This week we began a month long non-fiction research investigation that is on the topic of "Farms"! The Weckies learned a new version to a popular song, "Take me out to the Farm" and began working on a class investigation about horses. Be sure to ask your child what new facts they learned about horses this week, and in particular, foals (baby horses)! This project will encompass reading, writing and science for the next several weeks. The kids are very excited about this project and have even picked a farm animal of their own to investigate in the coming weeks. I'll be sure to send home information on how you can help your researcher at home soon. Animals of interest include: horses, sheep, ducks, goats, pigs, cows, chickens and roosters! If you have any books at home that are of an early elementary level, please label them with your child's name and send them in!
Reader's Workshop
This week in Workshop we took a look at two books about Horses. Both books were examples of non-fiction (real world books with facts). We spent time noticing the non-fiction features of the books - the pictures were real photos and both books had a Table of Contents! In work stations this week, the kids had time to look at farming books that were also examples of non-fiction texts.
New reading groups have also formed based on my latest reading assessments. I have to brag how PROUD I am of this group and their abilities as readers! Everyone is showing growth, enthusaism for reading and an excitement about books! I let the groups choose their names and new info will come home in their book bags for the days that the groups meet (Weckies Group, Awesome Group, Smart Group, Cool Boys and Mario Brothers and Sisters).
Writer's Workshop
This week in Writer's Workshop we tied the work we had been doing in Reader's Workshop with the two horse books into our writing by reading and re-reading the texts to look for facts. We generated two large lists of all that we learned about horses on the first day and foals on the second day. The facts that we collected will be used to help put together our class report on the horse!
Math
Money, money, money, money, money, money! This week we learned about coins! You may have noticed your child came home with an additional 41 cents.. it was pretty exciting! We talked about the names of the conis, talked about their values, and even added the coins into our Calendar Routine on the Smartboard in the mornings! Be sure to show your child when you are out how you use coins and how you count them. While we are still introducing them to the names and values, many have caught on quickly! We read books about the coins too and learned neat facts about many of the coins.
Important Info
Next week, on Wednesday, April 20th (6:30pm at Dublin) we have the return of the ever popular Dublin Sock Hop! Having been a part of the committee of Student Council Advisors for seven years, I have been fortunate to participate and be in charge of 2 Sock Hops (this one being the 3rd). I have to tell you, it is a BLAST! We will have the DJs from Star Trax getting the kids dancing in the Old Gym, while the New Gym will feature 50s treats like: Rootbeer Floats, Cotton Candy and Popcorn. There will also be two different auctions in the New Gym to help support Student Council (which ultimately gives money to our classrooms and school for various uses). The baskets (our Beach Day basket ROCKS) from each classroom will be available for purchases with bids being placed on them all evening... You can bid from 6:30-8:00pm. Additionally each grade level of teachers will also be offering a special prize. You can buy raffle tickets to place in your child's teachers' cup. Each teacher will have a cup and your child could win me! So what does that mean? For Kindergarten that means that your child along with a child from the three other Kindergarten classes and teachers, will get to stay after school one day to bake cookies in the teachers lounge and play games in the building! What kid wouldn't want to play Hide-and-Seek in Dublin?!? I hope to see all of you there - if you still need to buy your tickets, please let me know!! :-)
Secondly, budget cuts... Please make sure to follow the progress of our WLCSD budget on www.wlcsd.org . We are heading into a very rough time where some major changes will be happening across the district as a result of funding cuts to our school district. There will be an informational meeting held at Dublin on Tuesday, May 3rd at 7pm in the Media Center by district administrators. It is my belief that it is very important to have a "full house" that night to show our support for our school and our district. Not much is being said yet about how cuts will be made, but our district is facing the need to cut $24 million dollars for next year's budget when they have already cut $31 million in the past 10 years.
Snack Leaders: Monday: Hannah; Tuesday: Robby; Wednesday: Nick; Thursday: Carly; Friday: Ava
Have a fantastic weekend - stay warm and stay dry! :-) Mrs. Weckie
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