October 23, 2009
We have continued many of our traditional fall activities as well as
beginning some new traditions. The students have been learning the following
concepts in each of the academic areas:
Religion
In addition to learning about Guardian Angels, the children have been
listening to some Old Testament stories as well as learning about the
Rosary. On the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, we prayed a decade of the
Rosary, and then the children made their own decade Rosary bracelets, which
they all wanted to wear. We will continue talking about the Joyful Mysteries
of the Rosary through Christmastime.
Social Studies
Our field trip to the petting farm was a huge hit, and the children were all
very well-behaved and respectful!
We had a much-anticipated, and thoroughly enjoyable, visit from Mr. Mann and
many of his firefighter friends, along with a pumper truck, ladder truck, and
ambulance. The children learned about fire safety and prevention, and they
each took home a red firefighter helmet. Thank you to the moms who were here
to take pictures for our memory books.
We had a special visit from a group of senior citizen residents of Grace
House assisted living facility who were here to attend one of Mr. Lee's (our
middle school Religion teacher) classes, but stopped by to visit Mrs. Lewis'
class and our classroom. This is because the director of Grace House is Meg
Mason (and Brady was in my class last year and is in Mrs. Lewis' class this
year) and also because my own mother was one of the visitors. These visitors
were quite impressed with the children's manners and ability to vocalize what
they had seen the day before at the Petting Farm. Mrs. Wertlieb and I were
VERY proud of them, especially with how they stood and said "Good Afternoon"
as we had practiced. One visitor to someone later that being in the
classrooms with the little children was like visiting heaven!
We have been reading and learning about feelings and emotions - what makes us
feel certain ways and what kinds of things can make how we feel change (for
the better or worse). This is a great way to incorporate getting along with
others and solving problems, which we will continue to work on.
Language Arts/Reading
We have just about finished our unit on Friends, but will continue talking
about feelings and getting along as this is a year-long theme in
Kindergarten. Our next unit is on Transportation. The letters we
have "studied" so far (handwriting and phonics) are: m, a, s, p, and the
letters for the next unit are t and i. To reinforce letter recognition and
letter/sound recognition, the children cut out pictures from magazines with
the letter sounds, they practice "writing" the letters in sand and/or paint,
form the letter out of Wikki Stix or Playdough, and listen to poems and music
that reinforce letter sounds.
After we finish each unit, the children's Treasures Activity books are sent
home, but should not be thrown out. I would encourage you to take out the
mini-books and practice these stories with your child. Each book
incorporates the sight words we have been working on. This reinforcement
will help your child learn their new sight words from each unit. I would
suggest getting a shoe box and having your child decorate it so they have a
special place for their mini-books. The sight words we have learned so far
are: I, can, we, the, like, and a. The words for the Transportation unit are
see and go. If your child does not know these words on "sight" it would be
helpful for you to make flash cards for them to practice every day.
The children do "journal writing" activities two to three times a week and
are currently working on what they will be for (and/or what they like about)
Halloween as well as what they liked the most about our field trip to the
Petting Farm.
Science
We have basically finished our study of the Five Senses. In conjunction with
Halloween, we are studying the human skeleton and noctural animals. The
children made mixed media pumpkins, feather boa bats, torn paper owls (in
Art), and will make skeletons to decorate our room festively for our
Halloween party.
Math
In addition to continuing to work on basic math concepts, the children have
been learning about 3D geometric shapes and their properties (how many edges
and corners, and whether they can stack, slide and/or roll). In conjunction
with bringing pumpkins back from the field trip, the children weighed and
measured their pumpkins. The children are now also beginning to match
numbers to sets and learning what to add two sets together. After
Thanksgiving we will be introducing money (first with pennies and nickels)
and the children will be practicing using coins to purchase candy and make
change at our "Legend of the Candy Cane" store during December.
Thanks for all of your support on the field trip, taking pictures, preparing
projects at home (many more to come), and working in the classroom
Mrs. Walsh