Dear Kindergarten Families,
I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day and you had time to enjoy the weather! Thanks to all of you who came to the zoo field trip and to our afternoon to visit kindergarten with the music program and math games. The children had a great time "Showing off" all that they have learned this school year. Here are some important dates as your child's kindergarten year comes to a close.
May 30 No School: Memorial day
June 1 Summer Library Program in the IMC
June 2 Variety Show in the morning
June 3 Field Trip to First Stage Theater: Please have your child bring a bag lunch with a drink as we will be eating before we go (hot lunch will not be available for kindergarten)
June 6 Variety Show in the afternoon
June 8th Last day of school: Fun activity morning which will include bubbles, sidewalk chalk and kickball ( I would love to have some parents help out with this fun morning at 9:30-10:40. Let me know if you will be able to help!)
Ice cream beach party in the afternoon: I will bring the ice cream and I would like some families to donate one of the following: 30 bowls, 30 spoons, chocolate topping, caramel topping, strawberry topping, marchino cherries, sprinkles, plain M & M's. Please let me know what you will be able to donate so that we don't have double of anything. I would also love to have several parents help scoop ice cream at 2:20pm. Let me know if you would be available to help out. Thanks!
June 9th Beginning of summer!!! Keep reading every day this summer!
What we have learned:
Reader's workshop:
*We read several books to help us learn about Earth Day and how to keep our Earth clean.
*We have been reading Charlotte's Web to help us practice visualizing what is happening in the story. We hope to finish the story before the end of the school year.
*We read many different poems during poety unit and each child illustrated and read their own poetry books. These will be great to read over the summer.
*We learned about different reasons that poets write poems.
*We learned that some poems rhyme and some don't.
*We learned that poets write about things they love.
*We voted on our Favorite poem...winner...The Green Queen.
*We sorted words with "Th" and "Sh".
*We sorted words by the amount of syllables they have.
*We continue to work on our stamina and we are up to reading 20 minutes independently.
Writer's Workshop:
*We reviewed what "Voice" is so that we continue to use voice in our writing.
*We read the book First Day Jitter's and wrote about how we felt about our first day of kindergarten.
*We wrote a poem about Earth Day.
*We wrote about books about our Mom's for Mother's day.
*We wrote about our trip to the zoo.
*We continue to work on our stamina while writing independently.
Math:
*We filled in our calendar for May by writing our numbers.
*We solved some Earth day & Mothers' day math addition and subtraction problems.
*We learned about different ways we can add to 8 and 9 using unifix cubes, pattern blocks, stamps and tiles.
*We have been practicing writing addition and subtraction number sentences.
*We learned how to create different shapes using rubber bands and geoboards.
*We practiced measuring using different objects including unifix cubes, markers, etc.
*We made addition flashcards that we can use at home to practice our math facts over the summer.
Science/Social Studies:
*We made and delivered May Day baskets to our Bethesda neighbors.
*We made flower pots for our marigolds and a cover for our Mother's Day books.
*We made a picture of the Earth using watercolors and a coffee filter.
*We learned about the Basic needs of plants and animals by creating and illustrating a book about different animals and plants. We also learned a song to help us learn these basic needs.
*We read a book and wrote about different animals that are oviparous (hatch from eggs). We made the cover for these books by tracing our hands and feet.
*We became very excited about our chicks hatching and everyone held the chicks.
*We became excited when our caterpillars became crysallis (we are hoping for a butterfly any day now).
As the school year comes to a close, I want to thank you for the opportunity to be your child's kindergarten teacher!!! It has been exciting to watch all that your child has learned this year!!! I appreciate all of you that have read the blog. (If you have any thoughts about this blog please let me know)
Have a wonderful summer and I look forward to seeing you all at the Open House in the fall!
Sincerely,
Lori Marshman
