Teacher: Ms. L. Haas

TERM SUMMARY November 2010

Name: Teacher: Ms. L. Haas Grade: Kindergarten

The focus for Kindergarten this term has been on establishing and learning about expectations, rules and procedures in both our classroom and the larger school setting.

Our daily routine always starts with singing Oh Canada and announcements. Our calendar activities assist students to learn concepts such as: the days of the week, months and seasons. Identification, reporting and graphing of weather are additional activities. Welcome songs and poems promote vocabulary growth, rhythm and movement. The Kindergarten students have already established a few favourite songs such as “Skateboard Rider”, “Apples and Bananas”, “Took A Bath In A Washing Machine” and “Going On A Bear Hunt”.

The ‘leader of the day’ helps the students to identify classmates’ and their own name. Students practice identifying colours, letters and counting. When students share and have the other students guess what is in the mystery box, the leader is encouraged to call upon classmates by their name and speak in complete sentences. This is a very exciting time for students. I encourage parents to send only one special item and to help your child practice saying their three clues. The leader of the day is always listed on the Kindergarten calendar.

Students have worked to improve fine motor skills during craft time while tracing, colouring and cutting. As well, proper pencil grip is strongly encouraged at all times. Students practice the correct letter formation while writing their alphabet letters.

Kindergarten students will study one colour each month. They will look at items that are naturally that colour, will play with coloured playdough and will look for items around the room or at ones they have brought to share for the color being focused on. Students will print the colour words, color items with the colour and chant colour poems. So far, the students have learned about the colors red and orange.

The students will be introduced to 3-4 letters a month. They are introduced to both the lower and upper case letters and their proper formation. They are encouraged to bring items from home that start with the letters we are working on, so that they can contribute when we write experience charts. When introducing the letters, students are always taught the letter sound before the letter name. When students learn a letter, they are told a story and given an action to help them remember the sound. 1 TERM SUMMARY Continued November 2010 Name: Teacher: Ms. L. Haas Grade: Kindergarten

They listen for the sound in words represented by pictures and objects within the classroom. Additional sheets in their home learning books are a great way for students to show parents what they have learned and will provide further practice and reinforcement at home. At this point, Kindergarten students should be able to identify the name and sounds of the letters s, a, t, p, i, and n.

The Kindergarten reading books consist of short poems that correspond to students’ daily learning. Students at this age have a great memory and quickly learn to chant the poems from memory. Students are encouraged to point to words as they say them. This assists them to see each word and the spaces between words. As students learn more sounds/letters they will have a good start on tracking as they read.

In Math, Kindergarten students have sorted and looked at characteristics of collections. They have examined patterns and have measured lengths of leaves. We have talked about the concepts: shortest and longest, biggest and smallest.

In Science, we have studied leaves and pumpkins.

In Social, our main focus has been on rules, getting along with, and respecting each other, and working together as a group.

In Health, we have discussed healthy snacks, and the proper way to cough and sneeze to protect others.

In Physical Education, we have practiced and established routines for going to and from the gym, and routines while in the gym. Students have learned about winning and losing in a respectful manner, as well as co-operating while we play games such as Musical Chairs, Colour tag and the Animal Game. We have also explored movement at different levels, speeds and patterns.

Individualized assessments of______’s abilities will be included in the next two reporting periods.

Attendance for Term 1

Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May June TOTAL

Days Open 0 11 9 9 8 10 7 11 8 10 10 93

Days Absent 0 0 0 0 2