot during a fire (ask your child where this safe spot is.) We talked about why we don't take our backpacks, toys, etc. with us during drills.  Our number one goal is keeping the children safe.  We can buy new coats, backpacks and toys, but we can't buy new Kindergarteners.  

Many children knew where to go at home in case of a fire, but many did not know what to do at home in case of a tornado.  Please take some time to talk with your child and practice at home.  While we hope it never happens, it is always best to have a plan.  

Recess Fun: the kiddos were SO excited about the snow this week.  I was more excited for the sunshine and warmer days!  Since we can't play on all of the playground equipment like normal this year, I bought each child chalk and bubbles to take outside during recess.  We enjoyed trying it out this week!  

Many of you have asked what you can do to help or donate.  I will gladly take donations of chalk and bubbles throughout the year!  (I will also take Clorox Wipes lol).  

I will post a few recess pictures here, but will put many more on our class Facebook page.  

Welcome to school!!

 Wow!  What a great first week of in-seat learning!!  It feels SO good to be back!

I have to say that I am VERY impressed by our class so far! It is amazing how quickly they have adjusted to school and new routines and expectations.  This week we spent most of our time going over school routines and expectations.  It is always important to focus on these things and build relationships before we do anything else.  When expectations are taught and learned, then our academics and everything else will be successful.  We were able to do Fundations and Heggerty every day, but beyond that it was mainly the things mentioned above.

A look at our learning...

Fundations: we learned the letter name, sound and correct letter formation for the following letters: c and o.  

Please use the following verbal prompts when your child is writing these letters:

c-over, around, open

o-over, around, close

When we learn how to write these lowercase letters, your child is expected to then write them correctly "for the rest of their life" (as I tell them).  So far this year we have learned the name, sound and correct letter formation for the following letters: b, c, f, i, m, n, o, t, u.  Please hold your child accountable for forming these letters correctly, especially if they have this letter in their name.  

Community Building: below are some of the things we did this week to build a strong sense of community and teach routines and expectations.

We read the book David Goes to School and discussed good choices and poor choices at school.

We read the book If you can't bear hug, air hug and learned ways we can greet our friends and teachers every morning and every afternoon before we leave school. 

We read the book We are all alike, We are all different and discussed how it's great that not everyone is the same and that's what makes the world a better place!  Then we made self portraits that will hang in our classroom all year!

We are so lucky that we have such a diverse classroom this year!

We read the book My name is NOT Isabella and discussed how special our names are  Then we made a torn paper craft to proudly display our beautiful names.  Torn paper crafts are great fine motor activities.  In Kindergarten, fine motor skills are so important.  We work on building up the muscles in our hands to help us be better writers.  

The weather on Thursday was absolutely gorgeous and we took full advantage!  We had a picnic lunch and went on a Fall Scavenger Hunt all around school!

Of course we played!  Play is so very important in Kindergarten.  It helps our social skills, vocabulary, turn-taking, etc. 

Lunch: Lunch in the classroom is going much better than expected.  They are great about cleaning up after themselves.  I also don't mind them eating lunch in here because I make sure they eat!  They aren't allowed to put their food away if I don't think they ate enough....that didn't always happen when eating in the cafeteria haha!  So I can promise you, they are getting their bellies full so they can have energy and brain power for the rest of our day!  

One thing I do need your help with is teaching your child/practicing with your child on how to open the containers, bags, etc. that you send for lunch.  It is important they are independent with this for a few reasons: health concerns with COVID (I shouldn't be touching all of the children's things) and it gives them more time to eat because they aren't waiting on me to help.  There is 1 of me and 15 of them so that takes time. Please, please practice with your child at home.  Before you put something in their lunch box, try having them open it to see if they can do it independently.  Also, please send any utensils your child might need in their lunch box.  

Username and student ID: in your child's take home folder is their student username and password.  They will have this username and password until they graduate from CPS.  If something is ever asking for a login and password, this is it.  Please practice this username and password with your child.  We have this same paper at school and practice, but extra practice at home is needed and appreciated.  Now that they have their own devices, they shouldn't be prompted to enter this too much since the device typically remembers their login after the first time, if you choose this option.  However, sometimes it will ask them to verify.  I won't be entering this for the children, as I shouldn't be touching their iPad (and again, one of me and 15 of them lol).  The more they practice, the better and quicker they will get.  If you are ever prompted for this at home, please do not enter it for them or they won't learn.  Please get out the sheet I'm sending home and have your child enter the information. 

Library Check-out: Library time is starting next week.  This year students will have library check out every other week, rather than weekly.  Our library day is Tuesday from 12:00-12:30.  Mrs. Fitch or Mrs. Canepa, our media specialists, will Zoom into our classroom via our SMARTboard.  They will read stories to the children and teach them basic library skills and information.  They will then bring a roll cart of books outside our classroom doors for children to browse and check out.  They can then keep these books for 2 weeks until our next library day.  You may also reserve books on destiny in the CPS Portal if you wish.  They will bring those books to the students on our library day.  

If you participated in the drive through library days while school was virtual, please return those books to school by Tuesday so your child can check out new books.  We ask that books always be kept in your child's backpack unless they are reading them.  This way they don't get lost, a pet doesn't get them, spills, etc.