Hello Families!
We had such a lovely Family Sing and Field Trip Friday! Thank you for the parents who were able to join us - it was the most beautiful fall day and after doing some scientist work with trees and then collecting leaves, twigs and acorns, we spent the rest of the morning playing in the playground. You can see the bark rubbings the kids created hanging up in the classroom on one of our bulletin boards. Also - have you seen the "Me Stews" up on the bulletin board in the hallway? Check out your child's favorite recipe ingredients! Here is what's happening this week...
NO SCHOOL: On Wednesday, 10/9 for Yom Kippur.
BIG NEWS: Next week we are going to be starting an incredibly important and wonderful program on most Tuesdays called HARMONIZE KIDZ. This is a program that was created by Stacie Lewis - a former MSC parent who is a Broadway performer. It is a powerful supplement to teaching our Social Studies curriculum matched with amazing songs that were written by Stacie. I taught both of Stacie's daughters and after her older daughter Vivian (now in 7th grade) was in my class, Stacie started to write songs about the themes we cover through our Kindergarten Scope and Sequence. I helped Stacie create lessons around each of these songs and then she morphed everything together into this rich program. I'm so excited for the kids to experience this!
WHAT WE ARE UP TO:
We are still working through our Star Names.This week besides celebrating and learning letters through our names, we will be learning our own names by heart and teaching others. We will be reading our name wall, labeling with our names, hearing all the sounds in our names, creating name collages and then using our names to build new words!
In writing we are going to be learning to take an idea, say our writing idea out loud and then put the idea down on the page(s). We are also going to use our alphabet chart on the back of our folders to help us to stretch out words we want to write and get the sounds down on the paper.
In reading we are going to be focused on connecting all the pages of a book so that we may be able to understand new things and talk about what we learn in our own words. We will be practicing partner reading and sharing "Wow" pages - things we find interesting that we want to share with our partner.
In math we are going to be exploring and then using a new tool called a Rekenrek. This is a tool that has 20 beads with 2 levels. The top level has 5 red and 5 white and the lower level has the same. We will be having some Number Talks about counting beads that are pushed to one side and then are covered, and then we explain how we know what we counted. We will also be learning about how we may represent our mathematical thinking in different ways and will be working on figuring out missing numbers in a game called "Beep" and then writing those numbers correctly.
In science we are going to sort and closely observe the items we collected from the park, then we may see what we can create with them.
In social studies we are continuing our "Myself and Others" study. We are going to be discussing what our favorite parts of each of us are and also will be learning why everything about our differences should be celebrated. We are also going to be introducing the concept of flexibility through our play. What does it mean to be flexible? What does not being flexible look like and what are the consequences of that? What does being flexible feel like, sound like, look like?
We started reading a very funny chapter book! It's Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume. I choose this book to read because it is the story of a family on the upper west side - mainly a 9 year old named Peter and his hilarious 3 year old brother Fudge. Kids LOVE Fudge! He is very mischievous. Please note however, that I do censor the book. There is a whole chapter I skip and certain parts I leave out as well in order to make the book 100% appropriate and enjoyable. Listening to a chapter book that has no pictures is a wonderful way for kids to imagine characters in their own minds, follow a story hearing only words, hold onto an ongoing story and build their vocabulary and understanding of a story arc. And this one makes them crack up which is actually the best part!
Have a great week!
Love,
Lynn