September in K1

We are working very hard learning how to be good listeners & follow directions. To help the children learn about acceptable behavior, the Kindergarten teachers use a flip card Behavior Chart. I explained the details about the Behavior/Citizenship Chart at our Back-2-School Nite & plan to do a blog entry about the Behavior Chart in a week or so when I am ready to start using it in our classroom.
We are also practicing how to write our names. At this point, I am not concerned as to whether the children are using all caps or a combination of caps & small letters to write their names. One academic goal for the first grading period is to print your first name. By December & after we've had time to cover some of the lowercase alphabet letters, I will expect the children to start writing their names with a capital at the beginning and small letters for the rest of their name. If your child is unable to write his/her first name, please begin practicing with them at home for 5 - 10 minutes each evening. You may teach them either way - all capital letters or first letter capital & the rest of the letters in lower case letters.
A 2nd academic goal for the first grading period is to count to 20. It would be helpful if you & your child practice counting things at home. Possible ideas for things to count: number of doors, windows, stairs, or chairs in your house, bites it takes to eat an apple, a cookie, or a bowl of cereal, or counting the number of shoes in your closet. There are so many things a child can count - the ideas are endless.
Finally, some other academic goals your child we be working to accomplish this first grading period are: reciting the alphabet, recognizing upper & lower case letters that have been taught as well as their sounds, recognizing & naming 8 colors, holding & using scissors correctly to cut on a line, and coloring inside the lines as well as filling in all white "ghosty" spaces.
To help your child progess & gain self-confidence about their school work, you can help at home by practicing these skill areas.