Ms. Concannon's Kindergarten: February 2020

It sure is difficult to get in a routine and make headway in some of our academics lately, given all of the snow days and other days off of school! I don't know about you, but I am ready for some routine! Hopefully after our 4 day week next week we can have several full week's in a row and really dive into our learning!

A look at our learning the past couple of short weeks...

Fundations: tapping, tapping and more tapping. I can't encourage you enough to practice tapping out 3-4 letter words at home (non spelling words). Children want to ask "how do you spell....?" but the best thing you can do for your child is to encourage them to "tap it out" or "sound it out" and write what they hear. If they say "but did I spell it right?" then you can say "did you write the sounds you hear?" and if they say "yes" then let them know that it look's good! They don't need to know if it is 100% correct or not. If they applied their letter sound knowledge, that is what is important.

You can practice a few ways:

1) verbally say a word and ask them to "tap it out" and write what they hear

2) you, the adult, write 3-4 letter words on a piece of paper or flash cards and ask them to "tap it out" and read the words to you.

3) Write a short sentence that has both spelling words and 3-4 letter words they can "tap out" in it. Ask them to read the sentence to you.

For example: I pet the cat

It is hot in the sun.

Can we have a hot dog?

You can also say a short sentence like this and have your child write the sentence.

Shared Reading: we will introduce 2 new spelling words again next week and our test will be on Thursday, due to no school next Friday. This week, we reviewed the 27 word wall words we have currently learned through poems and Big Books. Below your child is "buddy reading" some of the books we have read that feature our word wall words.

When reading we are working on pointing to the words, reading word wall words "quick and fast", tapping out unknown words, looking at the picture to help us with a tricky word and thinking about what would make sense.

Daily 5: during our sporadic days of school over the past 2 weeks I have been assessing the children on letter names, sounds, rhyme, word wall words, shapes, counting, etc. to prepare for parent-teacher conferences during Daily 5 time and while they work at their centers. Next week, we will be able to get back to daily guided reading groups during this time and become even better little readers!

Writing Workshop: we have continued our non-fiction writing unit and have learned quite a bit about hedgehogs. We are learning how to use our new writing booklets to write a 5 page book about hedgehogs. So far we have learned how to make a cover that includes a title, picture and who the book is written by, an opening page that tells the reader what they will learn about in their book and 3 pages of facts. Next week we will learn how to write an ending. We are excited to show you these books at your parent teacher conference!

Math: we had our first friend reach 100% in ST Math! Way to go Brooklyn! She is now on the challenge rounds! Once you hit 100% you earn a certificate and get to visit Mrs. Fitch in the tech lab who helps you make a ST Math/Jiji button to proudly wear! JiJi is the name of the penguin in the ST Math games.