We are getting ready for our big Open House in Room K, and looking forward to sharing all of the work we have been doing this year.  I am sure you will love seeing the fantastic Paper Doll Community Workers that the children have created as a special family project.  They are due on Tuesday-THIS WEEK!  On Tuesday, all children will share their doll and tell their three facts about the job they are interested in.  The children are improving their speaking skills and also their audience/listening skills. 

There will be a special tour of the classroom, conducted by your children, during Open House.  The children will show you all of the work they have done, the different important classroom areas and items of importance.  Each child will have a check sheet that you can help them read and check off items as you see them.  They really feel important sharing in this way!

Please be sure to note the Sharing assignment for May/June.  It is on the website and is our last sharing opportunity.  It will require some preparation and your help.

I hope you are all gearing up for the big Silent Auction on May 11th!  I know that Angela has been working hard on our class quilt and we can't wait to see it.  Greg (Jonas' dad) is planning a special art project that the children will help to create during class.  I will be at the auction early in the evening and I hope to see you all there, supporting our AMAZING school!

Our field trip is on May 13th.  It is a great field trip and the children enjoy learning about the sea creatures and the beach clean up too.  We will be outside quite a bit of the time.  Send a light sweater, put sunscreen on too.  Children may wear hats.  Be sure to SEND A LUNCH AND A DRINK!  We will eat our lunch near the playground at the beach and play on the playground for a bit after eating.  A big thank you to those who are driving and chaperoning. 

This year, as in the past, I have made the effort to send home less papers and to utilize the website to communicate.  I hope it has made your life more "green" and a little easier to access information about the things we are doing in Room K.  Our school website is also a great place to find out what is going on.  Please take the time to look at both.

I love and appreciate comments! If you have personal questions, please send those to me in an email.  Thank you!

Mrs. W.

Now that Spring is officially here we are taking the opportunity to enjoy our beautiful playground and garden.  Here are some of the fun activities we have in store for the children: 

• blowing bubbles
• hunting for letters and numbers in the sand tray
• reading on the grassy area
• bouncing on the sit and bounce balls
• working in the garden
• playing games with the parachute
• beanbag letter toss

....and more!  We will be incorporating these activities into our morning group time and during math time as well.

If you would like to come in an hour before dismissal on a Wednesday, we would love to have you help out with small groups on the play yard.  The bonus is, you will get a great parking spot for after school pick-up!

Please remember to have your child wear close-toed shoes with rubber souls and socks every day!  Cowboy boots and sandals are not safe for running on the play yard and loose slip on shoes fall off.  Thank you for helping us to keep your child safe at school.

Upcoming Projects/Activities:

-April 30th-Paper doll Community Workers are due.

-If you have not given me a picture of your family for our class bulletin board (I only have 14) and would like your child to be represented for Open House, please send it in right away!

-May 6:  Watershed model presentation in class for our We Give Back project.

-May 8th:  Open House

-May 11th:  Silent Auction

-May 13:  FIELD TRIP TO THE SANTA MONICA AQUARIUM!  We do not have enough drivers.  For those who have turned in the driver forms, I need to know how many seats you have available.  If you are willing to drive please turn in the driver from by Monday.  If we do not have enough drivers, we cannot go on the trip.

Thanks to all of the helpers, volunteers and organizers that make Room K a great place for the children!

While the children in grades 2-5 are taking their State tests over the next two weeks, we will be continuing our Transitional Kindergarten Program with the help of our wonderful parent volunteers!  Our aides will be used to help proctor the testing.   Thanks to those of you who have signed up to help!

This week we will be continuing with our classroom program and enrichment classes as much as possible.  Our music time has been changed to 1:40-2:15 on Mondays.  Our wonderful Coach Harold in a new daddy and is taking off this week to be home with his brand new baby boy!  We wish him well.

I will be sending home a special assignment tomorrow so please be on the lookout for a very large paper-doll and the instructions for this special family project.

Thank you to those of you who helped your children prepare for their Nursery Rhyme re-enactment..  The children did a great job.  We are looking forward to seeing and hearing the other children over then next two weeks.

A big thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers both in and out of the classroom!

We are beginning some new programs and activities in Room K.  The first fun activity is the addition of the Learning Packs which are being used during reading group time.  Each week the children will explore two different backpacks with Miss Amber during the reading rotations.  We started last week and it was a big success.  This week we will use Geoboards to explore shapes and measurement tools including sting, Unifix cubes and standard rulers.  This is a great way to incorporate multiple curricular areas into our reading time.  The children enjoy the hands on activities. 

The children are going to be focusing on writing during the month of April and May.  I will be working on their writing journals during reading rotations and we will be working on the children transitioning to writing their own sentence to describe their illustration.  This kindergarten standard will be mastered next year, but many children are eager to begin writing now and most are capable of copying or writing a sentence.

We have started having our P.E. classes on the Lower Yard on Wednesdays.  Please remember to have your children wear closed-toe, athletic shoes and socks on Wednesdays so they can safely participate in our P.E. program.

This Monday we will begin to go up to the Science Lab for our Science class with Ms. Monks.  The children are really going to enjoy seeing all of the lab experiments and the animals each grade-level learns about. Be sure to ask your child about today's science lesson!

Another fun addition to our program is the beginning of our music rotation with LAUSD music teacher Mr. Parmalee.  We will go to the auditorium on Mondays from 12:30-1:30 to have music lessons beginning tomorrow.

Thank you for bringing the request wipes to school:

Henry, Hunter, Julian, Samuel, Erickson, Annika, Jack, Reagan, Ilan, Coco, Tom, Owen, Chloe, and Jason. 

We use the wipes to clean hands before eating.  As you know, our classroom sink does not have warm water and lining up 27 children to wash hands is very time consuming.  We really appreciate the donation of wipes!

On Friday I send home a hard copy of the monthly sharing assignment.  Many children are not completing this homework assignment each month.  Please be aware that all assignments are on the Room K website.  This month we are practicing Nursery Rhymes and each child is responsible for preparing one to present, and act out on their share day.  If your child is in the Piglet group they can do theirs next week (no one was prepared).  The Room K calendar on the website has the share dates.

Please remember the school day begins at 8:15 Monday-Thursday and 8:00 on Friday. 

We have had many, many tardy students.  This is a huge disruption to our class routine as I am responsible for immediately entering their time on the computer and have to stop instruction in order to do so.  Also, the cafeteria count is due first thing in the morning and if a student is late, we have to stop what we are doing and report the increased cafeteria count to the office.  It is a huge distraction during our instructional program. 

Please plan on arriving at least 5 minutes prior to the beginning of the instructional day.  Thank you.

Our last field trip will be on May 13th.  We will be going to the Santa Monica Aquarium.  We will need drivers and all parents (without siblings) are welcome to attend.  Any attending parents must be cleared by the school office as official volunteers.  You must have:

Results of TB test
Copy of Driver's License
Proof of Insurance

If you are not sure you are cleared, please check with the office this week to give yourself plenty of time.

Thank you for all of your help and participation preparing for our Silent Auction Classroom Creation projects and for the much needed classroom help. 

With best wishes,
Amy Weisberg