MRS. ANDREA H. DAVIS
Weekly Newsletter
May 8, 2016
THEME: Natural World
UNIT: My Backyard
EXTENSIONS: Insects
Key Measure: All insects have 2 antennae, 6 legs, and some have wings. We know that a spider
is not an insect.
LANGUAGE ARTS
PHONEMIC AWARENESS AND PHONICS: We focused on the letter W this week. We read
the big book story Mrs. Wishy-washy and we illustrated our own Mrs. Wishy-washy books.
SPEAKING: We read the book The Grouchy Ladybug. It was fun to get to use a gruff
voice when we read the repetitive text on each page. We don’t often get to use a
mean voice when talking in Kindergarten, but when we do, we go all out!
WRITING: The students are writing in their Science notebooks. They are documenting
their observations of our classroom fish, plants and insects. This book will come home for
you to see.
LISTENING: We listened to the book called The Very Quiet Cricket. Ask your child what
sound was heard at the end of the story.
READING: We read the The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. We are illustrating
and will cut out a smaller version of our very own to practice reading at home.
SOCIAL STUDIES
We played a reading game using a bumble bee letter spinner which makes three-letter
words. We split the class into two teams, gave ourselves insect team names (ask your
child which team s/he was on), and tried to spell words by spinning the letters, one
person at a time. One point was awarded for spinning a word. This competitive group
of kids really got into the game! The students are developing competence showing
awareness of others differences and feelings (winning and losing). The students are
developing competence working and playing cooperatively in a variety of settings. As
you know, this is challenging for Kindergartners - OK, grown-ups too!
MATH
The children are acquiring experience recognizing these math symbols + - and = in a
couple of new Insect math games this week. There was a sad ladybug in our room who
lost her spots. We helped her by adding spots to her spotless body when we rolled 2
dice. Some bees were out of their hives and we had to figure out which hive they
belonged in. The hives had a series of 3 numerals with the middle numeral missing. The
bee that lived in the hive had the missing middle numeral on its wings.
SCIENCE
Some insects are helpful to people (like bees and ladybugs), and others are harmful
(like mosquitoes). Some insects are food for birds, for fish and for other animals. We
learned that an ant can carry up to 50 times its own weight. That can be compared to
a human lifting a car up over his/her head!!
ART
VISUAL: At the art table this week we made ladybugs, butterflies and the life cycle of
the butterfly.
MUSICAL: Ask your child to sing this song to you, “Little Arabella Miller, found a wooly
caterpillar” and “Bringing home a baby Bumble Bee.”
MOVEMENT: At work time we built a large caterpillar out of word circles. When our
word was called we added our circle to the caterpillar to make him longer. We then
had to move across the floor on our stomach like a worm using no feet, arms or hands.
It was funny!
DRAMATIC PLAY: We learned the stages of changing from an egg to a beautiful
butterfly and we acted out the process.
FYI
**Thursday reader (5-12) Bring 3-4 books R. PHILLIPS 8:30-8:55
**Thursday reader (5-19) Bring 3-4 books B. STORMS 8:30-8:55
**Wednesday, May 18th – 10:15-11:15 pm – DAVIS Kdg Celebration of Learning (our
spring open house, during the school day). This is something you’ll want to come to.
**Field Day: Thursday, May 19th K- 9:00-10:10am. Parent(s) can come, but not
necessary!
**Last day of School is Monday, May 23, 2016.
Have a great weekend!
Andrea Davis