Thank you as always to our valued volunteers! Going forward, Karen Miller and your Parent Council would LOVE to hear from anyone who would like to take a more active role in school happenings next year and invite you to view the committees available and let them know what you would like to do. We do see a certain amount of turnover in volunteer positions as parents graduate out with their children so never assume there is no need for your help! The Grade Parent role (as done so well by Catherine, Tara and Patricia this year) is one you can request to do for your child as they move on through the grades; again, let Karen Miller know after you receive your child's new room/teacher information on June 24. Most classes are looking for at least two grade parents to share the role.
Our caterpillars are doing wonderfully well considering how many little hands are lifting, shaking and occasionally dropping the little creatures! Their growth is amazing and there will probably be a few chrysalis' forming this week if not already over the weekend. I have a small tank for them to hatch into but considering their short lifespan we will not be keeping them very long once they emerge. Feel free to stop in and peek, the kids have been writing their observations and making pictures in a Butterfly Journal also.
Author Helaine Becker was a nice surprise this week as the kids recognized some of her books and particularly enjoyed the silliness of "Ode to Underwear" and the amazing feats of the "Zoobots", a great non-fiction book about robots created in the likeness of animals to perform jobs using their animal-like skills. A fun morning! Thanks go to Ms. McGee for rebooking so quickly! We have many budding authors in the class and it is always great to see that published authors are real people who get ideas from real, everyday things around them.
At some time this week we will be called for dental screening. It would be helpful if you let your child know this ahead of time. We simply say "ahhhhhhhh", opening as wide as a dinosaur and the dental technician - wearing a mask and gloves for hygeine - looks inside with a small mirror. There is no touching, poking or prodding AT ALL. To check the whole class takes only a few moments and you will receive a note directly from them only if there is a need for a follow-up visit.
June brings special events that change the course of our regular day to some extent...
SK Graduation will be on Wednesday, June 24 from 2pm to 3pm.
It will be a regular school day until that point. The Juniors will share in the ceremony as they always have, enjoying watching the class video since they are in it as well! At that point the 17 juniors will leave the class and our ceremony will continue with each senior (there are 14 graduates) stepping up to receive their certificate individually. Since we have more graduates than ever before at one time I ask that you keep the number of guests to a minimum! I will be moving class furniture out of the way to accomodate chairs for you, the audience, assuming 2 per graduate. There will not be enough room for younger siblings to have chairs of their own but they would need to sit with you, the parents. Strollers will need to stay in the playground by our back door. As in the past, arrival and seating begins around 1:45pm, no earlier please! Entry will be from our BACK, OUTSIDE door unless the weather is bad.
Once the greeting, video and certificates are completed there will be a time for cake and mingling. At 3:00 we will wrap up and end our celebration for regular dismissal time 3:05 as the daycare will need access to our room. JUNIORS will be outside already with their backpacks for pickup, not needing to re-enter the class at all... unless the weather is bad then we will use plan B!
Lunch on the lawn (June Pizza Day) is unlike any other pizza day.
The WHOLE school ventures to the shale pit park and has lunch there.
This means EVERY child needs Parent/Caregiver supervision in order to go. Typically the lunch supervisors help out with any children whose parents are unable to come but this will not work for 31 kids! Your pizza was ordered at the beginning of the year - unless you asked for more slices to accomodate yourself or younger siblings ON THAT ORDER you will need to bring lunches with you. I have been told by our Pizza Lunch Parent Organizers that there is not the time to do a separate order to accomodate family lunches this close to the date needed. For this day, all the pizza will be given out at the start of lunch (11:20) so ALL children attending will need to be picked up by AN ADULT at that time and taken to the shale pit area. You may email each other and buddy up your child if you are unable to attend but please be sure your child knows they must STAY with that adult for the duration of the lunch hour. The classroom is closed as usual over lunch and unless YOURSELF or ANOTHER ADULT is supervising, the children are not to be in the Kindergarten play area either. At the end of lunch hour 11:30-12:30 the bell will ring for re-entry just as any other day. Typically, classes try to stake out an area for all families to be relatively closeby but with siblings in other classes this is not always possible. We will let you know where and who to pick your pizza up from closer to the date. Volunteers on that day would simply be handing lunch bundles to the parent/caregiver with each child and helping make sure there is no mess left in the park.
This week:
Monday - Mystery Reader AM
Tuesday - LIB/IT AM
Wednesday - Reading Buddies
Thursday - Mystery Reader PM
Friday - PA Day
Have a great week!
Ms. I.
