Word Study April/May

For the months of April and May, we will be introducing "bonus letters" and "glued sounds" into our word study instruction.  Students will continue to tap-to-read and tap-to-write CVC and CVCC words as well.  

Bonus Letter Rule- At the end of a one-syllable word, if the word has one vowel, followed immediately by an f, l, or s (and sometimes z) at the end, double the consonant.  (The extra f, l, or s is considered a bonus letter because it is extra.  

*Mark up a bonus letter word by putting a star above the bonus letter.

*The Bonus letter does not make an additional sound.

i.e., the word miss has 4 letters but makes 3 sounds m/i/s/

therefore it will take 3 taps to "tap out" the word miss

m-i-s -----> miss

Glued sounds are letters that, when blended together, make a special sound.  Some glued sounds that we will be introducing are -all, -am, and -an.  When we tap a word that has a glued sound, we use the middle and ring finger to make one tap. For example, the word ball would be tapped out as b-all----->ball.  To mark a word that has a glued sound, students should make a box around that sound.  

Current Unit Words:

shell cuff  fuss  miss  kiss   off

fill    puff  toss  doll   hill   fell

chill  Russ  Bess  well  mess Nell

mass bell   pill   will   huff  wall

fall   hall   call   ball   tall   mall

man   fan  pan  tan  ham  Sam  van

May Reader's Workshop

Unit 9: Character

The purpose of this unit is to focus on comprehension.  It is important for the children to understand that reading is more than just word solving. Reading is also about enjoying books, rereading favorite stories, thinking about the characters in them and reacting to things that characters do or say.

The goals for this unit are:

• Children will identify who the characters are in their stories
•    Children will begin to make inferences about their characters by using the pictures.  
• Students will make predictions about their characters and 
• Students will make connections from the book they are reading to their own lives and to other books.

What you can do at home to help your kindergarten reader:

·   After your child finishes a book, you can ask them who is the main character? 

·   Ask your reader where they noticed the character having a strong feeling (sad, excited, angry) and talk about why the character felt that way.

·   Ask your child how the characters in the books are the same or different from other characters in other books.

·   When they are reading, have them try to sound like and act like the characters in their books.

May Writing Workshop

                       Writing a How-To...

The purpose of this unit is to encourage our children to see writing as a way to teach others . 

Some of the goals for the children are: 

• They will create a text that will teach others how to do something.
• Students will learn how to elaborate on each "step" by adding tiny action, specific vocabulary and transitional words like first, next, and last.  
• Students will use their letter sound knowledge to write words that have beginning, middle and ending sounds.
• Students will continue to improve their use of spacing in order to make their story more readable.

May Read-Alouds

kind/caring

naive/gullible
tricky/sneaky

jealous

clever
wicked/evil

greedy

honest/dishonest/patient

Rude/foolish/patient/clever

April Read Alouds

Reduce/Reuse/Recycle

Waste/Wasteful

Landfill/Dump

Arrogant/Boastful/Full of Yourself
Sneaky/Tricky/Trickster
Evil/Wicked/Horrid
Considerate/Caring

May Math Workshop

May Math Workshop

In the month of May, Kindergarten teachers and students will start Module 5 of the Engage NY Math Curriculum. Students have worked intensively within 10 and have often counted to 30. This sets the stage for Module 5, where students clarify the meaning of the 10 ones and some ones within a teen number and extend that understanding to count to 100. They see two distinct sets which are then counted the Say Ten way: ten 1, ten 2, ten 3, ten 4, ten 5, ten 6, ten 7, ten 8, ten 9, 2 tens. Students hear the separation of the 10 ones and some ones as they count, solidifying their understanding as they also return to regular counting: eleven, twelve, thirteen, …, etc. Then, , through the use of the Hide Zero cards (pictured below) and number bonds,  students represent the whole number numerically while continuing to separate the count of 10 ones from the count of the remaining ones with drawings and materials.

Here are some terms, phrases, and strategies used in the Module:

• Count 10 objects within counts of 10 to 20 objects, and describe as 10 ones and ___ ones
• Count straws the Say Ten way to 20; make a pile for each ten
• Model with objects and represent numbers 10 to 20 with place value or Hide Zero cards
• Model and write numbers 10 to 20 as number bonds
• Draw teen numbers from abstract to pictorial

Here are some new vocabulary words that will be introduced during this unit:

• 10 and __
• 10 ones and some ones
• Hide Zero cards 
• Regular counting by ones from 11 to 20 (eleven, twelve, thirteen, etc.)
• Regular counting by tens to 100 (e.g., ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety, one hundred)
• Teen number 

                   

Ten and ____ 

 

How you can help at home:

• Practice counting on from a number (e.g. counting from 3-10, 7-20, 21-30, etc)
• Ask students to identify a set of 10 and how many extra there are (e.g. Show a group of 12 toys, and see if they are able to separate 10 and identify that there are 2 extra)
• Continue making up number stories within 10 for addition and subtraction problems! It is equally important for students to be able to identify what each part of the story means! (e.g. I have 9 cookies -3 are chocolate chip and 6 are vanilla. What does the 3 in my story mean? [that you have 3 chocolate chip cookies] What does the 6 in my story mean? [that you have 6 vanilla cookies] What does the 9 in my story mean? [that you have 9 cookies all together]).