Week 4 Update                                                                                 September 3, 2012

 

I can hardly believe that we’ve completed 4 weeks of school already!  Things are going great.   We are settling into our routines now that we have added all of our weekly specials. (Library, Music, Chapel and Computer Lab)

One of the highlights of our week was our “Vowel Show and Tell” on Friday (see photos posted below).  Most of the students were able to keep their item a secret and provided us with 3 clues to help us guess their items.  Some of the items were “accidentally” spotted coming out of the book bags and some of the students had a hard time keeping a secret!  (So cute and not necessarily a bad thing!)  None the less, everyone had a great time and did a great job!  We will try it again this week with consonants this time.  It may be helpful to put the item in a bag and then in the book bag to help them keep it a secret.  This time, one clue should be the consonant it starts with. 

This week in Handwriting, we are hoping that our new materials will arrive from Handwriting without Tears.  The main difference you will notice is the lining of the paper.  The top line is treated the same as the dashed “fence” line on the traditional paper with some letters dipping below and some rising above the middle space.  The capital letters all begin above the line.  I expect the simplicity of the lines and their smaller width will help any of the students who are struggling and confused a bit with the dotted lines and the different colors of the lines.  Of course in a perfect world, every worksheet and paper we write on would have the same type of lines, but in the end, they will all learn to write on a wide variety of lines and spaces.  The important thing, is correct letter formation so that handwriting is legible and speedy.  One of the main focus points with this method is starting all letters and strokes from the top.  Research has shown that quick strokes are easier to make, neater and more uniform when started at the top and pulled down vs. starting at the bottom and pushing up.  You will also see gray block paper come home.  Its purpose is to help with formation of capital letters.

 

A Peek at Our Week (week 5)

Language Arts Concepts

·         Review of previous concepts

·         Letters vs. words vs. sentences

·         Color words/number words

·         Poetry recitation (catch up last week’s “The Purple Cow”, know “Rabbit Hop” by this Friday 

Letters and Sounds

·         Review of all letters and sounds

·         Consonants vs. vowels

·         Word family “at”  

Math Concepts

·         Counting aloud to 20

·         Matching sets of objects to #

·         Sorting

·         Patterning

·         Shapes

Miscellaneous kindergarten Concepts

·         Left and Right

·         Address and telephone number memorization

·         Tying shoes

·         Counting to 100 

Bible

September’s Memory Verse

Nothing can separate us from God’s love.

                                    Romans 8:9

 

 

Homework:

·         Review “The Purple Cow” for recitation on Wed.(did not recite last week)

·         Memorize “Rabbit Hop” with hand motions 

RABBIT HOP

Right rabbit, Left rabbit

Hopping side by side.

Right rabbit, Left rabbit

Jumping mighty wide.

Left rabbit, right rabbit, left rabbit, right,

My little rabbits are hopping out of sight!

·         Practice address and telephone number

·         Tally sheet “How many in my house?”

·          “Like” sight word/handwriting worksheet

·         Practice tying shoes

·         Practice September’s Memory Verse

Nothing can separate us from God’s love.

                  Romans 8:9

·        Read each night and record on September log (watch for A Beka reader to come home some nights)

 

Additional Homework for Handwriting will be sent home tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

Week 3 Update                                                 August 26, 2012

What an awesome week!   From swirling with neon scarves in our first music class, to writing letters in colored shaving cream, to experimenting with color mixing and finger painting, it was a very colorful week too!  We even made our own popsicles.  We’ll be eating them Monday due to an over-thawing issue!  We’ll continue with colors a bit longer while we complete our color collage books and work on being able to recognize the color words.  We visited the Computer Lab and the Library for the first time this week.  Library books may be kept for one week. (Return each Monday)  It may be easier to bring them back on Friday so it’s not forgotten on Monday morning.  Some students have requested to bring home some of the small books in our classroom collection.  These are books that your child is beginning to be able to read by themselves with little or no help!  Please return those daily so they can be passed around quickly.  They will have my name or “Classroom” written in them. 

I’ll be sending home our first homework assignments this week.  They are just practicing a few things to reinforce what we’re doing at school.  I sent the color/puzzle for the sight word “the” last week, for your child to color/cut and keep at home.  The sheet for “see” will come home today.  You do not need to return it.  It would be a great addition to your fridge door! It can be colored and cut into a puzzle; you could even glue it to cardboard before cutting. (An empty cereal box would work) These will be great to collect for sight word practice. The other pages should be returned on Friday.   As always, please try to read at least 15 minutes with your child each night and record it in the Reading Log of the F.R.O.G. Notebook.  Any time the A Bekka readers come home, you can include that in the reading time.

We will be learning a poem for recitation on Friday.  Here it is so you can work on it at home. 

THE PURPLE COW

I never saw a purple cow;

I never hope to see one.

But I can tell you, anyhow,

I’d rather see than be one.

        --Gelett Burgess

Have a great week, Thanks for all you do!

Mollie Roberts

Homework

·        Read 15 minutes each night

·        Make a puzzle out of the sight word “see” page(keep at home)

·        Practice “The Purple Cow” poem

·        Complete the Handwriting page

·        Practice your name, address and emergency telephone #

·        Count the number of pennies in someone’s purse or pocket Write it on the Handwriting page.

·        Show and Tell – Bring something that begins with a vowel sound (keep it a secret from the class) and think of 3 clues to help us guess what it is.
 

Weekly Update #2

 

              August 19, 2012

Hello Everyone,

Another great week is under our belts!  We are getting used to our Kindergarten schedules and enjoying getting to know one another.  We will begin our Specials schedule this week.  (Monday- Library, Tuesday – Music, Wed.  - Chapel, Thursday and Friday -1/2 group Computer Lab)

The highlights of our week were celebrating Abbie’s 5^th birthday on Wednesday, going to our first Chapel, and closing out the week with another Fun Friday!  We made pattern necklaces out of drinking straws and beads, and created bugs out of our snack food.  Yes, technically I allowed them to play with their food, but hey, it is Kindergarten! 

This week I am sending this post home in the F.R.O.G. notebooks, but if everyone is able to access it online, we could save some ink and paper.  Let me know if you still need a hard copy next week.  I am attaching this week’s Concept Guide (a briefing of what we’ll be focusing on each week), but in future weeks on the Blog it will be located under a tab. 

Almost everyone is onboard with recording nightly reading on the Reading Log page of the F.R.O.G. notebook.  If you have any questions, call or email me.  Basically, we are asking every family to read with their child 15-20 minutes each night.  On the nights that your child brings home his/her A Beka Reader, you can include that in your reading time.  By the way, please remember to return those each day until you see the words “completed” or “finished” on the front cover, then you may keep it at home for review.  Some students have not yet begun bringing home their readers.  No need to worry, we’re just working on basic letter and sound skills a bit longer with those students.  Also, I will often mark the pages with a date that your child is to read to at home, but sometimes your child may want to go further.  That is fine, just let your child lead the way into what he/she is comfortable with!  I have two are three that are so excited about learning to read that I can hardly stop them when time is up in our groups!

Please note that I am asking students to bring something for Show and Tell that is their favorite color.

Thanks again for your patience as I work on our class blog.  I have not yet completed the tabs.  I hope to have those done soon!  Have a great week!

Thanks for all you do!

Mollie Roberts

Week # 3                      Kindergarten Concepts                                             August 20-24

Language Arts Concepts   Writing letters, rhyme, words that start the same

Letters and Sounds   Vowels        

Sight Words   the,   color words

Math Concepts    0-10 review, counting and matching sets 1-10, sorting, circle, square, triangle, positional words, penny, tally marks

Language Enrichment    Poetry “Who has seen the Wind” and “The Elephant”

 Show and Tell (bring something that is your favorite color)

Books/Themes/Art   I Can’t said the Ant, create “My Color Book”, Community Helpers

August Memory Verse    “God is with you wherever you go.”  Joshua 1:9

week 1

Here's a look at our first week in Kindergarten!

Look how our bulletin board shaped up!

 

The kids loved the laundry basket reading idea!  They are practicing "silent" reading.

 

We celebrated two birthdays!  Jacob (8/9) and Cole (7/31) 

We painted a still life!

 

We made ice cream in baggies!

Plus a whole lot more! 

We spent time getting used to our routines and schedules, left/right games, letter and sound recognition and writing our first name correctly.  We introduced the vowels with a concentration on the letter" I ".  We added "I", "a" and "the" to our word wall.  We worked on counting to 100 by ones and tens in math.

This week we'll concentrate on letters and sounds for "u","a" and "e" as we build on what we did last week.  In Handwriting we will continue to emphasize starting each letter at the top and correct letter formation.

Some students will begin bringing home small books to practice reading at home this week as well as books from our classroom library. Please return the small readers(in the back of the Frog notebook) each day so that we have them to work on at school as well.   I have included a Reading Log in the Frog notebooks this week so that you can record the titles of books that you and your child read from for 10-15 minutes every night throughout the year.    

So far, our class blog seems to be a great tool for communicating.  I will continue to add more information under the tabs as I am able.  I am new at this, so it's taking me some time to get it all together! 

Have a wonderful week, and thanks for all each of you do!  Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. 

Mollie Roberts