4K Newsletter for January 15-17, 2024

4K Families,

This week we start the fourth time through the alphabet. We will be doing letters Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, and Ee. We will be doing new things for each letter. There is a song and dance for the letters from Taylor Dee Kids TV, and we will also be learning the sign for each letter with Jack Hartmann and how to sign some words that begin with each letter. It will be fun. They already enjoyed letter Aa today. 

We also started our More/Less, comparing/measuring book today. They did a great job circling the larger quantities of 3D shapes and writing the correct number to go with the answers. They are getting really good at writing number 5. If your child likes to do homework at home, along with practicing writing their name, they can also practice writing numbers. 0-10 are great ones to start with. 

We are also starting to learn about safety rules at Woodfield school. Today we talked about being safe at school and that kids should never open the door for anyone, only grown ups open doors or not at school.  We had good discussions about that in both classes. They were really good at remember and knowing that safety rule. Way to go, 4K!

It looks like it will be too cold for us to play outside this week. We will do some movement activities and songs inside this week. I just wanted everyone to know we will be staying inside so that you can decide if you want your child wearing snow pants to school or not. 

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to a great week in 4K!

Miss Gilding

4K Newsletter for January 8-12, 2024

4K Families,

Hello to the first full week of school in January. We have the last three letters of the animal alphabet. We will be doing letters Xx (x-ray fish), Yy (yak), and Zz (zebra). On Thursday, we will begin our fourth time through the alphabet. We will be doing some alphabet dances and learning the sign language letters this time through.

On Thursday, we will start a new book. This month, we will be working in a math concept book. It is a measuring and comparing unit. We will still be working on writing letters and numbers while learning and practicing these other math concepts. The kids do a great job during this.

It seems like there will be snow very soon. Please make sure your child has boots, snow pants, gloves/mittens, coat, and hat to wear during recess. Morning students, please make sure that your child comes to school wearing their warm snow clothes because we go outside for recess right away. Thanks!

During January, we have started signing in when we get to school and so far, it has only been four days, and the kids are doing great!  Here is how the sign up looks today!  Way to go, 4K!

Thanks for reading!

Miss Gilding

4K Newsletter for January 3-5, 2024

 4K Families,

We are in the new year 2024, and the wheels of 4K keep turning! We have 6 days left of our animal alphabet. We are on letters Uu, Vv, and Ww this week. The animals are urchin, vulture, and walrus. We will have fun learning some new things about these animals while we practice writing letters and words and reinforce our alphabet skills. 

With the new year, the students will begin "signing in" to 4K by writing their names on chart paper each day with their classmates. This will bring so many good concepts including name writing practice. For those children who still struggle to write their name in a controlled way, please continue to have them practice at home. Practice makes perfect. 😊

In math, we will continue to practice writing numbers, reading numbers, counting to 20 and beyond, and adding and subtracting amounts from the whole. 

The January homework packet will come home in folders on Wednesday. Please send the December packet back to school. In order to make the virtual field trip link easier to access and not have to type the links in, I have made a new page on the webpage that has the active links for ease in accessing them. You can find it here  Virtual Field Trips  and please continue to use the paper version for the feedback portion. Thanks again.

Here's to a successful first week of the new calendar year! 

Miss Gilding

4K Newsletter for December 11-15

 Hi 4K Families,

This week is going by so fast! I can't believe it is already Wednesday and this is the first chance I am getting to write the newsletter. 

This week, we are finishing up the presents the kids are making for you. It is a nice holiday keepsake with their smiling face. They will bring it home Monday. 

In literacy, we are focusing on Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, and Oo this week.  The animals we learn about are koala, lion, manatee, newt, and otter. Today we learned that manatees eat a lot of sand in with their food because of where they live and because of that their teeth wear down. When that happens, the teeth fall out and new teeth emerge. This happens for their whole lives.  Imagine how busy the manatee tooth fairy is!

We have been working on practicing writing lots of words, letters, and most importantly their students have been writing their names.  Please continue to practice this at home.  Have your child write their name and then say the letters in their name in order.  It really helps them to have those special anchor letters from their name when they are learning the alphabet. 

Thanks for reading and I hope you are enjoying all the places our elf has been hanging out in the room!

I did want to say that a couple of parents requested that I make an Amazon wish list and so I did. There is a link to it on my webpage. Thanks to those parents for the idea. I would never have thought of it on my own. 

Miss Gilding

4K Newsletter for December 4-8

4K Families,

This week in 4K we will be working on letters Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, and Jj. The animals we will learn about are flamingo, grasshopper, hippopotamus, iguana, and jellyfish. Today we learned that flamingos are pink because of the pigment in the food they eat. We also watched them do a silly walk/dance. 

In math, we will continue to learn about the days of the week, months of the year, and seasons while we continue to practice counting. 

Thank you for sending the November homework back. You should have the December packet now. If you still have the November packet, please send it in to school for the parent engagement piece of our program. I love reading all the responses and great ideas you come up with. 

We have an Elf On The Shelf in 4K. His name is Grognack the Barbarian and he wears a brown leather bomber jacket and flight goggles. He doesn't play tricks on us, but he is in the room helping make sure everyone is kind to each other and good listeners so that they can learn a lot before Christmas break. 

I will begin posting pictures of him on seesaw so everyone can see where  he was during the day and hopefully that will spark conversations about the your child's 4K day. 

Thanks for reading!

Miss Gilding

4K News for November 27-December 1

 4K Families

I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. I got to do Karaoke with my brother, so it was a good day from my perspective. 

It is good to see so many back. Please remember that your child does need to be 24 hours fever free before returning to school. 

Now that is officially cold, I want everyone to know that 4K will not go outside this year if it is below 32F. If it is 32 or above, we will go out, and on those days please make sure your child has all they need to keep them warm. If there is any snow on the ground, the school expects kids to wear boots. I cannot let children go outside during these cold wintery days with sandals or crocs on. They can wear sneakers, but will need to stay on the asphalt away from the wood chips and playground equipment. 

AM CLASS: We have recess right away, so please send your child to school wearing their snow pants and boots along with their other winter clothes. If they are ready before school, it makes things smoother and gives us more play time. (when the weather permits)

PM CLASS: We do not have recess until later, so please send the students with their snow pants in the backpack or a different bag (if they don't fit in the backpack) so that we don't have to worry about taking them off at the beginning of the session. This will make things run smoother for the busy snack/lunch time at the beginning of the PM session.

**If your child has extra (gym) shoes at school, they can change into them on the days they wear boots and will not need to bring an additional pair of shoes. 

If you have any questions about this, please don't hesitate to ask. 

We started our third time through the alphabet this week.  We are doing letters Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, and Ee. Each letter coincides with an animal in our Animal Alphabet Book. We will take a bit of time learning about each of the animals on their day. The animals this week are armadillo, bat, caterpillar, dolphin, and elephant. We will also be practicing write our names each day, and some words that begin with the letter of the day. An example of our letter A page is below. We will be practicing lower case letters when we write the words. It should be a fun time full of learning and great writing practice. 

Thanks for reading!

Miss Gilding

4K Newsletter for November 20-21

 4K Families,

This is a short week - only two days, but they will be full of work and fun! We colored, painted, cut and glued our turkeys last week.  This week, we will be doing the writing. That should finish up by Tuesday so that Tuesday we can have pajama, movie, play day.  It will be fun. We will divide the day up into playing, watching a part of a movie with some popcorn, and then playing some more. We will, of course still do the alphabet letter for the day because it is Z! 

Next week, we will start the animal alphabet. I can't wait to teach the kids about some great animals during the animal alphabet. There is one for each letter, but we sneak in a bunch of extra ones! We also write a couple of words each day and the kids write their names on their pages.  Please continue to practice name writing at home. I can really tell when kids are practicing that at home and at school.

Thanks for reading and as always, if you have a question, don't hesitate to ask. 

Miss Gilding

(movie clue)