Mar. 18-22

3-22-13          

KB News

Lead 21 –Literacy: Let’s Celebrate Unit theme “Why do we celebrate?”  This week we focused on the question, “What are special family celebrations?”

Math: Please have the children continue to review math skills. Skills to practice include: counting by 1’s to 115, 2’s to 20, 5’s to 100, 10’s to 100, backwards from 20, identification of numbers 1 to 20, and writing the numbers 1 to 20.

Science: We have been learning about Spring Weather. Yes, learning about Spring Weather has also included the word “snow” this year.  The main focus has been on rain, wind, and sun.  The children have learned the song “Rain” and enjoy singing it as they work on their science projects in class.

 Jolly Phonics: The children have been working hard on learning all the words on the Tricky Word Chart 1.  They are doing a great job of reading and writing them.  Soon they will be moving on to the Tricky Word Chart 2 words.

Writing: The children have been exploring nonfiction books. We have read such stories as Mr. Santizo’s Tasty Treats by Alice K. Flanagan and Airport by Byron Barton.

Important Date:

            Mar. 27^th- 3 hr. early dismissal

            Mar. 29^th & Apr. 1^st No School Spring Break

Mar. 4 - 8

Lead 21 –Literacy: Let’s Celebrate Unit theme “Why do we celebrate?”  This week we focused on the question, “What are everyday celebrations?”

Math: Please have the children continue to review math skills. Skills to practice include: counting by 1’s to 115, 2’s to 20, 5’s to 100, 10’s to 100, backwards from 20, identification of numbers 1 to 20, and writing the numbers 1 to 20.

Science:     Last fall Crestwood Elementary 5^th grade and kindergarten teachers wrote a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) grant for KidWind.  In October we were notified that we received this grant.  We have recently begun our KidWind projects.  Students have been involved in using real scientific scenarios to help teach students to think critically so that they can make informed decisions about wind energy in the future.  Students are learning the difference between a windmill and a wind turbine.  This week students worked in small groups to make blades for their turbines.   Each group designed and tested wind turbines and used problem solving to improve the wind energy of their projects. Students will be displaying their projects during our literacy and technology night on March 14^th.

Important Date:

            Mar. 6^th – World Read Aloud Day

Feb. 18-22

Lead 21 – Literacy: Outdoor Explorers Unit theme “What can I learn when I explore the outdoors?”  This week we focused on the question, “How can we take care of nature?”

Writing: We read the book When Sophie Gets Angry – Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang.  The students had the opportunity to write about and share  a time when they were angry.

Math: This week the children were able to use a magnifying glass to examine pennies and nickels.  They also discovered that counting nickels was easy, just count by 5’s.

Social Studies: To help us learned about President’s Day we read the book Just Like Abraham Lincoln by Bernard Waber.

The children discussed what they want to be when they grew up.

Science: We started exploring wind by making whirly choppers.  The fifth graders will be our partners working on the STEM KidWind project . They will be our partners while we strive to learn about wind energy and build wind turbine blades over the next couple of weeks.

School Spirit: The children created they own “Crestwood Cadet “ people to promote sportsmanship and show their support for all activities at Crestwood.  Their Cadet people line the elementary hallway using mega phones to shout supportive words to all.

Important Dates:

Feb. 27^th – 3hr. early out

Mar. 1^st – Read Across America – Celebrate Dr. Suess’ birthday

Feb. 4-8

Welcome to the KB Blog.  Check out this blog for the latest happenings in our classroom.
  2-8-13      

KB News 

Lead 21 –Literacy: Outdoor Explorers Unit theme “What can I learn when I explore the outdoors?”  This week we focused on the question, “What do I see in nature?”

Writing: This week the children learned how to reflect on  previous stories they had written and add more words to them.  We are working on “adding more” to our stories and pictures.

Math: “How Big Is A Foot?”   The children found out why it is important to have a standard unit of measure.  They traced and cut out their own foot-sized pattern on construction paper.  Then they measured different items in our classroom.  They soon discovered that not everyone had the same measurement for the same item.

Handwriting: We worked on writing the upper case letters X and Y.  The students have now completed their handwriting books and will continue to practice writing the letters of the alphabet.

Science: We started our quest to learn about penguins.

100^th Day of School Celebration:  We had a great time celebrating the 100^th day of school with the other kindergarten classes.  A big thank you to all of our parent volunteers that manned the various 100^th day activity stations.

Music:  The children did a great job singing at the K-1 music program Tuesday!  Thank you to all the friends and family members that were able to attend the program.

Important Dates:

Feb. 11^th and 12^th – Parent/Teacher Conferences 

 (2:14 Dismissal both days)

            Feb. 14^th – Valentine’s Party (Please send all valentines to school before Feb. 14^th.)

            Feb. 15th and 18^th No School

KB 100th Day of School Celebration