KINDer in Kinder: Annnnd Break!

It's such a joy to be writing this from sunny Los Angeles this morning, and I hope everyone is enjoying their day wherever they are! Although this week was filled with heightened emotions and excitement for Spring Break, we still conquered our learning this week! Students learned about the life cycle of plants, as well as what plants need in order to grow, through fun music, songs, activities, and a version of rock, paper, scissors where the winner becomes the next part of the plant growth process, and the loser goes back down a step in the plant life cycle. Ask your kindergartener about it--they had a blast!

We tried new math games with addition this week, and I introduced a game called "tap it" with letter blends. I would say a word, and students would tap the letter blend they heard at the beginning of the word. Soon we will move on to digraphs, but we will continue to play "tap it" with both blends and digraphs. Students love it and are very engaged.

A final highlight this week was inviting in one of our students' younger brothers, who has Cerebral Palsey. She showed the class how his "gait trainer" works, and the kindergarteners were full of all kinds of questions about what Cerebral Palsey is, how he uses the gait trainer, and what all the different levers and knobs did. They were fascinated, and a very captive audience. What an awesome way to introduce them to kids with special needs so that they feel comfortable asking questions, and so that they can begin to understand how to be compassionate and understanding of kids with special needs.

I hope that everyone has a safe and restful Spring Break, wherever you are! I will be off the grid from Saturday to Saturday, and will be trying my best to not be connected to technology. Whether you're staying in the Tahoe area, or going elsewhere, enjoy the time and the break and don't forget to spend time together as a family! See you all in mid-April!