Our main focus for the month has been on the season of Winter. We have discussed different words to describe winter and we have been reading many non-fiction books that are teaching us facts about winter and winter animals. The kids are doing a great job distinguishing between fiction and non-fiction. We have also focused on penguins as one of our favorite winter animals. Last week we created a KWL chart on penguins, listing things we Know, things we Want to know, and as we conclude this week, we will list everything we have Learned about penguins. We are using non-fiction books to teach us and we also plan on doing some Internet research to help us find out more!
Another favorite activity this month has been making different types of snowmen. We read The Hat and The Mitten by Jan Brett. We compared and contrasted the two stories. We then made snowmen and drew pictures on each part of the snowman's body that showed the Beginning, the Middle, and the End of the parts of the story. We also did a writing activity where we worked on using one descriptive word to describe our snowman.
As you know, we have begun sending home take home readers. The children have been so excited about reading those and choosing new ones. Do not worry if your child seems to just be memorizing the text! It's okay and all part of the natural progression of learning to read. Reading is a gradual process and they will all move at their own pace. Our intention is to introduce the reading process to them so that whether they go on to another Kindergarten or to First grade next year, they will be eager and ready to read! I have been working with the children in small guided reading groups. We read together as well as work on the focus for the week or month. For the past two weeks, we have been focusing on rhyming words and word families. They are doing great!
In Math, Ms. Alissa has been working on simple addition up to 10, patterning, writing numbers and number words.
Upcoming Dates and Reminders:
- Donuts for Dads was today for Ms. Alissa's class and is tomorrow for my class at 10:30. A couple of Ms. Alissa's friends will be performing with my group as well. Ms. Dana, our new music teacher, has done a great job teaching the kids some Bible verse songs. They've been anxious to share them with you, if you have not already heard them at home.
- Our field trip to Children's Theater is next Friday, February 1. More details to come on that trip!
- We will be celebrating Valentines and exchanging cards with our friends on Thursday, February 14. Please save a shoebox and send it in with your child before February 11, as we will be making Valentine mailboxes. We will be having a Valentine celebration on that day. Look for more information from our room moms on that. (Room moms- we will talk.)
- We will also be celebrating our100th day of school on Friday, February 15th. We will not need any parent help on that day, but you will be asked to send in something to help us celebrate. Lots of excitement coming up in February!!
- We will be doing assessments again at the end of February and your child's progress report will come home at the end of the month.
