Campus News
Lower Division Newsletter August 28, 2009
Junior Kindergarten
We have had an awesome week in JK! We have spent the past week settling into our daily routines, learning our class rules, and making a lot of new friends. Language Arts Our theme this past week was “Welcome to School!” We read books about feelings, sharing, and making new friends. We also sang the alphabet song while pointing to the letters. Next week, we will be listening to “My Friend and I,” and “The Lion and the Mouse.” We will recite the Nursery Rhymes “Jack and Jill” and “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” The week of September 7th will be exploring a unit called, “Families & Community Workers.” We will be listening to the following stories: “Buzz,” “The Creaky Old Bed,” “Full, Full, Full of Love,” and “My Family.” We will meet our new Alpha friend “Sammy Seal” for the letter “S.” Show & Tell will be every Friday. Each week we will have a Language Arts letter of the week as we practice recognizing each letter and their sound. Please have your child find something small around the house. The item should fit in their backpack and begin with the letter “S.” We do not encourage toys. Our High Frequency Words (HFW) will be “I” and “See.” In handwriting (HWT), we have been tracing letters in sand, playing with play dough, and coloring to strengthen our fine motor skills. Next week we will be introducing “Matman” using big and small lines and big and little curves with wood pieces. These activities will develop body awareness, drawing, and counting skills. We will also continue to practice tracing and writing the letters of our names. The week of September 7th we will practice making the letter “L”. From now on we will have a new “HWT” letter each week. We will explain more at our Parents Night. Social Studies Our virtue for August is “Friendship.” We have talked about how to treat others the way we want to be treated. We also learned how to identify and recognize our different feelings. Next week, we will focus on our new virtue, “Goodness.” We will discuss demonstrating good social skills and roles people play in our school. The week of September 7th our goals will be to recognize what makes families alike, different, and unique. Science This past week we have been talking about what Science is, the tools of the trade, and how we explore.
Next week we will begin our unit on “My Body.” We will talk about our external body parts and even get our bodies traced! The week of September 7th we will focus on the positions and functions of our external body parts. Math This past week we focused on how numbers are used in our environment. Next week we will discuss position words and 3-D shapes. The week of September 7th we will compare the numbers of concrete objects to three and arrange and compare sets using one-to-one correspondence.
Senior Kindergarten
Language Arts We will begin the reading theme on friendship. We will read “All About Me” and “Let’s Be Friends.” Phonics will involve practice with blending and segmenting phonemes. Next week, children will focus on the two sounds of the letter Aa (long a and short a). Students will continue handwriting practice using proper letter formation, spacing, and writing on a line. They have already begun writing in journals, copying sentences and providing illustrations. Watch for your child to bring home the class “Super sack.” Instructions are inside the bag, and we hope that you have fun preparing your child to share what he/she chooses to bring to school. Science We will begin our study with What is Science? The children will brain storm ideas and illustrate them in their science journal. Math Students will become comfortable learning the routines associated with calendar math. The children will complete a Counting Book that they are currently working on to share with you. The book emphasizes proper number formation, number recognition, number words, color words, and beginning reading skills. Math centers will provide opportunity to work with size, shape, sequence of objects according to size, and counting with one-to-one correspondence. Virtues This month highlights the virtue of Goodness. Children will listen to many stories, including The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.