Language Arts

We are finishing up the 42 sounds we have learned in Jolly Phonics and are finishing the capital letters in Handwriting without Tears. We will move on to lower case letters after the break and will continue practicing the sounds we have learned in Jolly Phonics. We have also been working with the beginning sounds in words; doing letter sorts, stamping booklets of matching beginning sounds, matching pictures of words that start with the same sound and filling in the beginning letter on pictures and words. We continue to work in small groups on reading skills and on writing.

Scholastic Book Clubs

Get your orders in now! We'll send a new one in next Friday, January 27th.

The Solar System

We began a study of the solar system when we came back from break. We have made glitter stars and recently began making papier-mache planets. We plan to hang them from the ceiling when we have finished covering them with tissue paper. We are also creating pictures of aliens and will do a writing project that dovetails with this. We've been reading stories, most recently Zathura, a story filled with black holes, reverse polarity gravity and alien spaceships. We'll read it again, as it was a lot of information to take in. We hope to build a solar system in the gym to allow the children to move as though they are the planets.

Read, Write and Draw

Every child was given a journal in January which they can now use for writing and drawing during rest time. We are also shifting the mid-morning recess to a time when children can look at books, listen to stories on headphones or work on paper and drawing activities. We do not go outside this time of year, as this recess is too short to put on snow clothes. We continue to have our half hour outdoor recess after lunch.

Measuring Shoes

We began a new unit in math in January by reading a story called Sylvia's Shoes. This led to children measuring their own feet and tracing their feet so they could measure each other's feet. We have been measuring lines and objects around the classroom as well. We try different "tools" for measuring, cubes and popsicle sticks being the most typical. We then moved on to weighing objects using cubes and teddy bear counters. We've also paused to practice writing numbers. We'll send home some practice sheets for your child to work on at home.

Holiday Activities

We were busy making cards and presents before the holidays. Our buddies were given a perler bead frame with the kindergartner's picture in it. We also read stories and played games like the dreidl game.

Shutesbury Sampler

The kindergartners were awesome spring peepers in the Shutesbury play. They made peeper hats in art and hopped across the stage, pausing to wave on a cue from the piano. A big thanks to the costume makers for our peeper shirts. Of course they were cute!