Summer Skill Building

We hope you have a wonderful summer! Please give your kiddos lots of opportunities to keep their skills sharp so they're ready for a great kindergarten year!!

Fine-Motor Building Activities
•    Buttoning
•    Zipping
•    Snapping
•    Lacing Cards
•    Beading
•    Playdough
•    Using tongs to sort objects
•    Color with crayons
•    Cut ON lines, with scissors on hand correctly and pointing away from body
•    Write name with one uppercase letter and rest lowercase
•    Opening packages (string cheese, fruit snacks, etc.)

Self-Help Activities
•    Dress self
•    Undress self
•    Button
•    Zip
•    Snap
•    Put on own shoes
•    Clean up after meal
•    Help set table
•    Clean up toys (sorting is extra credit)
•    Ask for help with a complete sentence. Using a question vs. statement.
•    Use manners (please, thank you, excuse me, etc.)
•    Opening packages (string cheese, fruit snacks, etc.)

And as always, please read together often!!! This simple activity has a huge impact on your child's success :)

This is the time we graduate, graduate, graduate!

Graduation was a HUGE success! We have sent home a DVD with the ceremony on it, as well as our holiday sing and a photo slideshow of our year. If you LOVE it, but sure to let us know!! We work really hard on this keepsake for you :)

Thank you to all the families for a great year...we are going to miss you and your children and hope to see you sometime in the future!  Have a wonderful summer!!!!

Class of 2029

Year-End Autograph Book Signing

We went to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

We had soooo much fun at the zoo last week! We got to see all the animals, play on the playground, ride the carousel and we even got to see an educational presentation where some volunteer zookeepers brought out animals for us to see and learn more about. The morning friends even got to pet a skunk! Go to our photo gallery page to see pictures of our great adventure.

Don't forget to mark your calendars for our graduation ceremony!! It will be on Tuesday, May 31st at 5:30pm at St. Joseph Church (the circle church). We will be using the lower-level stage area again. Your kiddo will be decked out in a cap & gown as well!!!

Gardens & Camping

Last we talked about gardening. On Monday we made baggie greenhouses. We have placed bean seeds in there. Ours have been placed in the windows at school and they already have sprouts. Does yours? Tuesday we re-purposed soda bottles to use them as paint stampers and made beautiful flower gardens!

Wednesday we enjoyed our fieldtrip to K&W Greenery. You can see the photos of the fun on the photo gallery page. Thursday we made a flower and labeled the parts of the plant.

 

This week our theme was camping. We completed our May Person Book page on Monday. Tuesday we sorted items for a campsite based on whether they should be inside the tent or outside the tent.

We painted campfires on Wednesday and learned about color mixing which we used in making our flames.

We had two projects to complete on Thursday. One was for our Mother’s Day Gift, be sure to check your child’s red folder!! We also made a spooky night collage of stars and google eyes.

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Don't forget that next week we will be going to the Henry Vilas zoo in Madison  on Wednesday, May 11th for the AM class & Thursday, May 12th for the PM class.  Please have your child to the school between 8:35am-8:40am. We will be leaving at 8:45 SHARP! Also, no early drop offs—teachers will not be here.We will return to school at 2:00pm. If someone other than a parent is picking up your child, we will need to know who that person is.

Remember there is no bus transportation to or from school that day & the day your child’s class is not going on the trip, they DO NOT HAVE SCHOOL.

Your child should be dressed for the day’s weather (including rain, if needed) and have good walking shoes – no sandals please! He/she will also need a disposable, sack lunch with beverage, clearly labeled with his/her name.

It's Been a Gruff Week

This week we heard several different versions of the Three Billy Goats Gruff fairytale. On Monday we made goats from different shapes, complete with a fuzzy beard.

We made Trolls on Tuesday and they are scaring people off in the hallway.

Wednesday we retold the story using sequence pictures and we did our project while laying on our tummies. It was hard work to use different muscles!

We wrapped up our week by viewing some Youtube tutorials on watercolor painting and then water colored pictures of beautiful meadows.

Please remember to send in recipes by Monday so we can get started on our cookbook! And if you have any empty 20 oz. soda bottles we could use those for our stamp-painting project next week too. Thanks :)

Wrangling in the Southwest

We’ve enjoyed another week of southwest fun!  We built up our fine-motor skills on Monday by lacing a cowboy boot and coloring in the design with colored pencils.

 

 

Tuesday we created horse puppets complete with custom hats and bandanas.
More fine-motor work was done on Wednesday as we tore paper to make a scenic background for a cactus.
Thursday we made yet another page for our person books. It was also our cowboy/cowgirl dress-up day and it was a blast!

AM Cowboys & Cowgirls

PM Cowboys & Cowgirls

 All our “pardners” are displayed individually in their finest western wear on our photo gallery page.
Don't forget to about the FREE children's fair this Saturday at the elementary school gym from 9:30-11:30am.

Howdy Y'All!

Our Southwest unit is a lot of fun!  We are galloping, mosying, trotting, yee hawing, giddyuping and talking about snakes, javelinas, coyotes, and cacti. 

We created coyote suncatchers on Monday and have them decorating our classroom.

 

 

 

Tuesday we painted a javelina (wild, hairy pig found in the southwest) using forks! These are hanging in the hallway to add to the desert-like atmosphere.  On Wednesday we made a paper-chain snake. It was very tricky to make the links into circles vs. teardrops.

We really used our fine motor skills on Thursday to glue tons of beans & pasta onto an armadillo. That was a lot of work pardner!

 

 

 

Our cowboy day dress up day is next Thursday! Please use items you have at home to make a costume such as bandanas, hats, vests, etc. As always, no weapons ... we will not be having a showdown in our western area.