HOOT#29

Kinder has been writing up a storm lately. We had the second graders visit to read the books they wrote, which inspired us to expand our writing. Lots of stories to share, and more pages to come! One child started working on a chapter book, and another loves comic books. One child has filled the pages with dialogue and another is writing a maritime science book. Historical account and paleontologist adventures, a tea party with the sticker monster and a window into a princesses life... There is a season and a reason for all! The children are encouraged to sound out their words, and match sounds with letters as they write. So it happens with English (yikes!) that most of the time the words are not exactly spelled to the book. It is called invented spelling. It might seem messy, we sure love stapling (I got a bloody finger trying to remove all the renegade staples), but it sure is making the children in the class feel proud and independent. It is time to celebrate your child as an author!



































Events/Updates:
Tuesday morning: pizza money due
Tuesday 1pm -- Harwood and pizza money due
Wednesday: will go to Filemon Sanchez park (12:45-1:45)

Thursday: 3:30 -- Show time! THE FIVE LITTLE WOLVES AND THE THREE BAD PIGS -- This is kinder's last performance this year. Our end-of-year celebration will be topped off with an award ceremony for each student. Please remember to send costumes (labeled), balloons (for decorating), props THURSDAY MORNING -- and a dish for the potluck to follow! Charge your cameras and let me know if you'd be interested in capturing footage/stills of the performance and/or the children receiving their awards. I will also have access to the school's video camera that day, if someone would like to play with it.

Field trips:
May 4 (Wednesday) -- Museum of International Folk Art - Santa Fe
May 19 (Thursday) -- Ghost Ranch -- We are taking four chaperons: Lisa (Angelique's mom), Carolyn (Rio's mom), Alexandra (Aurora's mom), and Heather (Vincent's mom). (The reason we will be taking only 4 chaperons is because it's a combined field trip for two classes, and there is limited space on the bus. If you are interested in driving your own vehicle and not riding the bus with us, you are still welcome to come. Thank you for your understanding.)

The treasure chest was raided by us last week! All the bouncy balls are gone, THANK YOU!  We still have lots of pencils left. Any other items would be also great!

Homework
Please help your child rehearse for Thursday's show. Practice makes perfect! (I will email you all the script.)
Homework has been so popular lately! To keep up with the boom, I created a packet for each child for the week. You are welcome to take it home tomorrow. Guidelines: pick and choose. A healthy dose is one a day...  I trust that your child will make time for outdoor play and bedtime reading. It's all about balance.

Happy spring (finally here to stay)!

HOOT#28

Rio and Mateo's chickies took a field trip to TISA! Bobbie, Tweetie and Hot Sauce were a bunch of fluffy fun!







The children made observations on the chickies and recorded their findings in their sketchbooks





AFRICAN SHADOW PUPPET STORIES -- PREMIERE A HIT!
Thank you for your enthusiastic support of our puppeteers. The two stories -- Anansi and the Sky God and How Rabbit tricked Lion --  were well received indeed!
A special "thank you" to all of you who made this production possible on Donors Choose.

We will be having an encore performance on Monday for TISA kids. If you'd like to attend, please let me know at drop-off, so I can give you the schedule (TBA).

Here is a back-stage peek at the process... I'd love to post your photos/video clips on our blog. Feel free to email them to me.

Upcoming performances:
WEDNESDAY, April 20, 3:15 in kinder room: FLAMENCO!  - Julia Fernandez, our talented and passionate dance teacher is inviting you all to the children's short flamenco presentation. Ole!
Suggested costume: Julia is requesting that your child wear / bring black and white clothing for the event.
THURSDAY, April 28, 3:30 in kinder room: THE FIVE WOLVES AND THE BIG BAD PIGS -- John Biscello, Ashleigh Gryncer and Julia Fernandez collaborated on a silly twist on the traditional tale.
MAY 19: all day field trip to Ghost Ranch (please email me if you'd like to chaperon -- there are a couple spots left)

MISCELLANEOUS THINGS TO NOTE/DO:
April 19 (this Tuesday) our Going Green fundraiser is due
Please sign your photo permission slip in class for Donors Choose if you haven't had a chance to do so yet.
Tickles takes a summer vacation! Our class pet, Tickles will need a summer home from the beginning of June through the beginning of August. Please let me know if you are interested in helping with that.
Our treasure chest could use a last stash. Thank you!

BEHAVIOR -- spring fever alert!
As the temperature climbs higher and the days lengthen, the children are getting more boisterous, more distracted and more physical.
Here are a few things that you can do to keep this giddy, impulsive seasonal behavior in check:
Please talk to your child about why you value school and why you are sending her/him to school. How about sharing a story or two about your school experiences (the good and the bad) too? 
Remind your child to keep HANDS TO SELF (versus hitting, kicking, yanking, etc.)
When things get rough, USE WORDS instead of muscles.
Here are a few hints:
acceptable:"I am mad."     versus: "You are so mean!"
acceptable" "I don't like that."    instead of: "I hate you. I am not your friend."
acceptable  "Please stop."  not such a good choice: "If you don't stop crying, I will kick you."
acceptable  "How about.... (negotiating with an offer/suggestion)."  
Remember, it's OK to walk away to get help from a teacher.
Remind your child to stay safe (staying with the group)
Please ask your child to abide by school rules, listen to their teachers, and follow directions.
​Planning a family celebration for the end of kindergarten and thinking of a few incentives to keep up with the good work might also help.

REQUEST
This is the time of year when school lotteries are happening. I absolutely respect your decision regarding your child's schooling. However, switching schools is a touchy subject that creates confusion and sends mixed messages to the children, so I ask that you please keep that information confidential so it does not disrupt our class community.

THIS WEEK'S HOMEWORK (please get your copies in class):






Math:
What is the longest thing in your house? Can you measure how many feet it is?
What is the heaviest thing in your house? Can you weigh it?
What is the lightest thing in your house? What does it do when you blow on it?
Please write and draw what you find out.

HOOT#27

Last week we made ice-cream chilled with liquid nitrogen. 

Thank you, Chris Pieper for the tasty scientific treat!

Also, a gigantic "thank you" goes out to all of you 

who helped out and participated at TISA's garage sale last Saturday.

This week's events:
Monday, 2:30 at the Guadalupe Gym -- Student of the Month Assembly -- Congratulations to Neenah Johnson and Asher Dean!
We will go to the park earlier on Monday (please check with me in the morning if you'd like to join us).

Thursday: Joan Livingston and Theresa Dovelpage will be doing a book reading/signing for the kiddos. They will have copies of their nifty spanish/english book available for sale and can sign them :)
It's a cute book- http://www.amazon.com/Cousins-primos-Bilingual-Spanish--English/dp/1613700776/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1460329867&sr=8-1&keywords=the+cousins+and+the+magic+fish

Thursday 3:00pm-3:30ish: Shadow Puppet Stories from Africa (kindergarten room)

Reminders:
Growing Green fundraiser's deadline: April 19
​TISA's lottery is still open. Please spread the word to families who appreciate our integrated arts curriculum.​

This week's letter combination (digraph): wh (focus: question words)
punctuation mark: ?
numbers: skip counting by 5s

The following materials will be available for this week's homework on Monday at dismissal. Please feel free to pick and choose what best fits your child's needs. Also, please continue to read with your child every day.

HOOT#26

Well, I got my old desktop upgraded last week from Vista to Windows7, so I feel like am on this planet again! It's time to post a few fun photos...

Middle-Eastern Music with Meg

Middle-Eastern Dance with Julia

Easter egg hunt

and the harvested eggs...

Finger-knitting took kinder by storm

Spring colors are all the rage

Explora in bubbles

Congratulations to the students of the month: Neenah Johnson and Asher Dean!
The school assembly will be held at Guadalupe Gym next Monday (April 11 at 2:30pm)

Reading and writing update:

• common 2-letter combinations (digraphs): ch, th, sh, th, wh
• sentences, capitalization, punctuation (.!?,)
• lowercase letters in! uppercase letters out! (pardon the exceptions)
• current topic: "something that I know about" (informational narrative) e.g. horses, cats, coyotes, Jurassic World, Pocahontas, Pac-Man, Easter Bunny
• finding teeny-tiny words in longer words (e.g. there is a "cop" in helicopter)

Math

• working with the concept of place value (grouping by 10s) 
• measuring
• subtraction versus addition 
• try playing the card game "Garbage/Trash" (You can check it out on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQDRobHfwwA )

Homework
Tuesday (due Wednesday): write and draw about what you like most about kindergarten, or write to me about what you'd like to do in April

Wednesday (due Thursday): measure and draw your family members
Please continue to read with your child 20-30 minutes every day.

The children have taken spool knitting to great lengths! I'd love some yarn donations!

Learning Ally is a great site that TISA uses. It offers thousands of audio titles which support oral language development as well as reading. I am setting up an account for each child and will email you each with information on how to stock your own audio libraries. We are listening to How to Train Your Dragon at school.

And finally, the town is teaming with activities! Twirl has come out with a schedule and so did the ToolBox. Here is their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/thetoolboxtaos/