Springing towards the end of Kindergarten!

April and May have flown by... is it really almost Memorial Day weekend?  I hope you all have a great long weekend with your families, and to hold you over until Friday I've selected a bunch of photos from the past month of school that I am sure will entertain :

Flying Mountain Hike, 5/8/12

Kids showing our classroom dads the way!

Lunchtime!

At the summit!

Serious picture-taking

View from the top of Flying Mountain

Happy hikers, who just finished the trail

Dorr Museum, COA, 5/23/12

"Hey, bear."

Best part of teaching: when kids teach you something new!

touch tank excitement!

They asked if we could please come back ten times- I said, "Ask your parents!" :)

Sea cucumber!

Recent happenings!

April showers bring May flowers... but this May morning is pretty dreary.  Luckily we have had some wonderful fun things going on in here lately to keep our spirits (and energy!) up!

A big thanks to Elle, for sharing her experiences in Mexico with us through an amazing slideshow and discussion.  We also very much enjoyed the different fruits you brought for us to try- good thing you brought lots of extras, because we certainly ate it up!

Dressed in an authentic, hand-made dress for her presentation!

I was so proud of how she got up in front of the class, taught us so much and wasn't the least bit nervous.

Speaking of getting in front of others, please give a virtual round of applause for our wonderful performers!  The Kindergarten, as you know, did an AMAZING job of performing in the Spring Concert last night!  Wow.  I was so proud, so I can only imagine how they felt!  I am working on uploading the videos, so if anyone wants me to send videos, please email me and I'd be happy to share them.

all three Ks, and Mrs. Edmondson, at the dress rehearsal Thursday afternoon

I also have to mention a great visit during Guidance last week.  Maggie's mom brought in her dog, Max, who modeled some protective doggie wear for use in the great outdoors.  Maggie's mom has a company that makes these items.  I am tempted to pick up something for my own dog, and Maggie shared collar covers with every one of us.  Thanks for a wonderful share!

This is one well-behaved dog!  My dog would've been all over the place :)

Coming up: our hike!  Tuesday, May 8, 2012 is the new date; please send in your permission slip on Monday if you haven't done so already.  I am so looking forward to Flying Mountain, and I know the kids are too!  I will notify parents today about chaperoning on Tuesday morning.  Flying Mountain is shown on google maps, below, at point "A", if anyone is unfamiliar.  Happy trails to us!

Celebrating our earth

With Earth Day behind us, we realize that we should celebrate and take care of the earth 365 days a year- not just one day in April.  Our service learning project has been going wonderfully, and the week before vacation we began working on a chapter book we are writing to help other children understand ways we can all take care of our earth.  We brainstormed lots of ideas and so far have a title and a chapter list; we are getting down to the nitty-gritty writing, illustrating and photographing this week.  This is all very exciting!  The title we have come up with is "Kindergarteners Can Help the Earth!"  I won't give any other details away... you'll have to read it when we publish it :)

Today we read one of my favorite stories, The First Feud by Lynn Plourde.  It is a beautifully illustrated fable about Katahdin, the Atlantic Ocean, and how Maine came to look the way it does.  It also teaches a great lesson, and was a big hit; I was happy to see many of us have already read this at home too!

The earth is in our hands.  Check out our creations by the classroom entrance!

Our opinion as a class is that this book is GREAT!

Also, in the coming weeks you will be receiving numerous permission slips for field trips that are contributing to our service learning conservation project (and to just plain old Kindergarten fun)! We have already scheduled a visit to the COA museum on May 23rd, a trip to Seal Harbor beach on June 7th, and two hikes (one to Flying Mountain and one to Beech Mountain) in May.  You will be receiving a notice about the Flying Mountain hike tomorrow, but now you have a heads up.

One more thing: The Conners Concert, grades K-2, will be next week on Thursday, May 3, 2012.  Wow!  Please encourage your child to sing "Oh Mister Sun," "Nature Baby" and "What do you do with a water waster?" if he or she feels so inclined; otherwise, just wait until the concert and I will see you there!



~Mrs. Fournier