Kindergarten B

Dear Families,

Thank you to all the families who joined us for our apple picking field trip last Friday! We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect October day – sunny, crisp, and just right for exploring the orchard. The kids had a wonderful time picking apples, going on the hayride, choosing pumpkins, and enjoying the fall weather together. We hope everyone enjoyed the apples they brought home. 

This is a short week, so we will spend time reviewing recently learned concepts and practicing the skills we’ve been building. This Friday is Crazy Sock Day! You don’t need to buy a new pair to participate. Students can wear mismatched socks or decorate an old pair. Grown-ups are encouraged to join in on the fun at drop-off!

Important Dates

• Monday, Oct 12: School Closed: Indigenous Peoples’ Day

• Tuesday, Oct 13: School Closed: Professional Day

• Thursday, Oct 15: Pre-K/K Parent Social, 7:00 PM

• Friday, Oct 16: Crazy Sock Day

• Saturday, Oct 17: Pumpkin Patch, 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM. Homecoming is 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

• Thursday, Oct 22: United Voices, 3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

• Friday, Oct 23: El Mes de Herencia Latina Community Time, 8:45 AM

• Friday, Oct 23: Snapshots shared in Parent Portal, 4:00 PM

• Saturday, Oct 24: Haunted House - UPDATED TIME: 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM

• Friday, Oct 30: Dress Up Day and Parade, 8:40 AM COSTUME GUIDELINES

Here are some important reminders for the week:

1. Please find this message from Ms. Carmen about the Halloween Costume (and Sports Equipment!) Swap at Homecoming. The boxes are ready and waiting in the Lower School vestibule. 

2. Kindergarteners will begin their Family Study soon. Please sign up here for your Family Share! We would love for everyone to participate! Please sign up as soon as possible so your child has the chance to share something special about your family with the class. This is a wonderful opportunity for the kids to learn more about one another and celebrate our diverse classroom community. 

3. As we celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month / Mes de la Herencia Hispana, we invite families to share a special book, activity, song, dance, or tradition connected to their family’s culture or heritage. If you come in to share, this can also serve as your child’s Family Share. There is absolutely no pressure to participate, but if you’re interested, please let Emily and me know so we can coordinate a time.

4. Please take the time to sit down with your child to review lunch menu options from Cater To You. We are encouraging all of the children to try the hot food items. Please use this link to review the menu.

5. If your child wears rainboots on rainy days, please also send an extra pair of shoes. This will make it easier for them to move safely on the stairs and participate comfortably in other classes such as PE.

Please read below for this coming week’s learning goals and a few pointers for what you can do at home:

Social Emotional Learning

• Friendships 

• Empathy

• Personal space and comfort bubbles. 

  • Read Aloud: Personal Space Invader 

• Feelings/Emotions

  • How to overcome difficult feelings, especially at school

  • When feeling frustrated, sad, angry, worried, etc. we talked about the various ways you can deal with these heavy feelings:

    • Take deep breaths

    • Ask others for some space 

    • Share how you are feeling with your friends 

    • Talk to a teacher

Reading

• Word of the week 

  • The sight word this week will be I. Have your child find the word “I” in magazines and other printed materials around the home. They can circle, underline or highlight (also good for fine motor) every time they see the word. As you or they are reading books they can also count the number of times it shows up on the page.

  • Learned words: and, the

• Print Concepts 

  • Directionality

    • Understanding that text is read from left to right and top to bottom on a page 

  • Distinguishing between letters and words

  • One-to-one correspondence

    • Pointing to words as they are read aloud; Using your “pointer power”

• “Get your mouth ready.”

  • Look at the first letter in the word, think about the sound it makes, and then get your mouth ready to make that sound.  

• Phonemic awareness:

  • Rhyming 

  • Identifying beginning sounds 

  • Identifying ending sounds

  • Breaking words into syllables

Fundations / Handwriting 

• Review letters i, u, c and o

  • Recognizing lowercase letters i, u, c, and o

  • The sounds of i, u, c, and o

  • Writing lowercase letters i, u, c, and o

• Fundations At Home Pack for letters “i and u” and “c and o”

  • The Fundations Home Support Pack provides you with the “why” and the “what” regarding our reading program, Fundations. The Fundations Home Packet also provides you with the language that the teachers use when forming their letters. Please use the same language when instructing and practicing with your child at home.

Writing Workshop

• We will continue with our first writing unit called "We are all Writers!" This unit introduces children to writing by exploring both informational pieces and true stories. Students are encouraged to think, draw, label, and write about their pictures in their own way. It's an exciting step in developing their storytelling skills.

• The writing process: Think, Draw, Label, Write

• We will practice the rhyme, When you think you’re done, you’ve only just begun. Children often say they are done, but we ask them to add more details to drawing, labeling and writing.

• The difference between a sentence and a label:

  • A sentence starts with a capital letter, ends with punctuation, and expresses a complete thought.

  • We put spaces between words.

  • A label can be just one or two words.

Math

Numbers to 5

• MIF Home to School Connections 

• Counting up to 5 objects using one-to-one correspondence

• Practicing writing numbers with the correct formation

• Distinguishing between same and different characteristics of objects and pictures

• Sorting and classifying

• Vocabulary: same, not the same, different, match, sort

Social Studies

• Anti-Racist Read-Aloud: This month’s ARRA is All the Colors We Are: The Story of How We Got Our Skin Color by Katie Kissinger. We read this book to give students a simple, scientifically accurate explanation of how our skin color is determined by our ancestors, the sun, and melanin. Together, we will celebrate the beautiful variety of our skin tones and understand that our differences make us special. 

• Seasons

  • Naming seasons and discussing why they change

  • What happens in nature and in our lives during the four seasons

• We are also celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month or Mes Nacional de la Herencia Hispana. Every grade has been assigned a Spanish-speaking country to learn more about. Kindergarten is learning more about Mexico. 

• We’ll begin our study of Frida Kahlo this week as we start our self-portraits. 

What You Can Do At Home

• Read Aloud Your Child’s Favorite Books – Listening to stories helps children hear what fluent reading sounds like and strengthens their language and listening skills.

• Initial Sounds: Say 2 or 3 words that all start with the same sound. Then, have your child repeat the words and identify the beginning sound (not the letter name!) 

• Have fun with a letter hunt! Use sticky notes to write letters t, b, f, m, n, i, u, c, and o, and hide them around the house and have your child go on a letter scavenger hunt. As they find each letter, ask them to say the letter's name, sound, and motion.

• Letter Formation: Use materials like building blocks, connecting cubes, playdough, or magnetic letters to form the lowercase letters t, b, f, m, n, i, u, c, and o. Encourage your child to trace the letters with their finger and say the letter sounds aloud.

• Counting Fingers: Use your fingers as visual aids. Ask your child to show different combinations of fingers to make 5. For example, they can show 2 fingers on one hand and 3 on the other.

• Subitizing: Use dot stickers to create a set of “quick look cards” with eight dots or fewer, arranged in different ways (for example, 3 dots in a triangle, 4 dots in a rectangle, or patterns like those on dice). Hold up each card for about half a second and see if your child can tell you how many dots there are without counting. Ask them how they saw the total!

• Number Hunt: Hide number cards or objects around the house, each representing a number from 0 to 5. As your child finds them, ask them to find another card or object that when added to the first, makes 5. Feel free to add a challenge and increase the number.

• Story Problems: Create simple story problems related to everyday scenarios. For example, “If we buy 5 pumpkins and carve 4 into jack-o-lanterns, how many will be left?” Story problems help connect math to real-life situations.

• Discuss the importance of celebrating Heritage Months: In September, we take time to celebrate the histories, cultures, and contributions of people whose families come from places like Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central America, and South America. We celebrate the traditions, stories, foods, music, and ideas that enrich our communities and help us learn about one another. This year, our focus is on dance as a form of storytelling. Talk with your child about how dance shows up in your family or culture, what it means to you, and how people use movement, music, and dance to share stories, celebrate, and express themselves.

• National Hispanic Heritage Month: Introduce your child to famous Hispanic artists like Frida Kahlo or Pablo Picasso. Let them create their own artwork inspired by these artists using crayons, markers, or paints. You can also explore traditional crafts like papel picado (colorful paper banners) or molas (colorful textile art).

• On November 1, visit Green-Wood for their annual Day of the Dead Family Celebration.