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Mrs. Cardullo's Corner |
Dear Parents, 
This is going to be an exciting month for kindergarten. We will be celebrating Groundhog Day with some great activities and books about shadows. We will be learning about shadows and how they are made.
What will it be? Six more weeks of winter or an early spring?
You can have some fun with this at home by making shapes in front of a flashlight with your hand.
We are approaching the 100th day of kindergarten. If we don't see any unusual sightings of snowflakes, our 100th day of school will be on Wednesday, February 8, 2012. We have a great day planned. You have already received your notice about bringing in 100 small items on the 100th day where we will be counting and counting and counting! Some suggestions are Cheerios, m&m's, toothpicks, straws, mini marshmallows, cotton balls, buttons, pennies, marbles, or any small item you can think of. We will be making things, working on 100 piece puzzles, and taking 100 steps to see where it leads us.
For Valentine's Day, we will be making Valentine Day butterflies incorporating our recent study of symmetry, how the butterfly should look the same on both sides. Also, I will be sending home a list of first names which you may already have in order for valentine cards if you wish to do so. Please do not send in any food.
Also, the kindergarten will be having some special visitors on February 17, 2012 from the Audubon Society who will be taking us on a Sensory Safari. We want to thank the PTG for making this event possible.
Reading: In reading we are continuing to work on our letter and sounds and have been working hard on early readers and tapping out sounds to form three letter words. We will also be working on sequencing activities where we use familiar stories and pictures to do retellings. The children are having a great deal of fun with this and will be building short sequences, as well as building a story where each child builds upon another's idea to sequence our own story. We have already started our brainstorming process and the story will be mapped out, just like real authors, in sequence. Later we will bind it for our very own book where we are both the authors and illustrators. Please remember to practice the skills mentioned on their report cards and review their word rings often. Have them try to build simple sentences with their words.
Math: In math, we are finishing our unit on numbers to ten and ordinals to the tenth place. To practice ordinals, line some small items up, and have your child find different places by asking them to find the seventh item or the ninth. You can also have them line them up in order by instructing them to put things first, second, third, and so on. Please remember all children are at a different place in their learning. Have them do what they can. Some children may only be able to identify a few ordinals, while others may be able to go further. This is the same for letters, numbers, and letter sounds. Use you report card information. It will be helpful in planning activities and what to work on.
We will soon be beginning our new unit in math which deals with measurement and comparing by size and weight. We will also be introducing the children to what estimation means. We will have a jar where the children will be able to write down how many items they think are in the jar, count the items, then discuss our estimates. This is something to try at home, remembering what numbers your child knows in order for them to feel successful on their estimations.
Continue to practice the formation of letters and numbers. Remember, each child is different, so practice what you feel is appropriate for your child. Some children continue to need to practice lower case letters, numbers through 5, while others may practice numbers beyond 10.
Continue to use numbers around the house, as well as number cards. A great game to play is called "Top It". Children play it with a deck of ordinary playing cards from which all the face cards and aces have been removed. This game is a lot like the game of "War" that many of us are familiar with. Cards are divided up evenly. Each player, without looking, places a card from the top of his pile on the table. The player who put the card representing the largest amount takes all of the cards in the center of the table. When the pile of cards are gone, accumulated cards are counted to determine the winner. This game helps children with numeral recognition and with the concept of more than and less than. Try it at home . . .it is fun!
Science: Our new unit will be "Animals Two by Two." It will be full of surprises! We won't be starting it until after vacation so that we can organize and prepare for our special visitors for this unit.
Special reminder: If you wish to volunteer in class, you will need a background check. Also, please contact Dr. Irving. She is conducting sessions on the importance of confidentiality.
Thank you for working with me to help your child learn. We could not do it without your help and support. Mrs. Cardullo
