THE SHINING STARS

APRIL 2016NEWSLETTER

Dear Families,

Thanks to all who participated in the Red Oak Jog-a-Thon. What a great sense of community, a great way to inspire a healthy lifestyle, and a great way to support Red Oak!

At this time of the year in Kindergarten, there is evidence of so much growth in all the children. It's wonderful to be able to observe all the positive changes and development.

SCIENCE

In recognition of Earth Day, we will be participating in activities relating to our world and the environment. Our science curriculum will also be enhanced by the arrival of some special animal friends as we move into our final science unit, “Animals Two by Two.” Be sure to ask your child about our arrivals.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Our Houghton Mifflin curriculum theme for this month, “Spring is Here,” ties in nicely with Earth Week. In connection with our study of animals, we will be reading some Eric Carle literature, spending a lot of time with The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and learning about some of Eric Carle’s artistic techniques. We are continuing with our phonics and even incorporating some fun games in order to practice our phonics skills. Wow, what amazing readers we are becoming!

SOCIAL STUDIES

We hope your children enjoyed Women in History last month as much as we did, along with a very special unit, “Me in the World,” where we learned about maps and how we can find ourselves at Red Oak! This month we will continue to review and discuss our state and national symbols.

MATH

In math, we willbe continuing our studies in subtraction. At the end of the month we will be learning about 3D shapes too! In addition, we will continue calendar, counting, and addition and subtraction review. Please don’t forget to keep counting by 1’s and 10’s at home as well.

SPIRIT AWARDS

Let’s congratulate Alex, Grace, and Arya for all winning the “Personal Best” Spirit Award at the March Spirit Assembly. We are so proud of all their hard work! Please join us on Thursday, April 21st for our April Assembly!

REMINDERS

  • Our April spirit assembly will be held on Thursday, April 21st at 8:30 in the MPR. All parents are welcome to attend.
  • We started our weekly dance and movement class with Mrs. Stevenslast month and will meet with her each Wednesday for the remainder of the year. This comes in handy, as we have PE on Wednesdays (and Fridays) as well. Please be sure your child dresses appropriately for dance class (appropriate clothing and especially shoes). We will culminate the year with a song and dance performance on Tuesday, May 10th (more details to follow soon...)
  • We will continue our Artist in Residence program with artist, Marci Hersel this month.
  • Kindergarten Report Card Assessments will be the week of May 2nd-May 6th. Please mark your calendars as the children will be dismissed from school at 12:15 all week. More information will be sent home next week.
  • Please send your child to school with his-her library bookeach Tuesday. This responsibility is reflected on the kindergarten report card and is an important skill to internalize! Thank you.
  • Please be sure to send your child in layers everyday! The temperature changes so much both in and out of the classroom! Don’t forget to label those jackets too! Thank you.

THANK YOU!

Thank you so much to all of our volunteers who helped out at our school Jog-a-thon. You have helped keep to keep us healthy and raise money for our school. We couldn’t do it without you! And whether you have helped at home, popped into the classroom to help last minute, have read in the library, volunteer on a weekly basis, help with pictures and special projects or are a Room Parent, you help enrich our program immensely. Thank you again for the extra special gestures you gave to me for Teacher Appreciation Week as well. I so “appreciate” all of you. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Until next month…

Warmly,

Mrs. Jones