Mrs. Wilhelm’s and Miss Sharkey’s
Junior Kindergarten Newsletter
We are jumping into this month with great gusto, despite the fact that April seems to be ambivalent about welcoming spring! Our attention will be on nature in general: birds, taking care of the earth, water and reflections in Claude Monet’s water scenes.
We enjoyed our recent trips on the Leesburg trolley and to Leesburg Honda. Your children may have been pointing out “H” cars with great excitement!
Our ferry trip on Monday was a success! It was wonderful to have four parents along, and the children’s enthusiasm was not dampened in the least by the poor weather! It was a thrill to cross the Potomac River, go to another state (Maryland) and have snack on a picnic table there. Ask your children what was making the boat move (the engine) and ask about the cable (“rope”, as they called it). Also, did we see anything in the water or any islands?
Outside our classroom, you can now see a computer photo of the class quilt that will be in the Live Auction. It is fantastic: the work of many young artists and of a photographer and a fabric artist, Joyce Carrier.
Within days you will be able to see the children’s finished Kandinsky paintings on the wall in the hallway. On our board opposite the office, there is also a display of umbrellas that the children painted with primary colors and then set out in the rain. We hoped that the colors would run and blur more than they did, but the results are bright and eye-catching! The children also dictated comments about the sights, sounds and feel of rain.
Our hands-on study of our five senses begins this week, and next week we have planned a special day when we will have centers all around the class. You might weave into conversations at home the idea that all animals, including humans, have senses. Some animals have one sense that is stronger than another. Ask if they can guess how that sense helps that animal survive, etc. It is also interesting that Claude Monet’s paintings became more blurry (or Impressionistic) as his eyesight weakened.
Each young Monet artist in the class will cover a large piece of watercolor paper using greens, purples, and blues for the sky, reflections and water. The lilies they add will give texture to the paintings. This month’s attendance tags are copies of Monet paintings, those of his water-lilies, reflections in his pond and the well-known Japanese bridge. Students are identifying their last names on these cards.
The bird study will continue all month. The children will learn about the different habitats and needs of birds and about the reasons for their different characteristics. We have a birdfeeder to hang outside our classroom window, so we hope the birds find it and visit often. This will soon be a class of knowledgeable “birders”, able to identify common inhabitants of our area.
As part of our celebration of Earth Day, we will go to Meadows Farms on Rte. 7, and each child will choose a flower to later plant on Earth Day, April 22nd. The choosing of the flower is one thrill, and the planting of it is another! Our garden will be under one of the classroom windows where the bird feeder hangs.
Math bins this week include: a patterning puzzle made of foam pieces (ask about foam ladybugs); categorizing picture cards according to “Alive, Tools, Play and Food”; lacing cards; the open-ended magnetic calendar activity; a folder game where the goal is to match numerals with their written form.
Coming Events:
You may already have received information from the school about the upcoming event of Grandparents’ Day on Friday, May 9th. It is a morning visit which includes the Spring Concert. You may want to begin thinking ahead about who from your family might be able to visit. Uncles, aunts and other older adult special friends would be welcomed and enjoyed if grandparents are not available.
The dads’ fishing trip will take place on May 13th. This is a great trip and very casual. You do not need to be a real sports fisherman to come! We will go to my parents’ large pond on Oatlands Road, off Rte. 15. Closer to the time, I will provide directions, in addition to a permission sheet and more information. If a child’s father is not able to attend, we will make sure that he or she has a surrogate dad for the day (sharing a friend’s dad is usually fun). Any special male adult friend or grandparent would be a fine substitute. If you do not own fishing tackle or if you have extra items, please let me know, and we can arrange to match up borrowers with lenders!
April’s Show & Tells:
Week of April 7th: Bring a sign of spring!
Week of April 14th: Bring something related to a bird (a toy one, a photo of one you have seen, a feather…I brought mini binoculars). Any ID books you would be willing to lend us would be helpful to have on the bookshelf.
Week of April 21th: Bring something that can be recycled or used again in a new way (as part of our discussions about caring for the earth).
Week of April 28th: Make a sign to place next to your flower in our garden. I will provide the sign for them to decorate. If anyone already has seen a weather-proof basic garden sign, please let me know.
Happy spring with its longer daylight hours!
Sincerely,
Jennie Wilhelm
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