Happy Memorial Day

From Mrs. Grace's Class

at

MEMORIAL SCHOOL

       We have been learning about living organisms  and life cycles.  

Look at our pretty Painted Lady Butterflies!

Meet Bubbles our class fish!

The children may be coming home with yummy beans to eat!

                                                                    

                                            Spring News in Room 3

We certainly have been busy in kindergarten over the past few weeks, especially with living organisms. I'm sure most of you have heard about the arrival of our five caterpillars.  The children have been observing the process of the caterpillars eating and growing and transforming into chrysalides.  When we came into school yesterday morning four of the butterflies had come out of their chrysalis. The last one broke through while we were in class! It has been very exciting watching the transformation right in front of our eyes.  

Our final unit of study in Writer's Workshop has been on Persuasive/Opinion Writing.  As a class we wrote a letter to Dr. Bilsborough trying to persuade her into letting us get a class fish. We came up with many reasons why we thought getting a fish was a good idea.  Some of the reasons were . . . "No one is allergic to fish, it would help us learn more about living organisms, a fish would be safe, because it would be in a bowl and would not be able to bite anyone, and it would help us learn to be responsible for another living creature".  To our excitement Dr. Bilsborough wrote us back and said that we persuaded her into letting us get a class fish!  

The children then went on to write their opinions on which type of fish they thought we should get.  We ended up getting a beta fish because Ned, at Ned's Fish Store, told Mrs. Grace that a beta fish would be the best kind of fish for our class.  

The next writing assignment was for the children to write their opinion about what they thought we should name our fish.  The children were told to write three reasons why they thought their name was a good name.  Every child read their opinion piece to the class and then the class voted on a name.  Bubbles was the winner!!

We are also currently observing how a bean plant changes as it grows. Every child planted bean and flower seeds last week. Many of the cups of soil  already have shoots peeking out.  The children are excited about bring their plants home to show their families.  

As you know, we will be going to Southwick Zoo on Thursday, May 26th (rain date Tuesday, May 31st).  Every child will need a bag lunch (no lunch boxes).  Please put your child's full name on the bag, along with my name.  Include one disposable drink box (no glass bottles please) and lunch. Please have your child dress for the weather, and help them apply sunscreen before they come to school. Backpacks will not be needed for this day.  Our zoo trip is another great way for us to learn about living organisms.  

You should have received an email from Dr. Bilsborough  about Kindergarten Field Day which is scheduled for Wednesday, June 1st in the morning (rain date Thursday, June 2nd). 

I would like to invite you all to an End of the Year Celebration on Friday, June 17th from 1:30-2:15.  Please join us for some light refreshments and a recap of a great year together.

As always, thanks for all of your support throughout the year and please do not hesitate to email me if you have any questions or concerns.