January 10th ~ 14th

It was great to get back into our classroom routines and continue learning new and exciting things in kindergarten. Your children are amazing and I am excited about the new skills and abilities they display each day.

Our letter this week is "Ii" and specifically the short sound that this letter makes, although we will discuss and compare the long "Ii" sound also. We will work with story sequence, as well as recognizing and producing rhyming words. We will practice questioning, the purpose of questions, and using various questions to get to know a new friend. This is timely as we welcomed a new student, Joey to our room last week. The kids will write in their journals, add two poems to their poetry binders, and a phonics reader to their book boxes.

I will begin reading chapter books during our afternoon read-aloud time, which encourages children to choose challenging books with a more complicated story line. The selected series is about Junie B. Jones and the main character is a kindergartner. If you are familiar with these books, you know that Junie B. does not always make good choices and this often gets her into interesting predicaments. These "naughty" happenings offer wonderful teachable moments and prompt great class discussions about decision-making strategies, doing the right thing, and taking responsibility. Your child may develop a keen interest in these books and they are all available in the Poly Drive library.

Math ~ We will continue in our chapter about measurement. We will work specifically with estimating, comparing, measuring, and ordering by length.

Text Talk ~ Our story is "Caps For Sale" and our six vocabulary words are; ordinary, disturb, imitate, upset, refreshed, and satisfied. These words will be posted outside the room to remind visitors to use them in normal conversation while in the class. It is fun to watch the children as they realize you have used one of our vocabulary words.

I will introduce information about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and discuss his life and the example he gave to us all. To tie in with this concept, I will read a book titled "The Crayon Box That Talked", which is about a box of crayons that could not seem to get along. They each thought their color was the best and did not see a need for the others. As they began to draw a picture together, they realized that the picture was not complete unless they worked together. We will create a class mural with a crayon box theme and you will find this displayed in the hall outside our room by the end of the week.

I would like to take a moment to introduce you to Amanda Baskerville. She will be completing her student teaching assignment in our class and I am excited for her to work with this great group of children. She will be in our room beginning this week through the end of April. Please stop in to meet her when you are in the building.

Poly Drive's monthly PTA meeting is this Monday, the 10th at 6:30 and I encourage you to attend if you are able. We are very fortunate to have an outstanding PTA that provides so much support to our school, parents, students, and teachers.

We are nearing the end of the second quarter and report cards will go home next Friday, the 21st. Have a wonderful week ~ and thank you again for sharing your child with me!