Delayed Start Reminder

This is a gentle reminder that this Thursday, May 1, will be a delayed start to our school day. School will begin at 10:25 AM. Our day will conclude at our normal 3:50 PM time.

Thank you in advance!

Jam for all!

In honor of spring (not that you could tell by the weather...), our class made our very own strawberry jam! This included cutting fresh strawberries, mixing them in a food processor and adding ingredients like sugar and pectin before stirring it all together!

We had so much fun making our jam, especially tasting it before putting it into our own take home jars! We also love listening to the story Bread and Jam For Francis by Russell Hoban. 

All of the kindergartners were reminded before they left school today, but I wanted to let all the families know that the jam that is coming home today should be placed in the freezer overnight to let the ingredients set and thicken. The kindergartners are very excited to share this jam with you as a special Saturday morning treat. We hope you like it as much as we did!

Happy Spring!

Harlan Derby Video

A while ago, Harlan held a special fundraiser called the Harlan Derby!  One of the Harlan parents, Mr. Green, and his company Green Sky Creative, made a video using pictures of the staff as we rode in our own Harlan Derby Race!  It is a great video that features the staff of Harlan.  You'll never guess who wins!         

 

The video may not be viewable from a mobile device from this email.  You are able to view it on our blog on a computer. 

Upcoming Field Trips

On Monday, your child brought home a permission slip for our field trip to a local assisted living facility.  Currently, we are  using our new grow light, which the children named "Sunny" because it provides a constant flow of sunlight using special light bulbs, to grow flowers that will be donated to the residents of the facility.  This is part of the Harlan Sustainability Project.

If you have not signed the permission slip for your child to attend, please do so at your earliest convenience.  I know that we are asking for the signed slips by April 30, but I will be sending home a separate field trip slip next week for a different trip and I don't want to cause any confusion.

Speaking of our other spring trip, we will be visiting the Cranbrook Science Center in May as a culmination of our social studies unit on early people.  The permission slip will be coming home next Monday.  I will be asking for 3 chaperones to join us on this trip.  The sign up for this will be in your child's folder on Monday.

Thank you in advance!

Popcorn Day Tomorrow, Tuesday, April 15

Each bag can be purchased for $0.50. 

Library Books - Gentle Reminder

Please remember to return all library books to school tomorrow, Tuesday, April 15, as we will be visiting the media center.  If your child does not have their library book to return, they will not be able to check out another book until the previous one is returned.

Please let me know if you have any questions, or need to know the title of the book that your child currently has out.  Thank you!

Specials Schedule for the Week of 4/14 - 4/18

Monday (C) - PE

Tuesday (D) - PE and Media Center

Wednesday (A) - Art

Thursday (B) - Music

Friday - NO SCHOOL

Please remember to bring a change of gym shoes on days that we have PE and to return library books on days that we visit the media center.

Welcome Back!

I know we still have a few more days before we come back from Spring Break, but I wanted to take the time to welcome everyone back from their vacations!

 Over the break I went to Comerica Park and watched an amazing Tigers game, visited friends in Chicago for a few days and caught a great show at the Fisher Theater!

I have heard from a few of our friends about what they have been up to since we were last together. I thought it might be fun for families who have pictures of what you have been doing to share them with other families on our blog.

If you have any pictures of your vacations that you would like to share, please email them to me and I will put them up on the blog!  It's always great to stay in touch!

Spring Break

To all the families of Room 100,

Please have a wonderful and relaxing Spring Break!  I am so proud of the progress that each of your children have made so far this year!  I am excited for the rest of kindergarten and I can't wait to see everyone when we return to school on Monday, April 14!

Please know that you will have access to RazKids, Compass Learning, starfall.com, and fun4thebrain.com throughout the break if your child is looking to stay busy next week.

I am available by email over break if you need me or are looking for excellent, engaging activities to do while on vacation.

Again, have a well deserved and exciting break!

Scott

3D Shapes can sure be delicious!

In math these last few weeks we have been focusing on geometry! In kindergarten geometry is all about 2D and 3D shapes.

In addition to the regular 2D shapes such as circles, triangles, rectangles and squares, we have been discussing new shapes such as hexagons and rhombuses. We even learned that most people call rhombuses by their nickname, diamonds, by mistake.

We have also been working hard to identify and find real-world examples of 3D shapes such as cubes, cylinders, rectangular prisms, cones, spheres and pyramids!

We have been discussing the different parts of 3D shapes such as learning that corners are called vertices, flat sides are called faces and when faces meet, they create edges. 

Today we built 3-D shapes using marshmallows as vertices and toothpicks as edges!  We were able to create cubes, pyramids and prisims, but not spheres, cones or cylinders. This is because they have curved parts, and our toothpicks were straight!

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After math workshop, the children created kits with extra mini marshmallows and toothpicks to take home so they could continue building their 3D shapes!

We concluded our lesson this morning by enjoying a special marshmallow snack and reading The Marshmallow Incident by Judi Barrett. 

What a "sweet" morning!

Pride Posts - Spring Eggs

In your child's blue folder is this month's pride post -

Our Pride Post theme for the month of April will be eggs.  Please use the provided hatching egg card and complete the following sentence starter:

“(Child’s name) is an ‘eggspert’ on/at/in…”

For example:

“Sally is an ‘eggspert’ on Disney Princesses!  She can tell you everything about each one!” – Sally’s Sister

If possible, I would love to have the completed eggs returned tomorrow so that they are not lost over the break.  

Thank you!

Workshop Surveys

Parent Workshop

Gentle Reminder

Please remember to complete and return your survey regarding the recent Parent Workshop on Comprehension Skills tomorrow, Friday, April 4.  The anonymous results will be used as part of Mr. Kefgen’s master’s thesis project.  We hope to have as many competed surveys as possible.

Thank you in advance!

Parent Literacy Workshop Reminder

This is a gentle reminder to those families who have signed up to participate in our Parent Literacy Workshop focusing on comprehension skills.  The workshop will be held tomorrow, Wednesday, April 2.  A submarine sandwich and fruit tray dinner will be served from 5:30 - 6:00, with the workshop following from 6:00 - 7:00.  At the conclusion of the workshop, participants will be able to keep all workshop materials as well as new book for your home library. 

If you have any questions, please let me know.  As with the first workshop, I will be utilizing what we do tomorrow as part of my masters thesis, so I am very appreciative to all the families that were able to come to either of the workshops this year.

Thank you again!