Spring Fever!

While it has been a rainy week, the kids can certainly sense that "spring is in the air" and are looking forward to some sunshine and warmer temperatures! Before we know it, our favorite kindergartners will be big old first graders! Yikes! We continue to be busy here in Room 5, with lots of special happenings and exciting activities! On Monday, we were fortunate enough to have a guest teacher during Writer's Workshop. Leah Mermelstein, an author and expert on teaching writing to young children, visited H.C.S., and our classroom was selected for her to do a teaching demonstration in! The children were thrilled to learn that "famous" Ms. Leah would be coming to see all of the fabulous writing that they have done. While Leah was in our classroom, she taught a lesson on how to begin our small moments stories, as a way to show other teachers in our building different strategies to use during Writer's Workshop. The wonderful writers in Room 5 knocked everyone's socks off with the amazing work they can do! All of the adults who gathered to observe the lesson were impressed with how engaged and focused the children were on their work. Leah conferenced with several students about their writing and the children were thrilled to share their work with her! Check out the article in the next Hinesburg Record about our time with Leah!


We have had several guest teachers this week, as I was unfortunately out sick for a couple of days. Changes to the routine can always be challenging, but it sounds like most children handled their time with the substitutes well. I am enjoying getting back into the swing of things. A big thank you to Mrs. Pelkey and Mrs. Twarog for working so hard and helping the children while I was gone!

I am beginning to assess students' progress in all academic areas for third quarter report cards. I continue to be pleased with the remarkable growth and learning I am seeing and I can't wait to share this information with you at parent-teacher conferences on April 15th and 16th! Please return the paper that I sent home in your child's homework folder today to let me know if the conference time that I scheduled for you is a convenient one. If it is not, please let me know a time that may work better for you. At our conference, I plan to share your child's report card and also to discuss the placement process for first grade. I truly value parent input during this process and would like to make the transition from kindergarten to first grade as stress-free as possible!

Today was very exciting, as we wrapped up our ocean unit. The children have been incredibly engaged in learning about all things sea-related and they don't seem to want the unit to end! We have spent time reading many great fiction and non-fiction books about the ocean, each child completed a research project on a sea creature of their choosing, we have made a classroom under the water mural with many ocean-dwelling animals, and we had a great time at our beach party today! Check out the picture of our class mural here!


Over the next several weeks, we will be spending time learning about our five senses and how they help us to navigate the world around us. This is always another favorite unit with lots of fun activities to complete!

Enjoy the wonderful weather with your kindergartners!