PBL:

As we get closer to the end of the school year, the students have been preparing for our upcoming Exhibiton of Learning. 

This week the kindergarten classrooms took time to give each other warm and cool feedback in movement and music class. Both kindergarten classes had the opportunity to present and also, be audience members. After the presentations, the students shared what they liked about each presentation and what they wondered they could adjust or change. It was a great learning oppotunity which brough a sense of community. 

Check out the photos above and below of the classes working together!

During math lessons this week, we focused on 3 dimentional shapes. The students practiced matching real objects to the geometric shapes, identified how many sides each shape had, and even practiced drawing 3D shapes on their own.

During Number Corner we continued to solve addition and subtraction equations through story problems.

You may now work to page 152 in your childs home learning book.

Literacy:

Even though the year is coming to an end, that hasn't stopped these kindergarteners from gaining skills each week. During small groups, the students have continued to work on skills focused on their learning level. They have also enjoyed reading decodable text in fiction and nonfiction books. 

Choice Time:

The Kindergarten Crew had a fun festive dress up week! Check out some of the photos below

Pajama Day:

Animal Day:

Favorite Color Day:

Twin or Dress like a Teacher Day:

Literacy:

Math:

Number Corner: We finished up our April calendar where we learned they different ways of measurment and started our new May calendar today. This month we will focus on adding and subtracting through story problems each day. We will also complete a daily spinner to see which animal will win by the end of the month. To track this we will use a bar graph to collect our data.

Math Lessons: During math lessons, we are finishing up our 2D/3D shape unit. We will be working on adding and subtracting the rest of the school year.

Workplace Games: Workplace games provided many shape activites. Check out some of the photos below.

PBL:

Important Reminders:

• We are heading to Bookworm Gardens for a field trip on Tuesday, May 12. 

  • The cost is $6.00 per student. If you have not already done so, please send payment back in the red envelope provided in your child's Take Home Folder. Please return the money by Friday, May 8. 

  • Also, the permission slip needs to be completed in their Skyward account for your child to attend this trip. 

• Below, you will find more information about our upcoming Etude Family Hike Night on Friday, May 8.

• Please make sure to sign up for your child's final Presentation of Learning this school year. You can do so in Skyward. POL's will be on Thursday, May 14 and Friday, May 15. I am looking forward to meeting with you and your child to share all the growth they have made this year. If you have any questions, please let me know.

• Click HERE to see the lunch menus for the week.

• Click HERE to see our kindergarten wish list.

Important Dates:

• May 14: Noon Release for POL's

• May 15: NO SCHOOL for POL's

• May 22: NO SCHOOL - Professional Development Day

• May 23: NO SCHOOL - Memorial Day

• May 29: Exhibitions of Learning at 8:30 am

• June 4: Last day of school - NOON Release

Weekly Specials:

• Monday: Movement

• Tuesday: Library and Music

• Wednesday: Art, Rug Routines, and Gym

• Thursday: Movement

• Friday: Music

PBL:

During our Project Based Learning, we finished off the engineering process. The students have completed building their bridges and we spent time reflecting on the process. They worked with their group, illustrating how they felt it all went and then we did some final testing. We made sure the chairs, shelters, and bridges were all stable and checked off the requirements!

Math:

Earth Day:

We celebrated Earth Day on Wednesday this week. As a class, we came up with some ways we can help keep our earth clean and safe. We celebrated by going on a hike with our other Kinder friends!

• We are heading to Bookworm Gardens for a field trip on Tuesday, May 12. 

  • The cost is $6.00 per student. If you have not already done so, please send payment back in the red envelope provided in your child's Take Home Folder. Please return the money by Friday, May 8. 

  • Also, the permission slip needs to be completed in their Skyward account for your child to attend this trip. 

  • Unfortunately, we are only able to take one chaperone on this field trip per Bookworm Gardens guidelines so to keep it equitable we have decided to not take any chaperones with us.

• Click HERE to see the lunch menus for the week.

• Click HERE to see our kindergarten wish list.

Important Dates:

• May 14: Noon Release for POL's

• May 15: NO SCHOOL for POL's

• May 22: NO SCHOOL - Professional Development Day

• May 23: NO SCHOOL - Memorial Day

• May 29: Exhibitions of Learning at 8:30

• June 4: Last day of school - NOON Release

Weekly Specials:

• Monday: Music

• Tuesday: Art, Library, Gym, and Rug Routines

• Wednesday: Movement

• Thursday: Music

• Friday: Gym and rug Routines

PBL:

Our Project Based lessons were all focued through enigeering this week.

We finished up our bridge exploration and continued to use the Thinking Routine: Parts and Purpose. They made more observations by stating what parts we see and what we think it's purpose is. 

The kindergartners throughout the week selected the bridge they wanted to build, sketched their plans, wrote out supplies, and then worked collaboratively engineering!

Check out the photos below!

During our math lessons this week we did a lot of work with geometric shapes. The students had to work together to sort the shapes. We practiced sorting them by color, name of the shape, which had straight lines or curved lines, large sizes or small sizes, and shapes that contained 4 corners, or 3 corners.

During Workplaces, we did a shape race graphing game!

Writing:

Since it was my birthday on Friday, we decided to create a silly writing promt. The students made predictions on how many pieces of birthday cake I should eat!

We had special guests come visit our school on Tuesday. Students from the Lakeshore Youth Choral came to perform for the students. It was so fun to see some of our classmates up there singing!

Important Reminders:

The kindergarteners got to watch a little bit of the NASA live feed this week. We observed the crew in the Artemis 2 up in space. It was a wonderful opporunitiy for them to watch and see!

Math:

We have continued to explore measurement through length, weight, capacity, and temperature during number corner.

During math lessons this week, we completed various activites with geometric shapes. We finished off the week with number writing practice.

You may now work up to 109 in your math home learning books.

Literacy:

We got back in to the swing of things for our literacy rotations this week. The students are continuing to work on encoding/decoding CVC, blends, consonant diagraphs, and CVCe words. We have also been encorporating new sight words in to the mix as well. Keep up the reading practice at home!

Movement:

In movement class, the students have been preparing and coreographing their colaborative movement piece. They are working together, piece by piece, to tell a story with their bodies. They shared their progress with me this week, and I am very impressed!

Our Project Based Learning took off this week! We discussed the problems in the story, The Three Billy Goats Gruff and then as a class, we came up with different solutions for the problems within the story. The students then sketeched these ideas in their PBL notebooks. 

Check out the photos below of some of their drawings, as well as the list of our soutions.

Then, we had another special guest come visit, Ms. Ladiges who came in to read a version of the story, The 3 Billy Goats Fluff.

To round out the week, we began the enigneering side of this unit and talked about difffernt types of bridges. We used a Thinking Routine to push our thinking forward during our whole group learning time.

We started making observations by stating what parts we see and what we think it's purpose is. The students lead a very interesting conversation making some great connections. 

We took time to explore truss, beam, arch, and suspension bridges. We talked about how these bridges use tension and compression, two very important factors to how bridges work together to stay stable.

Red Raider Robotics:

Red Raider Robotics came to visit Étude Elementary to talk about STEM. It was a fun experience for the students. They got to observe the robots, did some STEM building, and worked with Snap Circuts.

Important Reminders:

Math:

We started exploring our third fairytale of the semester, The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Throughout the week, we read 3 different versions of the story. The kindergartners worked in their PBL notebooks and identified the characters and the setting of the story. 

Next week, we will continue to use our comprehension skills and do some recalling on what we remember so far. Then, we will begin to explore the problems and solutions to the story. Check out the pictures below of their sketches in their PBL notebooks.

Literacy:

Important Reminders:

The kindergartners sure did love the fresh snow we got this week. Hopefully warmer temperatures are heading this way soon!

Literacy:

I am very impressed how well the students have been progressing through literacy. There has been so much growth so far this year and I can truly see how proud they are. 

In their take home folders this week, I made sure to send home a few more books than usual for your child to practice over the break. Keep up the family reading at home!

PBL:

Math:

We continued to explore coins this week throughout our math lessons. The students enjoyed two new Workplace games where they counted totals, exchanged 5 pennies, for 1 nickel, grouped coins, and added coins together.

During Number Corner, we continued to explore story problems, and adding more on for each day.

Important Reminders:

Blackout:

It has been a fun week playing blackout in gym! I was able to snap a few pictures of the course, and even got to play with the class as well!

Don't miss out on the fun, and make sure to join us for Family Blackout night on Tuesday 3/17.

Literacy:

PBL:

The kindergartners did a lot planning and preparing for engineering throughout the week. 

With their groups, they sketched the shelter they chose, and wrote out the maker supplies that they would like to use when they build. 

On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, we begun the engineering process. Thank you so much to our wonderful volunteers for all of your help this week!

This week we finished up our measuring lessons by creating a "measurement garden". The students colored pictures of different sized flowers. They then glued them down from tallest to shortest. We used a ruler to measure the length of each flower and then wrote down how many inches for each flower.

We started exploring different coins this week as well. So far, we learned about the penny and the nickle. The kindergartners practiced counting and adding the total number of coins through various activities throughout the week.

You may now work up to page 98 in your child's math home learning book.

Kindergarten Play Time:

Important Reminders:

Literacy:

The studenst are showing great growth in their independent learning notebooks. Each day, they gain a new skill, or continue to practice skills that they are close to mastering. 

Current skills being practiced in their books:

• Building CVC words (Consonant/Vowel/Consonant)

• Words that contain digraphs (sh, ch, th, ph, wh)

• Heart words (Sight words, that are words we have to memorize by heart)

Writing:

In their writing journals this week, the students had some time to use their creative writing skills. They illlustrated drawings and wrote 2-3 sentences to go along with their pictures. 

On Friday, we used the writing prompt, "I wish I could...." and the students had to come up with something they wish the could do, be, or see. It was fun to read what their answers were!

PBL:

Thinking Routine: I see, I think, I wonder.

• For this thinking routine, we observed many different types of shelters or homes and identified what we see, what we think, and what we wonder. 

• This helped the students prepare their thinking before they will be choosing a home or shelter with their groups to engineer.

Thinking Routine: Claim Support

• To prepare for this thinking routine, we observed a picture of a type of home. 

• Together we talked about how this shelter would be the best. (Claim)

• Then we described why we think this home would be the best. (Support)

  • "It is made out of strong wood, so it can't be blown down easily."

  • "It has a small chimney, so the wolf cannot go down it."

  • "It is located high in the mountians, so it is safe."

PBL:

The kindergartners completed their chair engineering projects this week! They were hard at work with their small groups, planning, making decisions together, and building their chairs with maker materials. Check out the pictures above with their final products. The pictures below show the building process.

We also started studying a new fairtale this week, The Three Little Pigs. The students worked in their PBL notebooks and identified the characters and setting of the story.

Throughout next few weeks we will continue to explore this fairytale and talk about the problems and soultions. The students will then move to the engineering component for this book, and learn about different types of shelters and homes.

One of the favorite activites in math this week was measuing. We used another new tool to measure items. The students went around the classroom and measured with popsicle sticks. They had to count the total number of popcicle sticks for each object that they measured.

The students are looking forward to exporing a new March calender during Number Corner next week.

Literacy:

We are looking forward to jumping in to new reading units as spring heads this way. Keep up the reading at home, it helps greatly with their progress here in school.

Movement:

The students have begun the process of coreographing their movement piece for the new semester. 

They have been doing a lot of partner work, and addressing our essential question: How do we work together to solve a problem?

PBL:

This week, we shifted to the engineering side of our unit and the students studied different types of chairs. 

We talked about what materials chairs can be made out of, how are they stable or hold weight, and how are chairs constructed.

The students worked together in small groups throughout the week. They had to study and select a chair. Then, they explored different maker materials to use for their chair and write down the materials they were interested in using during the building process.

It was awesome to watch them communicate and listen to each others ideas as they worked collaboratively together. 

Whole Group:

The kindergarteners continued to focus on their phonemic awareness and identify initial/medial/final sounds in words, blend/segment words, and substitute beginning sounds in words. Their favorite whole group activity is to build words on our blending board and identify words using the new phonics rules we have been learning.

Small group:

We did a lot of comprehension of text this week in our small group lessons. The students made predictions before reading the text, shared their thoughts and asked questions during our reading, and then recalled information as well as made connetions to the text after we read. These are strong reading skills that they have been developing.

Independent Work:

The kinders enjoy completing pages in their work books and showing their knowledge. I am proud of how independent they have grown with their literacy skills!

Math:

We have continued to practice addition and subtraction within 10, but took a little detour and added some measuring skills this week.

We measured various objects by measuring with unifex cubes. They had to count the total number of cubes each object was. We also practice measuring in steps, by walking two different lengths in the classroom and identifying which path was the shortest. We will conitnue our study of measurement this next week!

Kahoot:

The whole school Kahoot game in the gym this week was so much fun! It is so wonderful watching our little Étude community work and bond so well together.

PBL:

We wrapped up our Goldilocks and the Three Bears story mapping by completing the Thinking Routine - Think, Feel, Care. This helped us map out our thoughts on the emotions and feelings of the characters, by putting ourselves in their shoes and how they felt throughout the story.

Think: What does the character do in this story? How do you know?

• The students thought of all the problems or key moments from the text.

Feel: If you were this character, how would you feel? Why would you feel that way?

• The students listed all the emotions the characters might be feeling throughout the story.

Care: If you were this character what would you care about? What would be important to you?

• The students discussed what would be important for the characters to do as a solution.

Then, we moved to the engineering side of our project based learning and started to explore different types of chairs. 

We did another Thinking Routine - I see, I think, I wonder. This helped us share our thinking as we observed images of chairs. We talked about what materials they may be made out of, what makes a chair stable, what shapes and sized they could be...ect.

In the pictures above, you will see the students observing the image of the chair below and working through this thinking routine chart.

Math:

During our Workplace games this week, the students were practicing a variety of skills. They completed activities where they had to double numbers, add numerals together, and correct the mixed up numbers on the number lines.

You may work up to page 82 in your child's home learning book.

100th Day & Valentines Celebration:

We had a wonderful time celebrating our 100th day of school! The students made crowns, drew 100 shapes, and completed a writing activity with the question, "If I had $100, I would buy..."

We also had a very loving day as we celebrated Valentines with our kindergarten family! 

The students passed out their valentines to their friends, we made crowns, did some heart math coloring, created a "what we love" book, and did a little valentine reading!

Important Reminders:

PBL:

This week, we continued to focus on the Fairy Tale: Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Throughout the week the students illlustrated the characters of the story, the setting, and the main problems of the story. We then came up with different types of solutions for the story and the students illustrated their ideas.

On Wednesday, we had a special guest, Mr. Hamm come to read to us. He read a new version of the story called, Goatilocks and the Three Bears. This silly version had Goatilocks eating everything in the bears house!

Next week, we plan to start the engineering process of this unit and we will start making our plans for building different types of chairs.

Reading:

During reading this week, we added some comprehension components to our learning. The students read a text passage and then answered some questions about what they just read. We will slowly begin to work these new skills in to our daily rotations.

The kindergartners have continued to practice their reading fluency through decodable text. They have also continued to show strong skills through our Heggerty lessons with their phonemic awareness

Creative writing has been a delight! I have really enjoyed watching the students fine-motor skills develop as they illustrate detailed pictures. 

We have continued to work towards writing 1-2 sentences using proper spacing and punctuation. Please continue to help your child practice writing at home using their small, tall, and fall letters within the line. We are working really hard at only writing lower case letters in the middle of words. I have attached a helpful chart that we use at school to help guide them.

Math:

Number Corner: We started a new calendar pattern for the month. The students will be practicing to count by 5's as each day, and we will be grouping red and blue dots together. We will also focus on addition by using our groups of 5 dots, and adding how many more.

Math lessons: We did a lot of work with number lines with week within 10. The students counted forward and backward, we unscrambled mixed up numbers, as well as finding the missing numbers on a number line. What a mental workout!

• Valentines: You do not need to send a valentine's box or bag because we made some bags at school. If your child brings valentines, please just fill out the "From: (insert name)" part and not the "To" for each card. When you send your child's valentines, put them in a ziplock or grocery bag labeled with your child's name. We have 20 students in our class this year. 

• Yearbooks are now available to order! Order by March 10th for the best price and to purchase upgrades. After March 10th, prices will increase and no upgrades will be allowed. Yearbooks will not be for sale at the school - all purchases need to go through Harman Studios. 

  • To order: Harmann.com/ordering 

  • School Code: ETUDEYB

• Our art teacher, Beth Held, is in need of cardboard boxes. She is looking for cereal boxes, or any large thin cardboard, as well as corrugated boxes. Please send them in with your child if you are able to help out!

• Click HERE to see the lunch menus for the week.

• Click HERE to see our kindergarten wish list.

Important Dates:

• February 16: NO SCHOOL - Professional Development Day

• March 2: NO SCHOOL - Teacher Records Day

• March 3: NOON RELEASE - Presentations of Learning

• March 4: NO SCHOOL - Presentations of Learning

• March 20-30: NO SCHOOL - Spring Recess

Weekly Specials:

• Monday: Art, Gym, and Rug Routines

• Tuesday: Movement and Library

• Wednesday: Music

• Thursday: Gym and Rug Routines

• Friday: Movement

Music:

In Music class this week, Mrs. Barrett had the students clap out the sounds in various words. She then had them draw the same amount of music notes for each sound. This is a similar activity we do during literacy, but with a fun little musical twist!

Reading:

During literacy time, we added some new skills to the mix! 

We have begun to talk about consonant digraphs, such as sh, ch, and th. The students have been identifying these letters that make a combined sound together in words like, wish, bath, or chip. During Heggerty lessons we have been listening for digraphs in words, in small groups we have been reading words that contain digraphs, and in their independent notebooks, they have been writing words that contain digraphs. Busy, busy!

The kindergartners have continued to enjoy creative illustrating and writing times. I love reading they stories and sentences they come up with! The learning goal is to write 1-2 sentences to go along with their illustrations. Keep practice writing at home!

PBL:

Important Reminders:

Literacy:

We had very strong literacy learning this week!

During whole group lessons: We did a lot word building by blending and segmenting sounds in words. We also identified the initial, medial, and final sounds. Have your student show you our roller coaster hand movement to find the middle sound in a simple CVC word.

During small group lessons: Students have continued to work in decodable text, focusing on their reading fluency, and story identification skills. Keep practicing those books at home!

During writing time: The kindergarteners have enjoyed working in their creative writing journals. They have been creating detailed illustrations and coming up with 1-2 sentences to go along with their drawings.