Spring Has Sprung

We had a great Wacky Week of Fun for Reading Month. Kids had some crazy socks and enjoyed the book swap! On Friday the High School Marching Band came, and also got together with our second grade reading buddies! Enjoy continuing to read over break! Whether in the car, on the beach, or at a friends house, reading is something that can be taken any where! There is homework in the folders in the first sleeve, and many have book bags to practice.

Thank you for all the donations for our Raffle Basket for Fun Night! Our Kindergarten class is going to have such a great basket! The baskets they raffle off, are such a great fundraiser for our school! Don't forget to save April 12th on your calendar for F.V. Fun Night!

*****There were two papers sent home for Fun Night Volunteers. The date was wrong on the first one. The date is Aprils 12th. If you would like to volunteer for a shift, we have a lot of options!

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Wednesday, the first grade put on a Market Days for our school. First graders made their own products and each child in the school was given 5 tickets. They could spend their tickets to buy items at the market. You may have noticed your child bringing some fun items home-that is where they came from!

Literacy:

This week we started some studying a big part of history. Here are some of the main concepts that your students are learning. You may hear them talking about it at home, it is amazing to hear them understand such a big topic.

We started off identifying the continents of Europe, Africa, and Asia on a world map and smelling some spices that Mrs. O brought in. This helped build some background as to why Europeans wanted to travel to Asia. (Ask your student the reasons that they wanted the spices.) Since the way to the Indies was blocked, they needed to go another route. This is where Christopher Columbus comes into history and how he met King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. We learned key facts about Christopher Columbus’s first voyage to America. Did he make it to the Indies? NOPE! We talked about the map and how 500 years ago, people didn't know about North America and South America, so he thought he reached the Indies, but instead landed in America.

I told you, BIG Stuff! But what a great foundation for next year!

Math:

In Kindergarten, students need to have a firm understanding of combinations of 5 and 10. Since the number 10 plays such a huge role in our numeration system, and because two 5's make up 10, it is very useful to develop relationships for the numbers 1-10 to the important anchors of 5 and 10. This week we worked with 10 frames and talked about the partners for 6, 7,8 and 9. We use dots, manipulatives, counting on, and our fingers when we are working on partners.

Have a wonderful break with your family! I am looking forward to some time spent with my kids and husband, taking day trips and working around the house!

Tiffany