Welcome
I hope everyone had a restful and enjoyable summer. All of the girls had a fantastic first day of Kindergarten. They were all smiles and very excited about the fun things we will be doing this year. They enjoyed meeting our class bear named TEDDY, singing a song about him, and adding the letters of each other's names to help learn who is in our class! We jumped right into our daily routine as they were introduced to their daily math journal, and they began to use the calendar to identify the month, day of the week, number of days in school, and graph the weather.
We went on a tour of the school to familiarize everyone with where they would have certain classes such as physical education, art, and music, and also went to see the dining hall and the outside playground. We read some great stories, including Kindergarten Here I Come: The Kissing Hand; and Froggy Goes To School. We worked on story recall to identify specific details pertaining to these great pieces of literature.
This month, our focus will be centered on introducing the children to conventions of print and beginning to develop their reading readiness skills. They will also learn class rules and routines, and adapt to a fuller schedule with specials (which will begin during the first full week of school). The children will learn how to "work the room" within rotation groups, play appropriately within each of the centers, and work cooperatively within our class family.
For the month of September, we will explore our 5 senses as we focus on an All About Me self-discovery theme. The children will identify their 5 senses, as well as their physical attributes. Through hands-on experiments in our science center, we will explore our ability to see, hear, touch, taste, and smell. Through this theme, the children will learn more about each other as well. They will compare/contrast similarities and differences in physical attributes (eye color, hair color, etc.) Each child will have the opportunity to be the Star Child of the Day. This great honor will help the children in identifying the names of one another as well as help the girls get to know each other.
We will make numerous books that the girls will begin to "read". The children will begin reading familiar text through a study on Nursery Rhymes. The girls will learn how to use pointer finger to point under each word as they read. Within our study on nursery rhymes, we will spend a lot of time identifying rhymes, rhyming word pairs, reading familiar text, and learning some repeated sight words.
The girls will learn to identify the difference and correlation between letters, letter sounds, and words. They will become aware of the spaces in-between words, and begin to use reading strategies. We will begin to review letters and letter sounds as well. As we work on proper letter formation of upper and lowercase letters, we will learn to identify the letters within our own names, as well as the names of our classmates.
Finally, the children will learn proper grasp of a pencil when writing, and we will strengthen our fine motor skills through coloring, cutting, painting, tracing, etc. The girls will work on and practice writing their first name as they learn how to form letters correctly.
Within our math curriculum, we will begin to review shapes and numbers. The girls will make number books and learn to identify how many and write the numbers 1 to 10. We will also begin to identify simple ABAB 2 color patterns.
The curriculum will be enriched with issues of our Weekly Reader, Science Spin, and National Geographic magazine subscriptions throughout the year. I will explain more about all of this, as well as Guided Reading, Take-A-Book Home (lending library), our book/buddy journal writing experience, and our Big Sister/Little Sister program at the Open School Night.
Please take some time to read the parent/student handbook, which is now on our website. This will keep you informed on the school's policies.
I look forward to an exciting year!
Warm Regards,
Mrs. D'Addona
