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Mrs. Daulton's Class goes around the world!

Fri 22 Dec 2017

We're travelling around the world to learn about holiday celebrations in different cultures! This is my favorite time of year in kindergarten; it's so fun to see kids discover that there are people across the world who are so different from them- but very much the same in many important ways. We will travel to the countries of Mexico, China, Uganda, France, Germany, Israel, Sweden and England on our journey together. While we visit each country we will learn about a special holiday there, we will learn about their languages, hear their music, try some of their customs and even some of their foods. We will be collecting stamps in our passport for each country and keeping memories in our scrapbook to share at home!

Keep up to date on our travels by visiting the Kindergarten in Action section of our website!

If your child is interested in learning more about holiday celebrations in different countries, visit the Why Christmas site. It has lots of information and photos about holiday celebrations around the world.

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What's so important about sight words?

Wed 22 Nov 2017

Sight words are an important building block to reading. The more words children recognize by sight, the more confident they will feel in their reading. These are words that are found often in most texts, and are sometimes what we call "rule breakers." They just don't follow the regular rules that we use to sound out most words in kindergarten. However in educational theory sight words are identified as any word that can be read automatically (with recognition in about 1 second). If you think about they way you read as an adult, this theory will make more sense. As you read, you do not need to stop and "sound out" many words. You have read them repeatedly and can recognize them instantly- by adulthood, your sight word list is huge!

For emergent readers in kindergarten, educators boost students' knowledge of these first words needed to read, that we know they may not be able to sound out, by repeated practice from a leveled sight word list. Researchers have examined texts and found the most frequently occurring words, and this is how kindergarten teachers like me come up with their sight word lists!

It's so important for students to get lots of practice with their sight words, and a little extra practice at home can make a big difference. The sight words that students are expected to know continue to add up each quarter, and this will continue throughout their time at the primary building. Spending a few minutes reviewing a few days a week at home can help your child retain and recognize their sight words better.

Flashcards are simple and easy, and even setting a timer for two minutes of reviewing sight word flashcards at home will help your child become a better reader. Play the game below on your computer, students drag the matching sight words together to clear the board. Some more fun sight word practice ideas can be found below!

If you want to expand your child's sight word knowledge the best thing to do is expose them to more words in print. The more they read, the more they will begin to recognize words automatically. And the more words the recognize easily, the more they will want to read!

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