Kindergarten Newsletter – From Mr. River Eubanks – Mr. Eubanks' Kindergarten Class

Dear Families,

It has been an exciting week in our kindergarten classroom! We are working on developing our listening skills by learning to control our eyes, ears, and bodies. We’re practicing how to use our eyes to watch, our ears to listen, and how to keep our bodies calm and ready for learning. This focus will help your child grow in their ability to follow directions and interact positively with others.

Thank you to all the parents who came to Curriculum Night! It was wonderful to meet you and share what we’ll be working on this year. For those who couldn’t attend, you can find all the information on our class website at mreubanks.com.( Also here: https://prezi.com/p/embed/lFHxrZnKQ7Hyv12OJnQK/) I also sent home a brochure that covers everything we discussed. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

In writing, we have started drawing pictures that tell a story. This week, we labeled our name and the word “me” on our drawings. Encouraging students to connect their stories to their own lives helps build confidence in their writing skills.

During center time, I’ve been assessing all the students. Most of the children already know all their letters, and I’m happy to share that a few students can already rhyme and count to 100! Next week, we will focus on rhyming, critical for reading and writing. Rhyming helps children recognize patterns in words and sounds, building a solid foundation for decoding words when reading and for spelling in writing.

This week’s theme was friendship, and we learned how to make and keep friends. The students practiced sharing, taking turns, and using kind words. Ask your child how they can be good friends!

We covered the letters M, S, T, L, D, R, A, and F in phonics. The students are getting better at recognizing these letters and their sounds. We also talked about syllables—the parts of words. Understanding syllables is vital because it helps children break words down into smaller, more manageable chunks, which is a critical skill in both reading and writing.

For reading, we are working on staying in one place and focusing on our books during independent reading time. We also had a blast acting out The Three Billy Goats Gruff story. Watch the videos and pictures below to see the students in action! This story is excellent for practicing retelling, where students recount what happened in the story in their own words. Retelling is important because it helps children understand and remember stories better, leading to improved comprehension.

We’ve been studying shapes, numbers, and five frames in math. A five frame is a tool that helps children visualize numbers and understand early number sense by organizing objects in groups of five. We also practiced “quick looks,” where students quickly look at a five-frame and say how many objects are shown. This activity helps build their ability to subitize or recognize quantities without counting.

Our theme for next week is rhyming. I can’t wait to teach the students this fun and important skill!

Thank you for your continued support, and feel free to reach out if you have any questions.