We have been watching our seeds in the window and recording our observations each day.  What is happening to the seeds in your child’s glove?

Two more pages in our ABC Memory Books!  We only have six letters to go.  S is for super kid, seeds, Spanish, star words, shapes, snack, senses, and science.  T is for Teddy Bear Parade, taxonomy, tree map, text to text connections, text to self connections, technology, and teacher.  What did your child pick to write about?

Yearbooks will be sent home with students who purchased them on Friday. There will be a small number of soft-cover books available for purchase ($18, checks payable to Cedar Ridge) starting at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 28^th in the office. They will not reserve books for anyone. Books will be sold first-come, first-served until they are out. At that point, they will take names for a wait list.

We watched the video “My Body Belongs to Me”.  The video talked about private parts of your body as being those parts of your body that are covered by your swimsuit.  Ask your child what he/she should do if someone touches them in an inappropriate way?  (Tell the person to stop, run away, and tell a grown up and keep telling a grown up until someone believes you and helps you.)  We also talked about “good secrets” like a surprise birthday party and “bad secrets” like someone touching you and telling you to keep it a secret.

We did two more pages in our Kindergarten ABC books.  Q is for Quiz Me Animals, questions, Questioning Quinn, and quiet listeners.  R is for reading, Razzle Dazzle readers, Reader of the Day, Read-a-thon, respect, reptiles, reading strategies, and recess.  What did your child pick today?

We had two more fabulous Readers of the Day.  Camryn read Duck and a Book and Luci read Another Monster at the End of This Book.

Yearbooks will be sent home with students who purchased them on Friday.  There will be a small number of soft-cover books available for purchase ($18, checks payable to Cedar Ridge) starting at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 28^th in the office.  They will not reserve books for anyone.  Books will be sold first-come, first-served until they are out.  At that point, they will take names for a wait list.

With only 3 weeks of school left we made a big change to where we sit on the carpet and at the tables.  Ask your child to tell you about this change.

We read The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle and talked about things that might help and seed to survive and things that would be harmful.  Would the following be helpful or harmful?  Why?  Bird, mouse, rain, sun, weeds, foot, wind, and soil.

We learned about the Grasslands habitat.  The grasslands are covered with grasses and there are not many trees or bushes.  Animals have few places to hide so animals that live in there can run fast.  Who lives in this habitat?  (African elephant, ostrich, lion, cheetah, kangaroo, giraffe, baboon, prairie dogs, and bison)

N is for NWEA testing, numbers, names, and non-fiction books.  What did your child want to write about today?

Lots of special days and events coming up—

Friday, May 24^th – All library books are due

Tuesday, May 28^th – Wonder Weavers Storytellers and Inside Out Day, wear your clothes inside-out.

Wednesday, May 29^th – Strive for Five Field Days.  Remember to wear sunscreen and bring your water bottles.  It is also Favorite Color Day, wear your favorite color.

Thursday, May 30 – Favorite T-shirt day

Friday, May 31 – Sports Day, support your favorite sport’s team

Monday, June 3^rd –Kindergarten Picnic 12:30 – 1:30.  It is also Rainbow Day; wear as many colors as you can.

Tuesday, June 4^th – Hat Day, wear your favorite hat

Wednesday, June 5^th – Pizza Lunch and Shorts and Sandals Day.  We will be having a special pizza lunch provided by Chayce’s mom!  Mrs. Regan is going to bring the pizza and Mrs. Reno is going to bring a special dessert.  Yummy!

Thursday, June 6^th – Gum Day, bring two pieces of gum to chew.  Last Day of Kindergarten!

We love, love, love to read!  Our most recent readers of the day have been Albert reading Too Tall Houses, Camryn reading Rhyming Dust Bunnies, Luci reading The Missing Cupcake Mystery, and Amy reading Jake’s Brave Night.

Our Quiz Me Animals of the day were the walrus and fox.  What interesting things can your child tell you about these two animals?

M is for Morning Meeting,  math, math journals, music, math with a friend, and math by myself.  What did your child write about today?

Monday we will take our last NWEA test for this year.  We will finish the reading portion.

Today was our last day to check out books from the library.  We were only allowed to check out one book.  All books are due next Friday.  Next week if your child still has library books checked out, I will send you an e-mail.  I will also include the cost of the books in case you need to pay for them.

Yesterday was our last night of Razzle Dazzle Readers homework.  Thanks so much to everyone who supported their child and listened to them read on a regular basis.  As kindergartners we learn that the only way to become a better reader is to read, read, read!!

Our end of the year kindergarten picnic will be Monday, June 3rd from 12:30 – 1:30.  We will share our ABC books and portfolio work with you.  Afterwards we will go outside and enjoy our picnic.  Bring a blanket and picnic lunch for your family.  If you are unable to attend, your child still needs to bring a lunch to school that day.  We hope that everyone can come and help us celebrate an amazing year of kindergarten!

Fun Days Ahead!!!  To make the last couple of weeks of school extra fun, we have planned some special days.  There is a note in this week’s Friday folder to tell you all about our upcoming days of fun.

We worked with the letter Z and the star words “here”, “is”, “a”, “at”, “to”, “go”, and “the”.  Our star word wall is very full!  We also practiced writing the letter Z.

Our Quiz Me Animals were the hippo and the tarantula.   What can your child tell you about these animals?

L is for Letter Experts, Lucky Ducks, literacy stations, listeners, learning, lunch, library, lockers, and love notes.  What did your child write about today?

The desert was our habitat today.  Ask your child to tell you some of the characteristics of a desert.  (A desert gets very little water.  Few plants live in the desert because of the lack of water.  It can get very hot in the desert.)  What animals live in the desert?  (kit fox, camel, roadrunner, meerkat, burrowing owl, geckos, rattlesnakes, and sidewinders)  We also had chance to watch a short Reading Rainbow video.  The story was called Desert Giant: The World of the Saguaro Cactus.

K is for kids, kindergarten, kindergartners, and kites.  What was your child’s topic today?

Cameron was our wonderful reader of the day and read The Eye Book.

Our Quiz Me Animals for the day were the toad and the ostrich.  What can your child tell you about these animals?

What amazing and wonderful kindergartners we have!  It has been so much fun watching everyone share their delightful talents with us!  What have been some of your child’s favorite performances so far?

We learned about another habitat, the rainforest.   What are some things your child learned about the rainforest?  (lots of tall trees so a lot of the sunlight is blocked, rains a lot, it is warm and humid, they lie on the equator, home to lots of animals and plants)  What are some of the animals that live in the rainforest?  (chimpanzee, lots of frogs like the poison dart frog, lots of insects, sloth, and the jaguar)  Does your child remember what endangered rainforest animal we talked about? (orangutan)  Why is the orangutan endangered?  (forests where they live have been cut down, and people are taking them for pets)

J is for journals, jobs, and Jan Brett.  What did your child choose to write about today?

We heard two more fantastic readers of the day.  Amy read Max’s Checkup and Luci read Yoko Learns to Read

Our two Quiz Me Animals today were beaver and rhino.  Ask your child to tell you 2-3 things he/she learned about each animal.

We talked about the forest habitat.  A forest is a place with a lot of trees.  Woodland forests are cold in the winter and warm in the summer.  Many different animals make their homes in the forest.  What are some of the animals that live in the forest? (fox, deer, squirrel, rabbits, opossum, black bear, bald eagle, and bobcat) 

We practiced the comprehension skill of prediction with the story Hugless Douglas by David Melling.  Douglas is a bear in search of a hug and he can’t find one anywhere.  Where does Douglas finally find the perfect bear hug?

What are oviparous animals?  (animals that lay eggs)  We read Chickens Aren’t the Only Ones by Ruth Heller.  Can your child tell you some animals that hatch from eggs?  We made an egg shaped book of animals that hatch from eggs.  When the book comes home, have your child “crack” his/her egg and show you the oviparous animals that they thought of.

I is for imagination, illustrators, iPads and iPods, insects, and indoor recess.  What did your child write about today?

We celebrated May by making some beautiful spring flowers.  Instead of hanging them up in our room, we decided to take them home to surprise our moms instead. 

Our talent show begins on Monday!  Abeer, Macy, and Yazeed will be our special performers that day.

Our end of the year kindergarten picnic will be Monday, June 3rd from 12:30 – 1:30.  We will share our ABC books and portfolio work with you.  Afterwards we will go outside and enjoy our picnic.  Bring a blanket and picnic lunch for your family.  If you are unable to attend, your child still needs to bring a lunch to school that day.  We hope that everyone can come and help us celebrate an amazing year of kindergarten!

Moms – Happy Mother’s Day!  Enjoy your delightful children and have a wonderful day!

Comprehension skills can be difficult for kindergartners, and so we need lots of practice.  Today we worked on retelling with the story Ernest, the Moose Who Doesn’t Fit by Catherine Rayner.  Ernest is a large moose with a big problem!  He can’t fit into the book!  How did Ernest and his chipmunk friend solve the problem?

H is for helpers, helping other people, habitats, Hershey Kiss chicks, and handwriting.  What did your child write about today?

We had two more fabulous readers.  Bergen read Where Are You from Little Goose?  And Braden read Lego City Ready for Takeoff!

Dads, tonight is your night to check the backpack.  We are bringing home our Mother’s Day surprises.  SHHH – don’t tell mom!