Newsletter 30: Week of May 6

Week Overview

What a full and exciting week! On Wednesday we celebrated our Small Moments writing unit by sharing our stories with Maestra Zondervan’s class.

We also celebrated making it to 20 minutes of 100% Spanish with a special reader, Olivia’s grandma, and cupcakes. Gracias, abuela, and Klamer family!

Our countdown to summer allowed us opportunities to play with sidewalk chalk, blow bubbles, and share apples with caramel. Thank you for your donations to this FUN!

We finished the week meeting our amigos secretos and making fun memories at pizza-themed centers.Thank you to all the families who helped make our morning run so smoothly! I really appreciate your donations of ingredients and time!


Important Dates

May 9: 1/2 Day (Tulip Time) 11:50 dismissal time

May 10&11: No PM busing and No hot lunch

May 28: Memorial Day (No School) Kindergarteners are invited to march in the parade. (More details soon.)

June 1: PBL Presentations 9:00

June 6: Field trip to Farmers Market

June 7: Last day of school- no pm bussing or hot lunch


Reminders

  • 1/2 Day Wednesday: Dismissal Wednesday morning is at 11:50. There is bussing that day, but not on Thursday or Friday.
  • Memorial Day Parade: This week I will send a letter home with specifics about the parade. This is an optional thing, but a fun way to represent our school and support our town/country. If I do not hear from you, I will assume that you are coming. I am looking for a few parents willing to march with us please. Send me an email or catch me in the hallway if you’re willing!
  • Countdown to Summer: I am blown away by how quickly this SignUp Genius filled up with generous people willing to help us celebrate God’s faithfulness this school year! We are still looking for someone willing to donate filled water balloons please. Click here if you’re willing! Thank you!

Curriculum

Bible: We continue learning about parables. This week we learned that Jesus is the Good Shepherd and made a pipe cleaner staff. We also learned the parable of the sower and collected some seeds for our parable bags. We decided we want to be like good soil that produces fruit for God’s Kingdom.

Our last Bible verse for Kindergaten:

Por tanto vayan y hagan discípulos de todas naciones, bautizándolos en el nombre del Padre y del Hijo y del Espíritu Santo, enseñándoles a obedecer todo lo que les ha mandado a ustedes. Y les aseguro que estaré con ustedes siempre, hasta el fin del mundo. Mateo 28:19, 20

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:19, 20

Literacy: This week our letter brought an extra challenge as it makes two sounds! In Spanish the letter Cc makes a hard sound /k/ and a soft sound /s/. We played language detectives and noted that Cc makes /s/ when it is followed by an i or an e. In grammar we also learned that the pronoun lo can be used in place of nouns. In English it is similar to saying “it.” Check out our phrase of the week to see this special new word in context.

Have you noticed more books than normal in your child’s book bag? This is because next weekend they will not be bringing books home. On Monday we are starting a special literacy project called the aalpa. We’ll begin with the interpretive activity, reading a book and answering some comprehension questions about it. I’ll be working with kids in small groups on this project instead of working on take home book reading strategies, so there will be no new books to take home next weekend. I hope you enjoy practicing some of the “old” books with your child and working on those comprehension strategies like predicting, inferring, and retelling!

  • Reading strategy: Inferring
  • Read aloud: La familia de Clifford
  • Vocabulary words
    • el pueblo (village, town)
    • el cachorro (puppy)
    • el collar (collar)
    • la ciudad (city)
    • el avión (airplane)
    • el bombero (fire fighter)
  • Word wall word: ¿cómo? (how)
  • Phrase of the week: ¿Puedo llevarlo a casa? (May I take it home?)
  • Letter of the week: Cc

Math: In math we are talking about numbers that are greater, mayor, or less than, menor. 

Exploring God’s World: We began step 1 of our PBL on animals this week. I reminded the kids that they are scientists! They were very excited about studying many different animals. Together we decided it’d be easier for their teacher if they worked in groups and studied fewer animals. 🙂 Everyone wrote the name of the top 3 animals they’d like to research. This weekend I will do my best to form groups that allow everyone to study one of their top 3 animals.

Writing Workshop: As I’m sure your know, Friday we met our amigos secretos to whom we’ve been writing for the past month! It was an exciting day to be a Spanish immersion kindergartener!

Up in Lights: Lauren was Up in Lights this week! She loves suckers, her new house, and singing Tu Ti Ta! If you aren’t familiar with the song yet and are ready for some giggling, ask your kindergartener about this fun school song!

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