Room 114: A Very Joyous Place for Learning

We took some time on Thursday to paint self portraits!  Love the detail and coordination that is evident at the end of the Kindergarten!  Enjoy these portraits of some of my favorite people in the world!

In reading we are going to be working with the sounds:  Vv, Zz, Yy, and Qu.  Our final two high frequency words are:  come, where.  We are going to have reading instruction up to the last day of school so keep on practicing at home.

In math, we are continuing to work with measurement.  We are also working with addition and subtraction story problems and number sentences.  Kindergarten is still a busy place at the end of the year.

I will begin the end of year assessments this week.  

Monday is Nancy's Italian Ice for $1.00.  The library is closed for inventory so all books need to be returned on Monday.  The children can continue to take AR tests on books from the classroom library and books from home.

We had great fun making our Mother's Day gifts for you.  They also loved wrapping them for you.  I've said it before, if you need some peace and quiet at home, give your child some boxes, wrapping paper and a whole lot of tape.  Concentration and silence comes when there is a task of wrapping a gift.  Plus the result is pride in their hard work!   Check out the wrapping extravaganza here!

I'm sure you are way too busy to play this game, but if you had time on your hands and looking through our poetry journal, you could probably figure out what concept I was trying to work on each week by the poem I chose.  For example, we have a lot of wiggly teeth in our classroom currently so a couple of weeks ago I chose This Tooth.  Lazy Jane was selected at the beginning of the year to cultivate a hard work ethic in Room 114.  Well last week, I selected Hug O'War because after all this time of working and playing together in such close quarters; unkind words,  not much patience and frustration towards friends have slowly moved into Room 114.   So it was time to remind the students of kindness towards each other. Tug O'War is great fun for field day but words and attitudes of tugging and anger are not allowed in Room 114.  However, words of kindness and patience towards others that make you feel good inside are needed.  Plus,  a whole lot of words with the medial sound of "u" can be found in the poem which is what we were studying last week.  Poetry journals will not come home this Friday.  Our final (and very special ) poem will be Friday, May 23.  

We celebrated another special person in our class last week. This person brought such funny and cool pictures to share with us.  We are fortunate to be able to work with this super kid every day!  Check out our celebration of Special Person #18.

I will be out of the classroom on Thursday.  I will be up at school but not as a teacher but as a mom of a first grader.  Hopefully, the substitute I've secured will show this time and I can enjoy the day knowing Room 114 is well taken care of and having a great day!

 Heads up:  The book that I read every year that results in the most emails/questions is Yes Day! by Amy Krause Rosenthal.  This year I decided to let parents know about this book in advance before I read it to the class.  Sometime this week I will read Yes Day! to the children and your child may come home and ask for a Yes Day! at your house.  A Yes Day! is exactly what you can imagine... a day where everything mom and dad says is Yes!  Didn't want to catch you off guard!  At my house, we have a modified Yes Day!  every year while on vacation.  We designate one day of our vacation where each person can pick one thing to do and every other family member has to  say yes..no grumbling or complaining.  The only stipulation at my house is that whatever is selected has to be something everybody in our family can participate in . 

Last year in Colorado our Yes Day! was daddy chose an early morning hike, my oldest daughter chose miniature golf, my youngest daughter chose shopping for stuffed animals and I chose a late afternoon hike.  Our day was full, fun, no complaining and everyone had a part to dictate how our time was spent.  I hope your family takes a Yes Day! concept and gives it your own family's twist.    All your child wants is time with you so give him/her the luxury to choose how part of the time is spent.  Act surprised if your child comes home talking about a Yes Day!  Listen to them explain it to you. Let me know if you adopt this into your family traditions.

We have something very special that involves the number listed to the left!  I'm sure the number you see next to your child's name is one of your favorite numbers in the whole world!  Your secret will be unveiled on Friday, May 23 after the Kindergarten Celebration.  I hope moms and dads are going to be able to attend!  Look for the official invitation on Tuesday of this week.

This upcoming  week is teacher appreciation week. My heart is getting sentimental as the days become shorter in number.  I can't thank you enough for trusting me with your child every day!  I can assure you that I take my job seriously and Room 114 is a very joyous place to work and play.

Upcoming Events:
Friday, May 23 is the Kindergarten Celebration in the lunchroom at 9:00 AM.  We will have a celebration of Room 114 immediately following the Kindergarten Celebration.  You should be able to be back at work by 11:00 AM.   Wear yellow field trip t-shirts and khaki bottoms. 
Thursday, May 29 is the last day of school for students.

Contact me with any questions or concerns.