September-Under the Sea
We are learning all about life in the ocean. We’ll be learning how to work in Literacy Centers and play centers with our new classmates and be introduced to our writing journals, classroom jobs, and material boxes. We will be practicing our fine motor skills, listening skills, and getting used to Kindergarten routines. We will also begin our Language Arts work with our Kindergarten Reading Series entitled, StoryTown. We’ll also work on counting, graphing, and number recognition to round out the month. At the end of the month, we will have an exciting Ocean Super Center Day!
October- –Apples and Pumpkins
We will be spend the first part of our month studying apples. We’ll learn where they grow, their parts, and some of the things you can make with apples. We’ll make apple pie/crisp with our 5th grade buddies—Yum! We’ll also compare apples and pumpkins; highlighting their differences and similarities as well as solve the Great Pumpkin Caper! Phonemic awareness activities and letter/sound correspondences will be our focus as well as counting, sorting, one to one correspondence, and patterning. We’ll also begin doing our Second Step Curriculum that focuses on Emotional Readiness skills—approximately 4 lessons/week.
November – Stories From Long Ago
We will be discussing pilgrims, Native Americans and the first Thanksgiving. We will create our own classroom tribe with symbolic medallions, clothing, and Native American feather ceremonies. Our read alouds will be a great variety of Native American Stories. We will work with pre-reading skills and write./respond to prompts in Big Book format. We will also make all of the food for and celebrate a Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast together.
December- Winter’s on its Way!
We will be working on reading strategies from our “Handy Hand” and math lessons that focus on patterns, data tables, fact families, and teen numbers. For this thematic study, we will be reading many stories about winter weather, winter clothing, winter activities, and the four seasons. We’ll continue to work in our independent writing journals as well as create our own Big Books. With our winter gear, we’ll focus on matching numerals to sets of objects. We’ll also study the holidays of Hanukah and Christmas—from their origin to the traditions celebrated today.
January- Mother Goose
We will begin our study of classical Mother Goose rhymes! Each day, our math and writing lessons will center around a Mother Goose character. Each child will also be assigned a Mother Goose rhyme to memorize, work with a partner to act out, and dress up like the poem’s characters. We will also be exploring different kinds of homes/shelters in various environments in our Social Studies/Science curriculums. We’ll discuss and learn about Martin Luther King Jr. We will also perform a Mother Goose Show for our families! We’ll also begin formal reading groups that the children will review at home with you! We’ll be ½ way done with Kindergarten and have a ½ way day math day!
February – Valentine’s Day and Presidents
We will be working on estimation, word problems, and money this month in Math. The children will learn to identify and name the penny and dime (as well as their individual values.) In guiding reading Groups, students will be applying reading strategies and move past being emergent readers. We will learn about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. We’ll also do lessons involving Valentine’s Day, Groundhog Day and our 100th day of Kindergarten!
March –Great Art Masterpieces
We’ll be studying the great Masters, their lifestyles, and their artistic creations.
We’ll create our own masterpieces using the same techniques of the 13 artists we’ll study! We will see some original works of Art on a trip to the Wadsworth Atheneum. We’ll close out this unit of study with your child being your docent at our grand Night at the Museum (in April) to showcase the children’s masterpieces. In our Language Arts curriculum, we’ll be focusing on using only lower case letters in writing prompts and increasing fluency in reading. In math, we’ll be working on solving story problems, part/part/part/whole equations, and number sentences. March really is a Masterpiece!
April/May – Mexico
Away we go to Mexico! We’ll fly on Norfeldt Airlines to Mexico City and enjoy a 4 week trip to Mexico! While in “Mexico”, we’ll study Mexican culture, traditions, and the geography of the country. We’ll learn about the difference between a map and a globe. We’ll also be able to find the United States and Mexico on them. After dining on Mexican cuisine and making our piñata and maracas, we’ll have our own Cinco de Mayo celebration. Muy Bien!!
May/June – Fairy Tales
To end our Kindergarten year, we’ll study classical Fairy Tales. All of our reading and writing will focus on the many and varied fairy tales we’ll be studying. We’ll learn the 7 basic elements of fairy tales and chart out each of the tales on a graphic organizer on the Smart Board. In reading, our goals will be to improve fluency and use a multitude of strategies including: skip it-read on-go back-plug it in, using context clues, looking for chunks in the words, and applying sight word knowledge. In Math, we’ll be putting all of our skills together to complete daily story problems involving counting on, addition, subtraction, equal parts of a whole, estimation and number recognition. Lastly, all Kindergarten students will be performing the “Three Piggy Opera.”
Over the Summer…….on your way to First Grade
Practice counting…..the First Grade teachers would like you to be able to count to 100
Practice reading……visit your Public Library and read , read, and read!!! Practice reading fluently (without so many starts and stops) Can you read with a finger slide or by using your eyes only?
Practice your writing…….keep a summer journal by making one entry each day. It will keep your writing skills fine-tuned over the summer!
Lastly, stay active and play outside with friends!
