Kindergarten is the BEST place on Earth!

Reading: We will begin reading Non-Fiction texts (but I'm adding a fun Fiction book on Friday and a craft too!) We are focusing on using the details in the text to answer questions (sequence the events) and understand unknown words. The books we will use are: A Butterfly is Born and From Seed to Plant.  There will be vocabulary taught at the beginning of each lesson. Ex. for our Butterfly book~ egg, caterpillar, pupa & butterfly. For the Seed to Plant books~ pollen, pollination, nectar & germination. Other unknown words we will find out the meanings of them together. :) We will review last week's sight words on the Word Wall and we will discuss the following Sight Words: three, four, can, like. Students will be learning the difference between words and letters. We will be counting the words in sentences and pointing out the Sight Words we know.  When reading books at home to your child, please ask them these questions: "What does the word _____ mean in the story? How did the author describe _____ (could be a character or setting)? Tell me the events of the story in order." **I will not send home the Sight Word Money for the new sight words until the end of the week.

Writing: We will begin learning about "Turtle Talking", stretching our words and writing them phonetically. This writing may be done in the picture area by labeling or down in the story section as part of the story. The students will begin writing the sounds they hear. Some may write the beginning sound, others may write the beginning and the end sound. It depends on what they hear when they stretch the sounds of the word and what sounds they are able to correlate with a letter. (Ex. the word bear~ b or br is acceptable for this point in the year. Once they become more comfortable with the letter sounds they will begin to write more.) We will continue to work on drawing detailed people and settings too. :)  *Kindergarten students do not spell words the adult way, they use the sounds they hear. This allows them to gain confidence as a writer and be able to read their stories. However, if it is a sight word and it has been taught in class... it needs correct spelling. *
When drawing pictures with your child at home, continue to stress details are important when drawing people and when drawing settings.  When the drawing is completed that day set it aside and tell your child you will work on it again in a few days. When that day comes, ask your child what details they think they can add now or things that they may have forgotten to add before. Practice writing the "Turtle Talk" way. When they are done, have them tell you a story about the picture. Remember that "This is" stories are not acceptable...**Please remember to have your child draw with a regular pencil (we call them eraser pencils in class). **

Science: We will continue to study the five senses. This week we will focus on the sense of sight and smell. We will discuss how items can look different: shiny, dull, skinny, fat, big and small. We will discuss how items can smell different: weak, strong, sweet and I will be bringing in smell jars. :)  At home have your child  find items that you can describe together using your eyes. During snacks or meal times have your child describe the smell.   We will be watching a Sid the Science Kid video about the sense of sight on PBSkids.org. I tried finding the video on youtube to post, but was unsuccessful.

Math: We will continue to work on number sense: 1-1 matching when we count, rote counting, number recognition and writing. We will focus on 1-1 matching and discuss how the size of the objects in a group does not mean the arrangement is more. We will practice playing two math games: Grab and Count & Counting Jar. We will record two journal entries. :) At home (or even the grocery store) point at a number and ask your child what the number is. Have them count the items they are playing with or the items on their plates at dinner. Let them see that math takes place all the time!


I couldn't leave the post without putting some type of video from Youtube on here. :) haha   I chose a video for a song that the class LOVES! It's a song I use to get the wiggles out. Listen to it with your child and be prepared to see them move! Also, you could have your child tell you the order of events for the song. :)  Enjoy!