Kindergarten

Mrs. Neafcy’s Newsletter

September 22, 2020

What are we learning this week?

Religion – The Garden is Closed

Literacy – books Building Dad and What Makes a Family?, rhyming words, nouns for people, classify and categorize family words, main idea, read with expression

Words to Know –  I

Letters – Ii, Jj, Kk, Ll, Mm

Writing – Narrative Writing – writing first and last name

Math – Ordering numbers through 5, Chapter 1 wrap-up

Art – Colors

Second Step – Focusing Attention

Science – Introduction to science/trees

Social Studies – Who Am I?

Upcoming Events

• Tuesday, September 22 – Curriculum Night
• Tuesday, September 22 – Book Orders Due
• Friday, October 2 – Free Dress
• Tuesday, October 6 – School Pictures
• Wednesday, October 7 – 11:45 Dismiss – Teacher’s Conference
• Thursday and Friday, October 8 and 9 – No School – Teacher’s Conference
• Friday, October 16 – Free Dress

Wow! We survived our first full week of school! The class is beginning to get into a routine, which is nice. The days are still long, and it is more difficult to focus in the afternoons, which is normal for this age and this time of the year. All of the kiddos are doing a great job transitioning into Kindergarten.

This week I am adding the final two literacy centers: Listen to Reading and Word Work. Yesterday, we pulled out the iPads and used the QR scanner to access audio files for books in our classroom. This will be available to the children daily. Later this week, I will introduce Word Work where we will spend time working with sight words, phonics skills, and word sorts. It will take a while before we are ready for me to do small guided reading groups during center time, but we will get there! There is so much to learn!

Curriculum Night – Curriculum Night is tonight! Below are the two links for the evening. We will begin at 7:00 on Mrs. Okabayashi’s Zoom link, and then at 7:25, I will open my Zoom room. Attached to this email is the Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines, but a copy of it, along with a schedule and handwriting sample are in the yellow envelopes. At 7:25, I will give a presentation on the curriculum that is used in Kindergarten, and then there will be time to answer questions, etc. Curriculum Night will end at 8:15. This is an evening for general questions about curriculum, routines, and procedures. If you have specific questions about your child, please reach out to me separately. For those of you with more than one child at Hope, you can enter and leave the room as needed. I will also record the Zoom meeting and have it available upon request.

School Pictures – Individual school pictures will be taken on Tuesday, October 6. School uniforms are not required for school pictures, and students may come to school in “classy” dress. Free dress guidelines do need to be observed. There is more information in today’s yellow envelope.

iPads – iPads were passed out to the students yesterday. In the yellow envelope is the iPad agreement. There is one page that you will need to sign and return to school. As of now, the iPads will remain at school because we will use them daily in our literacy centers. If we do need to go to remote learning, the iPads will be sent home with the students to be used for instruction and submitting assignments.