Mrs. Miller & Mrs. O'Toole's Kindergarten Class

This week we began a unit on seasons and the changes that occur during each season. Some of our learning included; painting an apple tree in all four seasons, acorn painting squirrels, reading lots of informational books about the seasons and writing about our favorite season. 

In math we are working on writing and recognizing numbers 0-10. We are also using 5 frames and 10 frames to help us organize our counting. We spent a lot of time on forming numbers correctly. Some of the more tricky numbers to write for the children are 2, 3, and 5. In Amplify Math we are also focusing on comparing 2 groups of objects using the words, more, fewer and same.

In Bridge to Reading we worked on the sounds, /g/,/k/ and/o/. Our new red words were “is” and “was”. These two words can be tricky because the “s” makes the /z/ sound and the “a” in “was” makes the /u/ sound. 

In social emotional learning, we talked about hidden rules and expectations. Every social situation has “hidden rules” or a range of social behavioral expectations that are implied while at the same time being understood by the majority of people. Hidden rules are not usually stated or explicitly taught, yet most of us recognize when someone is or isn’t following them. Doing what is expected means understanding or figuring out those hidden rules and aligning our behavior (what we say and do) with the expectations of the situation. For instance, a hidden rule at a birthday party is that the birthday child opens the gifts. We understand that when we’re around other people, we adapt our behavior to keep others feeling comfortable and having good thoughts about sharing space with us, which ultimately keeps us feeling comfortable too.

Looking ahead to Halloween, please remember that all K children will attend school on Friday, October 30th from 8:15-11:45. We will be having fun Halloween themed activities from 9-10, and a kindergarten Halloween parade at 11:00 on the lower playground. All parents are invited to cheer us on at the parade! More information to come about ways you can volunteer that day in our class!

Last week our new October nightly reading log along with October’s letter sound practice went home in your child’s Friday bag. Reading aloud to children has clear cognitive benefits. For example, brain scans show that hearing stories strengthens the part of the brain associated with visual imagery, story comprehension, and word meaning, plus it is such a wonderful way to connect with your child! Please continue to work on letter names and sounds nightly. This will help your child’s ability to automatically know what letter produces what sound. When your child has completed coloring the pumpkins on the October reading sheet, have them return it for a trip to the treasure box! Also, look inside this week's Friday bag for some books we worked on in September, and take a moment to let your little reader share them with you!