March

March is an exciting month in Kindergarten.  We are starting our Bare Books for the Author's Fair.  Each student will be writing a book about themselves to be ready to share with parents on May 1st at our school Author's Fair.  More info. will come about that as we get closer.  Your Kindergarten students are amazing writers and we can't wait to show off their books!

We also have Dr. Seuss' birthday on March 2nd.  Dr. Seuss books are loved here at Manila!  Mrs. Webster, our librarian, introduced our classes to the website www.seussville.com.  It is a great website that Kindergarten students can do themselves.  Our classes couldn't get enough of the activities Mrs. Webster was showing them.  Try it out at home!

Themes for this month are Weather, St. Patrick's Day, Spring and Insects.

Reading goals are retelling the Characters, Setting, and Problem and Resolution in stories.

Writing goals are using our good handwriting, using capitals, spaces and punctuation while writing our Bare Book stories.

Math goals are identifying coins, learning the break numbers in parts (ex:  5 is 2 and 3, 1 and 4, 5 and 0) and starting on Addition.

Thank you for all the parent help in our classes!  Thank you also to all the parents helping us put together our Bare Books!  We couldn't do it without you!

February

The holidays were great here in Kindergarten.  Sorry we haven't posted for so long...time is flying by this year!  We are loving the progress our students have made in reading and writing.  We just completed the DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment) to find out what level your child is reading on so we can continue teaching them the right strategies for their level.  Writing has improved as well.  In January, we used our 4-square page as an organizer for our story and then copied our 4 sentences onto 1 sheet of paper to make a story.  We will be doing that again this month.  Check out the hall for our displayed stories!

This month we are working on:
     Reading:  Rate, expression, finding little words in big words, characters
     Writing:  Beginning/middle/end, handwriting, writing the right size, does that make sense, characters
     Math:  Measurement, numbers to 50, Valentine's math, and learning about money (coins and their values)

The weather has been very nice for this time of year.  Please remind your children to bring their coats since we go outside unless it is raining or snowing.  Many students are able to zip up their own coats, but we still have a few that need to practice.  It's hard for us as teachers to get all the coats zipped, gloves on, shoes tied, etc. before recess is over!  Also, please help your child practice tying shoes if they are not able.  It's a great help to us when they can tie their own shoes and help others if needed. 

Dates to look forward to:
     February 13   Minimal Monday - no change for morning classes
                                                        Miss Landrey's PM class gets out at 1:45pm
     February 14   Valentine's Day - bring your Valentine's to school this day, party is the last hour of class
                                                      remember to only write FROM:  (your name)
     February 20   President's Day - no school

Have a great month!  Keep reading at home!