MRS. ANDREA H. DAVIS
Weekly Newsletter
February 1, 2016
THEME: Community
UNIT: Places
EXTENSIONS: Oklahoma
Key Measure: I live in Oklahoma. My city is Tulsa. I live in a neighborhood.
LANGUAGE ARTS
PHONEMIC AWARENESS AND PHONICS: We focused on phoneme L this week in the
beginning and ending position of words. The children drew pictures to illustrate the
consonant/vowel/consonant words they wrote, ex. l/e/g and b/a/ll.
SPEAKING: We practiced speaking in a complete sentence when answering the question,
“Where were you born?”
WRITING: The students searched for and practiced writing words around the room. This
activity increases their fine motor ability and speed with which they write, keeping
neatness in mind.
Practice these words/sentences at home for reading fluency.
HOMEWORK TIP: I’ve noticed that some parents are doing the writing on the homework
assignments and/or they are spelling out the words for their children to write. The best
practice for Kdg is for the kids to do the writing and for the kids to sound out the words
themselves (to the best of their ability). You can always write underneath your child’s
attempt, if you think it needs clarification. I know it takes longer, but let your child
experience and improve on the skill of sound spelling on their own -- it’s easier for them to
read it back and it’s good for them. 
LISTENING: We practiced being attentive listeners when we heard the book on tape,
Lazy Mary. Ask your child what the mom was going to do to get Mary out of bed (splash
her with water!) We listen to books on tape to increase the auditory skill of picking out
letter sounds (which works well for the auditory learner). Because the print is big enough
for the children to see the words and pick out the word families, the sight words, or even
pick out letters they recognize by sight (which works well for the visual learner).
READING: We read the wonderful book Green Snake Ceremony. The Oklahoma illustrator
is Tulsa’s own Kim Doner! She has been a visiting author/illustrator at our school several
times. Kim added lots of fun facts about the Tulsa area in her book.
Green Snake Ceremony would be a good book for your child’s own library.
SOCIAL STUDIES
We learned more about the great state of OKLAHOMA this week. Did you know that
Oklahoma became a state in 1907? The children asked me what it was like then! I told
them I'd ask my husband and let them know! We talked about Oklahoma’s unique shape
and we listed what that shape looks like (ask what some kids said - a pan, a flag, a truck...).
The children are demonstrating competence when recognizing Oklahoma on a map of the
United States as well as acquiring experience identifying maps as drawings of particular
locations. Exactly 80% of our classmates were born right here in the Sooner state (or is
that the Cowboy state?).
MATH
As we count on the calendar every morning, we are practicing many important math skills.
Remember that it is normal for children this age to be writing some of their numerals and
letters backwards. It’s best not to mention the error because the end product is not as
important as the process of writing, in Kindergarten. Counting on the calendar also
reinforces the reading skill of your eyes tracking from left to right.
SCIENCE
We talked about all of the animals that are native to Oklahoma. The kids each got an
animal card to study, then they got to paint that animal. We learned that ‘native’ means
born here and grew up here, like 80% of our classmates.
ART
VISUAL: The students drew their families on cut outs of the state of Oklahoma which
will hang in our hallway. Each child will water color an Oklahoma native animal.
MUSICAL: We are learning the Rodgers & Hammerstein 1943 classic song, “Oklahoma!”
We’ve had fun singing it and making up hand motions for it.
MOVEMENT & DRAMATIC PLAY: The students pretended to be the many wildlife
creatures that are native to Oklahoma. This was fun! The kids strutted as proud as a
turkey, they were as sneaky as a fox and coyote, they were as scary as a black bear and a
bobcat, they were as playful as a river otter, they were as graceful as an antelope, a
white-tailed deer, a Great Blue Heron, and an elk, they were as quick as a squirrel and a
cottontail rabbit, they were as slow as an opossum and a skunk, they worked as hard as a
beaver and a raccoon, and they were as still & quiet as a roadside armadillo.
TECHNOLOGY
The students finished a puzzle from Jigzone.com of an Oklahoma cowboy rounding up some
cattle. We talked about how back when Oklahoma was a new state, it used to be almost all
farm land and it was a hard way of life.
FYI
**Wear your class shirt on Fridays!!
**Friday morning, Feb 5 - Dynamic Dads! Dads and Granddads are welcome – done by 9.
**Thursday Reader, Feb 11 is D. Phillips, come at 8:30, bring 3-4 books from home.
**Thursday, Feb 11 – Class Valentine’s Party @ 10:30-11:15. Families are welcome to come.
We’ll sing songs right at the beginning, so bring your camera. We’ll make Valentine sacks
at school the week before. I’ll send a list of classmates names for help in making
Valentines at home.
**Monday, Feb 15 – No school – Teacher Workday
**Thursday Reader, Feb 18 is T. Worsham, come at 8:30, bring 3-4 books from home.
**LATE START Thursday, Feb 25 – School starts at 10:40 a.m.
**Friday, March 4th – Parent/Teacher conf day – no school
**Spring Break is Mar 14 through Mar 16 - No school 
Have a great weekend!
Andrea Davis