Crew News April 25th, 2024

 Announcements 

iReady Testing: Next week, we will be doing our End of Year iReady Diagnostic in reading and math. We will break the testing time into 10-15 minute sessions twice a day. Students who need additional time can finish the following week. What can you do to help your child do their best on these assessments? Please help your child to get good rest over the upcoming long weekend. This is especially important towards the end of the weekend as often after a long weekend there are many very tired kids to start the week. Please also encourage your child to take their time and do their best on these assessments. Lastly, please make sure your child has a good breakfast and healthy snacks. The children have grown SO much this year and it’s their time to shine!  

Camp Elim Information Meeting: Thank you for coming to our meeting on Wednesday. We hope that it was helpful! Ms. Ashley will be sending out a follow-up email next week with a link to the slideshow. If you were not able to make it, I will contact you about an alternate time. 

Calendar
April 26: No School- Professional Development
April 29-May 3: iReady End of Year Diagnostic
May 1: Art Walk 4:15-6
May 3rd: Community Reading 8:30-9am
May 15-16: Overnight Voyage to Camp Elim
May 17: Day of Rest (No school for kindergarten)
May 22: Student Led Conferences- Here is the sign-up for reference.
May 31: Elephant & Piggie Plays 8:45-9:45am

Crew Highlights: 

This past Monday was Earth Day! Students learned about how to take care of our planet, composting, and The Three Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle.

In phonics, we were working on the letter V and Q. We will continue to review Q and how it is “best friends” with U. We reviewed our latest sights. Many students are still finding these challenging, so if you have a minute to practice, please practice: are, come, have, here, look, me, said, & two. Shaving foam, rice or sand, play doh, or scavenger hunt for reading then spelling words out loud are some fun suggestions. I have postponed the phonics assessment to next Wednesday. For reference, here is our updated phonics list. 

In reading, we used the mentor text Alvarro’s Snow Day to learn about a drama. Students learned that drama is a kind of play which has characters, setting, and stage directions. The events of the story are told through the actions of the characters. We can use clues about the feelings of the characters and details from the illustrations to support understanding of what is happening.

 In writing, I am SO PROUD of the work that students are doing with Opinion Writing. Already they have shown incredible growth with stating their opinion at the beginning and supporting it with 2-3 reasons why. This week, we added goals to use sketches (quick illustrations) before writing to help generate more reason why before writing and then restating their opinion at the end. Bravo to our writers!

In math, students were finishing up the unit on Compose and Decompose 8 and 9. We have started to incorporate addition math facts into our Morning Meeting to practice these skills outside of workbook pages. A lot of students are using their fingers, which is okay, but our goal is to build an understanding of how number pairs can equal 6, 7, 8, or 9 without using fingers. 

In our study of weather, we learned about clouds. We had the perfect opportunity on Monday to go outside and be “weather watchers” on a cloudy day. We were able to spot all 4 types of clouds. Then in our Weather Logs, we have practiced labeling our illustrations with the cloud type. We defined them and sang a song as: cirrus- thin & wispy; stratus- low like a blanket; cumulus- white & puffy; cumulonimbus- dark & stormy! Then, as an EXCITING bonus, we got to visit the “Starlab” in library this week. This was an inflatable dome shaped planetarium which offered an immersive learning experience. To connect to our expedition, the first part was about clouds and weather. Then we got to learn about stars, stories and legends of the stars, and constellations. It was incredible! A huge thank you to Ms. Erin and Ms. Kristen for making this such a memorable experience for our Crew! 

Lastly, our Crew did a “Save the Chocolate Challenge.” Students were tasked with helping a friend prevent her chocolate from melting on a sunny day. Students used classroom materials and an ice cube to test out their solutions. Unfortunately, no one was able to “save the chocolate,” but a GREAT discussion came after, when students came up with several ideas of what they would do differently next time. Some ideas included using white materials to reflect the sunlight, cover the sides so no sunlight could get in, and put something on the bottom so the warm ground would not melt the ice cube. GREAT IDEAS! These papers went home on Wednesday. If you have a moment over the long weekend, try out these new solutions with an ice cube on a sunny day for 2-3 hours. Send me a picture! I would love to see what they come up with and how it goes!

Here are a few more pictures of being "Weather Watchers."

Entering the Starlab

First we saw clouds and the sun's path during the day.

Then we saw the milky way and the stars at night.

Students got to learn about different constellations.

Here were images that the ancient Greeks envisioned when telling stories about constellations.

(The red line was from Ms. Erin's laser pointer.)

The dragon was very popular.

We learned the story of Orion.

What an incredible experience!!

Bike riding with Mr. Doug!

Have a wonderful long weekend, and I will see you on Monday!

~Ms. Lauren

Crew News April 18th, 2024

Announcements 

Gear Swap: Next Wednesday from 1-1:30, parents are welcome to stop by the Gear Swap tables to pick out any gear that might be needed for our upcoming voyage to Camp Elim or any Winter Gear that might be needed for next year. Everything is FREE! This is a lovely Renaissance tradition because we know how fast kids grow and need larger sizes. Then we encourage you to donate gently used gear back to the Gear Swap when clothes have been outgrown. Please check it out and take advantage! (Hiking shoes, rain gear, synthetic clothes, layers, jackets, and so on!) There are sizes for all ages including adults!

 ***Camp Elim Information Meeting: Please don’t forget to sign up for the Mandatory Camp Elim information night. Please Sign Up Here. We would like to get a headcount and make sure we have one parent represented from each family. Please let me know if you are unable to make it so that we can find an alternate time where I can share this vital information with you.

Repeated for Reference:

Save the Date: May 22nd Student Led Conferences

We are already thinking ahead to our end of year Student Led Conferences! Can you please sign up for a 30 minute time slot that both you and your child can attend. Conferences will take place May 22nd. Please Sign Up Here.

Save the Date:  Ms. Lauren’s Crew will be performing Elephant & Piggie plays on Friday May 31st at 8:45-9:45. This will be a delightful event that you won’t want to miss!

Community Reading: We will be pausing our Community Reading for the next two weeks, as we do not have school on those Fridays. Thanks and see you for Community Reading next on May 3rd.

Calendar

April 19: No School- Comp Day

April 24: Mandatory Camp Elim Information Meeting 4:30-5:30. One parent or guardian from each family must attend, we have tons of information to share! Chaperone meeting immediately following from 5:30-6pm. Please Sign  Up Here

April 26: No School- Professional Development

May 1: Art Walk 4:15-6, more info to come!

May 15-16: Overnight Voyage to Camp Elim

May 17: Day of Rest (No school for kindergarten)

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

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

Crew Highlights: 

In phonics, we were working on the letter Y. We added come and here to our sight word list. Next week we will have our phonics assessment. For reference, here is a list of the sight words that students should have mastered, as well as a look at what is coming up next. I encourage you to review: are, come, have, here, look, me, said, & two.

In reading, we continued working on the central idea, important details, cause, and effect. We used two mentor texts to compare and contrast similarities and differences. These texts were about the four seasons, which lends itself perfectly to our conversations about weather in expedition.

 In writing, we began a unit on Opinion Writing. We defined opinion writing as writing about what you think or feel. We have been experimenting with sentence starters such as “I like _____ because _____.” Students are working on adding 2 reasons to support their opinion. We talked about how it is okay to have different opinions and that is important to always be respectful of other opinions, even if you disagree.

*The published writing that students shared at our Writing Celebration went home today. You will notice that students did a self assessment to reflect on a rubric of the criteria we have been working on during our  Personal Narrative unit. Then I scored these rubrics and the skills that your child is showing mastery of in this writing piece. Lastly, students completed a Writing Reflection to identify what they are feeling proud of, thoughts about sharing with an audience, what was a challenge in this unit, and what is a goal in future writing. This was a great exercise which shows how much students have grown in their writing, actively monitoring their progress, creating self-identified goals, and increasing thoughtful reflection of their growth as writers. Bravo! Please take one last moment to celebrate your child with this great published writing with their rubric and self reflection.

*This week during literacy rotations, students were writing about the books we have been reading in small groups. I sent these writing pieces home because I am seeing some wonderful growth! We practiced writing 1-2 sentences together and drawing people that were not stick figures (details with clothing, face, and hands). Check it out!

In math, students finished Compose and Decompose 6 and 7, and now we are working on 8 and 9. In kindergarten, we go slow to go fast. We are building a solid foundation of number partners to make these numbers which helps with number sense and quickly being able to add/subtract numbers 0-10. 

In our study of weather, we have learned about the wind, sun, and fog this week. Students have been sponges for learning new facts. For example, they learned that the sun is a star, it would take a fast car three years to drive around it, and we rely on the sun for growing our food. Be sure to ask your child for a new weather fact each day! We have continued to fill out our daily Weather Log (today was exciting with all the fog and rain!). Lastly, we took some time to color a tree through all the seasons. Ask your child to tell you the four seasons and something about each.

A highlight of our week was the visit from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. This was one of the prizes that our school earned from meeting a goal in RAD (Renaissance Adventure Day). We loved seeing and learning about a chicken, lizard, ferret, python, and tortoise. Ask your child about their favorite!

At the end, students had the opportunity to pet the tortoise!

Bike riding with Mr. Doug was another Wednesday highlight!

Crew photos went home in Take Home Folders, for those who ordered one. If you are interested in one, please reach out.

Next Monday is Earth Day! We look forward to celebrating with a lot of learning about how to take care of our Earth!

Enjoy the long weekend!

~Ms. Lauren

Crew News April 12th, 2024

  Announcements 

Save the Date: May 22nd Student Led Conferences

We are already thinking ahead to our end of year Student Led Conferences! Can you please sign up for a 30 minute time slot that both you and your child can attend. Conferences will take place May 22nd. Please Sign Up Here.

These conferences will be 30 minutes long with three ten-minute stations (the order may vary): 1) your child will share with you selected samples of learning; 2) your child will share with you reflections of learning with courage, acting with passion and changing the world; and 3) your child will share their learning in expedition. The format of the student-led conference allows three conferences to occur simultaneously. 

Parents: 

-It is preferred to not have younger siblings present so that the focus is on the student.

-Please ask probing questions! Students will have prepared to speak about their selected works, but it is very beneficial to ask them questions about why they were selected.

-If you have any outstanding concerns or questions, please request a meeting for another time. This is purely a celebration conference.

***Looking forward to celebrating your child and all of the growth from this school year!

Save the Date:  Ms. Lauren’s Crew will be performing Elephant & Piggie plays on Friday May 31st at 8:45-9:45. This will be a delightful event that you won’t want to miss!

Community Reading: We will be pausing our Community Reading for the next two weeks, as we do not have school on those Fridays. Thanks and see you for Community Reading next on May 3rd.

Calendar

April 19: No School- Comp Day

April 24: Mandatory Camp Elim Information Meeting 4:30-5:30. One parent or guardian from each family must attend, we have tons of information to share! Chaperone meeting immediately following from 5:30-6pm. Please Sign Up Here

April 26: No School- Professional Development

May 1: Art Walk 4:15-6, more info to come!

May 15-16: Overnight Voyage to Camp Elim

May 17: Day of Rest (No school for kindergarten)

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

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

Crew Highlights: 

In phonics, we were working on the letter K. We added look and me to our sight word list. We have worked on phoneme addition, for example, “if I have -it and I add /k/ it becomes… kit!” Our phonics and reading unit are about Weather & Seasons, which parallels our new expedition. In our phonics booklets, students are decoding and writing about weather-related topics.  For reference, here is a list of the sight words that students should have mastered, as well as a look at what is coming up next. 

In reading, we used the mentor text Weather and The Seasons to learn more about cause and effect. When the weather is cold (cause), people wear jackets (effect). We continue to work on identifying the main idea and important details of a text, both in whole group and in small group. 

 In writing, we are celebrating the end of our Personal Narrative Unit. In addition to telling a story that has a beginning, middle, and end, students have experimented with writing elements, such as the setting, speech bubbles for dialogue, and having a 1-3 word title. Students worked on thoughtful illustrations to match their words, that included details to help tell more about the story, have non-stick figure characters, and all parts colored in. This week, students looked through their folder of work and selected one piece that they wanted to “publish.” To publish, students spent time on editing and cleaning up their writing (adding periods, capitals, making sure sight words were spelled correctly, and adding more sounds to unknown words). Students added their Title Page and “Meet the Author” page. On Thursday, students did a self assessment using a rubric to reflect on themselves as writers, while looking at their published writing. Then, they had some time to put finishing touches on making their writing even better and ready for an audience. Over the weekend, I plan to assess these as well. Their published writing  will be sent home next week, so it is no problem if you were not able to join us today. As one last piece, students did a learner reflection on Friday to pause and record what they are proud of, how it went celebrating with an audience, what was a challenge in this unit, and a writing goal to continue working on.

*A huge THANK YOU to those who were able to join us for our writing celebration. How wonderful to celebrate their hard work in their unit and their growth as writers in kindergarten! 

*We cleaned out our writing folders, so you can see samples of all of our Personal Narrative Unit. There is a page directed to parents that gives you some ideas of probing questions to ask as you look at these samples with your child. (Published writing will go home next week).

In math, students were working on the units called Counting Within 100. We have been rote counting up to 100 by ones, 10s and by grouping objects. This week's lessons build on that by developing strategies to keep track of what we have already counted, learning to group by 5s or 10s to simplify, and going back to count again and check our own work. Doing our "How many days have we been in kindergarten" count every morning as part of Calendar time has really shown to deepen their understanding! Then we started a unit called Compose and Decompose 6 and 7. Students used ten frames, manipulatives, and drawings to show different ways to make six and seven. Students would record these equations as 3+4=7 or 1+5=6. You can tell their number sense is growing!

Our new expedition starts off with a study of the Weather. Students described what they already know about weather and what questions they have. Then we did a pre-assessment which will help capture growth from this unit of study. To begin investigating patterns of weather, students have started a Weather Log, where each day we record the temperature and a description of the weather in words and pictures. I have created a class Weather Graph so that we can look at trends of the type of weather and the temperature. Today, we learned more about wind, as we made and launched paper airplanes with our 4th grade buddies!

Learning in action!

On Wednesdays, students will be riding bikes with Mr. Doug. They are learning about different motions to push off with their feet which helps develop skills and confidence. Then, when students demonstrate they are ready, Mr. Doug will add pedals. Our Crew loved their first experience with bike riding!

Snap shots of our Writers Celebration

Making paper airplanes with our buddies.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, FLY!

Speaking of buddies, we loved seeing Ms. Annie's 4th graders present at The Beat about perseverance.

Big high fives after!

We made them a card to congratulate them on a job well done!

Volunteers from our Crew have been presenting to other Crews about our service project. We are collecting old markers, pens, and pencils in a box outside our classroom. At the end of the year, we will weigh the box and see how many pounds of markers we are saving from the landfill. The box will be sent to a recycling program through Terracycle.

Have a great weekend!

~Ms. Lauren