Wojcik Class Happenings

This year’s Wojcik Class kindergarteners are off to a fantastic start!  I’ve had a strong response of parental support and I thank you wonderful parents who’ve donated your valuable time to make copies, compile Friday Folders, and spend quality time in the classroom reading.   If you can spare a recess period (10:20-10:40) or a lunch (10:40-11:10) to watch over our wonderful kids please let me, Marisha Gast or the Office know.  It will be triply appreciated!  You’re the biggest part of your child’s life and it’s our partnership that enables your child to receive the maximum benefits from public education. 

In our language curriculum, also known as

Open Court

, we’re covering letter writing, beginning/ending sounds, upper/lower case distinction, rhyming words, color words, and myriad games that reinforce these skills.  Journal writing of name, date, and our favorite high-frequency word “The” is also in progress.  In accordance with our commitment to the Core Knowledge scope and sequence, our literature includes poems, Aesop Fables, Fairy Tales, and sayings such as “Practice makes perfect”. We’re also well into the Letters and Sounds Workbook, which typically stays in the classroom. 

Pre-writing and fine motor works include, the Geometric Insets (circle, oval, ellipse, pentagon, square, triangle, curvilinear triangle, and rectangle), color mixing (making ROYGBIV with Red, Blue, and Yellow), making a “rainbow” in the room with a prism, water transfer work, bead stringing, patterns with beads and tangrams. Ask you child to tell you the colors of the rainbow (in order) and don’t let them slide with “purple” for indigo and violet.  They should also know the difference (one is more of a bluish purple and the other more of a reddish purple) which means that our Crayola pencils are incorrectly labeled!!! 

Math activities include matching, sorting, grading, numeral writing and numeral/quantity association lessons, counting by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s.  These kids are graphing like 1^st graders!!  Categories include favorite rainbow colors, fruit snacks by flavor (very popular), objects by color, home/school lunch, and shirt colors!  They simply love graphing!     

Also, as part of Core Knowledge, first Science lessons are covering an introduction to our globe (water/land), the seven continents, and directional concepts.  Works such as Living/non-living sorting, Plant/Animal and Vertebrate/Invertebrate sorting are also available. There is also a work in which they remove and label the major organs of our plastic model, Bob!   We’ll have many discussions and lessons on the human body; currently there are two works covering the human skeletal system.   Ask your child to name and tap the bones they know – they’ll probably surprise you!

Stay tuned for Pumpkin Patch news and The Origins of Halloween Story!

 Thanks for your support,

Mel Wojcik