It's A Kindergarten Thing

Backpack Reading

2012-03-01T18:04:00.000-08:00

Backpack reading is still VERY important! I have noticed that many children are not bringing their “RED” folders to school to change out their book. It is crucial for your child’s reading and writing development that they are being read to each night for 15-20 minutes. The one backpack book that is brought home each night is not enough to fill that time, so choose books from your own library as well as the books they are bringing home from the school library.

Some info about reading to your child:

Fluency Books

2012-02-28T18:01:00.001-08:00

You may have noticed a new book come home in your child’s backpack this week! This book is in a plastic zip top back with a yellow form in it. This is the book that we are working on in our guided reading groups. Look for a new book every day! There may be some nights when your child does not have a book – this may be because I wasn’t able to meet with that group, or we just needed a bit longer on the book before it was sent home. PLEASE take the time to LISTEN to your child read this book to you 4-5 times. Your support and encouragement is so important to help him/her grow as a reader.

**Please make sure the book and bag come back every day. We use this book as a warm-up read before we begin our guided reading group**

If your child gets stuck on a word, there are many strategies that we use to figure out the word and not just the old stand-by to “sound it out” We have special beanie babies that we use to help remember the strategies.

The strategies are:

Eagle Eye: look carefully at the picture to help figure out the word.

Lips the Fish: Get your mouth ready to say the first sound of the word. Look carefully at the first letter.

Stretchy Snake: Say the word sloooowly listening to the sounds. Blend the letters together.

Chunky Monkey: Look for chunks and hidden, smaller words within the bigger words

Flippy Dolphin: flip the vowel sound – say the long sound instead of the short vowel sound.

Skippy Frog: skip the word and read on to try to figure it out

Tryin’ Lion: Re-read the sentence a try a word that makes sense.

Give your child a chance to figure out the word on his/her own. I always tell them, I’m not always going to be sitting right next to you to help you with the tricky words! Encourage him/her to try the decoding strategies! After he/she has tried what he can, go ahead and tell the word.

We also really want kids to listen to themselves when they are reading – they need to UNDERSTAND what they are reading and learn how to self-monitor. We want them to make corrections as they read – that’s good!! Sometimes, if your child makes an error, all you need to say is “look closely.”

Keep supporting your little readers at home! They are doing a great job!

Dr. Seuss Week!

2012-02-26T15:48:00.001-08:00

Connecting the dots between handwriting and high scores

2012-02-08T11:55:00.001-08:00

Here is a fascinating article that I came across today. Keep practicing neat handwriting with your kiddos!

by Donna Krache, CNN

(CNN) Penmanship. To grown-ups, the word conjures up memories of coarse sheets of paper with solid and dotted lines - and a pencil so big that you had to practically balance it on your shoulder to practice writing your letters.

For some of today’s elementary school kids, there won’t be any memories of penmanship class. With classroom time at a premium and the common use of the keyboard, some school districts are abandoning handwriting as part of the curriculum.

But Dr. Laura Dinehart says not so fast.

Dinehart, an assistant professor at the Florida International University School of Education, was examining data collected on 1,000 second-graders and comparing it with information collected when they were in pre-kindergarten. She and her research team expected to find that early number skills might predict math achievement and that early language skills might predict who would be better readers in second grade. But they were surprised to find that a 4-year-old’s fine motor writing skill - the ability to form letters, numbers and shapes - was an indicator of stronger academic achievement later on.

What’s just as surprising, says Dinehart, is that the academic achievement by those with better penmanship is seen in both reading and math, and it’s reflected in both teachers’ grades and standardized test scores. Students who received good handwriting grades in pre-K had an overall “B” average in second grade. Their standardized tests scored above average in both math and reading. By contrast, pre-kindergarten students who did poorly on fine motor writing tasks had an overall “C” average and below-average test scores in second grade.

So what does it all mean?

Dinehart said, “We’re glad we found this link and think it’s important. It needs to be looked at in greater depth: What is it about writing that’s predicting later achievement?” Her findings, she says, are raising lots of new questions. She acknowledges that some will say this is about teacher perception that a child who has good handwriting is a smart child. But, she asks, is there some mechanical connection between fine motor skills and how the brain works? She points out that there is research that shows that kids who physically write letters more easily recognize those letters, compared with kids who use keyboards. “Schools have started to drop handwriting from curriculum, and we don’t know that that is beneficial,” Dinehart said. “We might have jumped the gun on this.”

Regardless of where the findings lead, Dinehart says that it’s important for preschoolers to spend time practicing handwriting because it’s a very specific motor skill. She encourages parents to provide opportunities for their kids to write with crayons, markers and pencils, and to write with them, just as they read to their kids and count with them. “What we do know is that kids with greater experiences in early childhood do better later on, and writing can’t be discounted from that,” Dinehart said.

Source: CNN Schools of Thought

Pillow Talk with your Kindergarten Kid

2012-02-07T12:12:00.001-08:00

Here are some fun ideas for you and your kiddo to talk about when you tuck him/her into bed.

Here are 20 Pillow Talk Questions from iMOM to help you jump start your relationship with your child:

What do you like to dream about?
What is your best memory this school year?
Who is your hero? Why?
How would you describe your family?
If you could change anything about yourself, what would it be?
What are you most proud of yourself for?
Who is the kindest person you know? Why?
What do you like most about your best friend?
What is one thing you would like to learn to do well?
If you were an animal what one would you be and why?
When is the last time someome hurt your feelings? How did you react?
Do you know someone who is going though a hard time? How can you help them?
What is the scariest thing that happened this year?
If you could keep only one thing, out of everything you have, what would it be?
Who do you think is really successful? Why?
What’s the best thing about your teacher this year?
When do you feel misunderstood by grown-ups?
What three words best describe you?
What’s something that makes you angry?
What’s the best compliment you ever received

Source: iMom

Remember, the more you engage in conversation with your child, the more his/her vocabulary increases!

I’m thinking I might cut these up and put them in a jar next to my kids’ beds – wouldn’t it be fun to pull one out every now and then and talk about it?

Practicing Sight Words!

2012-02-02T19:12:00.001-08:00

How is the sight word practice going at home? I hope everyone is still keeping up! If your child already can read the words on his/her ring it’s time to start writing them! Here are some fun ideas from the blog Jimmie’s Collage to practice sight words.

Spelling is not one of the most exciting of subjects, but it can be fun by using a variety of these thirty ways to practice your words.

WRITE IN

1. write in sand, salt, sugar, or flour (best with a bold background beneath)

2. write in shaving cream

3. write in pudding

4. write in finger paint

WRITE WITH

5. write with chalk on sandpaper

6. write with water on a chalkboard

7. write with eraser on dark magazine pages

WRITE ON

8. write on rainbow scratch paper

9. ”write” on photo-sensitive paper

FORM LETTERS

10. form letters with playdough

11. form letters with string or yarn

12. form letters with pipecleaners

13. form letters with lego blocks

14. form letters with toothpicks

USE

15. use alphabet rubber stamps

16. use alphabet stamps

17. use printable scrabble tiles

18. use alphabet pasta or cereal

19. use letters cut from newspapers or magazines (ransom note style)

20. use alphabet cookie cutters in saltdough

21. use alphabet magnets

22. use letter tiles

DO

23. draw pictures to illustrate the words

24. use sign language

25. jump from letter to letter

26. trace the letters on a partner’s back for him to “read”

27. draw letters in the air with a flashlight in a dark room

28. use Morse code

29. play at Spellingcity.com

30. use an old typewriter or label maker

Have fun practicing!!

February Snack Calendar

2012-02-01T23:01:00.001-08:00

Here is this month's calendar!

I’m here :)

2012-01-23T11:49:00.001-08:00

Hi families – just wanted to give you a quick update! As you will find out today when your child gets home, I’m not back yet My minor minimally invasive surgery turned into a more major, more invasive surgery. So, that means I need to be out a bit longer. As much as I WANT TO come back to your children, I can’t come back before my body is ready. I see my doctor today, so hopefully I will have a better idea of when she will clear me for work.

I miss all of the kiddos incredibly, but I don’t want to come back too soon only to have to go back on sick leave because I pushed it too much (which I tend to do!)

I HOPE HOPE HOPE to be able to make it back for your conferences. As you noticed on the conference form, I asked for only the last 2 days to be scheduled. These are our goal setting conferences, and we will go over the goals that were set in the fall and see how your child is progressing on those goals. We can write new goals, or continue with the old.

In the classroom – Mrs. Riley, my sub is doing a great job and all is going as planned. This week, the children will listen to many different versions of “The Mitten”. They will practice retelling the story, naming the characters, and making comparisons between the different books. They will also focus on making text-to-self connections.

The children will start a formal handwriting instruction this week, please follow through with this at home. Now that they are a bit older and their hands are getting stronger, it is easier to form the letters correctly. Neat handwriting is super important!

I hope that you are still working away on your sight word cards. I realize that many students might need a new set of cards. While you’re waiting for my return, you can practice spelling the words with your child, recognizing and reading them in print, and writing them. Many children can recognize sight words in only one context, it is important to be able to write them when needed as well as read them in books.

In math, we have started learning about subtraction and 3D shapes.

As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. I will do my best to answer them.

Have a great week!

January Snack Calendar

2012-01-04T18:44:00.001-08:00

Click on image to download:

Happy New Year

2011-12-30T18:13:00.001-08:00

Hello Families! I hope that you are all having a fantastic, relaxing break! For those of you that are new to North Dakota – welcome to winter! Snow has finally fallen and your kiddos can play to their hearts content! Although this snowfall wasn’t “perfect” snowman snow, that snow is soon to come! Just be patient!

I wanted to give you a heads up on the skills that we will begin working on when we start back to school on TUESDAY.

Literacy:

We will still be going strong in our WIN groups, Reader’s Workshop, and Guided Reading groups. During WIN and Guided Reading, each child is working at their level in their groups. We work on skills such as:

letters/sounds
sight words
3 letter words (like hat, pig, hen, etc)
fluency (how quickly we can read those words as well as how we sound when we’re reading)
and of course reading books!

During Guided Reading and WIN, the children are reading books at what we call an “instructional level.” This means that the book may be a bit challenging for them, but they have support from me (or other teachers) as they work through the text. During Reader’s Workshop, the children read books at their “independent level.” Sometimes it may seem to the children that these books are too “easy” for them. I promise you they are not! It is important to build confidence when they are reading, and to build confidence, they need to be reading books that are not too difficult for them. Kind of like Goldilocks – not too hard, not too easy, but just right!

During our literacy centers and whole group time, we will be working on:

beginning, middle, and ending sounds of words
Sight words – We are about halfway through list 4 now
CVC words – (consonant, vowel, consonant words: cat, pig, hen)
handwriting – neatness counts!
rhyming and syllables

In math, we will be starting a few new concepts:

Telling time to the hour (both digital and analog clocks)
Subtraction stories (If I have 4 candy canes and eat one, how many do I have left?)
3-D shapes

We will continually work on the following skills:

Counting and one-to-one correspondence (most children should be up to 20 by now)
Identifying and writing numbers up to 20
Sequencing and ordering numbers to 20
Counting by 10s and 5s
Identifying and stating the value of a penny, nickel, and dime
Adding small numbers with manipulatives or by counting
Measuring with non-standard units (i.e. marshmallows, blocks, etc.)

If you notice that your child is struggling in any of these topics (that we have already introduced) please don’t hesitate to ask me for suggestions to help them learn at home!

Here are a few great resources for home learning:

IXL is an excellent resource to review math concepts. It is not a free site, there is a monthly subscription fee, but I think it is fantastic! We subscribe to it for our 4th grader and she loves it! I love that I can track her progress as well. Click on the image below to take you to their website.

Literactive is a great literacy resource. This site is free, and it has many great activities that the the children love! To use Literactive, you just need to create an account. Click below to go there!

At our last RED event the kindergarten teachers passed out a fun game to play at home with your kiddos. If you weren’t able to attend, you can download the game below.

Have a great remainder of your holiday break, and tell your kiddos that I am excited to see them on Tuesday!

12 PM Wednesday–Parent Meeting

2011-12-20T17:35:00.001-08:00

There will be a very important informational meeting tomorrow (Wednesday) at Eielson at 12 noon in the North Pod.

Colonel Bush and Dr. Nybladh (GF Public Schools Superintendent) will be holding an informational meeting regarding the possibility of closing and/or consolidating Eielson and Twining schools.

Parents are strongly encouraged to attend to voice their concerns/opinions on this issue.

Gingerbread…and vocabulary development

2011-12-19T19:42:00.001-08:00

The children love this time of the day! We have our literacy centers in the morning at about 11:00 and our math centers in the afternoon at about 1:30. During these times, the children practice important skills that we have been working on in whole group lessons, but they are also developing oral language and vocabulary awareness.

When your child brings home a page from math and/or literacy center time, be sure to ask him/her about it. If there are words to read, have him/her read them to you. Maybe they can even teach you the game. I know it is difficult to get your child to talk about their school day – I have a 4th grader, I know it is difficult!! But, if you use these literacy center sheets as a bouncing off point, you may get them talking.

A young child’s oral language development grows as he or she ages and is influenced by the words that others around the child choose to use. Children will learn words that parents or other caregivers use with them in daily interactions; when parents or caregivers use larger or more varied words, children will acquire and use those words. In general, the more language experiences the child has, the more words and word meanings they learn. So, don’t be afraid to use those big words in your conversations!

Kindergarten is a time when oral language begins to bloom! Have you noticed your child using more and bigger words? Nocturnal, oviparous, schema, characters, and so on… During center time, the children engage in quiet (we hope!) conversations about the task they are working on, what their days has been like, who is/isn’t their best friend….(one of my favorite things is eaves dropping in on their sweet conversations!) As they are visiting with their neighbors, they are engaging in oral language development: sharing, using new vocabulary words, listening, answering questions, and so on.

Okay, okay - on to the fun stuff!

Here the children are working on our weekly pocket chart story. Our focus words last week were look and no. Be sure to have your child read these stories to you! They are great predictable text to practice with.

Here, the children hunted for gingerbread men around the room (see him hanging on the wall above the fish bowl?) The children looked at the shape of the letters (tall, small, fall) and tried to fit them into the correct boxes on their sheet.

This center was super fun! The children used gingerbread play dough and letter stampers to stamp sight words. Be sure to have your child read these words to you! These are the words that we have been working on!

At this center, the children pulled “candy” from a jar, said the word and listened for the ending sound. We have a pretty good grasp on the beginning sounds of words, now we are working on the last sound, and will soon move forward to the tricky vowels in the middle of the word. Being able to hear all of the sounds in the words helps the children to be able to write words!

At this center, the kids practiced writing the alphabet – both upper and lower case letters – and then matched upper and lower case gingerbread boys and houses. Here the children are working on putting the letters in ABC order.

On to math centers!

We practiced a LOT of skills at this center! The children rolled a double die (a smaller dice inside of a larger clear dice), counted the total number of dots, then placed the correct number of pieces of candy on the gingerbread boy, and then graphed their answers! Counting, one-to-one counting and graphing all in one! Great job kids!

We have been practicing counting by 5s and 10s. At this center, the children sequenced the numbers by 10s. This is a great center to hang up if your child is struggling with counting by 10s (5s this week). Have him/her point to each number and count together. Do this several times a day, and he/she’ll eventually get the hang of it! Have your child sing the songs we sing to learn these skills to you!

Here is another graphing center – the children spun a spinner, and graphed the answer. When they were finished, they counted how many times they spun each candy.

At this center, the children measured with non-standard units. They used a peppermint and gumdrop ruler to measure each gingerbread boy.

Here the children counted out pieces of candy to match the number and colored the candy to correspond to the number word.

Here are some shots of the kiddos when they were decorating their gingerbread boys and girls! MMmmmmm they were good! Maybe you even got to taste a bit of one??

What does your child share with you about his/her day? Leave a comment below!

Gingerbread Fun!

2011-12-12T20:31:00.001-08:00

Run, run as fast as you can!! Have you heard that in your house over the past week? We have been reading many different traditional retellings of The Gingerbread Man. This children love predicting what will happen at the end of the story as well as sequencing the characters in the story. These are both very important skills for readers. We want kids to be able to make predictions as they read, make connections to similar/non-similar texts as well as to retell the story in their own words. Remember the Brown Bear, Brown Bear and There Was an Old Lady retelling bags?

As you read with your children each night, here are some tips to be sure you are getting the most out of your child’s (and yours!) reading experience:

Prior to opening a brand new book:

talk about the title, author and illustrations on the cover
questions such as: What does the author of the book do? What does the illustrator do? What predictions can you make about this story from the cover?.

As you are reading the book:

at appropriate points in the book stop and ask your child to visualize what they think might happen next. “Can you put a picture in your head of what you think might happen?” or “can you make a prediction (guess) of what might happen next?”
Stop occasionally to think about what has happened in the book so far. Have your child retell what has happened. What questions do they have about the book so far?
Talk about connections. We often talk about text-to-text connections (does this remind you of another book you’ve read?) , and text-to-self connections (does this remind you of something that has happened to you?)

At the end of picture books or chapters:

Ask your child to summarize (tell the most important parts) the chapter or story. “Could you summarize what happened in this chapter?” (don’t be afraid to help them….this is a tough task)
“So, what happened at the conclusion (end) of the story?”
What were your favorite parts of the book/the most exciting part of the book?

Are these questions you should ask every time you read a book? Nope. not at all. As teachers, we watch for “teachable moments.” The gingerbread books are great for retelling in a sequence and to talk about characters, so we focus on them.

The ultimate goal for reading is to understand and enjoy what you are reading. You wouldn’t want to spend a couple of hours reading a great book only to realize that you didn’t understand/remember anything you’ve read! We want the same for our kiddos!

On to the fun stuff!

We made some fun gingerbread glyphs last week. Glyphs are a pictorial form of data collection. Later this week, we’ll look more at our data – we’ll be able to see who is a girl, who is a boy, how old children are, what their favorite colors are, and if they like candy canes all by how they painted their gingerbread friends!

Here are our literacy centers “in action” from last week!

We matched gingerbread boys and girls to find the pictures that rhyme.

This is what our pocket chart center looks like. The children read the pocket chart and fill in the missing words. Remember to practice reading these sentences with your child. They are excellent sight word practice!

At this center, the children were matching uppercase, lowercase, and pictures with the same letter. Later they practiced their best handwriting when they wrote each letter. Always encourage proper handwriting strokes at home! Habits (good and bad!) form quickly and can be hard to break.

At this center, the children chose a gingerbread man from the jar, stamped and wrote the sight word. They later practiced reading the words to each other. These pages always have our current set of sight words. Remember to practice reading these at home!

At this center they are spinning the spinner and writing the ending sound of the word.

Here are some pictures from our math centers:

At this center, the children are matching number words to the correct number.

Here they are using our super cool dice in dice to practice combining to numbers (shhh…they don’t know they are adding yet!!) and dobbing the number (the sum!) on their paper.

Here we are using candy canes to make patterns.

The children always love the “count the room” or “write the room” center. Here they are counting numbers up to 20.

As you can see, there is lots of learning going on each day in Kindergarten! You should be super proud of your kiddos!!

GAP Discount for you!

2011-12-12T19:53:00.001-08:00

*For all the past and present members of the military: Please enjoy 25% off regular priced merchandise each Monday beginning TODAY through January 23rd. Please see store for details.

Brrr!!

2011-12-06T18:44:00.001-08:00

Parents, it has been cold these last few days! The wind really whips out on the playground, and even though we are only outside for about 10 minutes, the children can become cold very quickly! Please, send your child to school with the following:

boots
snowpants (even though there is no snow, they will keep their little legs warm!)
warm coat
hat
gloves/mittens (not the thin knit ones – little fingers get cold quickly in these!)
scarf

Nice to have, but not necessary:

an extra sweatshirt
an extra hat
an extra pair of gloves just in case one goes missing!

It is VERY important that you label EVERYTHING! Most children have black snowpants, so just try to imagine 16 5 and 6 year olds trying to figure out which pair of snowpants is theirs….It can be quite comical (and frustrating!)! It also helps for your child to know what their snowpants look like – i.e. what the label looks like, where their name is, etc.

As I noted earlier, it is helpful if you send these extra items in a separate bag like a reusable shopping bag. This will help keep wet things away from each other.

Now, remember, we don’t go outside when it is this cold!! The kids are usually nice and warm and toasty on the “warmer” days we are out if they are dressed appropriately. It’s usually the teachers that get cold first, and when we get cold, we go in!

And finally, I would like you to do me a HUGE favor. I need to know if this information is getting out to you! Please, please, please leave a comment below when you have read this note. If you haven’t already signed up for e-mail notifications, please do so now.

Thanks!!

December Snack Calendar

2011-12-01T18:14:00.001-08:00

As promised, here is the December snack calendar. Since we have our fresh fruit and vegetable snack 3 days a week, we only need snack sent in on Mondays and Fridays. If you would like to send in your snack early, that is just fine with me! Less to remember during this busy holiday time.

Just click on the image to download the calendar!

Welcome!

2011-11-28T18:08:00.001-08:00

Welcome to our classroom blog! You will find find classroom happenings here as well as important news and information. Please leave a comment each time you read a new post – this will let me know if you are getting the information that you need. In the digital age that we live in – it is often easier to read things in digital form!

Here are some pictures of our super fun 50th day of school celebration!

Bubble gum fun!

The crew!

Playing our 50s Sock Hop sight word game – this was SO much fun

The limbo! Good job, T!

Hula-hooping

and of course, coke floats!

A HUGE thank you goes out to all the parents who sent in supplies for this fun day of school. Before you know it the 100th day will be here. How are we going to top this fun?!

Sight Word Practice

2010-11-22T21:03:00.000-08:00

I found this post at another kindergarten teacher's blog. The ideas are so great, I wanted to share them here with you! There are some great ideas to put some "fun" into your nightly sight word review. I know the kiddos can get bored with the cards sometimes!

From Mrs. Kimbrell's blog:

Practicing those sight words...

Each day the kids ask if we are working on sight words again for shared reading! I try to incorporate them into every shared reading lesson but since the class as a whole LOVES them SO MUCH, here are some more ideas and activities you can try at home to keep it fresh! :)

Many of you may have something like the Glow Station, Aquadoodle, or Magnadoodle

and these are great for practicing!

Combine bath time and learning time!

Have a yummy breakfast or snack and spell those sight words!

Cut out words or letters to build the sight word list!

Find a cute font and let them type!

Write the words on sticky notes and use a chopstick or ruler for a pointer.

Use sidewalk chalk on these beautiful fall days to practice!

(I don't think we'll be able to do this right now, but file away the idea for spring!!)

I hope you can use some of these activities to make learning fun!

Reading DECODED...

2010-11-21T19:18:00.000-08:00

I found a great article at Scholastic explaining some of the "key words" that you hear when your child is learning to read. I have copied and pasted the most important information below:

Phonics. Knowing the relationship between the sounds of spoken language and the letters of written language is essential for reading. Phonics gives your child tools she can use to recognize familiar words quickly and to figure out words she hasn't seen before.

Reading milestones:

Understanding that the order of letters in a written word represents the order of sounds in a spoken word
Knowing the sounds letters make
Blending letter sounds together to make a word /b/ /i/ /g/ makes "big"
Recognizing word families: fat, cat, and sat all have the same last two letters, as do pig, big, and dig
Recognizing letter patterns: "ee" stands for the sound in street and feel; "sh" makes the same sound in shirt and fish.
Sounding out words she doesn't know, both real and nonsense: "sit" and "zot"
Beginning to recognize the multiletter syllables in words: tiger consists of the two syllables ti - ger.
Developing an understanding of often-used prefixes and suffixes, such as un- and -ing, -ed, -s and -est.

Word recognition: Many common words in English, such as "the" and "one," don't fit the phonics rules, so your child needs to memorize them. As he gains more experience reading, he will also instantly recognize other common words. This makes it easier to focus on the meaning of the text.
Reading milestones:

Automatically reading high-frequency irregular words such as "are," "was," "were," "you," and "said"
Instantly reading familiar words such as "cat," "dog," "mother," and "daddy" without having to sound them out

Fluency: To read fluently, your child must not only be able to recognize words instantly, but also be able to divide the text into meaningful chunks. For example, "lock of hair" must be read as a group to make sense. She builds fluency with lots of practice and experience listening to teachers and parents reading aloud.

Reading milestones:

Reading aloud with expression
Pausing at appropriate spots in the text

Spelling and writing: Your child increases his knowledge of how print works when he spells and writes on his own. When he makes each letter, he learns to associate a sound with it. At first he may write "book" as bk — because he hears the /b/ and /k/ sounds. With instruction, he learns correct spelling. "Reading and writing reinforce each other," says Barbara Fox, reading professor at North Carolina State University.
Milestones:

Correctly spelling previously studied words
Spelling a word the way it sounds if he doesn't know how to spell it
Knowing the mechanics of writing — sentences, capitalization, punctuation
Writing different types of compositions, such as stories, reports, letters to Grandma

Comprehension: To read, your child must understand the meaning of the words. It's not enough to figure out that P-o-p spells "Pop." She has to know that Pop is another word for Dad. She builds comprehension when she discusses what she thinks a book will be about and summarizes what happened in a story. Her understanding increases as her vocabulary expands.

Reading milestones:

Predicting what might happen next in a story
Noticing that a word she's just read doesn't make sense in a sentence
Recalling facts and details from texts
Describing what she has learned from a book she is reading
Using new words correctly when she speaks and writes

November 22, 2010

2010-11-21T19:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! Click below to download this week's newsletter!

I Am...

2010-11-21T18:42:00.000-08:00

Magnetic Letters

2010-11-20T19:57:00.000-08:00

Sure, they are fun to play with, and they hold up notes and papers in a jiffy on your fridge, but they are also a great learning tool! You can find magnetic letters at the dollar store, and often in the dollar section of Target and in the toys at Wal-Mart. Below you will find a list of activities that you can do with your child with your collection of magnetic letters!

1. Making Names: A child's name is the most important word to him/her. Have your child make his/her name several times, mixing up the letters, making his/her name and checking it with his/her name written on a card.

2. Letter Match: Invite your child to find other letters that look exactly the same as a letter in his name. (place an m on the refrigerator and have him find all the other m's)

3. Name Game: Have your child make names of friends or family members. Make the name, mix the letters, and try again!

4. Making Words: Encourage your child to build simple words by stretching the words out and saying the sound of each letter (cat, mom, dad, dog, etc.)

5. Alphabet Train: Have your child put the letters in order of the alphabet.

6. Consonant/Vowel Sort: Have your child sort the consonant letters and the vowel letters.

7. Feature Sort: Have your child sort letters in a variety of ways--letters with straight lines, curvy lines, short lines, long lines, circles, no circles, and so on. Stick to sorting by two different ways and build from there.

8. Color Sort: Sort the colors of the letters.

9. Uppercase/Lowercase Match: Have your child match the uppercase letters with the lowercase letter.

10. Writing Letters: Encourage your child to select ten different letters and write each letter on a a piece of paper. Encourage correct letter formation. (Sometimes the magnetic letters and in a different font than the children are used to!)

11. Writing Words: Encourage your child to build five simple words and then write them on a piece of paper.

12. Build Color Words: Give your child a list of color words with a sample of the color next to it. Encourage your child to build the words with the magnetic letters using the model. Mix up the letters, and have him build it several times.

13.Build Number Words: Use the same procedure as above.

14. Find the Letter: Using a set of alphabet cards, take turns drawing a card and finding the magnetic letter that corresponds to it.

15. Letter in the Circle: Draw two circles and place an h in one and an o in the other. Have your child put letters that are like h in the circle. Repeat the procedure with o. This activity will help children learn to look at features of letters. Vary the letters in the circles; accept their explanations about what they are noticing.

16. Change the word: Build several simple words and show your child how to change, add, or take away a letter to make a new word. Examples are: me, he, we; me, my; at, hat, sat; fan, man, can.

17. Word Families: Encourage your child to build the word family of the week with the letters and write each word on a piece of paper. Post this list in a place where your child can review it often.

18. Letter Chain: Place a sequence of letters on the refrigerator (or table) with one letter missing. Encourage your child to find the missing letter and place it in the correct spot.

19. Rhyming Pairs: Make simple three letters words such as dog, but, can, fan, hot, man, net, pan, rat, sit. Say the word and then say a second word that rhymes (dog-log, but-mug, cat-fat, fan-man). Ask your child to make the rhyming word below each word.

20. Sight Words: Ask your child to build sight words with the magnetic letters. Mix up the words, and have him build the word again.

Most importantly, have fun with your child! If you feel that your child is frustrated, take a break and try again! You want to make this a fun experience for you and your child!

Welcome!

2010-11-20T18:31:00.001-08:00

Welcome Kindergarten parents! I am very excited to be able to offer you a chance to peek inside of our classroom and experience the daily goings-on of a day in the life of a Kindergartner! Kindergarten is unlike any other year in school your child will experience. Our days are packed with learning, laughter, play, and lots of love! The growth that your child will experience this year will amaze you! Follow our class blog for helpful tips to support your child at home in his or her literacy and math growth this year. Check back often as I will post pictures, helpful hints, newsletters and important announcements.