It is hard to believe that it is already October! It has been a great start to the year! The children are settling into our kindergarten routine and we are working hard to make new friends. Thank you for helping make the transition into kindergarten successful!
Fall Conferences
Fall conferences will begin on Thursday, October 24th. Be sure to sign up for a conference. These conferences will be a time for us to speak about your child’s transition into kindergarten, some of the skills s/he has demonstrated, goals for the year and other information you believe is important to share to help make this year a successful experience for your child.
Balanced Literacy
Phonics: This month in Fundations we will learn the following letters and their sounds: T (Tt-top-/t/), B (Bb-bat-/b/), F (Ff-fan-/f/), N (Nn-nut-/n/) and M (Mm-man-/m/). In phonics, we will work on letter recognition, letter formation, phonological awareness (the understanding that spoken language consists of parts- sentences, words, syllables, sounds), sound mastery and becoming familiar with new sight words. Be on the lookout with your kindergartner for words with those sounds, and ask him or her to teach you the drills (letter-word-sound).
Writing
We have launched the writing workshop. KB writers are busy working on writing stories about something that they know about. During this month we will continue to develop strategies that writers use when writing a story including generating topics for stories, using pictures tell a story, stretching out words to hear as many sounds as we can and writing them, and using an alphabet chart to help with the sounds and formation of letters. Kindergarteners write stories based on things that they know about. It would be helpful for families to talk about what topics they know about that might make a good story.
Read Alouds, Shared Reading and Poems
This month we will be reading a variety of books and poems about fall, as well as Halloween. When we are reading we will be talking about the parts of the book, including the cover and title. We will also be talking about the direction we read and what to do at the end of a line, which is called a return sweep. These are all introductory skills that develop each reader’s understanding about print.
Social Studies
During the month of October we will be studying fall. We will be discussing what the weather is like, what we wear, the holidays we celebrate, what activities we do and what animals do. Students will also make observations on how our environment changes and record their observations.
Math
We have been establishing routines for math time and becoming familiar with our math materials. We will begin to introduce number writing and counting strategies through interactive games and activities.
Social/Emotional Skills
Social/emotional development is an important component of kindergarten. Often times these skills are developed through open-ended conversations based on what we see and hear happening in the classroom. Some things that we will be talking about this month include sharing, classroom rules, and expectations, as well as respecting each other and materials. .
Lunches
When your child stays for his/her long days, he/she can order food from food services. For more information, log on our school website, http://horacemann.newton.k12.ma.us/, and click on the food services link in the middle. It will direct you to the Newton food services page (http://www3.newton.k12.ma.us/operations/foodservices).
Classroom Wish List
As I mentioned at Curriculum Night, I will occasionally post a classroom wish list to the left of our classroom website page. This list includes items that will enhance our curriculum or help with the daily routine. Providing these items is voluntary – please do not feel any obligation! Thank you!
Housekeeping
With the first month of school under our belt we are ready to move full steam ahead. The children are building skills and becoming more independent each day. In the morning please encourage your child to take out his/her snack and to hang up his/her belongings in his/her cubby. They really do feel proud when they are able to do these things independently. Of course I am happy to help, but it’s important to give them the opportunity to try it on their own first. Thank you!
