Mrs. Nicodemus’ Kindergarten Newsletter 

November 17, 2014

Reading: Little Panda is a nonfiction story about a panda that was born at the San Diego Zoo in 1999. Children will see how the panda grows and that will help them answer the question “How does a panda change in its first year of life?” They will understand that as a panda gets older it changes in size, can do new things, and has new experiences.

Target Comprehension Skill: Compare and Contrast – When we compare, we think about the ways things are alike. When we contrast, we think about the way things are different. Answering compare and contrast questions helps children comprehend and make logical inferences about the text. We will use the language: “I can…compare and contrast”.

Amazing Words: measure, weigh, healthy, bamboo, curious, explore

This week, ask your child to come up with a sentence using one of these words. We will use the language “I can…use new vocabulary”.  

Phonemic Awareness (hearing sounds): Initial and final /n/ and /b/ – Ex: nap, fin, bat, cab. This week, have your child try to find items around the house or outside that have the /n/ or /b/ sound. You can also tell your child 2 words and ask him to identify which word has the /n/ or /b/ sound. Students should also be able to identify if /n/ or /b/ is in the beginning or end of the word. We will use the language “I can…hear beginning/ending sounds”.

Phonics (matching sounds and letters): Students will learn to say the /n/ and /b/ sounds when they read the letters Nn, and Bb and will learn to write the letters Nn and Bb when they hear those sounds. This week, we will also begin to practice spelling consonant, vowel, consonant (CVC) words. Students have previously learned the letters and sounds for Cc, Pp, Ss, Mm, Tt, Ii and Aa so you can challenge your child to spell words using any combination of these letters. Remind them to use lower case letters unless it is a proper noun (name). We will use the language “I can…spell words”.

Sight Words: me, with, she (past words: I, am, the, little, to, a, have, is, we, my, like, for, he)       

Please practice these words at home! Students can write, search for, or use flash cards to read the words. We will use the language “I can…read words”.  

Math: Last week, we began Ch. 5 and learned that adding means to combine things together. Students will be using the language “I can… add numbers”.

Thanksgiving Feast – Our Thanksgiving Feast will be Tuesday, November 25^th. The morning feast will be at 9:30 and the afternoon feast will be at 1:15. Please let me know if you are interested in helping out.

Feel free to contact me with any questions @ 943-6924 ornicodemus_a@westcler.org.