Reading Strategies

Although many kindergarteners are not ready to read at this point of the year, we are learning new reading strategies that support even our beginning readers. This last week we focused very hard at looking at the pictures as our first strategy. Students are learning that whenever they are reading a book, simple or hard, that the pictures are important. Pictures support our text. In early emergent books the pictures directly tie to the words on the page. As students grow as readers, the pictures don't tell what is on the page, they support what text is on the page. When they begin reading chapter books they will know how to create those mental images of what the illustration would look life if there was one since they have grown to associate the pictures with text over time. Students will learn to describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear. Make sure that when you are reading with your child you take a picture walk prior to reading. What a great way to engage in conversation about what will happen in the story.

Blending sounds

One of favorite activities in skills block is blending words. Last week we played "Guess that Word". Kids listen to a set of individual sounds and blend them together to make a word. Then they find the picture that matches. You can play this game even without pictures. Here are some examples of words you can use:

p-a-t
r-o-d
t-i-p
s-u-n
g-r-a-ss
s-t-o-p
b-i-k-er
t-a-b-le

Science All Around

Last week we started our new unit in Science - Our 5 Senses. This is an exciting unit as kids learn how to make observations all around them. We began our unit with a simple piece of popcorn. The kids were able to see, smell, and touch their popcorn. Then the best part of all came when they were able to taste it! That's when they could finally hear the popcorn too. As a group we discussed all the ways we could describe one simple piece. This is a fun activity that you can do at home with your child! Now that we have learned about all our senses, ask your child what their senses are and what part of our body we use with them.

Open House

Thank you to all the families that joined us last night for Open House. It was so nice to see many moms and dads (and grandma's too). We hope that it was informative yet fun. The kids were very excited about showing your their work and around our room. We look forward to a great year!

Back To Football Friday

Tomorrow is Back to Football Friday. Students can wear their favorite team clothing. If students buy lunch tomorrow they are able to choose from grilled hamburgers and hotdogs from the cafeteria. There will also be free cheese sticks for all students sponsored by the Dairy Council.

Can't wait to see everyone's football spirit!

Skills Block

Well we are starting our 3rd week of school. By now the kids are starting to really get settled in the routine. In our Skills Block we are heavily working on phonemic awareness (how do sounds work together to make words). We are working on our nursery rhyme unit and so the kids are learning a new nursery rhyme each week. Last week we finished Jack and Jill. We also work on this through our Star Student activities. Make sure you ask your child who was Star Student for the day and what words begin with that same sound. This is a great opportunity to reinforce what letters / sounds we are working on in class at home each day.

And We're Off!

What a great first week of school we had. We were busy getting to know our friends, learning our way around the school, and focusing on our rituals and routines. Our first day was exciting with our special guest Omegaman. Last week we began our Star Student in our Skills Block. During this time we celebrate the students in our class through phonemic awareness activities.

Each week we will be celebrating our class through the blog. We will periodically post pictures, write students ideas and thoughts, display student work, and relay what we have been doing in the classroom. I will try to update you through email that the blog has been updated but you can also sign up for it to update you automatically.

This week we had hoped to post pictures from last week but we am having trouble getting them through. We will try to post them again this week so make sure you check back frequently.

We look forward to a great year together as we get to know your child.