September 3, 2010

Dear Families,

I’m glad so many of you were able to make it yesterday to Back to School Night! I apologize for speaking so quickly and rushing through many things, but there is so much to cover! Remember to take time to look over the website if you ever have questions about our classroom procedures. If you were unable to attend, I have sent home our Back to School Night packet in your child’s yellow or blue daily folder. Please look through all the materials and return the forms included.

I mentioned homework last night; which includes library take home book and journal, sharing, monthly packets, and weekly packets. Only the September Homework packet has started, and that will be due October 1st. Sharing begins the week of September 20th and library take home book and journals will begin in October. I will try to send the weekly homework packets in the next few weeks.

Here are some highlights for the week:
• Language Arts: We worked on the letters E, F, G, H, and I this week. Remember to keep these Kindergarten Keep Books together in a safe place! We learned the sounds of the letters and how to write each letter properly. We are even learning sign language! Ask your child to show you the alphabet up to letter I in sign language and tell you all the sounds! Also, we sang the song, “The Wheels on the Bus” and changed the verses each time. We made school buses and drew children in the windows.

• Social Studies: We are beginning our Star of the Week program today. We will select a child each week to learn about. We will interview them by asking them questions, and then afterwards we complete a book about things that they like. The Star of the Week completes their posters at home and they get to bring Beebear home for the weekend!

• Math: We completed the second chapter in our math books on sorting. Each day,
we used colored foam shape manipulatives to practice sorting by same colors (i.e. red, blue, and yellow), by same shapes (ie. squares, triangles, rectangles, circles), or by size (i.e. large and small).

• Library: We had our first library visit this week. We met Mrs. Glass and learned about the library rules. We need to use walking feet, whisper voices, and we have special shelf markers to help us remember where we found our books. Students have time to read different books in the library and learn how to put them back in the correct spot. We will not be checking out books until October.

• Music: We met Ms. Disney for the first time this week. She is a wonderful music teacher who has great discipline and control of the classroom. During music, she focuses a lot on movement, rhythm, and beats, instead of just singing songs like we do in the classroom. When we first started, we moved in a circle to different drum sounds that reminded us of skipping, jumping, hopping, tip-toe-ing, sliding, or galloping. Then we did some rhythm patterns using our names. We clapped everyone’s names and made different rhythms. We will see her every other week.

• Art: We also met Ms. Abada for the first time this week! She is also a wonderful art teacher and she does really unique projects with the kids. We went to the art room and she taught us about cityscapes. We learned about the city of Chicago and talked about what type of buildings are in cities. Then we used all sorts of cardboard, wallpaper, stickers, film, markers, etc. to build our own cityscapes. Afterwards, we learned how to help clean up our scraps, glue, scissors, and markers. We need to remember not to leave a mess, and instead return everything to its proper place.

• Friday Centers: Today, we practiced our AB patterns again by gluing red and blue squares down. We have been practicing AB patterns on our calendar as well. Next, Ms. Shama helped us make apple handprints using our palm, thumb, and pointer finger. We also illustrated a Kindergarten Keep Book about “The Pledge of Allegiance.”

Thank you for filling out the forms and paperwork from last night. Please return them as soon as possible. I will be contacting classroom volunteers through email as soon as I can, so we can have help in the classroom. Thank you! Have a great long weekend!