February 5th Family Letter

February 5, 2016

Dear families,       

          This week we welcomed February with a new approach to calendar.  This month, each child will complete his or her own individual calendar board each day.  This allows for greater student participation now that they are all familiar with our calendar routines, and it helps children continue to build on their excitement as the 100^th day of school approaches.  All of the children did a good job using the 100s chart each day to figure out how many more days until our 100^th day celebration. 

          This week we learned about Groundhog’s Day.  About half of the class was hoping for six more weeks of winter, and the other half was hoping for an early spring.  All of the children did a wonderful job writing about why they were wishing for either winter or spring.  On Groundhog’s Day, we watched a video clip of Punxsutawney Phil proclaiming that we would have an early spring.  It certainly seemed as though that would be the case…  We had several beautiful days of outdoor recess!  Friday’s snowstorm, however, seems to have cast a shadow of doubt on Phil’s reliability. 

          During the week, I enjoyed reading with children individually.  It was a pleasure to be able to show each child what a “just right” book looked like in the fall compared to what a “just right” book looks like now.  Children noticed that they are reading longer texts, using more strategies when reading, and that they are more independent.  Seeing their faces light up with pride is sure to be one of the best memories from the year. 

          In math, we were busy comparing numbers and adding quantities to twelve.  We played two new games.  To play “top it,” partners flipped over cards and decided which card displayed the larger number.  That partner won both cards during that round.  Many children had played “War” at home, so this was a familiar game, and the children had a blast playing both at math time and during their arrival work time.  To play “roll and record,” children rolled two dice, found their sum, and recorded the addition equation on a graph.  Many children were working on the addition strategy of “counting all.”  To use this strategy, kids counted all of the dots on both dice.  Moving forward, we will help children progress to the “counting on” strategy, in which children touch and say the larger quantity and then touch each dot on the other di while counting up (e.g. “5…6, 7, 8” instead of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).  Both of these games are simple and fun to play at home!

          Next week is a quadruple exciting week.  We have Chinese New Year on Monday.  Wednesday is an early release day; only morning monkeys will come to kindergarten in 113.  Then, we will celebrate the 100^th Day of School on Wednesday and Thursday.  We will celebrate Valentine’s Day on Friday.  Please be on the look out for notes about all of the special days!  Thank you, in advance, for helping to make all of these celebrations fun and meaningful for the kids.  It is sure to be a great week!

          Best wishes,

          Meg keene and Andrea McCarthy

Books We Read:

·       Double Trouble Groundhog Day, by Bethany Roberts

·       Groundhog’s Special Secret, by Iiris Hiskey Amo

·       Chinese New Year, by Lola Schaefer

·       Bringing in the New Year, by Grace Lin

Handwriting Without Tears

·       Review of Numbers and Letters on Whiteboards

·       Emphasis of “Start at the Top!”

Lively Letters

·       Listening for the middle vowel sound in CVC words (e.g. sun, cat, dog)

Sight Words:

·       Review: in, is, it, go, so, no, we, he, see, the, am, an, can, and, like, my, a, I

Math Lessons

·       4-12 Top It with Number Cards

·       4-13 Number Grid (100s Chart)

·       5-2 Roll and Record Addition

·       5-3 10 Bears on the Bus