Reminders:

• Friday, March 25: Wear GREEN for cerebral palsy and bring a flashlight for March is reading fun!
• Please send in clean towels in a reuse bag Mondays
• Please send in library books Thursday *new day and time
• Thank you for all you do at home! It is a busy season and I know it can be hard to keep up on everything.

What We Have Been Learning:

We focused all Friday morning on Kindness. This is a time of year that the kids are very comfortable with each other and with teachers. There is anticipation for spring weather and excitement for spring break. I have noticed a lot of behaviors this week that were unkind, so we are really encouraging the kindness that we see and reviewed kind and unkind behaviors at school. This is a great discussion to have at home as well. After reading “When I Care About Others” we sorted kind and unkind behaviors. We also made a chart with the students ideas on how we can show kindness in KB.

We celebrated the way God created us each unique and special on Monday! It was a beautiful day for World Down Syndrome Day.

This class loves books! We have been listening to our secret readers and I have been reading extra books and they listen so well! I love the connections students are making!!

Phonics: We played with words and sounds this week. I said a word and then asked students to change the first sound to make a new word. We made real words and silly words. For example, I say boat and the student says goat. I say pizza, the students says lizza. We worked on CVC words and reviewed word families.

Writing Workshop: We have continued to stretch our writers by asking students to create their own sentence. This week they wrote one thing about their day. After reading the book “Tops and Bottoms” students wrote what they liked about the book. I am so happy with the writing I am seeing. You can be so proud of these hard workers.

Daily 5: We continue to work on sliding through words we get stuck on. This is great practice! I want students to practice sounding out words and working on it.

Math: We are building on addition and subtraction as well as noticing patterns and shapes around us.

Reminders:

• Well, the weather continues to change week by week. This week we had mild days and then a little wet and chilly. Thank you for continuing to send your child in boots or sneakers for outdoors. We ask kids to wear coats when the temperature is 45 degrees.
• Please check your child’s spare clothes in backpacks. If the playground is wet, your child may change in to dry pants after recess.
• Please send in clean towels in a re-use bag on Mondays
• Library books are due Wednesdays
• Monday, March 21 is World Down Syndrome Awareness Day – students and staff, will be gifted CRAZY SOCKS on that day to show our celebration and appreciation for our friends with Down Syndrome who bless us each day as members in our ZCS community. (I plan on having your child put new socks right over the ones they wear to school)
• March 23: Chapel is at 9am. The kindergarten team is planning this in person chapel. You are welcome to attend in person.
• March is Reading Month! The Young 5s-5th grade will be participating in this fun month long event. The theme is We Are Reading Up a Storm!
  • Friday, March 25: Thunder & Lightning Storm: Kids can bring a flashlight as we read in the dark

What We Have Been Learning:

Bible: We wrapped up our unit on parables this week. It has been so fun to see the kids process these stories and gain a better understanding of the lessons Jesus was teaching through them. This week we read about the parable of the sower, the prodigal son, the lost coin and the wise and foolish builder. Next week we will recite our Bible verse:

Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be open onto you. Matthew 7:7

World Wall Words: We added what to our wall which also includes: a, at, and, am, come, go, here, I, is, it, in, look, like, me, my, on, see, the, this, to, up, we, who.

Writing: This week and next we are working on writing sentences. We have been working on handwriting, letter spacing and sounding out words to spell. It is nice to put it all into practice and try our best with just one sentence. This practice will help get us ready for our next writing unit.

Math: This week we focused on partners. We found all the partners that come together to add up to 4 and 6. We continue to work on writing numbers. I am impressed with the numbers I am seeing!

Phonics: We focused on phonemic awareness this week-listening for sounds. One day we listened for beginning sounds and sorted picture cards according to their beginning sounds. Another day we listened for ending sounds. This is a great activity to do at home or in the car. You can start with “I am thinking of a word that begins with /b/ and see how many your child can think of.

Daily 5: I am gathering some of the books from book bags and beginning to refill with new ones. We had a fun time this week reading in our warm caves as we pretended their was an ice storm on Friday. It was fun for the class to read with partners again.

We love having secret readers! Thank you for taking time to come to class and read. Our class loves listening to books.

We enjoyed 7th graders reading to us this week! One of Mrs. Zastrow’s Language Arts classes came in to read to us books that they wrote and illustrated. It has inspired many of the kindergartners to create books of their own.

Reminders:

• Well, the weather continues to change week by week. If there is significant snow, please send in snow pants. When most of it melts, I have allowed the option of not wearing them, but I have been reminding kids to stay out of the mud and any water on the playground. Thank you for keeping boots on your children. We are still wearing coats and some hats and mittens on chilly days.
• Please send in clean towels in a re-use bag on Mondays
• Library books are due Wednesdays
• March is Reading Month! The Young 5s-5th grade will be participating in this fun month long event. The theme is We Are Reading Up a Storm!
  • Friday, March 18: Ice Storm: we will get a popsicle treat *you don’t have to bring anything
  • Friday, March 25: Thunder & Lightning Storm: Kids can bring a flashlight as we read in the dark
• March 23: Chapel- I am almost certain the time will be 9am. The kindergarten team is planning this in person chapel!

What We are Learning:

It has been so much fun to read with your children this week and enjoy our secret readers!

Bible: We began our new unit on parables (stories that teach a lesson). We have read about the Good Samaritan (be kind to everyone), The Midnight Visitor (pray boldly and persistently), The Great Banquet (we have been invited to love Jesus and have eternity in heaven) and the Lost Sheep (God cares for us and is sad when we turn away from him, he rejoices when we repent).

Our new Bible verse is:

Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be open onto you. Matthew 7:7

Math: We practiced freezing our ten and adding on to make teens. We had great practice with addition and subtraction!

Writing: This week our writing has changed to writing sentences. We continue to work on writing neatly and sounding out words.

Word Wall Words: We have introduced our main 22 words (a, at, and, am, come, go, here, I, is, it, in, look, like, me, my, on, see, the, this, to, up, we). Our goal is that kindergarteners have these mastered by the end of the year. We now are adding some extra words to our wall. This week we added who.

Reminders:

• We seem to be transitioning away from snow pants..I think! 🙂 This new season is called MUD. Our playground continues to be a great place to find mud. I have asked the kids to try to avoid the big puddles and encouraged them to help with laundry 🙂 Thank you for keeping boots on your children. We are still wearing coats and some hats and mittens on chilly days.
• Please send in clean towels in a re-use bag on Mondays
• Library books are due Wednesdays
• March 3& 4: no PM bussing
• Optional Parent Teacher Conferences Information
  -Optional Conferences will take place on Thursday, March 10.
• March is Reading Month! The Young 5s-5th grade will be participating in this fun month long event. The theme is We Are Reading Up a Storm!
  • Friday, March 4: Rain storm: Wear a hat or bring an umbrella to school
  • Thursday, March 10: Snow Storm: Wear comfy and cozy clothes
  • Friday, March 18: Ice Storm: we will get a popsicle treat
  • Friday, March 25: Thunder & Lightning Storm: Kids can bring a flashlight as we read in the dark

What We are Learning:

Bible: this week we wrapped up our unit on Miracles. They never cease to amaze me! It is important to be in awe of God’s power. We will recite our Bible Memory on Friday:

 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Luke 7:22

Phonics: This week we worked on beginning sounds and ending sounds. I was so impressed with the way your children worked independently on saying the word, saying the sound, saying the letter and then writing the letter.

Handwriting: We continue to work on writing the school way. I know I am seeing improvements in letter writing! It is hard work.

Daily 5: These readers are growing! I keep telling them: I need to keep getting new books to challenge you! 🙂

Writing Workshop: We wrote two how to instructions of your student’s choice. This means each child chose what to write, said the instructions out loud, drew the pictures and then wrote the words. They have done such a great job with How To writing, we are ready to move on. For the next few weeks we will be working on writing proper sentences (capitalize the first word, finger spaces between words, neat printing and checking that we can read it).

Math: We worked on classifying this week. There are different ways to classify and we talked through different ideas friends had. We reviewed adding 2, number writing and patterns.