Learning Lots!

We have gotten most of our routines and rules perfected, so we were able to begin our academic instruction this week. Our letter of the week is L. We learned a song about a special friend, "Larry Lion." He loves lemon drops and lollipops. He even stars in his own DVD and sings his special song. After Larry Lion performs, Mr. Pencil teaches us how to write the letter L. By the end of the week, we expect that each student will be able to recognize the letter L, both upper and lowercase, and say the sound this letter makes. We've also begun talking about the alphabet. The children should be able to tell you that there are 26 letters in our alphabet. We sing a great song that teaches all the letters and sounds of the alphabet. We've also learned that A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y are vowels. We sang a funny song about a cow who likes to sing about vowels, but she likes to sing, "A, E, I, O, MOO, and sometimes Y.

We also began math instruction. Each day, we pass out a name tag to each child with his/her name on it. The children identify how many nametags I have left. This shows them how many children are absent. Then we count how many children are here and record it on our chart. We've also been exploring pattern blocks, geo blocks, and snap cubes. The children have been discussing the ways that they interact with them. Some children make patterns, others make designs. We will do lots of exploring with these materials involving sorting, counting, and making patterns.

Something VERY exciting happened today! We have been at school now for 10 days. Zero the Hero visited our classroom and brought us zero treats. (Fruit Loops) Ask your child to tell you about Zero. We hope he will visit again on another 0 day.

Please remember to help your child practice writing his/her name at home, if he/she is still having difficulty. Let us know if you need some handwriting paper.

Please continue to encourage your child to follow the rules and be a good listener at school. Our first behavior celebration will at the end of the month and those who've pulled 5 sticks or more this month will be unable to participate. No one has missed yet, so we hope this continues.

We hope EVERYONE will join us for Curriculum Night at 7:00 on August 21st. Mrs. Sirmans and I will be discussing the Kindergarten curriculum, our daily schedule, passing out Sight Word Boxes, and helping you to understand what a day in Kindergarten is like. Mrs. Sirmans and I really enjoy this night, so we hope that you will plan to be here.

Bye for now!