The Very Hungry Kindergarten!: January 2013

Hello! This month we are learning a lot of new things!

In Science, we will be starting our Living Things unit. The children will gain the understanding of what a living things need to survive. If you have a small, quiet pet that you would like to share with the class for a day please let me know. It would be great to observe some different animals while we are in this unit.

In Social Studies, we will be discussing what it means to have individual responsibility and I’ll be using the term a great deal in class. We are also slowly learning more United States symbols other than the American Flag.

We are really moving forward with Writing. This month, we are learning what it means to be a 5 Star Writer! I’ll be looking for 5 main points when checking our writing pieces. The 5 Stars of Writing in our class are…

1. Capitol letter at the beginning of the sentence

2. Spaces between words

3. Punctuation at the end

4. Neat work

5. Does it make sense?

Please use this at home when you are writing with your child!

The children are expected to at least TRY to sound out the words. I always try to help who I can each day but effort is a large part of life. I’ll be sending home Weekend Writing Homework on occasion. I ask that you please encourage your child to sound out the word. Say phrases like, “what sound comes next?” Please do not let them become dependent on you. We want to encourage the children to take a risk during writing!

We will be working on adding verbs to our writing as. I have a lot of fun activities planned for this! We will go on verb hunts, make a list of verbs, use verbs in our own writing, and learn a fun Verb rap! We will even play a game called Angry Verbs which I think the children will love due to their love of the popular game Angry Birds!

I am also beginning to check writing with “Did it Dots.” If your child has a “Did it Dot” on their paper, it means they did what I asked of them for that particular writing assignment.

In Math, we are continuing to work on addition. We are moving on to subtraction, counting -on from any given number and 3D shapes! I am also introducing a new numbers 1-100 Math Center! The children pick up a popsicle stick with a number on it, say it and then stamp it on their paper. It’s a bit like bingo.

In Reading, we have been working on story elements. The children should all know the terms characters and setting. We are now working on identifying the problem and solution. Some groups continue to work on beginning, middle and ending sounds while others are blending more complicated words. Last week, I introduced the “H brothers. They are TH, SH, CH and WH. We have been reviewing these sounds every day.

Focus letters in January: O,Z,L and K
Word Family -et and -ap

Please e-mail me if you need anything or have any questions! Thank you!

Please see photos on the next post!

Here are some of the videos that we have been using in class to help us learn...