A look at our learning...
Fundations: now that we have finished learning all 26 lowercase letters, we are moving onto reading and writing 3-4 letter words by "tapping them out." Ask your child to show you how to tap out a word. More information on tapping will be sent home when we return from winter break.
Heggerty: this is a time where we work on phonological and phonemic awareness. The last few weeks we have been learning about word families. We have learned that word families are the same at the end of the word and this is why they rhyme. We also learned that if you know one word in a word family, you can make many new words. For example: since we know the spelilng word can, it also helps us know how to read and write man, tan, fan, ran, etc.
Check out the word families we have worked on below. The students came up with the words in each family on their own!
Spelling: I highly encourage you to spend time practicing their spelling words, reading and writing them, over the winter holiday. While we want you to enjoy your break, students who do not participate in learning activities during these times show regression upon the return to school. This includes reading books to your child or having them read to you a minimum of 4 times a week/15 minutes per time and recording on their December Reading Log. I'm sure their grandparents or other family members would love to read with them during the holidays! Be sure to snap a picture and post it on our class Facebook page since our December sneaky reading challenge is to catch your child reading over winter break. Bonus points if it's by the Christmas tree!
As usual, they are bringing home the most recent list of spelling words in their take home folder for you to have as a reference.
When we return from winter break, we will introduce two new words a week, rather than one. This is another reason to really practice their current words and help them have a strong start in 2025. If you want to get a head start, I've listed the two new words below. They will be introduced on January 6th.
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Writing Workshop: we continue to work on sounding out, or now tapping out, words to help us spell when writing our stories. This is a continuous theme in Kindergarten writing. Their words should be more decodable and easier to read now that they know all of their letter sounds.
Math: this week we worked on teen numbers, recognizing numbers on a ten frame (including a ten frame game that came home earlier this week for you keep and play),and combining pattern blocks (shapes) in different ways to make a hexagon.
Packmate of the Month: yay Laelah! She was chosen, by her peers, as our December Packmate of the Month! We are so proud of her!
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! Thank you so much to the families who participated in this sweet project.
Kindergarten Cozy Day: what a fun day we had today! We were comfy, cozy while we watched The Polar Express in our pj's and cuddled up under blankets. We also enjoyed fresh popcorn and hot chocolate. Special thanks to Starbucks for donating cups for the hot chocolate. The kids were so excited and I think they felt pretty special!
We also had fun exchanging books during the class book exchange. Every child is coming home with a brand new book from a classmate, as well as a book and bookmark from me as a Christmas gift!
A special thanks to Heidi Clements and all of the families who donated to or assisted with our winter class party today. We decorated Christmas cookies and ate lots of yummy food! I have so many pictures from today and will post them on the class Facebook page.
I want to wish each and everyone of you a very, Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year! Enjoy the next few weeks with your families and I will see you in 2025! Thank you so much for all the sweet cards, gift cards, gifts, etc.! You spoil me!
