Still waiting for Spring to arrive!  We had another fabulous week in room 135!  Already looking forward to next week with our field trip AND Field Day!  Please read below for important information on both events.

Field trip to the Children’s Museum is on Wednesday.  We will be leaving school at 9:15 and coming back around 1pm.  Please pack a disposable bag lunch (nut free) for your child. We will have a hands on economic lesson and enjoy some exploration time.

Field Day on Friday!  This is always a fun day at KES! Mr. Runk has planned a fun filled day for all the students.  We will be outside playing games the majority of the day. Depending on the weather, you may want to send sunscreen and a water bottle with your child.  We will be eating our lunch in the classroom.  The lunch choices for Friday will be different.  The choices are: turkey and cheese sandwich, mini burger, or healthy day meal.  There will not be any “extras” available.

Highlights from the week:

~In language arts, we continued our focus on blends. We wrote a spring story, matched blends with pictures, unscrambled sentences, and made a squiggle story! Next week we will learn about ABC order and compound words.

~In math, we started our unit on subtraction. To introduce this concept, we played musical chairs and the class had the write the subtraction problem on their white board. We also played a game where we lost teeth called subtraction extraction.   Today we came up with some subtraction stories on our own and then drew out the problem. Next week we will continue with subtraction.

~In social studies we focused on maps and globes.  We discussed the differences between the two, how to read a map, and bird’s eye view. Please remember to send in a stamped self-addressed envelope.  Please write on the envelope the address of the person your child is writing to.  Thanks!

Have a great weekend!

~Meredith

We are officially in the 4^th quarter of Kindergarten and soon we will have a room full of 1^st graders! We have come a long way since those first days in September. It will be hard for me to let this class move on!  They have been such a great group of kids to teach.

On Monday we will have Career Day!  This is always a favorite at KES!  We will get a chance to learn about some new careers and touch different types of vehicle outside!  It will also be a half day.  Students will be dismissed at 11:05.

Field day t-shirts were sent home today for those who ordered one.  If you did not order a t-shirt, then please have your child wear any ORANGE t-shirt on for Field Day on April 27^th.

Just a reminder that field trip forms and money for the Children’s Museum is due by 4/18.

Highlights from the week:

~In language arts, we focused on different blends.  We wrote creative stories with “cr” blends, completed a blend sort, and completed puzzles with beginning blends.  We also learned what a dictionary was and how they can be helpful to us. We even looked up some words in our picture dictionaries. Next week, we will continue to focus on blends.

~In math, we continued our unit on addition.  We made a craft about birds and eggs in a tree, and had to come up with an addition sentence to describe their picture. We also played a game called addition scoot, and played addition games. Next week we will focus on subtraction.

~In science, we focused on going GREEN!  We watched a Brain Pop Jr, read may books, and discussed ways we can help the Earth! Yesterday we had an assembly put on by our friends at Keep Henrico Beautiful. They brought a special guest, Jonathan the Juggler, to show us ways to keep our neighborhoods clean! Next week in social studies we will learn about maps and globes.

Our caterpillars were delivered today to go with our upcoming life cycle unit! The class is curious to see what changes will take place over the weekend!

: Courier for April 16- April 20:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r-gRX529UQKOpxCg2pkJ-XU7xBjvD_4bwu6Ifl3mQJE/edit

 Have a great weekend!

~Meredith

It was great to see so many of you at the Arts Festival last night.  All the Kindergarteners did a fantastic job reciting their poems! I hope you all have a wonderful Spring Break! I can’t believe it will we April when we return.  Time flies when you are having fun!

Check out the presentations of our animal research projects in the photos tab.  The class had a lot fun with this project and learned new things about lots of animals!  Their written reports and habitats were sent home today.

We are scheduled to go to the Children’s Museum (downtown) on April 25^th. Field trip forms will be coming home April 9^th.

Highlights from the week:

~In language arts, we learned about the “th” digraph.  We generated a list of words that begin and end with “th” and then wrote some of them down. We read some fun books about the tooth fairy and wrote her a letter.  We also read a fun book titled, “What if I Had Animal Teeth.”  The students then got to pick what kind of animal teeth they would like. We created our new self-portraits and wrote about why we picked those teeth. In our literacy centers we wrote thank you notes to people, play a digraph game, and made our own knock,knock books. I even played a little April fool’s joke on them and told them I had made them brownies.  They were quite excited until I passed out brown “E’s”. 🙂

~In math, we started our unit on addition.  This week we focused on learning how to write a number sentence and what a plus and equal sign look like.  We also learned different strategies to add including using objects, a number line, and putting the bigger number in our head…then counting on.

~In science, we focused on items that sink and float.  We watched a Brain Pop Jr and did some fun hands on experiments to test objects in our room! Next week in science we will be learning about the 3 R’s (reduce, reuse, recycle).

There is no Coyote Courier this week.

Enjoy you Spring Break!

~Meredith

Courier Link for week of 3/19/18- 3/23/18:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ykmbiUHsGr67ONM1anb4upqcjp5s4hJ1cNE6osNxYvY/edit?usp=sharing

Happy Spring?!  We have had many giggles talking about the beginning of Spring as we see snow on the ground! We have finished the written report for our animal research projects!  The snow has slightly delayed the rest of the project.  Next week, we will create our habitats and give our oral presentation.

I hope to see you at the Festival of the Arts on Thursday!  All our Kindergarten friends are schedules to perform at 5:55pm in the library. Please try and get there 10 minutes before your scheduled time.

Highlights from the week:

~In language arts, we learned about the “sh” digraph.  We generated a list of words that begin and end with “sh” and then wrote some of them down.  We also read a book titled Shark Problem.  We discussed what the problem was in the story and the came up with our own ideas on how to solve it. In our literacy centers we did a digraph word sort, performed a readers’ theater, practiced our sentence writing, and wrote a sticker story with stickers we chose.  Next week, we will focus on the “th” and “wh” digraph.

~In math, we finished our unit on money!  We had a lot of fun learning how to count pennies and nickels.  We also threw in dimes and quarters because we are just so smart.  Today we opened up the class store.  The hot ticket was the shoes off pass.  Students did a super job giving me the correct amount and helping me make change.  We will continue to keep the store open even though we are finished with money. 🙂  Next week we will start addition!

~In science, we learned all about the three states of matter. Our poem of the week was a great way to remember the difference between a solid, liquid, and gas.  We also watched a Brain Pop Jr, made a book, sorted pictures, and had an amazing Young Scientist lesson! Next week in science we will be learning about objects that sink and float!

I will post the Coyote Courier as soon as it is available to me.

Have a great weekend!

~Meredith

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  We had a very mischievous leprechaun come into our classroom while we slept!  We had green footprints, chairs on tables, notes, and other shenanigans around the room!  Our traps weren’t able to catch him this year, but he was nice enough to leave us some of his treasure.  The students worked really hard on building their traps and they were quite creative. Please check out the pictures on the blog to see how they turned out!

Be on the lookout for information about the Spoken Word Café in students’ orange folders.  The will be one of the aactivities during the Fesitival of Arts on March 29^th from 5:30-7:30pm.  The kindergarten classes will be reciting poems we have learned this year.  More information can be found with the homework packet that was sent home today.

Highlights from the week:

~In language arts, we learned about the “ch” digraph. We discussed that even though it has two letters, it only makes one sound. We made a very long word list of words that start and end with the “ch” sound.  We also learned some facts about cheetahs and then colored and wrote about our own cheetah.  In literacy centers, we also work on writing words with the “ch” sound as well as writing with some fun St. Patrick’s Day prompts.

~In math, we are all about money!  This week our focus was on counting pennies and nickels.  Some friends even started counting dimes and quarters! This is a great life skill to practice at home or even as you are shopping. We got into a discussion on how to read price tags and I encouraged them to look for some the next time they are in a store.  Today, we talked about the class store and how to earn money to buy some fun rewards!  The store will be open next week!

~In science, we started our animal research projects!  We have picked our animals, printed and highlighted important information, drew the front cover, and wrote the table of contents for our report.  Thanks to everyone who has sent in their shoebox. Please send one in early next week if you haven’t yet. 🙂  We will complete our project next week and begin the three states of matter.

:Courier Link for week of 3/19/18- 3/23/18: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xLJxBXrIcj28GCZZwHLRwNIJ7H17zFwP1Cf0ZpYWW7k/edit?usp=sharing

Have a great weekend!

~Meredith

TGIF!  We had a great week in room 135!  We ended our day today reading a book titled In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb.  March really has come in like a lion!  Hoping for spring weather real soon!

Highlights from the week:

~In language arts, we were introduced to the “bossy e.”  When we see the “bossy e” at the end of a word he makes the other vowel say its name.  We learned some fun songs and practiced this skill in our literacy centers. Some friends even found some bossy e’s in their books!  We also wrote about a Spring activity we like to do and painted a picture to go with it. Next week we start learning about different digraphs.  We will begin with CH.

~In math, we learned about different types of measurement.  We read a story called Zach’s Alligator that was about a boy with a pet alligator that grew when it was in water. I just happen to have one of those too. J You may have heard about Cameron, our pet alligator. The class voted on the name and we have been measuring her with cubes for the past week.  She has grown more than 15 cubes since Monday!  The class comes in every morning to check on her and tells me I need to get a bigger bucket. We finished out the week learning about measuring temperature and using balance scales to explore weight.  Next week we start money!

~In science, we learned about spring and how it is different from the other seasons.  This Monday we will begin our two week in class animal research project. Students will have a written report, visual piece, and oral presentation as part of their project.  The students will pick their animal next week from an online research app and go to the library to check out a book about their animal.  This is one of my favorite things to do in Kindergarten.  They really becoming interested in learning more about their animal and feel like the “big kids” with all of their research.  I only need one thing from you at home.  Our visual component will be a shoebox diorama showing the animal habitat.  Please send in a shoebox for your child so they can create their habitat.  Also, if you have any arts and crafts supplies that they can use to construct their habitat, please send those as well.  I have paint, construction paper, and markers here.  Some items we have used in the past are popsicle sticks, feathers, and cotton balls.  Your child can also bring in other items they want to use in their habitat.  Please send your shoebox in by next Friday.

Have a great weekend!

~Meredith

:Courier Link for week of 3/12/18- 3/16/18: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qzGQr4K5Y5e78cRpnk8RkEBc_kJ-Bg2eUPDpBDqbqpE/edit

March really has come in like a lion! It’s hard to believe we are so close to spring!  This year is flying by!  We had a lot going on this week.  We were able to complete the QU wedding and have a fun dance party!  Please check out the “wedding album” under the photos tab. Today, we had a visit from the Math and Science Center.  They did a very cool lesson called Building Bridges.  First they listened to Three Billy Goats Gruff, then they had to create their own bridges to see if the goats could make it across without breaking.  They did a great job trying different ways to make the bridge. I think we have some budding engineers in here!  For more information and schedule of classes please check out www.myMSiC.org

Dr. Suess week was a huge success!  The class enjoyed dressing up during the spirit days and listening to many Dr. Suess stories!  It was a bit of a wacky week for them with me out out for a couple days, but they had phenomenal subs that stepped right in for me.  I am glad to be back today and look forward to getting back to a normal routine!

Next week, we will be learning about the “bossy e” and long vowel sounds. In math, we will finish up our measuring unit and in science we will start learning about spring!!

:Courier Link for week of 3/5/18- 3/9/18: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15zq_fTfBVHO-WpneBYxlThxJJ0OhlreuMhO8_ChlZUg/edit?usp=sharing  

Have a great weekend!

~Meredith

What a fun week in room 135! Valentine’s Day was filled with much excitement and the class couldn’t wait to exchange their cards.  We also embraced random acts of kindness month by making cards for our book buddies and a banner for Mrs. Patterson’s birthday!

Remember that Thursday is the 100^th day of school! We will be doing many fun activities at school and look forward to seeing the t-shirts you have made!

Another very important day will be happening next week.  We will be learning about the letter Qq and on Friday we will have a special (and short) wedding to recognize the forever relationship of Q and U. More details to come later next week.

Highlights from the week:

~In language arts, our focus was on the letter Vv and fun Valentine activities.  We made cute love bugs and wrote about who we love, made heart puzzles with a secret message, unscrambled a Valentine sentence, learned a new sight word game, and many more.  Next week we will learn about the letter Qq and syllables.

~In math, we continue to have “math talks” while using our rekenreks.  The class can now make up their own math stories for us to figured out. We also practiced our tens and ones with our tens rods and ones cubes, and on Valentine’s Day we had a special BINGO with numbers up to 100! Today we had another brain stretcher and had 5 friends get the correct answer and many others come really close! Next week it will be all about the number 100!!

In social studies we learned about why we celebrate Valentine’s Day. We also focused on the months of the year and how they are different from the seasons.  We then wrote about why certain months and seasons were our favorite!  I am so proud of the writing progress of each child in my room.  To remember where we started in September and do see where they are now is so exciting. 🙂  Next week we will focus on learning about George Washington.

:Courier Link for week of 2/19/18- 2/23/18: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wThgZHDGhrzhiIDNVrG9ujCtI_vbSk3a5lgd6drltxc/edit?usp=sharing

Have a great weekend!

~Meredith