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!
