It's an exciting week as we merge our AM & PM cohorts and lengthen our school day. School hours will now be 8:15 to 12:15. Please plan ahead and arrive early! There will definitely be an increased amount of traffic around the school, as well as more kids to check-in at the gate. Those of you who live close enough to walk should definitely plan on doing so.
This Week in Class
Phonics Focus: "Vowel Teams" ea & ee
Sight Words: ran & with
Math: Logical thinking/review
Theme: Butterflies
Butterfly Unit
It looks like we may get some chrysalises over the weekend! Our caterpillars are looking ready to begin their transformation to butterflies.
Sight Words
This week, we will introduce our 43rd and 44th sight words. You can find the list of all sight words we've introduced here. I would suggest that you run through the sight word flash cards that were provided to everyone at the beginning of the year in our work bag (they are on pink card stock and were in a large plastic bag) to check that your children are retaining these words. Sight word recognition is really important to reading fluency. If using the flashcards on the pink card stock, the words we introduce in kindergarten go through Level D. The level is marked at the top of each page.
Sharing
With our return to longer days, we now once again have time for sharing. I'd like to begin having students share the week of 5/10. The sharing schedule can be found here.
Reminders for this Week
As you know, beginning Monday, our a.m. and p.m. cohorts will combine, and we will all be in the classroom together from 8:15 to 12:15. We are also absorbing a few more students who are opting out of Distance Learning and joining in-person instruction. Our class size will increase to 26 students. There are a few important reminders/changes that I'd like you to be aware of:
- We will now be eating snacks at school at our 10:10 break. PLEASE KEEP THIS SNACK SIMPLE: one granola bar OR one piece of fruit OR one yogurt, etc. I will spread students out on the blacktop to eat, but I don't want them eating for the entire 20 minutes that we are outside, as they will miss their play time. I also want to reduce the amount of time we have masks off. Thank you for your cooperation with this.
- I have noticed that over the last 9+ weeks, some students' masks have become quite stretched out and are no longer fitting well. They are falling below their noses. PLEASE insure a proper fit to your child's mask. With 26 children in our room together, we really want to do our best to keep everyone safe by having a nice, snug fit to the mask. Please also use masks that are designed for children. Great mask options can be found at Target and on Amazon.
- The parking lot by our current entrance/exit gate continues to be closed. Even if the cones have been moved aside, please do not park in this lot. With all the students lining up near this lot's exit, it is a safety hazard to have cars driving through. Please plan ahead and either walk, or park on the street on Westchester and walk in. It will be quite congested outside the school with all the cohorts coming at the same time school-wide, so you will definitely need to plan ahead.
- There will no longer be asynchronous work. Our four hours in the classroom, 5 days a week, now fulfills our educational minutes. Of course, you can continue to have your children use their iPads (iPads will still remain at home) for apps such as Lexia, Raz-Kids, and Happy Numbers, but this would just be for reinforcement/enrichment. I strongly encourage those students who have any "Bs" or "Ds" on last trimester's report card in the "Reading" section to continue using Lexia. Lexia is an excellent program for strengthening foundational reading skills.
Whiteboards
Thank you for the swift return of the whiteboards. If you still have a school whiteboard at home, please try and return it this week.
Upcoming Events
Monday, 5/3: In-person instruction from 8:15-12:15 begins, 5 days a week
Monday 5/31: Memorial Day: No School
