Thursday, April 24, 2014

April 28-May 2 and May 5-9

Important Reminders
  • The second blizzard bag is due on Monday, April 28.  
  • The white t-shirts for our Tie dye project are due by Wednesday, April 30. 
Music Concert
Our music concert is on Friday, May 2 at 2:30.  Students should dress in clothing that fits the farm theme.  Suggestions include:  Shirts with pictures fitting the theme such as tractors, farm animals, scarecrows, sunflowers etc.  Plain shirts are fine also.  Please avoid tops with other types of pictures or athletic numbers.  Pants, skirts, shorts, overalls, or dresses may be worn.  Please make sure your child's outfit has a pocket.  The students will be bringing a small prop on stage and keeping it in their pockets during the performance.  Please make sure they wear safe, comfortable shoes.  Please keep it simple.  No one should feel obligated to buy new clothing for this concert.

Language Arts, Science and Social Studies
For the next two weeks, we will be learning about seeds  We will be learning about what seeds need to grow and the difference between living and non-living things. We will be reading various stories including Seeds, The Mystery of Seeds and Alive or Not Alive.  We will continue to work on comprehension skills such as comparing and contrasting.

During writing workshop, we will continue our unit on narrative writing.  We learned that narrative writing means that we are telling a story.  Narrative writing includes characters, setting, and a beginning, middle and end.  We will be practicing writing in this genre for several weeks.

Word study--Blends
  • Week of April 28--dr, gr, tr
  • Week of May 5--sw, wh, qu, tw
We are also working on spelling our sight words correctly.  

Math
We have been focusing on fluency with the addition and subtraction facts to 5. You may have seen some timed tests come home. We are practicing completing 10 math facts in one minute.  We will begin a unit on shapes.


Monday, April 21, 2014

Tie dye Letter and Instructions



Dear Parents,

          The school year is coming to an end and we will be celebrating our kindergarten year with some final fun activities.   However, before the end of the year, we would like to do a special project.  Each class will be making tie-dye t-shirts to wear to the end of the year events (PE field day, Craddock visit, and end of the year party).  They will be coordinated so that each class will be wearing a different color.  Therefore, we need your help.

          Please complete the following steps:

  1.  Provide one plain white t-shirt.  Please wash and dry it before you begin the next step so that the dye will adhere well to the t-shirt.   Please write your child’s name on the tag.
  2. Create a design by wrapping the attached rubber bands around the t-shirt in any pattern.  We have attached some sample ways to tie on the rubber bands.  You may do any of these patterns or choose one of your own.  We will apply the dye at school.
  3. Place the t-shirt in a Ziploc bag and then a plastic grocery bag.  Write your child’s name on the outside of the bags and send it to school.

We would like to have all the t-shirts by Wednesday, April 29 if possible.  We will apply the dye at school and then send home the t-shirt that day.  When we send home the tie-dyed t-shirts we will include special washing instructions. 



 
Striped Tie-Dye T-ShirtStriped Tie Dye T-shirt
Instructions:
1.    Lay your freshly washed and dried t-shirt on a flat surface.

2.    Starting at the bottom, fold your t-shirt like an accordion (back and forth in a zig-zag motion) then tie the ends together with a rubber band.

Striped Tie-Dye T-Shirt Step 3
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Please also visit this website for a tutorial on other ways to fold your t-shirt:





 
Step 2:  Pick a spot on the shirt and pinch some fabric to place between your fingers.  Some use a fork in place of your hands but that has been known to tear the fabric if you are not careful.
Step 3:Twist your fingers to begin the spiral twirl and begin wrapping the fabric around your pinch. Continue twisting until it resembles the shape of a cinnamon roll. 
http://images.dharmatrading.com/images/public/instructional/spiral_tiedye/folding.jpgStep 4:  Rubber bands are used to hold the fabric together.  Slide the rubber bands under and over the spiral so that the fabric will hold its shape. 
http://images.dharmatrading.com/images/public/instructional/spiral_tiedye/tieing.jpg