The End

Well, our kindergartners have graduated and moved on. They will start next year as big time first graders. I am so proud of all of their progress they made this year. They are reading, writing, and doing all exploration with math. I love how their little brains work and the ideas that they come up with! I'm really looking forward to watching them travel through Kennedy over the next 5 years.

So...here are some ideas on what to do with the kiddos over the summer to keep those brains going!

Reading:

• Read with them everyday!!! You can read the newspaper, magazines, small books, big books, all of it.
• Start a series; "A Series of Unfortunate Events," "Harry Potter," "Chronicles of Narnia," 
• Play sound games in the car
• "I Spy Rhyme" : I spy something that rhymes with hat....cat!

April 9th - April 13th

The weeks are winding down and the kindergartners are turning into first graders little by little! However, it is important for them to remember that there is still a lot of school left. Please help remind the kiddos that they need to do their best and show their PRIDE at school. They do a great job of doing this, but sometimes the sillies just work their way in :)

This week in reading we will...

• Continue working on our fairy tale unit by exploring stories, both traditional and non-traditional. 

This week in math we will...

• Create a teen number book with drawings.
• Work on subtraction.
• Work on equal and not equal.

Starting in two weeks we will also begin our ladybug unit in science and I am so very excited about that! We will also be going on a field trip, but more on that later this week, expect a note coming home. I am also planning on teaching a short unit on weather, which will begin as soon as possible too.

In other news, continue to send your kiddos to school with light jackets, because it can be quite cool during morning recess. Keep up the great work at home, by reading, talking, and just believing in your child!

April 2nd - April 6th

Well, it is quite an exciting Monday! First, it's April, how has that happened? And second, tonight the Jayhawks will play in the championship game! The kiddos seem pretty excited, but so far they are doing an excellent job of remembering that we still have a lot of school left in the day.

This week in reading we will...

• continue working on our fairy tale unit

This week in math we will...

• work on building numbers 1-20 with our ten sticks and centimeter cubes
• keep practicing recognizing and making partners

In addition to the things mentioned above, we will also be getting back into our writing. We will finish the Ideas trait this week and begin Organization. It has been so amazing to watch them grow as writers! I know that you would be proud!

March 26th - March 30th

Wow! Welcome back! I hope that you had a wonderful spring break full of muddy puddles and a little bit of sunshine. I know that I am very thankful that today was a sunny day, we went outside for an extra long time this afternoon.

I can't believe that it is almost April. I feel like I write that a lot, "I can't believe," but I really do feel that way. The kinders have grown up so much. I wonder if you see that too. In math we are revisiting a book that we read during the first week. You wouldn't believe what they noticed this time around and the things they were saying. I like to tell them that they have really "turned" into 1st graders, but that also makes me sad, because they will no longer be mine. Well, I have enjoyed this year immensely and IT'S NOT OVER YET!

This week in math we will...

• Create our own teen drawings 
• Revisit "Anno's Counting Book"

This week in reading we will...

• Define a fairy tale and decide what a fairy tale is made up of. 
• Read "Cinderella"
• Plot out "Cinderella"
• Compare "Cinderella" books (we might not have time, so we will do this next week)

We will also have the Junior Achievement program coming to our class this week. They will be working with the kiddos on money saving skills and other economic issues. Today was our first session and it went great.

Our writer's workshop has gotten a little off track due to spring break and St. Patrick's day (photos to come). I plan on getting right back on the ball with that as soon as possible!