St. Patrick's Day

In the upcoming events section below, I have many dates through April. Though these dates seem far out, the number of things going on at this time of year can sneak up on you so I wanted to make sure you had the dates as far out as possible.  I will do my best to keep  it updated each week.

Late last week we started yoga in our classroom.  We have little dots all around our room (evenly spaced out) called "exercise dots" During yoga time (in morning circle) students hear quiet music and try their best to copy me in various poses. They then work on taking deep yoga breaths. These wake up our brains (kids then kiss their brain good morning) and their hearts to love their classmates (kids kids their heart) and prepare them for the day. We also talked about how this can be used to help us calm down. I overheard 2 kids already on Monday tell a friend, "STOP, take a yoga breath!"....AND IT WORKED!! Have your child show you some moves and if they get upset encourage them to try a yoga pose or yoga breath!

This week we  had a little visitor!  Each night, the leprechaun got into trouble in our room and left us little notes.  The notes encouraged the students to write him notes, draw him maps, and build traps (and label them do not break).  It was nice to see kids writing that do not typically do so!



Students have begun to measure using non-standard measurement--in this case cubes.  Students had to put cubes from one dot to the other across St. Patrick's Day themed stuff and then write that number.  Our number writing is getting better, but keep working on that at home!

One day this week, the leprechaun asked the kids to mix colors to discover what made his favorite color, green.  Students used q-tips and stirred together colors to discover that blue and yellow make green!

Our sensory table was filled with "liquid gold" (clear elmers glue, liquid starch, and glitter).  It did not work out as the directions said, but the kids still had a blast playing with it!

Students made a spring rainbow by reading the color words on the rainbow.  If they didnt know the whole word, we problem solved by sounding out the first letter sound and thinking what color starts with that sound (thank goodness the colors all start with different letters).  Students then asked for that color, ripped it up, and filled it in their rainbows.  Ripping works on the fine motor skills critical for writing and other activities later in life.  They then cut out the rainbows and 2 clouds and now our halls are oh so colorful!

The letter of the week was Xx. We learned the sign language for a letter, the literacy link sound symbols, the letter sound, and looking at and writing it in both capital letters and lower case letters.  Click here to view the many ways we learn the letter of the week!

Each week we watch letter videos from "Have Fun Teaching" and the students are really picking up the names of letters, formations, and the sounds of letters.  Check out these videos with you child!  Click HERE.

The Tuesday project of letter of the week is to decorate a letter with something that starts with the letter. This week we decorated the letter Xx to look like an x ray.  On Thursday, our letter of the week project was to read a page from our alphabet book, X is for X-ray.

Upcoming Events:

• Book Order due March 27.  Please click on the link for scholastic at the top of this page.  When you buy books for your child, it helps buy books and supplies for our classrooms. FINAL BOOK ORDER WILL BE DUE MAY 15.
• Spring Break runs March 30-April 5.  
• Classes Resume Monday April 6.  St. Edward school does not resume on Monday like the district.  We will be in session, but the only ones in the building.  There will be no Extended day with Mrs. Zajicek or After School Care with Mrs. Schmitz offered.  Students ALL must be picked up by 11.
• Spring Family Event at HES April 9.  Permission slips came home, please do your best to get these in.  This is very similar to the 4k family fun night we had in the fall with a variety of fun centers spring based.  I send the numbers to the teachers at HES so please send the slips in so I can pass on that number.
• Our school will be going through the Accreditation process April 13-15.  There will be additional people in our building observing the classroom/school environment as well as the teachers.  
• Final Reading with the Stars will be Monday April 20.
• Graduation Photos April 22 during class time. We have a professional photographer (the same one that did school photos) come and take pictures of your child in Graduation gear (provided by her).  You will have the opportunity to purchase these photos like you did the school photos.  We will be sending out permission/payment envelopes.  Please be sure to turn these in regardless of whether you intend to purchase--we cant take their picture without your permission.  We use the photos in the graduation slide show.
• Spring Field Trip April 23.  Permission slips will be coming out right after spring break.  We will be going to Mosquito Hill in New London to talk about how animals wake up in spring.  Students will need to be dressed for the weather and hiking outside.  If you are interested in chaperoning and have not done so already please take the VIRTUS class and fill out all the appropriate background checks.  These take time so you can start now before the permission slips come out.
• St. Edward Spring Program April 29 (All St. Edward Families) will participate in.  It is a Matinee and evening show times. Hortonville families will receive a permissions email (like the Christmas program) closer to the date to watch the matinee performance.

Important Notes:

•  Dress for the weather.  Please send your child dressed for the weather as we go outside as long as it is not raining or below 0*(students are more than welcome to bring layers daily or to leave in their lockers)  It may also be time to change out the change of clothes to make sure they are weather appropriate.  If you send a new change of clothes, we will send the warm weather clothes in their backpacks.
• Folders. Please be checking your child's daily folder each night.  We put notes on the notebook pages in their folders as well as any notes we may have for you.  Artwork is also sent home this way. As we start letter of the week, we will also start sending home homework to help reinforce the letter concept and identification.  Please work on this with you child to help the students make the connection between home and school. 
• Also, Please check the student's Wednesday Folders.  Please try to take info out and return the folder and any forms/info/payments in those folders a day or two after receiving. 
• Literacy Bags come home every three weeks.  Students will have a week to complete the project inside and can then return the bag with completed sheets in it on TUESDAYS.
• Library Books come every week.  We go to library on Monday and student have the opportunity to check out a book and keep it for a week. It can be kept in their back packs or at home, but please remember to bring it on Mondays.

Next Week:
Theme: Spring.Easter
Letter of the Week: None--make up any missing letters
Snack: Van Camp