We had so much fun on our Maple Leaf Apple Orchard field trip!  Thank you parent volunteers for coming with us on this perfect fall day!  When we arrived to the orchard, farmer Chris showed us around by wagon.  We learned about the different kinds of apples and how to pick them.  We were able to fill up big buckets with apples to take back to the apple polishing machine.  We ended our field trip with a picnic lunch at school!

Go Hudson Raiders!  We had a pep rally with the Hudson Raider students in the gym on Wednesday!  They came to the elementary schools to promote Homecoming!  There were football players, cheerleaders, dancers, pep band players, volleyball, dive team, student council, etc.  They played their school song and had us do some cheering along with them!  Our class even got to get a closer look at the band’s instruments!  It was a lot of fun- you’ll see below!

 

We released 3 monarch butterflies this week and my kindergartener’s are officially butterfly moms and dads, according to a few kids =).  Our school nun, Sister Margaret, gave our class 3 chrysalises that she found while taking a walk with a friend.  When I went to visit her to give her the “feel better soon” cards, she gave them to me, along with a lifecycle poster to help keep track.  We waited patiently and sure enough, these little beauties hatched!  We discovered that 2 were male and 1 female.  Ask your child how they can tell?  We did a class vote to choose names and came up with Rainbow Dash (aka Dash for short because we found out he was a boy after we named him), Bob and Sparkle.  Rainbow Dash hatched first and we spent a lot of time letting him fly around the classroom and each student was able to hold him.  The release in the quiet area outside was awesome!  The kids were so excited!  Bob, our second butterfly, was very timid and didn’t want to be held.  Sparkle had beautiful polkadots and would let the kids hold her.  I was very proud of each of my students for holding at least one butterfly.  Some loved it and some were very nervous.  I think this will be a week they will always remember!

 

 

KINDERGARTEN KINDERGARTEN!  Dressed in purple, our class yelled at the top of their lungs during our Faith & Wellness Walk on Wednesday.  It was a warm, sunny day that was perfect for an outdoor picnic in the shade.  This year, the faith portion of our walk was about the rosary.  It was a great tie-in to celebrating Mary’s birthday for our class.  We started the walk with a video in Ms. Pieper’s room to learn more about the rosary and what it means to pray to Mary and then we began our walk!  Thank you to the volunteers and 8th grade students who walked with us!

Happy Birthday Mary!  Last Friday we celebrated the Most Holy Mary, Mother of Jesus’ Birthday!  We honored her in a special way by creating a cupcake rosary.  Kindergarten prepared for the party by decorating cupcakes, singing songs, wearing party hats, inviting guests and making crafts.  When our guests arrived we prayed a Hail Mary together and learned a little more about Mary and about the rosary.  I think Mary felt truly blessed to share with us in such a special day!

Guided reading groups are fun!  This week we practiced partner reading within our small group.  This was a chance for my students to learn how they should read when they read with a partner.  Eventually this skill will become an independent center.

In social studies this week, we were talking about kindness.  We learned a song and did some activities to demonstrate what it means to be kind to someone.  Father John stopped in for a visit, so my students were able to share more about what it means to be kind and also, someone who has been kind to them.

Our prayers are with Sister Margaret as she continues her chemo treatments.  For those of you who don’t know Sr. Margaret, she was a former teacher at our school and she has been volunteering in classrooms for many years.  This year she has been unable to meet the students because of her treatments.  We made cards for her last week and Mrs. Wagner brought them to her house, along with a goodie basket.  She in return gave our class three chrysalis’ that will become monarch butterflies!  What a beautiful gift of life!  Please continue to help us pray for Sr. Margaret!

We love math!  My class this year loves math!  We played our first math game with dice and it was a hit.  My students were given birthday cake templates and 6 “candles” (crayons) that they had to add and subtract from their cake.  Each student had a partner and they had to take turns rolling the dice to see how many candles they could add or take off.

My kindergarteners were so excited to go to their first library of the year with Mrs. Sadrakula!  She read a story about how to take care of library books and then let each student check out one book!

Mass Music is a special time every other week where students K-4th sit together in the music room and learn the music we sing at mass!  Mrs. Douglas, our mass music and children’s choir director, will teach our students how to sing the music in a prayerful way that truly teaches them to be like Christ.  It was really fun to see the faces of kindergarten when everyone started singing together.  They caught on quickly and were very engaged!