It was so great to be back with all the students this week after a great spring break. We were able to get back into the swing of things and enjoy some fun things such as the visit from author Kevin Kameraad (ask you kids about his puppets) and our backwards day. I am truly looking forward to the next few months together as we continue to grow and learn we finish our kindergarten year strong! It is truly a blessing to be teaching your children.

IMPORTANT DATES:

• April 19: All School Chapel 9 a.m.
• April 26: Field trip to the Critter barn-I sent a sign up genius earlier this weekend! Looking forward to this fun trip and I will keep you posted on any more details as I get them.
• May 2: Pen pals pizza party- I will be sending a sign up genius out next week for donations and volunteers.

Additional Reminders:

Please remember to pack your child extra snacks. I have had many kids this week telling me they were still hungry and I am quickly running out of my reserve snacks. I think it is a possibility with the weather change that they are exerting more energy at recess and are hungrier than during the winter months!

For our Critter Barn field trip please remember to dress for the weather and dress in clothes that can get dirty! We sometimes aren’t so clean when we get back. Also remember that if you signed up to chaperone the Critter Barn is charging the chaperones $8.

We will be starting a writing unit with Mrs. Bronsink’s class next week and each student will be assigned a student in her class to write pen pal notes to. At the end of this unit, May 2, we will have an English muffin pizza snack in the afternoon. I will be sending a sign up genius next week if you would like to donate items for the pizzas or would like to come in and help us put them together!

Curriculum:

Bible: This week we learned about six different parables and finished our parables bag. Please look through these with your kids and have them talk to you about what they learned about God’s kingdom. I think our favorite was the midnight visitor and asking God for what we need.

Daily 5: This week we got back into the swing of things with Daily 5. I was able to meet with most everyone once and we are starting a new writing portion of Daily 5 where we walk around the room and look for bunnies with words on them and write them down. Please continue to work on the blending cards with your kids, this not only helps them with their reading but their writing as well!

Word Wall Word: what

Phonics: For the next few weeks we will be working on word families. This week we worked on the –op and –ot families.

Math: This week we used colored straws to practice finding different ways to make 10 and then wrote out number equations to match. For example 5+5, 7+3 etc.

Writing Workshop: This week we continued to work on making our own small moment stories. For our topic this week we wrote about things we did on spring break.

Science: This week we started our unit on living things. Dominick Terpstra brought in a bird’s nest which opened up our study. We learned some of the characteristics, such as growing and needing food and water, as well as having babies or seeds that make something alive.

Afternoons: This week we had some extra fun surprises in the afternoon, including our ice cream party as well as a visit from author Kevin Kameraad. We also had our normal playtime, quiet time, recess and snacks as well as Daily 5.