What Have We Learned in Kindergarten? March Parent Teacher Conference Update Mrs. Heinsler’s Kindergarten 2010-2011

Writing Workshop Small Moments: Personal Narrative Writing Writing Small Moment Stories – Personal Narratives Writing a story about a small moment that really happened. Discovering a small moment. Stretching Small Moments Breaking the story down in order to write one part of the story on each page. Sequencing the events in the story when writing. Sketching We learned how to add all the details of our story into a quick sketch using only pencil. We write the words first, then sketch the drawing. When we finish we can go back and add color. Writing Words We continued talking about how to stretch words out. We know that some words we write in a “snap” because we know how to spell them already (sight words). Spacing and Punctuation We learned that author’s put spaces between their words so that we know where the word starts and where it ends. We write in a pattern (word, space, word, space) At the end of our sentence we use a period. We can use a question mark if we write a question.

Reading Workshop We have been learning about what good readers do while they read. Good readers point to the words. Good readers look at the picture clues. Good readers get their mouths ready to say the first sound. Good readers read some words in a snap. Good readers sound out words they don’t know. Good readers take a picture walk to get their mind ready to read. Good readers can retell stories they have read. Good readers look for little words within words they already know. We have been reading text at their reading level during stations in a small group. Once we have learned our lesson and practiced the book, it is sent home for reinforcement. Thank you so much for reading with your children at home and sending the books back. They are doing a fantastic job!

Word Study CVC Words – Consonant Vowel Consonant We have been working on mastering our short vowel sounds. We have been working on blending three sounds together to read words. We have been segmenting words into phonemes (individual sounds) to write words. We have been segmenting words into the onset and rhyme (example: c – at = cat) We have been learning word families and are learning to chunk words when reading (onset and rhyme). Sight Words – We have learned all of the kindergarten sight words. We are reviewing them and learning some of the words off the first list of first grade words! Dog Pound Hall of Fame – The kindergarteners are only required to learn the first list of words to get their dog house up in the hall of fame. After that I am simply challenging them with the first grade lists to add a dog bone to their dog house. All of these words lists can be found on my website for you to use now and over the summer.

Handwriting With the support of the Handwriting Without Tears Program we have learned to write all the uppercase letters and most of our lowercase letters. Magic C Letters – c, o, d, s, g, a Diver Letters – r, n, m, b, h, p Number Review on Friday – We practice writing numbers 0-30 once a week. Writing Words – We write words once a week to practice applying proper handwriting. We play games to review and practice letters we have learned. Myster Letter Game – One partner writes the letter on the other partners back. Then that partner guesses the letter and writes it on the chalkboard. Eyes Closed/Eyes Open – Students try to write the letter with their eyes open first, then try it with their eyes closed.

Calendar Each day we use the Smartboard to go through our calendar routine. Some of the skills we practice are….. Creating the weather report after looking out the window. Look at the calendar to figure out what the date it. Discover patterns Review sight words Discuss the days of the week using the terms yesterday, today, and tomorrow. How many days are left this week? How many more days until….? Counting how many days we have been in kindergarten. (by 1’s and 10’s) Shape review – triangle, hexagon, trapezoid, rhombus, rectangle, circle

Mathematics We have learned about addition and subtraction. We are building the foundations for solving simple addition and subtraction problems. We can play games like build it, change it and double compare. We can count up to find the difference between two numbers. We have learned about measurement We have measured objects using non-standard units of measure such as cubes or paperclips. We can compare the length of objects using the terms shorter than, longer than, and the same as. We have learned about sorting. We can match objects that have the same attribute. We can sort objects and people by a given attribute.

Science & Social Studies Fairy Tales – We learned the elements of fairy tales We compared traditional fairy tales to other versions of the same story. Holiday Traditions We have learned some traditions for celebrating Hanukah, Christmas, New Years, Martin Luther King Day, Valentine’s Day, Presidents Day and St. Patrick’s Day. Animals in Winter – We have learned what different animals do during the winter months. We learned the vocabulary words hibernate and migrate We have sorted animals based on what they do in the winter – hibernate, migrate, or look for food. Penguins We have learned a lot about penguins!! We know what they eat, where they live, how they lay eggs and take care of babies, and many other interesting facts! Valentine’s Day & Friendship We have learned how to be a good friend – sharing, giving compliments, saying you are sorry, etc. We have learned about Valentine’s Day traditions We learned about the post office and how mail is delivered Dinosaurs We learned what extinct means We learned that the dinosaurs lived millions of years ago. We learned about some dinosaurs and what they eat (meat, plants, or both) We learned that Paleontologists are scientists that study dinosaurs.

How Can I Support My Child At Home? Writing Provide opportunities for your child to write. Have them write lists, thank you notes, send cards to relatives, etc. Encourage your child to write independently and write the sounds that they hear. Make a personal word list with your child so that they can look up sight words they want to spell. Handwriting Have your child practice writing the letters we learned in school at home. Correct your child if they write the letter incorrectly when they are writing words at home. Mathematics Have your child count for you. Count by 10’s and 1’s to 100. Roll a dice and have your child write the number. Practice adding numbers 0-9 Reading Read to your child nightly. Get books at your child’s level and put them on a bookshelf to read. Play BINGO – sight word bingo, letter/sound bingo, rhyming bingo etc. There are lots of free templates online you can print off. Take an empty egg carton and write sight words on the bottom of each container. Stick a macaroni noodle in the carton and shake it. Have your child read the word that the macaroni lands on. Count how many syllables (parts of words) are in names of family members or their favorite toys. Have your child say the three parts in a three letter word. When they say the first sound have them touch their head. When they say the middle sound have them put their hands on their hips. When they say the ending sound have them touch their toes. After stretching it out, ask them what letter made the beginning, middle, and ending sound. Use the pictures on our ABC cards to help with vowel sounds.