The final few weeks of the school year are upon us. The Juniors are working hard to finish final preparations to get ready for Senior Kindergarten. The class is more than ready and eager for the next year.
During the month of April in Language Arts, the Juniors learned all about The Wind. We began the unit by listening to a non-fiction piece describing different kinds of wind, how to see the wind and how wind is created. This led to the fictional story of Gilberto and the Wind. Gilberto is a boy who wants to play with the wind but the wind is not nice to him most of the time. After reading the story twice, the class did a fantastic job retelling the story in their own words, recalling many details. We also continue to work on letter sounds in Language Arts. We have focused on the beginning and ending sounds of /s/ and /m/ to begin. We also listened for long vowel sounds /a/ and /e/ at the beginning, middle and end of words. 
Math work has centered on both time and money. The Juniors are learning to sort the coins as well as identify names and values of each. This skill typically presents a challenge to this age. Continue to practice and play with coins at home. Telling time to the hour has been an easier skill. The Juniors quickly mastered how to identify time to the hour on an analog and digital clock. Finally, we continue to work on addition and subtraction using various methods such as counting on fingers, using manipulatives and counting on or back on a number line.
I am looking forward to an exciting final month of Junior Kindergarten. We will be busy with many events including Mothers' Breakfast, the Spring Concert and Field Day!
Sincerely,
Kristen Masiel
Junior Kindergarten Teacher