June 16

What a wonderful play the children put on yesterday!  It could not have happened without your help and support!  The children were so excited to perform for you!  They are so proud of themselves, and I am sure that you are really proud of them too!  I sure am!  Thank you, also,  for all of the non-perishable food items that were brought in as your 'admission'.  The Bethlehem Food Pantry was very thankful for our donation!

Our class pet arrived on Wednesday!  The children were so excited for his arrival, it was very hard to get them away from his tank and into their seats to do some work! After much discussion and a vote,  the name Tyler was decided upon.  As you can imagine, they are enjoying Tyler very, very much!  They think that he is very cute (can turtles be cute?????).  At free choice time we have a sign-up for the children to read to Tyler.  Believe it or not, he really seems to be very attentive! We are so happy that we were able to persuade Mrs. Bonacquist to allow us to have a class pet. I hope that your child introduced you to Tyler after our play yesterday!

Tyler loves our class!

In the area of  math we continue to review all of the concepts that we have been focusing on this year.  The children wrote their numbers to 100!  This is quite a feat since most of them could not write to 10 when they arrived in September!  In their folders today are different samples of their number writing, name writing, and some writing samples from throughout the year.  What a difference from September until now!  Have fun looking at them!

We cleaned out our writing folders earlier this week and all of the persuasive papers were sent home on Tuesday!  I hope that you have had the time to look them over with your child.  Their final writing piece, the one that they wrote to Mrs. Bonacquist, is in a different packet that came home today.  The growth is amazing that they have all made!  As always, we celebrated by having a 'toast' of apple juice to culminate our unit!

Cheers!

We completed our waterplay unit this week, and while doing so we learned about different creatures that live in the ocean.  While doing waterplay, we learned about objects that would sink and ones that would float.  This is always a favorite unit of the children since they are able to experiment with objects in the water.

On Wednesday we joined the entire school in celebrating Flag Day.  We went to an assembly and learned all about the meaning of the flag and sang patriotic songs. 

We made wonderful Father's Day gifts this week.  If you do not receive something on Sunday, be sure to ask for it!  I hope that all of the Dads, Grandfathers and Uncles enjoy their day!

We had an ice pop party with our 3rd grade buddies today a the end of the day to say goodbye to them.  They have had a fun time together this year!

The rain didn't stop the children from having fun, we just celebrated outside our classroom with our ice pops!

The ABC Countdown continues on!  The children are having so much fun with it.  We will be very sad when it, and school, ends..........

Conversation Starters:

•   Who takes care of the eggs in the seahorse family?  (the dad)
• How come an octopus can squeeze into such small places?  (it has no bones in its body)
• Where does a mom talapia fish lay her eggs?  (in the dad's mouth where they stay until they hatch!)
• How did we know that our pet turtle, is a boy?  (a male turtle's nails are a bit longer that a female)

How You Can Help:

•   Please have your child return their library book if they have not done so already.
• Please continue to send your child with their folder right up until the last day.  We have lots of things to send home!

Looking Ahead:

• Monday, June 19th - Slingerlands Field Day - K children are asked to wear a red shirt  (please be sure to apply sunscreen to your child before they come to school!)
• Wednesday, June 21st  - last day of school, dismissal @ 12:10

June 9

June is a very busy month, indeed!

We began practicing our ABC play with the other kindergarten classes on this week.  So many of the students in our class already knew their part, I was so proud of them!  THANK YOU SO MUCH  for all the support that you have given your child in learning their lines and practicing them each night.  We are VERY excited to perform for you next week!

As I have mentioned in previous blogs, our final writing piece for our persuasive unit would be to write a letter to Mrs. Bonacquist asking for a class pet.  The children did a fabulous job on their letters and they were delivered to Mrs. Bonacquist at the end of this week.  After reading the letters, she will come in and talk to the class about what, if any, pet would be suitable for our classroom.  Some of the creatures that the children asked for were bats, kittens, hamsters, parrots, guinea pigs, turtles, frogs, bunnies and dogs.  We will keep you posted on what Mrs. Bonacquist's decision is!

We have continued learning all about frogs this week.  Each child is in the process of writing a non-fiction book on these interesting creatures.  The books will be on display in our classroom after the play.  You are welcome to take it home with you when you come on that day.

We have been going crazy practicing addition and subtraction!  The children are becoming really good at looking at the sign in the # sentence and computing the answer.  Many of them are also fluent in the math facts to 5 as well!  WOW!!!!!!

The ABC Countdown is a favorite activity for sure!  The children are having so much fun with it.  They eagerly look forward to each day and what they need to do for that day.  Pajama day was a huge hit this week!

On Friday we went to a wonderful show!  Kit's Interactive Theatre  joined us and taught us about nature.   The show combined ecology with mythology, connecting to the 'fairy-world' in which Mother Nature could see, hear and talk with the water sprites and fairies who inhabit the forests in which we live. She discussed three ecosystems - the forest, the pond, and the ocean and sand dunes.  The children loved the show and sat enraptured while 'Mother Nature' was performing!  Milo, Mrs. Clarke and Mrs. Reddy  were even chosen to participate!  Please be sure to ask your child about the show!

Mrs. Clarke was the Queen of the Land!

Milo was a camper who was camping in the forest!

On Thursday Ms. Brenner, one of the children's librarians from the Bethlehem Public Library, came to visit our classroom.  She told us all about the library's summer reading program.  A bookmark came home with your child telling all of the information regarding this. The children can begin signing up on Monday, June 19th, either in person at the library or on-line.   The summer reading program at the library is always fantastic.  I hope that everyone is able to take advantage of it!  

Conversation Starters:

•   What kind of class pet did you ask Mrs. Bonacquist for?
• What is your favorite song that we sing in our play?
• What was your favorite part of the Mother Nature show?

How You Can Help:

• Encourage your child to read everyday!
• Please return any blue 1000 bookbags or library books.
• Continue practicing your child's line for the ABC Kindergarten play.  Thank you very much!

Looking Ahead:

• Kindergarten ABC Play - Thursday, June 15th @ 2PM
•  Monday, June 19th - Slingerlands Field Day - K children are asked to wear a red shirt  (please be sure to apply sunscreen to your child before they come to school!)
• Wednesday, June 21st  - last day of school, dismissal @ 12:10