Meet Felicity!

We will be meeting and learning about Felicity as we begin our study of the American Flag and other Patriotic Symbols.  Felicity is the main character in an American Girl Story.  By reading the story we learn many things about Colonial Times.  Students in room 101 love the read aloud chapter book!

Toady visits with Ms. P.

In addition to visiting with Haley the falcon, Ms. P brought us a frog and a toad named Milo .   We compared the skin of the two animals, learning about the color and texture of each.  We also learned about how the animals protect themselves from predators.    The frog, Milo and the gerbils (Natalie, Alex and Dylan) will be with us through Memorial Day. 

Falcon Fun in Room 101

Haley, an American Kestral, is a small falcon.  She recently visited Room 101 with Ms. P.  Haley is a two year old female who was rescued and donated to the Burlington Science Center.  We were thrilled to have the opportunity to meet Haley  and learn about her eyes and ability to see for miles.  Ms. P. taught us about her talons and showed us talons from other birds as well. 

Read, Read, Read!

That is it!

This week in reading groups Mrs. Hoyt has been asking the students if they have been reading the books sent home with them each night.

Sadly, quite a few reported that they have not.

The best thing we can do to encourage and help our kindergarten students is read, read, read!  Read to them and have them read to you.  Mrs. Hoyt has asked the students to find three different audiences to read the book they bring home to.   In addition to mom, dad or siblings, they have been encouraged to read to the family dog or a stuffed animal.  Stuck on a word or sentence?  Ask then what they can do to figure it out, what ideas they have.

As an incentive the kids were told their names would be added to the star jar if they read the books more than three times! 

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day wishes to all of room 101 moms.  We hope you enjoy your plants, coupon books and books.  

Community Helpers

Today we started a unit about community helpers!  It is fun to learn about people in our world.  We brainstormed a list of community helpers that included

Garbage Collector

Doctor

Nurse

Dentist

Policeman

Fireman

Journalist

Teacher

Librarian

Veterinarian

Zoo Keeper

Construction Worker

Child Care Worker

It might be fun to discuss jobs that the adults in your children's lives have.  We will be discussing community helpers and their roles for the next week or so.

Turbo

Meet Turbo!  She has been visiting with us this past week.

Boston Strong Day

Click here:  Boston Strong

to read about the Pine Glen Boston Strong day.

Circus Math

We took advantage of the nice weather to do some math outside!  Earlier today Mrs. Parnell shared the Big Apple website with us.  We learned about the various performers we will see when we go to the show on Friday.  We also learned about the circus tent.  The masts, or main poles, are 50 feet tall and can weigh nearly 2000 pounds.  The length of the tent is 140 feet long!  Wow.

After recess we took advantage of the wonderful weather and measured the distances to get a visual idea of how big those measurements actually are. 

First we had to measure our shoes and realized that when measuring in feet it is best to use a ruler............the feet on our bodies are all different lengths.  Mrs. Hoyt and Mrs. Parnell have feet that are nearly 12 inches long, so we counted out 50 steps and then measured the length in kindergartners lying down!  It was 11.

The length of the tent, 140 feet, was nearly 33 kindergartners lying down.  With a little discussion we realized the tent is much longer than it is tall. 

We also practiced direction following when we ran the length of 140 feet up and back. 

Our afternoon was capped with a sorting activity.  Mrs. Parnell presented a collection of stories about the circus.  We sorted them into like categorties before she shared one from the collection. 

Math Words Today -

Measure                          Height                      Inches
Diameter                          Feet                         Direction
Length                             Around                     Down
Same                              Different                    Sorting

Words to Remember

A few parents have asked about the list of refrigerator words we have sent home throughout the year.  They are listed below.  Please be sure to review all words as it is always good to revisit them.  Please continue to practice them and the math flashcards for addition and subtraction (1-5).  We will be doing additional assessments with the students in the coming weeks.

Number Words

one

two

three

four

five

six

seven

eight

nine

ten

zero

Refrigerator Words

to                    he                    go

did                   no                    up

the                   at                     do

the                   in                     my

like                  see                    can

I                      an                     it

and                  so                     am

she                  we                    is

made                me

Child's Name

At this point in the year students are writing their own names (both first and last name).  We are reinforcing that the only capital letters we should see in the names are the first letters of both the first and last name.