Mrs. Sheryl Walsh

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October 23, 2009

Parents often ask why we (KDG teachers) don't give traditional homework and 
want to know what they can do with their children at home to practice what 
they are learning or working on in school.  The following suggestions are 
specific to what we are doing at this point in time:

Language Arts:  
- letter recognition (capital and lower case)
- if children know most letters by sight, help them associate the letters 
  with the sounds they make and see if children can come up with words that 
  begin with the letters (we have begun with the letter Mm, and the next 
  three letters we will focus on will be Aa, Pp and Ss)
- encourage your child to practice writing his/her name, especially using a 
  capital letter at the beginning and then ALL lower case letters

Math:
- reinforce the sequence of the days of the week and months of the year; help 
  your child associate certain months with certain holidays or other special 
  times; help familiarize them with the meaning of "yesterday" and "tomorrow"
- number recognition and matching to sets of objects, as well as writing 
  numbers
- sorting by different attributes (color, shape, size)
- recognizing and extending patterns (MANY of the children have difficulty in 
  this area)

Strengthening Fine Motor Coordination:
- cutting with scissors
- using tweezers to pick up small objects
- lacing cards or stringing beads
- squeezing a "squishy" ball
- kneading dough, clay, Playdough

Social Skills/Behavior:
- emphasize manners, both in general ("please", "thank you", "excuse me", 
  waiting your turn to speak and listening when others are speaking) and 
  table manners (don't talk with food in your mouth, chew with your mouth 
  closed, etc.)
- encourage your children to include others, especially if they already had 
  friends in the class when school began; a great way to do this is to try to 
  have play dates with a variety of children in the class rather than 
  encouraging a "best friends" mentality at this early age
- Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, Citizenship - 
  the big one we are really working hard on at this time is RESPECT (for each
  other's personal space and belongings, for teachers and other adults, for 
  classroom books and games)

Religion:
- Making prayer an integral part of your child's day, especially on the 
  weekend when s/he is not in school, will go a long way toward fostering 
  his/her faith and prayer life.
- The children know a brief Morning Offering ("Good Morning, Jesus; today is 
  for you.  Bless all I think, all I say, and all I do.  Bless all those who 
  love me too.  Amen") as well as the Guardian Angel prayer and the Glory 
  Be.  They are also familiar with the Our Father and the Hail Mary (we say 
  one or the other as a school each morning).  We also do not eat snack or 
  lunch without first saying the Prayer Before Meals ("Grace").
- We are VERY focused on "how" we pray - hands folded, standing or sitting 
  straight and still (not leaning on tables or moving around the room), 
  facing the crucifix in the classroom, and doing NOTHING else with our 
  bodies.  I am pretty strict about this and the children have responded 
  beautifully, for the most part.

I'm sure I'm missing something really IMPORTANT (maybe not), but if someone 
reminds me of something I'll just add it later.

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Mrs. Sheryl Walsh

Homework