Current Unit: Beginning the School Year (August 25-September 26)
Our first unit is called Beginning the School Year and focuses on helping students acclimate to their new school environment. As the classroom community is developed, the rules and routines (including passing out, using, and cleaning up materials) will be developed, modeled, and practice in whole group, small group, and individual settings. This unit will also focus on developing appropriate personal and social behaviors for a school setting.
By the end of the unit, we hope that students will be able to answer the following question(s):
~ How do I get where I need to go?
~ How do I take care of things/people in my classroom?
~ How do I show my feelings?
~ How do I use and care for materials?
Focus Skills – During this unit, we are working on the following skills:
- Literacy
- Saying the alphabet
- Book handling skills & parts of a book
- Name recognition/spelling
- Introduction to rhyming, beginning sounds, syllables, and other skills
- Writing
- Using various writing materials
- Writing letters
- Name writing
- Drawing simple shapes
- Math
- Using math manipulatives correctly
- Counting orally in sequence
- Colors
- Shapes
- Content
- Learning school/classroom expectations, routines, and procedures
- Listening skills
- Being a good friend and classmate
Here are some suggestions to work on these and other basic skills at home:
- Say the alphabet with your child. At this point in the year, we are saying it slowly and NOT singing it to be sure that students are saying each letter.
- Read each night and talk about the different parts of the book. At this point in the year, we are learning to find the front cover, back cover, and title page. There will be more things to discuss as the year progresses!
- Provide your child with opportunities to practice writing at home. Practice makes perfect! Encourage your child to hold his/her pencil correctly when writing.
- Help your child practice spelling and writing his/her first name.
- Have your child count various objects around the house or while out.
- Ask your child to identify shapes and/or colors that are found in the environment. You can ask him/her to name shapes/colors of random objects, or you can challenge him/her to find a certain shape/color.
- Ask your child to tell you about school and classroom routines. Reviewing this information at home will help them remember what to do at school.
- Help your child learn important personal information such as first and last names and birthday.
You can find more suggestions of activities to do at home with your child on the Home-School Connection page!