April 2

Hello Friends and Families:

Welcome Back. I hope everyone enjoyed a relaxing spring break. Judging by the weather today, I think spring has finally arrived. We have been so busy in our room in the days prior to spring break.

We enjoyed learning about 3D shapes. All students were able to name each of the four shapes kindergarteners should know. Here are the items from our class' shape museum (Remember that all pictures can be made larger by clicking on them individually):

We have also been hard at work understanding why words can rhyme and how we can make our own silly rhymes. We really enjoyed reading Doctor Seuss books, and MRS. MC NOSH books to spark our rhyming creativity (I apologize for the sideways pictures).


We have also been reviewing our PYP Profile words in a journal that we can give to our first grade teachers in the fall. We have reviewed and reflected on how we are balanced (remembering to take care of our minds and bodies) and how we are caring.

We are working hard on our math journals, and trying to recognize and read words we know.

Our new door display reflects our understanding of how to make rhyming words. We read Dr Seuss' WOCKET IN MY POCKET and came up with imaginary creatures like "sockets, jockets, and gockets" to put inside our own pockets:
To celebrate Science Night at Lincoln Center we invited two volunteers from 3M into our room to help us learn about DNA. We were able to separate the DNA from pea shoots in small vials by stirring a solution gently with small sticks.



I am excited to see the students on Monday. I can't wait to hear about the many adventures they had during the last week. Can you believe that these kids are almost first graders?? WOW!

March 22

Hi Families:
I am sorry that my Monday note did not come home yesterday. Can you tell Spring Break is near? Here is what we will be working on this week:
· Printing the letter x
· Finding syllables in words
· Sound spelling words
· Rhyming words
· Roll and Record sight word game
· -ing endings (a great thing to practice at home)
· Journal writing
· IB Profile word reflection about how to be a good communicator
· Labeling locations on a map from the postcards we have received so far
· Vocab words: country, continent, equator, ocean
· Math journals
· Exchanging pennies for nickels
· Dividing groups in half
· Making patterns with movement
This week for show and tell the kids may bring in a free choice item. It must fit into their bag or backpack. Items from the 3-D shape museum will be returned today.
Upcoming Reminders:
· March 24: Lincoln Center Science Night (Gym1 and2)—6-8p.m.
· March 24: Buy One Get One Free Scholastic Book Fair (Media Center)-- 3:30-7:30 p.m.
· March 28-April 1: No school—Spring Break
· April 4: March reading calendars due (If you return 6 out of 8 calendars your student may attend the end of the year ice cream party). April reading calendars will be sent home on Wednesday.
· April 7: Second Grade concert—1:15 p.m.
I hope you enjoy a wonderful spring break with your student. Hopefully the weather is warm and you have plenty of time to play outside, and relax. Remember to keep reading each day.

March 14

Hi Families:

Spring is around the corner. We will be working on so many new and exciting things this week in kindergarten.

Here are some of the specific skills and concepts we will be covering over the next five days:
· Review penny, nickel and introduce dime (continue to practice at home)
· Counting by 2’s
· Exchanging pennies for nickels (continue to practice at home)
· Exchanging nickels for dimes (continue to practice at home)
· Adding details to our writing and pictures
· Introduction to US map and states
· Sight word roll and record
· Printing the letter Vv
· Compare and contrast two versions of THE THREE BILLY GOATS GRUFF
· Reading: COOKIE’S WEEK, WOCKET IN MY POCKET
· Rhyming words

This week for show and tell, please help your student bring in something that has a state name on it. We will be mapping these states. Examples of things to bring in might include: a t-shirt, state quarter, postcard, book, etc. Let me know if you have any questions.
Please remember to turn in school pictures/money. The class pictures are yours to keep at no cost. All student portraits cost money. If you would like to keep some/all of the photos please see the price list that was included with the packet. I would like to have all picture orders back by Friday. If you do not want to purchase any pictures, please send the entire packet to school with your student. Thank you for your help.
Book orders were sent home last week. If you would like to order any books please enter your orders online or send them to school with your student no later than March 21st.
Upcoming March Reminders:
· Early Release Day: March 16: 1:30 pm
· Patience’s birthday: March 21st
· Spring Break: March 28- April 1: NO SCHOOL

Happy Spring!

March 7

**Happy Birthday Dyana!**

Today we read HORTON HEARS A WHO to continue our celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday and Read Across America month. We enjoyed talking about the author's message to us: "A person's a person no matter how small." We had so much fun making our own Hortons to hang on our door.

We also read the CAT IN THE HAT books and discussed them in greater detail. We had fun comparing and contrasting the characters. We learned that the cat and the fish have different points of view on how to spend rainy afternoons.



I am still trying to figure out how to not post pictures sideways:-)

March 6

We had so much fun celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday to kick start Read Across America month. We will continue our Dr. Seuss celebration this coming week. On Wednesday we joined several other classes in the gym to listen to Mr. Moore (aka The CAT IN THE HAT) read THE CAT IN THE HAT.

Here we are in our CAT IN THE HAT hats:-) Pretty stylish don't you think?

We also did some fun activities that correlated with ONE FISH TWO FISH RED FISH BLUE FISH. We used colored goldfish crackers to practice making bar graphs and tallies.

We also practiced our number writing using a fun CAT IN THE HAT sheet. We are getting good at writing our numbers!This coming week we will be doing activities with HORTON HEARS A WHO, GREEN EGGS AND HAM, THE FOOT BOOK, and OH THE PLACES YOU'LL GO.

Thank you to those students who did not get to go to Warner Nature Center yet for being patient while we try and reschedule our trip. We have learned that weather can certainly affect outdoor activities and that it is important to stay safe.

We ended our unit on weather and will be starting our new unit called AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL on Monday.

Show and tell this week will be related to 3-D shapes. We will be practicing four shapes: a cone, cylinder, cube and sphere. Please help your student find a common object at home that is one of the four 3-D shapes. We will keep them on display in our room for several days so please do not send anything perishable.

Remember that Monday March 7 is an early dismissal day at 1:30. There will be no targeted services until Tuesday. Remind your student how they will be getting home from school.

March 1

Hello Families:

What a busy past few days. I wanted to let you know that I will be back at school on Wednesday. I have been out sick with the flu. Thank you for your support, patience and flexibility during my absence. I am sad that my illness has caused me to miss the field trip. It sounds like the kids have had fun. I have placed a few updates on the calendar--this week is Read Across America week. To celebrate reading and Dr. Seuss (whose birthday is Wednesday) please feel free to participate in the special dress up activities.

Tuesday: FOX IN SOCKS: Wear crazy socks
Wednesday: THE CAT IN THE HAT: Wear red, white and black
Thursday: OH THE PLACES YOU'LL GO: Wear a shirt with a place on it
Friday: GREEN EGGS AND HAM: Wear green

Remember that February reading calendars are due ASAP. I will send March calendars in folders on Wednesday. Students who return 6 out of 8 calendars may participate in the ice cream party in June.

There will be no show and tell this week. I know that many students accidentally brought their show and tell bags home last Friday. Please return them to school ASAP.

Peek of the week calendars will be sent home no later than Thursday.

Reminder: PTA MOVIE NIGHT: Thursday, March 3 at 6 pm in Gyms 1 and 2. They will be showing Toy Story.

I have missed the kids and can't wait to catch up with them tomorrow.
Happy March!

February 20

Hello Families:

I apologize for my delay in writing a new post. February has been quite a busy month for us in kindergarten. It was wonderful to see you all at conferences on February 7 and 8. I was so proud to share each student's growth with you.

Thank you to those families who came to the Lincoln Center Family Spaghetti Dinner and Silent Auction on February 3. The students will benefit tremendously from your donations through new books, technology equipment and other various learning materials.

We had a blast celebrating Valentine's Day together on February 14th. We talked a lot about friendships and celebrating each others presence in our lives. Making valentines gave us great practice with writing our names and our friend's names.
We were also very excited to celebrate the 100th day of kindergarten. This day was a great day of pride in our academic growth. We had so much fun visiting each kindergarten classroom and participating in seven different 100's day activities:

• making 100's day crowns
• rolling dice to 100 on a 100's grid
• finding/recognizing numbers on a 100's grid that we could color in to make 100
• reading stories about 100's day
• writing about what we will do when we turn 100
• drawing what we will look like at 100
• drawing what foods we could eat 100 of

Here we are 100 days smarter:

Another fun activity that we like to do during reading time is to take white boards and practice writing the words we can read from the books in our book boxes. I think we could sit all day and practice reading and writing on whiteboards. Look at our beautiful handwriting!


Stay tuned for upcoming reminders about our field trip to Warner Nature Center on March 1 and 2. Enjoy an extra day of snowy fun at home--remember there is no school for students no February 21 because of Staff Development.

February 6

Welcome to February. We have been so busy in kindergarten. We started our new PYP unit on weather. Earlier this week we had so much fun learning about the four types of clouds. We read Eric Carle's book called LITTLE CLOUD about a cloud who loved to change its shape. We made our own little clouds with cotton balls. By the end of the project our fingers were really sticky!



On Friday the entire kindergarten went on a field trip to Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis for their Kinder Konzerts education program. When we got there, we got to take a tour of the big stage that the musicians play on each night. We listened to several musicians introduce their instruments to us. We compared and contrasted their different sounds before listening to a story without words---just music. We were not allowed to take pictures while we were on stage, but check out the many instruments we listened to:


Can you name all of these instruments and remember which group they belong to?

Once we finished listening to the musicians play for us, we went to the "Sound Factory." We learned the musical terms for fast and slow...presto and largo. We compared these terms to a rabbit and a tortoise. We listened to fast and slow pieces of music and waved our musical streamers like we were conducting our own orchestra:

We also got a chance to play several instruments ourselves like the violin, cello, snare drum, and several different sounding percussion instruments:


At the very end we listened to several pieces of music that were fast and slow. We moved the parachute up and down to the beat of the piece--and used motions that were presto and largo. This might have been our favorite part, and a great way to end our day: