Mrs. Miller's Kindergarten Class

Hello K2 Families,

In Bridge to Reading this week we focused on the sounds of /n/ /f/ and/v/. We are learning how to correctly write these letter’s capital and lowercase letters correctly and we listened for their sounds at the beginning of words. We are learning how to sign each letter in American Sign Language too. There are many benefits to teaching American Sign Language (ASL) to kindergarteners. ASL engages multiple senses and can help children develop cognitive skills like memory, concentration, and comprehension. ASL can stimulate brain development in young children by encouraging the brain to build synapses. ASL can help children understand and communicate with peers who have different communication needs. Next week your child is bringing home a handout that has all the hand signs for all 26 letters of the alphabet. Please keep this in a place where you and your child can practice all of the letter signs.

We read the book, The Big Orange Splot by Daniel Pinkwater. This is a beautiful lyrical story that introduces the concept of individuality, accepting of others' differences, and respect for those around us. After reading it, each child created their own house reflecting their own style and personality. The houses are each unique like each child!

In math we nearly completed a shape book that is helping our mathematicians be able to articulate the special attributes of shapes; circle, oval, square, rectangle, hexagon and rectangle. For example, the children know that a square is a special kind of rectangle that has 4 equal sides and 4 vertices. You can play games at home looking for shapes in your home or drawing pictures using shapes.

Our Teddy Bear day was GRRRRREAT! The children were so excited to share their stuffie or bear with the class. The day was all about bears: writing about our bears, bear poetry and songs, reading our completed Brown Bear Book, bear hats  and having free choice with our bears! This was a perfect way to celebrate finishing our Brown Bear Book! 

In our social emotional work this week we worked on the concept of “body in the group.” This lesson centered on the concept of keeping and maintaining a comfortable physical presence around others, not too close or not too far away. When your body is in the group , it sends a nonverbal message that you are interested in others and that you are following the same group plan. Following the group plan is something that we continue to work on each day.

On Thursday, Ms. G. came into our class and discussed ways we can regulate our bodies when we are in the “red or blue or yellow” zones. Being able to regulate ourselves is a fundamental tool to access learning, improves our relationships and helps with impulse control. Some tools we use every day in K1 to help with our regulation include; breathing, calm mindful moments, yoga, songs, movement and affirmations. 

We will begin a unit on rhyming next week. Hearing rhymes and being able to rhyme are prerequisites to being able to read. Rhyming words is a key element in helping students segment words into sounds and hear patterns in words, thus improving their decoding skills and fluency. They also help students as they work with CVC words and other literacy skills in the future. 

Please remember that parent teacher conference week is approaching. All kindergarten students will attend school each day 8:15-11:45. There will not be early and late friend schedules. I am looking forward to meeting all of you during your scheduled conference time. If you have not signed up for a conference, please do! A parent-teacher conference is a great opportunity to share students' strengths, needs, behaviors, and answer questions. Please remember that this is a parent only conference.

Have a wonderful weekend! - Kathy