Mrs. Miller's Kindergarten Class

Hello Families,

I really can not believe that there are only 8 more days of kindergarten! This year has flown by! I know that the children are feeling many mixed emotions right now. I am seeing children excited, sad, angry, scared, jubilant and everything in between. It is important to remember that change can be very hard for children. Just when they are becoming familiar with the daily expectations, schedule and routine of kindergarten… WHAM! It is over! Please take time to talk to your child about how they are feeling about kindergarten ending. They might not be able to express themselves, but having lots of discussions at home may help them navigate through their feelings and the changes. At school I continue to provide daily structure, and stay with our routine. We are talking about the changes that are coming up, and that whatever they are feeling is ok! I am assuring them that everything is going to be ok, and that they are ready for the next step! This in my opinion is the best way to steer the ship through unknown waters. If your child is having a hard time, please reach out to me for help.

We began our ocean theme this week. We read many informational books about sea creatures and began working on a fun song book. Next week we will “dive” deeper into our ocean unit. We also painted sharks!

On Monday we released our butterflies into the beautiful hills that surround our school! The children watched them take short hops and then they flew away! It was a very special moment! We also realized that our own Hungry Caterpillar had finally turned into a beautiful butterfly! We are so excited!

In phonics we worked on the vowel team of /ee./ This is a fairly easy concept for the readers. They have learned that /ee/ makes the long e sound. We read the book Sheep in a Jeep and listened for the long /e/ words. After reading the book we wrote all the /ee/ words on our white boards.

In math we worked on estimation. We worked with Steve Wyborney’s fun and engaging estimation mysteries. These lessons present a picture and each image invites students to wonder what number is represented by the image. As the teacher clicks through each Esti-Mystery, clues will appear that will allow the students to use math concepts to narrow the set of possibilities to a small set of numbers. What a fun way to work on number concepts and creative problem solving. 

On Friday we met with our fourth grade buddies and went on a spring scavenger hunt in our Springhill garden. It was so fun! Next week will be our last buddy visit of the year.

I hope you were able to come to the LPIE Art show and Book Sale on Thursday evening. We had the opportunity to walk through the art fair with our class on Thursday morning. Afterwards we came back to our classroom and discussed what pieces moved us or peeked our interest. We also talked about how art can make us feel different emotions. You can also marvel and wonder at the techniques used in a piece of artwork. Thanks to families for supporting LIPE!

Have a wonderful weekend!- Kathy