Karen Thurston

October 26, 2009

Dear Kindergarten Parents,

Report cards came home on Friday. Please keep the report card and enclosures. The envelope should be signed and returned to school. Enclosed with the report card were three additional papers - a list of sight words, number writing and a form listing areas needing improvement. I will go over these with you at conferences. This is an opportunity for us to discuss your child’s progress as well as any areas we need to work on.

In reading the students continue to work on blending, as well as attaching sounds to letters. We continue to work on letters S, M, D, and P. Next week the short A sound will be introduced. There will be no Show and Tell this week. Next week pink will be the color word for this activity. The following weeks Show and Tell will involve letter sounds. Next week there will be two new high frequency words introduced. Book 14 will introduce “of” and Book 15 will introduce “in”. Please continue to review these words each night. Last week we were able to start sentence writing incorporating color and sight words. As more words are introduced we will be able to expand our writing. Please have your child read these sentences to you. When writing sentences we are also discussing capitalization and punctuation.

We will continue writing 1-30 the next two weeks. The students are also concentrating on identification of numbers 1-30, especially the 12-19.
 
In religion the students will begin to discover their own uniqueness and accept themselves as they are. We have studied the five senses. Now we will discuss the power of these senses and be aware of our responsibility to care for these gifts and use them the right way. We will also begin to incorporate Second Step lessons into our religion time. This program has three units –empathy, emotion management and problem solving. The lessons are basic ones which will help the students in their everyday life.

Halloween parties will be at the end of the day Wednesday. We do not wear costumes to school. Your child may bring candy to hand out to their classmates.

Last week the Kindergartners colored bookmarks as part of their service obligation. The bookmarks will be given to the various parishes supporting Resurrection School. They are for the sick and homebound of these parishes.

Again, I look forward to conference time. Thank you for everything you do at home with your child. It makes such a difference.

Sincerely, 
Karen Thurston