Learning

Writing

We are focusing more and more on sentence formation. Our biggest goals right now are to make sure that each sentence makes sense (no missing words!) and that we have spaces between each word. We're also working to make sure that each sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a period.

We doing a lot of informative writing to share what we're learning about butterflies in Science.

We are learning to share our writing with our classmates, developing our speaking and listening skills in the process. Our sharing time has inspired a lot of additional writing during times in the day when kids get to choose their own skill-building activity to work on! Even friends who struggle to put letters or words on a page are able to draw and tell about a series of connected events-- which is an important Kindergarten skill!

Reading/Phonics

We are enjoying lots of books about Spring and plants!

Students are working on the phonics skills of hearing and producing rhyming words, blending and segmenting letters and sounds, and adding/substituting/deleting phonemes in words to make new words. We are also learning to hear and count syllables in words. Many students are reading simple books throughout the day here at school. 

We have learned quite a few "Secret Stories" by now! The kids are getting very good at spotting these in our Morning Message (as well as around the room), and at using them to read and write words.

Math

We are learning how to compose and decompose numbers. We look at the "parts" that make the "whole" number and write those parts and whole as a number sentence. We are also learning to compare numbers, using language like, "greater than," "less than," "more," "fewer," and "equal."

We are spending lots of time working with the hundreds chart, starting to understand number patterns and developing greater number sense.

We continue to practice counting to 100 by ones, tens, and fives regularly. Sorting is an important math skill that we work on daily in a variety of ways. We also continue to review 2-D and 3-D shapes weekly.

Science

We learning about butterflies and their life cycles! Ask your child where most of a butterfly's taste buds are. Do they remember the difference between a cocoon and a chrysalis? Where do butterflies go in the winter?

Social Studies

We are diving into our unit on Decision Making and Problem-Solving this week.

Bible

Our Fruit of the Spirit for May is Goodness! We are learning about this braod idea and how we can apply it in our lives. We also had a special time learning about Jesus during Holy Week a few weeks ago. 

We are also following along with the Bible stories shared during SALT time. To learn more about SALT, visit the great Google Site that Sarah Yoder created to share about our time together!

Social-Emotional Skills

We continue to work on how to work through conflict respectfully. For many students, it feels easier to tell the teacher than to communicate calmly and respectfully when something bothers us-- which is very normal for five- and six-year-olds! We are working on the process of knowing how to communicate when we're hurt or bothered, as well as how to repair relationships when needed.