Our First Week is Under Our Belts!

Good Afternoon, Parents!

We have had a wonderful week here in the Green Room. We have read several versions of the story of the Gingerbread Man/Boy. We even saw evidence of his presence in our school when he left notes for us in different places around the school! Today, though, we caught him! And "he" turned out to be "they" - a gingerbread cookie for each of us! It was lots of fun, as you may have heard from several excited children when they came home.

We are just starting to get into the routines of Daily Reading and of Math Stations. In Daily Reading, we have been "reading" books selected for us specifically by Mrs. K. These are books where the text is typically made up of labels - one word per picture, and they focus on colors, shapes, letters, and numbers. We are proud to say that we have been able to read for one whole minute for two days in a row! This means your child can look at the pictures or read the words in a book for a whole minute without stopping and getting distracted! By the end of the first quarter, our goal is to be able to read on our own for fifteen minutes without teacher re-direction. We call this "building our stamina." Because in first grade, you have to be able to read lots of things on your own, and we all want to be ready for first grade when the time comes! :-)

Now, if you are working with your child at home, you will notice that they most likely cannot read actual words yet - that will come as we learn our 41 "popcorn words" throughout the year. I have shown the students that good kindergarten readers read the pictures and use them to make up stories in their head.

Right now in Math Stations, we are just exploring and getting familiar with the different manipulatives available in our classroom - how to use them correctly (they can be counted, sorted, or lined up, but they cannot be thrown or put in our mouths!), different ways we can work with them, etc.

Next week, we will be reading the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, by Eric Carle. This book will familiarize us with our colors, but we will have many other math and reading activities to go along with it.
If you would like to get a head start on at-home activities for your child, please go to this link: Mrs. K.'s Activities for Week 2. This is a list of activities I have put together that correspond to what we are working on together in school. Please email, call, or send a note if you have any questions. Once, again, I will be explaining this process in more detail during our Parent Night on Thursday, Sept. 6, from 6:00-7:00 pm. Hope to see you there!

Have an awesome week!