May 28th - Newsletter Updates

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Wed., May 29th—K-2 Track & Field Day—pm

-Mon., June 3rd—Half Day—Dismissal @ 11:35

-Tues., June 4th—Half Day—Dismissal @ 11:35

-Wed., June 5th—Summer Break Begins

TRACK & FIELD DAY: 

Our track & field day is this Wednesday beginning at 12:30 up at that track. Families are welcome to come and cheer us on. Please be sure to send your child with:

-Tennis shoes

-Appropriate clothing—shorts, hat, sunglasses, jacket, etc.

-Sunscreen (if desired) - I will apply it before lunch for those who bring it

-A water bottle—filled with water & ice

END OF THE YEAR:

This week, and next, I’ll begin sending home some of your child’s things from the classroom. Please check their backpack each night for these things—book box contents, blankets, extra clothes, science notebook, spring journal, portfolio with writing samples & keepsakes, butterflies, Report card with end of the year assessments, Dibels, & NWEA results, Summer Homework Packet, & Kindergarten Memories DVD.

READING:

This week our class will be reading stories about how people work together to solve problems & make decisions.  We will also be reading stories about sorting different groups of things in new ways—sorting by size, texture, shape, color, weight, etc.

· Vocabulary—decide, opinion, sorting, & similar

· Sightwords—good, who, come & does

· Category Words—question words (who, what, when, where, why, & how) & opposites.

· Phonics—long u, & the digraph th—practice spelling words with the long and short u sounds (hug/huge, cut/cute) as well as words that begin and end with th.

· Summer Reading Program—attached you will find a pink slip regarding the Summer Reading Program at the library this summer. They have a lot of great events planned to promote reading, learning, & fun! I would encourage you to post it on your refrigerator so you can keep track of the upcoming events.

· Raz Kids—I will be sending home your child’s Raz Kids login card. Your child will have access to it all summer long, so please take advantage of this great resource as well.

WRITING: 

This week we will be finishing up our Personal Timeline, as well as our Spring Journals.  As we transition into summer, I would encourage you to find opportunities for your child to write daily—make a list, sound out words, give them sightwords to spell, or ask them to write a sentence or two about their day/special event/activity.  A notebook would make an excellent summer journal:)

MATH:  

This week we will continue to work on addition & subtraction.

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES:

This week we will be learning about fitness and taking good care of our bodies. We will also be learning about Summer Safety. Our friend Scrappy the Squirrel will make a final visit to talk to the students about how to stay safe this summer!

May 20th - Newsletter Updates

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Mon., May 27th—No School—Memorial Day

-Wed., May 29th—K-2 Track & Field Day—pm

-Mon., June 3rd—Half Day—Dismissal @ 11:35

-Tues., June 4th—Half Day—Dismissal @ 11:35

-Wed., June 5th—Summer Break Begins

STUDENT OF THE MONTH:

Our May Student of the Month is Citlaly Hernandez-Mendoza. Citlaly is kind-hearted and is always helpful to others.  Her favorite food is pizza and she loves to dance!  This year she wanted to learn how to read, which she is rocking!  Citllay enjoys reading books about puppies & kittens and when she grows up, Citlaly aspires to become a pediatrician! Congratulations to Citlaly on being our Student of the Month.

FIELDTRIP: 

Thank you to ALL the moms & dads who took time off from work and juggled their busy schedules to chaperone our fieldtrip!  The museum was wonderful, but the playground was probably the favorite! :) What a fun day of making memories together!

READING:

This week our class will be reading stories about natural resources. Children will learn how they can use things in nature to create new things. Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing:

· Vocabulary—natural resources & create—Discuss different natural resources with your child. For example, talk about how we use trees to create, or make new things that people use every day.

· Sightwords—where & look—Write some sentences with the words where & look, then read the sentences together and have your child highlight or underline their sightwords.

· Category Words—foods made from grain—Find different food items from your kitchen made from grains and make a list together. We will be making homemade bread in class on Friday:)

· Phonics—long o, & s blends (sl, sc, sk, sm, sn, sp, st, & sw)—make a list of words with short o and long o sounds—hop/hope, rob/robe, etc. Also, think of words that have s blends in them and make a list.

WRITING: 

This week we will be finishing up or Season’s Timeline by writing about our trip to the Butterfly Garden last Friday. We will also start our own personal timelines as we write about our past, present, & future.  We are going to try to do some digital writing as well this week, using our Story Buddy app.  If all goes smoothly, we’ll be emailing our parents a copy of our final draft—so watch for that!

MATH:  

This week we will continue to work on subtraction, as well as ordering numbers, and representing numbers in a variety of ways.  We will learn about function machines as well, and observe patterns while adding and subtracting.

SCIENCE:

Special thanks to Mrs. Bronkema, Mrs. VanBuskirk, & Mrs. Hernandez-Mendoza for joining us and helping as we dipped and explored in the creek last week.  This week we will continue to study and learn about the lifecycle of plants—we are patiently waiting for our Sunflowers to sprout—we had to do a second round of planting last week.  We will also continue to explore different habitats and observe and discuss how people, plants, & animals impact their environments—this week we will focus in on pigs & prairie dogs.

This Friday will be our final trip to the Library. On our last visit, we decided to keep our books at school in our book boxes for safe keeping, but a couple might still have a library book at home.

May 13th - Newsletter Updates

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Monday, May 13th—Dibels Testing

-Wed., May 15th—NWEA Testing—Reading

-Thursday, May 16th—Fieldtrip—Midland Center for the Arts & Plymouth Park

-Monday, May 20th—Delayed Start

-Mon., May 27th—No School—Memorial Day

-Wed., May 29th—K-2 Track & Field Day—pm

FIELDTRIP: 

We are looking forward to a great day for our fieldtrip this Thursday to the Midland Center for the Arts.  We will be inside for the morning and then be outside in the afternoon at the park for lunch, so please dress appropriately.  We are blessed to have several parents joining us on the trip, which will make our day even better.  A couple of quick reminders:

-Please send your child with a sack lunch, labeled with their name—no glass bottles please.

-In compliance with school rules, as well as Plymouth Park rules, there is no smoking or vaping allowed. Also, no weapons are allowed.

-When taking photos of your child, please keep in mind that some parents prefer to keep their children’s photos off of Facebook and other social media sites.

SCIENCE:

We are planning some Science outside this week; in addition to our fieldtrip on Thursday . . . . .

-Monday afternoon we are going down to the creek that runs along the school to dip for critters and see what we can discover about a wetland habitat.

 Please be sure to send your child with boots or old shoes.

-Wednesday afternoon we are hoping to go outside and plant our sunflowers along the playground fence.

-Friday afternoon we are planning to go back one final time to the butterfly garden to see what new signs of life we can observe in the Spring.

READING:

This week our class will be reading stories about how children can be good citizens. They will lean how to listen, share, help others, respect one another, work together, & take turns. Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing:

· Vocabulary—citizen & respect—Discuss ways your child can show good citizenship and respect for others at school and in the community.

· Sightwords—play, has, & all—Keep on practicing reading and writing those sightwords from memory using flashcards and/or their fluency charts in their take-home reading folders.

· Category Words—farm animals—practice naming farm animals and their babies (cow/calf, pig/piglet, etc).

· Phonics—long I & ch—make a list of words with short i—fin, pin, etc, then rewrite the words with the magic e and ‘flip’ the vowel sound to make a new word—fine, pine, etc. Also, make a list of words that begin and end with the digraph ch.

WRITING: 

This week we will use the information we’ve collected last week in small groups to write 3 new informational pieces—one group is doing Beavers, another Frogs, and the third group chose Butterflies.  I’m very excited to see how these books turn out.  We will also be writing about our fieldtrip and some favorite things we saw/experienced.

MATH: 

This week we will practice building numbers to 100 using base 10 blocks, we will also be working on subtraction using dice, bears, & ants on a log.  We are practicing and assessing lots of skills in preparation for Report Cards—counting, writing numbers, 3D shapes, addition, subtraction, etc.

Dipping in the Creek

Hi Parents -
In Science, we've been learning about different habitats and how plants, animals, and people impact, adapt to, and change their environments.  We've been learning about frogs and other creatures that live near ponds and now we are ready to have some hands-on fun! On Monday, May 13th we will be walking down to the creek that runs beside the school.  Laura Quist will be meeting us there with some dipping nets and we'll be investigating all kinds of living things in that habitat.   Please be sure to send your child in old clothes, and either old shoes, rain boots, or barn boots, as we will be getting muddy and maybe a little wet?   We will be leaving the classroom around 12:45, if any parents or grandparents are interested in joining us on our adventure:)

May 6th - Newsletter Updates

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Wed., May 8th—NWEA Testing—Math

-Monday, May 13th—Dibels Testing

-Wed., May 15th—NWEA Testing—Reading

-Thursday, May 16th—Fieldtrip—Midland Center for the Arts & Plymouth Park

-Monday, May 20th—Delayed Start

-Mon., May 27th—No School—Memorial Day

-Wed., May 29th—K-2 Track & Field Day—pm

FIELDTRIP: 

If you haven’t already, please be sure to return your permission slip, and money, by this Wednesday, May 8th.  Also, we’re working on making sure that all of our parent chaperones have completed the volunteer clearance process:)

CAPS, CAPS, CAPS: 

We are currently collecting caps—bottle caps, milk caps, shampoo caps, etc. for both our Math & Science lessons.  We are trying to fill a large jar for math and are keeping count of how many caps we’ve collected.  In addition, once the jar is filled, we will be reusing the caps for a fun art project which is part of our Earth Day festivities.  So please save a few caps, wash them up, and send them in to be repurposed:)

READING:

This week our class will be reading stories about how children can help at home. We will learn about taking responsibility for cleaning, caring for a pet, doing errands, and other chores. Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing:

· Vocabulary—chores & contribute—Discuss different ways your child can help out at home. Create a list of jobs on a chore chart.

· Sightwords—help, too, & him—Write sentences with these words and have your child write the sightwords they know from memory.

· Category Words—household furniture

· Phonics—long a & sh—make a list of words with short a—cap, can, etc, then rewrite the words with the magic e and ‘flip’ the vowel sound to make a new word—cape, cane, etc. Also, make a list of words that begin and end with the digraph sh.

· Take Home Reading Folders—A few students have reached their 20 books and several more are very close and will soon be receiving their Subway certificates,  Keep reading at home—Let’s finish the year strong!

WRITING: 

This week we will use the information we’ve collected last week on the Moon to create an informational text as a class.  Later in the week we will work in small groups to begin planning our next informational piece.

MATH: 

This week we will continue to work on addition and subtraction using a number line as well as unifix cubes. We will work on identifying numbers to 100, as well as 3D solid shapes, which we will actually be constructing using toothpicks & marshmallows.

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES: 

We will continue to learn about how animals, plants, & people change and impact their environments.  We’ve learned about forest animals, pets, and farm animals so far; this week we will extend our learning out into a pond habitat as we learn about frogs and other wetland animals.  In honor of Mother’s Day, we will be sending home our Mother’s Day projects, as we extend our love and appreciation for all that they do!

Please be sure to return your library book by Friday