Kindergarten Learners

Current Unit: Getting Fit

Summary of Unit: When we teach kindergarteners to take good care of their bodies, we’re not just helping them feel great today. We’re helping them form healthy habits to carry throughout their lives.In this module, children learn the essentials of healthy living, like eating well, exercising, and practicing  good hygiene. They also see that being “my healthiest me” is a blast: It’s playing basketball, it’s swinging on the monkey bars, it’s eating a rainbow of foods. And after fun, active days, it’s a good night’s sleep. Students will explore the essential question, “How can I be my healthiest me?”

Reading:Together, we will read a variety of genres including fiction, informational, fables, and poetry on the topic to practice skills such as asking and answering questions, finding the topic, central idea and details, summarizing, listening for comprehension and learning about text features. In addition, we will continue to learn and use new academic and text vocabulary to increase students' expressive skills. You can help at home by reading a paper book or online book from one of our class apps everyday for homework.  After reading you can ask your student questions such as: What was this book about?  How can you summarize this book?  Why do you think the author wrote this book? What can you learn from this book? Also, you can be sure to help your child complete the reading response posted for homework every Friday.

Phonics: Students will use all the letter sounds to tap, blend, read, and write 3 letter words. Students are expected to already know the name and sound for each lowercase letter and to properly form the letter when writing. In addition, we will work on forming, saying and writing simple sentences using 3 letter words and high frequency words we have learned so far.  You can help at home by referring to the slides from our family learning conference “Guiding Your Kindergarten Reader”.

Also, students will continue to memorize new high frequency words every two weeks.  These words are very important for beginning readers. By memorizing, students will recognize these common words that are found in many books and be able to read more fluently and focus their decoding skills on larger, less familiar words. This helps students with comprehension and fluency, both important skills for good readers. You can help at home by saying one high frequency word,  then have your child repeat it. Next spell the word together. Last have them write it by spelling it out loud. You can also have the words written on index cards and play games with them to match the words, spell the words, or say the words

Writing: We will explore a new genre of writing: research writing. We will be researching information/facts to learn about our topic of being healthy. We will be focusing on coming up with a topic and details that match throughout the module. Students will be exposed to ways they can be healthy and write about them. Students will be challenged to write 5 sentences: a topic sentence, 3 facts, and a closing sentence about being healthy. In addition, students will participate in making lists based on a prompt, as well as learning about the functions of a glossary. We will continue to look at parts of grammar such as, adjectives in terms of size, shape and number. Throughout the module we will reinforce how to be brave spellers (using letter sounds we hear to write unknown words), correct letter formation, the U.P.S checklist  (uppercase, period, space) for conventions of writing. Students will give each other peer feedback, as well self-assess using an editing checklist and the Rainbow Rating tool. Students will be assessed on their writing with an informational writing rubric. You can help at home by talking with your child about ways to be healthy, how they can exercise, eat healthy, etc. You can inspire them to make healthy choices and live a healthy lifestyle. You can also help by encouraging them to label their drawing, motivate them to be brave spellers (use letter sounds to write unknown words), reinforce correct letter formation and using the U.P.S checklist. 

Math: Kindergarten students just wrapped up an introduction to addition unit. Now, students are learning how subtraction represents taking away, or the inverse of addition. Students will use a minus sign and equal sign to write subtraction equations. Students will begin to notice patterns within addition and subtraction, and notice how equations can be written by switching two numbers. For example, 3+1=4 and also 1+3=4. For subtraction, 4-1=3 and 4-3=1. By noticing these patterns, students will develop fact fluency where they can quickly recall the answer to solve an addition or subtraction problem without drawing a picture or using their fingers. After, students will practice identifying when to use either addition or subtraction based on keywords they hear in the problem. Students will continue to build their fact fluency to quickly add and subtract numbers within 10. 

At home you can practice adding and subtracting groups of objects to 10 (or higher) with your child. Have your child practice writing addition and subtraction equations to represent their counting. Use words such as add, in all, sum, subtract, take away, difference, and equal. Encourage students to identify patterns to help them develop fact fluency. For example, we can make five with 0 and 5, 1 and 4, or 2 and 3.

Science:  In this new science unit, students will be learning how objects move using force. This unit is introduced with new academic language,  such as “engineer”. Students will be looking closely at how forces make an object move, how an object can change direction, the difference between a strong force and a small force, and how to identify forces in pictures. Students will also engage in project-based learning where they will design and create a launcher for a pinball machine. This new unit offers students a chance to explore motion and forces through observation, discussion, and creative building in an age-appropriate way.

At home you can encourage your child to notice forces around them. Ask your child questions like “What happens when you push or pull a door?” or “What happens when you use a strong push versus a gentle push?” Use everyday examples such as pushing a shopping cart or kicking a ball to help your child connect science to real life. Students can also practice using new vocabulary words such as force and engineer at home. Ask your child to explain the roles of various types of engineers they learned about. Activities like rolling cars or balls on different surfaces and talking about how they move are great ways to reinforce what they've learned.

Social Studies: In this Social Studies unit, students will be studying the concept of family. Students will be learning about different aspects of a family, such as what makes families the same and different,  how families work together, and how families share their cultural heritage.  Students will also investigate how they can learn about their family's history.  

At home, you can complete the family tree project with your child which will be displayed in our classroom. Additionally, talk with your child about your family and what makes it special. Share stories about relatives, family traditions, or cultural customs that are meaningful to your family. Looking at family photos or keepsakes together is a great way to help your child learn about their family history. You can also point out everyday ways family members work together and help one another.

Music: Students in Kindergarten music are learning songs about self-care, good hygiene, identifying body parts and taking care of their bodies. This connects to their HMH unit about “being my healthiest me.” In addition, students are practicing Kindergarten level music skills such as distinguishing between their four voices (speaking, whispering, shouting, singing), moving their bodies on the steady beat and utilizing various percussion instruments on the steady beat. 

Home Connection: Practice singing with your kindergartener! Use the choiceboard below to sing about healthy habits. 

Songs for Physical Fitness Choice Board Kindergarten  

Art: Kindergarten will connect to their HMH module by creating artwork that shows movement. Students will learn how to draw/paint different figures inspired by the artist, Keith Harings. Students will create different poses to represent movement to show how we can stay fit and exercise to keep our bodies healthy.

Parent & Student Voice: 

“We are so proud of her as well. We have definitely seen a significant difference in her reading since she has started with you.” -K013 parent

“I like to learn counting to 100.” - K013 student

“My favorite part of kindergarten is learning the ABCs. We put them into words and we lean to read.” - K013 student