This month's newsletter topics
May – Show and Tell –
Garden and Insects –
Community Helpers and Safety
– Graduation and Carnival
This month's newsletter topics
May
Themes this Month
- Show and Tell
- Garden and Insects
- Community Helpers and Safety
- Carnival and Graduation
Graduation and Carnival
Wow! Is it really the last month of school? Our students have grown so much this year and I hope our soon-to-be kindergartners and first graders get to go to school in person next fall. We have 50 children attending Hands On this year, in three different cohorts. We have lots of fun things planned for May. From gardening projects, to show and tell, and finishing up the school year with our own carnival and graduation parties. We will have 3 end of the school year parties, Thursday and Friday, May 27th and 28th. Each cohort will celebrate with a carnival during class, then families can join us in the parking lot for a graduation ceremony. We could use your help! Look for the sign-up sheets on the red doors at drop-off to see how you can help. Make sure to sign up for your child’s cohort.
Plan to join your child for the celebration in the parking lot. See below for each cohort’s graduation time.
Morning Cohort, Friday May 28th at noon. If your child doesn’t attend school on Friday, they may join us at 11:30 for the carnival.
T & Th afternoon cohort, Thursday, May 27th at 3:15 PM.
M/W/F afternoon cohort, Friday, May 28th at 3:15 PM.
Show and Tell
For the kids in our class that love to bring things to school and tell their friends all about them, this is their special time! Everyone can bring 1 item to school each day from May 10th-14th. We will have show and tell everyday! Please don’t bring in anything too special, or small, that may get broken or lost.
Garden Fun
Our students love gardening! Thanks to Portland Nursery for donating so many wonderful plants. We have lots of veggie starts, herbs, berries and we planted sunflower seeds. The kids are taking such good care of the plants, by watering and weeding every day. We enjoy the sunshine in the garden area, the kids play hopscotch, play in the forest, collect flowers and build fairy houses, and water our garden. We have been observing two birds building a nest right above our garden beds! We are keeping a close eye on the nest and look forward to seeing baby birds soon!
Our caterpillars arrived and our students enjoyed observing them, watching them grow and seeing them turn into butterflies. We released them over the week so each class had the opportunity to see them fly away. We think they fly by to say hello while we are working in the garden!
Circle Time
In April we learned about the life cycle of a butterfly. We learned new songs that helped us understand the stages they go through to become butterflies and we also did many art projects from caterpillar to butterfly. We also discussed Earth Day and why we celebrate it. The students enjoyed coming up with ways they are helpful, such as using reusable water bottles every day and recycling. It makes them feel good to see some simple task they can do to help our Earth.
In circle time we are reading lots of books and playing many alphabet games. In the pre-kindergarten group we have been introducing books that we read together. The students are doing a great job sounding out and reading some new words.
All of the students worked on their own poems about themselves. Some children even included self portraits. The “I am from” poems give each child a time to reflect about what makes them special, and things they love and then share it as a poem. The poems and portraits will be sent home soon!
Yearbooks
In a few weeks we will be ordering yearbooks, every child that attended Hands On during the school year will be included in the yearbook. Our yearbook is our only fundraiser and we use the funds to keep up the playground. This year we are hoping to raise money for cedar chips and new sand for the sandbox, that will really freshen up the playground! Yearbooks will include graduation and be available to pick up during the summer. They are $30 each, examples of yearbooks from the past will be out at drop-off if you would like to see one. Children’s class photos and daily activity photos will have children masked, but the individual photos are unmasked. If you want to order a yearbook, please email Jennifer before the last day of school, May 28th.
A Note From Teacher Andrew
Teacher Sandy is a fabulous teacher, and our students loved having her as a substitute teacher this year. We are excited to have her in our classroom on a more regular basis! Teacher Sandy will be leading some afternoon summer camps and then teaching mornings in the fall.
Dates to Remember
May 10-14th
Show and Tell Week – Children may bring one item each day to show friends and share with the class during circle time.
Thursday and Friday, May 27th and 28th – Last day of school celebrations
No school, or camp, May 29-June 6th
June 7th, Summer sessions begin
*No Camp Monday, July 5th. This session will have a reduced tuition as this day was originally included in the registration forms.
August 26th, Summer camp ends
No school or camp, August 27 to September 7th
September 7th, children visit the classroom with their families
September 8th, school year begins
