Egg-stra Fun!

Today our class went on a short field trip to Sheffield Regional Park, located just a little walk away next to New Berlin. The students were eager to get there because they were very excited about getting started with math! That's right, math! Yes, it may have been disguised as a fun filled Easter egg hunt, but this trip was all about showing off math skills. :-)
At the park, the students were given instructions about our egg hunt. They had to find 15 eggs, and not just any 15, but the 15 eggs with their name on them. There were also a few extra smiley eggs, hidden a little more for whoever was able to find them first, and 1 shiny golden egg that was the hardest to find and gave one student a trip to the classroom store to get whatever they want! The students had a great time running around, searching for their eggs, and helping their friends find others. The golden egg was hidden up in a tree branch and the students ran by it several times before it was found. We practiced our counting and adding over and over as each one of the students checked their bag to see how many eggs they had and how many more they needed to reach 15.
When all the eggs were found, the students played a hula-hoop relay to see which group could get the hoop all the way around the circle first. They loved this game and were very excited to cheer each other on. The wind stopped us from having a spoon and egg relay, so we decided to have a hula-hoop-off instead. The kids came up two at a time and showed off their skills to see who could hula hoop the longest. We've got some talented hula-hoopers!
Before we headed back to the school, the students had some free play time and they ran around cheering with their friends and letting their imaginations run wild. 
Thank you for sending in so many eggs and helping to make this trip egg-stra fun!

Click here for more pictures of our egg hunt.

Marvelous March

We are now officially in our last quarter of the 2013-2014 school year! It's amazing to see how much the students have grown and are continuing to grow - both physically and academically. Some of these little guys are going to be taller than me in a few years!

March was a busy month for us. The students enjoyed a long spring break and came back with marvelous stories of all the fun adventures they had while away. We practiced hard for our kindergarten PTA performance where the students melted our hearts with their cute little bunny ears and precious renditions of spring songs. One of their favorites was the "dip the egg" song. Check out pictures of these talented spring singers from our Kindergarten PTA Performance here.

The last day of the month was a fantastic adventure to the nature center at the Amelia Island Plantation. The students spent the day learning about reptiles, sea turtles, and beach life. We started our day with a presentation about reptiles and learned the differences between turtles and tortoises and reptiles and mammals. We even got to meet and pet quite a few of these critters. One of their favorite things to pet was the luscious and soft fur of Speckles the rabbit. The students were also very brave as they felt the scales of the corn snake!
Shortly before lunch, two curious and hungry ducks made their way over to our tables and hung out with us for the rest of the afternoon. We also had visits from a few squirrels, birds, and a great blue heron.
After lunch we walked down to the beautiful sandy shores of the beach where the students participated in a scavenger hunt for things like shells, shark's teeth, sea stars, and coral pieces. While at the beach, we were visited by a small group of dolphins who waved at us with their fins as they swam by! You can see more of our adventure to Amelia Island by clicking here.

As we move into these last few months of school, I encourage you to keep practicing with your child at home. The goal is for students to be reading at an independent level E by the time they leave kindergarten. This requires them to have mastered all of the sight words we have introduced as well as be able to apply concepts like word families, silent e, bossy r, the king of -ing, long vowel teams, and y as a vowel to their reading. If you'd like some examples of level E books to see where your child measures up, check out http://www.readinga-z.com/. As always, thank you for all you do to support your child and this classroom!