I hope you all enjoyed your weekend and were able to stay warm! :)  This week the weather seems as if it will be warm enough for the children to play outside during recess time.  Please be sure to pack appropriate clothing for outdoor winter play.  Though there is no snow, some of the children like to wear boots and snow pants in order to stay warm.   Talk with your child at home about what you are packing each day for outdoor recess time.  Also, please remember to pack two healthy snacks each day. We usually eat our morning snack at 10:30 and our afternoon snack around 2:15. Your children can help with the packing process at home.

Classroom Materials:  It is the halfway point of the school year and we are beginning to run low on pencils, large glue sticks, crayons, and dry erase markers.  We use these materials every day in our kindergarten classroom.  If you are able to send in some of these materials it would be very much appreciated!   Thank you! :)

Word Wall Words:   We now have 24 words on our Word Wall.  We add three new words each week.  Our three new words are can, you, & on.  Please practice reading and writing all of these words at home.  You can make flashcards or simply write the words with markers, crayons, colored pencils, dry erase markers, etc.  Talk about the letter sounds in each word.   You can even make two sets of cards and play a matching game.  Practicing these words will help your child grow as a reader and as a writer.  The words on our wall are:   a, am, and, at, can, go, he, I, it, is, like, me, my, no, on,  run, see, she, the, to, will, yes & you.

This week we will continue reading and learning all about penguins.  We will also continue working on our personal narrative writing unit.  The children have enjoyed writing and illustrating their own stories.  I am so proud of the effort and growth I am seeing in our kindergarten authors each day.   We will begin wrapping up this writing unit this week, but we will continue to work on Writing Workshop throughout  the remainder of the school year.  Stay tuned for upcoming writing topics!

During math, we are really working hard on adding numbers.  We are reading and writing numbers sentences while drawing pictures and working with different kinds of math manipulatives.  I will send home a math packet this week.  Please feel free to work on some of the pages at home.  You can choose what to work on.  You may send back one page at a time, a few pages, or the whole packet.  Work at your own pace and choose what works best for you and your child.  I will be sure to put stickers on the papers as they come back to school. 

I am looking forward to a week filled with lots of penguin fun! :)

Sincerely,
Mrs. Eileen Browne

Word Wall Words:   We now have 21 words on our Word Wall.  We add three new words each word.  Our three new words are am, he, & she.  Please practice reading and writing all of these words at home.  You can make flashcards or simply write the words with markers, crayons, colored pencils, dry erase markers, etc.  Talk about the letter sounds in each word.   You can even make two sets of cards and play a matching game.  Practicing these words will help your child grow as a reader and as a writer.  The words on our wall are:   a, am, and, at, go, he, I, it, is, like, me, my, no, run, see, she, the, to, will,  & yes.

This week will continue our work with Daily Five activities and our Writing Workshop.  The children are currently writing personal narratives during writing workshop time.  Our goal is to tell a personal story using pictures, words, and simple sentences.  The children are really enjoying this time each day and are growing as writers. 

During math we are working on adding numbers and writing number sentences.  We have been rolling dice, drawing pictures, & playing the 'shake, spill, count' game in our classroom.  I will send home additional practice math papers.  These papers are optional, but some of the children love having kindergarten homework!

We are also beginning to learn all about penguins.  We will be reading both fiction and nonfiction books during this unit.   We will also create some fun penguin projects and nonfiction writing.  This is a fun unit that I'm sure the children will love! 

As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Eileen Browne

January Learning

We are back into the swing of learning in our kindergarten classroom!

During reading and our Daily Five activities, we are exploring winter themes.  Some of our favorites are Jan Brett's The Mitten  and The Hat.  We are comparing and contrasting these stories, learning about the different characters, and identifying the beginning, middle, and end of these stories.  We are also creating some fun projects to go along with these stories and our winter theme.

Word Wall Words:   We now have 18 words on our Word Wall.  We add three new words each word.   Please practice reading and writing these words.  This will help your child grow as a reader and as a writer.  The words on our wall are...  a, and, at, go, I, it, is, like, me, my, no, run, see, the, to, will, yes 

We have officially begun Writing Workshop in our kindergarten classroom.  Each day we spend time working as authors and illustrators.  The children are very excited to be writing and illustrating their own stories.  During Writing Workshop, we are currently writing our very own personal narratives. We learned that a personal narrative is a true story that has a beginning, a middle, and an end.  It is sometimes tricky to stick with one topic to create a story, but we are getting better each day!  Be sure to ask your child all about it. :)

During math we completed our unit on numbers 11 - 20, but we will continue to practice reading, writing, counting, and working with 'ten frames' each day.  The teen numbers can be tricky!  I will send home some practice math pages this week.  Work at your own pace and send the completed pages back in for a sticker.  This week we will begin working on adding numbers together.  We will read and write number sentences each day.

As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns.  Thank you for your support!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Eileen Browne :)

Word Wall Words:   We now have 18 words on our Word Wall.  We add three new words each word.   Please practice reading and writing these words.  This will help your child grow as a reader and as a writer.  The words on our wall are...  a, and, at, go, I, it, is, like, me, my, no, run, see, the, to, will, yes

Welcome 2013!

Happy New Year!  I hope you had a terrific break with your family and friends and also enjoyed some snowy fun! :) 

This is a short week in our kindergarten classroom.  We will spend time gently easing back into the routines of our kindergarten day.  We will practice our reading, writing, math, and listening skills as we read stories about snowy weather.  

Please note that the children will go outside each day for recess to play in the snow.  It is very important that the children come to school with mittens/gloves, hats, snow pants, snow boots, and sneakers (to change into for classroom use).  Please also make sure that your child has extra socks in his/her backpack each day.  The children love playing in the snow during recess, but they do not like wearing wet socks in the afternoon.  Unfortunately, due to lack of space for drying clothing,  your child's wet snow clothes will go home each day in his/her backpack.  Please make sure to dry out the clothing each night and to pack it again, along with a plastic bag, for the next day.  A plastic bag will help contain the wet clothing each day.  Thank you for your support!

We are looking forward to a great start to 2013 in our kindergarten classroom. :)

Sincerely,
Mrs. Eileen Browne