February 27, 2015 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

I hope everyone had a wonderful week for winter break.  The break always comes at just the right time but it's always nice to get back into a routine.  The students are already back to working hard and learning lots!

As soon as we returned to school, we started working on our fine arts unit.  The children are learning about various kinds of art and have started painting self-portraits.  They have been learning how to mix their own colors.  I think you will be very impressed with their portraits and self-portraits when you come to the Kindergarten Museum.  The students also learned about still life paintings and have started creating some contemporary art!  We are planning on having the Kindergarten Museum on April 1st. More information will be sent home as we get closer to the day.  Creating the artwork for the Kindergarten Museum is a lot of work, but worth every minute of it!

We celebrated our 100th day of school today, even though our official hundredth day will be on Monday!  We did a lot of counting!  We made 100th day hats with 100 dots and did some math activities with a hundreds chart.  The students have accomplished so much in 100 days and should be very proud of how far they have come!

The students have worked on a class book about what they want to do when they are older and they are beginning an individual book all about who they are.  They have also been enjoying reading books in small groups for guided reading.

We will celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday on Monday.  We are looking forward to having Mrs. McDonald as a guest reader!

We are also looking forward to our trip to the New England Aquarium on Tuesday, March 10th.  Hopefully there will be NO SNOW that day!  Information went home earlier this week about our field trip to the Big Apple Circus on April 15th.  Please let me know if you are interested in chaperoning.  I can only take a limited number so I will probably end up drawing names from a hat.  Please make sure to send the $20 for the trip as soon as possible.

I will try to send the conference schedule home sometime next week.  I will plan to meet with all of you towards the end of March.  If the time I put you down for doesn’t work, feel free to call or email and we can set up a different time.

Please be sure to practice the Kindergarten sight words and addition fluency facts as often as possible.  It will be a huge help!  Thanks!

Have a good weekend!
Melanie Duncan and Kerry Lyons

Dress Like a Pirate Day

We had fun dressing like pirates today and celebrating our 100th day of school!  The students looked grrrrrrrreat!

A couple of changes...

Due to the all the snow, we are canceling our trip to the Aquarium tomorrow.  We will reschedule after vacation and hopefully pick the perfect day!

We will be celebrating Valentine's Day on Thursday instead of Friday...just in case there is another storm later this week!

Enjoy all the snow!

Melanie Duncan

February 6, 2015 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

We had another short week but it was still pretty busy.  We were very disappointed that we didn’t get to go to the Aquarium on Wednesday but are looking forward to going this coming Wednesday.  Students will need a bagged lunch and disposable drink.  Chaperones should arrive by 8:30am.  It’s not too late to volunteer to be a chaperone!  Due to the change in days, we don’t have many chaperones.  If you are interested and have completed a CORI already, please let me know as soon as possible.

The students have started learning about our five senses and will continue writing about them next week.  We have also been working more with rhyming and word families.  The students finished their “House for Hermit Crab” books and read them to the class.  I hope you enjoyed hearing your child read it to you at home!

Our 100th day of school will be on Friday, February 27th, unless we have another snow day before then.  We will be celebrating the 100th day next week, though, with the rest of the school.  On Tuesday, students are welcome to dress/talk like a pirate as we celebrate.  We have some fun 100th day activities we will do that day.

We will be celebrating Valentine’s Day on Friday, February 13th.  Students are welcome to bring an extra snack to eat while we open our valentines.  Just a reminder...valentines need to be food/candy free.  Stickers, tattoos, pencils, etc. make nice alternatives.  Students are welcome to bring their valentines in any time next week.

Don’t forget to send warm, winter clothes each day for recess.  Students are not able to stay inside if the rest of the class goes outside.  They are also not allowed to play in the snow without snowpants and boots.

Another reminder:  February vacation will be February 16-20.

Please don’t forget to return the blue progress report folder and the parent conference questionnaire.

Have a great weekend!

Melanie Duncan and Kerry Marsh