Special Happenings this week:
*Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss ! We spent the week preparing for his birthday on March 2 by reading many of his books and doing related rhyming activities. Wacky Wednesday, Green Eggs and Ham and The Cat in the Hat were a few of the popular books we read.
*We celebrated our Rockstar Jar celebration by having a WACKY WEDNESDAY! We came to school dressed WACKY!!! Wacky clothes, wacky socks, wacky hair….it was crazy fun! 
Thanks for helping us celebrate!
*Happy 6 1/2 Birthday Chloe!! We celebrated Chloe on Monday!
Writing Workshop: We finished up our writing unit on procedural writing by working individually to write more “How to…” stories. We started the week with together making a pb & j sandwich. Then I introduced students to a flow map as a way to organize and plan their writing before writing across a booklet. I modeled my how to make a pb &j story stressing the use of precise words to explain what I was doing. The students were also introduced to transition words, action arrows, tools in the classroom that can help us spell words, and finally remembering to check for spaces! I will send those stories home with students next week, enjoy reading them together and celebrating! We will begin informational writing Monday!
Math: We started off the week joining Mrs. Iwema’s class for a group math lesson on comparing and contrasting 2 dimensional (square, rectangle, circle, triangle) and 3 dimensional (cylinder, cube, cone, and sphere) shapes. It was fun to learn in a big group together! We continued coming up with partners of 10, 6, 7, and 8 this week through exploration with our square (bug) manipulatives and workbook activities. We were introduced to math mountains and tiny tumblers this week as a way to display partners for a number.
Reading Workshop: The Little Red Hen was the focus story this week as the kinders were introduced to the SHAPE GO map. This map is a tool to help with comprehension skills. The kinders learned about the characters, the setting, problem, recalling sequencing of events and lesson of the story. The Red Hen taught us that it pays off to help and work together! During our Read to Self time, the kinders had the opportunity to practice using this map.I will share this map with you at conferences so you can practice retelling at home when you read together!
Popcorn Words for this week were:
“had”, “bad”, “map”, “get”
Important Information and Reminders:
*Friday, March 8th is School wide PJ Day!!! Dress comfy and cozy on Friday!!!
*Library is on Tuesday. Thanks for returning your child’s book.
*Take Home Books: Remember your book each Monday, Wednesday and Thursday morning for an opportunity to read and exchange your book with your reading volunteers.
*Parent Teacher Conferences: Pink slips with your child’s scheduled conference time were sent home with your child. Please contact me with any scheduling questions. You will receive your child’s report card on Monday in their Jungle Book folder. I look forward to seeing you all next week to celebrate the growth of your child! See the march conference schedule to check your time!
*Winter gear: It is needed daily, as the playground is very cold and snowy. Thank you for preparing your child each day.
*The March Calendar has been posted under CALENDARS. Please take time to read the calendar to see next month’s popcorn words and special events.
*Your generous donations this November during our MINDFUL GIVING service project raised enough money to purchase 48 lights for the staff at Nyaka School in Uganda Africa. The staff wanted us to see photos of the reception in which they received their lights. Thank you to everyone for the donations which brought light to this community of learners.
*Future Important Dates:
- March 4,5,6 – Parent Teacher Conferences
- Fri., March 8 — All school PJ day
- March 11-15 — Spring Book Fair (we shop on 3/14 from 1:30-1:30 pm)
- Fri., Mar. 29 through Fri., April 5 – Spring Break – No School