Phew!  We made it through our first week of full time days and I’m so proud to see the boys and girls settling in to their new Kindie environment.  So far we have spent a good amount of time exploring our play centers in the classroom (e.g. the house center, block center, rice table, art center, and carpet toy center).  In Language Arts we began to learn about “clock letters” and practiced making o, c, and a in the air with our pointer fingers while we say their sounds.  We explored our personal book bins and are learning to build our stamina as we read to self.   In Math the children have been exploring a variety of manipulative in our math tubs and have also started working in their Math U See workbooks.   We have discussed our classroom rules and are trying to remember them as we go through the day.   As you can see, we have been very busy!

As we head into a new week I want to explain two new routines that we will be adding to the mix:

1. Special Helper – Each day one child will be my special helper for the day.  We will follow in first name alphabetical order.  On your child’s special helper day they will assist with the calendar routine, handing out supplies, leading our lineups etc.  The special helper also gets to do show and tell for the class.  You will know that your child will be the next day’s special helper because they will come home with a black show and tell bag.  Inside the bag is a duotang.  Turn to the page with your child’s name and you will see some guidelines to help your child chose their item.  We will begin our year with a letter-of-the-day focus.  So, our first show and tell will be an item starting with the letter A.  Please help your child think of three clues to write down so that the rest of the class can try to guess their item. Fun stuff!

2.  We will also be starting our A-Z bible memory verses this week.  Your child will come home with their verse page on Tuesday and will be tested on the following Tuesday in class.  We will practise the verse every day at school but  a regular routine of home review is definitely beneficial.  This is such a great opportunity for your child to begin to hide God’s word in their heart!  Thanks for your support with this routine.

I am looking forward to another wonderful week of Kindergarten.  Please feel free to talk to me if you have any questions or comments about how things are going.

Bless you!

Diane Morris