December 12, 2025

LETTERS to SANTA

This is from a friend of mine.  Her daughters are former gators and they have been doing this for the past several years.  

It's that time of year!!

Santa and his elves have asked us to help with his letters again this year! Have your child drop off their Letters to Santa with their wish list and your child will receive a personalized letter from Santa! There is no cost to you; we just love doing it. 

***please make sure to include your return address***

Drop off location is:

6907 Upland Ln., Colleyville

Mailbox is open from 8am-10pm daily.

The mailbox will stay open until December 18th.

WHAT A BUSY WEEK!

We continued to work on listening for beginning and ending sounds in words and finding words that begin and/or end with the same sound. We have also been hard at work tapping out words that have short vowels in the middle.  We have been practicing reading and writing these "cvc" words (words that have a consonant at the beginning and end and a short vowel in the middle.) In math, students are learning to identify coins (penny, nickel, dime, and quarter) and understand the value of each. Many students are finding coin identification challenging. Any extra practice you can provide at home would be greatly beneficial and very much appreciated!  In social studies, we learned that people have basic wants and needs and how they work jobs to meet their needs and wants.  We also discussed the difference between wants and needs, which is a very difficult concept for five and six year olds; they want everything!

BOOK BAGS

All students need to keep their reading bags (and library books) in their backpacks when they are not reading them. 

There are some students who are not reading their books at home and are having difficulty keeping up in class.  Please help your child become a confident and fluent reader by having him/her read everyday.  It is so very important.

Some of the reading strategies for students to use:

• Point to each word (very important for beginning readers)

• Use the pictures for clues

• Go back and re-read

• Look at the beginning letter(s)

Here are some additional ways to use these books after reading them:

• · Read the pictures to tell the story

• · Look for word wall words

• · Retell the story – what happened in the beginning, middle and end

• · Ask how this story relates to real life; can they make any connections

A note From Mrs Canafax, our school counselor:

Food Assistance or Other Needs

As the school counselor, one of my most important roles is to help ensure that every student has what they need to learn and thrive. If your family is ever experiencing financial challenges or needs support with food, school supplies, or other basic resources, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I am here to help, and all conversations will remain confidential.  

My email address is: lauren.canafax@gcisd.net

DECEMBER CHARACTER TRAIT

The character trait for the month of December is cooperation.  In guidance, students will learn that cooperation means "working together to reach shared goals."  Cooperation is a skill that must be learned.  Here are some things you can do with your child to help him/her learn the skill of cooperation:

• Take turns 

• Explain the rules

• Problem solve 

• Give choices 

• Give ideas, not commands 

• Give positive reinforcement 

AT HOME LITERACY ACTIVITIES

The link below contains some fun activities for your child to enjoy and practice different reading skills!

mCLASS® Home Connect®

https://www.mclass.amplify.com/homeconnect/

SIGHT WORDS

Below are the kindergarten sight words for the entire year. We may not cover them all and we may add in some of our own.  Knowing our sight words will help your child tremendously in reading and writing. Each week we will learn two or three new words. Please review these words with your child. Students are expected to read, write and spell these words.

These are the sight words we learned this week:

REVIEW ALL

These are the sight words we have previously learned:

look  went  he  she  said  we  did  in  and  like  can  it  at  

go  am  to   by   my   I    see   a    the   

READING and WRITING SKILLS WE WILL LEARN in KINDERGARTEN

By the end of Kindergarten, students should be able to:

• Recognize and produce rhyming words

• Segment words in an oral sentence

• Segment words into syllables

• Segment and pronounce initial, medial and final phonemes in spoken CVC words

• Manipulate phonemes with additions or substitutions in one-syllable words

• Name all letters of the alphabet

• Write all manuscript letters in lowercase and uppercase

• Sequence letters of the alphabet

• Fluently produce sounds of consonants and short vowels when given the letter

• Fluently produce sounds for basic digraphs (wh, sh, ch, th, ck)

• Name and write corresponding letter(s) when given sounds for consonants, consonant digraphs, and short vowels

• Distinguish long and short vowel sounds within words

• Read and spell approximately 200 CVC words 

• Spell other words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships

• Read and write our sight words

• Identify and name correct punctuation at end of sentence

• Capitalize words at beginning of sentences and names of people

• Name the author and illustrator of a story and define their roles

• Explain narrative story structure including character, setting and main events

• Use a combination of drawing and dictating to narrate linked events to tell about a story in  sequence

• Re-tell key details of narrative and informational text, using pictures or prompts as a guide

• Identify characters, settings and main events in a story, with pictures or other prompts

• Describe what happened in a story when given a specific illustration

• With prompts, compare and contrast the experiences of characters in two stories

• Explain difference between narrative and informational text

• Echo-read a passage with correct phrasing and expression

• Identify and explain new meanings for familiar words and newly taught words

• Produce and expand complete sentences in shared language activities

Curriculum Objectives

Language Arts: 

I can identify the beginning, middle and ending sounds of words and identify what letter makes that sound.  

Math: 

I can identify U.S. coins by name, including pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. 

I can distinguish between wants and needs and identify income as a source to meet one's wants and needs.

I can identify ways to earn income.

Social Studies: 

I can understand the importance of family traditions.

I can identify similarities and differences among individuals

I can be a good citizen and follow the Gator Way.