Week of April 14th

Mrs. Preskill
Apr 17
3 min read

Happy Thursday Pandas!

General Updates:

Please check out the specials classes update here!
If you have already signed up to be a mystery guest, I would love to welcome you back to the classroom for a second time!
1. This is a fifteen-minute time slot that you are able to sign up for to either be a mystery reader or to teach us about your beautiful cultures! Please note, there are only two adults over the age of 18 allowed into the building for this volunteer opportunity at a time.
2. Some ideas of things you could share related to your culture (but are not limited to) are: photos (holidays, travels, clothing, etc), videos, music, games, stories, puppet show, art project, etc. You are also welcome to bring in any stories and read them to the class for enjoyment! If you are bringing in books, please bring 2-3 books to share during this time. Cultural connections are totally up to you and what you are comfortable with. We can't wait to welcome you into our classroom this year! If your work schedules are tight and the time slots available do not work for you, please reach out and we are able to plan this over Zoom or you are able to send a video in that we can share with the class!

This week in literacy...

Phonics: The pandas were introduced to three new heart words: make, good, new. The pandas also continued to learn about digraphs and sound buddies. Sound buddies also can be called 2-sound consonant blends. These are special letter blends that make unique sounds, like "bl" in block and "gr" in green. They practiced saying words with these blends. A consonant blend occurs when the two consonants are next to each other, but still make their own sound.
- We also continued to identify short and long vowels in words.
  - Short Vowels
    - cat (short "a")
    - pen (short "e")
    - bit (short "i")
    - pot (short "o")
    - cup (short "u")
  - Long Vowels
    - cake (long "a")
    - feet (long "e")
    - bike (long "i")
    - note (long "o")
    - cute (long "u")

Sound Collection: /m/, /s/, /l/, /n/, /f/, /r/, /v/, /z/, /p/, /g/, /d/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /w/, /h/, /kw/, /j/, /y/, /ks/, /z/, /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/,

Letter Collection: m, t, p, a, s, c, h, i, d, f, r, o, g, l, n, u, b, k, v, e, j, w, z, q, x, y

Heart Word Collection: the, in, my, a, is, for, I, am, here, and, at, go, it, like, be, to, can, not, you, are, do, will, did, too, with, me, all, was, no, so, say, now, have, said,

down, come, they, that, this, ate, our, who, where, what, must, we, he, she, but, want, there, saw, own, please, make, good, new

Reading: We focused on an informational text all about the sun! The pandas practiced answering questions to help them understand and remember important facts from the text. We also worked on figuring out the meaning of unknown words by using clues in the text and pictures.
Writing: Our kindergarten authors worked independently to create their very own informative books about the sun! 🌞 We’ve been learning all about how to write informative texts, and this was a great way to show what we’ve learned.
To become sun experts, we read a nonfiction book and watched a video full of facts about the sun. Then, students used their new knowledge to write and draw about what they learned—like how the sun gives us light and heat!

This week in math...

We explored measurement, focusing on weight! We learned how to describe the weight of different objects using the words "heavy" and "light." The class had so much fun using a balance scale to compare objects and figure out which ones were heavier or lighter.

Reminders

Please label your child's snack daily and pack this separately from the lunchbox.
Water bottles stay in the classroom. If you want your child to have a drink for lunch, please send a separate drink.
If you would like your child to buy a drink at lunch, please make sure there is money in the account for the lunch card.
Extra clothes and PE shoes should be labeled and stored in your child's cubby.
Please see Mrs. Smith's Principal's Message for further information about Willow Grove: principal's message