This week we talked about living and nonliving things. Your children now know what makes a living thing a living thing! All living things reproduce, grow, eat or take in nutrients, breathe or exchange gas, and need water. We are all in agreement that plants, animals, trees, grass, are living things!
Peek At Next Week:
Mammals:
Characteristics: Warm Blooded, have hair or fur, vertebrates, born alive!
Letter of the Week:
F f
Rhyming Word of the Week:
Big
This week we had fun learning about the food groups in our class. Grains and Cereals, Fruit and Vegetables, Dairy (my favorite), meats and proteins, fats and sugars and how many servings we should have per day. Next week we will be identifying and learning the characteristics are of living things and non living things(non-living thing: me at 5 am in the morning). Notable events of this week was the death of guitarist Grant Hart from the band Husker Du and actor Harry Dean Stanton (Cool Hand Luke, Repo Man, Pretty In Pink, Wild At Heart).
Sneak Peek for Next Week: Living and Non-Living
Together we will spend time over the week learning about the characteristics of Living Things
(take in nourishment, breathe or exchange gases, grow, reproduce,etc)
Letter of the Week: Ee
Rhyming Word of the Week: bad
The past two weeks we have covered the Hemispheres and the Equator! We learned things like:
A look into next week: Bodies of water surrounding North America
Kindergarten Reading Group
with Ms. Faith
In reading group we read a story about a crocodile who could do some amazing things. We learned about how to be ourselves, what it means to be proud, and what it means to be disappointed.
A look into next week’s Reading Group:
Academic Enrichment Group Time | kindergarten
with Mr. John
During our Academic Enrichment time with our kindergarten students over the past few weeks we have been learning about the seven continents, cardinal directions, and hemispheres.
Next week we will be covering North Americas and surrounding bodies of water (Pacific Atlantic Ocean, Hudson Bay, Gulf of Mexico and the Great lakes).
Handwriting/Journaling | kindergarten
with Ms. Kristen
In Handwriting the past few weeks, the children have been practicing form drawing in preparation for writing in cursive. The children have also been working on forming the letter A and B and have been practicing forming simple words that begin with those letters. They are so excited to begin their journey into the world of cursive handwriting!
Reading Group | kindergarten
with Ms. Kate
Such is what brings me to our classroom topic this week; Healthy Habits! We discussed how important our personal hygiene is. How we wash hands, brush teeth, eat healthy, exercise, and get plenty of sleep and next week we will visit the Food Pyramid and healthy eating habits, you can even find nutrition systems online, which sometimes are low cost, and easy to follow, so after you select it, you just need to figure out the nutrisystem cost.
A Peek into Next Week… All about the Food Pyramid!
REMINDERS:
This week kindergarten students are focused on learning about the continents, its location and fun facts about each continent. In these pictures they are creating their own continent map.
Kindergarten students are also practicing writing cursive letters.
The children are identifying and labeling the continents together. 
A look into next week: Directions
May/June 2017 Academic Enrichment Overview | Tallmadge Campus
Our Academic Enrichment time is daily from 12:00-1:00pm. This time is specifically designed for our Kindergarten students to join as a group to work and progress through the advanced materials and lessons in the Montessori primary curriculum with Ms. Courtney. During this time Ms. Courtney also gives additional handwriting and journaling lessons. Throughout the school day in their classroom they are still working individually with their classroom teachers on these and other materials at their level. Please read through what we will be covering during this time together below.
Reading Group Overview
Junior Great Books is a foundational reading program that introduces students to a variety of literary genres, while teaching critical thinking and comprehension skills. Our Kindergarten students meet twice a week as a small reading group. During this time, they listen to a story being read to them and take turns reading the story aloud. Students pause during readings to think critically about the story, identify the different parts of the story, such as the characters and main ideas, make predictions about what might happen next, and learn new vocabulary words, using the context to understand the meaning. Each week I will email information about the current story and any assignment information for at home work.
5/01: Introduction to prepositions
5/08: Introduction to interjections
5/15: Introduction to punctuation (end of a Sentence)
5/22: Introduction to capitalization
5/29: Review of the year
Letters of the Week: Try to find objects that begin with each letter wherever you go with your child.
Vowels A E I O U
Sight Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.
5/01: Some
5/08: Time
5/15: Write
5/22: People
5/29: Many
Synonym Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.
5/01: UNDER, below, beneath, underneath
5/08: QUICK, fast, swift, rapid, speedy, hasty
5/15: NEAT, tidy, clean, arranged, well-ordered
5/22: LOOK, see, glance, stare, gaze
5/29: FUNNY, silly, playful, crazy, foolish
Things to do at home this month to reinforce our themes:
I will be sending homework home to reinforce these lessons. Please turn homework into Ms. Courtney. Please email me if you have any questions: cowens@thesmarterkids.com
Our Academic Enrichment time is daily from 12:00-1:00pm. This time is specifically designed for our Kindergarten students to join as a group to work and progress through the advanced materials and lessons in the Montessori primary curriculum with Mr. John. During this time Ms. Kristen also gives additional handwriting and journaling lessons. Throughout the school day in their classroom they are still working individually with their classroom teacher on these and other materials at their level. Please read through what we will be covering during this time together below.
Reading Group Overview | Ms. Kate
Junior Great Books is a foundational reading program that introduces students to a variety of literary genres, while teaching critical thinking and comprehension skills. Our Kindergarten students meet twice a week as a small reading group. During this time, they listen to a story being read to them and take turns reading the story aloud. Students pause during readings to think critically about the story, identify the different parts of the story, such as the characters and main ideas, make predictions about what might happen next, and learn new vocabulary words, using the context to understand the meaning. Each week I will email information about the current story and any assignment information for at home work.
4/03: Introduction to Pronouns
Rules of the pronouns
Worksheets, grammar symbols, diagramming sentences
4/10: Introduction to Adjectives
Rules of the adjectives
Worksheets, grammar symbols, diagramming sentences
4/17: Introduction to Adverbs
Rules of adverbs
Worksheets, grammar symbols, diagramming sentences
4/24: Introduction to Conjunctions
Rules of conjunctions
Worksheets, grammar symbols, diagramming sentences
Sight Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.
**No Sight words or synonyms until 4/24/2017 due to the International Festival
4/24: look, many
Synonyms of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.
4/24: Talk, Chat, Gab, Speak, Converse
Mr. John will be sending homework home to reinforce these lessons. Please turn homework into the BLUE box outside of Mr. John’s classroom. Please email him if you have any questions: jkotradi@thesmarterkids.com.
Our Academic Enrichment time is daily from 12:00-1:00pm. This time is specifically designed for our Kindergarten students to join as a group to work and progress through the advanced materials and lessons in the Montessori primary curriculum with Ms. Courtney. During this time Ms. Courtney also gives additional handwriting and journaling lessons. Throughout the school day in their classroom they are still working individually with their classroom teachers on these and other materials at their level. Please read through what we will be covering during this time together below.
Reading Group Overview | Ms. Faith
Junior Great Books is a foundational reading program that introduces students to a variety of literary genres, while teaching critical thinking and comprehension skills. Our Kindergarten students meet twice a week as a small reading group. During this time, they listen to a story being read to them and take turns reading the story aloud. Students pause during readings to think critically about the story, identify the different parts of the story, such as the characters and main ideas, make predictions about what might happen next, and learn new vocabulary words, using the context to understand the meaning. Each week I will email information about the current story and any assignment information for at home work.
4/03: Pronouns
4/10: Introduction to Adjectives
4/17: Introduction to Adverbs
4/24: Introduction to Prepositions
Sight Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.
4/03: That
4/10: Not
4/17: See
4/24: Big
Synonym Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.
4/03: NICE, friendly, courteous, good, pleasant, charming
4/10: SNEAKY, underhanded, dishonest, tricky, secretive, sly
4/17: BRIGHT, shiny, glowing, dazzling, lighted, vivid
4/24: DULL, dark, dreary, somber, boring, tedious
Things to do at home this month to reinforce our themes:
I will be sending homework home to reinforce these lessons. Please turn homework into Ms. Courtney. Please email me if you have any questions: cowens@thesmarterkids.com
Academic Enrichment Overview | Cuyahoga Falls Campus
Our Academic Enrichment time is daily from 12:00-1:00pm. This time is specifically designed for our Kindergarten students to join as a group to work and progress through the advanced materials and lessons in the Montessori primary curriculum with Mr. John. During this time Ms. Kristen also gives additional handwriting and journaling lessons. Throughout the school day in their classroom they are still working individually with their classroom teacher on these and other materials at their level. Please read through what we will be covering during this time together below.
Reading Group Overview | Ms. Kate
Junior Great Books is a foundational reading program that introduces students to a variety of literary genres, while teaching critical thinking and comprehension skills. Our Kindergarten students meet twice a week as a small reading group. During this time, they listen to a story being read to them and take turns reading the story aloud. Students pause during readings to think critically about the story, identify the different parts of the story, such as the characters and main ideas, make predictions about what might happen next, and learn new vocabulary words, using the context to understand the meaning. Each week I will email information about the current story and any assignment information for at home work.
2/27: Geometric Shapes and Constructive Boxes
Geometric Cabinet
Hexagon, rectangle and blue rectangle boxes
Creating triangles, rhombus, trapezoid, parallelogram, squares, etc
3/06: Parts of Speech/ Grammar
Vowels, consonants and their rules
3/13: Parts of Speech/ Grammar
Introduction to nouns and their rules (name of a person, place, or thing)
Introduction to verbs and their rules (action word or something you do)
Vowels, consonants and their rules
Using worksheets, diagramming sentences and sandpaper letters
3/20: Parts of Speech/ Grammar
Introduction to the article
“the” hooks up with anything
“a” or “an”/ “a” hooks up with only consonants, “an” hooks up with only vowels
Using worksheets, diagramming sentences and sandpaper letters
Sight Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.
2/27: write, them
3/06: then, out
3/13: they, that
3/20: have, this
Synonyms of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.
2/27: WET, damp, moist, soggy, drenched, soaked
3/06: HEALTHY, hearty, athletic, sound, strong, fit
3/13: SICK, weak, unhealthy, ailing, infected, frail
3/20: Mean, selfish, unkind, malicious, hurtful
Things to do at home this month to reinforce our themes:
Look for our words of the week when reading a story, cut out pictures beginning with the letters of the week.
Practice using the different synonyms of the week in a sentence together.
Mr. John will be sending homework home to reinforce these lessons. Please turn homework into the orange box outside of Mr. John’s classroom. Please email him if you have any questions: jkotradi@thesmarterkids.com.
