2011 Kindergarten Sunflower Garden

This spring Kindergartners planted sunflowers seeds (yes, dried and over-winter stored from our original September Sunflower Science unit!) in peat pots and recycled plastic bottles in the classroom. Well, it took a bit of time for them to become sturdy seedlings, but alas they are ready for the garden. 

As summer plans come together this vacation, please think about including a walk to visit the Kindergarten Sunflower Garden at Harrison Field, Harrison Dr. Enjoy a series of visits and your child can keep track of plant growth over time. With sun, rain and a little Kindergarten family TLC (if you can, bring a watering can to give the plants a drink when you visit) our garden will grow, and grow, and grow.  

I added extra sunflower seeds to the garden from our collection by shaking and rubbing them off one of the sunflower heads we dried and stored. Our class will enjoy the flowers when we return to school as First Graders, and the seeds can be harvested by next year's Kindergartners for their Sunflower Science unit!

Last Day of Class 6 Kindergarten 2011

Enjoy your sweet summer family time - smile, play, laugh, 

discover, explore, grow  and create joy together. 

Much love and sincerity, Mrs. Wrigley

Saying Goodbye... for now

Our last day of Kindergarten began with a joyful Morning Meeting followed by the presentation of wonderful gift from the class and all of you - thank you so, so much for sharing your children with me each school day and for the shopping "treat-for-Mrs. Wrigley" in downtown Montpelier. I am grateful to be a part of your children's lives, and miss everyone already!


Next we cheered, and cheered, and cheered and clapped, and clapped and said so many kind words of encouragement as spectators of the 5th Grade Parade! 


High fives were given and received all the way through the halls of UES, and we were happy to be a part of the celebration.

                            ... and your children, of course, will be Grade 5 Graduates one day too!  

Family Gifts...

Today your child made a photo frame gift for Father's Day if that is a special celebration for you and your family. 


Please enjoy it as a as a keepsake from Kindergarten! 

"The Kindest Fuzziest Ice Cream Social Kind Fuzzy Party Ever!"

Well, I can easily say that we are an incredibly kind, happy and helpful class of Kindergartners each child ready to take care of themselves and each other in First Grade!! 
Thank you for the many, many ice cream toppings. With help from a couple of parent volunteers, we enjoyed a wonderful ice cream social together during Center time today. I am so, so proud of your Kindergarten children (though not Kinders for much longer...), and they each should be so, so proud of themselves too!! 

Aloha from Class 6 Beach Day!

Fancy Flops! 

Aloha!! 

Summer Learning Activities Bag & Report Card

Today your Kindergartner will bring home his/her Summer Learning Activities Bag and Report Card...

Dear Parents-

The school year has certainly flown by!  Remember the anxious and excited days of late August?  How about that first snowfall of the season and frantically trying to locate winter gear AND get to school on time? Oh, and we’ll not soon forget the terminally long spring with it’s sodden snow pants, wet socks, and lost winter clothing.

... Congratulations!  You and your child have made it through your first year of kindergarten.  Most of our kindergarteners will be experiencing their first summer “off” from school.  For many of them, this means camps, vacations, afternoons at the rec. pool and going to bed while it’s still light outside.  It also means that after a solid ten months (or so) of daily focused instruction, your child may experience a slight loss of skills taught during the school year.  

In an effort to keep those learned skills sharp, our team has put together a summer packet of activities that just may help your child to hang on to what s/he has learned during the school year.  

Please note that these activities are designed to be fun and to be done at your leisure- on long car rides, and rainy afternoons... We look forward to seeing you and your child in and around our fair city over the summer.  We will also be scheduling some “play dates” with our classes during July and August (more on that later). 

In the meantime, we wish you a sunny, warm, healthy, and relaxing summer.

Best,

The K/1 Team

Making Memories Last & Summer Class 6 Play Dates

For the past week the children and I have been working very hard and very carefully to create a memory book of our Kindergarten year together. On Monday we will say goodbye to some friends who are moving on to new schools and welcome new students joining our class on Step Up Day, Tuesday. 

Please look for your child's Kindergarten Memory Book coming home on Monday or Tuesday. 

As you may have already heard, I like to host class play dates at the UES playground over the summer. We have a circle time, share and do a craft project and outdoor game/activity weather depending. I'll post details on the blog as we get closer. Hope you can make it! The dates are: 

Thursday, July 14th. 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. 

Wednesday, August 17th 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. 

Tuesday, June 14th Schedule

Our class will participate in UES Step Up Day! We are looping to grade one together and will continue working in classroom 6 next school year. 

Here's the plan... Tuesday, following Morning Meeting our class will visit a current grade one classroom, explore first grade learning materials, ask questions about grade one and have a general discussion about next year. We will also, hopefully, welcome and meet new first graders joining our class community in September. 

Please plan to pack a hearty snack for your child since the school snack program will have ended for the year. Dismissal for all students will be at 11:30 a.m. All children will participate in their usual after school plans unless you request otherwise. Just send a note to school to let me and the UES office know. Thank you!

Beach Day Coming Up!

Monday, June 13^th

Is Kindergarten Beach Day for Class 6

 All of our learning activities will have an ocean theme. 

We will also have our final Kindness Party of the Year on Monday! The children have chosen an ice cream sundae social at Center Time. If you would like to donate a few sundae items, just let me know and you can send them in with your child anytime before or on Monday morning.

 For Beach Day, children may wish to bring:

Sunglasses

Beach Towel

Beach Hat

Flip Flops or Sandals

T-shirts and Shorts

Children should not bring or wear:

Bathing Suits

Beach Toys or Swimming Gear

We're getting ready...

Making lists help us keep track of what we need to do, especially when planning for a party! We're all looking forward to our Community Helpers Thank You Breakfast, and have many things we are working on today to make it a special event for you tomorrow. 


If you've ever helped in our class, please join us in Classroom 6 at 9:30 a.m. for a breakfast snack and a few fun activities. 

Oral Story Telling

After a literacy focus exploring the many diverse versions of the story The Little Red Hen, children identified the characters and discussed their roles then made puppets to tell/act out a version of the story of their choice. 


Of course, creativity and Kindergarten imaginations make this literacy learning a very fun activity! These puppet stories live in your children's classroom book basket and are a literacy choice during Daily 5 Read to Self or Read to Somone.

Singing to the Blues...

After lunch today, we enjoyed a special guitar concert by Mr. Blue, a member of our UES staff and talented blues guitarist. Fun sing-alongs to Puff the Magic Dragon, and Engine 99! Ask your child to sing out a few notes, and sing along with them. 



We also learned a few things about the difference between the sound of an end note in rock n'roll style or blues style - interesting! 


Mr. Blue will take stage at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Nature Center for our NAP Benefit Concert - hope you can be there! 

Kristen's Fairy House

This afternoon we watched the documentary movie, Kristen's Fairy House by Tracy Kane. The children were in awe of the variety and creative possibilities for fairy houses and gnome homes. They are all very, very excited to begin working on their own at Harrison Forest tomorrow. Kindergartners drew up building plans, and made sketches of what they'd like to create... we also enjoyed one of Kane's books and personal photos, courtesy Anja. 


If you'd like to learn more about fairy houses and  Tracy Kane's writing & art go to: http://www.fairyhouses.com/about-fairy-houses/meet-tracy-kane/

UES 2nd Grade Author on PBS Television Tonight

Budding Author!

CONGRATULATIONS to 2^nd grader Megan from Mrs. Beaupre’s class! Megan entered the PBS Kids Go! Writer’s Contest. This contest encourages children in grades K-3 to submit original pieces of writing. The contest challenges children to be creative with their stories as well as their illustrations.  A panel chooses three entries per grade for a total of twelve winners.  Winners will be recognized at an awards ceremony broadcast on Vermont Public Television. They are also featured in video spots on-air and on line. Megan will be sharing her piece with the school at our next all-school assembly. Go Megan!

Watch the Award's Ceremony on  Vermont Public Television:

Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 8:00pm

Looking Closely at Seedlings

Our bean seeds have sprouted! Class 6 scientists are looking closely making observations, asking questions and recording the information in their science journals. Ask  your child what has happened to their bean seed in the damp paper towel and clear baggie, and what they think will happen next... what parts of the plant do they see?

Plant Study

Our current science focus is to learn about plants. Plants:
1. are living things that need soil, sun, water and air to survive
2. have a lifecycle of survival 
3. are made of parts and those parts have names
4. are important to the Earth
5. are important to people, insects and animals
Our bean seed experiment is very interesting, and helping us answer many questions we have about seeds and germination.

In the spirit of learning how to Take Care of the Earth, we planted sunflower seeds - yes, the same ones we collected, dried and stored over the winter from our September Sunflower Science Unit - in plastic water bottles and mini-peat pots! Reuse materials.

Our planting ingredients also included two spoonfuls of soil, a finger tip hole for the sunflower seed, another two scoops of soil, water and sunlight! Ask your child when s/he thinks their sunflower seed will germinate!
This week we're also learning about the parts of a plant. Kindergartner's labelled construction paper plant models hang on our bulletin board in the hall. Check them out! 

Last Day of School Snack Program is Monday, June 13th!

Save the Date...

Our class is going to host a special Community Helpers Thank You Breakfast!


Where: Our Çlassroom #6
When: Wednesday, June 8th
Time: 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. 


Please join us if you have ever helped in our class! Send an e-mail or note to school if you are planning to come so I have an estimate of how many visitors to expect. Thank you! 

Buddy Time!

Listening to writing and fun on the playground was the focus of our weekly visit with Buddies today. Thanks for being a great audience today buddies - you also gave us some constructive feedback about our writing to help us grow as writers!