Weekly Update 4/25

  Upcoming Q4: 

May 9: Kindergarten Field Trip to the Children's Museum

May 14: Yearbook signing at Main Event 1:30-3:30

May 16: Treat Friday, Birthday Book club, Spirit Day

May 20, 21, 22  - Early release at 12:30

May 21st: Kindergarten promotion 

         **Doors open @ 10:30, ceremony starts @11:00 am, all classes together**

Spalding:

Continue to review all 70 phonograms and are always changing the order. Review the ones they know, especially the ones your child needs to practice. Encourage them to find the phonograms in the books they read and to use their phonograms to write a sentence. Writing squiggle stories is a great way to practice sounding out. We talk about writing 1 sentence at a time. Remember: Start with a capital, use spaces, sound things out, finish with punctuation, and read it back to double-check. Creating a checklist is also helpful for them to begin checking their work. 

Literature:

We began another read-along story this week called Mouse Soup. The students really enjoy having their own books to read long together. In this story, we see a weasel trying to make mouse soup, but the mouse convinces him the soup needs stories to taste better. The mouse tells many silly stories to distract the weasel and escape. For Poetry, we heard the poem A Dillar, A Dollar. We enjoyed trying to decide what a dillar is and also talked about who is a scholar. We determined the poem probably means it is important to be on time for school and all our learning. In Grammar, we are practicing dictation. This is where the students listen to a simple sentence read 3 times. They repeat the sentence and then write it in their journal, checking for the proper parts. We are also continuing to practice our retelling of the stories we read in literature.

Math:

In math, we learned how to solve addition and subtraction word problems with numbers up to 10. First, we read the problem carefully, then we practiced underlining the important numbers in the sentence to help us focus on what we needed to solve. This step made it easier to understand the problem and decide whether to add or subtract. After underlining the numbers, we used them to write an equation and then solved it. Practicing this helped us get better at finding the right answer.

History:

In history, we learned about the country of China and some of its important traditions and symbols. We looked at where China is on the map and talked about things like the Great Wall, Chinese New Year, and the importance of dragons in Chinese culture. To help us remember what we learned, we made our own paper dragons using colorful paper, scissors, and glue. It was fun to be creative, and making the dragons helped us understand more about Chinese celebrations and art.

Science:

In science, we learned about what it takes to be a meteorologist and how they help us understand the weather. We found out that meteorologists study the sky, clouds, temperature, and wind to make weather forecasts. They use special tools like thermometers, barometers, and weather satellites to collect data. We also talked about how meteorologists need to be good at math and science and pay close attention to patterns in nature. Learning about their job helped us see how important they are in keeping people safe during storms and other weather events.

Weekly Update 4/17

  Upcoming Q4: 

May 9th: Field Trip to Phoenix Children's Museum

May 20, 21, 22  - Early release at 12:30

May 21st: Kindergarten promotion 

         **Doors open @ 10:30, ceremony starts @11:00 am, all classes together**

Spalding:

Continue to review all 70 phonograms and are always changing the order. Review the ones they know, especially the ones your child needs to practice. Encourage them to find the phonograms in the books they read and to use their phonograms to write a sentence. Writing squiggle stories is a great way to practice sounding out. We talk about writing 1 sentence at a time. Remember: Start with a capital, use spaces, sound things out, finish with punctuation, and read it back to double-check. Creating a checklist is also helpful for them to begin checking their work. 

Literature:

This week, we read Little Bear's Visit and really enjoyed getting to know the characters and their adventures. We followed Little Bear as he spent time with his grandparents, listening to their stories and sharing special moments together. As we read, we talked about the setting, the characters, and the lessons Little Bear learned during his visit. We practiced reading aloud, making predictions, and thinking about how the story made us feel. Everyone loved the warm and cozy feeling of the story, and it helped us think about the importance of family and spending time with the people we love.

Math:

We just finished our unit on coins and money, and it was both fun and educational! Throughout the lessons, we learned how to identify different coins like pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, and we practiced adding them together to find out how much money we had. We also explored making change and solve real-world problems using coins and bills. At the end of the week we began our unit of addition and subtraction math stories but should keep practicing our math facts. 

History:

We continued our tour through Asia by learning about the countries of India and South Korea. The children loved learning about the art of Rangoli that is made with sand, and only lasts until it is swept away. We also learned that 1 billion people live in the country of India, and that it is home to 1,000 different languages. The children watched a fan dance from Korea and enjoyed making their ow fans. We've had so much fun visiting these countries and look forward to where we will travel next!

Science:

We spent time discussing weather words such as hot, cold, warm, cool and how they feel and differ. We used our science words of "I notice", "I wonder" and "It makes me think of" to discuss pictures and predict what the weather might be. We also discussed why the weather is different in the morning verses the afternoon and evening. This week we recorded temperatures using our classroom thermometer! 

Weekly Update 4/11

 Important upcoming dates:

4/18-4/21: No School

5/9: Kindergarten Field Trip - more information soon

5/21: Kindergarten promotion 

**Doors open @ 10:30, ceremony starts @11:00 am, all classes together**

Spalding

Please continue to review and focus on the phonograms your child is struggling with. When doing homework, please make sure you are switching up the order of phonograms and words to ensure they are remembering them. In Kindergarten, homework is not to be completed on their own. 

Literature

We have continued reading about Little Bear by reading the second book in the set called Father Bear Comes Home. In this book, Little Bear imagines fishing on the ocean, finding a mermaid, and asking her for a picnic, and he learns how to deal with hiccups. The students are enjoying reading their very own chapter books. In poetry, we read another weather poem called It's Raining, It's Pouring. We even talked about how this poem has many different versions. There was a fun version where someone made a book from the poem and other weather situations. In grammar, we talked about being a singular verb and being a plural verb. We made sentences, such as "She is funny" and "They are funny." We talked about when to use each word. 

Math

This week, the children also learned about money and how it’s used in everyday life. They explored the different types of money, like coins and bills, and talked about what people use money for—such as buying food, toys, or saving for something special. The class practiced identifying different coins and even played games to help them understand how to count and use money. They also learned the importance of saving and making smart choices with money. It was a fun and practical lesson that helped the children see how money works in the world around them!

History

This week, the children learned all about Asia, with a special focus on Japan. They discovered Japan’s rich history, including the traditions of the samurai and the beauty of cherry blossom festivals. The class explored how Japanese culture blends the old and the new, from ancient tea ceremonies to modern technology like robots and bullet trains. The students were especially excited to learn about Japanese food, language, and anime. It was a fun and exciting week full of curiosity, creativity, and cultural discovery!

Science

We've had a special delivery of caterpillars to our classrooms! We will watch them and learn about the caterpillar's life cycle: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis stage, and ending as a beautiful butterfly. Our caterpillars are currently getting ready to transition into their chrysalis stage. The students are eager to check for changes to their caterpillars each morning upon arrival. We have also continued our discussion about weather patterns. The children learned about different kinds of clouds. 

Weekly Update 4/4

 Important upcoming dates:

4/25: Spirit Wear, Birthday Book club & Treat Friday

4/18-4/21: No School

5/9: Kindergarten Field Trip - more information soon

5/21: Kindergarten promotion 

**Doors open @ 10:30, ceremony starts @11:00 am, all classes together**

Save the Date - Fine Arts Festival

On Saturday, April 5, from 9am-1pm, we will hold a Fine Arts Festival. Bring the family and enjoy a walking tour of artwork, recorded music performances, Book Fair (one day only!) Food trucks, face painting, picture props, and more family fun!

Spalding:

We have continued to focus on reviewing all our phonograms and have focused on the ones we are noticing the students still seem to struggle with. Please also do this at home, noting which phonograms your child needs the most practice with. We have also been working hard to sound out words and create sentences with our phonograms by doing squiggle weekly writings. The students have a random design on their paper that they can turn into anything they want and then write a sentence or more telling the reader about it. Another great thing to do is to challenge your student by having them write some sight words they know to build their word knowledge for writing. 

Literature:

We began reading our student reader books together this week by reading Little Bear as a class. The students loved having their books to follow along and read together as a class. We saw Little Bear decide what to wear for winter weather, make his birthday soup, pretend to fly to the moon, and make many wishes at bedtime until his mom told him a story. In Poetry, we continued reading poems about weather by learning the poem Rain, Rain, Go Away. The students had fun reciting this one and even said they would use it next time it was raining. In Grammar, we reviewed the different types of sentences and their punctuation. We read stories and tried to identify which punctuation it needed by listening to the reader's voices. We had fun making a game out of it.

Math:

We continued our subtraction practice this week. The students used number lines, counting back, pictures, finger counting, and the concept of "part-part-whole" to subtract. They remembered that we've used these same strategies to solve addition problems but now we are using them in a different way. We've reviewed how we know what we should do when we see the (-) minus sign and how it differs from the (+) plus sign. 

History:

This week, the kids had an exciting learning experience as they explored the cultures and geography of Brazil and Argentina. They discovered the vibrant history of Brazil's Carnival, its famous Amazon Rainforest, and the passionate sport of football that unites the country. In Argentina, they learned about tango music and dance, as well as the beautiful landscapes of Patagonia and the Andes mountains. The students also compared the two countries, highlighting the differences in language, food, and traditions. It was a fun and engaging week of learning about these diverse South American nations!

Science:

This week, we focused our weather unit on sunlight. We investigated Earth's surface materials (sand, soil, and water) to discover how sunlight and shade affect them. We made predictions with our prior knowledge and used thermometers to compare the temperatures of these three Earth materials in both the sunlight and the shade. The students understand that sunlight comes from the sun in the sky and it causes Earth's surface to warm. Students also understood that shade slows down heating.