The Zoo!

We had a blast this week learning about things that are living and non-living. There is no better way to learn this unit than with a trip to the zoo! We enjoyed our trip and our zoo themed activities all week! Enjoy the pictures!

We found as many living things as we could!

We sorted animals by whether they were a pet or lived at the zoo.

We worked on our cutting skills....

and then put the animals in order from the smallest to the largest.

Kindergarten students created their own Zoo books based of our favorite book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See".

Hanging out at the zoo!

We loved feeding the giraffes!

Petting zoo

Boy were we tired!

Mastering Addition

This week in class we focused on improving our addition skills.

Kindergarten students were introduced to 2-digit and 3-digit addition (with no re-grouping). They fell in love with these "1st grade" math problems! Here are the steps we learned.

   34

+ 12

--------

1.) First read the problem (this is great practice in recognizing and "reading" large numbers).

       "Thirty-four plus twelve equals"

2.) Find the sign and touch it with your finger. This helps to double check if we are adding or subtracting.

3.) Go to the far side-away from the sign. This will be very important once students start solving problems with regrouping (or borrowing). 

       This means we will start with 4 + 2.

4.) Add the far top number to the far bottom number. Write the answer under the bottom number.

   34

+12

--------

    6

5.) Move to the left and add the top number and the bottom number. Write the answer under the bottom number.

  34

+12

--------

 46

The children have loved working on these problems! Here are some pictures of them hard at work!

We didn't forget about Pre-K- they worked on single digit addition with answers up to 10. We even had a little fun and used a crafty addition to figure out our problems!

Important Dates and Reminders:

Zoo: The Zoo is TUESDAY! Please remember to pack a lunch for the field trip. Right now it looks like we will be having a beautiful sunny day. Remember a hat, shorts, socks, tennis shoes and sunblock! Whew- I know it's a lot but it will make the trip all the better!

Sports Day: Please send in a plain white T-Shirt OR $3.00 so we may create our sports day shirts. The shirt does NOT need to be new and may have light stains. We will be tye dying them and decorating them so you won't even be able to tell!

Easter Party: Our Easter party will be on Thursday April 17th. We are asking each family to send in:

• 12 plastic easter eggs filled with candy and TAPED shut. 
• A basket or bucket to collect eggs in during the hunt.
•  $3.00 to help cover the cost of food, treats and crafts the students will be completing during the party.

Room 12 has a wonderful tradition of dying eggs and then using them to create a yummy egg salad sandwich.

Thank you for all of the support you have given through this school year- we are getting close to summer! I hope you and your family are enjoying the warmer weather and are getting excited for the last 9 weeks of this school year!

-Mrs. Richardson

The Zoo is Coming!

We had a very busy week. I was so busy between our lovely students, testing and helping Ms. Myrie get settled into our classroom that I didn't take a single picture!!!

Instead of giving you a look into our class this week I am going to be catching all of our parents up on important dates that are coming up.

The Zoo
On April 8th our entire class will be going to the Houston Zoo, all 22 students! If you are available we would LOVE to have you as a parent volunteer! Last year we had so many parents attend that the students were able to walk around in groups of 2 or 3 with a parent which is GREAT! The smaller the groups the more things they can visit, explore and learn about at the zoo! Currently we have 3 parent volunteers.

If you are interested in volunteering please email me at semoore@aldine.k12.tx.us, or send a note to school, and I will give you all the information that you need. Also please visit the Aldine ISD website to complete a volunteer background screening (district employees are exempt from this).

The day of the trip please consider sending your child with a packed lunch. The fieldtrip cafeteria lunch is normally a very simple lunch meat sandwich, a pickle, goldfish and a milk. The children who buy a cafeteria lunch sometimes get a little sad when they see the lunches their friends have brought from home.

When getting dressed for the zoo I ask parents to check the weather. If it is going to be a hot day please send your child in shorts and a thin/light shirt, with sneakers and SOCKS. Please also consider applying sunblock and bug spray that morning at home and sending a hat to help block the sun. We will be doing A LOT of walking! The children will each be given a "Reece Academy Field Trip Shirt" that they must wear over their own shirt- that is why I recommend a light shirt if the weather is hot!

Here are some important dates to mark on your calendars!
April 8th- ZOO!
April 25th-Sports Day
May 3rd- Dance Recital
May 9th- Muffins with Mom
May 16th- Spring Dance (Kinder Only)
May 20th- Graduation Practice (Kinder students only)
May 21st- Graduation Day (Kinders only). Students will be bussed to MOC for the ceremony. Parents and families usually then take the graduates out to a celebration lunch at their favorite restaurant!
May 23rd-Sports Day

Also please remember to help spread the word about our classroom grant request!

Link to our classroom grant on Donorschoose.org!

A Week Full of Clovers!

This week in class we completed several activities dedicated to St. Patrick's Day! Below are some sneak peaks into our week!

"My mom and my dad. They take care of me. I love them more than gold. They are nice. They love me and protect me."

"My daddy is worth more to me than gold because he protects me."

"My mom and my dad are worth more than gold because they always take care of me."

It was a very fun and lucky week!

 We had a fun filled week with Ms. Myrie and are getting ready to head to the zoo! We will be going to the zoo on Tuesday April 8th and would love to have you come along with us! If you would like to volunteer please fill out a background check online at the Aldine ISD website (Available here) or stop by the front office.

I am excited to announce that I also have another grant up on the donorschoose.org website. I am hoping to receive two iPod touches and a digital camera to use in the classroom daily. We were very fortunate to have our first grant funded. If your family knows any individuals or businesses that might like to donate please feel free to pass the following information along!

Integrating Technology Into Our Workstations

Give to my classroom by March 29, 2014 and your donation will be doubled thanks to DonorsChoose.org. Just enter the code INSPIRE on the payment page and you'll be matched dollar for dollar (up to $100).

-Mrs. Richardson

Oh the Things we did with Dr. Seuss!

It took me a whole week to recover from our VERY busy Dr. Seuss week! Here is a look into some of the things we did each day!

On Monday there were Wockets in our Pockets!

On Tuesday we had hats galore!

On Wednesday we talked about All the Places we have went and want to go!

The kids did a great job thinking of all the different ways we can travel!

On Thursday we wore crazy socks and created "Super Socks" with super powers!

"I want my super power to be a force field like battle droids. I would build a remote so I could turn it on and off. I would play with my friend. I would turn it green." 

On Friday we ate green eggs and ham!

Before we ate our green eggs and ham we made predictions saying if we would like them or not!

".....but I would eat salad on a ballad!"

".....but I would eat berries on a fairy!"

On Friday we also had a surprise and read Bartholomew and the Oobleck....and we made some Oobleck of our own!

What a fun week we had! All of our work was so beautiful that many of the pieces are still hanging up and decorating our room!

This week we are lucky to have a new teacher joining us in Room #12! Ms. Myrie will be with us until early May. The students enjoyed meeting her earlier in the year and are excited for her return! Ms. Myrie will be observing the class for the first week of her visit. Then she will gradually pick up teaching several of the lessons throughout the weeks to come.