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Mr. Baker, Language Arts, Kinder

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Literacy Week of April 28th

This week we will be starting Unit 9 of our literacy curriculum. This unit is called “Rules We Follow”. We will be reading stories, both fiction and non-fiction, about why we have rules and why it is important to follow them. We will continue our work with identifying key story elements, as well as talking about why it is important to follow the rules. 


In phonics, we will continue our work with our long vowels by learning the long /u/ sound. We will be listening for it at the beginning of words, as well in the middle of words. We will also be working on substituting sounds in words, in the beginning, middle, and end of the words. 

Please continue practicing the April sight words at home! You can find some fun practice ideas here.

Literacy Week of April 21st

This week marks the conclusion of Unit 8, where we’ve been exploring animal habitats. Our focus questions are: How do habitats help animals meet their needs? and Why do people protect animal habitats? We’ll investigate these questions by reading stories such as Turtle Beach and Day and Night in the Desert. Students will also work on identifying key story elements, including plot, main idea, key details, and summarizing.


In phonics, we'll review the long /o/ sound—listening for it at the beginning and middle of words, blending it into new words, and matching words that share the same sound.

Please continue practicing the April sight words at home! You can find some fun practice ideas here.

Literacy Week of April 14th

Hi families! We will continue to dive into unit 8 with students. Remember that unit 8 is all about animal homes or habitats. This week, we will discuss animals who live in the desert, forest, and ocean through stories and poems. We will be reviewing our long A and introducing long I. Don’t forget to practice those April sight words at home! Here are a few ideas on how to practice them with some joy!

Literacy Week of April 7th

This week in Literacy we will be starting our 8th unit, which talks all about Animal Homes.This week specifically we will be focusing on how animals are different, and where different animals live. We will also continue to read and write words and sentences, as well as make the connection between the letter a, and its long sound (heard in words like: April, make, sale).

Literacy Week of March 10th

Literacy Week of March 10th

We will be finishing Unit 7 in our Literacy Curriculum. Students will continue to explore what plants (living things) need to survive and grow, and how plants are able to get what they need from their environment.


For phonemic awareness, students will practice blending CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words. We will introduce the letters “Yy” and “Vv,” as well as review the letters “Ww” “Kk” “Qq” and “Ee.”


Students should have received their sight words for the month of March, so please continue to practice those at home. If you’re looking for some fun activities to try, try some of the one’s found here! 

Literacy Week of February 17th

We will be introducing unit 7! Time is going by so quickly! In unit 7, students explore what living things, mostly plants, need to survive and grow. In addition to this, they will learn how these living things get what they need to survive from their environment. 


For phonemic awareness, students will continue to work on blending CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words and will work with the letters ‘Kk’ and ‘Ww’. We will dive deeper into what are digraphs (a combination of 2 letters that make 1 sound - example: ‘sh’).

Literacy Week of February 10th

This week in literacy, we will be on our 3rd and final week of talking about What is a Culture? We will be introducing the /z/ sound. We will also be looking at the z sound as it occurs at the end of the word, where it is spelled as an S (ex. Chins, his, is). For our phonemic awareness, we will be working on matching words by their beginning sounds, and matching words by their ending sounds. We will also be working to identify the beginning and ending sounds of different words. We will be reading more about different cultures around the world, by reading My Dadima Wears a Sari and A Collection of Cultures.


Please continue working on the February sight words at home.

Literacy Week of February 3rd

This week, we will continue our unit theme of culture and traditions. We will explore this theme through our investigation questions of: How do we prepare for a celebration? What makes a culture unique? We will introduce the letters Uu and Xx this week. During phonemic awareness we will practice final sound deletion (ex: say the word rat, and now take away the /t/, what’s the new word: ra). During writing we will write explanatory text using first and then for our guide. We will write how to wash our hands, how to brush our teeth, and more. Please practice the February sight words at home. 

Literacy Week of January 27th

This week we are going to explore culture with two stories: Pass it Down and Cultures and Holidays around the World. In these two stories, we will learn about how traditions are continued through families and take a closer look at how specific holidays are celebrated like Kwanza and Harvest festivals. Alongside this learning, we will also be practicing our letter sounds J and F. We will also continue to practice blending cvc words with vowels o, i, u, and a. Lastly, please continue to work with your kindergarten on their sight words. We will be sending home the February sight words this Friday in their Friday folders.

Literacy Week of January 20th

This week we are going to be diving into a new Unit, and in this unit, we will be taking a look at what is a culture. We will be talking to the students about different cultures around the world, and how different traditions are celebrated. Alongside this learning, we will also be introducing the sounds for letters J and F. We will also continue to work on blending words, and reading words as well!

Literacy Week of January 13th

This week we are going to continue our previous explorations of homes! This week, we will read a book about the steps of constructing a house and pondering the essential question, ‘What makes a home?”. We will be introducing the sounds of /Gg/ and reviewing the sound of /Rr/, and /Oo/. The goal is for your students to isolate those sounds at the beginning of a word, in the end of a word, and eventually in the middle of a word. Please practice sight words at home with your student.

Literacy Week of December 9th

This week we will be continuing Unit 4 of the Literacy Curriculum. We will learn the sound that letter O makes, as well as what sound the letter R makes. We will be building on our work of phoneme segmentation last week, and continuing our work by stretching out the words, and trying to write them as well. On top of this, we will be continuing to take a look at the question “What makes a home?” and reading more stories about what different types of homes can look like. 

Literacy Week of December 2nd

This Week, we will begin Unit 4 of our literacy curriculum. Your students will be introduced to the letter sound of /b/ and /c/ and practice phoneme segmentation, which is breaking apart words into their individual sounds (ex: bat  → /b/  /a/  /t/). We will be learning about homes during this unit and answering the question, what makes a home? Your students will read a variety of texts that teach them about different types of homes and why homes are important. They will begin to understand why we need homes and how homes are built around the world.

Literacy Week of November 18th

This week in Literacy, we will be finishing our last lesson in our unit about pushes and pulls! In this lesson, we will dive into two realistic fiction books. One about fun ways to move and the other about rides at an amusement park.  For Phonemic awareness, we will identify words that begin with the same sound. For phonological awareness, we will be introducing a new superhero letter… the letter i! Feel free to ask your kindergartener the other superhero letters we’ve learned so far! Lastly, don’t forget about our November sight words! We’ll be adding our December sight words soon!

Literacy Week of November 11th

This week in Literacy, we are continuing our 4th Unit in our literacy curriculum. As a reminder, this unit is all about pushes and pulls. We will be continuing looking at books and stories about pushes and pulls, and how we use different forces of motion every day. For Phonemic awareness, we will be working on phoneme deletion. For example we will be saying a word, and then taking away the first sound (The word is Picnic, now say the word with the /p/ sound: icnic). We will also be introducing the L sound, and the N sound!