Mrs. Welcomer's Class News

Hello Wonderful Families!

This week we learned about the cherry blossom festivals in Japan, that welcome in spring! The children water colored beautiful blue vases that held painted cherry blossoms. We also learned a Japanese song about cherry blossoms. We continued to read about the changes in nature during this time and went on a “spring scavenger hunt” with our buddies on Friday.

In phonics we focused on /s/ blends. After break we will focus on /r/ blends. The readers are listening for these special sounds in words while reading and in their writing.

In writer’s workshop this week we talked about how a writer puts pages in their story together like a puzzle. They make sure that each page is on the same topic. Writing continues to be a favorite time of our school day for our class.

In math we choral counted by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s. We also used number lines, and storytelling  to practice subtraction. 

We continued learning about Women in history and read about Hellen Keller, Clara Barton and Harriot Tubman. We also read books about the astronaut Mae Jemison and then talked about our own dreams and professional aspirations. We created a fun painting in her honor.

The month of March is also Disability Awareness month. We read the book The Boy that Said Wow, by Todd Boss. Inspired by the beautiful true story of a nonverbal boy moved to speak at his first Mozart concert.  This picture book is a testament to the power of art and the boundless joy it can bring and while cultivating awareness of people’s differences. We also reread the book, Brave Every Day. This is  a story about managing anxiety and finding the courage to stand up for yourself and others. We had a lot of deep discussions about what this may look like in each of our lives.

I will be traveling the week after break on a family trip with my daughter. Mrs. Buckley will be the guest teacher while I am away. I appreciate her ability to jump right in and keep the climate and culture of our classroom running smoothly! If you are available to volunteer during that week, I know she would love the extra hands! 

Happy Spring Break! Wishing you and your family a peaceful, fun and relaxing break!- Katherine