Week in Review ~ April 24th - 28th

We had a great week back from April vacation. It seems like the K2ers had a nice week off and I did as well.  Now, we are into the home stretch. Hard to believe there are only 39 school days left!

In ELA this week, our essential question was "What do you know about our country?" and our vocabulary words were country, travel, careful, purpose and connect.  We listened to some great stories that taught us all about some famous landmarks. We listened to Ana Goes to Washington, D.C. where the characters visited the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, The White House, the Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial, The U.S. Capitol, and the Library of Congress. In the story Best of the West we learned all about Yosemite National Park and Old Faithful, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Space Needle and the Grand Canyon. And in the story See Our Country we learned about the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore and The Everglades in Florida. We focused in on the letters Yy and Zz and introduced the sight words this and what. In learning centers we sorted our sight words, practiced writing Yy and Zz, sorted pictures by the initial sound /y/ or /z/, and wrote about places we like to visit.  We also talked about which famous landmarks we would like to visit one day.

In Math we completed Topic 9 where we counted, read and wrote numbers to 20. Today we started Topic 10 where we will be Composing and Decomposing Numbers 11-19. Ask your K2er to tell you what it means to decompose a number! 

This week we also talked about  Earth Day which was on April 22nd. We brainstormed different things we can do to protect the Earth. Some of our ideas were:

• pick up trash
• use both sides of a piece of paper
• plant trees and flowers
• recycle bottles, cans, paper, plastic and newspapers
• use less energy by shutting off the lights and TV
• try not to waste water by taking shorter showers and not running the water while we brush our teeth

K2 in the News

In Sunday's issue of the Sentinel & Enterprise there was an article about the K2ers making the baskets for the UMass Pediatric floor. Here is the link in case you didn't see it.

I'm so proud of them!

Cancer patients get baskets put together by kindergartners

Week in Review ~ April 10th - 14th

Can you believe we are already at the start of April vacation? We had another great week in K2 and some wonderful weather as well. 

In ELA we started in on Unit 8 where we talked about how we get from one place to another.  Our vocabulary words were transportation, vehicle, journey, fierce and wide.  We listened to the stories When Daddy Picks Me Up, The King of the Winds, and From Here to There. We focused in on the letters Jj and Qq and introduced the sight words here and me.  In learning centers we sorted words by if they were real or nonsense, wrote about a vehicle that can get you places, practiced writing Jj and Qq, and worked on a fun sight word center where we had to take letter tiles out of plastic carrot eggs and move them around to spell one of the sight words introduced. 

In Math we continued on with Topic 9 and counted, read and wrote numbers 13 - 20. We completed a Teen Number Booklet and played some different games to reinforce counting to 20 such as choosing a number and counting on from it.  We will be finishing up Topic 9 when we return from vacation. 

This week we also enjoyed filling plastic eggs with the candy donations and making the Easter Baskets for the children on the pediatric floor at UMass in Worcester.  The teamwork between the K2ers definitely made the job go quickly. The end result was 25 beautiful Easter Baskets that Thiago, his brother Nico and his mom delivered to the hospital during the week. 

Thank you again for all the candy donations...it was greatly appreciated!

As a reminder, our field trip is Friday, May 5th to the EcoTarium.  I will let parents know the Monday we return from vacation about chaperones.  Some of the CORI forms were still pending as of Friday at dismissal. 

I hope everyone enjoys the weekend and April Vacation week. When we get back it will be a QUICK 9 weeks until summer vacation  and it will be filled with lots of fun activities!

Week in Review ~ April 3rd - 7th

This week was a fun week in K2 working on Animal Habitats in ELA and science.

In ELA we listened to the stories Bear Snores On, Anansi: African Tale, and Animal Homes. Our vocabulary words were habitat, wild, complain, join, and stubborn.  We focused in on the letter Vv and Xx and introduced the sight words said and want.In learning centers the K2ers practiced reading and writing the new sight words, wrote in their journals about where different animals live, practiced writing Vv and Xx, sorted animals by the habitats they live in, and watched short videos on the iPads about different animals and their habitat.  We sure did get a lot done this week!

The K2ers were so excited to share their animal habitat projects with each other.  Everyone presented their habitat to the class and then we set up the classroom as a museum and invited Dr. O'Hearn- Curran and Mrs. King in to visit.  They asked each K2er about their animal and the habitat it lives in. Everyone did a great job!

In Math we started Topic 9 titled "Count Numbers to 20." In this topic we will be reading, writing and counting objects 11-20.  We already worked on the numbers 11 and 12 and next week we will work on 13-20.  Saying these numbers at home and having your child write the number you say is great practice. Often the teen numbers cause some problems when kindergartners go to write them. Any home practice would be great.

A change to the 2016-2017 school year calendar happened this week. There will now be a 1/2 Day of School on Good Friday, April 14th, so that our last day of school can be on Friday, June 23rd.  Lunch will be served early that day so if you rather send in a snack for your K2er please do so.  

Tuesday afternoon we will be filling Easter Baskets for children who will be in UMass hospital for Easter. Thank you to everyone that donated candy for us to fill the baskets with. 

Enjoy the weekend!