First of all I would like to thank everyone for signing up for a fall conference. It’s been great to have a chance to sit down with you to talk about the progress your child is making in kindergarten. I look forward to having this conversation with those of you who I have not had a chance to meet with yet. Kindergarten is a year of huge change and growth and I’m already seeing such wonderful and exciting things happening in KB!
MORNING DROP-OFF AND AFTERNOON PICK-UP
Now that November is here, it’s time to encourage your kindergartner to be more independent at morning drop-off. Most kindergartners are now ready to say good-bye at the door and begin their day in the classroom on their own. Hanging up coats and backpacks, signing in, starting their morning work, and greeting teachers and classmates are all things a kindergartner can do independently or with the help of a teacher. Of course, if you need to speak to me, feel free! In the afternoon please continue to meet us outside by the back doors and as always please make sure that your child has said goodbye to me with a handshake.
BALANCED LITERACY
Phonics: This month in Fundations we will learn the following letters: N (Nn-nut-/n/), M (Mm-man-/m/), C (Cc-cat-/c/), A (Aa-apple-/a/), I (Ii-itch-/i/), and R (Rr-rat-/r/).
Writing: Kindergartners have been using their writing folders independently, making a plan for their stories, and have begun labeling their picture by listening to the first sound they hear at the beginning of the objects in their picture. Throughout the month of November we will begin stretching out words by listening to see what other letter sounds we can hear beyond just the first sound. It may be helpful to chat with your kindergartener about some things that they could write a story about. The focus of writing workshop is on writing true stories about themselves.
Reading: We will be focusing on several important concepts of print including: uppercase & lowercase letters, letters vs words, beginning vs end of word. We will also continue to review concepts about print that we have already learned about such as where the cover of the book is, where we begin reading on a page, and where we continue reading when we get to the end of a line (return sweep).
SOCIAL STUDIES & SCIENCE
During the early part of November, we will continue our study of the Sensational Season of Fall. We will have two exciting science afternoons where the three afternoon kindergarten classes will join together to create leaf rubbings, make observational drawings and use the Proscope (a digital microscope) to examine autumn leaves, pumpkins and acorns. Toward the end of the month we will begin our study of Living & Non-Living Things. When we return from Thanksgiving Recess, we will study the life cycle of living things when we plant and care for Narcissus bulbs.
In social studies next week we will also talk about the presidential election. We will talk about voting, who the president is, and what the president does. We will also be talking about the White House, one of the American symbols.
PERSON OF THE WEEK
In November we will begin our “Person of the Week” program which is part of the Our Human Family and Celebrating Families Unit within the Newton social studies curriculum. During the year each child will have the opportunity to share about his/her personal interests, information about his/her family, and about the unique qualities that make him/her so special. The goal of this program is for the children’s sense of self, sense of self in relation to the classroom community, and understanding of family dynamics to begin to emerge and focus. Please see the “Person of the Week” link under “Classroom” for more information about this program, when your child is scheduled to be the person of the week, and what your child should help prepare for when it’s his/her turn to be the person of the week.
MATH
This month we will continue to introduce and play games and activities to help develop consistency and accuracy with counting skills. We will begin working more with the “tricky teen” numbers, exploring 2-dimensional shapes, reinforcing spatial relations vocabulary and concepts, as well as introducing estimation.
