March is Youth Art Month

Recycling, Pollution, and Conservation

In science this past three weeks we have talked about different ways to keep our Earth healthy and clean. Our class library is filled with different books on ways to help the environment and we have watched several excellent Reading Rainbows and read excellent stories that have helped us understand pollution and conservation. We also learned that everyone can help keep the earth clean- even kids!

Some of the books that we have listened to include:

Looking for Great Books to Read with Your Kindergartener?

Home ReadKiddoRead.com

This is a great website to help parents find books that their child will love! Thank you Jean Koch for visiting our school and telling me about this great website!


Visit ReadKiddoRead

Guess Who?

Today during our whole group gifted lesson, we played a game with Mrs. Law on finding a person based on clues.   She gave clues to the physical attributes of a person and students had to eliminate who it could not be.  This activity encourages students to use inductive reasoning, problem solve, observe simliarities, organize information, and catergorize according to attributes.  One way you can help your child develop these skills is by playing the game "Guess Who" a game that my son loves.  Two weeks ago, I found the "Guess Who: Star Wars" (so exciting) for my son at Marshalls for ten dollars.  Practicing these concepts is a great way to help your child think out of the box and also have a lot of fun.

Measuring

Today we worked on measuring with standard (inches/feet) and nonstandard (our own feet) measurement tools.  First we had a measuring lesson in the computer lab where we learned how everyone's feet are different sizes, but a ruler is standard measuring.  Then we went back to the classroom and traced our own feet.  Using our own feet as a ruler, we measured various things in the classroom. 


For enrichment, try reading these books at home (all are available from our school library).

Great Books to Make Meaningful Connections

For extra practice at home, try using these books below to help your child make connections.  Thank you Sara Chiaverotti and Mandy Yates for creating this list.

Reading Skills Pyramid

Thank you Claire from http//kindergartenteacherclaire.wordpress.com for posting this very helpful reading skills pyramid.

Making Connections When We Read

As we move into the third quarter of school, our class is focusing on making connections with read aloud books.  "Making Connections" essentially means that students connect their personal knowledge or background experience to the text that is read.  Research has shown that readers comprehend significantly better when they are actively engaged in thinking about their own experiences and how it may relate to the topic of the book.

To better help your child develop and use this reading comprehension strategy, make sure you ask the following questions when your read with your child:

What does this book remind you of?
What do you know about this topic?
Does this book remind you of another book that we have read?

Your child should be very familiar with the concept of making personal connections to stories.  Please continue to read with your child at home and make connections together.

Temples and Tombs

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Congratulations to our friends in Mrs. Lister's second grade class (our book buddy friends) for their performance in "Temples and Tombs". 

Math Objectives for Kindergarten

These are some of the concepts that parents can help reinforce at home for this quarter.

• counting by 5s
• counting by 10s
• counting by 2s
• counting to 100
• identifying 2 digit numbers (1-100)
• writing 2 digit numbers (1-100)
• identifying pennies, nickles, dimes, and quarters
• identifying coin values (pennies, nickles, dimes, and quarters)
• practice measuring different things using a ruler