Letter experts

 A look at our learning...

Fundations: we have learned all 26 lowercase letters of the alphabet!  Yay!  This means your child should know the name, sound and correct formation of all 26 lowercase letters.  Next week, they will take a Fundations assessment so you can see what letters/sounds/formations they need to work on.  I will send these home for you to see at the end of the week when complete.  In your child's Friday Folder this week are the verbal prompts they learned for all letters.  They should be forming all letters correctly from here on out.  Please use this to help hold them accountable and practice at home. 

Our final two letters are z and qu.  We learned that q is a "scaredy cat" and can never be alone.  When spelling words, q and u must always be together.  

Please use the following verbal prompts when forming these letters:

z: across, slant down, across

qu: over, around dow....n, curve back (q) down, curve up, down (u)

Shared Reading/Spelling: this week we read the book They are on to help us practice our new spelling word.  They are discovering they can read more and more books as they are learning more and more new word wall words every week.  When they are finding words in books they know, this is called “monitoring on the known,” which is a HUGE skill to learn! So proud of them!

Next week's new spelling word:

at

Writing Workshop: now that we know all 26 letter sounds, students should be applying this knowledge more and more when spelling words and writing stories.  At the beginning of the school year simply drawing pictures was ok, then adding a random string of letters showed they had an awareness of print even if you couldn't read it.  Now, they should be writing words that are legible and using their letter sounds for at least beginning and ending sounds in words.

Check out a few stories from students this week!  They wrote these without any support from me!  This is what independent Kindergarten writing should look like at this point in the year. 

I saw deer at my house.  It was fun.

Me and my family went outside.  I rode my bike.

Math: we continued to work on teen numbers, 10 frames and graphing.  We also learned about calculators and were able to explore them one day.  They thought this was pretty cool, as most are used to only seeing a calculator on a phone and not an actual math tool. 

Geography: we continued to learn about maps, compass rose and map keys.  They brought home a map they made and many map/geography related activities throughout the week to share with you. 

Lunch with the Principal: yay Carter and Arya!  They were chosen to have "Lunch with the Principal" for the month of December.  Carter was our classroom winner and Arya was chosen by Mrs. Starbuck in art. 

Family Traditions: We have thoroughly enjoyed hearing about each child's family traditions this week.  The students were so excited to share special things about their family and did an amazing job! Check out a few of the traditions below. 

If you have not completed this family project, sent home in last week's Friday Folder, please do so by December 18th. This would be a great thing for you to work on this weekend.  

Please make sure you have your child practice reading what you wrote on the paper, so they are confident in what to share when they bring it to school.   

We have so many fun things planned for next week!  I hope to see every child at school every day (unless sick) so they don't miss out on the fun and special memories!

Kimball's family collects nativities from their travels.  They have 37 so far!

Laelah always goes to a restaurant on her birthday-her favorite being Texas Roadhouse.

Calvin's family picks out a real Christmas tree and decorates it together every year.

Koda and his dad go to Uprise Bakery for breakfast every Saturday-just the boys!

Class book exchange: a reminder that we are doing a class book exchange on Friday, December 20th and all students need a book to participate.  A note was sent home in last week's Friday Folder.  Please email me if you mis-placed it and need more information.  All books are due no later than Thursday, December 19th.  If you have it now, send it on in to school!  Just make sure it is wrapped and says who it is from.  Leave the "to" part empty.  

Winter class party:  we still need MANY slots filled to help make the students winter party on Friday a success.  If you were unable to help donate items during the Fall party, I hope you will consider donating for this party. Thank you to all who have already signed up to help send in items needed and to Heidi Clements for organizing.  Click here to sign up. 

More fun from our week

This week we were introduced to reading buddies in the library.

Santas we made for our weekly craft.

They look amazing on Ugly Christmas Sweater Day!

December is here!

  A look at our learning...

Fundations: this week we learned the name, sound and correct letter formation for lowercase x and y.  We only have TWO LETTERS IN THE ALPHABET LEFT TO LEARN! YAY!

Please use the verbal prompts below when helping your child form these letters:

x-slant down, slant back

y-slant down, slant baaaackkkk

Slant down letters can be tricky for some kiddos.  If you notice this is tough for your child, I'd suggest some activities that support crossing the midline. There are SO MANY activities that work on this skill.  Click here to see a few.  Even just having them stand up (without a pencil) and making the "slant down" motion with their arm going across their body is good practice.

Shared Reading & Spelling: we read the Big Book Carlos and his teacher, which featured our new spelling word and. I am noticing more and more students trying to sound out unknown words when reading.  They are using the letter and letter sound knowledge from Fundations and applying it when reading and writing!  So exciting!  

New spelling word of the week:

on

Writing Workshop: our main focus continues to be writing a story (sentence) by sounding out/stretching out our words.  If they are writing about walking their dog, their story shouldn't just say "dog," but rather something such as "I took my dog on a walk."  That may be spelled something like this "I tk mi dog on a wk." Check out a couple examples from some of our classmates.  This is similar to what your child's writing should look like at this point in the year. 

I put up my Christmas tree.  It was fun.

I went sledding with my mom and dad.

Math: this week we started focusing on teen numbers and how they start with a 1, as I discussed with many of you at parent-teacher conferences.  From now until winter break, we will begin math every day with this song below.  It's a great one to help learn their teen numbers and fix the reversals.  

Geography: we are learning about maps, the purpose of maps and components of a map: map key/legend and compass rose.  We are discussing the positional words north, south, east and west.  

To further expand our learning, we have been reading various versions of Little Red Riding Hood, comparing the versions similarities and differences and are making our own maps to help Little Red get to her grandmother's house.   

Counselor: this week Mrs. Alls discussed thankfulness.  The talked about how you may not be having a good day some days, but there are always things to be thankful for.  She taught them how to trick your brain when feeling grumpy or in a bad mood by thinking of things you are thankful for in those moments. They also made cards for someone at school they were thankful for.  

Holiday fun: Jack is back!  One of Santa's helpers has been visiting my classroom since 2011.  He loves seeing all the things the kindergarteners are learning and reporting the kind things he sees to his "boss" Santa Claus!  The kids were excited to meet him this week and they all assured me they would be showing Jack only the BEST things to report to Santa! 😀

Friday craft & Reindeer cam: it's time to take the turkeys down and bring in the reindeer!  Our room is feeling very festive.  Speaking of reindeer, we found Santa's security camera at the North Pole and are able to watch his beautiful reindeer throughout the day!  Sometimes we even get glimpses of Santa himself!  So exciting!  You can watch at home too.  Check it out here.  There are times that Santa will read a story, and most are times we aren't in school, so you can enjoy it at home with your family.  Enjoy these magical moments with your little ones, they are only young once and it goes by so quickly. I try to bring as much magic and joy as I can into their lives during the school day. As they grow older, they may not remember when they learned certain letters or how to count, but they will remember these magical moments.  

                                                         

New friend: we are so excited to have a new friend in his class. His name is Aceston and we've enjoyed getting to know him the past few days. 

Fun Friday Guest Reader: today we had a special visitor!  Alex's grandma, or Grr as he calls her, came to read to our class.  She read one of Alex's favorite Christmas books, Construction Site on Christmas Night and even brought us chocolate chip cookies!  We all really enjoyed this time! 

More fun at school