Jen's Notebook

Gone are the days of coming to kindergarten knowing how to count to 10 and leaving knowing your numbers to 20 and how to make a pattern. CCSS now requires kindergarten students to learn a multitude of different math concepts including but not limited to adding, subtracting, knowing the difference between 2D and 3D shapes and how to skip count by 10’s. That being said please don’t panic. These are all things your child will need to know by the end of kindergarten. So what can you do to help?

• Check your child’s backpack daily for worksheets and math ideas they are working on in class. Make sure you discuss the concept with your child. Have them show you what they did in math that day in school.
• Get a copy of the CCSS standards for parents from your teacher or on-line. That way you will not be surprised by how much is expected of your child throughout the school year.
• Count, count, count and then count some more. The more experiences your child has with counting items the better they are going to understand the concept and then be able to build on what they know during the school year.
• Practice skip counting by 10’s at home. Skip counting orally takes lots of practice. If you practice at home also, it will help.
• Have your child help you when you are using measuring cups, measuring spoons, tape measurers, counting out money, telling time, etc. Anytime you are doing something with math, mention it to them. A lot of the skills take time and a lot of exposure to finally understand. The more your child sees the concepts the better.
• Most importantly be excited about math. A lot of us are afraid of math and think we don’t understand it. That attitude rubs off on our kids. If you seem excited about math your child will think it is an easy thing to learn, and be excited too!

Library is a fun experience for kids. For most students it is the very first time they get to check out a book and take it home to read. But with that checkout comes lots of first time responsibility. They have to get it home, keep it away from littler siblings, and get it back. As a teacher, I love that they are learning this responsibility but I also fret a lot about library time because it often becomes a very stressful class for some students. Here are a couple of ways you can help your child lessen their worries when it comes to library.

• Make sure you know which day during the week your child has library checkout.
• Keep the library book in their backpack unless they are reading it. That will insure they have it on library day for checkout time.
• Ask the teacher if they have place to store the book in the classroom if your child returns it a few days earlier than the next library day. I have a basket in my room they can keep their library books in or I let them keep them in their cubbies.
• If your child accidentally loses the book. Let us know. We can look for it in school, check buses, etc. If it can’t be found, you can pay for the book so your child can check out again.
• If the book is damaged, please return it and let us know. Our Librarians are wonderful at fixing books. Accidents happen, and I want the students to know we will work it out.
• Some schools only allow children to check out books within their reading levels while others allow students to check out a topic or book that interest them. Find out how your school library decides what can be checkout so you can talk to your child about their choices of books.

Lastly, enjoy these borrowed books with your child. Building a love of life long reading is very important to all child’s future and it can be a really fun activity to do together each week.

Life today is so very, very busy. And I know parents have so much on their minds. But if any of your information changes such as phone numbers, address, emergency contacts, please don’t forget to let us know. There is nothing worse for a small child than to be sick and our office isn’t able to get ahold of anyone to come and pick them up. You can always call the office, e-mail or call me or just send a note with your child in the morning to school and I will make sure the office gets the information. We really appreciate you keeping us updated. Have a wonderful Tuesday evening.

Classrooms usually have two temperatures, really hot or really cold! Either the air-conditioner is running or it is winter outside and the heat is cranked up . Add to that the fact that we are not in control of the thermostat in the room and you end up with temps that are all over the map. I actually have to laugh because there is never an in-between temperature in the room for some unknown reason. If you can make sure that your child keeps a light jacket, sweater or sweatshirt with them everyday throughout the school year In their backpack, they will be able to ward off a chill in the winter or when the air conditioner is blowing full blast down on them from the ceiling vents. Remember it is never fun to be cold while at school and it makes it really hard to learn when all you can think about is the cold.