Kindergarten classes learned all about Earth Day and how to protect the world we live in! While Earth Day was officially celebrated around the world on Sunday, kindergarten students spent the entire week being environmentally conscious. Teachers exposed students to both informational and fiction texts about the importance of taking care of our planet in a variety of ways, particularly the ideas of, “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”! In addition to books, students further developed an appreciation for our Earth through his/her participation in a trash pickup on school grounds, SmartBoard recycling activities, and various craft projects. It is our hope that each student will continue to make “green” choices to support the planet every day! Our shared reading selection this week was an informational text entitled, Who Lives in the Sea? In this book, colorful photographs accompanied repeating text which introduced kindergarten readers to a jellyfish, sea star, fish, octopus, seal, dolphin, and shark! Reading this text throughout the week reinforced students’ understanding of the way informational text teaches readers new information. Students learned a variety of animals who lived in the sea and, through follow-up activities, can name several animals who are not able to live underwater. This text also provided opportunities for students to make text-to-self connections as classes listened to students who have visited the ocean and shared their experiences. Our math curriculum continued to reinforce the concept of subtraction this week. Kindergarten teachers intertwined our recycling theme with our developing subtraction knowledge as students pretended to remove soda cans in order to recycle; students had to “take away” a set quantity from the total to determine how many were left in the recycling bin. Students also practiced their sorting skills to separate recyclable materials, an important kindergarten math skill. Finally, our Writer’s Workshop unit truly took shape this week as students reviewed their “expert lists” and chose a topic to write about. Students in each classroom will be writing about a bevy of different topics, and teachers are excited to work with each student independently to encourage him/her to achieve his/her best work. Kindergarten students will hopefully implement some special informational text features into their written work such as labels, captions, or an index. Each day, select students have the opportunity to share the work they have completed with their classmates during a whole class share or with a talk partner. Listening and viewing the work of other classmates is helpful for all students as they draw inspiration and gain new ideas for their written work in the future. It also provides students with the opportunity to praise and congratulate a classmate for a job well done, which instills motivation in each developing writer. Please make sure to ask your child what s/he is working on; our writers are always eager to share his/her work!
ASK YOUR CHILD ABOUT…
Talking with your child about what happened at school this week is a great way to enhance their speaking and listening skills. It also helps maintain the connection between home and school! This week, ask him or her about:
- Ways to keep our Earth clean
- Basic subtraction knowledge
- Animals who live in the sea
PLEASE PRACTICE AT HOME….
- Writing and identifying numbers 11 through 20
- Sight words (see reverse side for up-to-date practice)
- Printing first and last names correctly
- Blending individual sounds to create words (ex: m-a-d, d-o-t, z-i-p)
IMPORTANT NOTES…
- If you are participating in the Books-In-A-Bag program, please return last week’s books on Monday, April 30th, with your child. S/he cannot take home a new bag until the old set of books has been returned. Thank you for your cooperation!
- Please review the back of this page for “fun facts” in math to review at home. Feel free to use any manipulative item (crayons, straws, spoons, etc.) or even flashcards to teach these facts!
- Quarter 3 report cards were sent home this week with your child. After reviewing the contents, please sign and return the report card envelope with your child. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher.
