**We are one week closer to the end of the school year! Everyone is feeling the change in the air---students as well as teachers. The students are helping put away things. In our ABC Countdown this week, we had Runners, Sun is Funners, students demonstrating their Talents and writing about why it is great to live in the USA along with bubble fireworks and homemade gliders. We continue to be super busy with end of the year activities. The students are planning much of the days activities. We were so busy this week, we of course, forgot to brainstorm our end of the ABC Countdown activities. We all agreed the V will be for Vegetable Day! Bring a vegetable to eat for snack! We will plan the rest on Monday.
**Please send your child's back pack the rest of the week! Thanks!
**Please join us for Planting in our Outside Garden Bed on Thursday, June 4th right after lunch at 12:45. The students will be planting the potatoes they started in March, edamame and kale. We will also plant nasturtiums and marigolds as plant protectors.
**Our walking field trip to the Gurgas/Chien Chicken Coop is Friday, June 5th from 1:40-1:20 pm. Please make sure to send in your child's permission slip. We have B. Howell joining us for the walk. Thanks!
**Please join us beginning at 1:30 until dismissal for FAMILY HOUR on Friday, June 5th. We will sign autographs, get our report cards and summer packets and have light refreshments. There may even by something special on the black top before dismissal! You never know what surprises Mr. Hodge may have for the students!
**The final Kids Club Planting is Friday, June 5th right after school. The students and parents are invited to plant Wildflowers and take some home too! The new Wildflower Garden will honor this years 5th Grade Class.
**Last Day of School Block Party is Friday, June 5th from 5:30-7:30 pm. Cuyler Avenue by the school will be blocked off. Pizza and drinks will be on sale. This will benefit next years 5th Grade outdoor ed trip. Come --join the fun!!! School is out for summer!!!
**ALL LIBRARY BOOKS ARE DUE NOW!
**ALL BUSY READERS ARE DUE NOW!
**Space Stations will be recycled next week!
**Hope you enjoyed looking over their science journals on Water and Shadows. They were so excited to bring them home. Their Seed journal will come home on Thursday.
**Our End of the Year Picnic was awesome. The students really had a chance to socialize and be together. The weather held until just before leaving the park. A little rain on our way home didn't dampen our spirits! Thanks to everyone who made our morning special! A special shout out to Christine Cummings for the great sign up and organizing. Great students. Super parents. Tasty pizza and veggies and fruits and a fun venue!
**Our worm are here! Ms. Henry and daughter Lena, gave a wonderful presentation on worms and worm composting. The student got up close and personal with worms and the rich soil they create. More about that in our science section.
**Don't forget the Summer Reading Challenge presented by Maze Library will begin sign up on Thursday, June 4th. The theme this year is "Unmasked." Super Heroes abound with reading, activities and prizes. I am encouraging my students to sign up!
**Look for Irving School's Summer Math Incentive--"Splash into Math." Information on sign up will be in your child's report card packet. It is an online activity challenge!
This week:
It was all about worms, plants and talents! The very "green" Ms. Henry and her daughter, Lena gave an informative talk on worms and worm composting. She brought us some starter compost with lots of red wiggler worms. She showed the students the different stages of the worms life cycle including worm eggs and egg shells, baby, teenage and adult worms. The students observed the worms up close and personal under the magnifier. The students did some preparation before the visit by looking up information on the internet and reading non fiction books about worms. They also read some some fiction and realistic fiction stories about worm adventures. The students continue to monitor our indoor class garden. The corn is growing tall and the pepper seeds have sprouted. On T for Talent Day, the students were proud to demonstrate what they were great at. We had soccer, basketball, dance, singing, karate kicks, math, running, reading and yoga posing demonstrations to name a few. Totally awesome and done with ease and confidence!
Reading/Language Arts: The students continue their review of the skills taught this school year. They continue to make choices on the type of literature they want to read, what activities they want to do to connect their reading, writing and choosing an iPad activity that best enhances what they are studying in their workstation. I am loving hearing group and individual reading as I make my way from small group to small group. The great discussions and "elbow" chats the students are having with one another about story elements, main idea and key details blow me away! There is also time set aside for independent reading using stories they chose from their literacy bags. The students reviewed all kindergarten sight words and lots of First Grade words. They worked together with partners to create sentences using the words and pictures. Another focus is on what punctuation marks to use at the end of their sentences. Workstations for this week included leveled readers with group discussion and collaboration on story elements and completing a group story elements butterfly, leveled readers with discussion of main events and work on blends and digraphs, leveled readers with discussion on author's purpose and creating CVC words activity and leveled readers with discussion about unknown words and strategies to find out what they could mean. The students chose one iPad activity to do after their workstation was completed.
Math: The students are working on solving (using numbers 0-9) subtraction problems using the story problem format. Illustrating their thinking is super important. The students are showing their work using tally marks and circles. They are also working on finding the number when subtracted from the larger number will give you a certain answer. (7-__=2) The students are experimenting with using the number line to find and answer. Calendar Books for May are finished and were sent home. We will have a short June calendar book for next week. Working with numbers 1-176, one student calls out a random number number and picks another student to write the next 3 numbers in sequence on the board. It is reversed too where the number is called out and the student has to write the 3 numbers that come before it. Great practice in writing 2 and 3 digit numbers and sequencing skills.
Writing: The students wrote to teachers in the building who have made a difference in their lives this year. Their choices! Some of those wonderful people were Ms. Tague, Ms. Pelling, Mr. Packer, Ms. Hioski, Ms. Chinn, Mr. Hancock, Ms. Heaphy and Ms. Bell Bey. So nice!!! The students are working on their draft copy of their "Worm" paragraph. They had a great time looking over their writing journals from simple white paper to our green journal. Lots of comments about letter formation, word writing and even the way they illustrated "back then." So much progress!
Science: Our seed sponges are sprouting all kinds of things. Tiny shouts and skinny roots are observed and even some mold has appeared. Our seed bags have no signs of sprouting seeds so far. The students will keep observing. The students continue to "feed" the worm compost. We took some worms out for study. The students observed the segments and pointy head. The bristles or hairs that help them to move were too tiny to see. We will attempt the microscope next week and use some the compost for our outside garden bed.
Technology: The students decided to do an end of the year movie about the best part of kindergarten. They discussed what part they wanted to say and demonstrate and then wrote a script to memorize. We began "filming" and hope to complete it, edit it and attach it to the blog by Friday. Keep your fingers crossed!!!!!
Literature: "Earl the Earthworm Digs for His Life," "The Curious Garden," "Tools for a Garden,""Yucky Worms," "Diary of a Worm," "Wonderful Worms," "Oh Say Can You Seed,""Counting in the Garden."
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