ELA: This month we will begin our first social studies unit, All About Me. We will spend time getting to know one another and welcoming students to Kindergarten! Students will learn to tell about themselves and their classmates through speaking and listening to one another, listening to texts read aloud to them, and through writing activities. We will learn to follow routines and how to take care of each other and the classroom materials. This correlates directly to the school core values -respect, responsibility, trustworthy, achievement, service. We will incorporate these values into a class charter of rules and behavior expectations each class will create and students will sign in agreement. We will work on building student stamina for rigorous instruction by taking short breaks in between our lessons for movement and water before we start our next lesson. Kindergarten students are off to an amazing start!
Math: Kindergarten students are working on counting to 10, as well as identifying and writing numerals 0-5. After learning to identify numbers, students are working on representing these numbers in different ways, such as with counters, cubes, and box models. Once they have mastered these skills, students will learn to compare quantities within 5 using our counting strategies, such as touch and count, cross out and count, and line up and count. To compare quantities, students will learn vocabulary terms including greater than, less than, and equal to. They will develop an understanding of how to compare groups of up to 5 objects by counting and using these math words. Once students have completed comparing numbers to 5, they will move onto identifying, counting, and writing numbers to 10. Students will work on verbally explaining how they know their math is correct and constructing arguments to show their knowledge.
At home you can practice counting to 10 (or higher) with your child. Encourage your child to notice math in their everyday lives. For example, “We have five people in our family. How many plates do we need for dinner? Why do we need that many? Can you count out 5 plates for dinner?” Have your child practice counting groups of objects and comparing which is greater, less, or if they are equal. Use words such as greater than, less than, more, fewer, and equal to.
Wilson: Students will begin to learn all letters of the alphabet and the sound each letter makes. We teach students that it is important to take your time and form the letters correctly; please remind them of this at home as well. We are practicing writing lower case letters. We teach students that we always use lowercase letters unless we need a capital letter. Here are some links to charts and videos we use in class to teach the letters and sounds.
Reading: In reading, students will learn about the habits of a good reader. Good readers look at the pictures, point to the words, use the letter sounds, and think about the text. This month, we will learn about the parts of a book (front and back cover, title, author and illustrator), how to hold a book correctly, and how to follow the text from top to bottom left to right . Students will also learn that letters make words and words make sentences. We are working toward building strong foundational skills for our young readers!
Writing: Students will begin composing narrative writing pieces by first representing their thoughts and ideas through drawing and dictation. They will begin with drawing, and then transition to adding a label to their drawings using the support of word walls Finally, students will be challenged to add details to their drawings. At home, you can help your child in writing by practicing writing their first and last name properly, using a capital letter to begin each name followed by lowercase letters.. In addition, students can practice writing a label anytime they make a drawing. Have them choose one or two words to write on the side of the drawing to tell more about it. For example, if they draw themselves at the park on the slide, they can write the word “park” or “slide.”
Music: Students in kindergarten music will be discovering their singing voices, and distinguishing their singing voice from their other voices (whisper, shout and speak). Students will be discovering steady beat, and how to move to the steady beat in a piece of music. In the coming weeks, students will be discovering and identifying instruments in the music room.
Activities to do at home: Have students practice being more independent (getting dressed, getting ready for bed, packing up their backpack, etc). Also, have students practice writing their first name, and numbers 0-10, and lowercase letters t, f, b. Homework will begin October 2nd. We will explain more about our lessons, expectations and homework policy at our virtual Meet the Teacher night September 14, 2023 from 4:00-5:30 p.m. Please check Class Dojo for more information. We hope you can join us!