December 4,
2015
Hello
Parents of the Kindergarten class of room 138!
I hope
everyone had a great Thanksgiving break! The students had a packed week and got
right back into swing of things. I have to start out by saying that I had so
much fun watching the students perform at the winter concert last night! They were spectacular and so cute. The kids have been practicing those songs for
months now, and they were pumped up for the big day. It is so special for the class to see that
our community comes together as a whole, to support and cheer on the learning
that happens at our school.
The students
have been hard at work outside and inside of the classroom. If you pick up or
drop off your child at school, stop down to see our latest bulletin board for
this month. The students just finished
creating silly snowmen and beautiful winter candles (which took students many
days to color) that we put on display.
It looks like a winter wonderland and the class is very pleased with
their art projects. The students are
seeing the subtle changes in their final products even just from the beginning
of the year; and they are taking more time to admire their talent! It is
fantastic!
Now that we
are back from the break our social studies themes have changed from learning
about Pilgrim and Native American life style to learning about all the
different holidays and traditions from around the world that are celebrated
during this winter season. We will be learning about how some celebrations are
similar or different than the traditions our families partake in.
Our class is
also continuing our science study of the Moon, Sun and Earth. In the communication folders that went home
today, you will see some of the crafts, puzzles, and vocabulary work that the
students have been building. Next week
we will be brainstorming ideas of what we see in the sky in the day time and
nighttime and how they compare to each other.
We have been incorporating writing sentences every chance that we get
during the day. Next week the children
will start building their own daytime and nighttime sentences in their journals.
In writing
and foundations the students have been so speedy at identifying letters and
sounds that we have been sounding out small words to create sentences like “I
want a dog.” Today’s sentence was “A cat
sat.” As the students become more confident
in their skills the sentence will include more words, for example: “A cat sat
on a red mat.” The class is so proud of
their achievements. Reading with or to
your child and asking them to sound out words at home is always encouraged!
They will be so excited to show you what they know!
In math the
students are continuing to work on their number formation and number sense
involving more or less. Each day we do a
red and green bean equation. I pick five
volunteers and they pick a bean out of the jar.
The class explains if there are more red beans or green beans. Then the class makes an equation with the sum
of five. This is just one of the many
activities that the students have made into their daily routine. It is a fun way to get students up and moving
and doing math along the way.
If there are
any questions or concerns about the report cards that went home in the
communication folders today, please feel free to contact me.
I hope
everyone has a restful and fun weekend.
Sincerely,
Tara MacCallum
