September 15-19

Writing Workshop

We began writing workshop last week with the goal that our students begin to see themselves as writers!  Did they share that they are in a writing club?  Mrs. Gallucci's class' club is called "Awesome Writers".  Mrs. Haughey's class named their club "World Writers".  We will be writing several times a week.  Last week we learned that "When we think we are done, we have only just begun!"  That means we can go back, reread our writing and add more details to our pictures or add more words.  We could also start a new paper.  The students chose their own topic.  We suggest they choose something they know a lot about.  What does your child know a lot about?  Talk with him/her about some possible writing topics.  Do they know a lot about animals, baseball, ballet, fishing, the beach, bike riding?  Any topic will work!  If you would like, you could create a list (with pictures) of ideas for writing and send it to school.  Your child can keep the list in his/her writing folder in case they get stuck and need an idea.

Next week we will learn about stretching out words to write them and how to write about things that the students might think are too hard to write about.

News

• Please put all notes to the teacher or office on a large sheet of paper.  Small notes (like post-its) tend to get lost.  Thank you!
• Our classes had the opportunity to shop from the Miller Store last Friday.  The students were so excited to "buy" something with their Miller dollars they have been earning.  After spending their money, Mrs. Minrovic stamped it with a "paid" symbol.  This will help us keep track of how much they can spend next time.  Congratulations kindergartners! You earned a lot of fun prizes!

Homework

• Review letters and sounds with your child daily.  How quickly can your child name the letters? 
• If your child knows his/her letters and sounds, practice the sight words.  Start with only a few words at a time. 
• Ask your child to name the characters and/or setting in a story you read together. 
• Storia--Don't forget to log onto your Storia account and read a book or 2!

Language Arts
We have been learning about the farm.  We are reading several stories about the farm and farm animals.  We will be using these stories to learn about characters, setting, cause and effect and sequencing.

The focus for the next 2 weeks includes:

• rhyming
• letters and sounds
• final sounds
• syllables
• Left to right directionality

Sight words--a

Math

In math, we are learning addition and subtraction to five with materials.  Also, we practice counting from any given number to 100 forward and backward.