Ms. Cmaylo

Literacy

The kindergarten is more than half way through the Phonics and Friends program.  We are working on hearing the letter sounds in the initial, final and now medial positions.  The children practice these sounds in their word - work and in their writing.  We are asking children to write one letter for every sound they hear in a word.  They have learned that every word has a vowel so we are beginning to see vowels in their work.   Several sight words have been introduced.  Correct spelling of these words is expected in their writing.

In reading we are continuing to work on book handling skills.  The children are learning strategies for figuring out unknown words.  We want the children to be introduced to several strategies before the end of the year.  Presently we are working hard on “does it sound right and does it look right?”   We practice this skill every morning with our morning message.  The children are getting practice with sight words then too.  The children continue to hear good literature from us daily.  We sure do love reading to them and they are beginning to recognize certain authors work.  We practice some reading together in our morning message and in big books?.ones from the Phonics and Friends program and others that we have collected.  Perhaps the most exciting time of the day is our D.E.A.R. time when they “read” all sorts of books, ones they have picked and ones that are assigned to them.  Buddy read is still a highlight of each week for them and for us.   Our Family Read on Friday afternoons is very successful.  The children ask all day when can we read to our families.

Handwriting and fine motor skills are practiced daily.  The correct pencil grip is still very difficult for many children.  Please reinforce the correct grip.  An incorrect grip is very difficult to break.  Handwriting is so much less tiring with a correct grip.

Math

In math we are now counting beyond to 100 by ones, to 100 by tens and skip count to 20.  We continue to reverse count each morning and we are starting at 20!  We are practicing numeral recognition and writing numerals.  We have been introduced to joining math sentences.  We will work with this concept until the end of the year.  The children have also been introduced to all of the coins.   They all could use some extra help with coins.  Money is very difficult for young children because they have very few opportunities to use money in their world.   We have done some work with simple measuring and explored the reason for standard measurement.  Most of our measuring in class has been with non-standard measures.  We continue to revisit pattern and graphing. In February we will have several lessons with graphs and patterns.   This last month weaving was introduced and the children worked hard to get the over/under pattern of weaving.  This month we will start to work with time to the hour.  Again, this is a very difficult concept for K children.  In computer lab we have been working with the EveryDay Math games.  We have worked with Hidden Pennies, Monster Squeeze and Top It.   We will play one more game this week and then on to Milllie’s Math House where our math concepts will be reinforced. 

Science

We have worked with our construction unit in science.  We have learned about gears, pulleys and levers.  We have experimented with several different kinds of building materials and have learned how to make a strong structure.  We have explored several books about construction.   The Construction ABC’s was a favorite.  We have also explored different kinds of construction tools and vehicles.  Our culminating activity will be to build a bird feeder.  Final details are coming.  We hope to have this completed by our February vacation.

Spanish

Hola!  We have worked with Spanish now for several weeks.  We have quite a vocabulary.   The children enjoy Spanish 2-3 times a week.  We are presently about half way through the program.  Each lesson is repeated several times so we are comfortable with the vocabulary.   We can count, say several different types of foods, the names of some animals and can say some simple greetings.  Adios!

News from Mrs. Mildner

We continue to celebrate birthdays and lost teeth in our room.  These children are sure growing up fast!  Almost half our class is six. 

I am excited to hear about the children participating in open gym here at Consolidated and with the Kenneway Family Sunday Outdoor Adventure.   We have several students participating in Mrs. Kingston’s play.  Lots to look forward to!

Upcoming?..day 100?on February 11.  We will have fun with lots of 100 activities!    Then on February 14 we will have a Valentines celebration.  Names will be coming home in this week’s folder.  Every child is expected to send a valentine to each of their classmates.    

Madame Gaby continues with our French weekly.  What a tri-lingual group I have! 

Thank you to all the volunteers.  You are so dependable and your help is so appreciated.  I try to tell you how appreciative I am each time you come but I know I get distracted and don’t always say those special words.  I am so glad you like glue, paint and glitter!   You make a daily art projects possible.  Thanks!

News from Mrs. Cmaylo

Upcoming?..day 100?on February 11.  We will have fun with lots of 100 activities!    Then on February 14 we will have a Valentines celebration.  Names will be coming home in this week’s folder.  Every child is expected to send a valentine to each of their classmates.    

Thank you to all the volunteers.  You are so dependable and your help is so appreciated.  I try to tell you how appreciative I am each time you come but I know I get distracted and don’t always say those special words.  I am so glad you like glue, paint and glitter!   You make a daily art projects possible.  Thanks!

Please notice our counting back book on the wall outside our classroom as well as the photo of our marshmallow construction cooperative project!

We will be asking for your help soon with our birdfeeder project.  Declan’s grandfather is gathering and preparing our lumber for this project.  Once we get word the materials are ready, we would like to have many parents to help us!  We are so lucky to have such help!  Thank you.

Please return the paper bag you receive on Friday with your child's work in it.  They could be reused most of the time and we are struggling to keep enough of them handy.  Thanks!

Please dictate a simple sentence to your child and have them write it.  We are working on leaving spaces between words, including a vowel in each word and syllable, and are beginning to place letters correctly on the lines.  Sight words are expected to be spelled correctly increasingly as we learn them.  Please help your child notice which letters they have reversed.  I say, could you make this letter this way?  I then write it in the right direction for them.  Practicing these letters in sand, snow, shaving cream or any other tactile medium will help.