The week of April 30-May 4!

Can you believe May is in the date above?  What a whirlwind of a year!  I hope you have seen as much growth in your child as I have!  The maturity of each of them was shown in our Open House program on Friday!  They controlled themselves perfectly on the packed risers!

Our next big Friday is Farm Day this Friday!  Our class and Mrs. Hanson's class will have our Farm Day in the AM.  It will begin around 9:00 and end before our lunch at 10:55. Your child is welcome to dress in cowboy/cowgirl attire. :)  The weather looks perfect!
If you are not volunteering at a station you are able to bring siblings up as long as they stay with you.

Each time I have a parent volunteer, we will ask who would like to try tying shoes and test over their addition facts.  We will begin testing subtraction facts for those who are ready!  Your child can let me know if they are ready!

Snacks!  We are so close to the end of the year, but we could use some more snacks.  If you haven't had a chance to donate in a while and would like to, we'd appreciate it!  

In reading this week, we are learning about Forces (Pushes and Pulls).  We will be doing some fun activities using magnets and other pushing and pulling objects!

Science:  We will be learning the body parts of a butterfly, talking more about their life cycle, and finding out the difference between a moth and butterfly.

Sight words:  We have our last two sight words out of the 50 this week!  their, were

Letter of the week:  long Ee  (ee, ea, e-e, y, and ie like in piece)

Spelling test--we are on test 9, our 2nd to last test!  I can't believe we are almost done with our spelling tests!  The kids have learned a lot about taking tests.  I love seeing them able to spell these words in their writing now!  I have attached both lists-one with challenge words and one without, in case you would rather your child to learn the other list than what they brought home.

Math this week!  All of the kids did awesome on their composing numbers to 19, so I don't foresee any difficulties with decomposing numbers to 19!  It's the same skill but with the answer first.

Coming up!

May 4        Farm Day in the AM for Scott's Class 
May 18      Field Day
May 24      Last day of school-1/2 day 

Holding our chicks!

  

The week of April 24-27!

Our Kindergarten Open House is this Friday, April 27!!  If someone from your family is unable to come, please let me know and I'll make sure to have another parent be a "fill-in" and let him/her walk around with them.  You can come at 2:30 to walk around and see our projects and meet our chicks.  Please be here by 2:45, so we can begin our program!

We are hoping our chicks will begin "pipping" out of their shell by tomorrow.  Today is day 21, so usually I will have one pipping later in the day.  The kids will get to hold one the end of the week.  However, with so many people in the room at our Open House, I would like to keep the chicks in the "brooder" to keep them from getting dropped accidentally.

 Dress for Open House:  I always like for the kids to dress a little nicer for our Open House for videotaping and pictures.  They will sing on risers just like the big kids do!

End of the year slideshow--I haven't had any bites yet to put together our end of the year slideshow to watch the last day of school.  If you think you would be interested in trying it, please let me know asap!  Unfortunately with my son's Eagle Scout Court of Honor and Graduation, I just don't have time to put it together myself.  If it doesn't work out for anyone, it's ok.

Spelling!  I honestly can't remember if I sent home the spelling lists on Friday or not.  Some of the kids said they got it and some didn't think they did.  So, I sent it again today.  The words are harder, so please practice with your child the next few days. The test is on Friday.

Our reading is our science this week.  We are learning about living and nonliving things.  Along, with reading about horses and watching our caterpillars change to their chrysalis.  Two changed while the kids were here today.  We find it amazing that it happens and we don't even notice it until the process is done!

Sight words:  each, use
Letter of the week:  long u (u-e, ue, ew, oo)
I am so proud of all of my kids!  They all passed all 50 sight words already!  Thank you for all of your hard work studying with your child!  They are so lucky to have you as parents!  We will have an ice cream party in a few weeks!

Math this week!  
Please make sure your child turns in their math homework packet tomorrow if they haven't done so yet.  

We are going to finish up this Topic composing numbers to 19 tomorrow.  Next week we will be on our last Topic in math over decomposing numbers to 19, which is just having the answer first.

Coming up!

Apr. 27      Kindergarten Open House (2:30-3:15)  Please come! 
May 4        Farm Day in the AM for Scott's Class 
May 18      Field Day
May 24      Last day of school-1/2 day 

The week of April 16-20!

We will continue our farm unit this week and next week!  This week we are learning more about chickens before our chicks begin hatching next week!  Did your child tell you that we "candled" our chicks last Friday?  I have a candler that has a bright light to see inside the egg shell for most eggs.  The white eggs are the easiest to see through.  Unfortunately, I didn't see the black embryo that I look for to see growth.  We could see it in two of the tan eggs, but the darker brown eggs are too dark to see inside.  The blueish-greenish is also too dark to see.
So we for sure have two chicks growing!  Probably more, but we just won't know for sure until they begin hatching!

It really is amazing how fast they grow!  One child was gone Friday, so we candled an egg on Monday that we looked at Friday. It was already too big to really see the embryo, air sac, and membranes that we saw on Friday!

Each animal that we learn about we learn the male and female names, where they live, what they eat, their baby's name, how old they are when they are an adult and can have babies, how many babies they can have, and their life cycle.

Today, we got our new animal study in the mail!  In the mail?!  Yes!  We just received five caterpillars!  We will be writing about their growth and metamorphosis (changing from an egg to caterpillar, to chrysalis, to butterfly) in a journal every few days!  Many things are happening in kindergarten!  

Just a reminder that our spelling test will be on Friday instead of Thursday!  I have been so proud of the kids for trying the challenging words!  For the most part, I let them choose to take the challenge words.  Monday we always read through them and sound them out.  We look for words inside of the word and the kids are so good at that now!  Or-an-ge, in-cub-at-or

Reading this week!  We are reading nonfiction stories.  One is about Balto the sled dog.  Can your child tell you why he was so important to people in Alaska?  

The other is called, "Up in the Air".  We will find out how hot air balloons rise and fall with the light and heavy air.

Sight words:  this, need
Letter of the week:  Long i, ph sound

Math this week!  Topic 10--Composing Numbers 11 to 19.  This is a short topic on adding numbers to 10 using ten frames.  Look for a math review packet to come home on Thursday!
They will have the long 3-day weekend to get it done by the following Wednesday!

Coming up!
Apr. 23      No School--Professional Development for teachers

Apr. 27      Kindergarten Open House (2:30-3:15)  Please come! 
May 4        Farm Day in the AM for Scott's Class 
May 18      Field Day
May 24      Last day of school-1/2 day 

The week of April 9-13.

What a fun puppet show we saw yesterday!  The Stone Lion Puppet Show came and had many Backyard Buggin' puppets that talked about taking care of our environment, how important clean water was, and how important bugs are in our backyard!
Below are some pictures of it!  I hope your kids enjoyed it and shared something with you about it!
The puppets were wonderful!

This week we are learning about sheep!  Today we read a book about them, thought of details about them, and picked a detail to write and illustrate in our barn books.


Reading this week!We are reading realistic fiction books and looking for problems and solutions, along with retelling the details!
sight words:  or, what
Letter of the week:  long o, aw-dipthong sound

Math this week!
We are continuing with Sorting, Classifying, and Categorizing Data.  This has been a fairly easy Topic for the kids.
Keep practicing those math facts when you have time!  Older siblings can review with your child too!

Incubator!  Check out the picture of our incubator.
We are learning about the chick growing in their eggs!  We have 6 eggs, however one had a crack when I put it it.  I looked on-line to see if it will grow, and found that one person put clear finger nail polish on the crack to keep the membrane in tact to protect it.  I'm not sure how far along that person's egg was in the 21 day incubation process though.  But, I put the polish on to see if it would hatch!  It'll be our experimental egg!

Coming up!
4/9-4/13     BOGO book fair
Apr. 18      Mom Squad Breakfast 8:00 am in the cafeteria
Apr. 23      No School--Professional Development for teachers

Apr. 27      Kindergarten Open House (2:30-3:15)  Please come! 
May 4        Farm Day in the AM for Scott's Class 
May 11      Field Day
May 24      Last day of school-1/2 day 

Puppet Show

Incubator

The week of April 2-6.

We have a busy week working on our Farm Unit!   Last week was cows, this week is pigs!  The class will hear some stories from me about what it was like to grow up on a pig farm.  I will leave out a few of the icky details, but I sure have plenty of other memories to share!

Today we read a nonfiction pig book, wrote details about it, and watched a video of piglets drinking milk from the sow.  I really want the kids to know what the names of the males, females, and babies are called.  Along with what they eat, where they live, and what kind of meat we get from them.  Each week we will be doing a craft for each animal to decorate our room!  

I'm surprised at how many kids have grandparents that live on farms and have cows or pigs!  They love to share what they know too!

Puppet workshop!  The kids learned a lot about how to take care of our environment from Ms. Taylor in our workshop.  They had fun making a turtle from recyclable materials!  See the pictures below! Our puppet show about bugs from the Stone Lion Puppets will be on April 9! 

Our KDG Open House is Friday, April 27!  I am changing the time to 2:30-3:15 so you will be able to leave before the cars and buses come for dismissal.  Please keep in mind this is for parents/grandparents only!  It is so nice for you to devote all of your time to your Kindergartner!  I hope all are able to come!  If at least one parent is unable to come, grandparents or an aunt/uncle/family friend is welcome to fill in your place!  If no one can come watch, please let me know so I can ask a friend's parent to look at your child's work so they do not feel left out.  I would like to begin our singing portion of the Open House by 2:45, so please be here on time!  Thank you!

Reading this week!
We are reading a book about needs and wants which is a review from our Economics Unit in the fall.  It's always good to be reminded of the difference!  

Letter of the week!  We have learned all of the letters of the alphabet.  Now we are reviewing the long vowels along with digraphs (th, wh, sh, ch) and dipthongs (oi, oy, ow, ou, aw, oo).

sight words this week:  of, him (Please keep reviewing sight words if your child has not gotten their 4th quarter ice cream certificate.)

Math this week!  
We are finishing up our measurement unit tomorrow with our test. We have learned and measured length, width, height, weight, and capacity.  It was a short unit!  Our next unit will be on Sorting, Classifying, Counting, and Categorizing Data.

Coming up!
Apr. 5        Spring pictures (All kids will be photographed!)
Apr. 7        Fish Bowl Auction  and BOGO book fair  5:00-7:30
4/9-4/13     BOGO book fair
Apr. 18      Mom Squad Breakfast 8:00 am in the cafeteria

Apr. 27      Kindergarten Open House (2:45-3:30)  Please come!  Only adults please!