Week of March 19, 2012

Hi Families,

It is such a great pleasure to meet with each of you and celebrate all the progress that your child has made this year! This second conference is the last formal meeting we have together (there are two conference times each year). However, I am always happy to meet and talk with you at any time during the school year. Just send me an email and we will schedule a time to get together.

Important Dates
Conferences continue this week.
FRIDAY IS A SCHOOL DAY FOR YOUR CHILD.
After Spring Break Renaissance children return to school on April 10th (Tuesday).

We have enjoyed visits from children in Ms. Marybeth's crew.
The children performed Reader's Theater productions for us. Children in our crew were enthralled by the fluent readers in first grade and had many questions for the performers. Now we are practicing Reader's Theater in our room and know what fluent readers sound like. It is so exciting!

We are engaged in simple experiments connected with motion and we are attempting to find answers to the following questions:

1. What can change how fast or slow an object travels?

2. What indicates which objects will be easier or harder to move?

Understandings about scientists that we are developing include:

1. Recognize that scientists try to be clear and specific when they describe things.

2. Make predictions about the motion of an object.

3. Ask testable questions about the movement of objects.

On Wednesday children are asked to bring small toy cars to school for our experiments. Don't worry if your child doesn't have toy cars. I am sure that friends will be willing to share.

Nathan celebrated his sixth birthday last Tuesday.
We enjoyed delicious fruit kabobs.
Happy Birthday Nathan!

Week of March 12, 2012

Hi Families,


Special Events
Conferences
This week and next week we have conferences.
This time your child will lead the conference.
She/he will talk about how she has grown as a learner and discuss next learning steps.

Expedition 

The children took great care of their plants.

They even read to the plants almost every day.

 Now the flowers have died. Children continue to care for the plants knowing that bulbs can grow again next year. Please be ready to take your child's plants home on Wednesday, March 21st.
I will send instructions for how to continue to care for the bulbs.

We will do a number of simple experiments before Spring Break. When we return we will embark on the second part of our science based expedition. Each child will receive a small living creature to take care of and watch grow.

Poetry Writing
We are learning about poetry and writing our own short poems. Do you enjoy poetry? Have you ever written any poetry? Please share your experience and the poems you love with your child. He/she will love learning more about you!

Math Activities
A Challenging activity for many children is counting down from 20 to 0. Please help your child to become fluent in this skill by practicing with him /her for a few minutes at a time. We create and read bar graphs to find out a variety of things e.g., what was the height of the tallest flowering bulb? What was the height of the shortest bulb?

Spring is Almost Here
Wow!
What wonderful weather we are enjoying! We are even finding baby grasshoppers and bringing them inside to observe and draw. However, the weather can be very changeable. PLEASE send a jacket every day.

See you tomorrow,
Kathy

Expedition News

Hi Families,
Has your child been talking about our plants and what we have been learning? Did he/she come home this week with just the old flower heads and stalk? We discovered that our plants have seed pods behind the old flower heads. Mira even donated her flowers (they were dried and shriveled up) for "research." I cut open the seed pod (under the document camera so that everyone had a close up), and we saw lots of baby seeds inside.
This sparked a discussion about what children wanted to do:
1.  leave the dead flowers and stalk on the plant so that the seeds mature
2.  cut off the flowers and stalk to help the bulb collect more food so that it will produce more flowers next
     year.
As a crew we voted. Two children chose to leave the flowers on the plant and 22 children voted to cut off the dead flowers and stalk. This resulted in the discovery that plants have a gooey, clear liquid called sap. We even saw the hole inside the stalk that water goes up to give the plant a drink! Life is so interesting when you are kindergarten scientists!
The plants will stay at school for a couple more weeks so that we can continue to discuss any changes. I ask that you collect your child's plant on Wednesday, March 21st, after school. The plant can be cared for at home. I will send an instruction sheet home also.

We are looking forward to our student-led conferences!
What a treat, to hear the children talk about their learning!

Kathy