Hi all! I have fallen a bit behind on updating the blog! Allow me to catch you up on all of the awesome things going on in the classroom!
Last week's letter of the week was Dd. We began a thematic unit on dinosaurs which we have extended into this week for the letter Ee. Your child has been learning such words as: extinct, excavating and edmontosaurus. I continue to encourage the kiddos to bring in an item to contribute to our "Letter of the Week" book. They get Treasure Box on Friday's if they bring in at least one item, word or picture. We have an excavating station for centers and have brought in many other fun dinosaur activites to cater to the many ways children learn.
Last week we worked on blending yellow and blue to make the color green. We are working our way through the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) so our next color will be blue.
For math we are learning about the number 9. This week's addition problem is 5+4=9. So up to this point, your child has been exposed to the following addition problems: 1+1, 2+2, 3+3, 4+4, and 5+4. They are doing a TERRIFIC job with adding!
We are also working on positioning words such as: over, under, top, bottom, on, off, next to. These are basic skills that are part of the Early Childhood Learning Standards. Be sure to use these words while playing games with your child so that they get very used to the true meaning of each (you would be surprised how something that seems so basic and simple to us can actually be tricky for 4 and 5 year olds)!
While I have your attention ;) I wanted to make sure that you all understand that your children are in Transitional Kindergarten! I know how easy it can be to want to push and make your child excel and be ahead of the game. This is great and I will never discourage you from doing so! However, do not forget that everything has an order and this remains true for the developmental stages of preschoolers on through elementary schoolers. Don't try to put the horse before the carriage! I have an amazing, smart, energetic, enthusiatic group of learners and they are doing incredible work for 4 and 5 year olds! If they write their E backwards or with too many lines, if they make their lowercase e upside down, if their name is written out of order or backwards...DON'T WORRY!!! This is COMPLETELY NORMAL!!!! You can casually remind them the correct way to do it but don't overdo it. Yes, it is very important that students learn the correct way to form the letters and numbers. But at this time, they are just experimenting with the exposure they are receiving to the numbers and letters. In January, we begin the structured curriculum which will focus on how to correctly form each letter. So have NO fear, we WILL get there! But for now, relax, enjoy watching your child attempt to make the letters and numbers the way they see them. Encourage inventive spelling if your child is ready (example: to spell the word JUMP your child may write JP.) Applaud their inventive spelling and as of right now, do not try and fix it! The vowel sounds come very last in the process of hearing and processing the phonemes. If your child feels that they are constantly being corrected, their confidence will diminish and they may just decide to throw in the towel. Encourage, reinforce and give lots of positive feedback to create dedicated, successful and confident learners!!!!
