April was a month full of learning and growth in Senior Kindergarten. The Seniors are well on their way to First Grade! Reading fluency is improving, sight word knowledge is expanding and number sense is blooming! Must have been all the April showers that helped them grow!
Language Arts this month worked with reading sentences and blending sounds. Students have stretched their phonics skills to include blends, digraphs and long vowel sounds. We played many games changing one sound in a word to create a new word. A word chain, for example, could start with back and end with stop, just changing one sound at a time. We have also worked on strategies to sound out longer words by visually chunking the parts of a word around the vowels. This helps to determine the number of syllables and break a long word down into pieces to better sound out. We also continue to read big book non-fiction stories, analyzing the main idea and supporting details.
We completed three units this month in Math in Focus. These chapters focused on calendar patterns, counting on/back and patterns. Calendar skills are clearly a strength for this group, having practiced everyday during their RWS careers. The class most enjoyed making a real 2018 calendar, highlighting all of the important birthdays! Counting on and counting back is an important skill leading to addition and subtraction. This skill will be used during our next chapter on number facts to 10.
We FINALLY were able to work in the garden after the April rain and cold stopped at the end of the month. These hard workers cleaned out two flower beds, including some very deep roots and even a tree trunk! The Seniors have also enjoyed watching the birds and butterflies out the classroom window, taking pictures of everything!
We are looking forward to the last month of SK! This smart, caring bunch will be well prepared to move onto First Grade!
Sincerely,
Kristen Masiel
Senior Kindergarten Teacher