Hello Folks,

April? How can it be April? What a joy spring is here in Kindergarten! I actually started this letter last week!!!!

First a big thank you to all that came on our zoo trip and made that very fast process come together! If you were there then you know they were crazy happy kids! It is definitely a trip that I will repeat in future years! Coming up right after Spring Break, we will be going on our final trip of the year! We are going to go roller skating! Friday, April 29th we will take all the KInders on a "Praise and Worship Skating Retreat". We will be celebrating our healthy bodies, minds and hearts! If you have not already, please send back the forms that came home in the green homework folder two weeks ago.

This last Sunday we began Holy Week and our final push in the spirit of Lent. I hope you have seen some of the Holy Week and Easter efforts that have been coming home. Remember at Advent our class helped raise funds for the moms at the Pregnancy Center? Well we were the most generous class in the school! The kids really enjoyed the ice cream this week that Student Council treated us too for that kindness. I am asking you now to gather up all your coins and bring back the "Rice Bowl" boxes that we sent out way back at Ash Wednesday. If it is long lost, please do not worry. You can have your child do a small task at home or have a little money making opportunity to send in an envelope of coins by this Thursday. Please send in all your Lenten donations now clearly marked!

In ELA we are all reading away and working on our blending of letters. This week the kids have been learning nouns, verbs and adjectives. We are also working on long vowel sounds.

Math has found us trying to solve the many ways to subtract within 0-10. I find that some of the kids have a hard time still with the dexterity to count on fingers. Check that your child has a system for counting on fingers (tapping on chin or desktop). We are also working on mastering counting by 1's, 2's and 10's to 100. Soon we will be adding in counting by 5's. There is also a unit on time that we have mostly covered during our calendar time each day this year (monthes, days, AM and PM, ordering of the day).

Social Studies has been all about community, public services and first responders. The kids have enjoyed several YouTube Field Trips. Ask them about what a firetruck and ambulance carries!

With Science the kids and I have been talking about health and safety, with a side of zoo animals and their environments.

I hope this finds you and yours well and preparing for a very happy Easter!

Best,

Mrs. Shannon Lenz