Pre-K/Kindergarten News April 17, 2014

This week in review...

Although this week was a short week, it was full of learning! Here are some of the things we did: Because it was a short week, we only learned one letter combination this week. We learned that igh makes a long I sound, much like ie, y, and i words that end in magic e. As we are learning about changes, we have been learning about the sky and the things that change there. We have been learning about the moon and how it goes through a pattern (cycle) and then repeats. We also observed a rare occasion and looked at pictures and some time-lapse video of the Blood Moon that was visible on April 15. Next week the students will begin to chart the moons appearance each night for homework. In math this week we talked about patterns and how sound patterns, in particular, can be represented by symbols. Then the students created their own sound patterns and represented them. They also made a key for each representation. We have continued charting the changes we see in the Cherry Blossom trees by our classroom. This week almost all of the petals fell off the flowers and only green leaves and little purple pistils are left on the branches. We have been busy preparing for student-led conferences and the students have done several self-reflection pieces this week. They have reflected on their favorite things to do at school and in each subject as well as the things that are easy and difficult for them in each area. You will get to see them in action next week! Please let me know if your conference time works for

Important!
Please remember that there is no school tomorrow due to the Acamis EAL conference that will be held at QISS. We will see you again on April 21!

Help at home! Ask your child to tell you the sound of the letter combination we learned this week: igh. Review the letter combinations weve talked about so far: ai, oa, ie, ee, or, ng, oo, ou, oi, ar, er, ir, ur, and ay. For at least 20 minutes every day, read together! Ask questions about the story and record it on your reading log. Practice reading and spelling sight words: this week our sight words were these, after, and take. We felt it necessary to review our sight words from last week. Talk about the seasons and the changes that you see happening around you. Observe the moon and how it changes.

you! We did a predicting activity with different kinds of seeds. We also did an experiment with celery and food coloring which we will follow up with on Monday to see what happens. Thursday we had a fun Dress like what you want to be when you grow up day. We had a fairy, a teacher, a pilot, a boss, two pianists, a fireman, a doctor, Batman, and a race car driver.

Dr. Sun Firefighter Mac Ivan the boss

Our pianists, Evie and Eric.

Teacher, Miss Ciara Fairy Myrrhin

Race Car Driver, Ody

The kids loved dressing up for Spirit Day on Thursday! Here are our future stars!

Pilot Jerry

The kids drew the night sky after reading about the sun, moon, stars, and planets.

Batman Sunny

The kids learned about halves.

Our Cherry Blossom this week all leaves and no more flowers.