WELCOME TO MRS. BEIER'S  KINDERGARTEN CLASS
                                        

What a wonderful time of the year! Spring is upon us and nature's showing promise of new life.

In the month of April our units of study will include Easter, Spring, Earth Day, Plants and Seeds.  These are exciting units because it ties in with many parts of the curriculum! We will be discussing growing, changing and renewing during this time.
 

**Please be sure to check your child's art box weekly. It is sent home every Friday. They need to be prepared for class every day with good crayons, 2 sharp pencils and 2 glue sticks. Thank you!!! 

Review Needed Skills - I am so proud of your child's reading readiness progress!  Please continue to REVIEW all letter sounds, vowel sounds, word families and popcorn words daily. Have your child read the stories to you that are sent home every week for homework and the other little booklets we read together in class. 

Mastery of the following skills is essential to insure success for the beginning reader.
Kindergarten READING GOALS:
* Accurate recall of letter sounds with particular attention to the five short
   and long vowel sounds.
* Quick association of letter sound, name and formation.
* Can identify first, middle and last sounds. (s a d)
* Can read CVC words. (Consonant, vowel, consonant)
* Can write a sentence. (Start with capital letter, use spaces between words and
   end with punctuation.)
* Can recognize and produce rhymes. (mat, sat)
* Can read all sight words.
* Smooth blending of three or more sounds without pausing between sounds.
* The ability to attack a new word by sounding it out, rather than guessing. 

***WORD FAMILIES AND RHYMING WORDS. Give your child a word from the word families list and have them write all the words they can make using the two letters. Play rhyming games or I Spy games with them. Help your child everyday to connect letters and sounds by making sure that he or she has plenty of easy books for reading practice to build vocabulary.
 Have your child continue to write sentences using their popcorn words, word families or just have them sound out words to write. Remember when writing; use a finger space in between words, a capital letter at the beginning of the sentence and the proper punctuation at the end of the sentence.
Help your child everyday to connect letters and sounds by making sure that he or she has plenty of easy books for reading practice to build vocabulary. 

In Math, we have started Chapter 11, which concentrates on Geometry. Student will learn about two-dimensional shapes. They will be able to name and identify asquare, circle, rectangle, triangle, and hexagon. Students will use attributes to identify a particular shape. For example: a vertex is where two sides meet, sides are straight lines making the shape and round describes circular shapes. They will learn how to use smaller shapes to form larger shapes. For example: smaller triangles can form larger triangles and smaller squares can make a rectangle.

 Mastery of the following skills is essential to insure success in Math.
 Kindergarten MATH GOALS:
*Can tell which group has more or has less.
*Can count any number of objects 1-20.
*Can count to 100 by 1’s and 10’s.
*Can solve addition and subtraction problems within 20.
*Can write numbers 0-20.
*Can add more objects to make numbers 1-20 from any given number.
*Can fluently add and subtract within 10. (2+3=5, 4-1=3)
*Can identify 2D Shapes.
*Can identify 3D Shapes.
Look for opportunities in your daily life to count objects with your child and talk about numbers, review calendar  math, 1-to-1 correspondence up to 30, practice writing and recognizing  number words from 1-20, counting to 100 by ones, tens and 5’s, and sorting objects around the house.

In Religion we have started our unit on "Celebrating God's Love"'. In this unit the children will learn to celebrate God's gift of love with others. Through the life of a seed, the children are introduced to the mystery of life and death. They will learn that through the cross they received new life in Baptism to live as Jesus did. The children will reflect on the joys of this world and learn about the joys of heaven. They will know that the greatest joy comes from experiencing God's love. 
Please continue to pray the "Hail Mary, "Our Father, and "The Glory Be". 

April- Extra Practice Writing At Home
Many of these exercises say "draw and write". Let the children experiment with writing. Let them sound out words to spell. If the children do any extra credit work at home, please have them bring it to school for a surprise or special recognition stickers.
1.    Write and draw 3 things that start with the letter "J".
2.    Write and draw 3 things that end with the letter "X". (Example: fox, box)
3.    Write and draw 3 things that start with the letter "W".
4.    Write and draw 3 words from the "-ut" family.
5.    Write and draw 3 words from the "-un" family.
6.    Write and draw 3 words that end with the letter "T".
7.    Write a story using the words "First", "Next", "At last".
8.    Write and draw one sentence for each word.(blue, green)       
9.    Write and draw one sentence for each word.(what, where)
10.  Write and draw one sentence for each word.(said, come)
11.  Write one sentence for each word. (was, yellow)
12.  Draw a plant and label the parts. (Example: leaf, stem)
13.  Write and draw about a sport you like. 

Secret Message - Happy Spring to you! Write this message on a piece of paper and bring it in for a surprise

Spring Literature
Are You Spring?  by Caroline Pitcher
As the Earth Turns Spring by Lynn M. Stone
Beginning to Learn About Spring by Richard Allington
and Kathleen Krull 
Chicken and Egg by Christine Back and Jens Olsen
Chickens Aren't the Only Ones by Ruth Heller
Clifford's Spring Clean-up by Norman Bridwell
Dandelions by Mia Posada
Diary of a Sunflower Carol Pugliano   
Egg!  by A.J. Wood
First Day of Spring by Sharon Gordon
Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert
Hamilton Duck's Springtime Story by Arthur Getz   
Hello, Spring by Mary Packard 
Henry & Mudge in Puddle Trouble by Cynthia Rylant
Hopper Hunts for Spring by Marcus Pfister
How Do You Know It's Spring by Allan Fowler
How To Build A home by Maria Fleming
I Love Spring! by Stephen Kroll
I Wish I Were A Butterfly by James Howe
Insects Are My Life by Megan Mc Donald
It's Spring by Samantha Berger and Pamela Chanko
Let’s Find Out About Spring by Martha And Charles Shapp 
Let's Look at the Seasons - Springtime by Ann Schweninger
Marshmallow by Claire Turlay Newberry
Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
Mrs.Toggle's Beautiful Blue Shoe by Robin Pulver
Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
My First Spring by Matthew Lambert  
My Spring Robin by Anne Rockwell
Poppleton in the Spring by Cynthia Rylant
Rabbit’s Good News by Ruth Lercher Bornstein 
Rain by Robert Kolan
Rain Talk by Mary Serfozo         
Rain Drop Splash by Alvin Tresselt
Robin's Home by Jeannine Atkins
Seeds Grow by Angela Shelf Medearis
Simon Welcomes Spring by Gilles Tibo
Spring : An Alphabet Acrostic by Steven Schnur
Spring Changes by Ellen B. Senisi
Spring Comes to the Ocean by Jean Craighead George
Spring is Here by Taro Gomi
Spring Song by Barbara Seuling
Spring's Sprung by Lynn Plourde
Spring Thaw by Steven Schnur
Step Into Spring - A New Season by Jane Belk Moncure
That's What Happens When It's Spring! by Elaine W. Good
The Amazing Dirt Book by Paulette Bourgeois
The Boy Who Didn't Believe in Spring by Lucille Clifton 
The Easter Egg Artists by Adrienne Adams