Dear KC Families,
In two weeks there will be some very exciting events in KC. As of now, pending no additional snow days, we will celebrate the 100th Day of School and Valentine’s Day on Friday, February 14th. We will build necklaces out of 100 beads, make 100th day crowns, imagine what we will look like when we are 100 years old, and more! We will also plan to exchange valentines on this day. Exchanging valentines is entirely optional, however, if your child would like to participate, he or she must make a valentine for every child. We wouldn’t want anyone to feel left out. I have sent home a class list with every child's name to make things easier!
Over the next five months, KC will study some very important civil rights leaders in our nation’s history. To begin this ongoing work, we learned about the life of Martin Luther King Jr. We read My Uncle Martin’s Big Heart, and illustrated how we could carry on Dr. King’s dream of peace, love, kindness, and inclusion in our own lives. The children had many thoughtful and insightful ideas about how to make our world better and how to be kind to one another. In the months to come, we will learn about other important social justice leaders such as Rosa Parks, Ruby Bridges, Katherine Johnson, Jackie Robinson, and Sylvia Mendez.
Much of our artwork continues to focus on using collage materials. Lois Ehlert has inspired much of this work with her books, Snowballs, Circus, and Leaf Man. We have also been working very hard on self-portraits each month. We have used different drawing mediums, as well as paper collage. I am so excited for you to see all of this fabulous work come together at our portfolio share in June. I know it seems like a long time away, but it will be here before we know it!
In math we have started to explore the wide world of shapes and patterns. Patterns are simply everywhere, and in our work we try to move past the notion that repeating patterns are limited to “red, yellow, red, yellow.” We will be making patterns with many different materials, learning how to name simple and complex patterns with letters (i.e. AABBCC), learning how to interpret letter patterns and then make them with math manipulatives, looking for patterns in our counting, and also using our bodies in motion to make patterns. We will also explore growing patterns and children will have a chance to make their own growing patterns with a variety of materials.
In science our focus has been on building, which also ties in perfectly with our exploration of shapes. We have been reading many informative books about the building process, participating in building challenges about height and stability, and learning about what makes buildings strong. We will also be learning about a famous artist and architect, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, by creating our own interpretations of houses with imperfect lines and bold colors. If you have not checked our Twitter feed (@Ms_Conroy), please do! There you will find many pictures of our work, as well as other building activities that are happening in the classroom!
Our performance, Rhyme Time, is just around the corner! If you or a representative from your family cannot make it to our show on March 13th, please let me know as soon as possible, as I will make alternative plans for an adult to come watch the performance, and sit with your child as they read his or her Mother Goose Book after the show. Due to the familiarity of most Mother Goose rhymes, it is our hope that the children will be more comfortable on stage, and can all feel very successful in this first performance on the Heath School stage!
Thank you for a great start to 2020!
Sarah