Welcome to a brand new school year! I am excited to be your child's Kindergarten teacher. I am Shearon Birdsong and Sharon DeCormier is the ParaProfessional in our classroom. We look forward to a fabulous school year!
The first week of school was busy and fun! The following gives information about our curriculum.
CURRICULUM NEWS:
Language Arts
Our new Language Arts program is comprised of four areas:
Shared Reading - Whole group - The teacher models habbits , skills, and strategies proficient readers use to understand and enjoy reading.
Guided Reading - The teacher instructs small groups of students with similar learning needs using text that match their instructional needs.
Students not in a group with a teacher will explore literacy centers: Students work independently in small groups to apply new skills and strategies.
Writing - the goal of the writing program is to get students to write and to think of themselves as writers. It follows a Writers Workshop format Students are taught one focus lesson per day, followed by independent practice, and then a couple of student each day will share their work.
Words Their Way - The phonics part of the program.
SIGHT WORDS - 2 - 3 words each week. Students should be able to read these words.
The following was our curricular focus for the
Week of 8/10 - 14
Shared Reading - Unit "Good Reader See Themselves as Readers". Focus: What makes a book a favorite, how do we take care of books, and how to use our class library.
Guided Reading - will not start for a few more weeks
Writing - We introduced Writer Workshop. Students wrote to tell how they got to school and about how to take care of books.
Words their Way - Students sorted items by shape; triangle, circle, square.
Sight Words - I, my
Math - positional words: above, below, in front of, behind, inside and outside. Please practice using positional words at home with your child.
Social Studies - School and Classroom rules and procedures
Week of 8/17 - 21
Language Arts
Shared Reading (SR) - What to look for when choosing a book, how to use the cover of a book to gain information about the book and that print has meaning and conveys a message.
Words Their Way - Sorting; words that rhyme with "cat" and "pan".
Writing - Continued introduction to Writers Workshop. Our main focus at this time is for students to write regularly, to write their names & date on the paper, and to draw a picture that supports the topic.
Sight Words - see, and, it
Math - Kindergarten Math Pretest
Social Studies - School and Classroom Rules and Procedures
Science - Animals and their Babies
This week we spent a lot of time getting students use to being in Kindergarten and getting them use to classroom and school rules and procedures. We will continue this getting familiar process for the next few weeks.
IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER
TRANSPORTATION NAME TAG
It is CRITICAL that your child wears his/her transportation name tag
EVERYDAY this week. Be sure to list only ONE way your child is getting home on the name tag. For example, if your child is a car rider, I should not see a bus slot number on the tag for that day.
CHANGES IN HOW YOUR CHILD IS GETTING HOME
Please try not to change your child's way of getting home at the very end of the day. We are still getting the children use to the procedure of getting through the hall and to their correct bus. This is not a good time for us to also deal with last minute changes for numerous students. Please make this decision as early in the day as possible. Of course, we do understand emergencies.
SNACK
Please send a snack to school for your child each day. It is a good idea to keep the snack in a different container than lunch. Make sure that your child knows what you intend for snack and what you intend for lunch. Also please practice or talk to your child about how to open or and prepare their snack to eat. Students need to be able to handle their snack independently. They are allowed to use scissors to help cut open packages, but for the most part snack should be easy for them to manage. Of course, we do not mind helping some times. Our goal, however, is for children to gain greater independance. Therefore, it is not a good idea for your child to need us to set up his/her snack every day.
Also, we cannot provide snacks each day for your child; sometimes we have extras sometimes we do not. We do the best we can to accommodate students who have forgotten their snack, but it has not been easy. If you can donate snacks to our class for times when children forget theirs, we would greatly appreciate it.
Cool Classroom
Please send a light jacket or a sweater to leave in class for times when your child is a little chilly. Our classroom does get a little cool at times.
SPECIALS
Monday & Wednesday - Art,
Tuesday & Friday - P.E.
Children need to wear gym/tennis shoes on these days or they will not be allowed to participate.
Thursday - Music
DAILY FOLDERS
Please empty your child's daily folder each day after school and be sure to return it the next school day. Please send everything you want us to see; lunch money, notes, etc., in this folder. We will not check book bags.
RECESS
Please have your child wear appropriate shoes to school. Our playground is covered with wood chips. Little feet need to be protected from getting stuck by wood chips. We will go out for recess everyday weather permitting. Make sure your child is dressed appropriately for recess.
Volunteering
Please sign up to help with activities in our classroom and school. A lot of activities require extra help and support. Thus, they can only occur if we have adequate parental participation. So sign up, so that our class and school can continue to offer lots of fun and exciting programs and activities!
GREAT SCHOOLS NEED GREAT PARENTS!!!
WISH LIST
I have little wishes posted on stars in our class. These are items that I think will enrich our classroom. If you can donate any of these items, we will greatly appreciate it! Please look for them during Open House.
EMAIL ADDRESS
Please make sure I have your email address. I like to communicate by email so that I can respond to questions or concerns at home and on weekends.
We have a great group of students this year! I look forward to working with them and their families. If you have any questions or concerns please contact me.
Please check back every two weeks for an updated, but not as long, blog entry. :)
I hope to see everyone at Open House, August 17th. There are two classroom sessions. The first one starts at 5:30, then there is a PTA meeting, and a second session. Please plan to come to our classroom for one of the sessions.
Thank you for your help and support so far. I know this will be a wonderful year!
Mrs. Birdsong
