Wow, what a great first week of school! I have so enjoyed starting to get to know each child in our class! We have spent a lot of the first week learning behavior expectations and practicing our daily routine, in addition to singing songs, coloring, playing, and doing crafts and fun activities together! I am so thankful for the opportunity to teach your child this year, and I pray that in my class he/she will learn how great is God's love for each one of us.
In our weekly blogs, I will give you a synopsis of what we have learned this week, give some classroom and school updates/reminders, and post photos. Additionally, most weeks I will include an Immersion Tip of the Week and a Reading Tip of the Week with some practical ideas for you to do with your child at home.
We have started getting a little bit into our curriculum, so here is what we have done this week:
Writing / Escritura: We are starting to learn how we are all writers and can share our stories and ideas.
Math / Matemáticas: We have been starting our Math routine by counting on our fingers and identifying numbers. We are also working on a libro de números (number book) and have finished numbers 1, 2, and 3.
Bible / Biblia: We have been starting to sing Bible songs together to practice our Bible routine. We also learned how the Bible is God's word, it is written by people but "God-breathed", and it is like a lámpara (lamp) to our feet that helps us know what to do.
Immersion Tip of the Week
Over the next few weeks, please don't worry if your child comes home saying that he/she learned nothing or didn't understand what was going on in school that day. This is VERY normal! Children this age often aren't able to process or verbalize what they are learning, but their little brains are busy making TONS of connections! Expect your child to be exhausted over the next few weeks, so make sure he/she is getting lots of rest! Above all, keep being a cheerleader for your child! It is a lot of work to learn a new language, but it is an incredible gift!
Reading Tip of the Week
When reading aloud to your child, "track" with your finger under the words as you read. This helps build print awareness and reinforces the concept that we read from right to left. This is an example of the "common underlying proficiency" (third paragraph), a theory stating that skills learned in one language naturally transfer to the second.
Homework
While we have no "formal" homework in Kindergarten, please READ every day with your child! Also, while we practice our letter of the day, I strongly suggest that you have your child finish the letter tracing page (both capital and lower-case). He/she should start letters from the top. This will GREATLY help your child strengthen his/her fine motor skills and get familiarized with the letters! I'm also going to include a few name-tracing worksheets for your child to practice writing his/her name.
Take-Home Folders
Your child should have taken their folder home today. Please make sure you empty it out daily. We will have LOTS of papers every day in Spanish Immersion Kindergarten, and I try to write feedback when needed--so please make sure you're checking every day!
All-School Convocation
We will have our all-school convocation on Wednesday, September 9th from 9:30-10:00 at Holland Christian High School. We will gather in the classroom at the normal time and then take a bus to the high school. Parents are welcome to meet us there!
Parent Volunteers
Would you like to help out in (or outside) our classroom this year? Please fill out THIS form and let me know how you'd prefer to volunteer!
One great option is to come in on Thursdays as a lunch helper. You can find that link at the top right-hand corner of our blog, and it is also available HERE. I've also added a NEW signup for barn chores, also on the top-right hand corner (and HERE!).
Whew, that is a lot of information for the first week! I appreciate you taking the time to read everything through! Hope you have a wonderful and relaxing weekend, and I look forward to seeing your child again on Monday morning!
Save the Dates:
September
4: No School
- 7: No School–Labor Day
16 & 17: Picture Days - schedule coming soon
24: Rose Park Fest Fall
October
1: Grandparents Day
8 & 10: Parent Teacher Conferences
14,15,16: No School - Fall Teacher Convention
Announcements:
Please sign your child up for a walkathon t-shirt HERE.
In an effort to enhance our security protocols and update how we manage campus visitors we have rolled out a new Guest Management System. As we look forward to parent participation and volunteers in our classrooms, we ask you to use this new digital form to complete your screening. This will replace the paper form (iCHAT) that you have completed in past school years. This form can be filled out now, or at least 2 weeks prior to your scheduled volunteering service. Thank you!
Have a great weekend! Here are some more photos from our first week of school! You can also view and download them (for free) on Smugmug!
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