Mrs. Baldwin

May

Dear Families,

It’s hard to believe, but the end of the year is just around the corner! The nice weather is finally with us, which makes everyone including me, want to spend as much time as possible outside on our playground. I promise to get the children outside as much as possible, but we still have a lot of work to do. On the days your children have a special, we definitely won’t be going outside. On the other days, we will do our best to get them out and running around in the beautiful weather!

During this month we will be learning about living and non- living things. We will be exploring various topics in our non-fiction explorations such as animals, rocks, and fossils. We will also be talking about animals and how they use various parts of their bodies to help themselves. We will wrap things up by going on a trip to Davis Farmland and actually seeing some of these wonderful animals. This is one of the children’s favorites as well as the teachers'!

We are really going to concentrate on money this month. We will work on identifying coins, penny, nickel, dime, and quarters and practicing exchanging them. This is a difficult concept for children. Extra practice at home would benefit your child immensely. The children will also continue to work on number stories with addition and subtraction. We will also review our shapes by making a pattern block flower.

The children have been working so hard on tapping out sounds in a word and reading. It’s so exciting to watch the children when they are able to read a sentence using the tapping strategy to figure out unknown words by themselves. I’m so proud of them! We will continue to learn our "trick words," which are high-frequency words that cannot be tapped out. The children are getting really comfortable with them. They know to look at our "trick word" wall in the room if they don’t know how to spell a word. It would be beneficial for you to spend just a few minutes a night reviewing these words with them. The children will continue practicing their handwriting, remembering to start all of their letters at the top. The children will use their knowledge of tapping out sounds in a word to sound out and form a sentence.

In reader’s workshop we will continue using the reading strategies of making connections, retelling and using sensory images. The children have been working on retelling the main events in a story starting with the beginning, middle and the end. We are also identifying characters, and setting of a story. These are all great strategy that help the children increase their comprehension. Practicing at home is very helpful. After reading a story, ask your child to retell the main events and identify the characters and setting of the story. We will also be discussing the differences between fiction and non-fiction books.

On Thursday May 31st kindergarten will be going on a field trip to Davis Farmland. All Kindergarten classes will be going together.AM children will need to be picked up by their parents at 1:30.Afternoon children will need to be dropped off at school by 9:45. Please watch for a permission slip to be sent home on Monday, May 21st with more information.

Now that we will be going outside to play on the playground, please be sure that your child has sneakers to wear, even if you keep an extra pair in your child’s backpack. Slip off shoes and open toe shoes are a safety hazard when it comes to playing on our playground.

• May 2nd-Early release day dismissal @ 12:30No PM kindergarten

• May 17½ Dayand 18^{th –}Full Day Kindergarten orientation for incoming Kindergarteners at Naquag

• May 25^thFabulous Friday- Plaids and Checks Day

• May 25^thFriday- Kindergarten Presentation (10:30 and 2:30)

• May 28^th-Memorial Day- no school

• May 30^th-Curriculum Showcase 6:00-7:00

• May 31st-Field Trip to Davis Farmland- see above section for timesJ

• June 7th-Spring Concert

• June 11^th-Literacy Parade @ 10:00

• June 14^th-Flag Day Assembly @ 10:00

• June 15^th-Last Day of School- 1/2 day Dismissal @ 12:30

Thank you so much for your continued support,

Debbie & Karen

*Glue sticks
*plastic sheet protectors