Newsletter Updates for the Week of May 28th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Monday, June 3rd—Track & Field (afternoon)

-Thursday, June 6th—Early Dismissal @ 1:45

-Friday, June 7th—Last day of school—Early Dismissal @ 1:45

STUDENT OF THE WEEK: 

Our student of the week is Lydia Sprague.  Lydia enjoys writing, drawing, and creating at school.  She loves animals and always has a kind word of encouragement to share. When she grows up, Lydia aspires to be a ballet dancer. Congratulations to Lydia on being Student of the Week!

FUN TO BE FIT: 

Our 3rd Annual Fun to Be Fit Day was a success!  Thanks to all of the families who were able to join us for the fitness and fun!  Special thanks to Mrs. Grames and Mrs. Hill for providing drinks and snacks. :)

TRACK & FIELD DAY: 

K-1 Track and Field Day is scheduled for Monday, June 3rd beginning @ 12:30 up at the track.  Please be sure to dress your child to match the weather conditions and send in a water bottled labeled with your child’s name.  You also might want to send in sunscreen. :)  As always, you are welcome to come in and cheer on the athletes!

LIBRARY BOOKS: 

A few students still have library books out.  If everyone in our class has their books returned by this Friday, our entire class will receive a treat from Mrs. Eisenga.  Attached you will find information regarding the summer reading program; it’s a great way to encourage reading throughout the summer!

READING: 

Our focus letters for this week are X & Z ; we will also be working on the suffixes—s, ed, & ing.  Our focus texts are I Need a Lunchbox and Zoom, Zoom, I’m Off to the Moon which we will use to work on sequencing and determining Author’s Purpose.  We will continue to identify and collect ’fancy words’ as we work on Expanding our Vocabularies.  We will play several games to help us practice all 50 of our sightwords.

WRITING: 

This week we will continue working on small moment stories.   Students will be writing and drawing about what they will look like, and be able to do, when they are 10 years old.  They will practice creating their first draft on Doodle Buddy and then they will complete their final draft using the Story Buddy App, so that we can create a digital class book.  If you would like to receive an emailed copy, please send me your email address.  Last week I emailed our Fieldtrip story out to parents, so if you didn’t receive it, that means I don’t have an updated address for you. :)

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES: 

This week we will begin our final Science Unit—Earth Materials—focusing on sand, soil, water, and air.  We will conduct several hands-on experiments in the classroom.

MATH:

This week we will work on addition, subtraction, graphing, and telling time to the hour.

I will be sending your child’s Dibels and Aimsweb results home this week, so that you can see their progress.  Report cards will be sent home Friday,  June 7th.

Group Photo - Fieldtrip to Kettunen Center

Newsletter Updates for the Week of May 20th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Friday, May 24th—Fun to Be Fit (1:00)

-Monday, June 3rd—Track & Field (afternoon)

FIELDTRIP

We had beautiful weather for our fieldtrip!  It was a great day of learning and discovery outside!  A BIG thank you to our chaperones—Mrs. Hill, Mrs. Burkholder, Mrs. Koetje, Mrs. Eling, Mrs. Johnson, & Aaron’s Grandma!  We couldn’t have done it without all of your help!!

FUN TO BE FIT: 

Our 3rd Annual Fun to Be Fit Day is this Friday, May 24th beginning @ 1:00.  If your child purchased a t-shirt, I will distribute them on the day of the race; they are pink with black lettering, in case you’d like to coordinate colors. :)  If the weather is warm, I would suggest shorts and sunscreen.  Please be sure to send your child with tennis shoes. If it is cool in the morning, students can change into shorts after lunch.  We will start our run at 1:00 up at the track.  If you are planning on joining us, please plan to arrive between 12:30-12:45 and meet us in the classroom; it will be much easier to find us inside vs. outside.

LIBRARY BOOKS: 

Our LAST visit to the library will be this Friday.  Students will not be checking out new books, but they should be receiving information about the Summer Reading Program.  Please be sure to return your child’s book on or before Friday.

READING: 

Our focus letter for this week is the letter Q and our focus text is All I Am.  We will also read several stories with ’fancy words’ as we work on Expanding our Vocabularies.  In addition, I will begin reading aloud a chapter book during rest time so that we can enhance our visualizing skills.  We will introduce our last 2 sightwords—all & of—which brings our total sightwords, that we’ve learned this year, to 50. :)

WRITING: 

This week we will continue working on small moment stories.  We will collaborate to create a class ‘small moment story’ of our fieldtrip, using the Story Buddy App.  Then I will guide the students through the process of beginning their own ‘small moment stories’ as we practice selecting a memory, planning out our story, zooming in on one small moment, and putting our ideas down in order.  Students will also complete a Type 3 Writing on Lifecycles later in the week.

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES: 

This week we will continue our study of lifecycles—turning our focus to plants.  The students REALLY enjoyed watching the chicks hatch last week and they are now home on the Bell’s farm. 

MATH:

This week we will continue to work on addition using several different strategies.  We will also begin solving simple subtraction problems.  On Thursday we will go to the computer lab for Delta testing, which is a computer-based Math Assessment that all of the elementary students take.

Newsletter Updates for the Week of May 13th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Wednesday, May 15th—Fieldtrip to Kettunen Center

-Monday, May 20th—Delayed Start

-Friday, May 24th—Fun to Be Fit (1:00)

-Monday, June 3rd—Track & Field (afternoon)

-Monday, June 10th—Last day of school

FIELDTRIP—WEDNESDAY

We will leave school around 8:30 and return around 2:30.  Your child will need—a sack lunch, appropriate clothing for outside activities, & sunscreen (if desired). Just a reminder that Kettunen Center is also collecting non-perishable food items and paper products for the Feed the Need Project.  We will provide a morning and afternoon snack and bug spray if needed. :)  We are looking forward to a fun day of learning—outside!!

FUN TO BE FIT: 

Our 3rd Annual Fun to Be Fit Day is scheduled for Friday, May 24th beginning @ 1:00.  I am looking for a few parent volunteers to come in and help supervise a small group—it’s easy for Kindergarteners to get lost in the sea of runners :)  I am also looking for a couple of volunteers to provide 12 pks of bottled water for our class after the event.  Please let me know if you’d be willing to help out in any way. :)

BEHAVIOR: 

As we wind down the school year, it gets harder for the students to focus and their behavior tends to decline.  The nice weather last week seemed to really ‘trigger’ this.  I’ve reminded the students that we still have a lot to learn in Kindergarten and that the rules and expectations have not changed.  I am also giving an extra incentive by offering a special treat each Friday for those students who

haven’t moved their clips all week long. :)

READING: 

Our focus letter for this week is the letter Yy and our focus text is Franklin Plays the Game, which we will use to work on identifying character traits and author’s purpose.  We will introduce the sight words  him & with.  This week the students will also complete their end of the year Dibels benchmarking.

WRITING: 

This week we will revisit Small Moments stories from earlier in the year.  We will read several mentor texts and use them to identify the qualities of these types of stories.  We will also complete a journal page reflecting on our fieldtrip to Kettunen Center.

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES: 

This week we will continue our study of lifecycles—focusing on butterflies, frogs, and chicks.  Our chicks should be hatching mid week—hopefully NOT while we are on the fieldtrip :)  It is an exciting miracle to watch—and the students are very excited!

MATH:

This week we will practice building numbers 1-30 using base-10 blocks and writing our numbers 1-100.  We will continue to work on addition using beans, unifix cube trains, and touchpoints.

Photos - Building 3D Shapes

Newsletter Updates for the Week of May 6th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Wednesday, May 15th—Fieldtrip to Kettunen Center

-Monday, May 20th—Delayed Start

-Friday, May 24th—Fun to Be Fit (1:00)

-Monday, June 3rd—Track & Field (afternoon)

-Monday, June 10th—Last day of school

 STUDENT OF THE WEEK: 

Our student of the week is Makayla Vanderhoef.  Makayla enjoys art, role-playing in the dramatic play area, and learning about outer space.  Her favorite place to go is to McDonalds and when she grows up, Makayla aspires to be a farmer.  Congratulations to Makayla on being Student of the Week!

FIELDTRIP: 

I still have a few students who need to send in their permission slips, photo releases, & $2.50 for our upcoming fieldtrip.  Your child will need—a sack lunch, appropriate clothing for outside activities, & sunscreen (if desired). Just a reminder that Kettunen Center is also collecting non-perishable food items and paper products for the Feed the Need Project.  We will provide a morning and afternoon snack and bug spray if needed. :)

FUN TO BE FIT: 

Our 3rd Annual Fun to Be Fit Day is scheduled for Friday, May 24th beginning @ 1:00.  I am looking for a few parent volunteers to come in and help supervise a small group—it’s easy for Kindergarteners to get lost in the sea of runners :)  I am also looking for a couple of volunteers to provide 12 pks of bottled water for our class after the event.  Please let me know if you’d be willing to help out in any way. :)

READING: 

Our focus letter for this week is the letter Vv and our focus text is The Flower Garden, which we will use to work on vocabulary, text structure - classifying, & comprehension.  We will introduce the sight words  for & they and we will continue to reinforce the digraphs th, ch, wh, & sh at several of our stations.

WRITING: 

This week we will wrap up our Unit on Informational Text—the students will be bringing their books home to share at the end of the week.  They will also be bringing home their April Journals to share with you.  This week we will complete two Type 3 Writings related to seasons and the weather.

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES: 

This week we will wrap up our Science Unit on Weather and Seasons.  We will be reading several books related to chicks and their lifecycles, as we anxiously await hatching day—next week.  We will also be reading some books about moms, as we prepare for Mother’s Day.

 MATH:

This week we will introduce the Quarter and practice making some fair coin exchanges.  We will also continue to work on skip counting and addition.  We will be reviewing several math concepts in preparation for end of the year assessments.  The students really enjoyed creating 2D & 3D shapes out of straws, toothpicks, and marshmallows last week.  I will post some of the photos on my blog so that you can check out their engineering and architectural skills. :)