Our First and Second Grade Class: March 2022

Friday, March 4, 2022

First Short Week Back

Welcome Back, Everyone!

It has been quite the week back in Kindergarten! We have seen the highs of coming back to see friends to some pretty tired kiddos by the end of the day today. Phew! They did a super job with the transition and we are looking forward to some normal weeks to come.

In literacy, we worked on rotating the kids through their literacy stations. I’ve been working with small groups on the sight words and reading, Ms. Honi has been working on writing skills, the kids have spent some time (~15 minutes/day) practicing skills on iRead and doing independent practice on phonics skills.

We continued our work in math with dot cluster flashcards, practiced counting by ones up and down within 25 and by tens to 100, finishing some make-10 sheets from their iReady workbooks and working on practicing math games.

We read a book about the dog Balto, one of the heroes of the diphtheria outbreak in 1925 in Alaska as we will begin our roughly 2 week study on the Iditarod sled dog race. The kids wrote about Balto today and we will do more following the race next week. We’ll even try to get the kids to try to pretend they are dogs and have them do some pulling of sleds outside. They’ll quickly see how hard it is to get a team of 10 or so people to pull at the same time in the same direction!

Thanks to all of you for having your kiddos all geared up and ready to go this week. They were bundled and comfy for these cold March days! It looks like the weather is going to be variable starting next week, so please keep your eye on the weather to make sure your kiddo has what they need to stay dry (change of clothes, rain gear, etc.)

Please let us know if you need anything or have any questions.

Enjoy the weekend,

Ben and Honi

Important Updates:

Please make sure your child has a water bottle and sneakers as well as their winter gear.

Drop-off is at the front door.

Pickup will be at the traffic circle. We will no longer be dismissing your child from the back kindergarten door. You can still park and come and get them or you can do the drive-through, it is up to you!

Conversation starters:

*What did you do with your buddy this week?

*What is your favorite part of literacy stations?

*Who did you play a game with during math? What game was it?

*Tell me what parts of the morning message you remember? What part is the same every day?

*Who made you feel happy at school this week?

*Who is Balto?

Other Reminders

Class Blog

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Pictures

The folder with class pictures can be found here.

Book Order Information

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Class Code: XLZX8

Spring?

Happy Early Spring, Everyone!

It has been a wonderful week in kindergarten. It was wonderful getting down to the sugarbush today and tapping trees with Brian and the kiddos. The sap was starting to run! Some sneaky little rascals may have even snuck a taste…

In literacy, we finalized a new literacy schedule where kids will rotate between stations that involve book groups, writing, iRead and phonics practice. I hope you have seen the incredible growth these kids have had with their letter sounds, ability to solve 3 sound words and with their writing skills, both in handwriting and the inclusion of more and more sounds.

In math, the kids are working on their knowledge of the number 10 and we had a great time on our 100th day of school. The kids made collections of 100 objects, did lots of counting. Ask your child about Zero the Hero. It was quite something!We are also thinking about numbers on our weather chart, looking at temperature and the number of days of different kinds of weather. It’s a great way to introduce data and how to read it.

We have been watching some Olympic clips and the kids have been doing a lot of great discussing about other countries, different sports and different athletes. It has been a great tool to have them see the world in a different way.

We’ll have a week of love next week, I am looking forward to kids bringing home lots of great scrapbook worthy projects! There certainly is a lot of love to go around this room!

Next week we’ll be sending home everything in their cubbies as well, including changes of clothes. We’ll need new clothes to come in after break.