Well…….somehow we lost 4 school days…..

Actually, I had our count down calendar set to 180 school days (which is what we usually do) However, because of the extended time during the school day this year we are only doing 176 student days. So BOOM! We lost 4 days. I’ll admit, I was a little sad……I will be breaking the news to our munchkins on Monday that we don’t have as much time together as we thought we did……I am sure that they will be none-too happy either! TICK TOCK for real……Tick Tock…….      🙁

We adored the Little Mermaid last week! What a great show! We are blessed in Tuscaloosa to have such amazing talent. I am so glad we got to go! Please check out the tryouts for the upcoming TCT productions! It’s never too early to appreciate theater! http://tuscaloosachildrenstheatre.com/

This school year is flying by! I cannot believe how little time we have left! 🙁 We still have so many fun things to learn about! Our next science unit will be on TREES! Mrs. Stroud and I learned a ton of cool things to do with this unit at our workshop on Friday. I can’t wait for us to get started. We will kick off the week with some Earth Day activities and we are even incorporating some of this theme into our Literacy and Math Centers as well.

This week on Wednesday we will go to the BAMA THEATER to see The Little Mermaid! So much fun! The cost is $5 and no sack lunches will be needed. We will leave at 8:15 and be back in time for lunch. There is very limited seating so no parent chaperones will be needed for this trip…..feel like you have heard this before?  Aahemmm…… We really are going this week! I really mean it this time! 🙂

There is no Internet at RQES/RQMS until possibly Tuesday of this week. Please remember that if you send an email to me and DO NOT get a quick reply…..then I did NOT receive the message. In the case of dismissal changes, please call the office if you do not get a reply via email. No reply means one of two things…..1. I did not get te email. 2. I am out of the building and cannot respond.

Field Day has been rescheduled for May 20th I believe. Hooray! I will be there to participate with the children! 🙂 We are all ready to be CAPTAIN FIELD DAY! Just like Junie B. Jones

Speaking of Junie B……we are almost finished reading the entire series out loud! We only have 2-3 books to go! If you want to play a little Junie B. Jones trivia and other fun stuff, go to  http://juniebjones.com/     and April 21st is author Barbara Park’s birthday! and……did you know that she is a graduate of The University of Alabama’s College of Education? Yep! Junie B’s creator is a Bama girl! How about that?

Book Orders will be due next week: Friday, May 3. All orders will be online. Please go to https://orders.scholastic.com/GRCDC

Class code: GRCD

This will probably be the last order we do for this year. We may be able to squeeze in one more, but that may be pushing it a bit……

Don’t forget that there is no school on Friday of this week! I hope you enjoy spending time with your family….I will have my toes in the sand first thing Friday morning!

Happy Monday Everyone! Only 4 more Monday’s left after today! Tick Tock. Tick Tock! Alicia

EDITED!! The Little Mermaid trip to the BAMA THEATER is next Tuesday, April 23……NOT this week! Whew! I told y’all I needed a secretary! 🙂

Our Zoo trip on Friday was so awesome! All of the children had a great time and many of the adults told me that you did as well! Thanks to EVERYONE who came out to spend the day with us. Special thanks to Mrs. Milling (our first UofA intern) who drove all the way from Atlanta to celebrate the Zoo (and her birthday!) with us! Brilyn’s mom told me that after all the buses left that the Zoo helpers told her that there had been 5000 people there on Friday! WOW! And that there were 9000 expected to be there next weekend! Whew! I really did not think it was too crowded considering that all of the school groups that were scheduled on Thursday (during the tornado warnings) were allowed to come on Friday instead of rescheduling. I also appreciate all of you waiting in the parking lot at RQES while we got situated. It takes a lot of work to get everyone’s lunch/drink loaded and checked off, take attendance, go over rules and procedures, etc……It’s really hard to get them to listen when they are so excited! 🙂 Throw as many parents as there are children into the mix and everyone is just confused! I DO appreciate you and I hope no one took offense to my request. You know you are welcome in #210 any (other) time!

This week on Wednesday we will go to the BAMA THEATER to see The Little Mermaid! So much fun! The cost is $5 and no sack lunches will be needed. We will leave at 8:15 and be back in time for lunch. There is very limited seating so no parent chaperones will be needed for this trip.

Erin and Parker will have their Leader’s Lunch THIS Wednesday right after the Bama Theater trip…not last Wednesday like I said before….. (I need a secretary). Big Fun Day for these Leaders! Who will be next? Hummmmm……

Please fill out the FREE Spring Fling shirt form and return it asap. If you want to purchase one for other family members who do not attend RQES then you may do so for $10 per shirt.

FIELD DAY is FRIDAY! Hope we have great weather for it!! Please let your child wear comfortable clothes that can get wet (you may send a dry set of clothes/socks if you want to do so) and make sure they wear TENNIS SHOES with SOCKS. Field day is all about running and racing and being speedy fast. We can’t be like Junie B Jones and have our shoes go flinging off during the races! Can’t run around in our sock feet! You may want to put sunscreen on them before they come to school and you are welcome to send a hat (labeled with child’s name) if you’d like.

We are almost finished with Unit 5 in Reading Street! I am so proud of the progress everyone has made! What great readers we have! We will run out of days before we run out of stories on Unit 6, so I will send the remainder of Unit 6 stuff home for you to use this summer. I know all of my kinderfriends who play school at home will enjoy that!

In math we have been counting and working on strategies! Let me tell you! These kiddos have such great number sense! Don’t believe me? Try a few problems at home, such as 9+7= ?? They can almost all look at it and tell you without batting an eye that it is 16. We are teaching them to “see” numbers in groups of 10. So if you ask your munchkin to tell you the strategy he/she used, you may get something that sounds like this:  “Well, I changed that 9  into a 10 and then the 7 became a 6. So I knew that 10+6 =16. The 6 jumps into the 0’s spot on the 10 because the 0 is just a placeholder.” So play around with numbers and don’t forget to ask them about their STRATEGY……(’cause we’ve got some strategies….we know how to count by 2’s, and almost 3’s, and 5’s and 10’s…..we know STUFF!)

Yeah……this is not your MeMaw’s kindergarten……..but since it is almost 10:30 and this teacher JUST got back from RQES setting up 50-11 centers (read this as fifty-eleven, which is totally how many centers I feel like we go through in a week because we have some smart and voracious learners) and this teacher is feeling like a MeMaw right about now…..I’ll just say good night. And if you read this far……KISS YOUR BRAINS…..

Happy Busy Monday! Alicia (who adores her kinderfriends)

The time is finally here! We are going to the ZOO on Friday!  Read ALL OF THIS IMPORTANT  ZOO TRIP INFORMATION!

Please send your child’s lunch in a gallon sized ziplock bag labeled with his name. All items MUST be able to be thrown away after eating. No special spoons, etc…Include a drink with the lunch. We will eat as soon as we get to the Zoo. I will provide a snack and we have left over capri suns that we will have before we return home at the end of the day!

If you are following the bus to chaperone our trip, please wait in the parking lot in your car. I will need the morning to be “regular” so that I can account for all children, lunches, etc… You won’t miss us….we will be in 2 large charter buses. 🙂

If your child is riding with you, in your car to go to and from the zoo, please send a note by WEDNESDAY so that I can account for them.  You will not need to follow us if you don’t want to. You may meet us at the Zoo. WE WILL MEET AT THE PICNIC AREA OUTSIDE THE ZOO WHEN WE FIRST GET THERE SO THAT WE CAN EAT LUNCH BEFORE ENTERING THE ZOO!

If your child rides to the Zoo on the bus and you want them to ride home with YOU in the car, you will need to find me at the picnic area at the END of the day when we are having snack to check them out. You will have to sign them out before leaving the Zoo with your child in your car. That way, I can make sure I know where everyone is. 🙂 Can’t leave anyone there because I think they are with Mom…the Zookeepers might stick them in the monkey cages….  🙂

A special friend will be meeting us at the Zoo! Can you guess who it is? Think way way back……

Here’s the link to our current favorite song!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP4OnxTAgXI&safe=active

Congratulations to Erin Pernell and Parker Cline for being our Leaders for the 3rd 9 weeks! They will enjoy Lunch Bunch on Wednesday of this week! Special McDonald’s Lunch and playtime at the Phelps Center!

It’s a busy week so hold on!  Happy Monday! Alicia