The Portland Symphony Orchestra Visits WCS!

Some members of  Portland Symphony Orchestra's strings section visited us yesterday.  They performed The Legend of Abbie Burgess.  For more information, click the link:
http://www.portlandsymphony.org/content/?performance=kinderkonzerts-the-story-of-abbie-burgess

We also read the book: "Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie" by Peter and Connie Roop.

Look for the flags we made for the performance in Family Folders.  Students made flags to represent different wind speeds.  A Small Craft Advisory Flag for winds up to 38 mph, a Gale Flag for winds 39-54 mph, a Storm Flag for winds 55-73 mph, and a Hurricane Flag for winds 74 mph and higher.

This Week in Kindergarten (April 23-27)

Playing "Roll, Read, and Write"

Using the Word Wall and dot cubes to
practice Sight Words.

Using non-standard units for Measurement
"I'm 36 pegs tall!"

Counting by 10's and 1's with Craft Sticks

Kindergarten Poetry

Horses
The clomping sound
of a galloping horse
with the dust and the  wind.  neigh!

Police Car

Police cars are fast
wewoo wewoo
A police car is
coming
your way.

Fire Works

Fire works,
so sooooo fast!!!
a ffaasstt,
blooming flower!!!

My Tooth

My tooth is a necklace
My tooth is a heart
My heart.

What You See

You see Stuff
outside trees
are out. There's
flowers in the garden. Go
and see the world.

Shells

Mazes.  It is white
like snow
I love
shells, shells are protecting

Red and Blue

I love red
I love blue
I love red and blue
you

This Week in Kindergarten (April 9-13)

Have a wonderful vacation!!!



This Week in Math: (Some things we worked on)

• Estimating the number of objects in a collection
• Counting the number of objects in a collection
• Reading 2-digit numbers and representing them with manipulatives
• Recognizing 2-digit numbers as a combination of 10's and 1's
• Comparing 2-digit numbers
• Counting forward and backward from various numbers
• Drawing and solving number stories

This Week in Literacy: (some things we worked on)

• Using post-its to mark places in our books where we notice a character feeling
• Discussing our character's feelings with our reading partners
• Making inferences from our character's feelings and actions
• Looking at objects with a "poet's eyes"
• Reading and discussing many poems
• Writing poetry

Here is one of the poems we read to show what is meant to see with a "poet's eyes"

Pencil Sharpener

by Zoe Ryder White

I think there are a hundred bees

inside the pencil sharpener

and they buzz

and buzz

and buzz

until my point 

is sharp!

Working in a Reading Club...preparing to
discuss characters and character feelings.

Jotting character feelings on a post-it
in preparation for partner time.

Partner Reading

Partner Reading: "Biscuit"

Partner Talk, beginning with "I notice..."

Writing words we encounter in Reading
and words we use often in our Writing.

Writing Poetry

Partner Reading

Don't Forget

Don’t forget – today (Wednesday, April 11) from 4-8 pm there will be a photo booth at the library!  By the end of the night we hope to have a very large photo collection of library lovers!  

Mariah Sewall

Children's Librarian

Topsham Public Library

25 Foreside Rd.

Topsham, ME 04086

Some Upcoming Dates

Scholastic and Firefly Book Orders are due this Thursday, April 12.

Spring Pictures will be taken on Tuesday, April 24th.  Our class will be getting our pictures done first thing, at 9:10.

This Week in Kindergarten (April 2-6)

This Week in Math: (some things we worked on)

• Dividing whole objects into halves and representing half of a whole with concrete objects.
• Deepening understanding of mathematical symbols and language through number stories.
• Learning the value of a quarter
• Exploring characteristics of the quarter 

Please read the students observations of the quarter below:

1. It is the biggest coin.
2. The sides are rough.
3. It is made of metal.
4. The heads side only has George Washington's head and neck.
5. It has our first president.
6. The heads side is "upside down" from the tails side.

This Week in Literacy: (Some things we worked on)

Writing Workshop

• We've been reading many poems and familiar songs for poetry inspiration.
• We've been talking about seeing objects "through a poets eyes" and discussing what this means.
• We've also been talking about different ways to set poems up using varying line breaks.

Reading Workshop

• This week we read and discussed many of our favorite characters, including Olivia and Lily.
• Students were introduced to ways to talk to their reading partners about the characters in their books.  We can start with, "I noticed that my character ______________  and that makes me think ____________."  The partner is encouraged to extend the talk by stating, "I agree, because _________" or "I disagree, because_____________."

Next Week is National Library Week

Next Week at the Topsham Public Library

April 8 – 14 is National Library Week, and this year’s theme is “You Belong at Your Library!”  We are offering special programs all week long, but we are also encouraging everyone to come to the library to have their picture taken.

On Wednesday, April 11^th from 4 – 8 pm we will have a photo booth set up in the library where patrons can have their picture taken (perhaps posing with their favorite book?!) to show their love and support of the library.  The booth will print a strip of six pictures – we get one and patrons can keep the rest.