Week Six

We are half-way through Term 2 and Monday the 1st of June is a Public holiday! Enjoy the long weekend together and maybe explore something special about WA, which the children can incorporate into their news telling.

We have had such a great week exploring the initial phonic sound ‘kicking’ Kk. It was a week of kites, kicking kangaroos, King’s crowns, Kids in the kitchen and more. Kk is a ‘tricky’ sound as it can be confused with Cc which has the same initial phonic sound. In Kindy, we use the words ‘curly’ and ‘kicking’ to help the children to distinguish between Cc and Kk.

News telling has had an enthusiastic start with the children bringing in great items and learning from each other about our wonderful country. Fantastic speaking and listening skills are developing. We would like to see the children develop the confidence to speak independently without assistance and prompting. Sharing news is a fun way to build oral language, gain confidence and assist with initial phonic sounds with links to words and vocabulary. Please plan simple sentences about your child’s object/picture and practise news telling before their rostered day.

Rhyme - Over the past few weeks the children have been exposed to rhyming. When two words sound the same at the end e.g.cat and hat end with at, they rhyme. Children may find rhyming difficult to grasp, so please explain it to them in their home language, if necessary. When children can hear the rhyming sounds in words, they demonstrate phonemic awareness, which is essential for early reading. To teach this skill, books, pictures and games can be used to demonstrate and reinforce rhyming techniques. Children also learn rhyming by listening to stories, poems and songs that are easy and fun to remember. Nonsense rhyming words are acceptable too!

Study Ladder Logins have also been sent home, and tasks have been set. Enjoy reviewing concepts already taught at school.

Next week we will be revising concepts covered over this semester. This will assist students to transfer and reinforce knowledge to their long-term memory.

The following are some skills you could revise at home. 

Initial phonic sounds Ss-Aa-Tt-Pp-Ii-Nn-Mm-Rr-Cc-Kk. 

Syllables i.e. counting parts in a word. 

Sight words I, am, a, look, Mum, can, at. 

Sequencing and retelling stories using a beginning, middle and end.

Numbers 1 to 10. 

Say a number between 1-10, then ask your child to count on from this number. 

Order numbers, count objects to match a numeral and identify dots on a dice.

Alphabet and number sheets will be sent home next week for students to use at home to reinforce their learning. These will replace the ‘brain boxes’ that were used earlier this year. Please keep these sheets in a safe place and use them as and when they are needed. It is important to remember that initial letter sounds are the focus and NOT letter names. Phonemic awareness is the foundation for early reading and in developing the skills for spelling and writing. If in doubt of the phonic sound, visit www.starfall.com.au

Have a lovely long weekend.

Week Five

Week 4 has been a fun-filled week full of crafts and activities that celebrate the Cc phonic sound. It has been great to see children settling back into our classroom routines, and we have enjoyed having all of our friends back at school this week!

In Literacy, we have been learning the initial letter sound Cc, for example cat starts with c, c, c. During the past week we have been reading the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar, making handprint crabs, using construction materials to build castles, and serving coffees and cakes in our new café! Children have also been practising how to use their bodies to count the syllables in words and have loved singing along to The Syllable Song.

In Numeracy, our number of the week was the number 9. Children have been practising how to write the number, recognise the number and count to 9. During the week, children made number caterpillars, fed 9 leaves to their caterpillar, and sang along to Dr Knickerbocker.

This week we will be looking at the initial letter sound Kk, for example king starts with k, k, k, and our number of the week will be the number 10. To reinforce the sound of the week and the number of the week, students will be making kites and will be counting 10 colourful tails to attach to their kites.

Over the next week, children will be sent home with a set of flashcards covering the sounds that we have learnt so far (Aa, Ss, Tt, Nn, Pp, Ii, Mm, Rr, Cc). These flashcards will be given to you on a sheet of paper and will just need to be cut out. We encourage you to use these flashcards to revise the sounds.

Rainbow Week and Week Four

It's hard to believe that we are already at the end of week 3! Rainbow week has been a busy and enjoyable week exploring the phonic sound Rr. It has been full of colour and fun.

During our literacy sessions we have been singing 'I can sing a rainbow', dancing like robots, making robots with different coloured shapes, making rockets to launch for science, sorting Rr pictures  and reading our sight words. To reinforce the sound of the week and speaking and listening skills we have also been 'shopping sounds' from Mrs Kealley's Supermarket.

During numeracy we have been learning AB patterns (for example, blue, orange, blue, orange or head, shoulders, head, shoulders) and creating these with beads and with our coloured dotters. Our focus number has been the number 8 and the children had fun counting 8 legs on to a spider. We have also been singing Incy Wincy Spider and learning the actions. 

Our afternoons have been full of science. We launched our rockets off our verandah and made rainbows with milk and food colours. 

We look forward to another busy week in Kindergarten next week. During week 4, we will be introducing the phonic Cc as in cat and caterpillar and introducing the number 9. To reinforce the phonic sound we will be reading The Hungry Caterpillar and exploring the beginning, middle and end during our shared reading sessions.

Over the next coming weeks, notes will go home for news telling which will begin in week 5. Study ladder logins will also be sent home in week 5, which will assist children with concepts we have taught at school. I have attached some photos of our classroom and activities. As always, if there are any queries please contact me. 

Week Three - Rainbow Week