Thank you to Amy who took the time to type up all of the words that our children will be learning to write and read over the next several years.  You can use both of these documents together with your child’s Spelling Notebook to help them learn the words that I introduce in class each week.  Please check the Spelling Notebook each Monday for red letters and coach your child to make the necessary corrections.  Second, you will have them do a practice dictation (kind of like a pre-test) so that you can see which words from last week and this week that they still need to work on.  Finally, use the attachments to select activities that you want your child to do during the week to learn those words.  your child will complete a spelling dictation each week in class.  You will find these instructions referred to on the revised assignment sheet in your child’s HW folder today.

In His Service,

Selena Meza

Kindergarten Teacher

Spelling Practice Suggestions 

Ayers Word List 

On Tuesdays, you are welcome to open your family Bible or a children’s bible to read the passage that corresponds with the Bible Timeline color page.  Although the 4^th time through the Big Picture Story Bible may seem overly repetitive to you as the reader, I can assure you that your child enjoys the predictability of the story.  Our Kindergarteners are developing a keen sense of the big picture of God’s story from cover to cover.

Spalding Language Arts (Spelling, Reading and Writing)

We have now turned a corner as we have started the second semester of Kindergarten.  We are now putting to use all of the various components of the Spalding Program that we have been learning over the last three sessions.  The children continue to prize their new Spelling notebooks.  We will be recording new words each day in class on either the left or the right hand side of the page.  Please review your child’s spelling list in the Spelling notebook each week.  If there are words in red, please coach your child to make those corrections.  This Spelling Notebook is used for reference, sort of like a dictionary.  It is not intended for spelling practice or copywork.  Please use another piece of paper, if you choose to have your child do some additional copywork.  At the request of several parents, I have included two optional copywork assignments in your child’s HW folder on Fridays (spelling words on the front and memory verse on the back).  I have also included a sample of what the Written Phonogram Review (WPR) should look like for your reference, it is not meant to be used as a copywork page (see goldenrod page in HW folder).  All of the children will continue to work on consistently using correct letter formation.  To clarify, the time to work on this is when your child is writing the alphabet across the top of the first line on the WPR.  Coach them threw the process of starting the letter at the correct position on the clock.  Consistent instruction, praise and correction are the key to mastery.  We do not memorize spelling rules, but your child will begin learning how to identify a variety of the 29 spelling rules as they apply to the words that we are learning.  We are currently learning several words that are examples of spelling rule #4.  In class, we identify it by asking, “does this have a vowel at the end of a word or end of a syllable?”  Spelling rule # 4 teaches us that if a vowel is found at the end of a word or syllable, it makes it say it’s name or second sound.  We identify it by underlining the vowel and writing a note after the word (r.4).

When you are reviewing the phonograms assigned this week, if you are unsure about the pronunciation, please refer to the recordings on the Kindergarten_Session 4 CD (available upon request) or you can listen to it directly from the school’s website under the teaching resources at the bottom of the hybrid page (see under the list of teachers names).  Please use the following clues so that your child can clearly identify which phonogram matches the sound:

  You are invited to attend the Spring three part series of Spalding Parent Training the last Tuesday of the month from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. on February 28^th, March 27^th and April 24^th at Beacon Hill in Room 1.  Bring your phonogram cards with you.

Q&A:
A Parent recently asked:  ”I wanted to incorporate some independent study into our homeschool day because ‘student X’ needs to learn how to do some things on her own.  A friend suggested ‘Ready for the Code’, but I thought I would check with you first.  Do you do independent study and if so…what do you use?  Help ”

Answer: Great question!  I use three options for independent work at my house:  (1) reading & looking at books time, (2) creating a variety of activities that a child can choose from that develop fine motor skills, and (3) Kumon workbooks.

(1)- create a box or basket with a variety of easy readers, board books and picture books for your child to browse through and read.  I set aside a specific time of the day when they can enjoy these books that is separate from our family storytime.  One could use a timer or music to determine how much time a child should spend there.  Don’t allow the child to determine when she is done, you determine the amount of time, which will increase and decrease based on your discretion.  The contents of the basket can change with the seasons and holidays.

(2)- select a variety of activities on which you have already provided
enough explicit, direct instruction that your child can complete the task without your assistance, including set-up and clean-up.  There are so many choices, but a few of our favorites are: lacing cards, stringing beads (various sizes), play dough, handwriting without tears wood pieces and mat work, puzzles, matching games of all sorts, building our collections (rocks, corks, bottle caps, pets in a jar), matching clothespins to color or word cards, magnetic letter tiles to spell words, making little notes for family and friends with index cards, envelopes and stencils, and many other options. Children should only take out one box or bag at a time.

(3)- Kumon creates workbooks for young kids beginning age 2-3-4 on a variety of topics including: mazes, coloring, cutting, number games, letter formation, etc.  They have the best sequence for young children and use an incremental approach just like our other curricula.

Your friend gave you a good recommendation.  ”Ready for the Code” is a good option. There is a ton of really good choices. These are my recommendations because they work well in our home.  I hope this helps.

In His Service,

Selena

• In Session 3, we will be introducing one new phonogram each day and then constantly reviewing the previously introduced phonograms both orally (OPR) and in writing (WPR) each day.  Your child will begin to read the primer books, easy readers and other short stories that will be found in your child’s HW folder each week.  Please record all of these in your child’s permanent reading log.  This is what we have been working towards.  Enjoy it!  It is our intention to introduce the 70 phonograms in Kindergarten, but your child will continue to work towards mastery of these new sounds over the next few years.

Important Dates on the school calendar:

• Friday, December 2^nd we will be traveling to the California Science Center (in Los Angeles) for an all day field trip. 
• Tuesday, December 6^th is our school-wide Christmas Program and Cookie Exchange beginning at 6 p.m.  Our class is performing a few songs and are expected to arrive early for rehearsal that night by 5:30 p.m. dressed in Students should be dressed in holiday clothes. Boys- a collared shirt or sweater and dockers is appropriate. Girls- holiday dress or blouse/skirt is appropriate.  Fellowship and dessert will follow. Please bring a dessert to feed 8-12 people. We will provide coffee and hot chocolate.
• Friday, December 13^th we will traveling to a local convalescent hospital to share our Christmas Program with whoever will listen J
• Friday, December 16^th we will enjoy a Christmas Celebration Feast together in Kindergarten.  We are open to suggestions.  Please email Kelly Terrell and Selena Meza with your ideas.
• Christmas Vacation begins on 12/19/2011 and school resumes on Monday, January 9, 2012.  Enjoy J

In His Service, 

Selena Meza

Kindergarten Teacher

Spalding Language Arts- All of the first 26 phonograms have now been introduced to the class and we will spend this week reviewing what we have already learned before introducing any new ones.  Also, we learned that nouns are persons, places and things.  Please see the extra optional grammar activities page in your child’s HW folder to reinforce the idea.

Math- Oral Assessment #4 the report page and instructions are in your child’s HW folder.  Please return it to me on Wed.   This week we have been working on recognizing, writing and sequencing the numerals 0-20 in a variety of ways.  Keep reviewing both math fact sets +1 and +2 this week.

Blessing Cards-  At Beacon Hill, teachers reward students by punching holes in the child’s blessing card, which they use to redeem for a treat and small trinkets once a month in the student store.  You are your child’s first teacher and I want you to know that you can use it at home as well.  As a reference, I usually reward students with one punch a day for completing all assignments, and add more when a child is found being a “blessing” to others by sharing, serving and/or helping others without a perceived reward.

In His Service,

Selena

• Spalding Language Arts-  You will find a copy of an oral assessment that was completed on Friday to see how many of the Phonograms 1-26 that your child was able to recall in your child’s HW folder.  The ones that are circled, they were unable to clearly recall.  The last four have not been formally introduced, but I wanted to see how many knew them.  We will be introducing the last four letters this week:  w, x, y (has four sounds) and z.   After review each of the first 26 phonograms aloud in an Oral Phonogram Review (OPR), you are choosing the 15 of the 26 phonograms that your child needs to master for the Written Phonogram Review (WPR).  You will also find a copy of a book that is easily created by folding on the lines.  Encourage your child to color it and read it several times, blending the sounds. 

• Math -  I have introduced the +2 math facts this week, using linking cubes.  Your child has learned how to read the number sentences and how to build them using linking cubes.  I encourage you to review the math facts out of order.  Keep shuffling the deck of flash cards so that they don’t begin to memorize them in any specific order.  Don’t forget to review the previously learned math facts (+1).  Make it an outside activity, use a ball to bounce between the two of you while you review them, sing them to a tune of your choosing.  There are so many ways to “review” previously learned facts.

• Bible Stories -  Please use the story on the “Life of Jesus” from Mrs. Chamberlain this week to supplement your reading of the Big Picture Story Bible.

• Shurley Grammar Jingles – You will find the Shurley Grammar Jingles on the Lower Grammar school hybrid Resources page of the school website.  This week we will introduce the verb jingle.

• Christmas Program -  Our school’s Christmas Program is scheduled for Tuesday, December 6^th at 6:00 p.m.  I am open to suggestions for how we want the Kindergarten class to participate.  We need to choose and practice often in Kinder Club.

Enjoy,

 Selena

• Literature- Talon Ingram did a great job as our first “Storyteller” this week.  After listening to the same story at least four times,The Frog Prince, he was able to recall so many details of the story.  Having internalized many of the phrases and words that were used in the original Brother’s Grim version of the story, he told the story and delighted his audience.  Each week another student will have a turn to retell the story that they learned that week.  He was so happy to wear his storyteller’s crown home. 

• Spalding Language Arts- We are in a regular habit now of practicing the phonograms orally (OPR) and in writing (WPR) everyday at home and in school.  The children are learning a new letter each day throughout session 2.  We will soon be writing words in our Spalding notebooks and learning how to mark them (underline and number certain letters).  I sent home two primer readers this week.  One is for you to read aloud to your child, Learning About Horses, and another one for them to begin reading aloud to you, Pan and the Mad Man.  I’ve already read Pan and the Mad Man aloud once in class this week and briefly discussed the notion of Greek gods.  They should know that Pan is a character that is not real, but one that the Greek people many years ago believed had the same powers as a god and protected shepherds.  He is half man and half goat.

• Saxon Math-  I completed the oral assessment #3 yesterday, and confirmed that almost all of our Kindergarteners are able to recognize all of the numbers up to 10 (out of order) and put them in order from smallest to largest.  Please continue to review the +1 math facts with your child this week.  We completed our first math facts timed test on Friday and learned how to score it.  This is a procedure that we are introducing in Kindergarten, but do not expect mastery of.  The children will complete these timed math tests each year at Beacon Hill.  Most of the children are becoming more and more independent when it is time to complete the math meeting strip and the math meeting book.  This week I introduced ordinal numbers (1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, etc.) and all of the children mastered the concept required by Saxon K (up to 4^th position), so we kept going up to 10^th position.  This group of children are so bright and eager to learn!  Check it out yourself by having your child create a line of 10 of something (pennies, stuffed animals, legos, etc.) and ask them to count them with ordinal numbers (1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, etc.) and see how far they can go on their own.  It is exciting to watch them show what they know.

• Art/Drawing-  Ed Emberly’s Drawing Book of Animals will be our textbook in Art for Session 2.  I enclosed a copy of the first two pages in your child’s HW folder.  In it he provides step by step instructions on how to draw animals by using just the simplest of features (lines, dots, letters, etc.).  Please encourage your child to make drawings of whatever they want and to include some ants, worms, snakes, caterpillars, ladybugs, etc. in them.  It is great fun!

•  Nature Study - Do you have a future entomologist in your family? An entomologist is a scientist who specializes in insects. Ants fascinate kids and a small ant colony is easily made and maintained by young children.  This project is ideal for kindergarteners and early primary grade students.  With parental help, a four year old will be able to manage this as well.  An ant jar is a good home schooling science project.  Students will learn about ants environmental requirements, food needs and of course, will be able to observe the colony behavior in a controlled way. Simple as is may be, this ant jar provides training in observation that helps develop a questioning mind.

Making the Ant Jar

You will need:

• 1 quart or larger clear glass jar
• 1 8 – 10 inch pie plate
• 1 2 inch deep pan, larger than the pie pan, to hold water
• Soil
• Pencil
• String
• Water
• Ants

 Directions: Fill the both the jar and the pie plate about two-thirds full with soil. Set the jar into the bowl of soil.  Settle the jar into the soil so that it is level and stable.  Place the pie plate into the larger pan and add at least 1 inch of water to the pan.  The water acts as a moat to keep your ants from escaping.  If you use a quart jar, you can substitute a soup bowl for the pie plate and a 10 inch pie plate for the water pan.

Don’t cover the jar.  Ants are curious and active creatures who will appreciate being able to wander over the top of the jar and into the surrounding dirt. They may crawl over the edge of the pie plate, but when they hit the moat, they will turn back to the soil mound. Ants won’t cross water, so you don’t have to be concerned about an ant invasion in your kitchen!  Your child will probably enjoy watching the ants test the water with their antennae, rather like how we dip a toe into the pool to test the water temperature.

Enjoy,

Selena