Ms. Mac’s Kindergarten Newsletter: Week of
January 18th
Hello families of the
Kindergarten class of room 138!
The students
have been so active and engaged in their learning in this short week! On
Wednesday, Suzan Locke and Hannah Putnam from VINS came to our room to carry
out motion experiments with the class. We saw how objects moved by
pushing, pulling or colliding items together. The students made observation of
how surfaces play a part in how far objects travel. The class also
discussed their ideas of how the objects would move depending on the size,
shape, and consistency of the item. It was a very fun way to start the
week and we are excited to have Suzan and Hannah explore science with us for
the next two Wednesdays.
In math, the students
have been continuing to count the number of days that we have been in
school. We are up to day eighty-six days! The students have also
been reviewing their two and three dimensional shapes. As a class we
practice counting by fives and tens daily. The vocabulary words that we
are incorporating into our conversations this month are “most” and
“least”. If you ever find that you can use these words at home, it’s
greatly be encouraged as well. The students are also plunging into more
difficult equations. The students are working on both addition and
subtraction problems that are under ten. The class is also learning to
make tallies and matching them to ten frame boards. The students are
doing a wonderful job even when things are challenging at first. They
have seen that the more they practice the easier it becomes.
In language arts, the
students have been continuing to practice identifying letters and sounds.
The class is moving into tapping out each sound we hear in a word. This
skill helps students build and identify words when we write and
read. All of the students have been sorted into beginning reading
groups which will start next week. It is very exciting news! As we continue to
practice reading, we need to remind students that there are some words that we
can't tap because they are not spelled out phonetically. These words are called
sight words. Sight words are words that we just need to memorize.
Our social study
lessons have focused around the work of Martin Luther King Jr. The
students learned that people used to be segregated because of the color of
their skin. We read stories, created and colored our own booklets, watched
short clips, and discussed how Martin Luther King Jr. as well as Rosa Parks
were two people who wanted equality. As a class we learned that it never
mattered what color skin you had, it only mattered if you had a kind
heart.
The students learned
that sometimes the right action to take is not always the easiest thing to do.
The class discussed situations where they had to be brave in order to do the
right thing. One example from a student was: admitting when they had made
a mistake and making the decision to say, "I am sorry." These
lessons go along with the DBS goal for this month which is: taking
responsibility and owning our actions. We have had a busy and fun week!
If there are any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Tara MacCallum
