Dear Kindergarten Families,
It is hard to believe another 2 weeks have past since my last post. Time is sure flying! I sent home the April calendar last week Thursday so please take a look at all the happenings this month but here are some highlights...
*April 13 Early Release at 1:55pm
*April 21 Hat Parade & Author's Celebration at 10:30-11:30 am.
All parents are invited!!! Start thinking about the fun spring hat you would like to make with your child and bring it on this day!!! The children will also be sharing their Grow Flower Grow book that they will be working on writing and illustrating the next couple of weeks. We sure hope you can come and enjoy this special day with your kindergartner!
(Spring Party in the afternoon)
*April 22-May 1 No School-Spring Break
*May 17th Field Trip to zoo:all Families are invited to join us. More information will be coming
*June 3 Field Trip to First Stage to see Miss Nelson is Missing
What we have been learning:
Readers Workshop:
*We have been focusing on learning about how to have a strong retelling. This would include telling the title, the story elements and act like it is a conversation. We practiced with a partner and a stuffed animal with our retellings with some of our favorite stories we have read this year.
*We learned that retelling is telling something again.
*We learned why we retell ...because we love a story and want to think about it again, to remind us of the details of something we care about and to let someone know what happened.
*We focused a lot on the story elements including the characters, setting, problem and solution. Each day this past week we learned about each of these elements.
*We opened several rhyming bags each day and tried to guess the rhyming item. The children loved this activity and thanks for your help with this activity. There will be a new rhyming activity coming home this week.
*We read a nightime book and highlighted all the super words.
*We made a kite and read long "i" and short "i" words to put on our kites.
*We sorted long and short vowel sounds and learned how to "Flip the sound" (meaning to change from the short or long vowel sound) when we are trying to read a new word.
Writers' Workshop:
*We did a lot of non-fiction writing the past two weeks. We wrote about the nighttime and daytime sky and what we see in these two skies.
*We wrote about our five senses and how they relate to the season of spring. We made spring books to go along with this.
*We wrote about the four seasons in regards to the weather and how it is different in each season.
*We learned how to write lists by writing about different things we can do in each season.
Math:
*We sorted and graphed the different coins with a partner.
*We made a coin booklet using coin stamps so that we can learn how to indentify the different stamps.
*We have been practicing writing number sentences using unifix cubes, stamps, tiles and pattern blocks. Each week we focus on a different number where that number is the solution. Two weeks ago we focused on the number 4 and this past week we focused on the number 5. We will continue this until we have focused on the numbers up to 9.
*We solved spring math problems where we draw the picture (Show our work), write the number sentence and the solution.
*We were introduced to the different parts of a clock and we have practiced telling time by the hour and half hour. We also practiced putting events in order by the time.
Social studies & Science:
*We have learned about the differences between the nighttime and day time sky.
*We have been watching our plants grow.
*We have been learning about the four seasons and how they are alike and different especially in regards to the weather.
*We have had our students from Carroll University who volunteer for Junior Achievement teach about the coins and money and how to save money. Each child was given a bank this past Friday.
****Please keep reading with your child on a daily basis. It makes a HUGE difference with your child's reading achievement. Thanks to those of who participate in the book in a bag program and continue to return the books on a regular basis.****
*We will have library later this week as their will be voting in the library on Tuesday. Please have your child return their books by Tuesday but they will not bringing a book home until later this week.
Have a great couple of weeks where we can hopefully enjoy the spring weather!!!
