Coconut

Thank you Mrs. C. & Ms. H. For the fruit donations for Friday. We have everything we need! 

Volunteers

HI Parents!
Please let Mrs. Griffiths know if you can volunteer for the science lab.
If you would like to send me an email to let me know which fruit/vegetable  that you can send in that would be great! This way I can cross them off the list as I know who is sending them. 
If possible please send in one or two of the following this Friday-
orange
avocado
bananas
coconut
pepper
cucumber
cantaloupe

Our Week (and...it's not over yet!)

Remember we have school tomorrow. Saturday, April 26th.
We will have math and science stations for the kids to enjoy discovering and learning.

This week we wrapped up our Earth's Resources unit of study. Like I told the kids, we may be done reading about them, but we are not done practicing what we have learned both at home and at school.

In math we have been measuring using nonstandard units and discussing the height and weight of objects. We kicked it up a notch because so many of our kindergarten friends wanted to learn about inches and feet.  We pull out the rulers, yard sticks, and tape measures. 
Please make measurement part of your daily routine. 

During our language arts time we have been working on making text to text connections, retelling, character, setting, and events in order using books based on the 3 Rs. Ask your child what they are.

Ms. Miller, our guidance counselor is amazing at integrating what we are learning into her lessons.  

Seed Study

Parents:
On Friday, May 9th we are going to explore seeds in science.
We need 2 of each of the following fruits and vegetables:
orange
apple
avocado
bananas
coconut
pepper
cucumber
cantaloupe

If your child has any allergies to the above please let me know. I have no record from our nurse that anyone in our class does.

Thanks again!

Welcome Back!

Welcome back Rainbow Valley families!
I hope that each of you had a happy Spring Break. 
For anyone who has a upcoming kindergarten student or knows one please be reminded that kindergarten registration will be held Tuesday, April 22nd.  
This Saturday school is in session.  Our focus will be STEM activities.

Egg Hunt!

Happy Spring Break Rainbow Valley Families!

Magnets In Motion

Eggs and Measurement

Just a friendly reminder...
Your child needs four eggs filled with small treats (no food) for tomorrow.
Your room parents have sent out reminders, so I am just following up with a little reminder.  I know we all have Spring Break on our minds.
:)
Thanks again!


The kids enjoyed their measurement math stations today.  We are learning about measuring using standard and non-standard units of measure.  
Ask your child what he or she measured with and how it worked. Please measure at home. :)
We are discovering that rulers and yard sticks seem to be the most accurate.

This week we enjoyed reading the ODD EGG.  The children were tasked with writing about an egg that hatched and using an extended sentence to describe what popped out and its attributes.  They used some really creative words.

 Today we read Knuffle Bunny and worked on retelling the characters, setting, and events.  
It is so nice to see so many students retelling with details.
At home please encourage retelling.  This is a great way to check to see if your child is understanding what they are reading.  

You will be seeing more and more formative assessments coming home in your child's folder for reading and writing.  Please take time to celebrate their great work = STARS and to work on their STAIRS. 


Did you love their Super Hero writing?  I really enjoyed working with them on this Saturday School activity.  It was during this time that we were talking about setting goals.  I am using Growth Mindset language more and more with our kids.  When they say, "I can't do that."  "I say I can't do that yet."  Instead of saying, "Good job!" We are saying, "I like the way that you retold the characters names." 
If you haven't heard about Growth and Fixed Mindsets check out this site.  I love this site not only as an educator, but as a parent. I would also love to chat via our class blog about MINDSET.  Please post any comments or questions you have. 
http://mindsetonline.com/changeyourmindset/firststeps/

Purple Day!

Tomorrow please wear purple to honor our military children!
Thank you to all of our military families. We appreciate you very much!!!

Engaged In Learning!

School is fun!  These are the kind words that I heard this week!
This class is simply amazing!
We started off this week with learning all about natural resources, how to protect them, and how to care for our earth. We will take a break from this next week and come back to it after Spring Break.  I have given the children homework- reduce, reuse, and recycle during spring break! 

Look my shirt says what we are learning about!

This week during small group we had groups working on short vowels, reading and retelling, retelling facts about spring through painting, counting and identifying coins, counting by 5s, building our magnet courses, writing extended sentences in our journals, all while HAVING FUN!!! (Did I tell you I love to hear this!?)

Sounding out his words as he builds them!

Reading and retelling to a partner

How are we going to get the magnet to go through the course?