Welcome to Mrs. Racanello's Kindergarten!
Welcome to Room 206! I am very happy to have your child in my classroom this year. The students have made a wonderful adjustment to Kindergarten, and I am looking forward to a great year.
The first months of school have been very busy. The students are learning the routines of Reader's Workshop and Writer's Workshop. In Reader's Workshop, we are learning about certain parts of a story, such as the setting and the characters. We are also learning about making predictions about what will happen next in a story. In Writer's Workshop, the students are writing and illustrating stories. They enjoy sharing their stories with their classmates, especially while sitting in the Author's Chair.
Our Book in a Bag Program has begun. Each night, Monday through Thursday, your child will take a book home. Please read it together with your child and return it to school the next day so a different book can come home. A letter and a parental agreement to take proper care of the books have been sent home.
In order to foster independent reading and reinforce the color names, the Kindergarten teachers have put together eight books titled "The Color of Things." Each book focuses on a color while including some of our sight words. When your child is able to read the book, he/she will bring it home. Have your child continue to practice reading it at home.
In addition to the routines that we have set up in the classroom that go along with our Everyday Math program, such as the attendance, weather, and temperature charts, we are working on such concepts as counting, sorting, recognizing and writing numerals and representing numbers with groups of objects. We are also working on patterning and graphing.
In Phonics, compound words and syllables have been introduced. We are currently working on letter sounds. An Alphabet Linking Chart with directions on how to read it with your child was recently sent home. Please practice reading the chart with your child daily. By the end of October, the following sight words will have been introduced: I, you, me, see, a, today, is, the, it, and, we, go, in, on, to, can, no and yes. Please continue to practice these words at home.
Our first unit of our science curriculum is on animals. Your children will be observing and comparing guppies and goldfish, land snails and pond snails, redworms and night crawlers and pill bugs and sow bugs. The students will also be participating in the caring and feeding of these classroom visitors.
At the end of September, all Roxbury classrooms participated in a character assembly to promote good citizenship. Our classroom goal for the month of October is to show respect by walking silently in the hall. All students will be given a necklace and those children who achieve the goal will receive a charm to add to the necklace. Each month we will have a new goal.
Thank you to all the parents who have sent in snacks for snack time. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.
Your children are off to a great start. I am looking forward to an exciting year working with you and your child!