Reminders:

Please wash and return towel in a reuse bag and snow gear (when needed) in a separate bag. Thank you!  🙂

Wednesday, February 8: Kindergarten and First Grade Chapel, 9am

February 14: Valentine’s Day You may send in valentines for the class. We have 16 students. You do not need to write names in the to sections, but please have your child write his/her name on the from.

February 17-20: Winter Break (no school)

What We Are Learning:

Phonics: This week we look at letters. We saw that some are tall, some are short and some hang down. As we continue to work on handwriting, it is helpful to remember these features.

Word Wall: we added come to our wall that also includes: a, at, and, am, go, here, I, is, look, like, me, see, the, this, up, we. This week we wrote out our word wall words on a white board and I noticed the whole class suddenly became very interested in these words and found them in books, in other places around the room and noticed when people said them. This is such a great time of growth in kindergarten! I am excited to see the progress your children are making and the excitement in learning.

Writing: This week we worked on keeping our writing folders organized. Yes, we needed this lesson 🙂 We made a spot of finished writing and now have a spot for writing we are still working on. This simple task was so helpful for kids to understand they can keep working on writing and actually write the whole time. These are the little, but important lessons we have throughout the year in kindergarten-some straight academic, some social, some routine and procedure driven=all important.

Math: Our new unit is working on adding and subtracting. We are working on grouping objects to count and then add. This week we used pictures and materials to add. Next week we will work on take away (subtraction)

Bible: We read the story of Jesus and the little children. How special to know how much Jesus loved children and how children love with all their hearts.

Phonemic Awareness: We heard about long vowels and learned that long vowels say their name. We were able to follow up in a phonics lesson by sorting picture cards in long vowel groups.

I realized that I have not been keeping up well with pictures the last few weeks! I am hoping to get back into the routine. I was able to capture one of our friend Eden. She was up in lights this week. We enjoyed meeting Eden’s family and listening to a fun book.

From our ZCS Parent Partner Committee:

Reminders:

Please wash and return towel in a reuse bag and snow gear (when needed) in a separate bag. Thank you!  🙂

Kindergarten students will have report cards sent home in backpacks January 24.

Wednesday, February 8: Kindergarten and First Grade Chapel, 9am

February 17-20: Winter Break (no school)

What We Are Learning:

Math: We finished up our third unit this week. We have explored shapes in our environment and discovered how to make shapes.

Phonics: We focused on beginning and ending sounds this week. First we listen for the sound and then we figure out what letter makes that sound.

Handwriting: We are reviewing letter formation. This week we used small chalkboards to ensure we start at the correct spot. We worked on E, F, B and D. These letters all begin at the top.

Bible: We read about Jesus calling his disciples. We talked about what it would mean to be fishers of men.

Daily 5: I have been reading with children one and one this week. It is such a gift to have that time. It helps direct our focus on what to work on in our reading groups.

Writing Workshop: We are working really hard at writing out words. Our focus is always trying our best, thinking of what we want to write, saying it out loud slowly and writing it out. We are writing in pattern books this unit. The first two words on each page are the same and kids are working on writing the last word independently.

From our ZCS Parent Partner Committee:

Reminders:

Please wash and return towel in a reuse bag and snow gear (when needed) in a separate bag. Thank you!  🙂

Kindergarten students will have report cards coming out towards the end of January.

Monday, January 16: No School, Teacher PD

Wednesday, January 18: Mrs. Bronsink out for Language Arts meeting, Mrs. Wire subbing

Wednesday, January 18: Chapel 9:30am

Wednesday, February 8: Kindergarten and First Grade Chapel, 9am

February 17-20: Winter Break (no school)

What We Are Learning:

Math: This week we continued to explore shapes. We were challenged by working with a partner and only using a certain number of shapes to build something. I love seeing teamwork in this kind of challenge!

Phonics: We focused on ending sounds. Listening for the last sound in a word. This is another quick practice you can do at home or in the car. Say and word and ask your child what sound he/she hears at the end.

Word Wall: we added am to our wall.

Writing: We are working on pattern books. This week we worked on one book together for the first three pages and then the last two were completed with students trying on his/her own and then with some assistance from me or an assistant. The next writing workshop, students were able to work on 4 pages, first trying independently and then with the help of a teacher or assistant. Writing words is a lot of work! We always say the word slowly a few times. Then we figure out the sound we hear first and figure out what letter to write. We continue slowly throughout the word, checking our work. We are using sound spelling. Proper spelling with come later. This year we focus on sounds and spelling word wall words correctly.

Bible: We read about Jesus getting baptized by John!

From our ZCS Parent Partner Committee:

Reminders:

Please wash and return towel in a reuse bag and snow gear in a separate bag. Thank you! This week the snow was wet, but we stayed warm and mostly dry 🙂

Kindergarten students will have report cards coming out towards the end of January. Please watch the blue note in the next few weeks for instructions how to access them.

What We Are Learning:

This week we reviewed a lot of routines and procedures. We remembered how we raise our hands when we want a turn to talk. We remembered that we are quiet when someone else is talking. We reviewed how to talk nicely to our friends. This was a great way to ease back into being in school with 15 other kids after a nice Christmas break.

We read several gingerbread man books! It was fun to compare the stories. We notice some similarities and some differences.

We used the gingerbread theme to review letters, numbers and a few word wall words.

We got out our classroom Bibles and read about Jesus as a little boy going to the temple. It brought a lot of smiles to have our Bibles open this week and look through other stories during quiet time and daily 5.