Upcoming week(s):
Riggs:
We will move on to some more multiletter phonograms, as well as practice reading and writing, reading and writing!
Saxon 1 Math:
More Math!
Core Knowledge:
Magnetism! Kindergarteners will practice their scientific method and thinking like a scientist to learn the basics of magnetism.
Life skill:
Being excellent audience members: calm bodies, quiet mouths, kind eyes, applauding at a good time.
Other:
Teacher Tea in Library: 8:00 sharp, Mrs. Adams hosting this month. Bring questions, concerns, and ideas!
Show and Tell is starting again. Please check your child's folder for the calendar (or look in the classroom). The assignment can be found here.
Core Knowledge Winter Showcase: Thursday, December 17. This is our winter concert, and a time for Falcons to show off some of the fascinating things they've been learning so far this year in their Core Knowledge units. This year, we are trying it at a different venue: Camp Withycombe. It is an active military base, so all adults will have to show valid photo ID to gain entry. Please tell grandparents, aunts, and whoever else will be coming to watch the show!! Someone will be sad and mad because they can't get in, or they are late; don't let it be you!
Attire: Kindergarteners are welcome to wear fancy dress-up clothes, or a nice clean uniform.
Upcoming in-class help needed:
We will be celebrating the season and our hard work in kindergarten with a phonogram cookie party on the afternoon of Thursday, December 17. I need a few sets of hands in the classroom to supervise the sprinkle station and bake cookies in our industrial kitchen ovens. We need four tubes of sugar cookie dough, and I hear a rumor that there is such a thing as a tub of Udi's gluten-free sugar cookie dough. If you are able to get a tube or a tub, please let me know!
Week in review:
Riggs:
We practiced so much reading and writing! I hope you help your kindergartener clean out their folder so they can read some of the words they "collected" this week.
Saxon 1 Math:Graphing in a bar graph; adding dots on a dice; plus ones (3 + 1, 1 + 6, 11 + 1, etc.); and MORE!
We explored and worked with the very important concept of "counting on," which is a way to add:
We start with the larger number (that saves time!), and then we count on the other number. For the dice shown, we would start at four, and then count 5, 6, 7. Playing with dice is a great way for children to practice their basic facts and for them to develop a deep, automatic ability with smaller numbers. As adults, we can look at a dice and know that an x-configuration means there are five dots; we don't have to count them. Repeated exposures and practice will help kindergarteners develop this ability as well. Carry some dice in your purse or pocket when you are going somewhere where there is waiting: you can take turns rolling and counting on!
Core Knowledge:
This week we spent some time being excited about the season, making snowmen glyphs. We also practiced some songs for the Core Knowledge Winter Showcase coming up.
Life skill:
We practiced how to use a Kleenex, how to not waste Kleenex, and how and why to use hand sanitizer when we are done.
Other:
We also watched the Rex Putnam traveling choir sing some fun Christmas songs and practiced being in an audience. Our sixth grade friends performed their Tale of Troy play and we saw some of that too. Kindergarteners are still learning that the world is not all about them, and that when they're in an audience, they should not draw attention to themselves, but pay attention and show respect to the performers. We will keep practicing!
Finally, we had a fire drill, and reviewed what a drill is (not an emergency, but a time to practice seriously), and why we have them.
Reminders/clarifications:
It is chapped lip season. Chapstick and Vaseline are considered medication, and I cannot distribute it to children, no matter how miserable they are. However, children are welcome to keep a tube of lip balm in their backpacks, and they are welcome to apply it to themselves at appropriate times (transitioning in and out of recess, etc.). Unflavored and unscented is best, so it doesn't become a distraction.
Based on responses from the quick survey last week, kindergarteners will continue to enjoy their library books only at school. So far, we have had a zero damage and zero loss rate! We will re-evaluate later in the year whether bringing them home should be an option.
Santa. He and elves climbing off their shelves are a hot topic of conversation this time of year. If your family does not ascribe to the notion of a North Pole friend, please talk with your kindergartener about not giving away the secret to their classmates.
