.Speech & Language:  For our last Speech & Language class we will practice the sound of initial /L/.  We will make lambs for our craft and our snack of lemon bars will be provided by Max & Layla.

Thank you all for participating in this wonderful program and a special huge thank you to Ms. Youmna for teaching the children important speech sounds, articulation and having so much fun doing it!

It is hard to believe it is already time to end our wonderful year in Room K together.  It seems like the year flew by and the progress the children have made is incredible.  It has truly been a joy to get to know all you in our Room K family and I have especially enjoyed having our parent volunteers in the classroom.  You will all stay in my heart and I can say that I feel lucky to get to see the children (and families) during the next 6 years as they grow.  Have a wonderful summer break and enjoy your treasured family time together.

This week is a week of packing, cleaning, completing work and especially fun!

Remember:  Early dismissal all week!
Monday:  Send home completed work (in brown grocery bags), reading games, reading practice, math games, S.T.E.M. group activity.

Tuesday:  Speech & Language, 5th Grade vs. Staff Kickball game, math games, S.T.E.M. group activity, 5th Grade Play

Wednesday:  Reading games, reading practice, writing activities, 5th Grade Culmination Rehearsal, Room K Summer Birthdays Celebration.

Thursday:  Track and Field Day at the TCC

Friday:  Classroom clean up, reading and math games, brunch (10-10:30), Talent Show, Coronation Ceremony, Party!  School dismissal is 12:40.

Thank you all for creating a beautiful Room K class family, for supporting your children's education and development, and for being amazing volunteers.  Happy summer!
Mrs. W.

Speech & Language:  This week we will practice the blend of /st/.  We will make stars that the children can use at home to practice our Star Behavior:  Stop, Take a Breath, And, Relax!  Our snack of strawberries will be contributed by  Kian!

Sharing:  This week any children who have not shared this month can share.  There are a few children missing their May/June assignment.

The children have been doing a great job earning their gems for their crowns.  We will continue working on earning gems in anticipation of the Coronation Ceremony on the last day of school!

This is a very short but busy week.  Please take a look at our schedule and remember to sign up to help pack up Room K.  It's a big job and the children, Miss Sammantha and I will need some help!

Special Homework for the last 2 weeks of school will be sent home Tuesday!

Monday:  Memorial Day-Topanga Days!

Tuesday:  Speech & Language, P.E., Gardening

Wednesday:  3rd Grade play (at 10:30), Art Trek, Yoga, Council

Thursday:  Field Trip to the Santa Monica Aquarium!  Please remember a snack, lunch, water.  Please put sunscreen on your child and they may wear sun hats. Shoes and socks must stay on.  Parents will drive and meet us there-there is a charge for beach parking.  We will all ride in the bus.

Friday:  Morning Assembly, Science Hike, Treasure Box, Buddies

The countdown is on and your help and involvement is always appreciated!
Mrs. W.

Speech & Language:  This week we will practice the initial sound of /S/.  We will make sock puppets!
Sharing: This week the Piglets will share.

Speech & Language:  This week we will be practicing the initial sound of /R/.  We will make rainbows and our snack of raspberries will be contributed by Coco H.!

Sharing:  This week the Eeyores will share about their upcoming summer plans.  If your child forgot to bring their share, please have them bring it this week as well.

Open House!
Please join us for Open House on Thursday evening.  Your children will be very proud to show you their work and all of the learning experiences we have had in the classroom this year.  There will be a sign in and a check list to be sure you see everything the children have accomplished!  Friday, the entire school gets to tour all of the classrooms to see the wonderful Open House displays.

Project Based Learning & Differentiation:
As I am sure you have noticed, our culminating unit of study is the ocean and tidepools.  This coorelates with our We Give Back activity of cleaning up around our campus to keep our watershed healthy and clean.  We will be going on our field trip next month, to the Santa Monica Aquarium to learn about our Santa Monica Bay tidepool animals and how we can help to keep our beaches clean. 

In class we are writing about ways we can help keep the ocean clean, creating art projects related to ocean animals and fish, painting ocean scenes, reading about the ocean, watching educational videos about the animals the children are interested in learning about and listening to songs of humpback whales.  The children are very excited about this and are writing their own books, bringing in books from home that we read in class and sharing new information they learn.  Integrated learning is learning at it's best!

Reading & Math:
We continue to work on reading skills, sight words and journal writing as well as sharpening our math skills in our math journals and with math games.  Our Morning Work reinforces these skills as well as independent learning.

Art Trek:
We are approaching our last Art Trek lesson of the year and I would like to give a huge thank you to Maribel, Laura and Pearl for their dedication to giving the children a great art experience.  This week we will make African Trade Beads.  The lesson on Oaxacan Animals will be on display at Open House.

Dance: 
This week we will have a treat on Thursday afternoon as Sinéad Hosch (Coco's mom) teaches us about Irish dancing.  She is a professional dancer!  Coco will demonstrate for us as well.  She is following in her mother's footsteps!

Thank you for the wonderful support and for encouraging our young learners!
Amy Weisberg

Speech & Language:  This week we will practice the sound of initial /L/.  This is a difficult sound for many children.  We will make ladybugs and our snack of limeaide will be contributed by Finley!

Sharing:  The Winnie-the-Poohs will share this week.  Remember we are sharing about our summer plans (travel, camp etc.)

This week, Teacher Appreciation Week, is much appreciated by teachers!  I am so grateful for all that is done for Room K (for me and especially for the children).  Thank you all in advance, for making this week so lovely.

We are at the sweet point of the year when the children are independent, confident and deep in their friendships.  That being said, many are acting out due to the subconscious knowledge that things are about to change.  The school year will end in a short 24 days and next year the children will be in different classes with new teachers and classmates.  This causes an unsettled feeling for some children so we are understanding and sensitive to their feelings of insecurity.

We are learning all about sea life in anticipation of our upcoming field trip.  We are learning about tide pool animals, sea mammals and fish through art, books, and YouTube movies. The multiple learning modalities allow all children to access the curriculum.  It is a very exciting study unit for the children and they are very enthusiastic!

We will continue our sight word books and journal writing.  We are enjoying reading games to reinforce sight word reading, letters and sounds.  The children are expanding their writing and many enjoy the writing center during Free Choice.  We are also working in our math journals and practicing problem solving strategies.  Our morning work focuses on counting "teen" numbers too.

Monday:  Let's Find Out! magazine
Tuesday:  Speech & Language, P.E., Gardening
Wednesday: Art, Yoga, Council
Thursday:  Easel Painting, P.E.
Friday:  Morning Assembly, Planet Bravo, Sharing, Homework Review, Library, Science, Big Buddies

Happy Mother's Day next Sunday, to all of the wonderful mothers in Room K!
Mrs. W.

Speech & Language:  This week we will be practicing multisyllabic words.  We will be making a watermelon and enjoy a snack of watermelon squares contributed by Farrah!

Sharing: The Tiggers will share this week.  It is our last sharing assignment of the year!  Children will share about their summer plans so you can include maps, photos, drawings, etc.

It is hard to believe there are only 29 more days of school!  This year has flown by and the children have grown so much.  We have a lot packed into the last few weeks of school including playing on our improved playground and in our fantastic playhouse!

Thank you to those who helped with the Silent Auction by donating items, time and by attending the event.  It was a fun evening and I enjoyed seeing so many Room K families in attendance!

This week we will continue with our Sight Word Books and Journal writing.  The children have become very independent while working on their Morning Work each morning and are taking pride in their work.  We have been enjoying reading games including Sight Word Soup!  Easel painting has been a big success too.

In math we are focusing on problem solving skills and expanding our mathematical thinking by figuring out ways to solve problems such as with manipulatives, drawing pictures and working with partners.

We are going to be creating a sea life mural by adding to a background with student made fish, sea stars and other sea life.  This is all in preparation for our upcoming field trip to the Santa Monica Aquarium

Our schedule this week will be:
Monday:  Let's Find Out! magazine
Tuesday:  Speech & Language, PE, gardening
Wednesday:  Art Trek, Yoga, Council
Thursday:  Easel Painting, PE
Friday:  Planet Bravo, Sharing, Homework Review, Library, Big Buddies

Remember to Vote in this important election for School Board on or before May 16!  It is critical!

Thank you all for everything you do to create an amazing learning environment in Room K!
Mrs. W.

Speech & Language:  This week we will practice the blend /dge/.  We will make jelly fish and enjoy jelly sandwiches contributed by Sophie!

Sharing: The Eeyores will share this week.

I would like to give a huge thank you to Harry, Damien, Nick, Jamie, Andy, and other crew members for completing the task of building our new playhouse in just 3 days!  This week it will be varnished and then it will be ready to go!  The children are beyond excited and have been watching the entire process.  We have the most amazing village working together to enrich our children's growth through play.  Thank you!

This week we will be reading and writing!  We will practice our "perfect printing" and begin new Morning Work that includes language arts and math.  The children are becoming independent workers and are learning to ask their peers for help, giving some children a chance to take on leadership roles.  They are gaining pride in completing work to the best of their ability.

We will continue our math journals and enrich both reading and math with games and manipulatives.

The children enjoyed the addition of easel painting and we will continue that on Thursdays during reading rotations.

We will be doing some planting for special Mother's Day Surprises and continuing our gardening with Eric on Tuesday afternoons.

I look forward to seeing everyone at the Silent Auction this Friday evening!  It should be a fun event for all!

We are enjoying the lovely Spring weather and the comfortable days with our Room K family.
Thank you for all of your support and help in Room K,
Mrs. W.

Speech & Language:  This week we will practice the sound of /B/.  We will make butterflies and our snack of bananas will be provided by Nico!

Sharing:  The Tiggers will share their Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes this week.

Spell Check:  Congratulations to Room K for 100% participation in this year's Spell Check!  We did a great job raising money to support our school and most importantly, 11 of our Room K students scored 100% on their Spell Check.  I got many comments during the day about the great work we do in Room K!  Thank you for your support.

Hooray!  Our new playhouse has arrived!  It will be assembled by a team of devoted parents headed by Harry (Sophie's dad) and we cannot wait to enjoy it!  Huge thanks to those who have offered to build the playhouse and for those who contributed to this ambitious Doners Choose project.  It has been my dream for years to enhance our kindergarten playground and this amazing playhouse is a great start.

Here is an image of the playhouse. 


Readers:
As many of you know, we have completed our Letter People books.  Many of the children are emerging as readers now and some are fluent readers.  We will continue to differentiate language arts in order to meet each child's needs.  Some children dictate their words and sentences to us, we use highlighter for some children so that they can write their own words, some write with a little spelling assistance and others write on their own with some "invented" spelling.  The most important thing is that all children feel like writers and feel that they are making progress.  The "perfect printing" practice has made the children more aware of the necessity of legible printing and all of the children are happy when their stories are read aloud to the class.

We will continue with our rhyming books for a few more weeks and we will continue journal writing.  We have added easy reader books, moved up a level on our Starfall program and are adding story writing to our illustrations.

Art:
This week we will add easel painting on Thursdays.  Thanks to Koren and Vikki, our Thursday volunteers, we will transition from Letter People to outdoor easel painting.  Each group will rotate through the outdoor art station and have an opportunity to paint.  We will begin to prepare the paints and other materials on Monday, the 17th and Tuesday the 18th.  We will have paint cups, our paint aprons, large paper, brushes and of course the easels.  This will be a complete center and we can add additional days for painting once we get it going.

We still have a couple more Art Trek lessons with our wonderful Art moms, Laura, Maribel and Pearl.  Beginning in late April early May we will be studying ocean habitats to prepare for our field trip to the Santa Monica Aquarium and our study of our impact on our environment.  We will be transforming our classroom into an underwater scene and tidepool environment while we learn about different ocean animals and fish.

Guest Readers and Morning Fun:
It has been so fun in Room K in the morning between 8:00-8:15 (or so).  It feels like a party with our Room K family congregating to support the children as they transition from home to school, from play to "work" (their school day).  Many of you have had the opportunity to observe your children interact in the school environment, to chat with each other and me in a casual atmosphere and to look around the classroom at the work we are doing in class.  This is one of my favorite things about Room K!  We have also had many "guest readers."  A "guest reader" is a parent who reads a story to the class first thing in the morning.  It can be a story from our class library or your child can select a favorite story and you can read it to the class.  The children love hearing different voices read and they love hearing the variety of stories.  This is a quick and simple way to be involved in our class!

Thank you all for your support, involvement and commitment to your children!
It shows!
Best wishes,
Mrs. W.

Speech & Language:  This week we will be practicing the sound of initial /s/.  We will make a snake charmer and our snack of snap peas ( a favorite!) will be contributed by Ms. Youmna!

Sharing:  The Winnie-the-Poohs will share this week.  Remember, this month the sharing topic is Mother Goose Rhymes.  Please have your child prepare to present their favorite rhyme.  They can dress in a costume, use puppets, drawings or props to enhance their presentations.

Speech & Language:  This week we will practice the blend of /st/.  We will make a stop sign and our snack of string cheese will be contributed by Charlotte.

Homework will be due on Thursday this week due to the Friday holiday.

We will not be sharing this week.  Please take a look at the April sharing topic and plan for April!

This week we will me Letter Person Y.  Ms. Y has a yodeling yawn and the children always enjoy learning about yodeling!  Y is sometimes a vowel, but not always, so we will talk about that too.  We will continue to work in our Sight Word books, practicing reading the sentences that go with each sight word.  We will work in our rhyming books, Alphabet Dictionary and write in our journals.  The children are getting very independent in the morning, coming in, starting their "perfect printing" page and reading the color words to figure out what color to use.  This independence had helped them gain confidence!  The children have been gaining fine motor skills and strength using the letter punching cards each day. 

We will continue working in our math journals.  Many children are now able to read the directions and complete the tasks independently.  We work together to figure out problem solving strategies and different ways to figure out how to solve math problems using pictures to illustrate the number question.  We continue to use manipulative materials and math games to develop number concepts.

Thank you to Maribel and Josefa for gathering items for our Auction Baskets and to all of you donating wonderful items.  We will be beginning to work on our Classroom Creation, an art project that all of the children will help to create. It will be auctioned off in the live auction at the event on April 28th.  I look forward to seeing you all there!

Our schedule this week will be:
Monday-Science Spin magazine
Tuesday-Speech & Language, P.E., gardening
Wednesday-Art, Yoga, Council
Thursday-Homework Review, P.E.