The best part of your week our weekly Newsletter 11/3 Pictures and Videos are at the bottom

Kindergarten Weekly Newsletter

Hello Kindergarten Families!

We hope you all had a wonderful Halloween with lots of fun and creativity! Seeing the kids enjoy the holiday spirit was exciting, but now that the festivities are over, please do not send in Halloween candy as a snack. We encourage healthier snack options to keep energy levels steady throughout the day. Additionally, we still notice that many students come to school without a snack. Please remember to send a snack with your child each day. While an emergency snack bucket is available, we cannot guarantee that your child will like the options. Let’s keep those tummies happy and ready to learn!

Winter Weather & Gear

As the weather turns chilly, now is a great time to start looking for winter gear like coats, hats, gloves, and snow pants. Please label all winter items to help us keep track of everyone’s belongings. Pleasant Lake’s Green Team is currently selling labels for clothing and other items, available at www.oliverslabels.com/plegreenteam. I used these labels for my son when he went to camp, and they were a lifesaver—nothing got lost (and his superpower is losing things, so that’s saying something!). Labeling makes a huge difference in helping kids keep track of their things.

What We Learned Last Week

Writing: We’ve started creating pattern books! A pattern book is a type of book where the text follows a repetitive or predictable pattern (e.g., “I see a cat. I see a dog. I see a fish.”). This type of writing helps students build confidence as they begin to write their own words and sentences. We are also stretching out words phonemically, which means we’re learning to hear and write each sound in a word. Encourage your child to “stretch” the sounds they hear in words at home when writing or spelling to build their skills.

Phonics: This week, we’re focusing on identifying first and last sounds in words, which helps students recognize and distinguish sounds that anchor words. Soon, we’ll start learning about word families—groups of words with a common ending (e.g., -at family: cat, hat, bat). Understanding word families is important because it helps kids see patterns in language, making it easier to read and write new words.

Reading: We’re working on one-to-one correspondence, matching each word they read with a finger touch. This is crucial for building strong reading skills. You can help at home by reading a book with your child and gently reminding them to point to each word as they say it, helping them stay on track with their reading.

Math: We are introducing story problems, where children learn to apply math in real-life scenarios. This encourages creative problem-solving and gets them thinking mathematically! Next week, we’ll begin our first science unit on weather. Before diving into weather, I’ll introduce what science is and teach about the five senses as a foundation for understanding observations and experiments.

Reminders: