Weekly News & Homework: August 19th-23rd

Weekly News: August 20-24

What a great first full week of school! We are having so much fun getting to know one another and adjusting to this crazy little thing called kindergarten :)

Thank you to all of the amazing parents who signed up to volunteer in our classroom. Our Friday Prep Parents and Fun Friday helpers have already started and our Monday-Thursday helpers will begin this week. If you did not sign up, but would still like to, please let me know and we will find a day that works for you! :) Please make sure you have your Megan's Law form completed in the office.

I am excited to announce our amazing room mom for the year, Joleen. Joleen is Teegan's mommy and I know that she will be such a wonderful Room Mom this year! She will be sending monthly ParentSquare updates, as well as helping in the classroom with Friday prep and centers, special events/parties we will have throughout the year, and joining us on field trips.
Joleen's contact information is: (909)800-7198.

Thank you, Joleen! We are looking forward to a great year with you!

On Friday your child took his/her first spelling sentence assessment. These will come home on Monday. Please take some time to go over the spelling sentence with your student and reinforce any errors your child may have made. We will have a spelling sentence assessment each Friday that will include our current and often previous spelling words. We are looking for correct spelling, capitalization, and punctuation as well as appropriate spacing between words. We understand this will take time, but with reinforcement and practice they will all achieve this standard. Your students are off to a great start!!

On Friday your child also did a Daily Math paper. We complete these papers Monday through Thursday together and on Fridays, we use the Daily Math as a quick “check in” assessment for the math standards covered during the week. You will see a star recorded on this paper if your child has completed all sections of this paper correctly. During the week we work together to complete the problems and reinforce these standards with hands on activities during our math rounds. On Fridays your child will have the opportunity to complete this activity on their own to demonstrate mastery or needed support of a standard. Again, please take a few minutes to go over any missed problems when these come home. Thank you!!

Save the Date for our Parent Workshop on Thursday, September 5th from 6:00-7:00. We will meet in our classroom and go over all of our kindergarten standards/goals for the year, exactly what they mean, and strategies for how you can help your child with these goals at home.

There is no school on Monday, September 2nd due to the Labor Day holiday. Enjoy the time off with your families!

What Are We Learning This Week?:

Sight Words: is, the, me, or.

Letters:i, t, h, m, o, r, p

Letter Team: th (we are learning that TH has two different sounds - a hard sound, like in MOTHER and THE, and a soft sound, like in THUMB and WITH).

Word Family: ap (cap, tap, rap, etc.)

Reading: We are learning the vowels! Ask your child about our special vowel song and what sounds the vowels can make! We are learning that each vowel can make 2 sounds - short and long. We are also learning the parts of a book, including title, author, illustrator, and title page. You can help at home by having your child point to each part of the book before you read. We are writing/reading a new class book this week titled, "More Shapes". We will learn various shapes and colors as we practice writing and reading our sight words of the week. Students will continue pointing to the words as they read, and we will learn a few more reading strategies, including, "Get your mouth ready for the first sound" and "Know the Letter Sounds".

Writing: We are learning that writing is just telling on paper. Some of us are "telling" stories using just pictures. Some of us are already starting to tell with words and sentences. No matter where we are at, we are ALL learning that our ABC Sound Chart helps us to identify sounds/letters in words. A sound chart was sent home on card stock paper last week. This week, we are also practicing writing our name with an uppercase ONLY at the beginning. Please reinforce this at home.

Math: We will practice number identification, number writing, days of the week, months of the year, and shapes. We will also focus on identifying what number comes next without having to go back to start counting at 1. In class, we call this "Counting On" and "Popcorn Counting". For example, if I ask a student to count on from the number 7, I would like them to say "8, 9, 10" and the numbers just pop out of our brain like popcorn.

Leadership: The first few weeks of school, we really talk about having a growth mindset and how to help our brain grow, even when something is really hard. We read books about how mistakes help you grow, how to be prepared at school, to try to be the best we can be, about our feelings, and how to NOT give up! We even wrote a Class Promise together that we will say every morning:

Fact 1: We are smart!

Fact 2: We can get it!

Fact 3: We belong here!

And 4: We won't forget it!

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO READ THE ENTIRE HOMEWORK POST BELOW!!!!

Homework: August 19-23

Flashcards: Please make flashcards for our sight words (is, the, me, or), letters of the week (i, t, h, m, o, r, p) our letter team of the week (th) and our word family (ap - cap, tap, rap, etc.) Study these flashcards every day. Have your child read the word, spell the word, read the word. I would suggest making a little flashcard box that you can add to throughout the year and reading through those flashcards a few times a day. Make a game of it. Put the sight word CD on and sing and dance to the sight words. We will have a Sentence Test on our sight words every Friday. A sentence test means we will be asking your child to write a sentence that we give them using our sight words of the week. We will not only be looking for correct spelling of our sight words, but also for an uppercase at the beginning, spaces between words, a proper punctuation at the end. It may be a good idea to have a practice Sentence Test with your child on Thursday night.

Phonemic Awareness: Please work with your child on the following Phonemic Awareness skills: rhyming, blending, segmenting, syllables, beginning/middle/ending sounds, and adding, changing and deleting sounds in words. Please see our Phonemic Awareness tab for ideas and tips.

Reading: Reading at home is SO IMPORTANT! In a few short weeks, your child will be bringing home little books that we have been reading in class to read at home for YOU! Reading to your child is also important. Children need to hear frequent fluent reading to become a reader themselves. This week, we are learning Parts of a Book - when reading with your child, have them point out the front cover, back cover, spine, title, author, illustrator, and title page. Part of reading homework is also Smarty Ants. Have your child play Smarty Ants every day on your computer or tablet. A paper was sent home at Back to School Night with log-in instructions. Another part of reading homework can be RAZ-KIDS.

Writing: Our writing homework will change throughout the year and may look different for each student since each student may be at a different place developmentally. I would like all students to practice writing your name with an uppercase only at the beginning. Practice writing your ABC's both uppercase and lowercase. Take a look at the ABC Writing Assessment that came home last week so you can see what your child needs to practice. You can also practice writing your sight words of the week in a short sentence. We are learning to start our letters at the TOP!

Math: Practice counting 1-30 or higher. Make number flashcards and have your child identify numbers out of order. Practice number writing - take a look at your child's number writing assessment that came home last week so you can see what needs to be practiced! Practice drawing shapes, identifying shapes, or even creating shapes out of play-dough and sticks. Ask your child to name different attributes of shapes. For example, "What shape has three sides?" or "How many vertices does a rectangle have?" Your child will also be bringing home "Daily Math" practice pages that we do every morning in class. Please take a moment to go over these practice pages to see if there is anything specific your child needs to work on. Math homework every week also includes Dreambox. Have your child play Dreambox on your computer or tablet every day. A paper was sent home at Back to School Night with log-in instructions. Our school code is X2we/inlandlcs and our class code is 33599.

QR Codes: Each week, these will be uploaded on ParentSquare. You can print these pages for your child to work on at home each week. One great idea is to put these pages in sheet protectors and add these pages into a binder for your child to refer to all year long.

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Mrs. Bobrink's Kindergarten Class