Newsletter Updates for the Week of April 23rd

DATES TO REMEMBER: -Wednesday, April 25—Aerokhaha Gymnastics Assembly @ 9:00 in H.S. Gym -Friday, April 27—Next visit to the Library -Wednesday, May 9—Mobile Dentist -Monday, May 14—Delayed Start -Friday, May 18—Summer Bridge Activities Order is Due -Tuesday, May 22—Fieldtrip to Kettunen Center -Monday, May 28—No School/Memorial Day -Friday, June 1—Fun to Be Fit Run -Tuesday, June 5—Track & Field Day -Wed., June 6—Last Day for Kindergartners SUMMER BRIDGE ACTIVITY BOOKS: A flyer went home last Friday regarding Summer Bridge Activity Books. These are a great way to keep working on skills over the summer. The deadline to order is Friday, May 18th. SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES: Last week the students thoroughly enjoyed our study of the Seasons & Weather. It is so neat to see the ‘scientist’ come out in each student as we wonder and make connections together. This week we will take some time to ponder ways that we can be ‘responsible’ for taking care of our planet Earth, in conjunction with Earth Day. We will also begin our Science Unit on Lifecycles, starting this week with the lifecycle of chicks, ducks, and birds. The Bell family has generously offered to bring in their incubator and eggs so that we can watch this lifecycle first hand. It should be set up this week and it will be a very exciting couple of weeks as we await the arrival of newly hatched chicks. READING: This week we will be working on the letter Qq and the sightwords go, he, & she. We will learn that q always has a buddy and that qu together make the /kw/ sound. We will be reading the book Five Little Ducks as we work on predicting, comprehension, vocabulary, sequencing and retelling story events. We will continue to work on short u word families and all of the short vowels at literacy stations this week. We will continue to practice using Dot the Giraffe while reading and writing to increase our fluency and expression. This week we will learn a new way to read with a partner—check for understanding. Students will practice stopping while reading to ask themselves key questions to make sure they are understanding and comprehending what they are reading. WRITING: This week we will take a couple of days for writer’s workshop and spend a couple of days working on our journals. This week we will be writing about ‘responsibility’ and how we can take good care of our Earth. We will also be reading the classic story Make Way for Ducklings and use it to discuss several important writing traits—Ideas, Voice, Word Choice, & Conventions. We will be writing in our journals about our favorite baby animals as well as what birds do in the springtime. MATH: This week we will introduce a new math manipulative—Tangrams and we will be using these smaller shapes to construct larger shapes. We will also continue to work on graphing, measuring, counting, ordering and writing our numbers 1-30. **Thanks for taking the time to practice counting with your child at home—several have told me they are using their counting charts! I will be sending the May/June Snack Calendar home later in the week, once I get a few more dates finalized! FYI—I will be out of the classroom this Friday, April 27, in order to attend a training.