April has flown by!  I can’t believe we are starting May tomorrow until I stop and think about all the great things we’ve been doing in class.

 We finished up our pets unit by making some amazing carriers for them.  One group’s snake holder even included a bed and Christmas presents!  Our stuffed animals got to travel around in style.  Students really loved sharing about the pets they have or know.  It was so much fun to see even my shyest students get up and talk about their beloved animals. Our first week of robotics was all about our senses.  We painted with sniffy paint (which has turned into scratch and sniff paint), tried to see people’s expressions with our eyes closed (it doesn’t really work!), and guessed which animal we were hearing.  We capped it off by combining all our senses and popping popcorn in a popper which went wonderfully with our PBIS party – watching the Backyardigans episode of Cops and Robots.  If you ended up with a malfunctioning robot after this, don’t worry – the robots can all be fixed flipping their switch to ‘good robot’. Last week we learned that robots are real and all around us.  It turns out they don’t always look like the ones in movies.  We looked at robots in space and at home then got to play with BeeBots in our classroom.  It was great fun learning how to program the bots to go where we want.  This week we will be experimenting with Hex Bugs as well as the BeeBots and then move into CodeAPIllar and Dash for the end of our unit.  It should lots of great, educational fun. In other news, we have finished our PALS testing of students heading to kindergarten.  I will soon be sending home a snapshot of how your student did and some ideas of things to help them with their kindergarten skills. The year may be almost over but we still have some great things coming up!  Tonight join my team as we present a Family Fun Night from 6-7 pm.  Ms. Autumn from our Exercise unit will be here doing kid and family yoga!  The kids loved her class in the winter and I encourage you to come check it out.  There will also be activities about nutrition, Zumba, and more.  Please join us! Also coming soon is our end of the year party.  I will be giving you more details about it in my next update. Thank you for sharing your children with Ms. Toni and I! Sincerely, Ms. Kiersten

Nuts & Bolts:

If your child is sick or is going to be absent, please be sure to tell the office and me. A group email to Ms. Kiersten, the office, and wrap-around helps ensure we are all aware of what is going on. Thank you!

 

If you would like to volunteer in my classroom or at the school, please contact the office about setting up a time for the mandatory training.

 

Remember to say goodbye to your child before they come into the cubby.  For safety reasons, we cannot allow them to run out to you after they’ve been checked in.

Please be sure to send in your child dressed for the outdoor weather.  We will be going out even when the temperatures are in the low 20’s.

Be sure to have your child’s name on their homework when it gets turned in.

Tuition payments need to be turned into the office, not left in your child’s folder.

Dates to know:

 

May 1 – Makerspace – making a Hex Bug Habitat

 

May 3 – Ms. Kiersten absent (going to my brother’s wedding!) Ms. Toni and Ms. Lynne will be teaching.

 

Looking ahead: Last day of school party is on May 24. More info to come!