Listening Skills with Mrs. Mastio

Each week, Mrs. Mastio, our reading teacher, comes in to work with our Kindergartners on a variety of early literacy skills.  One of the very first skills we are work on is developing our listening skills.  Mrs. Mastio taught us a song called "5 Star Listener" that can be sung to the tune of Frere Jacques.  This helps us get our bodies ready to listen and learn.

Today, she read us the story "Doing the Animal Bop".  Kindergartners needed to use their "listening ears" to find out how each of the animals in the story dances. 

 

 

We then sang the "Doing the Animal Bop" song and danced just like the animals did.  Ask your child what his/her favorite animal dance was!

Homework...isn't it great?!

Believe it or not, Kindergartners LOVE homework.  Especially if they have older brothers or sisters.  I told the Kindergartners on Wednesday that they receive their first homework packets on Monday, September 10th.  You should have heard the excitement in the room!  Please look for these packets in your child's folder on Monday.  The front page will be a checklist of items to complete for each night of the week.  Please return your child's finished homework packet each Friday. 

Your child should only be spending 10-15 minutes a night on their homework.  If it is taking your child longer than this amount of time, please don't hesitate to contact me.  I don't want homework to be stressful for your child.  Instead, it should be a review of skills we are working on in class and something they can do independently (after you read the directions to them of course!) 

Happy homework!

First Week Complete!

What a whirlwind of a first week!  We have been so busy working away in Kindergarten, I haven't had a chance to update until now!  We are working hard on establishing routines and getting used to the Kindergarten day.  Kindergarteners are working on writing their names the "Kindergarten way".  This means that the first letter is an uppercase letter and the rest are lowercase.  Please review this with your child at home!

And for some "others"....

Sight Words:  Our sight words for this week are I and a.  Please have your child cut out these sight word flashcards and use them to practice each night!

Grandparent's Day:  Kindergarten will celebrate Grandparent's Day from 11-11:30 only.  Grandparents are welcome to take home their grandson/daughter at the end of the morning session.  However, if your child is part of our KED program, we ask that your child remains at school until the end of the regular school day.

Twister-a-Thon:  Twister-a-Thon packets were sent home last week.  We will celebrate the Twister-a-Thon on Friday, September 14th.  Parents are welcome to attend!  (More information to follow...)