Lions and Tigers and Kindergarteners . . . Oh My!

We are having such a great time learning all about animals.  We began by talking about living and nonliving things.  Then we introduced some great vocabulary including:  similarities & differences, size, and appearance.  Exploring different animals to see how they are alike and different is so fun!  We have sorted animals by their coverings:  fur, scales, feathers, smooth skin.  We have also sorted by how they move (crawl, slither, hop, fly, walk…) and where they move (sky, ground, water).  We have read some fun books, too:  Do Bears Buzz?, Do Frogs Have Fur?, and Do Goldfish Gallop?.  You can pick up a copy at the local library to share at home. 

We have been making predictions about stories.  We read Tops & Bottoms.  It was a very silly story about how a hare outsmarts a bear.  We began by looking at the front cover of the book and making predictions about what would happen in the story.  Try this at home with books that you share.  It’s fun when we can giggle about our predictions if they’re not right and exciting when our predictions are correct!

We added a couple fun math links this week.  We played Counting Game and Splat Square  during our math lessons.  The kids had great fun!  Make sure to turn the sound on when you play.  Splat Square has great a great sound effect!

We LOVE Reading!

An interesting vocabulary word in Kindergarten is VORACIOUS (vo*ra*cious).  Yes, that seems like a very large word for a Kindergartener, but as we create little readers, voracious is quite popular.  The children have learned that good readers increase their vocabulary by reading...and reading...and reading, thus becoming a voracious reader. 

We help students with this strategy by encouraging them to choose "good-fit" books.  We remind them of practicing "I PICK": 

I =  I look at the book

P = Purpose - What is the purpose for reading this book?

I =  Interest - Are you interested in this book?

C = Comprend - Do you understand what you read?

K = Know - Do you know most of the words?

You can help your child with this strategy at home by reading.  You can read to your child.  Your child can read to you.  You can read beside your child (you read your favorite book/magazine/newspaper - your child reads his/her own book).  Sharing a common love for reading will help to create a voracious reader in your child, and you may have time to become a voracious reader again yourself!

Great Week!

What an incredibly busy and fun week we had! Thanks to those of you who were able to attend our Open House. The kids had a great time showing off their classrooms. We really enjoyed sharing the happenings in Kindergarten with you. If you have any questions about things going on in our classrooms, you can always email us (click on your child's teacher on the left side of our homepage). You can also write a note in your child's daily folder.

Homework for September will be distributed this week. Your child can complete the homework nightly and return it at the end of the month. Please help your child practice the sight words listed each week. If your child knows the words, he/she can practice writing sentences using the words.

We had fun learning about Labor Day and community helpers. We learned about the various tools used and the importance of the jobs of a police office, fire fighter, doctor, farmer, teacher, mail carrier, baker.

We will continue to roll out The Daily 5 this week. We have practiced with Read to Self, Work on Writing, and Word Work. This week, we're looking forward to learning about Listen to Reading. If you want to explore Listen to Reading at home, you can use some of the links shown on "Websites to Explore" on our homepage.