Kinder"GARDEN" is Blossoming

Owl-Ways Learning. . .

Planting & Gardens

To kick off our unit on plant and seed development, we learned about the difference between living and nonliving, how to plant seeds, and which vegetables grow on the top or bottom of a garden. We planted squash seeds early in the week too. Students will leave their plants in the classroom until they begin to sprout. This will take 1-2 weeks. Throughout the week we will be observing and writing in our plant journals to keep track of our plant's life cycle. Once they are "mature" we will send them home for you to add to your own garden. 

Check out our Fun Friday Art Project, inspired by Lois Elhert's Painting a Rainbow

We collaborated with Ms. Keefe's Room to paint our own rainbow garden murals

Butterflies
Caterpillars or Larva have arrived in room 5. Students have time to observe the caterpillars and look forward to them becoming butterflies. We'll keep you updated on their progress. 

Brave Volunteers

Mystery Reader




Thanks Mr. DiTucci!!

Tens and Ones
We are wrapping up our unit on counting and looking at numbers to 100. We've discussed patterns, how to find a missing number on a hundreds chart, and place value.  Identifying place value of a number can be challenging. We've tried color-coding numbers and decomposing numbers using cubes.  

What does this mean? For example the number 23
The 2 is in the tens place, there are two groups of ten. 
The 3 is in the one's place, there are 3 ones. 

Teacher Talk. . .

Teacher Appreciation Week
I just wanted to take the time to thank you and your families for participating in Teacher Appreciation Week. Whether you volunteered, dropped off goodies, donated money, sent in gifts we truly appreciate your efforts and time.  Fox Hill's PTO and Parents have provided teachers with a great week of appreciation. Thank you for making us feel special this week!!!

SAVE THE DATE!!

June 14th. . .End of the year Celebration

We are starting to plan and practice for our Kindergarten celebration. We will provide more details as it get closer, but hope that you can save the date for June 14th. 

Upcoming Events. . .

May 12th. . .Kind Assembly

May 17th. . .Field Trip to Seussical

We're a Bucket Filling Classroom

Owl-Ways Learning. . . 

CK Sister

Last week we were introduced to the H-Brothers. This week we met our CK sister...Mack, short for Mackenzie. We are reinforcing when to us c,k, or ck in a word. We use CK at the end of the word, following a short vowel. Students are learning to mark up a digraph in a word by underlining. They also learned a short vowel is marked up using a breve and a macron is used when a vowel is long or says it's own name. Ask your child to show you the symbols or how to mark up a word with a digraph. 

Digraph Flowers!

Guided Reading
We are SO fortunate to have a number of support staff during our guided reading/center time to read and help students during our ELA block. What this means is that your child is participating in a small reading group practicing their reading skills almost daily with teacher support. With an increase of opportunities for reading in small groups, this means there is a decrease in recording sheets being sent home. This does not mean your child is not completing their work nor does it mean they are not given the opportunity to work in their centers. As we near to the end of the year there will be more opportunities for independent work and students will be assessed in their reading skills. If you have any questions please let me know. 


Brave Volunteers

Teacher Talk. . .

Communication
We communicate to achieve our wants and needs or share our feelings. We can communicate in many ways.  In Room 5 we are using three ways: Speaking, Writing, or Sign Language. We are very lucky to have Sign Language as a form of communication! Communication is very important in understanding one another and making sure each of the students is getting their needs met. We can always take guesses when a student does NOT use these methods of communication, but it is very difficult. 

Students reviewed, modeled, and practiced ways of communication. We learned how to ask for help, how to ask a friend to play, how to ask for snack and bathroom. 


Bucket Fillers
 
Room 5 is learning how to be a bucket filler. In the books above, the class learned that we have an imaginary bucket above our heads. When we wake up everyday our bucket is filled and it's our job to help others fill their buckets or keep our own buckets filled. A bucket dipper is when someone is unkind. We are using the language "Bucket dipper" and "Bucket filler" to reinforce good/poor choices throughout their day. 


How do you fill a bucket?
Students can fill another person's bucket in many ways. Below is what a bucket filler looks like, sounds like, and feels like. . . 

Here are our own Buckets!

Each week we will be filling a friends bucket with a bucket note. These small slips of paper can make someone's day! EVERY student has a bucket note in their bucket. We have just started so, its not about how many bucket notes you have, but what they say. Next week we will spend some time reading our bucket notes and celebrating our extra drops into our buckets! 

Help fill your child's bucket every day!

Hopes & Dreams

Did you notice your child's first hope and dream from the beginning of the year went home? This is because they have ALREADY achieved their goals, even before the end of the school year! CONGRATULATIONS! As we near the end of the school year, it's time to make new goals! 

Check them out:

Happy Birthday Ryan!! 

Summer Birthdays

If your child has a birthday in the summer (last week of June, the month of July, or August) we will be scheduling birthday celebrations for your child at the end of the year. We want each student to have the opportunity share their birthday celebration and share a birthday poster (if they want). We will send out a notice and a list of dates for you to select with your child. Look out for this at the end of May. 

Mystery Reader

Thank you Mr. Wile for a fabulously funny story...We are still talking about it!

Upcoming Events. . . 

May 17th. . .Seussical Field Trip