Mrs. Travis

 

    

Handwriting-I have found that most children come to school writing their names with uppercase letters.  Kindergarten is the year when we will ask them to form their names correctly.  We will show them how to begin their name with an uppercase letter and demonstrate how to make the rest of their letters in lowercase.  I would ask that you help us by modeling the correct formation at home.  Please don't expect that your child will make the transition overnight but we will begin the process early in the year so they will have many opportunities to practice the correct form. 

Math- Our big unit this month will be time.  We will then move on to 'money'.  The children will be introduced to the coins and their values.  During this unit I ask for each child  bring a zip lock bag to school with some real coins.  Please put your child's name on the bag and send the following coins in the bag:  10 pennies, 5 nickels, 5 dimes,  and 4 quarters.  The children will bring their money home at the end of the unit.

Science:  Our new Foss kit is "Fabric".  Chidren will learn how different fabrics are made and what raw materials are used.  Additionally, they will learn how different fabrics are utilized and how a fabric's characteristics make it useful for certain activities.

Personal Safety Information:  Please continue to review this information with your child.

  May Home Connection Project:  This month students may select to do a new telling about something having to do with either 'Fabric" or 'England'. 









Social Studies:  For the rest of the school year we will be studying England.  In June the children will have a real British Tea Party.  Children will be asked to research the kinds of food that are served at a 'High Tea', prepare a dish and bring it to share at our class High
Tea.  Students may dress up for the occasion!!  More information will be coming home soon.

Daily Activities
4 Cheeseburger-Extra Effort
    •     You have exceeded the basic expectation.
    •     You have gone beyond.
    •     You have shown you can apply what you have  learned to other areas.
3 Hamburger-You Got It!
    •     You have met the standards.
    •     You have followed directions.
    •     You have successfully completed assigned  work.
2 Meat Only-Keep Working
    •     You need more practice.
    •     Perhaps your work is messy or incomplete.
1 Plain Bun-Reteach
    •     You did not understand how to do assignment.
    •     You did not try to do the assignment.

Math Problem Solving
4 Cheeseburger
    •     Includes number sentence or equation
    •     Has accurate illustration
    •      Has correct answer
    •     Includes an explanation
3 Hamburger
    •     Has accurate illustration or explanation
    •     Has correct answer or partial number sentence  or equation
    •     Is understandable
2 Meat Only
    •     Has some illustration (illustration may be  unclear or inaccurate)
    •     Number sentence or equation may be incomplete  or inaccurate
    •     No proof of work (with words or numbers)
    •     Not clear or easy to understand
    •     Good attempt to solve the problem
1 Plain Bun
    •     Some attempt to illustrate
    •     No equation or number sentence
    •     Not clear or easy to understand
0 Empty Plate
    •     No attempt

                                                                               

Mrs. Travis

9:05-3:30

Library-Tuesday  2:30-3:15

Music-Wed. & Fri. 2:30-3:00

PE-Mon. 2:30-3:00, Thurs. 12:45-1:15

Computer Lab-Fri.  1:15-1:45


Children show off their creative wood sculptures.   This was the final project of our Foss Science unit on wood.  The children all started with the same seven pieces of wood.  Look what happens when you add your own ideas and details!  All of the sculptures are on display in our library.  Come by and take a look.

When children begin to write we encourage them to use "inventive" spelling. In class we call this "Guess and Go Spelling". We constantly encourage students to sound out and write what they hear. We want them to practice and use the phonetic elements they have learned this year. As children start to make the links between the sounds of spoken words and the letters of written words, they may write a whole word using one, two, or three letters. Sometimes children write words in their own unconventional way. They may use mainly consonants: 'down' may be written as 'dn', 'cage' may be 'kaj', 'people' is often written as 'pepl'. As kindergarten teachers we are thrilled when we see children take the risk to spell creatively.

Some children constantly ask adults to spell for them and we often have parents ask us what they should do when this happens at home. We believe that children will enjoy writing more (and therefore do it more often) if they are encouraged to put their thoughts down on paper without worrying about conventional spelling at this age. It is very important that children try to spell words they don't know when they are writing. If they do not have the chance to 'try' to spell using their phonetic background they will miss the opportunity to experience this new strategy. If children only use words which they know they can spell, they may never make a mistake, but they will not get the chance to become fluent writers. Therefore, when children write creatively in class, we will not be correcting their spelling or telling them how to spell a word.

We will give them lots of praise for using the letter sounds they have learned this year. A child may see a word correctly spelled on a chart or in a word bank and copy it correctly in their journal or story and that needs to be praised as a good strategy as well. We would encourage you to try a similar technique at home. Enjoy their inventive spelling. Celebrate it as a natural phase in their development.