This week's letter is Zz. The new Alphafriend is Zelda Zebra. We have a new high frequency word, have. This one is often confused with a word we introduced earlier, here, since they both start with h and end with e. Continue reviewing those high frequency words posted on our website with your children. Please continue working on Lexia at home as well, as this is a great reading reinforcement program which covers so many concepts, and children love receiving the certificates in class for their accomplishments. I'd like to see most children completing Level 3 by now.
In math, we will be working on numbers to 20, addition, and subtraction for the next three weeks. We are reviewing and reinforcing these concepts as they are truly the foundation for all future math. I get an xtramath report each week, and I can see that many of you are taking advantage of this website. For those children who don't prefer this website, there are so many great iPad apps and other websites to use. Just google "kindergarten math reinforcement" and many things come up! Some favorite iPad/iPhone apps of mine are "Hungry Fish" and "Math Bingo." Keep on practicing!
The kids enjoyed the lessons from our science unit, "Wood & Paper," last week. They had fun going on a wood hunt, learning about 5 different types of wood, and checking how well those woods absorbed water, as well as trying to sink the wood! We will continue science in the upcoming week, when we will be sanding wood and looking at sawdust and also adding water to sawdust, along with several other experiments with wood.
Our sharing this week is "Toy in a Bag." Please send in a toy, hidden in a bag, with three written clues attached. Your child should be prepared to read the clues and have the class guess what is inside the bag. At this point, children should be writing their clues on their own or at least single words to prompt them with what they are going to say.
This Wednesday, your child will bring home a special homework assignment. We will be building leprechaun traps! Get creative and have fun-- traps are due on your child's sharing day the week of the 9th, along with the Blue Bag journal (there will be no other homework this week). There will be more specific directions in the Blue Bag this week, but we do ask two things-- that the traps not contain any unwrapped food items (we've had trouble with ants in the past!) and that the traps are not overly large-- shoebox sized is perfect. We have to store traps from both the a.m. class & the p.m. class, and it gets tricky if we have huge traps. Plus, we're only catching tiny leprechauns :) We will share the traps each day on your child's sharing day, then on Friday, we will set the traps in hopes of catching the little guys! We will come in on Monday the 17th and check the results of our traps, then send the traps home with the children.
Parent-teacher conferences begin Monday the 10th. If you have forgotten your date/time, please e-mail me. We will not have centers during conference time.
Upcoming Events:
3/10: "Helping Your Child Succeed in School" Part 2, 6:00-7:30 in the AV Cafeteria
3/10-3/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
3/26: March's Wacky Wednesday
3/29: Bocce Ball Tournament & Auction @ Campo Di Bocce
4/4: Spring Fling
4/7-4/11: Spring Break
4/16: Field Trip to Emma Prusch Farm: Wacky Weds. for p.m. class
4/30: April's Wacky Wednesday
5/5: Cinco de Mayo Dance
5/9: Mother's Day Celebration: Moms-- Mark your Calendars!
