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Classroom Snapshot for Grades K/1

The letter below is a sample of a monthly email communication by K/1 class teachers to the parents of their students. This is a detailed account of the lessons that happened in the classroom, including upcoming events and acknowledgements to parents who so graciously assisted in the classroom, on field trips or with daily logistics.

News from the Amazing Golden Leopards

Dear K/1 Families,

What a fantastic past few weeks it has been for the Amazing Golden Leopards! We're having a hard time believing it's mid-May already. Our Rainforest Café was an enthralling success, we had a grand time singing along with Sweet Honey on the Rock, and the science fair and art show dazzled parents, students, and teachers alike. What a year it has been for us all. Thanks to you and your child for being super duper troopers.

Sincerely,
Your teachers

Dates to Remember

Recent Events

Students were excited to bring home their certificates this past week from STARO (Save the Amazon Rainforest Organization). To view the acres online go to www.staro.org, click 'save an acre,' and choose the square number 29, which is 3 squares over and 6 down. Our acres are the two preserved acres at the top left hand corner. The 1/4 acre we helped preserve is located in the Copse Forest on another sector of the topographical map. Thanks to every family for making the Café such a success. We were able to raise over $320.00!

The students had a grand time during Holy Names High School's production of Charlotte's Web. Thanks for getting your child to school early on that day.

The field trip to Sweet Honey on the Rock was fantastic! We had fun clapping along, singing, and grooving to the women's soulful songs. We have been singing Sweet Honey songs in class ever since. Has your Leopard sung you the catchy song "Tuwe Tuwe" yet? Ask your child what they song is about!

What an impressive Science Fair we had in our classroom. The range of projects was amazing! It was neat to see each child so proud of what he/she had accomplished. In class we had a run-through gallery walk, where excited students were able to explain their projects to peers and teachers. Go mad scientists!

Readers' Workshop

Students continue to read new stories and chapters each week. This past week the students worked on reviewing their old sight words. Students used them in creative sentences and stories, created a word search, and quizzed each other. They were excited to take them home on Friday. Please look for your child's sight word cards and a *bright* yellow piece of paper which has a list of your child's sight words printed on it. Use the cards to practice at home. Use the list of words as a springboard to discuss spelling patterns, other unfamiliar words, or simply look over and read them together.

Caterpillars - Chrysalises - Butterflies

The students are buzzin' about our soon-to-be butterflies! For the past 2 weeks the students have observed our caterpillars turn into chrysalises. Each Leopard made his/her own butterfly observation book, and 3 times a week we take the time to note what is going on inside of our butterfly pavilion. Many students predict that by Monday most of our chrysalises will have opened, letting out our beautiful Painted Lady Butterflies. Ask your Leopard on Monday afternoon if his/her prediction was correct!

Writing

We're so excited to see our students enthusiastically writing! Students have been writing both fiction and non-fiction stories, and the results are phenomenal. Are you curious to see what your Leopard is writing? Feel free to have your child come into the room and show you what s/he is writing about. For the past two weeks students have working with the new "Editing Checklist." The students are using this list to check for spelling, illustrations, reading the writing aloud, utilizing the word wall, adding creative details, and making sure that sentences begin with capitalization and end with punctuation.

African Savannah

We have begun our study of the East African Savannah. First, Nick read aloud the book, "Galimoto," by Karen Lynn Williams. Students had a rich discussion about the similarities we share and the differences we have between the story's main character Kondi, and his African village. Students created their own Venn-Diagrams?, and each child had the opportunity to play with a real Galimoto. What is a Galimoto? Ask your Leopard about this unique experience.

We have also begun our talks about the Maasai people, and have been learning how to count to ten in their language, Swahili. We read the stories, "Jambo Means Hello" by Muriel Feelings and "Here is the African Savannah," by Madeline Dunphy, who visited our class just last month. This past Tuesday the students were introduced to two artifacts Maasai artifacts. The students held, predicted, and ultimately learned how each artifact is important to the Maasai. They viewed and got to try on a beaded collar worn by the Maasai women, as well as smelled and held a Calabash that the Maasai use to store and transport milk. Ask your student what the Calabash smelled like. Did s/he enjoy the smell?

Mathematics

We have wrapped up our study of money. Students have enjoyed trading in coins, rolling dice to "earn" more cents, as well as counting up a portion of our Rainforest Café cash. Last week the students participated in three class "stores" where they were able to use coins to purchases a variety of items. The students shopped for dinner in our Grocery Store with special guest, carefully chose toys to play with from our Toy Store, and paid up to participate in our Penny Walk with other guests.

Once a week for the past three weeks we have been privileged to have guest teacher from the Bay Area Math Project teaching math in the classroom. The students have been excellent participants while she has been reinforcing money concepts and values, teaching about equation formations, and allowing for much addition and subtraction practice. Over the next few weeks, students will continue to participate in addition and subtraction games and lessons that will continue to build upon their existing number sense.

Appreciations

We have some BIG appreciations to pass along:

Thank you to many families for donating books from the Scholastic Book Fair to the classroom! Thank you parents for assisting and supervising the Rainforest Café Huge thanks to our parent and his pal for playing Brazilian beats during our café Many Aurora students were mesmerized by the range of instruments and sounds the duo utilized. Thank you parents for driving to Zellerbach Hall on our Sweet Honey on the Rock field trip! Final thanks to our classroom volunteers!

You ALL keep the Amazing Golden Leopards alive and learning!