Dear Grown-Ups, 

Happy New year! Welcome to 2022! We hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday break, while it was a little longer than anticipated, we hope it brought you happiness! We are so excited to begin 2022 with our kindergarten friends! As we trudge into our winter season, please remember that we do go outside on cold days and it is vital that students are properly clothed for the elements. Please take an extra moment to continue to practice with your child on how to get ready to go outside.  Here are some steps to help:

1. First, put on your coat and zip or button it up.
2. Next, put on your hat and/or scarf.
3. Finally, put on your gloves.

Thank you in advance for your support in this matter.  If you are in need of a winter coat or have any other questions or concerns as always reach out to your child’s teacher. 

The Kindergarten Team

Language Arts

What are we learning?

• Readers ask questions about the text to check what they know and to learn new information. 
• Readers begin to think about others’ ideas. 
• Readers talk about nonfiction books to o Share a discovery. 
  • Share a reaction. 
  • Teach someone new information.
• Writers will create “How to” books
  • Students will choose a topic, plan, draft, edit and publish a Nonfiction writing piece that will teach the readers how to do something.

Home/School Connection

• When reading Nonfiction, stop occasionally and ask the student what they see in the picture. What do they notice? What does the author want you to learn? 
• Sight Word Practice: Continue to practice reading and writing these words at home!
  • a
  • the
  • I
  • see
  • can 
  • am
  • look 
  • at
  • me
  • said
  • like 
  • we
  • is 
  • here
• Start incorporating “How to” writing vocabulary into everyday activities
  • Encourage using details when orally sharing. 
  • Cook something together and have them draw the different steps. 

• Example: Getting Ready For School

  First, I put on my clothes.

  Next, I brush my teeth.

  Then, I eat breakfast. 

  Last, I grab my backpack and leave for school.

Math

What are we learning?

We will be beginning our next math unit, composing and decomposing. In this unit we will…

• Develop an understanding of numbers by counting and comparing sets of objects
• Understand part-whole relationships for numbers up to 5

Home/School Connection

When working on this unit at home, you can ask students to…

• Show five on your fingers
• Show 5 in another way, using 2 hands to show 5 (3 and 2)
• Show numbers to five on your fingers
• Collect items from around the house, asking them to put them in groups that make a number to five
• Clean up 5 (or another number) of toys and then put them into two bins, how many would go in bin 1 and how many in bin 2?

Science/Social Studies

What are we learning?

• Students will learn about magnetism and its effects.
• Students will learn about useful applications of magnetism.
• Students will learn about Martin Luther King, Jr. and his impacts.

Home/School Connection

• Go on a magnet hunt around your home.  Did you find any magnets?
• Take a magnet and find out what it sticks to or doesn’t stick to around your house.  What do you notice?
• MLK wanted all people to be treated fairly and kindly.  Do a random act of kindness for a neighbor, friend or family member in his honor.

Class Compliments

• Mrs. Bender and Mrs. Santoro would like to say how very excited we are to start 2022 with the class! We have seen so much hard work and progress and can’t wait to see what is to come!
• Ms. Johnson and Mrs. B are excited to hear about what everyone did in the snow! ❄⛄ We missed you all!
• Miss Matthews and Mrs. Dillon want to wish all of Kindergarten a Happy New Year🎉!  We are looking forward to an amazing 2022 with all of our Terraset Tigers🧡🖤🐯!
• Welcome back! Happy New Year! Ms. Powers and Mrs. T are so excited to have our friends back in school! We will have to start getting used to saying our date with 2022!

Social Emotional/Positivity Project

• Positivity Project (P2) for the week of January 11- 15 is prudence
• Positivity Project (P2) for the week of January 18-22  is perseverance

Home/School Connection

• To help teach children perseverance, praise their efforts.  Here are some sayings to to use with your child:
  • “I believe in you!”, “Tell me about what you are doing.”, “What is hard about this?”, “Trying new things can be hard.”, “I’m proud of you.”, “What you are feeling is normal.”, “ You are learning/growing!” “ I think you are brave.”
•  Huggtopus joined our classroom to teach your child about the feelings: silly, frustrated, excited, and proud. Huggtopus (or Huggs) is our Kimochis® Character who is strong and affectionate, but she sometimes gets a little carried away with her big, friendly personality. She might hug too tightly or play too roughly, which upsets her friends. This can be confusing and frustrating to Huggs because she doesn’t know why her friends say, “Don’t bother me.” With Huggtopus, your child is learning to read social cues, such as facial expressions, body language, and sounds from peers. 
• Common Language/Skill “Not now” signal: A nonverbal strategy to show children that they are interrupting. Put your pointer finger by your ear between you and your child. Do not make eye contact. Look and respond when you are ready to talk.

Important Upcoming Dates

• January 13 and January 20: Mind in the Making Parent Workshop with Jen Blum.   These sessions will be virtual, and you can see the flyer for exact dates.To learn more, visit the Mind in the Making website or email [email protected]. Click here to sign up for the workshops.
• January 17: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - no school
• January 20:  End of 2nd quarter, 2 hour early release
• January 21 & 24: Teacher work days

Click here to see what students are learning in Specials!