March

*This month, we will begin to explore the changes in the weather and the season (March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb). We will track the lion/lamb days in March, and explore the changes in season as we look for signs of Spring! We will read Eric Carle's book, Little Cloud, and examine clouds looking for what we can see. We will also learn about wind and its effects both good and bad, as well as rain and how it too can be helpful/harmful (storms). The girls will experiment with wind, using pinwheels. We will also use our 5 senses to see things moving in the wind, the ability to feel it, and to hear it.

*As we continue to learn about many different authors and illustrators, we will celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday on March 2nd. We will read many of his familiar stories, and learn about his imaginary styles of illustrating and writing through use of rhymes. We will thus continue to review onsets and rhymes as we "play" with words and change them to create a silly little story. We will also learn about authors such as Eric Carle, and Laura Numeroff.

*As we continue our Kindergarten tradition, the girls will have a STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) project to work on at home with their parents. They will have to create a leprechaun trap that in their opinion, will work to "catch Lucky the Leprechaun", who annually visits Kindergarten on Saint Patrick's Day. This trap should account for his tiny size (measurement); Students may engineer a ladder for him to climb; Use of a box or some contraption to catch him (technology); and include a mix of colors...particularly green, gold, and/or colors of the rainbow to entice him. Although some girls have come close to catching him in previous years, Lucky has been way to clever for us! He usually makes a mess of the classroom each year, leaving shamrock glitter everywhere, knocking over traps, and even leaving little notes, gifts, and a special drink that turns green! Besides trying to catch the leprechaun, the purpose of this project is for the girls to give an oral presentation on how they designed their trap, and how it will work to catch the clever fellow. This is one of our most memorable Kindergarten traditions, and we all have a lot of fun with it...including our Principal, teachers, and past students, who love to pop in to see if anyone caught Lucky yet. Prior to this, the girls will also work on a writing activity where they will either write a question for Lucky to answer, or tell what they will do if they catch him.

*This month, the girls will also learn about Saint Patrick and view pictures via the SmartBoard of Ireland. We will identify and color a picture of Ireland's flag and recognize how different it is from ours (which we learned a lot about last month). We will discuss some of the country's food and customs. They will learn the religious meaning of the shamrock to symbolize the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The girls will also write their own Emerald Isle poem: A sensory poem on what the color green looks like, feels like, smells like, etc. We will also learn briefly about Saint Joseph this month as well in honor of his feast day.

*As we also prepare for the coming of spring and begin to look for signs, we will learn all about rainbows and have fun mixing the primary colors to get the secondary ones. We will use food coloring to watch the colors "hug" or mix. We will explore how a rainbow is formed, and how our eye sees the colors. We will experiment with bubbles and a glass of water in the sun to look for a rainbow (reflecting and absorbing colors; white light; etc.). They will also experiment with tie-dying on a paper towel or coffee filter with water colors to see how the colors blend as they do in a rainbow. In math, we will cut and measure out ingredients to make an actual rainbow fruit salad; and we will use the rainbow colors of Skittles candy and Fruit Loops cereal to work on additional math activities.

*We will continue to strengthen our phonemic awareness skills, onsets and rhymes, comprehension skills, use of context clues to figure out vocabulary word meanings in stories, our ability to stretch out words when writing, and use of our reading strategies through guided reading of leveled books. In math, we will also extend our study from last month on geometric shapes, recognition of number words, intro. to fractions: equal parts; and review time to the hour (daylight savings time).

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Some Exciting Events To Look Forward To This Month:

March 2nd: Half day; Show-n-Tell; 7th grade Ring Ceremony

March 8th: Chicken Tender Lunch

March 14th: Half day for students: REPORT CARD CONFERENCES

March 15th: Green Day: Students may wear ONE green item

($2 to Student Council)

March 16th: Book Fair -Join us in the Alumnae Room to shop for books!

-dress up day for students

LEPRECHAUN TRAPS ARE DUE! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

March 19th: Dr. John (Pediatric Dentist) visits VA to talk to the girls

about dental health and taking proper care of teeth

Happy St. Joseph's Day!

March 22nd: NO SCHOOL.......PROFESSIONAL DAY

March 30th: Easter Bunny Lunch!

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Reminder: Please don't forget to visit Mathletics.com to practice your math skills! :)