March 19-23, 2012

Let no one think that real gardening is a bucolic and

meditative occupation.  It is an insatiable passion, 

like everything else to which a man gives his heart.  

~Karel Čapek, The Gardener's Year, translated by M. and R. Weatherall, 1931

With the start of Spring, we're taking this quote by Czech author Karel Capek to heart. We welcomed spring this week with many activities. We dug into the literacy garden with The Gigantic Turnip by Aleksei Tolstoy and Niamh Sharkey as we wondered and discovered what a turnip is! In Language Arts, the children sequenced the characters who tried to pull out that gigantic turnip, read the classroom, and played a round of Alphabet Parking Lot. In Buzz Groups, we discussed what our favorite movie is - Tangled was at the top of the list!

In Math this week we finished up learning about patterns with beautiful bracelets as well as sticker and shape patterns. Check them out on the walls outside the Kindergarten classroom!

We continued to celebrate Spring in Science by learning about the parts of a plant as well as what a plant needs to survive: soil, sun, and food. The children also got their hands a little dirty by planting their own grass. We will continue with this unit over the next few weeks.

We also said good-bye to all things winter and welcomed in Spring with a water color painting for our monthly art project.

Reminders: Monday is a minimum day

A bit of trivia: Did you know that the Czech author Karel Capek created the word "Robot" in his book RUR?

March 12 - 16, 2012

Happy St. Patrick's Day! This week, the kindergarteners were in the St. Patty's Day spirit. In Language Arts, the boys and girls completed a Wet Weather / Dry Weather Sort, and polished their vowel sound skills with an activity where they had to pick pictures and write the word under the appropriate vowel sound. They did a great job! We began patterns in Math, and the students had fun creating and comparing color, shape and growing patterns! The kindergarteners also concluded their unit on Nutrition. They enjoyed learning how to be healthy by eating proper foods that will help them grow big and strong!

On Thursday, the boys and girls did a wonderful job performing "I'm a Little Leprechaun" and "I'm a Little Shamrock" at the St. Patrick's Day Assembly in the gym. We came back into the classroom to find that we received a visit from none other than Seamus, the notorious STM Leprechaun! Our room was chaos! Chairs were turned over, shamrocks and candy were everywhere, the calendar was in disarray, and our behavior chart was upside down! He was a very tricky leprechaun! The kindergarteners had so much fun looking around to see what tricks he had played.

Thanks again to the Room Moms, Carol and Melissa, for helping out with the Saint Patrick's Day festivities! Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

March 5- March 9, 2012

The students have been learning a lot this past week! In Language Arts, the kindergarteners participated in three centers, Reading Rhymes, Missing Letter Sounds, and Phonics. They are really getting the hang of sounding out words and rhyming! They also took their very first spelling test on Friday, which went very well. In Math, the students have been practicing their subtraction, and took their Topic 7 Test. They also had fun playing different Math Games with each other! Science took us into the world of healthy habits and nutrition. The students were really interested in learning about the different food groups.

A production of Oliver Twist came to STM on Monday. The kindergarteners were very well behaved and really enjoyed the show! On Friday, the school had a Fitness Assembly in the gym. The speaker brought various types of games and fun fitness toys to promote healthy living. He even had some great tips for leading a positive lifestyle, like being kind to everyone.  The students loved it because it was interactive and high energy!

Reminders for next week: No school on Friday, March 16.

Thank you!

February 27 - March 2, 2012

What an exciting week we had! Not only did we learn subtraction, we started Tech, celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday, and learned about leprechauns! In LA we did a fruit/not fruit sort, visited the -ap word family and played -ap, -an, and -at word family Go Fish!

Hope everyone is out enjoying the gorgeous weather this weekend!