The past few weeks have been very busy in the kindergarten classroom. We began an author study of Mo Willems. This author has written books such as “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus,” “Knuffle Bunny,” and the Elephant and Piggie series. The children have really enjoyed incorporating Mo Willems books into all areas of our classroom. We did our own creative writing titled “Don’t Let the Pigeon _____.” We performed a scavenger hunt based on the book “The Pigeon finds a Hot dog.” We painted at the art easel with watercolor paint and over sized feathers. We also wrote letters to the author, and we will hopefully receive a response soon!

I highly recommend to parents to go to the library and borrow Mo Willems books from the Elephant and Piggie series. Many of you have had your child borrow books from the classroom to read at home. These emergent readers have done an amazing job of captivating all readers, and really getting them interested in reading! Some students that have never read a book aloud to the class have requested to read Elephant and Piggie stories aloud. These funny stories and silly characters have really captured the interest of our kindergartners!! The children have requested that I keep the books in the classroom, long after we finished our author study.

MOTION!! Over the past few months, the students have been extremely interested in legos and building. After building our lego city, their interest has not faded. In order to captivate their attention, we did a week long theme on motion. We focused on making a variety of lego objects to move in different ways. We started the week by building our own cars to race down various ramps. Then we created our own “soap box derby” to have an official race. Then the children learned how to make their own lego spinning tops. We practiced folding and following directions to make paper airplanes and small paper spinners as well. Overall, this unexpected theme was a huge hit!!

HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON at Playhouse Square: A few weeks ago, we went to Playhouse Square to see the musical performance of the well known book “Harold and the Purple Crayon”. The children were fascinated by the modern dance with a variety of musical styles. The actors did a good job of encouraging the children to participate by clapping, stomping, and waving their arms in the air.
WRITER’S WORKSHOP: We recently began a new unit of writing about poetry. Children are learning about various types of poems, as well as different styles to write. We have decided to begin each day of writer’s workshop with a poetry reading of a few short poems that introduce some new styles. Then we have written a poem each day as a class. Thus far, we have written about the rain-forest, our pet Chi Chi, and springtime weather. At the conclusion of the writing session for the day, several children are asked to read their poem aloud to the class. It is amazing to see how creative the children have become in the writing. When you are writing with you child at home, encourage them to use spaces between words and proper capitalization. We are working on that in the classroom as well.

MATH WORKSHOPS: Last week, we focused a lot on different strategies for subtraction problems. We worked on drawing out our work, using a number line, and even subtraction word problems. This week, we have moved back into addition. We will learn to add two digit numbers together. We are also strengthening our basic addition and subtraction facts. This week, we have started learning more about standard units of measurement. We are measuring with centimeters this week, and will begin talking about inches next week.

Parents: Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding your child’s third quarter report card. krista@pembrokekids.com. We can set up a time to meet if you have concerns.

UPCOMING: We will be hatching baby chicks in the classroom!!! The eggs will be set up in an incubator in the classroom on April 18th. After a 21 day incubation, we will be caring for some newborn chicks!!!

FIELD TRIP: Next Tuesday, April 19th, is our WHOLE SCHOOL trip to the Botanical Garden. We will meet at the field trip site. There will be no class at Pembroke this day.

SPRING BREAK: Pembroke Kids will be on break from April 22-May 1. Classes will resume Monday, May 2.