Happy Fall!

 Happy Fall!

This is one of my favorite seasons.  I love the temperatures, tailgating at Mizzou games (well on a normal year), baseball playoffs for my beloved St. Louis Cardinals and school has begun!  I hope you have been enjoying the beautiful weather with your families.  I encourage the kiddos to spend as much time as possible outside during our break times.

A look at our learning...

Fundations: this week we learned about the lowercase letter t.  We learned it's name and sound.  We also have a visual cue card and learned that the word "top" begins with the letter t. We learned that a top is a toy you can play with that spins.  We learned the correct letter formation for the lowercase t.  We learned how to correctly write the lowercase t on our Fundations writing grid.  We also found the letter t in our Fundations student notebook, practiced tracing it while saying the verbal prompts and colored the picture.  Ask your child to show you this in their student notebook and ask them to get out their writing grid and expo marker and write the letter for you! 

Please reinforce the following verbal prompts for the lowercase t when your child is writing at home:

"Point to the sky line, go dow....n to the grass line, go across the plane line. T, top, /t/" 

It is common for children to say "I know how to write my letters," and they are correct, they do.  I tell them that they know the preschool way to write their letters and now we are learning the Kindergarten way!  Any extra practice you can do at home is greatly appreciated.  We will typically learn 2-3 letters per week and every Friday I will share the correct verbal prompts for you to use at home.  These are the same verbal prompts they will be learning during live instruction. 

(Click on photos to enlarge)

Benchmark Reading: we continued to work on being a strong listener and how to handle books with care.  We are also learning about the parts of a book: cover, author and illustrator. 

Ask your child to show you the cover of a book at home and also ask them what an author does (writes the words) and what an illustrator does (draws the pictures.)

Check out the cozy reading room I shared with you last week (and is linked on their 1:25-3:00 choice time board) to see some of the new books we enjoyed this week.  There are now 3 slides of books for you to enjoy!  

Benchmark Writing: we use our lined writing journals during this time.  There is a place for a picture and a box.  If your child is only drawing a picture to tell their story right now, that's more than ok and 100% age and developmentally appropriate.  We do not expect them to come into school knowing how to write.  A drawing IS considered writing at this point.  If your child is trying to add words (even just random strings of letters) that is ok too! Please don't correct your child's spelling.

A few tips:

*Children should feel like successful, independent writers.  If children feel like they can't write without perfect spelling, they will not think of themselves as writers and will be apprehensive to try.  They are more likely to give up and not enjoy writing if they feel like they are always being told they are "wrong."  

*Writing is just like a toddler learning to speak.  They don't start with complete sentences and we always reward the effort and growth.

*Now, more than ever, it is important to let their authentic writing show.  It is already difficult for me, as their teacher, to get to know the children over Zoom like I would in the classroom.  I need to see their true abilities when working independently.  If an adult is guiding them or telling them how to spell things, I won't know their true abilities and therefore won't be able to teach to my best ability. 

I hope you will take a few minutes to read the article I have linked here.

I have also included a few charts about the natural progression of writing that I hope will be helpful for you.   Please click photos to enlarge. 

Math: our math is a spiraling curriculum.  This means, rather than learning things in units (Shapes in September, counting in October, measurement in November, etc.) they will see the same topics throughout their school year, with each encounter increasing in complexity and will reinforce previous learning.  So while we learned about 2-D shapes on Thursday and counting on Friday, this doesn't mean we are finished after just one day.  We will come back to it often throughout the year.  This helps keep ideas fresh on the children's minds all year long.  

This week we learned about length (shorter, longer, the same), counting to 20 and shapes.  This year we will focus on learning the following 2D shapes: triangle, square, trapezoid, hexagon and rhombus.  We learned that rhombus is a fancy name for diamond.  I told them the kids that in preschool they probably called it a diamond, but now that we are in school we call it a rhombus. 

Science: all of unit 1 will be focusing on living and non-living and plants and animals.  We are also learning about how to use our 5 senses when in nature.  I enjoyed seeing the pictures they took of trees on Thursday.  Keep encouraging them to use the Seek app to learn more about our environment.  

1:25-3:00 Time frame: a friendly reminder that school isn't over at 1:25. Our school day goes until 3:00 while in virtual learning.  Children should be using the 1:25-3:00 time frame to finish any assignments they did not complete during whole group instruction.  Please be sure to check their Seesaw assignments during this time (or ask your daycare provider or pod leader to) to make sure all items are complete.  Often times I will write comments and send back work that isn't completed or isn't completed properly.  This is also a good time to have them use the Choice Board.  There are books added daily if they click on the "read" tab and there are also interactive tools on the "explore centers tab.  Click here to see the choice board.  I have also shared this Choice Board on Facebook, it is linked to their daily schedule I post on Schoology and Seesaw and was sent to your inbox on Seesaw.  I wanted to make sure you always have it readily available. 

 

Next week I will be doing one on one appointments during this time for our AIMS screener (link and more info was in Friday's email).  Once those are complete, we will be starting small groups.  This means your child will have an assigned time each day to get back on Zoom and work with their assigned group during the 1:25-3:00 time. I will give you more info on your child's time each day after next week.  So while they won't be on Zoom with me the entire hour and a half, I just wanted you to be aware that they will be getting back on with me at set times and should be using this time to also finish work before taking brain breaks, playing, etc. 

Friday Craft: today we made chameleon's.  They had the choice to use watercolors, crayons or markers to decorate their chameleon's.  This craft tied into the book A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni.  This book teaches us about finding and being proud of our own identity and the value of friendship.   

Missing assignments: every Friday afternoon I will send messages to your Seesaw inbox (the parent account) about assignments your child didn't complete, only partially completed or didn't submit that week.  Please help your child work on these and submit before class on Monday.  These are all lessons we did together in class, but they didn't get turned in for whatever reason.  If you didn't create a parent account in Seesaw I encourage you to, but sent it to your personal email this week.  If you don't have a message from me in Seesaw then it means your child completed all their assignments!  Whoo hoo!