A new crew!

Welcome to Kindergarten!

A little about me:  My name is Wendy.  I grew up in Portland, attended Portland Public Schools, starting with Arleta, then Kellogg and eventually graduating from Franklin.   I attended PSU and Warner Pacific College.   I have 3 children (Henry is 15, AvaJane is 12 and Gunnar is 5).   This is the 19th year I have been a teacher in Portland, previously teaching for 4 years in preschools.  I love teaching, knitting, coffee, eating out, the beach and painting.

This year we are looking forward to seeing your children grow and become confident, thoughtful, caring and hardworking learners!   Teacher Anne and Teacher Kristin are here to assist students and together I am sure we will have a fun and inspiring year.  

Our classroom is a Classroom Champions class and that means we have been assigned an Olympic athlete to video chat with, and to share character development lessons with.   We will work on things like perseverance, sportsmanship and goal setting.  Please let me know if any questions come up.

A few housekeeping things:
please keep sick kids home

toys and stuffed animals should stay home or in backpacks to be safe

extra clothes in backpack are a good idea - accidents happen in kindergarten

read read read with those kids - 30 minutes/day (enjoy it - don't teach it)

Any questions or concerns, please see me as soon as possible.  

Thank you so much for trusting me to spend all day with your most precious people!  

Wendy

Gunnar <3

Spring Is Here!

Happy Spring!

The kids are moving along so beautifully both socially and academically.  Please keep reading every night for at least 30 minutes and encourage those sweeties to be reading independently to build stamina.  We have been wrapping up our study of planets and are moving to oceans.  So far we have been discussing the animals and plants that call oceans home, how the ocean is a part of our lives, what the ocean needs to stay healthy and the names of the oceans.  Our conversations will be on-going for the next several weeks.

Please check your Thursday notes to keep up on school activities and deadlines.  Grout Gallup money is due as soon as possible.  Also look for the upcoming STEAM night and come check out some fun activities, have some pizza and do some art with Lee Ogle!

Red Yarn and lunch...

Hello Kindergarten families!

We have been talking a lot about healthy food choices.  We sorted foods into red/yellow/green groups and have looked at the good and bad things in our foods.   A dental professional came in not too long ago and  showed us just how much sugar is in some of the drinks we enjoy!  Hopefully your kindergartener is able to talk to you about the slow vs go foods on their plate!  We will start looking for ways to "eat a rainbow" each day.  In an effort to help our friends stay healthy and make good food choices at school, please help your child look for the healthy foods they are bringing in their lunches and limit the amount of treats and sugary drinks being packed.  Thank you!  This helps keep kids healthy and helps them feel strong and good all day.

Red Yarn has been amazing as always!  Andy brings some puppet magic to us and the kids are singing and creating and its so much fun to watch.  You are invited to come watch the performance on Friday April 21.  We will perform in the auditorium at 1:40.  Hope to see you there!  You can check out Andy's website for local performances, music to listen to and cool videos of him and his puppets singing!  http://redyarnproductions.com/

Marching along...

Hello families!
We have been working so hard and our littles are making huge progress!  Please support your kids by making sure to READ together every day for at least 30 minutes.

Kindergarten friends have been busy celebrating all kinds of fun stuff...the 100th day of school and Dr. Seuss' birthday snuck up on us!

We have a kinderkonzert and our Red Yarn residency coming up soon!  Watch for notes home about when the residency is happening (in April) and let us know if you can volunteer.  The kids will perform on the final day so we hope many of you will be able to join us!

Photo Update!

Kindergarten has been moving right along!  We have been to Kinderkonzerts, celebrated birthdays and holidays, snow days and assemblies...all the while making friends and learning!  Students are really continuing to work on high frequency words, fluency and comprehension in reading.  Writing - we are working on getting more than one sentence staying on one topic and beginning to use some punctuation.   In math, counting to 100, skip counting, 3-d shapes and beginning story problems are what we are working on.  

You should have received your child's report card.  Please let us know if you have any questions.  

Enjoy the pictures below. 

          

                                 
                                    
                           
                                    
                                 
                                    

BrainLab puff ball toss!

Independent reading...look at their focus!  They have really build stamina.

                         

       

Writing...getting better and better!  We wrote about perseverance.   What are some things that you have done to demonstrate perseverance in life?  How has it helped you to grow?

                      

                                         





       

Riding the boat!

Art in the gym.

         

Imagination stations and using tools...

     

We got to see Andy and his friends from RedYarn!