What Are We Learning?

The question I get asked most often at the beginning of the year is, "What should we be practicing at home??" Hopefully this blog post will help give you an idea of what you can expect, and what you can be working on! That being said, I am a FIRM believer in letting kids be kids at times. While I obviously want them to practice as much as they can, I also don't want them to begin at such a young age resenting the work they have to do! 

English/Language Arts (ELA) 

We began our Duval Reads Module 1 which studies different Nursery Rhymes and Fables. So far, we have learned (and pulled vocabulary from) Roses Are Red, Ring Around the Rosie, Jack Be Nimble, Little Jack Horner, and a few others. We are continuing with this next week as well! We will be getting to some of the classics such as Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill, Star Light Star Bright... 

You can ask your child about some of these rhymes, and ask them to recite them for you! One of the main skills we will focus on is identifying rhyming words, and eventually we will get to producing rhyming words (i.e. "Tell me a word that rhymes with cat"). 

We began our phonics program (Saxon) and studied our first letter...L! You probably saw all of the worksheets in their folders today that have practice on them. We study 1-2 letters a week, and will work on building words, identifying beginning or ending sounds, matching upper to lower case, etc. in the coming weeks! This program starts off slow, but trust me when I say that it helps IMMENSELY with their reading skills!! More information on this will be provided at Open House. 

Take Aways.. 

- Practice identifying rhyming words

- Practice identifying upper and lower case letters

- Practice producing letter sounds

- Can begin practicing blending CVC words (consonant vowel consonant...i.e. cat, bug, hat, dig...) 

- Practice reciting familiar nursery rhymes

Math

We just began our Module 1 Duval Math curriculum! This module focuses mainly on counting and cardinality...creating sets, identifying numerals, comparing sets, etc. The kids tend to love practicing math significantly more than reading at this age for whatever reason! If this is the case with your child, EMBRACE IT! Math concepts get fairly difficult as the year goes on, so build on their love for it early! 

Click the link below to see an example provided by the county of all the concepts being introduced in Module 1 (this is extremely helpful and gives great explanations)! 

What's Being Taught in Math Module One

Take Aways..

- Practice recognizing numbers 0-10

- Practice creating sets up to 10 (i.e. make a set of 7 erasers, 4 pencils, etc.) 

- Begin counting by 5's and 10's

- Compare sets up to 10 (i.e. Which set has more, which set has less, etc.) 

Other Skills

For ease in day-to-day tasks, we encourage the following skills be practiced, if not already mastered. 

- Unpacking backpack (including putting water bottle back into pocket)

- Tying shoes

- Using computer mouse/practice typing log-in information when starting iReady

- Writing name using proper upper/lower case letters (i.e. John, not JOhN)

We are off to a great start this school year, and I can't wait to see all the growth the kids make by the end!! As always, we are a team working toward your child's success. Please let me know if you need anything or have any questions! :)