News & Events

Friday Letters - Kindergarten, Ms. Cassidy

May 30, 2008

Dear Kindergarten Families,

This Wednesday, I watched with pride, and a few tears in my eyes, as the kindergarteners stepped into line with the 1st graders after morning recess, for a visit to their future classroom. While it is so clear to me that they are ready to move on, I will truly miss them. They have grown so much this year as individuals and as a group. And they will grow up even more over the summer! At this time of year I often get questions about how parents can continue to support their children’s learning over the summer. My response if similar to the response I give when asked about homework in Kindergarten: Read to them and with them, and encourage them to write.

Choose chapter books and picture books to read together, and ask your children to choose books to read to you. Over the course of the year they have learned many high-frequency words and good strategies for figuring out words they don’t know. They have also learned the sounds for sh, th, ch and –ing. Here is a list of some of the reading strategies they have learned:

• Preview the book before actually reading and think about what words you may find in the book
• Use the pictures
• Use the picture and make sure it matches  first letter of the word you are trying to figure out
• Look for words you already know
(High frequency words they have learned this year include: am, and, for, going, have, is, like, my, this, the, when, and you)
• Look for patterns in the text (rhyming and repetition)
• Stop and try again if it doesn’t make sense
• Sound out the words by saying each sound slowly and then saying them again quickly
• Reread pages and whole books for smoothness and fluency after you have figured out all the words.

The children in the class have grown to love writing projects. Some great ways to encourage writing over the summer are:



• Send letters or postcards to friends and family (and kindergarten teachers!).
• Turn photos of family trips or activities into a book and write the captions
• Make blank books by stapling plain paper together
• Write lists together for grocery shopping and planning events and activities

And, of course, play a lot and enjoy the summer. I look forward to seeing you all in September!

Daisy Cassidy