Be sure to check out the Chinese New Year online book that the kindergarten class created with Karin and a picture from our Dragon Parade with fifth grade reading buddies! Click below and scroll down a few posts… Enjoy!

Kindergarten Book and Parade

Welcome Back! I hope everyone had a relaxing and fun winter break! In light of the snow days before break, students are welcome to pass out their Valentine’s Day cards on Monday. We will also finish up a few 100th Day of School activities from the end of the week. Friday before break we had scheduled our Chinese New Year Lantern Festival and dragon parade. We will instead have our parade this week, possibly as early as Monday depending upon fifth grade’s schedule. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone in the morning and hearing about all of the fun things the kindergarten kiddos have been up to!

Congratulations kindergarten! I am so proud of all of the hard work you put into “publishing” your final pieces!  It was great to see such a wonderful turnout of family, friends, teachers, and other students. You did a fantastic job sharing your books and sharing the treats we prepared with our guests!

When we are writing, we always remember, “When we are done, we have just begun!” Students revisited their work many times to add more “juicy” details. They added more to their pictures, more to their words, and are learning about the editing process (all things that real authors do!). Students also have been learning about the parts of a story (beginning, middle, end, characters, setting, a “story teller voice,” and feelings) and ordering events. Congratulations on a job well done!

Please help our class in welcoming our new pet “Blueberry!” He is a Russian Dwarf Hamster and is small, friendly, and wonderful! During the winter months, the overnight temperature can sometimes dip in the building, so Blueberry will be coming home at night with me. Blueberry might also enjoy the opportunity to get to know the kindergartners better over the weekends! If your family would be interested in babysitting Blueberry for a weekend, please let me know by email which weekends would work best for you and I will arrange a schedule. This is a great opportunity to practice responsible pet ownership, kindness, and care. HOWEVER, Please be mindful that Blueberry is a living thing, NOT a toy! He should NEVER be handled without adult supervision or allowed to roam free and always handled with kind, gentle, hands. He is small, but FAST! Also be mindful if you live in a household with other animals (especially cats!) that Blueberry might not be a good fit. Small animals also have sensitive lungs, so no smoking. Blueberry has his own 10 gallon tank, bedding, food, and everything he needs to be comfortable for the weekend!

I had originally planed on bringing two baby rats into the classroom, but have decided to keep them at home. They are highly social and active creatures that require a lot of time spent outside of their cage. They bond with their caretakers and would be difficult to transport to and from school with such a large cage, and I didn’t feel comfortable leaving them unattended at school. And also I fell in love with them….! But I will share their pictures here: Georgia and Daisy!