January

January is an exciting time in Kindergarten. The learning and growth that takes place from Jan-May is amazing. I love watching the children mature and become more confident in their abilities. You will see so many changes in your child from now until the end of the year. Their reading and writing skills will really take off. This week (well what is left of it) we will be assessing many of our second quarter skills as well as taking our winter CBM tests. This information will help us to form new flex groups, small groups in the classroom, and drive our instruction. Report cards will come out at the end of next week. You will notice that MANY of the math skills will be listed as developing for your child. This is because the pacing of the new common core curriculum and the report card are not completely lined up yet. Although you may feel that your child is secure in some of the math skills, we will not have completed the units on these skills and do not feel that assessing them at this time is the right thing to do. Remember that common core is about application and understanding as well...so even if your child can add/subtract within 10 -and I know MANY can-there is more to it than just knowing the facts. We will spend the rest of the school year on addition/subtraction as well as on problem solving, graphing, and reviewing our previously learned skills. There will be opportunities for enrichment as well. Like I mentioned, this time of year is very busy and filled with lots of exciting discoveries!