font-family: 'Shadows Into Light Two', cursive;/ Life in Kindergarten: September 2012

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Dear Parents,

I hope you enjoyed the first week of Fall!  It's hard to believe September is already over.  We read many books about Autumn last week.  The children learned that Autumn is another name for Fall.

I hope your child told you about the nature walk we took on Thursday.  We began our Science unit on trees.  On our walk we talked about, visited, and sat under many trees.  We discussed the different parts of a tree, labeled tree posters, and the children were able to see what the inside of a tree looks like by passing around a tree round (a slice of a tree).  That day in writing many of the children wrote about this exciting adventure!

Last week in Reading the children:
  • Started using their own book bags during Reading Workshop time.  Every student has a book bag with 8-10 books in it.  The children will keep the same books in their bags for a week and select new books the following week.  
  • Continued to work on one-to-one correspondence when reading. 
  • Practiced identifying and sorting the letters m, s, t, and g (both uppercase and lowercase!).
  • Identified rhyming words during shared reading of poems.
  • Began reading from their own poetry folder!  Each time the class learns a poem or song I will add a copy of that poem to their poetry folder.  Children use Popsicle sticks as pointers to track their reading.
Last week in Writing the children:
  • Learned that writers make sure they can reread their story after they have finished.
  • Continued stretching out words like a rubber band.  I retaught the children that they always write at least one letter for each sound they hear.
  • Began using an alphabet chart to help them find and write letters.
  • Fancied up their work on Friday.  Friday is the day children can use color to add detail and fancy-up their work.  Pencil is used every other day of the week so that the children focus more on writing instead of coloring.
  • Practiced writing the letters D and P during handwriting.
Last week in Math the children:
  • Used pattern blocks to complete pattern block puzzles.
  • Practiced one-to-one correspondence when counting a set of objects.
  • Identified numbers and named the next number in a sequence.
  • Finished our study of one-digit numbers by exploring the numbers 8 and 9.
  • Identified characteristics of triangles, squares, and rectangles and discussed how those shapes are alike and different.
Tomorrow begins another busy week!
~ Katie




Saturday, September 22, 2012

Hello Kindergarten Parents!

We had another busy week in Kindergarten!

REMINDERS:
  • The Student Flu Clinic is at Rowe School on Thursday, September 27, from 4:00-6:30.
  • Picture Day is Friday, September 28.
  • Please make sure your child has an extra set of clothes in his/her backpack. 

This week in Reading we:
  • Learned the difference between a letter and a word.
  • Practiced identifying and sorting the letters b, r, f, and e (both uppercase and lowercase!).
  • Learned about one-to-one correspondence.  Through modeling and shared reading, the children practiced pointing to one word as they said one word.  I taught them that readers make sure they only say one word for each word they see.
  • Learned that words in a sentence go in a certain order.  We wrote sentences together, practiced reading them, and then I cut apart the words in the sentences and the children put the them back together.
  • Identified the first and last letters in each child's name and then compared the names.  Each child then sorted their own set of class names by common attributes they identified (first letter, last letter, number of letters, boys and girls, etc.).
This week in Writing we:
  • Learned that writers can write about things that have happened in their lives.
  • Learned that writers can continue working a piece of writing from one day to the next.
  • Learned that when writers want to write a word they stretch the word out like a rubber band and then write one letter (or mark) for each sound they hear.  The children were encouraged to make a letter or mark for each sound even if they didn't think they knew the correct letter. 
  • Started handwriting.  We practiced writing the letters F & E.
This week in Math we:
  • Identified the numbers 3-7 and explored these numbers through the use of concrete objects.
  • Learned about "longer" and "shorter" and found objects in the classroom that are longer and shorter than us.
  • Learned about patterns and practiced identifying and building patterns.
  • Practiced counting and identifying the next number in a sequence. 
Enjoy the first fall weekend!
~ Miss Dutremble

Saturday, September 15, 2012

I am amazed at how quickly the children have settled into Kindergarten!  Their understanding of the expectations and daily routines has impressed me.  The children are already able to enter the classroom and complete their morning jobs with few or no reminders from me!  Our morning jobs consist of unpacking our backpacks, making our lunch choices, hanging up our belongings, taking attendance, and then waiting in a morning meeting circle.

Reminders:
~ Scholastic Book Orders are due this Monday.  You can either submit an order online or send the paper order to school in your child's take home folder.
~ Please make sure your child always has a change of clothes in his/her backpack in case of bathroom accidents or clothes getting wet on the playground.

      This week in Reading we:
  • Spent time buddy reading and reading to self.
  • Continued to read, sort, and identify letters in our names.
  • Learned about rhyming words and practiced identifying rhyming words in the song Did You Ever See? and the book The Pout Pout Fish in the Big Big Dark.
  • Explored letters through the use of magnetic letters.
  • Created a class Chicka Chicka Boom Boom book.  We also made Chicka Chicka Boom Boom name trees.  I wouldn't be surprised if you've heard your child reciting phrases from Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
      This week in Writing we:
  • Wrote every day using the "think, draw, write" process.
  • Began using writing folders to hold our daily writing.
  • Learned the phrase "When you're done, you've just begun!".  This means the children must be working for the whole writing period.  If they think they're done they can either add more details to a piece of writing or begin a new piece.
  • Wrote about our hopes and dreams for Kindergarten.
      This week in Math we:
  • Learned about sorting.  Each child sorted a pile of buttons based on attributes they identified.
  • Practiced counting backwards and learned about the number zero as the number that means "none."  We sang the song 5 Little Monkeys and used monkey puppets to act out this song and count down to zero.  Ask your child to teach you this song!!
  • Identified the numbers 1 and 2 and explored these numbers through the use of concrete objects.
  • Created a birthday bar graph and talked about the birthday data (the month with the most birthdays, the least birthday, etc.).
  • Completed our math routines daily.  Our math routines currently consist of calendar, weather, days of school, and attendance data.  We will do math routines every day.
One final note: We will only be having one snack a day.  You no longer need to send your child to school with a morning and afternoon snack.

Enjoy what looks to be like a beautiful weekend!
~ Miss Dutremble


Thursday, September 6, 2012

Dear Families,

Welcome to our class blog page!  This is where I will post weekly updates about what the children are doing in school, important announcements/reminders, and pictures of your children in action.  You can expect the updates to be posted no later than every Sunday evening.  Please check our blog regularly to keep yourself informed of our class news.

We had a very busy first week of Kindergarten!  Here are a couple highlights:

  • We began each day with Morning Meeting.  The children greeted each other, sang a song, and then read the morning message I wrote to them.
  • The children had Guided Discovery time for many of our classroom materials.  Rowe School embraces the Responsive Classroom approach to teaching, and Guided Discovery is an important component of Responsive Classroom.  Through Guided Discovery we discuss the ways to use a tool/game/manipulative, and then children have time to freely explore that material.  We used Guided Discovery for crayons, markers, glue, scissors, the playground, and blocks.
  • Routines and transitions were practiced.  
  • We learned names and talked about the characteristics of names (what letter a name starts with, the number of letters in a name, names that start with the same letter, etc.).
  • We practiced writing and spelling our names.
  • I read aloud several books a day, and the children participated in shared reading of poems and the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.
  • Children learned how to read a book by telling the story through the pictures.  Children learned that even if they can't read the words, they can still enjoy the book by reading the pictures.
Those are just a few of the many things we did this week!

As a reminder, Parent Open House is next Thursday, September 13.  I look forward to seeing all of you on Thursday at 7:00 P.M.

Enjoy the nice weekend ahead.

Fondly,
~ Miss Dutremble