March 30-April 3 2026: New Theme and LOTS of Information!

Hello:)

I can't believe we are ending our week in the month of April! I am super excited to begin a new, longer theme- Rainforests!

Rainforests are important ecosystems for the planet, producing about 20% of the world's oxygen and supporting most of the world's species. Rainforests also provide products to humans like chocolate, bananas, coconuts, rubber and many medicines...and they are BEAUTIFUL! We will begin our new theme this week that will carry us through the April vacation. The students will learn specifically about the Amazon in South America and the Congo Basin in Africa. 

Some things to remember:

• HERE is the link to our EOY important K events
• Please send in the field trip permission slips/$ (either to school or online) ASAP and include the extra $ if you were chosen to be a chaperone.- A HUGE thank you to all of you who volunteered to put your name in the hat! I am emailing the 3 who were picked today:)
• HERE is the ZOO FIELD TRIP GOOGLE FORM to fill out for ME (different from permission)
  
• Friday 4/3 is an early release day
• Room 103 could really use some tissues!
  
  

Some of the students have been having difficulty with following directions right away and need to be redirected and need directions repeated while classmates are patiently waiting for the lesson, etc. I encourage you to practice this skill with your child.  Listening to directions and following those directions right away is an important skill! If you give your child a direction, have them repeat it and complete it right away without you having to tell them again. This video is a short game you can play with your child. A student should not have to wait to be called out individually to follow a direction...We have more fun when lessons go smoothly!

The next few weeks the children will:

Language Arts-

• practice the new trick words: or, for and look
• continue reading and spelling words with digraphs
  

• write an opinion on Antarctica and Africa
• practice syllable sorting
• practice ABC order
• listening to a short reading and then answering comprehension questions about what they heard
• Read "rainforest" sentences that practice trick words and digraphs (and short vowels)
• contribute to a discussion about the book The Great Kapok Tree

• write an opinion on what they would do if they were the boy in the story
• learn a song about the layers of the rainforest
• label parts of the rainforest

In Math-

• make pictures using 2D shapes
• create a collaborative "shape posters" with a group
• practice skip counting by 10
• practice adding to 10
• use a 0-20 number line 
• practice counting strategies
• review 3D/2D shapes
• complete unit 3 assessment

SEL-

We are continuing to learn about showing respect and talking to each other in a respectful way. There has been a lot of role playing! Millie has had some issues at Puppet School with the same challenges (go figure!) and she will ask for some assistance on the subject. 

Science-

The children will learn about the animals that live in the rainforest and we will make a 3D collaborative project (our own Kapok tree)- I will take lots of pictures for you to see!

I am also hoping to take some learning outdoors and look for signs of spring with our new binoculars!

Social Studies-

Over the next few weeks, the children will be learning about the different communities and people who live in the rainforest (specifically the Amazon) and we will be looking at maps to see where the rainforests are located in relation to Littleton. The children will also learn about the resources that come from the Amazon rainforest. We will continue to learn about the 7 continents as well. We will also complete our community Little Town in Bloom project!

I did not get many pictures from last week, but here are a few and a video of Ella demonstrating some Irish Step dancing!💖

choice time 

using an Atlas

looking at maps of the 7 continents

using a table of contents to find a specific
continent!

working on the community project-
students worked in teams:)

using outdoor acrylic paints

FORT DAY/GLOW PARTY

filling out our "passports" for Europe and Asia

phonics dominos!

March 23-27th 2026: The Start of a Big Community Project!

 

Last year's Little Town in Bloom!

Hello Families!

Thank you to those who have sent in their field trip forms/money. Please send in no later than April 3rd. We filled our heart jar and the class voted to have another Glow party/fort building day. We will have this on WEDNESDAY 3/25. 

This week:

Thursday is a Shaker Lane School Spirit Day- bring your favorite book to school and/or dress like a character from that book. 

We have just completed unit 3 in Fundations and are about to begin learning about digraphs (ch, th, wh, sh and ck). Here are the pictures the children use to help them associate the sounds:

The new trick word for the week will be: are

The students will continue to learn about shapes in math. This week, our focus is on 2D shapes and comparing them to 3D shapes. They will continue to make combinations of 10 and practice those math facts. 

We will begin our 3rd trimester special on Wednesday- Music! 

Science: You may have heard that we have some guppies and tadpoles in our classroom! It has been fun to observe them and keep track of their development. We have been talking about pond life in Littleton. We will also be learning about the signs of spring!

Second Step: We have officially completed the program and will be reviewing many different lessons from now until the end of the school year. 

Community Project!- The kindergarten will partner with the Littleton Cultural Council on their Little Town in Bloom project! We will be painting wooden flowers to decorate our town common to help celebrate SPRING! Be on the lookout for the flowers in April and if you get the chance, take a stroll around the common with your child to find the flower he/she worked on. They will be installed on April 11 and 12th.

If you are free this Wednesday, please consider attending this event hosted by one of our parents, Gloria!

HERE is the link to the K important events page!

Here are some pictures from last week:

A huge thank you to Mr. Rustan for being a "Mystery Musician" in music class!

Creating during choice time...

Learning about the 7 continents

Playing UNO during choice time!

A huge thank you to Brynn's Mimi for being our
Mystery Reader!

Observing the tadpoles and guppies

I am so lucky because...

Making 3D shapes

March 16-20, 2026

 

Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona dhuit!- Happy St. Patrick's Day to all who celebrate!

Hello!

It was so nice to meet with you last week at our conference. There is always so much to talk about at a conference and I realize for many of you it probably was not enough time. Like I said at our conference, please do not hesitate to reach out if you want to discuss more or have any questions/concerns. I am happy to chat more!

I am seeing lots of improvement in the students' writing and it is really exciting! The students will be learning a lot of sight words this spring. I encourage you to post them somewhere visible so that your child can see them outside of school and hopefully identify them when you are reading to them.

This week, we will practice the new sight words: he, she, me.

We will begin Module 4 in Wit and Wisdom this week. Our topic is: The Continents. I wonder what "Witty Bear" will be wearing to give the students a hint about their topic! I have a stuffed bear (Witty) who dresses for each module to help motivate our learning. I will try to take a picture of Witty in costume for you😂. Here is a link to what we will be learning for the next several weeks:    Module 4: The Continents Home Link

The students will continue to learn about shapes in math. This week, our focus will be using 3D shapes when learning about positional words. They will also continue to make combinations of 10 and practice those math facts. 

We will begin our 3rd trimester special on next Wednesday 3/25- Music! 

We have been reading the March Madness books and will (hopefully) be able to vote on our absolute favorite by the end of the week. Stay tuned to see our favorite!

We will participate in lesson 23 in Second Step: how to handle things when someone takes something away from you

There are different ways to measure things at the science center right now... different kinds of scales, measuring tape and a ruler.

**The last trimester of school gets REALLY busy. The K team put together an Important Events doc for you to reference. I will add our own class events to our blog- please check both regularly. 

Here are some pictures from our week: making 3 D shapes from playdough, critiquing their own writing, lots of measuring each other and weighing/comparing objects and some choice time and math centers

We had an amazing visit from Michelle Barry who works at the Littleton Historical Society! She completed a timeline with the students that showed how Littleton has changed over time...beginning with the Nashoba people!