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 December we will be learning how to add. We will work on adding numbers up to ten. This is a skill that takes a lot of practice, so any extra practice at help is always a great idea! 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 are focusing on letter identification as well as letter sounds. 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. 

Writing

For the month of December we will be working on writing and drawing informational pieces. We will focus on adding information under correct subtopics in order to learn how to organize the information we are writing. We will also focus on making sure we add enough detail in our pictures to ensure we are communicating through our images as well as working on learning how to label our pictures. 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 second unit of study is all about animals and habitats! We will learn all about different animals, their habitats and what they need to survive. We will be creating life cycles and diagrams as well as acting out different life cycles. We will build habitats and talk about the consequences of changing habitats. We have learned a lot about frogs and salmon and we will be learning about wolves and owls next. 

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.