Kindergarten News

Ms. Boudreau
October 2021

We have transitioned from reading aloud Fairy Tales to a series of books called The
Magic Tree House. In each book, brother and sister, Jack and Annie, travel to a different place
and time. We spend the first week of the theme building background knowledge about the
time, period and culture that Jack and Annie will visit in the story. In the second and third
weeks of the theme, we cover one chapter of the story each day. Children will read and write
about Jack and Annie as well as learn science and social studies concepts related to the
geographic location and the featured time period. Children will also use their background
knowledge and the story events to dramatize the story in a center. This week, we have begun
reading The Knight at Dawn.
PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT read ahead in the books at home as I like for the
reading magic to unfold here in Kindergarten without a child saying, “I already know what
happens.” It is so much fun to uncover Jack and Annie’s adventures together as a class. We
will read books 1 through 12 (sometimes 13) by the time the school year ends.

What Are We Doing In School ?

Story Lab with Chapter Books:
Chapter books are used in Kindergarten to increase the complexity of play and encourage
play that continues and evolves over time. The Magic Tree House series was chosen because
of the interesting storylines, complex plots and ties to nonfiction topics.
Our Month In School:
What’s happening in small groups:
We are making props to help us dramatize. We will learn about castles, moats, the castle
feast, jesters and minstrels. We are dramatizing roles from the era and acting out events
from our Magic Tree House story. We are using an ever expanding vocabulary in our play.

Reading & Writing Skills that are being practiced:

During background weeks, we will write facts about what we have learned. Throughout the
other weeks, we will use our writing skills to write chapter summaries. When we finish a Magic
Tree House story, each child will bring home his/her own version of the book.

Fundations Skills that are being practiced:

We are starting the month by learning some vowel sounds. We have learned i, u, and o! We
will continue to introduce more consonants and vowels this month- please refer to the
parent sheets that come home each Monday that explain what our Fundations focus for the
week will entail. Each day the students enjoy practicing their sounds with Mama Echo and
Baby Echo! They enjoy skywriting and practicing letter formation on their white boards. We
also enjoy engaging in word-play, finding letters on our magnet boards, reading sentence
frames, and hearing stories. The handwriting is looking great- any practice at home is
greatly appreciated too!

Math Skills that are being practiced:

The Common Core Math Standards ask kindergarten programs to spend more time on
number sense – representing and comparing numbers, than any other topic in Kindergarten.
Therefore, we will practice recognizing equal quantities in different arrangements and
understanding the concept of one more. We have been focusing on counting, identifying and
representing the numbers 0-20. We will work on counting to larger numbers and to learn
more shape names. Patterns are also introduced and practiced at this time of the year.

Dates to Remember:
-Tuesday,October 5 - Professional Development Early Release -12:45
-Monday, October 11 - Columbus Day – No School
-Wednesday, October 20 - PTO Meeting - 6:30
- Wednesday, October 27th and Thursday, October 28th. Parent-Teacher Conferences Early
Release - 12:45
EXTENSIONS AT HOME: (Have students…)
* Count everything.
* Talk about who has more or less of something and how you know.
* Practice writing your name starting with an uppercase letter and the rest
lowercase letters.
*Read your writing to someone at home.

Wish List Items:

*Crayola Markers - 8 packs
*Crayola Crayons - 8 packs
*Baby Wipes
*Cleaning Wipes