Crew News June 6th, 2024

  Announcements

Beginning of Year

End of Year

Public Service Announcement: You now have 1st graders!!!

Electronic Progress Reports: Electronic Report Reports (EPRs) are available starting on Saturday through EngagedED. Click here for more information on how to access the EPR.

Teacher Assignments: You will receive an email on July 15th with the name of your first grade teacher. Ms. Mikaela and Ms. Madi are our two first grade teachers for next year, and I cannot say enough wonderful things about both! 

Calendar

June 6th: Last Day of Kindergarten! 

Mid July: First Grade Teacher Assignments will be emailed to you.

August 7th: First Day of First Grade!

Crew Highlights

A special tradition at Renaissance is to have an All School Drum Circle led by our graduating 6th graders. They led us in drumming, and every 6th grader shared a quote with words of wisdom. 

It is so inspiring to see where our kindergarteners begin with drumming and then to them six years later- confidently leading over 400 students in a drum circle!

Getting ready

Our crew did a great job watching the signals and matching the beat.

Final buddy time!

Our crew made their buddies sweet cards. 

The 4th graders wrote a final note in the Buddy Journals.

What a special treasure for our Kindies to bring home!

As a surprise, the 4th graders awarded their buddies with the COURAGE crew value stick. This was to acknowledge all the bravery that our kindergarteners showed over the year- in reading & writing, speaking at the Beat, sleeping away from home on their first voyage, and performing their Elephant and Piggie plays. Our Crew was thrilled to be acknowledged in this way!

Hooray for finishing our math books.

There is a cumulative review at the end of the book if students would like to complete it over the summer.

Our final crew drum circle!

Drumming together creates an incredible sense of belonging, and it has been such a highlight to drum every week together.

June birthdays!

Happy Birthday William!

Happy Birthday Ashton!

Happy Birthday Miriam!

Our week was full of wonderful read alouds.

I love reading to our crew. 

These moments felt extra precious this week.

Look! Our sunflowers are already blooming. 

Just like the seeds of learning that we planted in kindergarten, I cannot wait to hear about how our Crew continues to grow!

And just like that, it was our final day.

Hooray, we saved 37 pounds of markers, pens, and pencils from the landfill! 

What a meaningful act of service!

At our final circle, everyone shared something that they loved about being in our Crew this year. We passed yarn as we did our appreciation circle, and by the end we could see how we are all connected as CREW! 

I cut snippets of the yarn that can be kept as keepsakes. I tied mine around my pencil cup, so that when I see it, I will think of our wonderful year together. :)

Everyone signed each other's All About Me book.

I hope you enjoy this special treasure forever. :)

Fun coloring:

Peace Out Kindergarten! Hello Summer!

Ha!

Monkeys Bars have been off limits all year, but TODAY since they are becoming first graders, our crew got to take a turn on them.

Last CREW handshake!

We Are CREW!

And... TA DA! The Magic!

They are NOW first graders!!!

And that's a wrap! 

Martha and I would like to say... It has been such a pleasure working with everyone this year. What an amazing group of families! Thank you for all of your warm acknowledgements and support this year. It was truly a privilege to be part of your child's journey. 

My heart is overflowing with joy and pride.

Everyone earned their WE ARE CREW stick today!

Thank you for a great year! 


With love,
~Ms. Lauren

Crew News May 31st, 2024

 Announcements

A Note About Our Final Days Together: I do not count down to the end of the school year. For some children, this creates anxiety of the unknown and emotions about this wonderful time together coming to an end. What I do say is "We still have a lot to learn and do in Kindergarten together!" Routines breed security and so, we strive to keep our routines as normal as possible in these final days. We will engage in a number of activities which help give closure to the year within our classroom. Our crew will have one last get together with their 4th grade Buddies. They will get to share about their favorite parts of Kindergarten and hear from both First grade teachers. We do not do a Kindergarten graduation or party on the last day. We reserve graduation for our outgoing 6th graders, who will be leading our whole school drum circle on Tuesday.

Last Day: At the end of school on Thursday 6/6, please meet us outside the front doors. Our crew will exit out through the doors for the last time as Kindies at 12:45. We tell the children that as they step outside "the magic happens" - they become First graders! This ritual helps the children to end kindergarten on a happy note rather than being sad. We will be able to take pictures and say our "goodbye for now"s at that time. 

Materials Coming Home: Today I will be sending home items seen at our conferences. I would recommend keeping these. :) Next week, we will be cleaning out our materials bins and all additional materials. Also next week, we will send home the change of clothes & All About Me books. Drums remain at school unless you are leaving Renaissance. Please make sure your child has a backpack at school each day, so we can send items safely home. 

Lunch Schedule: You may have noticed that the lunch schedule is not posted on the REMS website. Our kitchen staff is trying to use the remaining food they have, so the lunch menu for next week is undetermined. This includes Thursday’s lunch, which is usually pizza day. You might consider packing lunch for your child so they know what they will be eating.

Nurse Office: If your child has medication in the health suite, please be sure to pick this up by our last day of school, Thursday, June 6th. 

Log Your Volunteer Hours: Please spend a few minutes to update Track-It-Forward with your family's volunteer hours. This will allow PCF to determine our grant eligibility and track parent engagement! 

Summer Learning : A few of you have asked about continuing your child’s learning over summer break. The #1 thing I recommend over summer is reading. Here is a link to the Douglas County Summer Reading Program, this is a great way to encourage your child to read daily. 

One of the companies we use for an intervention resource recently shared this amazing summer resource: K-2 Summer Reading. Given this one is for K-2, you might find that some of the skills are beyond where your child is currently working. That said, there are a number of other ideas here that could be beneficial for all students. 

Additionally, iReady lessons will be available for use over the summer until July 18th. You can access this by logging on to Clever. The children are very familiar with these websites. iReady provides lessons and games in both math and reading. Students will be able to access these with their Clever QR codes, which are glued onto their name tag (which will come home next week). Vooks is also a favorite literacy app that can be accessed through their Clever accounts. Vooks is a digital library of animated storybooks. It is a favorite of our Crew!

Calendar

June 6: Last Day of Kindergarten! Dismissal at 12:45

June 9: Electronic Report Cards Available through Parent Portal

Crew News:

In reading, our final unit is on Force and Motion. This is a great review of what we learned with simple machines, and it gives us some new text to deepen our understanding. We read the mentor text Forces and Scientists Who Changed the World. Students have been working on asking questions, identifying the central idea & important details, and learning about the text features of a biography. 

In phonics, we have been learning about how the “e” at the end of the word makes a vowel say its name. Specifically, we have learned about the i_e and u_e such as in bike or cute. Students are doing a fantastic job of taking on this learning in our workbooks and in their own writing. New sight words include want, put, saw, and this. I encourage practicing words over the summer, making it light and fun. Ex. Writing words in sand or rice and/or doing a scavenger hunt for flashcards around the house or in nightly reading.

In writing, we are doing a mini How To writing unit. We looked at two mentor texts to determine that this kind of writing has numbered steps, in order, explains or teaches something, has many small pictures, and sequential words such as first, then, next, and last. This can be written in paragraph form or in chunks of smaller text. Students hae been experimenting with both kinds of writing paper. It has been fun to hear the variety of topics that students choose to write about, such as how to draw a spider, how to garden, how to get ready for the day, and so on. Today, we watched videos of How To Draw Gerald and How to Draw Piggie. It tied perfectly to our learning in writing and our morning's performances!

In math, we have been working on teen numbers. Students are learning that a teen number is comprised on a ten and some ones. Students will be given a group of objects, circle ten, count the remainder, and then write 10 + 7= 17 (for example). Students have gained so much more precision with counting objects between 10 and 20. I notice that basic addition and subtraction facts are challenging, so I would recommend continuing to practice over the summer.

In expedition, we have alternated between weather and life cycles. At this time, we are focusing on severe weather, such as a tornado, blizzard, thunderstorm, hurricane, and flooding.

Today, students worked in small groups to brainstorm how to prepare and respond to different weather scenarios. 

Students worked together and then we collaborated as whole group to discuss.

Last week, we planted our sunflowers into the outdoor Kindie Garden.

Thank you Ms. Martha for your help!

Our Crew is excited to see our plants grow.

Make sure you check them out in August when they begin to bloom!

On Thursday, our 4th grade buddies helped groups do a dress rehearsal of the Elephant & Piggie performances.

They provided warm support, positive feedback, and helpful feedback for next time. 

Our crew got to put a handprint on their drum!

Thank you to Ms. Staci and our wonderful volunteer parents who helped out!

Applause for our performers!

The highlight of the week was performing Elephant and Piggie plays with Ms. Liesl.

A big thank you for coming this morning to support our kindie performances!

Silly picture!

They did such a fantastic job!

Click Here to see pictures and videos of all the performances!

Wow, it is hard to believe that today was our last Friday together. Looking forward to our last four days together next week. What a special crew. My heart is full!

Your proud kindergarten teacher,

~Ms. Lauren

Crew News and Camp Elim Report May 17th, 2024

 Announcements

See you at Student Led Conferences on Wednesday. I will send out an email with reminders of what to expect early next week.

Calendar

May 21: All Library books are due

May 22: Student Led Conferences- Here is the sign-up for reference.

May 27: Memorial Day: No School

May 31: Elephant & Piggie Plays 8:45-9:45am

June 7: Last Day of Kindergarten! Dismissal at 12:45

Camp Elim Report:

You could feel the buzz of excitment as our Crew came in Wednesday morning!

Our 4th grade buddies made a tunnel to cheer us on, as we made our way to the bus.

Here is a video as we walked out.

Video Credit: Ms. Trena. Thank you!

Our fancy charter bus

Getting everyone buckled in

We made it! 

Welcome to Camp Elim!

Students carried their own gear to the cabins.

Lunch time!

The playground is always a favorite!

And then we were off to our first activity:

The "lake hike" around Manitou Lake.

We had our rain gear on, just in case, but it was not needed during our hike.

We went over our hiking agreements.

And we were off!

Whose tracks are these? :)

Learning about willows

Pikes Peak look absolutely magnificent!

Learning about and spreading seeds of cattails

Happy hikers!

Our adventure ed facilitator, Mr. Cody, taught us all kinds of new things as we made our way around the lake.

Did you know that Ponderosa Pines smell sweet like vanilla or butterscotch?

He taught us a game to play with pine needles (pulling them apart like a wishbone to see who gets the larger piece). This was also a Crew favorite!

Our chaperones commented that our Crew had no problem carrying their daypacks and did not hear any complaints as we hiked. Bravo Crew! So much growth since the beginning of the year!

I loved seeing how our Crew supported each other with words of encouragement and acts of kindness.

We saw 4 pelicans, red winged blackbirds, a blue heron, and Canadian Geese with 3 fuzzy goslings.

I tried to get picures of everyone as they passed by.

Hooray for your kindergarten teachers and our outdoor classroom for these two days!

Students enjoyed looking at the water dam.

Gears! What a fun connection to our learning about simple machines.

What a wonderful hike!

Snack time!

A debrief circle to celebrate our hikers, share highlights, and favorite learning.

After we returned to camp, we did some solo time to do personal reflection with words and pictures.

Their depictions of our hike together were really sweet.

These can be shared at conferences.

Sharing our pictures and words.

Next, we went inside a Ute Teepee.

We learned all about how the Ute Native Americans were a migratory tribe.

Then we gathered around the campfire.

Ms. Robyn from Camp Elim read us a story which told more about the culture of the Utes and we tasted fry bread- Yum!

Teambuilding with Mr. Cody was a blast. It started to rain, but with all the running, I don't think the students even noticed. Hooray for being well prepared for the weather!

They played an integrity game, "Where's My Waterbottle?" and tractor tag.

We had a family style dinner in the cafeteria.

Alfredo chicken pasta, salad, broccoli, garlic bread, and chocolate covered cookies. 

After such a full day, everyone was starving!

A thunderstorm was rolling in, so we did campfire songs and stories indoors.

Our Crew did the "Button Factory" which had everyone in giggles by the end.

You will have to ask your child about the "Berfel Hunt" and the "Purple Gorilla" stories by Mr. Cody.

They were a Crew favorite!

After our campfire circle and closing circle, we said goodnight.

No tears and no rolling off the bed- hooray!

Most cabins did great with following our cabin agreements and were able to get some sleep.

But I'm sure everyone slept hard the night after!

Lining up for breakfast

Hungry campers!

Breakfast options included pancakes, sausage, potatos, cheerios cereal, oatmeal, hard boiled eggs, and yogurt.

Students tried to take a little food at a time to prevent food waste, and they scraped their plates at the end.

Next up: Obstacle Course

I tried to get action shots of everyone.

I am so sorry if I missed anyone!

And then we were off for the forest hike.

The sun was out with only a few clouds. It was beautiful day to be outside!

We played a fun game where students got to act out the parts of a tree: roots, trunk, bark, branches, leaves, and seeds/flowers. 

Photo opp with Pikes Peak in the background.

A HUGE shoutout to our amazing chaperones!

Always gotta have a silly picture!

Our forest hike continued down the hill to some neat rock formations.

Snack time!

Our Crew loved exploring the area.

Then we did a texture scavenger hunt.

Students explored the area with a new lens, of thinking about all the textures of the area.

Back up the hill. Some students sprinted all the way up!

The clouds and the trees made every picture look like it was out of a magazine. 

What a beautiful state we live in!

Back to camp!

Lunch included mac & cheese, chicken nuggets, salad, and watermelon.

The brownies went fast! Haha!

More play time before we left.

The tire swing was a hit!

Cabin Groups

(Oh no! I missed one!)

Feeling a little emotional that this is my last Kindie voyage with Ms. Bethany and Mr. Cody.

Goodbye Camp Elim!

Thank you for an amazing voyage!

Loading up and heading back to Renaissance.

Our final debrief circle.

Oh Crew, I am SO PROUD of every single one of you! It was such a celebration to see the growth of each kindergartner during our time at Camp Elim. Students embraced all of our Crew Values- perseverance, courage, intergrity, stewardship, passion for learning about nature, and service of taking care of each other. Beforehand, we had a lot of conversations about pushing outside comfort zones and having a growth mindset- which was evident in all of our activities. Our Crew was remarkably kind, positive, and upbeat. Even Camp Elim staff shared what a delight it was to have our group come and how impressed they were that this was a KINDERGARTEN group. Our chaperones were truly the best! Thank you for being so helpful and supportive to make this a successful trip for everyone. We could not have asked for a better voyage! I am so thrilled that this was our Crew's first experience with Renaissance voyages, and it sets the tone for all the voyages to come. What a strong foundation of personal growth, friendship, and learning the true meaning of CREW! Our final debrief circle was a true highlight of the whole trip. It is one thing to experience a voyage, but it is just as important to take some time of reflection to think about one's own journey, highlights, and celebrations. Students and chaperones shared heartfelt anecdotes that spoke so highly of our time together throughout the voyage and in comparing the growth of our Crew since the beginning of the year. I am humbled to have been your kindergarten teacher this year and to be part of your child's journey. Celebrating all of our Crew and such an incredible kindergarten voyage.

We Are CREW!

Enjoy the abundance of photos!

Camp Elim 2024 Photo Album

(Check back after Satuday for chaperone photos)

Rest up and I will see you at Student Led Conferences on Wednesday to share our academic celebrations from this year! Hooray for ALL the growth!

With gratitude, 

~Ms. Lauren