August 25-29, 2008

The honeybees have completed our unit on nursery rhymes and classic tales.  This week we enjoyed favorites such as "Jack and the Beanstalk", "Little Red Riding Hood", "The Three Little Pigs", and "Goldilocks and the Three Bears".  Reading classic tales gave us the opportunity to discuss different versions of a single story and compare the similarities and differences of each.  The story elements of these classics--characters, setting, plot, problem, and solution--were studied as well. 

We began our letter of the week on Monday with the letter Mm.  During the week we learned to identify both the upper and lower case letter and the letter's sound.  We isolated the sounds in words to determine where the /m/ could be heard (ex. man=beginning, hammer=middle, am=end).  Letter formation of the D'Nealian style Mm was introduced and practiced both in class and at home.  Class activities such as take-home reading books, phonics games and art projects helped students with letter and sound recognition.  Our technology component, Kinder Keys, began this week as well.  Please remember to return the signed activity sheet and folder when complete. The due date for future Kinder Keys assignments will be on Fridays--this is a change from the earlier communication home.

     The first of many take-home books was sent home this week.  Have your child read the text aloud, using his/her reading finger to track the print from left to right, top to bottom.  You may wish to begin a book bag/box for these easy readers and guided reading texts--these titles will make a wonderful collection of appropriately leveled reading materials for your child. 

     Please continue to work on the words of the week, me and my.  These words are from the "red" list of Rainbow Words in kindergarten.  It is helpful to make flashcards as each week we will be adding to our list.  Review will be most helpful for your child. 

     We completed Chapter One in Math--Sort and Classify.  The children had many opportunities to sort objects by a given attribute: by shape, size, color, or other given criteria (ex. boys/girls, types of clothing, hair color).  You can help at home by sorting objects in various ways and having your child name the sorting rule.  Graphing was also introduced in this chapter.  We used objects to create graphs and then compared which set(s) were more/less/equal/empty.  Graphing is one way children learn to analyze and interpret data.

     Next week we will begin a unit called "All About Me!"  We will work on our addresses, phone numbers, and birthdays.  If your child does not already have these facts committed to memory, please begin working at home.  Also, please send in a photograph of your child (4 X 6 or smaller) for a class activity.  Next week our letter will be Ss and the new sight words will be am and is.  In Math we will begin Chapter Two, Patterns.

  Items to note:

• Thank you for your attendance at the Ice Cream Social last evening! 
• A special thanks to our room parents, Mrs. Suarez and Mrs. Mostyn, for their help with the volunteer schedule and class directory.
• Congratulations to Maya, our first "Honeybee of the Week".  We enjoyed learning about her favorite things and sharing cupcakes together.
• Dinner and Movie Night is coming soon--mark your calendar for Friday, September 5th at 6:30 p.m.  "High School Musical 2" will be the featured movie in the gym.
• Please send a bath-size towel for rest time each Monday.
• Specials for next Friday will be Music.
• NO SCHOOL on Monday, September 1st.  Enjoy the Labor Day holiday with your family.

               Janie Hutcherson