Kindergarten Newsletter

 

August 30, 2007

 

 

Dear Families,

            Thank you for your help in getting your son/daughter off to a great start this school year.  The children are doing a great job transitioning into Kindergarten.  We will give you a sneak peek as to what we have been learning about, and what will follow in the weeks to come.

 

Morning Meeting:  We start off our mornings with journal time and social time with our friends.  Most of us are remembering to unload backpacks.  Parents, please let your child do this him or herself to promote independence.  Next, we have calendar time and morning message.  We focus on months of the year, days of the week, right and left, seasons, counting to 100, alphabet letter recognition and sounds, coins and their values, tally marks, place value, colors, vowel sounds, and shapes. We are writing the room and getting familiar with the print around us. We have movement and are learning some great new songs and moves! 

 

Religion:  We have been learning that we are children of God, that He created us, and that we are special.  We have learned about the five senses He gave us as a gift and are moving into creation of the earth and out favorite things on Earth.  We will look at the Earth and discuss all the gifts that God left for us such as light, water, and land.

 

Math:  We have been following the theme, “All About Me,” and graphing our hair and eye colors.  To get to know one another’s names, we have been choosing one or more students to hide and play “Who’s Missing?”  We have introduced a Mystery Bag in which students guess and figure out what is in the bag by using a yes and no hint column.  This week we started patterns, looked for patterns in the room, and made patterns with our snack, manipulatives, and on paper.  More patterning in the weeks to come!

 

Social Studies:  We have used our Flip Chart Maps to learn about a school map, and the parts of it, and how we get along with our peers in school.  We will move into where we live with our families (communities) and what types of homes there are in our community.

 

Science:  Closer to the fall, we will begin a unit on trees recognizing the parts and functions.

 

Our theme for next week will be “apples.”  We will have lots of activities to go with our units such as reading books about apples, learning about the different kinds, sampling and picking out favorite kinds, using a Venn diagram on differences, and the qualities that they have in common.  We would like parent volunteers to bring in green, red, and yellow apples.

 

Reminders:  Mrs. Stanley and Mrs. Hile-Rea are in need of gently used books for their collections.  We will start going to Mass in September and will practice how to walk into the church, genuflect, pray, make the sign of the cross, and to sit quietly.  If you forgot, please stop by the classrooms to sign your child up for Mystery Reader and for Star of the Week.  Lastly, we would like for all girls to wear shorts under their jumpers.

 

                                 Thanks!  K Teachers—Jennifer Grant, Jan Hile Rea, and Stacey Stanley