April 2024

Home To School Connection 

Dear Kindergarteners,

Welcome to Kindergarten! My name is Ms. Dana and I am so excited to be your teacher! We are going to have the best year! We are going to have so much fun and learn many new things! I look forward to meeting you!

Dear Families, 

My name is Mingwun Dana and I will be your child's Kindergarten teacher. This is my sixth year as a Kindergarten teacher here at Center Drive School. I am extremely excited to have your child in my classroom this year. Teaching is a passion of mine and I look forward to spending the year with your child. At the start of the year, I will send home more information with your child about our daily routines. I look forward to meeting you and your child and beginning this exciting journey together. 

Teacher Email: m.dana@cdsedu.org 

What We Are Doing In The Classroom 

Math

For the month of April we will be working with numbers 1-100. Any blank pages that are sent home in math packets are not expected to be completed at home. We do not assign math homework in kindergarten but extra practice at home is always good! If your child needs the extra practice for a particular skill I will write a note and send it home with the homework. 

Reading

We will be learning new sight words weekly and read books as a whole group that focuses on each sight word we are learning. If you see a paper book in your child's folder, please have them read it to you for fun! I am starting to send home book bags with each child. In their book bag you will find the work to support what they are doing in the classroom. You will find letter ID/sound flashcards or sight word flashcards along with books to read. Please return the book bags on the date indicated. We are also focusing on vowels and blends as well as CVC words. Have your child practice writing CVC words at home. Example, cat, rug, rat, fan, fin. Other skills to practice include rhyming and syllables. 

Writing

For the month of April we will be working on narrative writing. We will create a character and students will need to write a story that includes a problem and a resolution. We have talked a lot about the different components to writing stories and how we can organize our information.  We are still working on the proper formation of the lowercase letters and we have finished our uppercase. We are also focusing on stretching out words and making sure we write a letter for every sound we hear. I am challenging students to make sure they are focusing on which vowel sounds they are hearing in each word. We are also working on sentence structure. (Capital letters, spaces between words, punctuation.) 

Science/Social Studies

Our fourth unit of study is all about our Earth! We will be learning about how we can take care of our Earth as well as all about plants and what they need to survive. 

Fine Motor

We will be learning how to use many new tools such as scissors, pencils, markers, paint brushes, clay, glue and many other fun things to help with fine motor skills.