September 10th - 14th

This week in reading we will...

• Work on noun substitution by singing the song "Skip to my Lou" 
• Learn the letter "X"
• Draw an ox

This week in math we will...

• Work with shapes
• Use fine motor skills to manipulate shapes and blocks

This week in handwriting we will...

• Practice making the letter "D"

This week in science we will...

• Begin our 5 senses unit

May....

Can you believe that it is May and there are only 14 days of school left?!? The kiddos are very excited about "graduating" from kindergarten and becoming first graders. Everyone is excited about summer, but I am really really going to miss these kiddos. This group is my first class ever and I am sure that I will remember them forever. Sometimes I start thinking about watching them go through elementary school and then going to see them graduate high-school and I practically start sobbing. So, let me tell you, this year has been amazing and your kiddos are all truly special. Thank you for letting me be their teacher. Sheesh.

This week we will be having the Kennedy Carnival. Please come to the school on Friday, May 5th for an evening of fun and games. Bring some cash with you, so that you can purchase some tickets to play and eat. $1.00 will get you 5 tickets.

In class we are wrapping up our insect unit. Next week the kiddos will be switching rooms to work on various science ideas; magnets, water, health. In reading we are working on retelling by stating the problem, solution, characters, and other important parts of a story. I am also assessing the kiddos on their heart words, ability to blend and segment words, and their writing.

Thanks,
    Lauren

Insects are awesome!

This past week our class started our insect unit. Let me tell you, the kids are so into it! We started off by making a KWL chart, this stands for "what I know," "what I wonder," and "what I learned." I was surprised by how much they already knew about insects, but their questions were the absolute best. These kindergartners are scientists in the making. They wondered such things as, "What do insects live in?" "What do they eat?" and "Where or how do they sleep?" I was really impressed with their thinking. We read a couple of books about insects and then on Thursday we started our insect mural. I gave students pieces of a mural puzzle and also insect cutouts. We used water colors on the mural puzzle and markers or crayons on the insects cutouts. We put it all together and we have a masterpiece! It is so beautiful and the kids are so proud. Here are some pictures of us working hard and then the end result.

As you all know, we went on a field trip to the Prairie Park Nature Center on Friday. I hope you got a chance to talk to you kinder about it, because it was just a blast. We started off the day by going to the park near the center, eating lunch, and playing hard. Then we walked on the trail to the center, which was actually quite a long trek. Once we got their, we split the three classes into two groups. My group started off by going into one of the classrooms at the center and exploring insects. We actually got to touch a millipede, stick bug, and hissing cockroach. I am really proud of the kids for trying new things, because let me tell you, that millipede was big! After our classroom time we headed out to the field where we actually got to hunt for bugs! It was so much fun using the big nets and jars. Some of the bugs that the kids caught were; spiders, grasshoppers, butterflies, moths, leaf bugs.

Finally the kiddos got a chance to walk around the center and see some of the creatures that live there. I was quite a fan of the black footed ferret. Our leader told us that it THE most endangered mammal in this country, with only less than a thousand left. She was so cute! After that we headed back to school, quite late, but heading back nonetheless.