May 16-20

I can't believe it is our last full week of school! It is AMAZING to see how far these students have come. I am so proud of the hard work they continue to do! 

At the end of the year, fourth graders host "mini-courses" where they teach a skill to our 5k-3rd graders.  If you have empty egg cartons, please send them in with your child this week.  We have a group that needs them.  Thanks! 

Upcoming events: 

• May 23: Family Event at the Kaukauna Public Library
• May 26: Half Day--Dismissal at 11:30
• May 27 and 30: No School
• June 1: Field Day--Stay tuned for more info, but if you are thinking about volunteering and will need a background check, please let us know ASAP!  Thanks!
• June 2: Last Day of School--Half Day for Students

What’s happening in Kindergarten this week?

Reading: We will continue acting out our books with a partner.  We will learn that readers think “How does this character feel right now?” and then make their voices, faces, and bodies match that feeling. Also, when readers come to a part where a character doesn’t say anything, they can think, “What might the character say in this part?” and then look closely at the pictures to help imagine those words. By acting out our books, we will develop an even deeper understanding of characters in our books. Partners will retell the story after reading each book. 

Writing: It's editing week! We will use our editing checklists and work with our partners to give suggestions and compliments. After making sure we have said all we want to say and drawn pictures that show many details, our writing will be ready to be published! First, writers will check to see that they have a beginning, speech bubbles, feelings, and an ending with a big action or feeling! Then, we will pay special attention to our sight words, punctuation, and upper and lowercase letters. I can't wait to send home true stories for you to enjoy! 

Math:  We will explore measuring and comparing this week using inventory bags. The inventory bags are Ziploc baggies filled with an assortment of materials and different number materials. We will rotate through the following centers: 

• Inventory bags: The kids choose a bag of items and then count and record the number of items they found.  They also need to check the counting strategy they have used to determine that.  
• Comparing Inventory Bags:   For this activity children will compare 2 inventory bags by dumping them on a divided tray and then organizing and comparing the contents of them.  They then will fill out a sheet that uses comparing words to record their findings.
• Ten Stick Measuring:  Each child needs to build a 10 stick with unifix cubes and will be using it to measure items around the room and find and record things that are longer and shorter around the room.  They should draw/write more than one thing on each side of the paper.  
• A______is longer than a_____________ :   kids are using colored pencils to make comparison drawings of objects they know and then   (Ex.  A ruler is longer than an eraser). There are also a_________is shorter than a__________ pages for them to complete, they can staple together all of the pages they make into a booklet.  

Word Study: We will use the next couple weeks to review all the Kindergarten sight words. We will especially focus on transferring this work to our reading and writing! 

Here are our sight words. 

Science: After building knowledge about balls and ramps, students will have time to create different ramps and test them out! Students will test different size balls, ramp heights, and weight balls. We are so excited to use all of the different materials!