Reminders:

Thanks for sending in clean towels and reuse bags in on Mondays.

Thank you for sending in library books on Wednesdays

Half Day on Friday, October 7 *we will not use the front door for dismissal. Your child will be sent to their regular door or bus line.

What We Have Been Learning:

Phonemic Awareness: We continue to listen for rhymes, beginning and ending sounds and break apart words. This has been such good practice and I remind our class that this practice makes them better readers and writers.

Phonics: We focuses on rhymes this week. This is a fun activity to do at home or in the car. Say a word and ask your child to think of a rhyming word. I distinguish between real words and nonsense or silly words. Sometimes rhyming can be silly fun 🙂

Math: We were challenged with new ways to use our math tools. We wrapped up our first unit and will move on to unit 2 next week.

Read to Self: We continue to build our stamina for reading to self. This week we made it as high as 10 minutes! I would love to see a few consistent days of reading at least 10 minutes. Students read the words, read the pictures and retell the story.

Bible: We read the story of Adam and Eve and the fall. It is sad when we make mistakes and there are consequences. We are comforted that God forgives us and still loves us!

Working on My Book of Friends

During Read to Self each child find the best spot to read.

Reminders:

Thanks for sending in clean towels and reuse bags in on Mondays. *this week gym shoes if your child brought them home.

Thank you for sending in library books on Wednesdays.

Picture Day: Tuesday, September 27. Please send in order form on the 27th even if you are not ordering. *please keep in mind this is the time to order a yearbook.

What We Have Been Learning:

Phonemic Awareness: this week we began a new focus on phonemic awareness. You can read more about our curriculum in the email attachment I sent Friday.

Alphabet: Our alphabet review continued this week with O, P, Q, R and S. It is wonderful to see improved handwriting and letter recognition. We are making really long lists of words that begin with our letter of the day.

Bible: We finished our unit on creation. What an amazing, powerful and creative God we have!

Phonics: This week we had fun with our names. We traced and decorated our names. We noticed that some people have the same letters in their name. Some names are short and some are long.

Math: We used different tools (egg carton, counter page and five frame) to help count items and make sure we only say one number for each item.

We enjoyed a fun day the first day of fall learning a little about apples. We noticed they have many different colors of skin-just like us! We made an apple craft and taste tested 3 different apples: red delicious, granny smith and ambrosia. Ask your child which kind was his/her favorite.

We cuddled up with blankets and quilts on Q day and listened to the book “The Quilt Story.”

Mrs. Joustra picks out the best books to read to use in library!

Reminders:

Thanks for sending in clean towels and reuse bags in on Mondays. *this week gym shoes if your child brought them home.

Thank you for sending in library books on Wednesdays.

Picture Day: Tuesday, September 27. Please send in order form on the 27th even if you are not ordering. *please keep in mind this is the time to order a yearbook.

What We Have Been Learning:

Math: This week we saw that there could be different groups of the same quantity. Sometimes 3 objects are lined up straight, sometimes they are in a row or in a triangle shape. No matter the layout, it is still 3. We used problem solving to figure out how many pencils would be needed for different groups of friends. What do we do first? What we do next? How do we know if we have enough?

Reading: We are just beginning to establish our Daily 5 routine. This week we learned there are 3 ways to read a book. 1. read the pictures 2. retell the story 3. read the words. Students realized they are able to read! In the next few weeks we will build our stamina for independent reading.

Phonics: We explored letters this week. We compared shapes and sizes. Student works in groups to sort letters in unique ways. Student worked independently to sort letters that can be easily mixed up.

Bible: We wrapped up our unit on the fruit of the spirit. We then moved to our new unit on creation. We get our Bibles out each day and read one day at a time how God created our world. We are making large posters to hang up in the classroom to remember creation and God’s power.

Reminders:

Thanks for sending in clean towels and reuse bags in on Mondays.

Thank you for sending in library books on Wednesdays.

Friday, September 16-half day for students, teacher pd

What We Have Been Learning:

Math-we looked at groups of objects. Students can automatically recognize small groups of items in 2s and 3s. We also looked at larger groups to practice counting larger quantities. We used math centers to reinforce these skills.

Alphabet Review: We reviewed Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii practicing the sounds and letter formation.

Bible: We continue to learn the fruit of the spirit. This week we practiced kindness, goodness and faithfulness. We are faithful to God and His word and this inspires us to share his love with other through kind acts and words.

Phonics: We started phonics this week. I describe Phonics to the class as the time we focus on letters and sounds. This week we looked at the first letters in all of our names. We noticed some friends begin with the same letter and some of those letters sound a little different. We made a chart with the names of everyone in our class in alphabetical order.

MATH CENTERS

Reminders:

Labor Day weekend-no school Friday and Monday

*No parking in the bus loop at the front of school anytime (beginning of day, half day or end of day) Thank you!

Here is a link to our ZCS blue note. This provides information for the whole school. https://www.zcs.org/parents/blue-note/

Please note that September 8 parent meetings are NOT for young 5’s and kindergarten. We had ours before school started. 🙂

What We Have Been Learning:

Math: we explored some of our Math tools. We noticed things about connecting cubes, pattern blocks, two color counters and geo blocks. We will be using these tools and even more during math this year.

Letters: We continue to review the alphabet focusing on letter sounds and formation. This week we review B, C, D, and E. We have also been practicing the sign for letters. Here is the video I use. https://youtu.be/WP1blVh1ZQM

Bible: We continue to learn the fruit of the spirit. So far we have reflected on Love, Joy, Peace and Patience.  We also talked this week about Jesus as our friend. Your children had the most beautiful responses when I asked if Jesus was in our classroom…he is in us…he is in heaven preparing for us…he is in our hearts…he is in the Bible…we walk through him…he is everywhere. 

Social Studies: We are going to spend a little time getting to know our friends with a fun projects “My Book of Friends”. We learn our friends names and some of their favorite things.

EXPLORING MATH TOOLS

COLORING OUTSIDE

EXPLORING OUR KINDERGARTEN BIBLES

MRS. KOOP TOLD US THE BIBLE IS ONE OF HER FAVORITE BOOKS

EXPLORING MORE MATH TOOLS

WRITING B b OUTSIDE