Newsletter 5/2/08

Featuring kindergarten kids' news from Ms. Goldman's Class
Dear Families,
What a great time to start a sink and float unit! Now that the weather is so beautiful, we are starting to talk about boats. This will lead us to pose questions such as what makes boats float which will introduce our study of why materials sink or float.
Reading / Writing Workshop
We continued our discussion of nonfiction books by reading about veterinarians. We discussed what veterinarians do to help animals. Following the discussion, the children had to write three facts that they learned from the story. In this way, they demonstrated that they understood the meaning of the story. Continuing our study of plurals, we discussed the subject-verb agreement indicated by adding an s to a verb so that it agrees with a third-person subject. For example: One cat sings. Two cats sing. We also learned that some words are made up of two words put together and are called compound words. We practiced recognizing, writing, and drawing them. One student found that Goldman is a compound word!
Science
We began our sink and float investigation by discussing the properties of water: it has surface tension; it flows; it changes shape to fit any container; it evaporates; and it dissolves some substances. We asked questions such as: How does water feel, taste, or smell? Why is water important? How do you move water? What color is water? We predicted what a pinecone will do after it soaks in fresh water overnight. Then we discussed the results. Ask your child why the pinecone closed up in the water.
Math
In one of the final math units, we are teaching the children about the operations of addition and subtraction through a game called "What's my Rule?" which uses an imaginary machine called a Function Machine. For example, we can tell the machine to follow the rule, "Add 1." Then we can put a 1 into the machine and the machine sends out a 2. It has followed our rule. We can vary the game by having the children create their own rules ("Add 3") and then tell what numbers go in and what numbers come out.
Social Studies
The children discussed how important time is,
and how important it is to be on time. We have a
daily schedule and the children are aware of
when each activity takes place.
Ms. Goldman's Corner Please help your child find any recyclable items that might float and send them in a plastic bag. We are having a boat building and boat racing activity on May 14. I will be sending home a letter next week.
In addition, please send in a small plastic toy
boat, if you have one at home, for more sink
and float investigations.