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| Kindergarten Rocks! |
WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS
Although we struggled last week with our classroom rules, I have seen a marked improvement this week. We have been talking a lot about first grade expectations and how we can be kinder and friendlier toward our classmates. This can be a very difficult time with the children anticipating summer vacation, the warmer weather, and cyclical full moon! They have made great strides this year both academically, as well as socially and emotionally. As I look back through the year’s newsletters and photos, I am reminded of the incredible growth they have made and successes they have achieved.
We have been very fortunate to be able to visit Mrs. White’s property here in Hartland 3 times this year: fall, winter, and now spring. She has quite a large piece of property with a natural wooded landscape that includes a small pond, a vernal pool and beautiful wooded trails.
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| Bryant and his dad while walking on the trail. |
While on our field trip last week we were each able to dig up a small wild violet or plant of their choosing (even a dandelion!) and bring it back to the classroom. Mr. White had cut a medium size tree and made what we call “tree cookies” or habitats out of the trunk. As an extension to our trip they each made a nature scene on the tree cookie incorporating their plant. I suggested that they keep it outside as that would be the best way to keep the moss moist and the plant watered. At some point the tree cookie may be returned to nature in a compost pile, but we hope it has given them a fond memory of their field trip. The children enjoyed building their habitats from gifts from Mother Earth.
We have been practicing our songs for the Memorial day assembly this Friday morning. The children in grades K-2 will lead the audience in “You’re a Grand Old Flag” and “On Memorial Day We Remember. “ Lucia shared a display about a recent exciting event in her family when her father became a citizen a couple of weeks ago. His native country is El Salvador. We used that as an opportunity to discuss citizenship, freedom and our country.
Cross Curriculum: Science, Math & Language Arts
With the completion of our plants unit we will be starting a unit on family and community for the next few weeks. We will try to schedule a walking field trip to the local town hall, post office and library.
Share: Thank you for the creative nature shares. They enjoyed the wonderful things that are handmade: handknit scarves, gloves, potholders, and the full belly pot they made in art earlier this year. Next week’s share: something that represents their family or what/who they want to be when they grow up.
Math: We continue to work in our Spring Math Journals and work in our Numbers 1-20 Book. We are learning about number sentences and how to represent numbers using pictures, tallies and numbers.
The focus on numbers greater than ten is the concept of “teen.” That being a bundle of 10 and a number less than 10 that is left over. They are working hard to finish these books and will be bringing them home as they complete them.
Centers: Our centers this week have included a variety of phonemic and phonics activities with rhyming puzzles as well as sorting words that are made with ee and ea. They continue to work on their colored pencil cases and use this valuable time to work in small groups.
ELA: We completed our fourth and final ELA spring assessment: Narrative Writing. We read a short story thinking about the elements of beginning, middle and end, then they wrote their own story thinking about those elements. At their age of development their ability to tell a story greatly outweighs their ability to write a story. You can practice at home by relating to them at dinner what you did during the day. Then have them tell a story about their day. Focus on the people in the story, and the sequence of events. This will help them develop the concept of sequence. They also drew pictures to support their writing.
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| Writing Works! |
CALENDAR:
- Group Snack: This week’s healthy snacks were provided Kerridwyn’s family. The children enjoyed refreshing and fun healthy snacks: strawberries and yogurt, oranges, Tate’s family will be providing our healthy snack next week.
- Future Snack Weeks: Keira’s family the week of 6/3 and Chance’s family the week of 6/10. THANK YOU ALL AGAIN for all your delicious and healthy snack contributions throughout the year.
- Wednesday, May 29th - Early release at noon
- Wed. May 29th: Parent Appreciation Concert-children should be in the classroom by 6:15 PM
- PTSF 4th Annual Book Swap: Please donate your gently used children’s and young adult books. We are accepting used books until May 29th for the Book Swap. The swap will be held on Thursday, May 30. The children will all come home with one or two books. Book Swap books are priceless in more ways than one. Thank you for putting more books into the hands of students!
- Our classroom buddy George went home with Kerridwyn during the week. The children seem to really enjoy their house guest! Thank you for taking such good care of our classroom friend!
- Kindergarten End-Of-Year Celebration: Tentatively scheduled in our classroom for June 13th (1/2 day of school). Time TBD.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Bodnar
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| Conner and his mom Lori enjoying a snack with others on the field trip. |
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| Lucia on "her" trail at her Grandma "Mita's" property. |
To view online: go to mrsbodnarskindergarten.blogspot.com/
