Picture Day and Yearbooks

Tomorrow (Tuesday, February 23) is Spring Picture Day.  If you would like to choose a special background for your child's photos, be sure to return the picture form tomorrow.  Everyone will get his/her picture taken, regardless.  Kindergarten usually gets pictures take bright and early, first thing, however due to some scheduling conflicts due to other grade levels and field trips, our class will not be getting our pictures taken until 1:00.  Please be sure to still send gym shoes as we will go to PE in the afternoon; even in our pretty dresses!

Also, if you plan on ordering a CR Hanna yearbook, order forms and money are due by Friday, Feb 26.

Any questions, please let me know.

Thank you!

T + H = TH

Today we learned about the two sounds that T and H make when they are together in a word and how the TH sound is different from the sound that F makes.  I try to get the kids to visualize what their mouths do for each sound they want.  In "three" the th is "unvoiced" or "airy" and the tongue comes out between the teeth and between the lips.  In the word "the" the TH is "voiced" an the tongue only comes out between the teeth.  In "fox"  the tongue stays in and the top teeth rest on the bottom lip.  If your tongue doesn't come out, it is an F; if it does come out, it is a TH. See if your child can tell you what letter(s) these words start with: (they/them, thorn, football)




 

Happy Valentine's Day

We had a fabulous Valentine's Day celebration today with all of your wonderful treats and cards.  The kids were so excited to open their Valentines.  We had rotating centers among all 4 kindergarten classrooms today where we did some Valentine Bingo, Valentine Math, a Valentine person art project and made Valentine cards for loved ones.  It was an all around FAST and busy day, but also full of smiles and fun!  Monday is Presidents' Day so there is no school.  I will see all of these smiling faces again on Tuesday!  Have a wonderful weekend and Valentine's Day.

Number Bonds

As we work on addition and subtraction in Kindergarten, we work extensively with a mathematics chart called a "number bond".  Here is a number bond:

Each circle of the number bond has a name to describe its role in a bond:

The whole is the total amount and it is connected to each part- so two lines connect to the whole.

The parts are the two numbers that, when put together, equal the whole amount.

Notice that there is not a line connecting  part to part.

Here is a functioning number bond:

Here you can see that if you take the two parts (2 and 3) and put them together, it makes the whole (5) amount.

To begin, we might say 3 and 2 make 5.  Then, it leads us into 3 + 2 = 5.

The same applies to subtraction, except we cross off the number that is being taken away:

Here you can see that if you take the whole (5) and take away the part that is crossed out (3), the remaining part would be 2.

Eventually this leads us to writing 5 - 3 = 2

We use number bonds daily and you will start to see them coming home on homework.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

100th Day/Baggie Books/Box Tops

We are officially 100 days smarter today!  Our entire day revolved around the number 100 today.  We made 100 day hats, sorted our 100 day objects, counted to 100, wrote to 100, thought of 100 words we know, dreamed of what to buy with $100, imagined what we'd look like at 100 years old, walked 100 steps, jumped and ran for 100 seconds, read 100's day books and magically changed 100 pennies into $1.00 (it was pretty amazing)!  We had fun and look forward to the 75 days left.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) you will see a new kind of baggie book coming home.  These are easy readers at an independent level for your child.  He/she should be able to read most of the story to you!  I have tried to start each student at an appropriate level that will feel very comfortable to read and easily boost confidence.  If you notice that your child's books are too hard (child is super frustrated and is missing more than 3-5 words per page) or WAY too easy, feel free to let me know and we can try a different level.  This is a great time to reassure your child that he/she has learned so much and you are so proud of the fact that they are reading!  It is a BIG deal!!!!!

Mrs. Begley is having a box top contest for the Super Bowl.  If you have box tops at home, write your child's name on the back AND class code KE and send them in.  We will go down and let your student put the box tops in a can for whichever team they predict will win the Super Bowl this upcoming weekend.  Then, next week, one winning team box top will be chosen from each grade level for a prize.