Highlights from our week…
I love teaching Kindergarten at this time of the year! The kids come to school ready and excited to learn. The routines are set and they’re hungry for a challenge. Some days I reflect back on our day and I’m amazed by the things your kids are accomplishing!

We can make predictions! Will the groundhog see his shadow?

Groundhog Day craft

Important Dates

• February 10: For the Kidz gymnastics field trip 10:30-12:30 (information below)
• February 10: No hot lunch or PM bussing
• February 13: 100th Day of School! (information below)
• February 14: Valentine’s Celebration (information below)
• February 20: President’s Day Break- No school
  

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Important Announcements

• Quarters for Wayne: On Friday I sent home information about a special project Kindergarteners will work together on to help raise money for our sponsor student in the Philippines. You may collect quarters directly on the sheet with tape or in a separate Ziploc bag. If you need to view the sheet again, please click here.
• For the Kidz Gymnastics Field Trip: We are planning to leave about 10:30 and return to school about 12:30. 1/2 day families please plan on picking up your child at our classroom door at 12:30. All students must have a signed waiver to be able to participate. Please follow this link  to complete the waiver for your child.
• 100th Day Celebration: We will celebrate the 100th day of school on February 13th. We will have a special 100th day snack. If you signed up to bring ingredients please bring them no later than Friday, February 10. We will also dress up like we are 100 years old! This is 100% optional, but we thought it may be exciting for the middle of February. Some ideas include baby powder in your hair to make it gray, glasses, suspenders, a long skirt and sweater, or a cane. Google “kids dressing up like they are 100” for some more ideas. ?
• Valentine’s Day Celebration: We will celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 14th. We will have a small party and exchange valentines. You are welcome to start shopping/creating valentines for each classmate. Please note:
  • We have 20 children in our class.
  • Please do NOT write a classmates name in the “to” space. Just have your child sign their name in the “from” space. Names are too complicated for the limited time we have to pass out valentines.

Check out how much we’re learning and growing in Christ! 

Bible: This week we learned about Jesus changing the hearts of several people he encountered during his ministry. We talked about Nicodemus, Zacchaeus, and the Samaritan woman at the well. When we ask Jesus into our hearts, the Holy Spirit changes us and we become a new creation. To help us understand and reflect on this concept we watched a time lapse video of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. The caterpillar changed from the inside out into a new creation. Each child designed their own butterfly to help them remember the power of the Holy Spirit when a person accepts Jesus.

I also assessed the January Bible verse this week. Please click this link to see a video of your kids reciting their verse! This coming week I will introduce the new verse for February. I’m proud of your kids for working so hard on memorizing their verses each month! I pray that these verses will help them in their own times of need or that they’ll have opportunities to share them with others!

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Literacy: This week I dressed up as “Victoria la vaquera” (Victoria, the cowgirl.) The kids helped me round up my vacas (cows) by looking for the vacas with the letter Vv in their names. In grammar I put on a puppet show with puppets who gave each other commands using the yo (I) and tu (you) forms of verbs.

• Reading strategy: Visualizing
• Read aloud: Los patitos
• Vocabulary words
  • cruzar (to cross)
  • la orilla (shore)
  • el jardín (garden)
  • los patitos (ducks)
  • los cacahuetes (peanuts)
  • la isla (island)
  • la laguna (pond)
  • la responsabilidad (responsibility)
• Word wall word: voy (I’m going)
• Phrase of the week: Hoy es ___. (Today is ___.)
• Letter of the week: Vv

In the Daily 5 we opened up the last of the 5 center choices. We now have a “Listen to a book” choice during the Daily 5! Using the iPads has become a huge hit. 🙂

Math: Our math lessons this week introduced us to “Mariquita de 10” (“10’s ladybug”) who helped us look for groups of 10. We are just beginning to learn about teen numbers. Thinking of them as “10 and some more” has been helpful.

Writing Workshop: Your kids are amazing! They have turned into such writers! We are continuing to work on pattern books. This week some kids ventured into trying a new pattern- “me gusta” (“I like.”)

Exploring God’s World: This week we looked for pushes and pulls on the playground. Some of the ideas for pushes the class thought of included the tire swing and the day we made a giant snowball and moved it to the soccer field. One idea for pulls was the rock wall.

Handwriting Without Tears: We worked on three uppercase letters this week: I, T, and J. We are trying hard to remember to start at the top!

Play: This continues to be a favorite part of our day. It’s a stress-free way of learning and a great community builder in our classroom. It’s fun to see different kids thrive in the different environments throughout our school day. The new exciting thing in our classroom this week was the sand table!

marble run

Fire station main office

Up in Lights: Emma Texer was up in lights this week! She introduced us to her mom, dad, and two younger sisters. Emma is anticipating another new sibling very soon! She loves eating Smarties, feeling sparkles, and smelling flowers. Her favorite place to visit is school and she’d like to be a teacher when she’s older. 🙂 Thank you, Emma! God made you amazing!

Afternoons:

• Monday: art, rest, read aloud, recess, snack, play
• Tuesday: rest, math centers, recess, snack, play
• Wednesday: rest, math center,, recess, snack, play
• Thursday: rest, Groundhog Day craft, recess, snack, play
• Friday: rest, play, recess, snack, math centers, Kindergarten singing
  

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From the immersion coordinator: Here is some encouraging anecdotal news for those of you who might be a little frightened by your immersion student’s English spelling or writing. Holland Christian High School took the time to compare the English grades and writing of our first two classes of immersion students; on average these students were indeed at or above the level of the non-immersion peers with some teachers reporting that they felt that immersion students’ writing had more depth than the comparison group.