While our website continues to have technical difficulties, I wanted to be sure that I had an opportunity to fill you in on the daily ongoings in your child's classroom. I apologize for using the blog to publish this month's newsletter, but will plan to do so until the Newsletter sub tab is fixed and works again.
Let me know if you have any questions or comments about our time together at school. Happy reading!
Literacy
We continue to grow as readers and writers. Our eagerness is contagious and we work well encouraging each other to grow at our own paces. During Quiet Reading Time, we continue to work on building our reading stamina. Students spend 5 minutes of each Quiet Reading Time focusing on nothing by reading. They work on not giving in to external distractions and focusing on reading the words or pictures of their story. The Cottontails really enjoy this time and it has been fun to watch their reading time grow from 2 minutes in January to 5 minutes at the end of February. As the year progresses we will continue to grow our reading stamina. It is our hopes that we can reach our reading stamina of 15 minutes. To learn more about our recent reading adventures take a look at the following blog post, "Reading Rabbits."
Like our reading time, our confidence continues to grow in our writing time, too. We have naturally, at our own paces, moved from "post-it note writing" to "kid spelling writing". Kindergarteners are using their confidence in hearing letter sounds to spell words on their own. Take a look at the following blog post, "Der Parints" to see a fun twist on the importance of embracing "kid spelling".
Math
We are progressing nicely through the first part of first grade Math in Focus curriculum. Here is some more information our our past chapter (Chapter 5 Shapes and Patterns) and current chapter (Chapter 6 Ordinal Numbers and Position).
In Chapter 5, students compose and decompose plane and solid shapes, and make patterns with these shapes. As they combine figures, they develop a better understanding of part-whole relationships as well as the properties of the original and composite shapes. This builds background knowledge for learning about measurement and properties of geometry such as congruency and symmetry at higher grades.
In Chapter 6, students continue to build their knowledge of number relationships through ordering numbers and identifying ordinal positions as well as the words associated with the positions. Children also integrate their understanding of spatial relationships in the real world, and the concept of order and position (left, right, in front of, behind). These establish starting points for determining ordinal positions. Students will also position words such as just before, just after, or between to indicate the position of something relative to another.
In Chapter 5, students compose and decompose plane and solid shapes, and make patterns with these shapes. As they combine figures, they develop a better understanding of part-whole relationships as well as the properties of the original and composite shapes. This builds background knowledge for learning about measurement and properties of geometry such as congruency and symmetry at higher grades.
In Chapter 6, students continue to build their knowledge of number relationships through ordering numbers and identifying ordinal positions as well as the words associated with the positions. Children also integrate their understanding of spatial relationships in the real world, and the concept of order and position (left, right, in front of, behind). These establish starting points for determining ordinal positions. Students will also position words such as just before, just after, or between to indicate the position of something relative to another.
Social Studies
Our Act of Kindness unit has come to an end but our acts of kindness have not. Cottontails continue to show acts of kindness on a daily basis. I am so proud of their big hearts and compassionate ways. Continue to embrace these acts of kindness within your child and your own family. Don't forget. Community Night is THIS Thursday, March 13th. Please RSVP regarding your child's attendance to Community by Monday, March 10th. This is a mandatory event and should only be missed due to a preplanned circumstance. Have your child meet Meridith at the River Community Church by 5:15 to prepare for our presentation. The Kindergarteners are looking forward to the night. Take a look at February 27th's and March 8th's blog posts for more information.
Science
Could it be?!? Spring is near! As our seasons change once again, the Kindergarten class will be making observations about our Spring season. We will also continue our Fall studies of life cycles by studying the life cycles of plants and blooming flowers. We are excited for Spring to come and brighten up our community. During this life cycle unit, we will be analyzing the weather and environment cycle that helps plants grow. We will also be analyzing our own responsibilities within the environment and what we can do to continue to be a friend to Earth. Look for more updates in the coming weeks.
Specials
Please look back to the Specials blog posts from February 27th for more information on Specials activities.
Don't forget! Next week, brings Spring Break! Enjoy! School and BASP will resume on Monday, March 24th.
Please look back to the Specials blog posts from February 27th for more information on Specials activities.
Don't forget! Next week, brings Spring Break! Enjoy! School and BASP will resume on Monday, March 24th.
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