26-30 de abril

¡Hola Familias!

We had another great week together! April 30th in Mexico is el Día del Niño, or Children's Day, so we had a celebration with some crafts, candies, and of course, a piñata! We have been learning and growing so much every day in kindergarten. Here's what we've been up to...

Reading / Lectura: This week we practiced the syllables with the letter ll in Spanish, which makes the /y/ sound. We spent some time distinguishing words written with "y" and words written with "ll", and the kids were excited to show me how much they know. We've also been reading lots of nonfiction books together and talking about what we learned.

Writing / Escritura: We are continuing to learn about nonfiction texts. This week we started our first research project, using Google Images to look at pictures of animals such as flamingos, turtles, monkeys, and lions. Then, the kids started writing their own nonfiction book about the animal they chose--complete with a table of contents!

Math / Matemáticas: We have been doing lots of practice to see the parts in numbers, as well as then ten within teen numbers. We're solidifying our knowledge of addition and subtraction problems and practicing telling and solving number stories as well.

Bible / Biblia: This week, we learned about more of Jesus' milagros. We learned about Jesus healing the blind man, the money in the fish, and how Jesus healed the ten lepers. 

Science / Ciencias: We are continuing to learn about seres vivos, or living things, and their characteristics. On Friday's field trip, we had fun searching for seres vivos on the trails, and we found lots--including babosas (slugs), renacuajos (tadpoles), and ciempies (centipedes)!

Immersion Tip of the Week

The kids have been really interested in looking at our flag display in the hallway. Ask your child if he/she can tell you the name of a country where Spanish is spoken. Show your child on a map (or look up) how many countries speak español, and talk about how cool it is that your child will be able to talk to people from so many places!

Reading Tip of the Week
Since Spanish is your child's second language, the skill of identifying a word by context clues is very important. You can help your child develop this skill in English, too! Try something like this: if your child asks what a word means, give them an example of the word in a sentence rather than just telling the answer. For example:
Child: "What does the word 'vacant' mean?"
Parent: "Well, at night the school is vacant because everyone goes home. What do you think the word means?"

Cinco de Mayo Celebration

This coming Wednesday, the SI kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade classes will be putting on a small 5 de Mayo presentation for our school, as well as our friends across town at South Side, Pine Ridge, and the Forest School! Our class will be dressing up in typical costumes and performing a folkloric dance. I will provide the costumes, but here are some suggestions for what your child should wear to school that day:

Boys: jeans, white (or solid-colored) button-down shirt. If your child has cowboy boots or a shirt/sombrero/outfit from a Spanish-speaking country, he is welcome to wear that!

Girls: white (or light-colored) shirt, leggings, “church" shoes with a small heel (they should be comfortable shoes too!).

Plant Sale!  On Friday morning, May 7, the 4th graders (in conjunction with the HCHS life skills students), will be hosting a plant sale at Rose Park near the front entrance.  Please plan to purchase your tomato, pepper, and herb plants then!  Nutrient rich worm castings, created right at Rose Park, will also be available as fertilizer.  Spread the word - watch for more details to come!

Have a great weekend and enjoy some great pictures below!