We are having so much fun getting into a learning routine with your little ones! At Fortis we not only value academics, but their heart and their spirit as well. We have been focusing on love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and what it looks like to care for others. We are reading some wonderful stories, as well as beautiful scripture.
~Love, Miss Chun & Mrs. Penner
Important Dates:
9/2 - Labor Day: No School
9/11 - Spirit Day (no pizza)
9/25 - Spirit/DOGS/Pizza Day
10/2 - End of first quarter
10/14 - Parent-Teacher Conferences
We are ready to read! This week we will start the lessons from Ordinary Parent's Guide to Reading (OPG) beginning with lesson 27 in class. Continue daily practice of the 26 individual letter phonograms from Lesson 1 of All About Spelling. We will be working through Lesson 5 of All About Spelling because the lessons are applicable to reading. After Lesson 5, we will be taking a break to establish reading prior to introducing spelling.
***Assessment results are now posted in Alma. Please go to fortis.getalma.com and sign in to see your child's results. For all objectives that your child has a 1 or 2, please provide your child with extra practice in these areas. Some of these assessments were done the first or second week of school so they may have learned more since then!
Math : ***Please make sure that the assignments for Friday/Monday are completed before class on Tuesday. If your child is in Friday electives you can have them do the Friday work over the weekend or on Monday. Also please make sure that your child only does the pages that are assigned. Do not allow them to work ahead in their math books.
- Please make oral counting part of your daily routine. This can easily be done on your car ride to school or while playing hide and go seek! Also give them opportunities to count large groups of objects such as buttons, dried pasta, crayons, etc.
- Numbers 0-10 may seem like an easy skill, but in class, we are using tools such as a ten frame, number line, rekenreks , and subitizing cards to really solidify the understanding of these numbers. We want our students to have very strong number sense. We encourage you to use these tools at home as well.
- Story problems are another great tool you that you will be adding to your math lessons. Your child will receive a math journal and monthly journal prompts this week. Please have your child cut out the journal prompt and glue it to the bottom of the journal page. Watch to make sure they are holding their scissors correctly (thumb on top, elbow in). Read the prompt to your child and give your child manipulatives or one of the different math tools mentioned above if needed (this won't be necessary in September). Let them choose how they would like to solve the problem. After they come up with an answer, have them explain to you how they came up with it. In the beginning encourage them to draw pictures in their journal to represent the story problem instead of writing number sentences. You are welcome to add additional story problem prompts to their journals beyond what is assigned.
Examples:
- I see 4 bees and 3 ladybugs in the garden. How many insects do I see?
- Johnny had 7 apples. He gave 2 to his brother. How many are left?
- Sally had some cookies. Her friend gave her 3 more. Now she has 7 cookies. How many cookies did she have to start with?
- There were 6 crickets. Some hopped away. Now there are 3 left. How many crickets hopped away?
- Sarah baked 3 pies. She used 2 apples to make each pie. How many total apples did she use?
Reading:
- Lessons 27 and 28 are made more difficult because they include "an" and "am" words as if they have the short a sounds. However, in Texas these words do not have a distinct short a sound. I teach "an" and "am" as glued sounds. I encourage you to create 2 new phonogram cards to add to your stack, one for each of these sounds. Practice them daily with the other phonogram cards so your child will eventually recognize that when they see an a followed by a n or m, then they know to use the correct (Texan) pronunciation of the phonogram.
- Please read the instructor note in Lesson 27 about sounding out words - when sounding out, phonograms should not be separated, they should be blended - no pausing or stopping between letter sounds. This will take some practice, but start now to create good habits.
- For Lesson 28 use your All About Spelling letter tiles and board.
- Review phonogram and key cards.
- Continue to review the first 4 lessons for practice with pre-reading skills.
Geography:
- Kindergarteners will be expected to be able to point to the Continents and Oceans on a map. Click here for the song we use in class. There is a map in your child's blue folder to use to practice pointing. Due 9/18
Memory Work:
- Please work on memorizing our poem "Jesus Died Your Soul to Save". Students will say the scripture (optional but encouraged), title, author, and then recite poem on September 25th.
