St.Luke Full Day Kindergarten!

Thanks for your support and prayers during Catholic Schools Week!  We had such a wonderful week celebrating ST. Luke!

Reminders: 

Pennies for Patients.  Please send in your donations with your child.  We can make a difference!

 Saint Valentine's Day is on February 14th.  Please have your child prepare a valentine for each classmate.  Please have your child address each valentine.  This will be great handwriting practice and they will be excited to deliver them to their friends. I have downloaded a list of names to the website for your reference. Please have your child bring in a gift bag or shoe box to carry their valentines home in.  Your child is welcome to decorate the bag or box if they would like to.    The valentines and bag/box should be brought in not later than February 14th. 

We will be having a small celebration on this day. If you are interested in helping by leading a craft, bringing in cookies or juice boxes, please email me and let me know. 

What to expect this week: 

Religion:

We will be learning that friends are special gifts from God and that we should show our friends God's love.  We will also learn that Saints are God's friends and our friends too.  Our prayer table will hold a wrapped gift.  We will take pictures of each acting out 'friendship'.  During the week I will recognize students who demonstrate friendship.  I will have slips of paper that say "I saw (child's name) sharing God's love today" and I will place the slip of paper in the gift box.  We will also create Friendship Books to display in our reading zone.

Language Arts:

Phonics-This week we will enjoy moving to the music while we practice hearing the consonants in the initial position and final position.  We will also practice the short a sound while learning to blend the word families that end in -at (hat, mat), -ag (wag, bag), -ap (cap, tap), and -ab (cab, dab).  Your child  will create a word wallet with word family words.  Also in phonics we have begun learning consonant digraphs .  We call them 'hunks and chunks' when we chant them.  The first three digraphs we will be practicing are 'sh', 'ch', and 'th' in the initial position.

Reading Comprehension- This week we will pick up where we left off on our Mercer Mayer author study.  The fifth grade students have created book trailers to highlight many of the books we will read.  Each day we will vote on which book we would like to read by voting with snowballs. The students will make a Little Critter paper doll and enjoy dressing the character to go along with the book we are reading.  We will also introduce a listening center in the classroom.  I have purchased six cd players and will highlight various Mercer Mayer books for the students listening enjoyment.  After listening to the books, the students will complete a simple graphic organizer listing the title, the characters and what they liked about the book and what they would change if they could. 

Writing- This week the students will create a diamond poem comparing two different animals.  The students will work with a friend during this activity.  I have checked out fifty nonfiction books on animals from the library and will display them in our reading zone.  The children will choose an animal and write nouns, verbs and adjectives to create a poem on the computer.  The children will be  painting a picture of the animal using tempera paints.  This project will be on display in the hallway when it is completed.  Come by and check it out!

Also in writing the children will write in their Big Red Binders everyday.  I am encouraging the children to write their ideas in sentences.  The children are encouraged to use the word wall, phonics dance and inventive spelling (what are all the sounds I hear) to write the words.  Their best is the best!  We are Confident Kindergartners!

Reading- This week we will begin "Just Right" Readers Workshop.  The students will have a variety of books to that are their level to read independently.  Some of the books are from their book baggies and others are new.  I will be working each day with small groups of readers and also working with student's one on one with reading.  Your child will bring home books in his/her book baggie.  Please enjoy reading with your child everyday.  I will be replacing your child's 'worn out' book baggies this week and next.  I am so glad they are being used!

Math

We will begin our measurement chapter this week.  The students will be introduced to the terms: measure, length, compare and estimate this week.  We will measure with snap cubes, paper clips and even a template of our own foot!  We will measure, compare and describe length in numbers.

Health

We will begin our Dental Health Unit.  This week we will create a wiggly tooth and lost tooth chart.  Next week we will also have a visit from our school nurse to discuss ways to prevent tooth decay.

Social Studies

Our social studies lessons go hand in hand with our religion lessons this week on friendship!  We will also be using our classroom globe to locate where our favorite saints lived.

Science

Mrs. Brust and I will be working with the students in the science lab to discover how the an object blocks the sun to create a shadow.