Week of January 27, 2020

Groundhog Day

    Groundhog’s Day is Sunday! Will he or will he not see his shadow? Regardless, we live in Vermont... we will more than likely have more than six more weeks of winter. But the children are very excited about the prospect of a groundhog predicting the weather. I am sure all of the children would like to catch a glimpse of Punxsutawney Phil on the Sunday news.

  

Theme Time

       This week we continued our work with the water cycle. Check out the song that the children have been singing about the water cycle.

       Today we spent the day focusing on Groundhog Day. The children read stories about the special day, played a math game and learned some facts about groundhogs.

Reader’s Workshop

   This week we continued our work on asking questions before, during and after reading books. The children have learned that asking good questions helps to build our schema. Has your child used the word ‘schema’ at home yet. They have really enjoyed using this grownup word in the classroom. I have overheard a few children talking to each other beginning their sentence with “Hey, I have schema about that!”

Writer’s Workshop

   This week the children finished up their opinion writing. They are bringing home their packet of opinion writing today. Please take a moment to check out their writing. They worked really hard on this unit and are proud of their hard work.

S.O.S

Please, please, please...help your child learn to tie their shoes. We are taking a long time to get to the cafeteria after recess because I am having to tie 6 to 8 pairs of shoes. This is a skill all kindergartners should be working on in order to be independent with their self help skills. There are some great videos online to help teach children to tie their own shoes if that is helpful.Thank you for your help.

Morning Meeting

GREETING: Shoe Greeting

ACTIVITY: Hot Potato (counting game)

Fundations

This week we continued our focus on the formation of both capital and lower case letters as well as stretching and zapping words.

Math Lessons

      Our focus on addition and subtraction equations continued this week. The children are striving for accuracy when looking at the symbol in the equation to decide if they should add or subtract before coming up with their answer.

Outdoor Clothing

Please remember to send your child with all of his/her outdoor clothing every day. Although it may be really cold, we try to get out every day as long as it is at least 10 degrees outside. Please send your child with warm mittens/gloves. We spend a lot of time playing with the snow and the tiny knit mittens/gloves just don't keep their little hands warm.