Families,

Can you believe the first full month of school is complete! The children are falling into the routine of things and have made many new friends. We are excited for the month of October as we begin our first science unit and have our Letterland Parade to celebrate the completion of our Letterland Quick Dash.

Curriculum Connections

Literacy Comprehension

• We will continue to learn about the roles of the author and illustrator.
• The students will identify the characters (who) and setting (place) in a story.
• The students will tell and sequence events in a story using the words first, next, then, last.
• The students will make connections to stories. What does it make them think of? Have they ever seen, done, or experienced anything similar?
• We will also use text to enrich and increase background knowledge and content in various content areas.

Phonemic Awareness and Phonics

• We will continue to practice listening for rhyming words, isolating beginning and ending sounds, blending syllables to say a word, and breaking compound words into syllables.
• We have begun blending words/word parts (syllables) together to make larger words and more. Ex. out-side is outside
• -We will begin focusing on letters more in depth the week of September 29th.

Writing/Fine Motor

• Building fine motor skills/hand strength
• Correct pencil, crayon and scissors grip
• Name writing with only the first letter as a capital.
• We will begin by focusing on correct letter formation.
• The students will complete directed drawings using various lines and shapes to help build fine motor skills and self-confidence with illustrations.
• They will respond to stories and other texts by drawing, labeling, and writing or dictating to an adult.

Math

• We have begun our unit on Understanding Numbers and Quantities. Students will be practicing various counting strategies, numeral writing, and rote counting to 20. Please refer to the parent math letter that was sent home recently. If your child requires differentiation, your child will share that information with you.
• The students will also continue sorting, counting and recording how many, and then ordering the groups in number order. Ex: I have 6 squares, 4 triangles, and 2 circles. They would place the group of circles first, then square, then triangles. Counting and Cardinality is more complex than you may think. Please visit this link to learn all about it.

Science

• We have explored what science is and what a scientist looks like. We began our unit on Matter and Interactions. In this unit students will use their 5 senses to observe matter/objects in order to describe the objects.
• They will collect information on physical properties of objects including size, color, shape, texture, weight and flexibility and tell about the data (which group has more or less or if they are equal.
• The students will use appropriate vocabulary to describe the matter/objects- large, small, round, bumpy, rough, smooth, heavy, light, stiff, bendable etc. to describe objects.
• Students will explore the various characteristics of materials such as wood, metal, paper, cloth and how this will impact how the materials is used. Ex. You would not want to use a fork made out of paper. Students describe how materials may or may not be useful in different situations based on the material’s characteristics. Ex. the flexibility of rubber is useful in rain boots but is not useful when building a bridge.

Parent Support

A large part of kindergarten is learning to explain your thinking and reasoning. The students are learning new vocabulary in texts/reading materials, as well as, academic vocabulary. The students are encouraged to use this vocabulary at school. Below is a list of some of the academic vocabulary your child has learned or will be learning in October. Some of these words have hand gestures associated with them. Ask your child to tell you about them.

Parents can help kindergarteners build academic vocabulary by reading aloud daily, having meaningful conversations, incorporating new words into everyday activities, playing word games, creating a print-rich environment with labeled objects, and encouraging writing and drawing to connect words with experiences.

• Author - Person/people who wrote the words of a text
• Illustrator- Person/people who did the pictures or took the photographs in a text
• Setting — Place a story happens
• Measurement — Measuring is a way of finding out how big something is by comparing it to something else. If something is longer or shorter, taller or shorter, heavier or lighter.
• Height — How tall or short something is.
• Length — How long or short something is.
• Weight — How heavy or light something is.
• Attributes/characteristics — Words we use to describe a person, place, or thing. Ex. fuzzy, soft, blue, etc.
• Sort- To put things into groups on how they are alike/the same.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to your child’s teacher if you have questions or concerns.

Mrs. Carter-  ccarter2@wcpss.net

Ms. Ellis- mellis2@wcpss.net

Ms. Mills- lmills@wcpss.net