Annual The Very Hungry Caterpillar Day!

Today is the first day of Spring and also the annual The Very Hungry Caterpillar Day!  This year marks the 45th Anniversary of this classic book by Eric Carle.  So we celebrated today:

The Very Hungry Caterpillar marshmellow painting!

Building The Very Hungry Caterpillar by putting the days of the week in order!

Making The Very Hungry Caterpillar hats!

Roll & Draw The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Once we finished our marshmellow painting, we drew some things he eats in the book.  Here, Blake adds a speech bubble: "I'm full."  Love it!

Caterpillar Patterns!

Want to enjoy the book at home together?!  Take a look:

Eric Carle himself reading the book:

Today, your little reader also received his or her Book Package!!!  FINALLY!  :)  Thanks for your patience.  They all promised me they would read tonight, so when you see your child's "I'm a Very Ready Reader," ask him or her to read to you!

I encourage you to take some time to read the information that is included.  I will post more on using this Book Package at home soon.  But, until then JUMP ON INTO READING!

Pete the Cat & His 4 Groovy Buttons!

Oh, we just LOVE Pete the Cat!  Today we read Pete the Cat & His 4 Groovy Buttons and it helped us learn about subtraction!  Take a look and enjoy together at home:


We discussed that subtraction involves things going away or taking away.  When that happens, the number becomes less.  It is different from addition, when things are being put together to make more.

Then, we wrote our own Pete the Cat number story.  Take a look:

Tomorrow, we will learn about the minus symbol and practice writing number sentences to match the story.  What mathematicians!

Report Cards and More

REPORT CARDS:
Your child's second semester Report Card came home with him or her today.  Remember, you sign and date the brown envelope & return it to school.  YOU KEEP what's inside.  I encourage you to review the report card carefully to look for skills that are still developing (marked D).  Those are the skills you should be working on at home.
If you have questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me.  We can also set up a meeting to discuss things.
You also may want to look ahead at the skills we will be addressing in the future.  Start working on those now!

WILD SWAN THEATRE:
Next Friday, March 28th, the Kindergarten & First Grade classrooms will be going to a Wild Swan Theatre Production at Towsley Auditorium at Washtenaw Community College.  We will leave at 9:15 AM and return at 11:45 AM.  Permission slips went home today.  The cost will be $6.

We are in need of a few chaperones, but tickets are limited (they were pre-bought).  We may not get more tickets.  You must also pay $6.  For this trip, the chaperones MUST DRIVE SEPARATE.  We have limited space on the two buses and need to seat 5 classes.  If you are interested, return all of the elements, and I will confirm whether or not you will be a chaperone.  Thank you!

DONATIONS:
Some of our supplies need replenishing.  If you can donate any of the following to the classroom, that would be wonderful!
* Glue Sticks
* Bottles of Glue
* Hand Sanitizer
* Snacks (Easy-to-store: Goldfish or other crackers, pretzels, raisins, etc.)

TOYS IN THE CLASSROOM:

There are a few students who have been bringing toys lately to the classroom.  Please have discussion about keeping toys and other distracting items (distracting jewelry & accessories) at home.  Thank you for your support with this issue.

Skip Counting & Coins

In math, we have been up to learning some important K skills.  Last week, we learned how to count by 2s to 20!  Here is a Math Journal we worked on:

By the end of Kindergarten, your child should be able skip count by:

* 10s to 100

* 5s to 100

*2s to 20

Practice at home often! :)

We also have been exploring coins lately.  We have learned about the penny and the nickel:

So today, we practiced showing the nickel as 5 cents in our Math Journals:

By the end of Kindergarten, your child should be able to identify and tell the value or worth of each coin in cents!

Other Odds & Ends:
* This week, I am working on assessments for the Report Card that will come home on Monday.  If you have some extra time this week and would like to volunteer your time in the classroom, I could use some help getting all the students assessed on some skills.  Please email me if you can help.

* Kaia is missing a pair of snow pants!  They disappeared from the classroom at the end of last week.  The only thing I can think of is that another student took them home by accident.  Please check at home for:  black bibs, size 7, Faded Glory brand.  Thank you!

* TARDIES:
I have noticed over the course of the school year that our class has had an increasing & significant number of tardies.  I do understand that poor weather conditions can contribute to this, but I have noticed a growing trend over the course of the school year.  Please make every effort to make sure your child is in the classroom on time (by 8:48).  The responsibility of the morning routine is important for each child.  We do start our day right away; therefore it is disruptive and detrimental when students are coming in late.  Thank you.

* Book Packages are on their way soon!  Thank you for turning in your reading contracts and sorry for the delay!

Big Day: Rising Scholars!

Today we took part in a special program.  The Rising Scholars from Huron High School spent the morning learning with the Ks at Carpenter!  We read & wrote together, interviewed each other, & had lunch & recess together!  Take a look:

 Saying "Affirmations" as a group.

We had a special PIZZA lunch today with our buddies!  (So your child's lunchbox still may be a bit full.)

And Orange Leaf donated some frozen yogurt today - yum!

Remember, no school on Monday!

Home Reading Book Package

Your child is reading!  March is Reading Month so it's time to share that with you at home.  This week, we will begin to send home a reading book package.  Inside the book package will be various tools to support your child as a reader and a writer.  There will be sets of books your child has read in the classroom as well as new books to experience at home.  The books will be at your child's independent or instructional reading levels:

An independent reading level is the level at which a child can read a text on his/her own with ease. The child makes hardly any errors when reading the text and has excellent comprehension of the story. The child can read the story alone with confidence.

An instructional reading level is the level at which a child needs the support of a teacher, parent, or tutor. This is the level where students are introduced to new vocabulary and is where the greatest progress in reading occurs. Children are reading with 90-95 percent accuracy or better and possess at least 80 percent comprehension on simple recall questions about the story.

This will be a DAILY homework assignment (even on the weekends!).  Your child becomes a strong reader by reading daily!  Your child should read at least 2 books from the package per night and do some sort of word work or writing with it (more ideas to come).  Re-reading the same book multiple times promotes fluency and greater comprehension, so that is also a goal of this assignment.  You will also complete a Reading Log regarding the work you do.  Once per week you should return the package to school for new books.  This can be any day you like (simply when you are ready for new books!).

Much more information is to come but this weekend you should read and discuss the Family Reading Contract with your child.  Please have your child sign it, sign it yourself, and return it to school on Monday!

The books used for this assignment are the books I use for instruction with students.  So it is critical that you take care of the books and return them to school (otherwise I am missing instructional materials for future students).

Thank you for your support and I look forward to sharing in this great reading experience with you!