Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes, Knees and Toes

August 28, 2015

Dear Parents, We will be studying body parts and the five senses next week. Your child should be able to name the five senses and these body parts: head, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, tongue, chin, cheeks, neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, hips, knees, ankles, heels, toes, legs, arms, hands, fingers, and stomach. Begin by pointing to a body part and asking, “What is this?” Let your child identify that part and then go to the next body part. If this is too difficult for your child, ask “Where is your elbow?” or “Where is your heel?” After your child can do this easily, go back and practice by pointing to a body part and asking your child, “What is this?” The following activities should help you review the five senses and body parts with your child.

Sing “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” Head, shoulders, knees, and toes, knees and toes. Head, shoulders, knees, and toes, knees and toes. Eyes and ears and mouth and nose, Head, shoulders, knees, and toes, knees and toes.

___ Sing “Singing to the Senses.” (Sung to the tune of “Bingo”) We use five senses every day To help us learn and play. See, hear, smell, touch, taste. See, hear, smell, touch, taste. See, hear, smell, touch, taste. We use them every day, hey! We will also be learning to identify numbers to 5 and to count sets up to 5.

_____Put the “Singing to the Senses,” “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes,” and The Shape Poems in the “Songs to Learn By” folder that was sent home in the homework folder last week. Keep this at home in a safe place. I will be sending songs and poems home periodically. Please place them in this folder. You can use the songs and chants in the folder to review skills.

____ Handwriting: Please help your child practice writing his/her name. The only letter that should be capitalized is the first one. Let your child copy the letters Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, and Ee on the enclosed sheet. After your child has written the letter, have your child say the letter name. Please use a pencil. If your child is having trouble holding his/her pencil correctly, wrap a cotton ball around it. I have enclosed a cotton ball in case you need one.

____ We will concentrate on the letters Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, and Jj next week. We will continue to review the letters Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd and Ee and the sounds that they make. Have your child find these letters in books, newspapers, magazines, etc. Let him/her write them. Ask what sound each of the letters make. Give your child a word that begins with a letter on which we have worked. Ask him/her to name the beginning letter sound for that word.

___ Math Focus: Recite the enclosed shape poems with your child. Then let your child find and identify shapes in their environment. Ex. Tires look like circles and doors look like rectangles. Look for examples of the five basic shapes- circle, square, rectangle, triangle, and hexagon. Have your child describe the shapes. A circle is a curve that never ends. A square has four sides that are all the same and four vertices (corners). A rectangle has two short sides, two long sides, and four vertices. A triangle has three sides and three vertices. A hexagon has six sides and six vertices. The students have to identify and describe the shapes for the report card. I am enclosing an envelope with some math vocabulary words in it. The words this week have to do with shapes. Please keep the Math Vocabulary folder at home. I will be sending more math words as the year progresses. Please review the words with your child.

___ Help your child complete a “Five Senses Poetry Frame.” On the attached sheet, let your child draw a picture in the “event” circle of something he/she has done. In the surrounding circles, let your child draw something that applies to the “event” picture. For example: I might draw a picture of a beach in the “event” circle. In the other circles, I would draw the object in parentheses. I see (sand), I hear (waves), I smell (fish), I feel (a seashell), and I taste (saltwater taffy). Remind your child to use lots of color in his/her picture. Write what your child drew under each picture. Let your child bring this back to school to share with his/her classmates.

___Inspiring Book Club: Write the titles of the books you read to your child. If you read the story more than one time, write the number of times that you read it beside the title of the book. After you read a story, let him/her retell the story to you. As you read to your child, he/she will learn to love books. I will add these books to your child’s book list. Your child should have a total of 25 books read to him/her at home by the end of the first nine weeks. If you read one book each night, you will easily meet this goal! We have a celebration at the end of the year with a prize for the top reader in our class. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. ___Communication Connection: This will begin next week. Reminders ____Fall Pictures will be taken on September 3rd. ____If you have not paid for your child’s school fees ($20), please do so as soon as possible. ___Lunch numbers-Please help your child learn his/her lunch number. He/she will begin using it on September 8th. (The cafeteria manager is working on getting any missing numbers. I will get them to you as soon as possible.) ___If you have not already done so, please return the Parent School Compact. ___Remember to send the VIP folder back (yellow folder), but not the Songs to Learn By folder. Thank you for helping your child with the VIP (Very Involved Parent) activities. I know that it is often difficult to work something else into your already busy schedule. However, it is very important that your child know that you value education enough to spend time with him/her on “homework.” (Remember to break these activities up. Only do one or two each day. Homework is not due until Wednesday.) Thank you for being my partner in your child’s educational journey. Your Partner in Education, Ginger Carter Parent’s signature: Child’s name: