Kindergarten Newsletter- Week 1

Dear Kinder Parents,

Our central charge as an Episcopal School is sharing and nurturing faith with the children in our care. For all who love Jesus and follow His teachings, St. Luke's Episcopal School beautifully supports your efforts to raise your children in a Godly community...Next week, October 5th through 9th, is Episcopal Schools Week. We invite you to join us for two special events. SLES is being recognized at the 11:00 service this Sunday, October 4th, and we will hold the annual Blessing of the Pets on Tuesday morning, October 6th. We hope you can join us for either-or both-of these traditions!

Reminder (from last week): One of our big class-wide goals is developing students who are organized and ready for each new day of learning! Helping your child become responsible for their belongings at home, and asking them to prepare their uniform and backpack for school each day the night before, carries over into their classroom behavior and contributes to their confidence, work ethic, and independence as learners. Thank you for helping us Build Future Leaders by implementing these age appropriate "chores" as recommended by our school Student Achievement Coordinator, Ms. Finch and our Social-Emotional Coordinator, Ms. Sanborn. We are following up by asking students about other "chores" they may have at home. Remember, resist the urge to do for your child those things which they can-and should-do for themselves!

We are loving the cooler temperatures and the rain this week has brought about. Next week our classes will be learning about weather and changing seasons. Enjoy getting outdoors with your children, have a great weekend, and we look forward to celebrating Episcopal Schools Week with our scholars. Thank you so much for meeting with us for Parent Conferences. When school and home work together, in partnership, our scholars will blossom.

"Lord, help me to teach these children in the way they should go, so when they are old they will not turn from it." Proverbs 22:6

Blessings,

Mrs. McIntire and Mrs. Pruitt

Next week's lessons will continue to focus on 6 through10, in numeral, word and pictorial form. In addition to our Singapore Math lessons, scholars will enjoy a variety of center activities and games to reinforce your child's developing number sense. To extend their learning at home, ask your children to gather and sort small items into groups of 6 through 10; play "I Spy 6-10" by going on a number walk around your house, neighborhood or a store, or looking for numbers on magazine or book pages. Encourage your child to write their numbers for you, and gently redirect any backwards digits. (Handwriting strokes and neatness extends beyond letters, into numerals!) Our goal is for each scholar to use counting to quantify items in a set, understand concretely what numbers mean, compare and sequence amounts, and to form numerals correctly.

Sight Words: I, if, in, is, it, its

Phonogram focus: /Ii/, /Nn/

As we continue to work with identifying upper and lower case forms for each letter we are focusing not only on sounds, but also on handwriting. ("What do you notice about the lower case letter form of /Ii/? /Nn/? Is it a tall letter or short letter? Does it sit on the line or go below the line? Is it rounded, straight or made with both kinds of lines?") Ask your child to tell you how the upper case and lower case forms of this week's letters are similar and different. You can help your child develop fine motor strength and eye-hand coordination necessary for correct handwriting at home. See the handout we shared with you in our conferences for ideas!

Next week as scholars work on listening and comprehension skills, we will review story elements- characters, setting, plot (problem/solution), and theme (big idea)-and introduce fact vs. opinion. Ask your child to identify these elements when you read fiction selections to them at night. We are also continuing to work on blending consonant-vowel (cv) words and consonant-vowel-consonant (cvc) words, and have introduced leveled readers in class. Look for their reading folders to begin coming home next week!

Scholars were so excited to mail their Flat Stanleys to various locations around our state, nation, and the world! As their Stanleys return to us, we will be reinforcing geography by charting his adventures on maps.

Our focus next week will combine science and social studies, as we think about how weather and seasons impact both nature and our human habits. Scholars will learn about how the Earth's tilt and orbit around the sun causes seasons, different types of clouds, and how weather forms in the atmosphere. Be sure to ask your budding scientists to share everything they are learning with you.

List of Important Events:

Oct. 5-9 - Episcopal Schools Week

Oct. 5-8 - McIntire's class acolytes

Oct. 6 - Blessing of the Pets

Oct. 8 - Spirit Day/Pep Rally at 2:15

Oct. 9 - Student Holiday

Oct.12 - School Holiday

Oct. 13-15 - Pruitt's class acolytes

A huge Hilltop THANK YOU to our wonderful parent volunteers for serving as your grade-level Class Captains! Please be sure to join the Kindergarten Group on the St. Luke’s App to stay connected and receive important updates and communication throughout the year.

Rebecca Allen - Rebecca.allen0706@gmail.com

Katy Ray - Kateray922@gmail.com