Wrapping Up

A we near the end of the year our focus has changed from learning new things to reviewing and celebrating all of the things we have learned this year. Just this week we celebrated all of the Spanish we have been using with Pajama Day. We celebrated our year as well as all we learned while researching farm animals with our trip to the Critter Barn. In Math we have been using all of our math knowledge to play games and do interesting center activities. We have much to celebrate! The kindergarteners have grown not only academically but physically, emotionally and spiritually as well. Thank you for sharing your children with me – many of you for the past two years – it has been a joy and a blessing to work with them and see them grow. What a wonderful group of children!

If you have any pictures from Critter Barn please send them my way. I’d love to add them to Picasa for everyone to see.

While Friday is an early dismissal day with no PM kindergarten we invite all the kindergarteners to join us for the last hour of our day for popsicles and play on the small playground. Parents and all kindergarteners are invited to join us at 12:30pm for a final (but small) celebration of all we have done this year.

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A Peek at our Week!

Monday – Art

Tuesday –

Wednesday – Library

Thursday – Music, Gym

Friday – Early Dismissal, 1:30pm

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Important Dates:

Friday, June 7 – Last Day of School, 1:30 Dismissal

Winding down

We have been speaking lots of Spanish in our classroom! We were so excited today to finally reach 100 stickers for speaking Spanish on Friday. To celebrate we will have a Pajama day on Tuesday. That means the kindergarteners can wear PJs and bring a special stuffed friend. We are looking forward to it!

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In Math this week we finished up a unit and took a test. The kindergarteners are doing a good job at breaking numbers into parts and putting those parts together for simple addition problems.

Math Centers

In Language Arts we added sight words “mira” and “día.” We continued to enjoy literacy centers this week which gave us time to practice reading, listen to reading and/or play word games.

In Bible we heard the parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders. We also heard another of Jesus’ miracles – he rose a young girl from the dead after her father sought out Jesus’ help. We can also seek out Jesus’ help through prayer.

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A Peek at our Week!

Monday – No School, Memorial Day

Tuesday –

Wednesday – All Day trip to Critter Barn

Thursday – Music, Gym

Friday –

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Important Dates:

Friday, June 7 – Last Day of School, 1:30 Dismissal

A Good Week

I can’t believe we are so close to the end of the school year. It seems like time has just flown by and the kindergarteners have grown so much! It is truly a gift to spend time with them each day seeing them grow in knowledge, body and spirit. Thank you for sharing them with me.

As the school year begins to wind down we are still wrapping up some of our major themes for kindergarten. Our literacy efforts have blossomed and we have been enjoying some literacy centers during which children are engaged in various activities or working with the teachers in small groups or one-on-one. This is giving us time to get more in depth with our writing and also to complete some end of the year language arts assessments. In math we continue to work with numbers, patterns, adding, subtracting and more. We have even learned a math game and will continue to learn more in the coming weeks. It’s nice to have an occasional break from math workbook activities and try something different.

I hope you are outside and enjoying the nice weather. It seems like it’s finally here to stay! Have a wonderful weekend.

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In Math this week we worked on making graphs to compare numbers. We also tested our number knowledge by playing “Top-it” with cards. (This is much like the card game “War”).

In Language Arts this week we finished up our farm animal books. We will keep them at school for awhile and send them home next week. We also added sight words “ayudar” and “abajo” and began our end of the year assessments for literacy.

In Bible we heard the parable of the Great Banquet as well as the Lost Sheep. We talked about how Jesus is always inviting us closer to Him and will go looking for us when we stray from His path. Jesus wants to be close to us!

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A Peek at our Week!

Monday – Art

Tuesday –

Wednesday – Library

Thursday – Music, Gym

Friday –

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Important Dates:

Monday, May 27 – No school, Memorial Day

Wednesday, May 29 – All day trip to Critter Barn

Mariposas

We had a wonderful time releasing our butterflies this week. What a beautiful reminder of the Wonder of God’s Creation!

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In Math we are deepening our sense of addition and subtraction through math stories. We even played an addition game this week solving problems and working with a partner.

In Language Arts this week we vegan putting together all of our farm animal research into a book that we will share with our reading buddies next week and then bring home. Our sight words were “tengo” and “tomar.”

In Bible we continued to share parables. We heard about the Sower and the Seed. We talked about how we can keep our “seed” growing and many children decided that prayer would help them grow the way God wants them to.

In Science we finally got to see our butterflies emerge from their chrysalises. We took them outside after a day and let them free. It was a beautiful sight!

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A Peek at our Week!

Monday – Art

Tuesday –

Wednesday – Library

Thursday – Music, Gym

Friday –

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Important Dates:

Friday, May 17 – Family Fun Night, 6:30-8:30

Monday, May 27 – No school, Memorial Day

Wednesday, May 29 – All day trip to Critter Barn

Cinco de Mayo

We had a very busy week! We had a great trip to Calvin Woods – the most beautiful they had had all season! And we loved sharing our songs with you during our Spring Program, what a wonderful night!

I’m still missing some Critter Barn forms, please send them in soon!

A note from the PTO:

Please consider volunteering to help out at Family Fun Night on Friday, May 17.  Many volunteers are needed to make this event happen!  Click on the link for the sign up sheet.  Click here for online signup sheet.

Also – your donations of gently used or new stuffed animals &/or individually wrapped candy will be used as prizes.  Look for bins near the offices on both campuses.

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In Math we continued looking at “Math Mountains,” solving addition problems and even began talking about subtraction.

In Language Arts this week we worked on taking our research on farm animals and writing sentences in our journals. Then we looked at our writing and made changes if we needed to. Next week, we will make books that we can share with each other 9and our reading buddies) about our animal.

In Bible we heard some parables that Jesus shared with his followers. One of the parables we shared was about the Lost Son. Sometimes we lose our way too, but Jesus will always welcome us with open arms when we return to Him.

In honor of Cinco de Mayo we celebrated Mexico with some special food, crafts and a game on Friday afternoon. What a blast! A big thanks to Tía JoAnn (Isaac’s aunt) for coming to help!

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A Peek at our Week!

Monday – Art

Tuesday –

Wednesday – Library

Thursday – Music, Gym

Friday – Early Release, 12:30pm, No PM Kindergarten

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Important Dates:

Friday, May 10 – 12:30 Dismissal, No PM Kindergarten

Friday, May 17 – Family Fun Night, 6:30-8:30

Monday, May 27 – No school, Memorial Day

Wednesday, May 29 – All day trip to Critter Barn

Spring is here!

Thank you so much to those of you who have already returned the Critter Barn slips with payment. Please keep them coming! A reminder that we would like every student to have a special adult to share the day with. If mom or dad can’t come please consider inviting an aunt, uncle, grandma, grandpa or other special friend to share this special day with your child.

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In Math we have been working hard on writing numbers to 100, doing more sumas and making patterns.

In Language Arts our sight words were “él” and “no.” We also worked hard on our research project in the library and will continue this work in class as we begin writing our own book about the animal we researched.

In Bible we heard about Paul’s ministry in the early church. It was his job to spread God’s word across the land, just as we should spread the good news to those we meet.

In Science we officially have many caterpillars that have made their chrysalises and many more hanging in a “jota” (“J” shape), ready to make a chrysalis. Now comes the anticipation of waiting for our butterflies to emerge.

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A Peek at our Week!

Monday – Trip to Calvin Woods

Tuesday –

Wednesday – 8:45am, Program Rehearsal at High School, Library

Thursday – Early Release, 1:30pm, No PM Kindergarten

7pm – Spring Program, See you there!

Friday –

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Important Dates:

Monday, April 29 – Trip to Calvin Woods

Thursday, May 2 – 1:30 Dismissal, No PM Kindergarten

Spring Program, 7pm at GRCHS

Monday, May 27 – No school, Memorial Day

Wednesday, May 29 – All day trip to Critter Barn

April Showers…

As we get closer to the end of the year there are many important dates coming up:

April 23 (next Tuesday) – We have been talking about research during our library time. Next week we will use books and a computer database to do research on a farm animal of our choosing. We could use a few parent volunteers to help us during this time (2:00 – 2:45pm) If you are interested please email me.

April 24 (next Wednesday) – This is our trip to see The Little Engine that Could at the Aquinas College Performing Arts Center. We will leave by bus at 12pm. If your child comes for the afternoon only please be sure to be here by then.

April 29 – Trip to Calvin Woods. I could still use another parent chaperone. We leave at 12:30 and will return around 2:30.

May 2 – This is an early dismissal day (1:30pm). It is also the day of our Spring Program. This will be held at Grand Rapids Christian High School at 7pm. Each grade level has a special part in the program as well as whole school songs that we will share. More information about this will come home in purple folders next week.

May 29 – A reminder about our all day field trip to the Critter Barn (8:45 – 2:45). We would love for every child to have an adult with them to share this special day. Children will go by bus and adults will carpool – parking space at the Critter Barn is very limited.

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In Math we learned about “Math Mountains.” These mountains will help us as we do more and more addition problems. Ask your child if they can share the “montaña matematica” story with you at home.

In Language Arts our sight words were “ella” and “todos.” We have been working a lot on writing in our journals. We know to sound out unknown words and write down their sounds and syllables if we are not sure how to spell them.

In Bible we heard about how the holy spirit came to the disciples on Pentecost and helped them as they built the early church.

In Science we have been studying caterpillars. Each child has their own caterpillar and we are watching eagerly to see when they will make their chrysalises.

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A Peek at our Week!

Monday – Art

Tuesday – Library Research Project at 2pm

Wednesday – Trip to see The Little Engine that Could

Thursday – Music, Gym

Friday –

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Important Dates:

Wednesday, April 24 – Trip to The Little Engine that Could. Leaving school at 12:00pm

Monday, April 29 – Trip to Calvin Woods

Thursday, May 2 – 1:30 Dismissal, No PM Kindergarten

Spring Program, 7pm at GRCHS

Monday, May 27 – No school, Memorial Day

Wednesday, May 29 – All day trip to Critter Barn

Adios Ingles

We have had a very rainy return from Spring Break! We were excited to see each other again but much less excited about all of our indoor recesses this week. Hopefully next week will bring some sun our way.

Thank you to all of the parents who came to support us for our “Adios Inglés” party. We had a lot of fun! Now the hard work of using only Spanish begins. We will have incentives for days when we do a good job remembering to only use Spanish. It’s so exciting to hear how much Spanish the kindergarteners know, we have had some great conversations together and are beginning to learn how to ask for help when we come across something we want to say but aren’t quite sure how to say in Spanish.

In Math we having been looking at numbers higher than 10 as 10 and some more. We used centimeter cubes and 10-sticks (palitos) to make each number through 20. We have also been talked a lot about patterns and even made a pattern museum this week.

In Language Arts our sight words were “bien” and “dijo.” We also wrote in our journals this week paying attention to periods and spaces between words.

In Bible we recounted the story of Jesus’ resurrection and then read about Jesus’ ascension into heaven.

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A Peek at our Week!

Monday – Art

Tuesday –

Wednesday – Library

Thursday – Music, Gym

Friday –

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Important Dates:

Wednesday, April 24 – Trip to The Little Engine that Could. leaving school at 12:00pm

Monday, April 29 – Trip to Calvin Woods

Thursday, May 2 – 1:30 Dismissal, No PM Kindergarten

Spring Program, 7pm at GRCHS

Monday, May 27 – No school, Memorial Day

Wednesday, May 29 – All day trip to Critter Barn

He is Risen!

This week we focused on Bible stores leading up to Jesus’ death and Resurrection. I hope you and your family have a blessed Easter together. Here is a video of the kindergarteners reciting their memory work, Psalm 23:

When we return from Spring Break we are excited to say “adios” to “inglés” and speak only Spanish in the classroom. You are invited to join us on Wednesday, April 10 at 2:30 for our fiesta. If you are able to provide something for the party check out the sign up here.

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A Peek at our Week!

Monday – Art

Tuesday –

Wednesday – Library, Adios Inglés at 2:30

Thursday – Music, Gym

Friday – No School

Important Dates:

Enjoying the first days of spring :-)

A big thank you to all of the parents, along with the PTO, that made this week such a wonderful one for the teachers. We really felt appreciated and I am grateful to be partnering with you in teaching your children.

A note from Mrs. Bylsma about hot lunch: Please check your child’s hot lunch account, many families are not quite up to date. Her number is 574.6566 if you need to talk or you can email her at sbylsma@grcs.org.

Save the Dates: On Wednesday, May 29 our class will be traveling to the Critter Barn for an all day field trip. Each child will want one parent, grandparent or special friend with them to make our day extra special.

This summer current K-2 students are invited to attend Spanish Immersion summer school in the mornings from July 29-August 2. More information to come soon.

Who-ville Hair Day

In Math we began a brand new unit and even got new math journals. Our old journals were sent home. We never get to all the pages but working on them at home is a great way to review what we have learned so far. If you are interested in an online game (in Spanish) check out this link. Click on “dos por una” and find the sum by dragging the appropriate rod from the right side to complete the equation.

In Language Arts we had two new sight words, “jugar” and “hacer.” At this point in the year we are beginning to review all of the syllables we have seen so far by identifying them in reading and sounding out what we hear when we are writing.

In Bible we continued hearing about the events leading up to Easter. We read the story of the Last Supper, Jesus at Gethsamane and the Crucifixion. Next week we will talk more about these stories and celebrate the story of Jesus’ Resurrection together.

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A Peek at our Week!

Monday – Art

Tuesday –

Wednesday – Library

Thursday – No PM class, Easter chapel at 9am, parents are welcome to join us

Friday – No School

Important Dates:

March 27 – Wear green in honor of Green Eggs and Ham.

Thursday, March 28 – Early Release (1:30) No PM class

Friday, March 29 – No School, Good Friday

April 1 -5 – Spring Break