03+14+08

= Kindergarten News =

=March 14, 2008 = = from Mrs. Knee, Mrs. Neily = = and Mrs. Shepard =  It was wonderful to see so many of you at the Curriculum Night last week. The children enjoyed sharing their work with you. Knowing that it is difficult for everyone to come out on one specific night, I posted many of the displays and the children’s work on our blog. That way, you can see our work if you were unable to make it to school on Thursday.

We have finished our in depth study of penguins and have been looking closely at the Iditarod Sled Dog Race. Joshua Heckman’s grandparents came to school before vacation and got us interested in learning more about sled dog racing. They brought a sled and two dogs and taught us about racing. Thank you to the Heckman’s for sharing your knowledge with us. The Iditarod race is over 1000 miles across rugged Alaskan terrain. This year’s race began on March 2. The first person to cross the finish line took about 9 and a half days to finish. It was a close finish. Ask your child about the trick that Lance Mackey did to Jeff King so that he could win the race. The winning sled was made in NH. Lance Mackey’s father came from Concord. There are still more racers to finish. Ask your child to explain about the Red Lantern. We read The True Story of Balto, about a famous Alaskan sled dog and we also took time this week to watch the Balto movie.

Spring is coming – really! I know for sure because the Knee family is making maple syrup…and that only happens when spring is coming. I enjoy sharing information about making maple syrup and will be doing that next week. If the weather cooperates and I have enough drivers, we can take a trip to my house in Fremont for some hands on learning. We only boil on the weekends, so we won’t be making syrup during the visit. Please send me a note or email, if you could help with transportation on Friday March 21. A rain date would be Monday, March 24. This would not be an all day visit. We would leave mid morning and have a bag lunch in Fremont and return to school after lunch.

April 11 is Grandparents Day at DCS. The KinderKids invite their grandparents to join them for snack on this day. We will do some baking in preparation for the event. If you are arranging for your child’s grandparents to visit, tell them to plan on about a 30-40 minute visit beginning around 10:00.

We continue to enjoy going outdoors. The children have switched from playing penguins to being sled dogs. As long as there is snow cover and mud, please send boots, etc. to school.

