ELAGSE.K.RL.2: With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details. Your child should be able to listen to a story and then tell you what the story is about. He/she should be able to remember some of the details from the story. At home:
- Every time you read a story, ask your child to tell you what the story was about. Encourage your child to use words from the story.
ELAGSE.K.RL.4: With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text. It is important that your child understand that when they don’t understand a word they should ask you what it means. Sometimes the word he/she doesn’t know is not an important word. Sometimes the word is very important so that your child will understand the story. At home:
- When reading aloud to your child every now and then stop and ask your child a question or two about what you are reading. Pause at difficult vocabulary words and ask your child if he/she knows what that word means. Show your child that using illustrations or other words in the sentence can help them with meaning.
ELAGSE.K.RL.7: With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story (how the illustrations support the text). Many of the books you are reading to your child contain illustrations. Help your child see the illustrations are just as important as the words on the page. At home:
- Before reading the words on a page, ask your child what the story is going to be about. Have your child use illustrations to tell the story. After reading the pages, ask your child if they were correct- did the illustrations tell the story.
ELAGSE.K.W.1: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are “writing” about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book (My favorite book is ….) –Your child has been spending lots of time writing at school. Many times this writing is in the form of drawing pictures. Help your child move their writing forward. At home:
- Have your child draw a picture of their favorite book. Ask your child to tell you about his/her picture. Ask your child if they can help you “read” their picture by labeling what is in the picture. Even if your child is only able to label the first letter that’s okay. Your child will begin to see that he/she can show their thinking with letters and words.
ELAGSE.K.W.3: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened—children are born storytellers! In fact, many times they want to tell you more than you want to hear. At home:
Continue to have your child write stories everyday! As they are learning more and more about letters and sounds, encourage them to practice those skills by adding letters and words to their stories. Have your child tell you about their story each time! Begin to ask your child questions about their story. See if he/she can add more details about their story.
ELAGSE.K.L.2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
a. Capitalize the first word in a sentence and the pronoun I. b. Recognize and name end punctuation.At home:
- Your child will begin to write sentences in their own writing. Encourage your child to use capital letters at the beginning of their sentences and punctuation at the end. Ask you read, point out the capital letters and punctuation. Ask your child, “Why do writers use capital letters and different punctuation marks?”
c. Write a letter or letters for most consonant and short-vowel sounds (phonemes).d. Spell simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationship.
At home:
As your child is writing encourage him/her to sound out the words and think about the letters they could use to represent those words. Don’t be surprised when they misspell words. Your child is just trying to figure out the whole letter sound relationship!
Books that support English/ Language Arts for Second Nine Weeks:
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Eric Carle
This cheerful introduction to colors comes alive through wonderful illustrations and rhyming text.
Charlie Parker Played Be Bop by Chris Raschka
Rhythmic, repetitive text evokes the music of jazz saxophonist, Charlie Parker.
Father Fox's Pennyrhymes by Clyde Watson
Children will delight in joining Father Fox's family as they act out the vigorous verses he tells.
The Fish Is Me!: Bathtime Rhymes by Neil Philip
Lather up with this collection of 18 effervescent, tub-time poems.
Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss
A caring elephant tries to protect the tiny creatures on a speck of dust.
How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? by Jane Yolen
This lighthearted read-aloud bribes human kids to say good night without moping, crying, or demanding another story...just like dinosaurs.
I SPY Little Learners by Jean Marzollo
Play "I Spy" with your students and learn letters, numbers, and more.
In Science your child will conclude their study of Earth Science by learning about rocks and soil. To help your child at home:
Rocks and Soil:
Go to your backyard or park and look for rocks. Have your child tell you how the rocks are the same and different.
Play in the dirt!!! Have your child dig in the dirt and feel the soil. Add water and have your child tell you how the soil feels different than before.
Your child will also begin to learn about the effects of gravity in Physical Science. At home:
Gravity:
Bounce a ball. Talk to your child about why the ball goes down and up.
Have your child look for things in the sky (stars, moon) and why they don’t fall down.
Have your child tell you why birds and airplanes can go up in the sky and then come back down.
In Social Studies your child will be learning map skills as well as different customs and celebrations. At home:
Help your child learn not only their address, but also the city, state, and country we live in.
Look at a map with your child. Point out where land and water are found. A great online resource is Google Earth ( . This interactive website (free download) lets you look at the earth. You can even find your own house.
Have your child draw a picture that shows how you as a family celebrate different holidays.
SCHOOL-HOME LINKS
Dear Family,
Your child is learning what words are and how to find words on a page.
Use a pencil to circle each word in the story
Good Dog
Mia is my dog.
She is a good dog.
Mia can sit.
Mia can stay.
She likes to lick my face
Circle the beginning of the word. fox
Circle the middle of the word. c a t
Circle the ending of the word. h a t
Circle the beginning of the word. b e d
Circle the middle of the word. j e t
Circle the ending of the word. p i g