January 7, 2008

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Dear Parents,

Happy New Year and welcome back to school! January is filled with the excitement of beginning a new year, the possibility of snow, and the celebration of reading month. The joy of reading is a wonderful gift that we can share with our children. Our school is encouraging children to become readers who love to read. We encourage you to take part in the Family Reading Project mentioned in the January NewsPouch.

Monday marks the beginning of our new unit, Winter. We will investigate the changes that occur throughout our world this time of year, including changes in temperature, changes in trees, and changes in wildlife.

Listed below is our integrated language arts (ILA) content:

Week #1 Jan. 7	Here It's Winter	Mr. Kk	here, who
Week #2 Jan. 14	On a Cold, Cold Day		in, give
Week #3 Jan. 22	I Love Snow		that
Week #4 Jan. 28	The Mitten	Ff	this
Week #4 Feb. 4	Paper Party	Cc	they

Ask your child to tell you about each of these big books as they are read in class. Your child will participate in rereading these books daily with the class, as well as reading them independently.

We will focus on the following ILA outcomes:

• Use prior knowledge to make and support a prediction (a smart guess) about our big books
• Define the setting as the place or time a story or poem happens
• Practice segmenting, blending, and stretch spelling words
• Write from left to right across the page, and return to the left on subsequent lines
• Use a Writers’ Checklist before, during, and after writing to guide writing
• Write about things we know and learn
• Read what we write as we go along
• Create, write, and draw a story about a person, place, or thing (character); identify the place where the story happens (setting)
• Follow appropriate audience behavior to show respect for peer authors; offer compliments to peer authors
• Meet 4 new letters and apply their sounds in context; write the letters in proper Zaner-Bloser style letter formation (Kk, Rr, Ff, Cc)
• Identify, read, and write sight words in context (here, who, in, give, that, this, and they)

Our Songs for this unit include:

• Theme Song: Flying South
• Movement Song: Building a Snowman
• Old Favorite: Frosty the Snowman

Math we will work on the following processes and skills:

Prepare for and celebrate the 100th Day of School
• Number and Numeration
  • Practice one-to-one counting
  • Recognize and write numbers
  • Compare and order numbers
  • Read 2-digit numbers
  • Represent 2-digit numbers with manipulatives
  • Represent 2-digit numbers as groups of tens and ones
  • Use ordinal numbers to describe a sequence of events
  • Think about the combinations of digits used to write numbers
  • Recognize and find equivalent names for numbers
  • Use calculators to count up and back
  • Skip count by 5s
  • Use fingers to represent groups of 5
• Operations and Computation
  • Model and solve subtraction number stories using manipulatives
  • Make up subtraction number stories
  • Recognize “take away” situations as subtraction
  • Use concrete materials and pictures to represent and solve addition and subtraction stories
  • Identify addition and subtraction stories
  • Use addition and subtraction clues
• Measurement and Reference Frames
  • Sequence daily events and describe when events occur
  • Measure with nonstandard “feet”
  • Practice measuring techniques
  • Measure with standard and nonstandard units
  • Understand the need for standard measurement units
• Geometry
  • Identify circles, squares, triangles, and rectangles
• Patterns
  • Learn about the (-) symbol
  • Explore attribute blocks
  • Sort blocks according to different attributes
  • Figure out and apply sorting rules
  • Use the (+), (-), and (=) symbols in the context of addition and subtraction number stories
  • Copy and extend a visual pattern that is not color based
  • Create and describe a visual pattern that is not color based
  • Use multiple attributes to find and describe objects
  • Apply sorting rules
  • Identify (+), (-), (=), and ON/C keys on the calculator
  • Find patterns in counts of 5

Our thematic unit block (social studies) outcomes are:

• Where we live, winter is the time of year when it is cold.
• In winter, when it is cold, deciduous trees are dormant.
• Living things respond to change (seasons, temperature).
  • People are affected by cold weather by what they wear and the activities they do.
  • Animals seek food and shelter from winter trees.
• People use trees to meet their needs; many products come from trees.
• There are interesting and beautiful patterns in the world around us.

We encourage interested authors to take advantage of the Jarrettsville Elementary School Publishing Company. Remember to let us know when your child loses teeth so that they will be included in the online Tooth Graph. Please continue to practice the following concepts with your child:

• Write first and last names on all homework papers before beginning the assignment. Please use a pencil to complete homework assignments unless directions state otherwise. For tracing activities, a highlighter works well.
• Recite address and phone number.
• Tie shoes, and zip and button clothing.
• Read sight words; create sight word sentences.

You can contribute to your child’s school success by checking homework, reading theme-related books together, working on related projects and crafts at home, playing board games, listening attentively as your child talks about school activities, and involving him or her in experiences that reinforce our Winter lessons. Please send photos of your child participating in theme-related activities for inclusion in the Winter Photo Album.

Does your career or hobby relate to our current theme? Consider sharing what you know with us by visiting our classroom as a guest speaker or planning a theme-related lesson or hands-on project. We’d love to have you join us.

We encourage you to sign up for the eSchoolnewsletter by visiting www.eschoolnewsletter.com. It will provide you with Harford County Public School e-mail announcements as they become available.

Our Valentine’s Day Party will be held Thursday, February 14th, from 9:15 – 11:30. To prepare for this event, each child will need to bring an empty tissue box to school. Please label the box with your child’s name and send it to school as it becomes available. We will decorate the tissue boxes to create mailboxes for our Valentine card exchange. A list of classmates’ names is attached. Please send your child’s Valentine’s Day cards to school February 11th – 13th. Several parent and grandparent volunteers are needed to make our Valentine’s Day Party a success. Your Room Parent will contact you soon regarding your involvement in the party. Please remember that donated baked goods must be commercially produced and packaged, according to HCPS directives. Consider sending a light lunch with your child on February 14th, as we will be enjoying refreshments throughout our morning schedule.

We hope you enjoyed a quality holiday celebration with your family. As we work toward regaining a classroom routine, we struggle with the excitement and anticipation of snow days. An irregular kindergarten schedule creates challenges for both the teacher and the students. We appreciate your willingness to support what is being taught in the classroom by working with your child at home. Your efforts are apparent. Keep up the good work and buckle down for a long, cold winter! Please remember that our daily Opening Activities begin at 8:50 A.M. Thank you.

The Kindergarten Team thanks you for your continued support!

Sincerely,