Hello families!

Over the next three weeks our Guidance Counselor, Ms. Perkins, will focus her guidance class lessons on the FCPS Family Life Education (FLE) kindergarten standards.  Topics covered will be family words, families are special, and good touch, bad touch.  

Here are the standards related to each topic:

K.4  Students will recognize that everyone is a member of a family and identify members of their individual families.

K.2  Students will identify positive ways in which family members and friends show love, affection, respect, and appreciation for each other. 

K.3  Students will identify elements of good and bad touches by others. 

The opt out form for these lessons went home at the beginning of the school year.  If you have opted your student out of any of these lessons, Ms. Perkins is aware and will make alternate plans for them.  A letter will also go home in your child’s Tuesday Folder on March 8th with more information from FCPS on how to follow up at home. 

Thank you for all you do!

Kindergarten Team

Language Arts

What are we learning?

• We will begin our next Language Arts unit: Poetry! In this unit, students will learn about the characteristics of a poem through read alouds  and even get the opportunity to write some poetry of their own!

   

• Readers notice that poems can look, sound, and feel different from other texts.
• Readers notice that poems can look, sound, and feel different from other texts.
• Poets can write about anything.  
  • Poets can make a list poem. 
  • Poems can be stories. 
  • Poems can be songs. 
• Poets us their five senses to describe a picture in their mind. 

Home/School Connection

• Pick some fun and silly poems to read to your student before going to bed or when you read together. 
• When reading the poems, give your student the opportunity to share what makes the poem different from a regular story. 
• Have fun with it! Try acting out the poem as a family; assign parts of the poem to each member!
• Try writing a list poem! Students can list and draw pictures that belong with the topic they choose. 
  • Example: Color Poems

• Blue (Title)

                              The Ocean

                              Blueberries

                              Shoes

                              Blue Bird

                              The Sky

Math

What are we learning?

We will begin our next unit, money. In this unit we will…

• Understand and recognize the attributes of a penny, a nickel, a dime, and a quarter
• Identify the number of pennies equivalent to a nickel
• Identify the number of pennies equivalent to a dime
• Identify the number of pennies equivalent to a quarter

Home/School Connection

• Allow students to count pennies
• Give students some pennies and a dimes, asking them to show you how many pennies equal the dime
• Give students some pennies and a nickel, asking them to show you how many pennies equal the nickel
• Give students some pennies and a quarter, asking them to show you how many pennies equal the quarter
• Set up a “store” at home, giving students some pennies and telling them “It costs 3 cents for this pencil” or “it costs 27 cents for the toy” and have students count out money to practice “buying” objects

Science/Social Studies

What are we learning?

• The student will use simple maps and globes to identify places and objects.
• The student will understand that maps and globes model different perspectives.
• The student will describe how the location, climate, and physical surroundings of a community affect the way people live, including their food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and recreation.
• The student will learn that water occurs in different phases.
• The student will learn that water flows downhill.

Home/School Connection

• Have your child create a map of someplace they are familiar with (bedroom, neighborhood, etc.) that includes a map legend with symbols.
• Have your child create/draw/label an “aerial view” of their home, school, or other building in their local community.
• Put a cup of water in the freezer, what happens?  Now put that cup of water in front of a window, what happens?

Class Compliments

• Miss Matthews and Mrs. Dillon would like to shout-out their class for the perseverance they have shown with their small moment writing.  Way to go Kindergarten and keep up the amazing work you are doing!
• Mrs. Bender and Mrs. Santoro would like to acknowledge the class on their amazing writing work. Each student worked so hard to bring their small moment stories to life! Not only were they adding details to the illustrations, but they were also able to create a story that really embodied the characteristics of a small moment. Keep up the great work!
• Ms. Powers and Mrs. T are so proud of our amazing friends! They have been practicing being amazing role models in the hallway! We make sure that we are showing calm bodies and listening ears to show we care about other friends learning!
• Ms. Johnson and Mrs. B’s class embraced the Positivity Project trait of enthusiasm last week! They enthusiastically illustrated their small moment books.  They enthusiastically wrote detailed sentences for their small moment stories.  They enthusiastically measured many classroom items length, weight, and capacity.  They also always show their enthusiasm for GoNoodle videos on our brain breaks!

Positivity Project

What are we learning?

• Positivity Project (P2) for the week of March 7-11 is social intelligence
• Positivity Project (P2) for the week of March 14-18 is love of learning

Home/School Connection

• To help instill a love of learning and social intelligence, ask for your child’s opinion.  It empowers children and models respectful listening. Try to avoid correcting, even if you know the opinion is wrong.  Learning is about the journey, not a “correct” answer. 

Important Upcoming Dates

• March 24: Mind in the Making Parent Workshop with Jen Blum.   These sessions will be virtual, and you can see the flyer for topics .To learn more, visit the Mind in the Making website or email [email protected]. Click here to sign up for the workshops.
• March 31: End of 3rd quarter, 2 hour early release
• March 31: PTO Basketball challenge at South Lakes High School, 5:30pm
• April 1: Teacher Workday, no school for students
• April 4-8: Spring Break

Click here to see what students are learning in Specials!