Newsletter Updates for the Week of March 12

DATES TO REMEMBER:
-Friday, March 16th—Sunglasses Day, Wii Resort @ 9:10, & Irish Dance Assembly (1:45-2:45)
-Friday, March 23rd—Flip-Flops/Sandals Day & Ocean Guy Assembly
-Friday, March 30th—Beach Day, Final Assembly
-Friday, March 30th—Report Cards Home

STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
Our student of the week is Logan Mattison. Logan enjoys many outdoor activities such as hunting, fishing, and driving his 4-wheeler. His favorite color is green and his favorite place to be is ‘home’ with his family. When Logan grows up, he’d like to be a fisherman. Congratulations to Logan on being Student of the Week!

MARCH IS READING MONTH:
This Friday, each class will have an opportunity to play Wii as a reading reward. The kindergarten time slot is from 9:10-10:00. We are looking for extra parent volunteers who are willing to come in and help run the Wii’s (we will have 5 units set up). Please let me know if you are available to come in and play/help any time throughout the day. Friday is also sunglasses day; students are encouraged to wear their sunglasses to school.

BOOK FAIR:
The Book Fair is coming!!! Our class will visit the Book Fair on Friday, March 23rd to ‘shop’ and then again on Tuesday, March 27th for those students who’d like to purchase materials. The Book Fair is located in the Library and is open to the public. Please drop by and check it out: March 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, & 29 from 11:30-3:00 and extended hours on Thursday March 22 & 29 from 3:00-6:00.

SPEED-STACKERS:
Congratulations to Aiden, Kasey, & Mariah who participated in the Speed Stacking Tournament this past weekend! They did a super job competing under pressure and in front of an audience. We are so proud of you!!!

READING:
This week we will be working on the letter Oo and the sightword here. We will be reading the book On the Go as we work on predicting, comprehension, vocabulary, and sequencing story events. We will also spend some time working on the word chunks: ot, op, og, and ock. We will introduce Flippy the Dolphin as we practice flipping the vowel sound from short-long & long-short when trying to decode words; we will also introduce ‘the magic e.’ In preparation for report cards, we will be completing numerous assessments over the next couple of weeks. Students continue to increase their ‘stamina’ for reading each day at school during ‘Read to Self’ and ‘Partner Reading’ times.

WRITING:
Last week we launched the Writing Workshop, and WOW are we excited to write!! Students have begun planning, writing, and editing their own books. When they finish their books, they conference with a friend, conference with me, and then get to share their book with the class in the Author’s Chair, before bringing them home. You can look forward to seeing your child’s published books in the weeks to come! This week
students will also complete a couple of journals related to leprechauns, to get our imaginations rolling.

MATH:
This week we will be sorting and graphing 3-D/solid shapes (sphere, cube, cylinder, cone, & rectangular prism) and play 3-D Shape Bingo. We will also practice measuring the length of objects using linking cubes, work on patterning, introduce ‘estimating,’ and act out some addition and
subtraction stories.

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we will continue our Science Unit on Motion. We will learn about the different ways objects move, talk about the force of gravity, and discuss the difference between push & pull.

FUN TO BE FIT:
Parents: If you have not sent in your order form & money for the Fun to Be Fit run on June 1, but would still like to order a tshirt, an order form will be coming home this week. Please send the form and money in by March 19th. This will be the last opportunity to purchase a shirt. If you do not want your child to have a tshirt, please send in $1 for a medal - we would like to be able to give everyone a finisher's medal. Any questions please contact Cindy Kelley or Kristin Huttenga @ 825-2021.