Week of March 17th

Happy Thursday Pandas!

General Updates:

1. We celebrate a panda birthday! Happy Birthday Leo!

   
   
   
   

   

   
   

2. Please check out the specials classes update here!

3. If you have already signed up to be a mystery guest, I would love to welcome you back to the classroom for a second time!

   1. This is a fifteen-minute time slot that you are able to sign up for to either be a mystery reader or to teach us about your beautiful cultures! Please note, there are only two adults over the age of 18 allowed into the building for this volunteer opportunity at a time.

   2. Some ideas of things you could share related to your culture (but are not limited to) are: photos (holidays, travels, clothing, etc), videos, music, games, stories, puppet show, art project, etc. You are also welcome to bring in any stories and read them to the class for enjoyment! If you are bringing in books, please bring 2-3 books to share during this time. Cultural connections are totally up to you and what you are comfortable with. We can't wait to welcome you into our classroom this year! If your work schedules are tight and the time slots available do not work for you, please reach out and we are able to plan this over Zoom or you are able to send a video in that we can share with the class!

Click Here For Mystery Guest Sign Up

This week in literacy...

• Phonics: The pandas were introduced to three new heart words: where, what, must. The pandas also continued to learn about digraphs. A digraph is a pair of letters that represent a single sound. A digraph typically consists of two letters that together make one distinct sound. This week we continued to practice "sh" "th" "ch" and "wh" We also introduced "ck." For example:

  • ch in "chip"

  • sh in "ship"

  • th in "thumb"

  • wh in "whale"

  • ck in "luck"

  • We also continued to identify short and long vowels in words.

    • Short Vowels

      • cat (short "a")

      • pen (short "e")

      • bit (short "i")

      • pot (short "o")

      • cup (short "u")

    • Long Vowels

      • cake (long "a")

      • feet (long "e")

      • bike (long "i")

      • note (long "o")

      • cute (long "u")

Sound Collection: /m/, /s/, /l/, /n/, /f/, /r/, /v/, /z/, /p/, /g/, /d/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /w/, /h/, /kw/, /j/, /y/, /ks/, /z/, /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/,

Letter Collection: m, t, p, a, s, c, h, i, d, f, r, o, g, l, n, u, b, k, v, e, j, w, z, q, x, y

Heart Word Collection: the, in, my, a, is, for, I, am, here, and, at, go, it, like, be, to, can, not, you, are, do, will, did, too, with, me, all, was, no, so, say, now, have, said,

down, come, they, that, this, ate, our, who, where, what, must, we, he, she

• Reading: We had a fun time reading The Leprechaun Who Lost His Rainbow! It was a great opportunity to practice identifying key story elements like character, setting, problem, and solution. As we read, students worked together to identify the main character (the leprechaun), the setting (where the story takes place), the problem (the leprechaun’s missing rainbow), and the solution (how he eventually finds it).

• Writing: The pandas had so much fun writing our own "How to Catch a Leprechaun" books! It was the perfect opportunity for our kindergarten students to practice informative writing. They worked on breaking down the steps to catch a sneaky leprechaun, brainstorming fun traps, and organizing their instructions in a clear and easy-to-follow way. It was such a fun way to boost their writing skills while letting their imaginations run wild!

This week in math...

• We worked hard on composing and decomposing teen numbers from 11 to 19! Students practiced breaking down these numbers into tens and ones, helping them better understand place value. Through hands-on activities, they used objects and visual aids to explore how teen numbers can be made up of a ten and extra ones.

  
  

Reminders

• Please label your child's snack daily and pack this separately from the lunchbox.

• Water bottles stay in the classroom, if you want your child to have a drink for lunch, please send a separate drink.

• If you would like your child to buy a drink at lunch, please make sure there is money in the account for the lunch card.

• Extra clothes and PE shoes should be labeled and stored in your child's cubby.

• Please see Mrs. Smith's Principal's Message for further information about Willow Grove: principal's message

  
  

Upcoming Dates

March 21st- No School Conferences

March 24-28th- Spring Break No School

March 31st- School Resumes

April 1st- No School

April 17th- Half Day @ 11:45 am

April 18th- No School

April 22nd- Early Release