May 27, 2016 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

We had a lot of fun playing kickball today with Mrs. Patrick’s class.  The game was a reward for earning so many CARES coupons.  I was impressed with the students’ good sportsmanship and the way they encouraged each other!

The students did a lot of writing this week.  They started new narrative pieces and did more journal writing too.  They read their published books to their fourth grade buddies before bringing them home.  I hope you enjoyed having your child read his/her book to you.

The students enjoyed doing surveys in math and learning about what their classmates like and dislike.  They also started a 3D map of the area in Boston we will visit next week on our field trip.  They painted the area that includes Beacon Hill and the Public Garden and have started making buildings that can be found in Boston.  I want to say a special thank you to Mrs. Shannon for helping with that messy project!  I will be sure to post a picture of the completed map when it is finished.

We will be going to Boston on Wednesday to walk around the Public Garden and ride on the Swan Boats.  It should be a fun day.  Students definitely need to wear sneakers and bring a bagged lunch and disposable water bottle.  Chaperones should plan to arrive by 8:30am and will be riding on the bus with us.  More information about the trip will go home on Tuesday.

Field Day is on Friday, June 3rd.  Students will be participating in outdoor activities.  Sneakers and sunscreen are also necessary for that day as well.

Our Cleaning Day will be on Wednesday, June 8th.  We are sure to get wet and maybe a little dirty, so please have your children dress appropriately.  We will have a variety of projects for everyone to help with.  If you are available to help with some of our cleaning projects, we would love to have you.  We will be busy cleaning from 9:30-10:20am.

We will be walking to Simonds Park on Friday, June 17th.  We will be leaving school around 9:30am (weather permitting) to walk to the park.  Crossing guards will be with us along the way to safely cross us at strategic points.  Parents are welcome to join us at the park.  We would like a few parents to walk up with us (just let us know).  The children will be dismissed from the park.  Children who attend the After School Program will take a bus back to school.  If you plan on taking your child home from the park, it is very important that you tell us you are taking your child.  We will be sending more info home later regarding lunches and other details.  NO BACKPACKS are needed that day.  Students should wear sneakers and sunscreen. Students will not be going in the pool.

Monday, June 20 is our last day of school.  Dismissal will probably be around 11:30am.

Have a great long weekend!  There is no school on Monday because it’s Memorial Day!  

Melanie Duncan

PS...I will be assessing students on their sight words and math fluency facts for the final time next week.  Please practice these daily to help your child learn and remember them.  Thanks!

May 20, 2016 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

We’ve had another fun and busy week in Room 115!  We enjoyed releasing our butterflies today and going on a listening walk outside.  I think the hardest thing I asked them to do all week was stand quietly for two minutes so we could record what we heard around us!  We were amazed at all the things we could hear in a short amount of time and thought it would be fun for the students to try it at home this weekend.  If possible, please consider going for a listening walk with your child near your home or in your neighborhood.  Please encourage your child to either write or draw pictures of the things he/she hears along the way.  I would love for them to share their findings with the rest of the class next week!

The students learned a lot about birds this week and more about the life cycle of frogs.  We even made frog puppets to use as props as we sang “Five Green and Speckled Frogs.”  The tadpoles in our classroom are growing but still don’t have any legs.  It is fun watching the students watch the animals in our classroom, including the caterpillars/butterflies, tadpoles, and turtles!

If you have not sent in the $8 to cover the cost for our next field trip, please do so as soon as possible.  Checks can be made payable to Francis Wyman Kindergarten.  It will cost $3 for chaperones who will be coming with us.

The students have finished their Very Busy Spider books and have brought them home.  They did a great job on them.  I would encourage them to read them at home many times.  It’s also a great idea to have them point to the words as they read.

Please continue to practice the sight words and fluency facts.  I will be getting ready to assess them for the final time in a couple of more weeks.

We will start preparing for our trip to the Swan Boats in Boston on Wednesday, June 1st.  We will be reading Make Way for Ducklings and the children will be learning a bit about Boston and the walk we will be taking.  We will be creating a three-dimensional map showing the Commons, the Public Gardens and the area around the State House.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

                               Melanie Duncan

Dates to remember:   May 25 - Last Visit to the Library (Please return book)
                                 May 30 - Memorial Day - No School
                                 June 1 - Swan Boats in Boston
                                 June 3 - Field Day
                                 June 8 - Cleaning Day in the Classroom
                              June 17 - Walk to Simonds Park
                              June 20 - Last Day of School (half day dismissal)

Changes in Nature

We completed our fifth week observing how nature is changing around our school!  It has been fun for me to observe the students as they make their own observations!

May 13, 2016 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

Where does the time go?!!  I can't believe that it is mid-May with only a about a month of school left to go!  We have been learning a lot about nature, including plants, insects, life cycles, and woodland animals.  In another week or so we will start learning about Boston and some of the places we will see on our next field trip.  Information about the Boston Swan Boats trip went home yesterday.  If you are interested in chaperoning this trip, please let me know and be sure to send in the $3 to cover the cost.  Please also send in the $8 to cover the cost of your child’s trip as soon as you are able.

We have been learning more about butterflies and other insects this week.  All of our caterpillars have turned into chrysalises and will hopefully turn into butterflies really soon!  We spent time this week drawing and labeling the life cycle of a butterfly and will do the same for frogs next week!  It’s exciting to see some real life cycles right in our own classroom!  We made butterflies to add to our giant flowers and we also made dragonflies to decorate a dragonfly poem.

The students brought their tomato plants home today.  They planted them a couple of weeks ago in our classroom.  The plants have grown quite a bit!  We talked about how they will need lots of sun and water and a safe place to be planted.  You may want them to grow a little more before they are transplanted or put them in a bigger pot for a while.  They may also need to be supported by a stick as they grow.  There is a care sheet in your child’s folder that will give some tips on how to grow big tomatoes.

The students have been enjoying the “Step-Up” Lessons in Math and are excited to be doing some first grade math work!  It is mostly a review for them but shows them a new way to solve addition and subtraction problems.

We have also been learning more about the seven continents.  The students have been enjoying it a lot more than I was expecting them to!  Each day we focused on a different continent by reading a book about it and then writing an interesting fact in our continent books.  These books will come home next week.  I’m sure you will find the facts they have been writing about to be pretty impressive.  I have actually learned quite a bit about the continents this week too!  Please be sure to ask your child about what they have been learning and ask them to teach you what they know!

Please continue to work with your child on their subtraction fluency facts to five (5-3=2, 4-1=3, etc.).  I will be testing the students on these to see how fluent they are.  The goal is for students to tell me the answers within three seconds.  I would also encourage you to work with your child on counting to 100 by 1s and 10s and practice recognizing and writing numbers to 20.  Those teen numbers are tricky!  Don’t forget about the sight words too!  I’ve been busy assessing students on all sorts of things this week and will continue into the next week or two.  I’m impressed with how far they have come this year!

Have a great weekend!

Melanie Duncan

PS...We will be having a Classroom Cleaning Day on Wednesday, June 8th from 9:30-10:20am.  I could use several parent volunteers to help with some of our cleaning projects.  If you are interested, please let me know and I will add you to my list!  Thanks!

Thank you also for all the special things so many of you did for Teacher Appreciation Week.  The luncheon was amazingly delicious and very much appreciated.  Thank you to Mrs. Shannon and Mrs. Ohol for covering our recess and lunch duties so we could enjoy the special luncheon!  It is truly a pleasure working with each of your children and seeing how much they have grown this year!  We certainly do appreciate all of your support all throughout the year!

Our Luna Moth chrysalis hasn't hatched yet but Mrs. Cook's did!  This is what it looked like only minutes after it came out!  

May 6, 2016 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

We have had a very busy week here in Room 115!  The students have been working hard and learning lots!  We have been learning a lot about nature.  So far we have learned about trees, flowers, and seeds.  We just started a unit today on insects and life cycles.  We are excited to be able to observe life cycles in our classroom with the caterpillars and tadpoles and luna moth chrysalis!  The students are learning about all the different body parts of insects and are even learning how to label their drawings.  You’ll have to ask them to sing the “Head, Thorax, Abdomen” Song!

We have been doing butterfly symmetry at the art table and just finished measuring our tall flowers with non-standard units.  We have officially finished Kindergarten math and will be doing some Step Up to First Grade Math Lessons during the next couple of weeks.  The students are pretty excited to be doing first grade math!  Please continue helping your child practice his/her subtraction facts.  I will be getting ready to assess them soon.  The more they practice…the better they will get! 

We have been learning a lot about the seven continents and started making a continents book this week.  So far we have read and learned about Africa and Australia.  We will continue learning about the other continents next week.  You will have to ask your child to tell you what they have learned so far!  They are actually pretty intrigued… at least a lot more than I thought they would be!

The students have been working more with narrative writing.  I am impressed with how far their writing has come and know you will enjoy reading their stories when they come home in a few weeks.  

I would like to extend a very Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful mothers in Room 115!  We hope the gifts your child gives you will be special and meaningful.  You have permission to open your gifts today.  Your gift will most likely need water before Sunday!

Have a great weekend!

Melanie Duncan

Here are a few pictures of some of the amazing artwork completed by the students this week.  We enjoyed going for our nature walk around the school too and observing how all the rain has helped everything grow even more this week!  Now all the we need is a little more sun!

"Spring is..." Poems with Our Fourth Grade Buddies

Our fourth grade buddies joined us today to help us write poems about spring!  Each line of the poem started with "Spring is..."  I wrote one too that I thought was appropriate...

Spring is rain drops bouncing on the pavement.
Spring is clouds in the sky.
Spring is looking forward to sunny days!

Our buddies are going to "publish" the poems and then will come to our room again to help illustrate them.  I can't wait to display them for everyone to see!