Our letter of the day was Q. We made get well cards for Quinn, who had his tonsils taken out. Students read their "Happy Easter" books to 3 classmates. For math, I gave each student 2 small square pieces of paper and asked the kids to cut one into a rectangle and the other into a triangle, glue them into their math journal, and label each shape. Some students had a difficult time making the shapes, which really surprised me. We'll have to work on more transformations.

After students left today, the class pictures arrived so I will send those home on Monday. Have a great weekend and thanks for taking the time to attend your child's conference!

Our letter of the day was P. Students read the poem "Popcorn" and found all the Ps in the poem. We continued our review of 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional shapes. Grades K-3 watched the 5th and 6th grade choir in the dress rehearsal of their musical performance. Yo-yos will be on sale in the conference room again tomorrow beginning at 8:05am. Don't forget -- tomorrow is another half day.

Wednesday was Mrs. Swanson's last official day with us. She promises to come back for a visit or two. We were able to help her celebrate her birthday before she left. Her final lesson was based on "How Raven Stole the Sun," the play we will see on April 10th. Mrs. Swanson read the book and held a great class discussion about it. She also gave each student a box onto which they drew scenes from the story. I thought the box made a great re-telling piece.

We tried something new today. Students took turns reading parts of a reader's theater play. They did a great job! I think we'll learn and practice a few plays that we can perform for families on the last day of school. Ask your child about the NED assembly that happened today. You'll get an information sheet about it in the backpack tomorrow. NED stands for Never give up, Encourage others, and Do your best. I've put a link to the NED web site under the Links section on the right side of the blog if you want to check it out. The program pays for itself through yo-yo sales, so you'll probably be asked (by your child) to buy a yo-yo.

We had a fabulous day and the students' behavior was awesome! We discussed cause and effect and then found some examples in the book Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. The class turned some incomplete sentences into complete sentences. If your child answers a question you've asked of them with a one word answer, please ask them to use a complete sentence instead.

Mrs. Concepcion is starting a school-wide behavior program. This week's focus is respect and manners. Students will be reminded to use words like please, thank you, excuse me, and to smile when greeting others.

Spring has definitely arrived and so has Spring fever. The kids were so wound up and LOUD this afternoon! In math learned about a different measuring tool--the thermometer. In art students painted bunnies. I'm keeping it short tonight because I still have to work on report cards. Please make sure your child reads their mini book called "Spring" to you sometime this weekend and that they continue to review books from previous weeks. Have a nice weekend.

Our letter of the day was M. We recited Little Miss Muffet and then students did a sequencing activity with pictures of Little Miss Muffet. Most of them turned their sequencing sheet into a "crown" and wore them on their heads. It was pretty cute. Mrs. Swanson left a package of erasers that fit onto the end of a pencils and I handed them out today. The students were so excited. With help from their buddies, students made mini kites that are decorating the classroom window. We sure enjoyed the warm weather.

This is such a fun time of year. I'm testing students for report cards and I'm seeing such huge gains. I am so proud of my students' progress! We did more estimating today. You'll see a worksheet in which students predicted how many pieces of pasta it would take to balance a scale. They're becoming better estimators every day.

We did an estimation activity today in which the student with the closest guess won the prize, which was a container of gum. There were 61 pieces and Luciana guessed the EXACT number! Way to go, Luciana! This week I've been writing messages on the easel with mistakes and students take turns to correct one mistake at a time. I've done things like start a sentence with a lowercase letter, put a period in the middle of a sentence, use uppercase letters randomly in words, etc. On Monday, many students had a difficult time identifying the mistakes, but they did better today.

In science, we did a short introduction to "parts of a plant." Mrs. Swanson already taught a lesson on what plants need, and when I showed the class words to a song about what plants need, they quickly noticed a missing "need" -- space! Plants need space in order to grow. They're so smart.

Happy Birthday, Alexander and Abbie!

Not only was it Alexander's birthday, but he was also the helper of the day! Abbie's birthday is tomorrow. Students learned about "capacity" in math. They wrote about their experience with kite-flying yesterday. There were some funny stories about getting tangled in string and tripping over other students! In art, we made leprechauns which are adorning the hall.

We did lots of hands-on learning today. Students used large paper clips to make a chain the same length as a partner, counted how many paper clips tall their partner was, and then switched roles. They kept saying, "I weigh 26 paper clips!" I had to correct them, reminding them that we were measuring height and not weight. We read a St. Patrick's story about the luck of the Irish and then students wrote about a day on which they were lucky. Afterward, we went outside and flew kites with our 5th grade buddies. Unfortunately, I bought the kites at the Dollar Store and they broke easily, but I think the students still had fun.

By figuring out how many of my steps versus how many of a student's steps it took to get from the rug to the door, we learned why a standard form of measurement was invented. We read a great book about measurement called Measuring Penny (Penny was a dog).

We learned more about the Statue of Liberty before students painted Lady Liberty. Did you know that she has 7 spikes in her crown to represent the 7 seas? Do you know what it says on the tablet in her left hand? (July 4, 1776) Ask your child what she is made of (copper) and why she's green (oxidation).

The word helper that we learned today was Flippy Dolphin. Flippy says that if you try one vowel sound, like the short a sound, and the word doesn't make sense, try the other vowel sound, like the long a sound. Our class rarely makes that mistake because they know the silent e rule: If there's a silent e at the end of the word, the vowel makes the long sound, like in "make." They also know that "when 2 vowels go a-walking, the first one does the talking, like in "hear."

Our big buddies went outside with us to teach the rules for playground games such as 4-square, tether ball, basketball, how to use the glider, and how to play double Dutch jump rope. Kindergartners tend to make up their own rules for these games (each individual plays by their own set of rules), so I hope this was helpful.

In sign language, students are learning to sign to the song What a Wonderful World. In math, we talked about how objects whose lengths you're comparing need to have a common starting place. We read some more versions of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. In reading, students learned about the word helper "Skippy the Kangaroo" who says that you should skip over an unfamiliar word, read the rest of the sentence, and then go back and re-read the sentence to see if you can determine the meaning.

Happy Birthday, Rex!

Today was Rex's birthday. He brought ice cream sandwiches that we ate after lunch. We conducted a fun science experiment today. Since we are learning about the Statue of Liberty this week and she's made of copper that has turned green, we cleaned green (oxidized) pennies with a mixture of lemon juice, vinegar, and salt. Students who were paying attention should have come away knowing that the acid in the mixture cleaned the pennies. We are learning about measurement in math and right now we are comparing heights, lengths, and weights. I read a non-traditional version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We also compared the heights of students in our class: tall, medium and small.

Please be sure to check your child's Monday envelope. One of the papers sent home was a green form for requesting your conference date and time. Please return it by next Tuesday. I finally taught the dental health lesson that I had planned for February, which is actually dental health month! Each student brought home a toothbrush and a small sample of toothpaste.

I was blown away this morning by your little smarties. I printed a sentence that was intended to be too difficult for them to read so that I could teach some strategies. The sentence was, "The magician waved his magic wand and made a rabbit appear." They read it without help and without having to pause and think!!!! Oh my goodness! I did tell them about Lips the Fish and Eagle Eyes, just so they'd know.

Students learned about probability in math. We used a spinner with 10 numbers on it and guessed which number we might spin most often. After 10 spins we identified 2 numbers that came up repeatedly, so we tried 10 more spins and sure enough, those were the same 2 numbers we landed on most often. We read a book called Don't Talk To Strangers and discussed stranger danger. I asked students to describe strangers in their journals. We talked about American symbols, including the flag, the eagle, and the Liberty Bell. Students made Liberty Bell pictures during art. Students had many questions about the Liberty Bell that I asked them to research at home.

Rusty the Counselor

The students are so jealous that I got to meet Rusty the Counselor. We watch him on the internet every day! He was at Rose Park this afternoon for staff professional development.

Our letter of the day was D. We read Danny and the Dinosaur. Students talked about the differences between numbers written on a number line versus numbers on a calendar. They noticed that the calendar does not have the number zero on it. They also noticed the orientation of numbers. Students filled out a March calendar. We had our popcorn party after centers. Students watched a video with two stories by our author of the week, Kevin Henkes. For writing, students brainstormed things that they can do. When our big buddies came to our room, the buddies helped the kindergartners make a poster about themselves, listing at least three things that they can do. We had a lockdown drill when the students were in music. They learned that sometimes the safest place to be is in the building.