Where did last week go? Time has somehow gotten away from me. We have a lot of catching up to do!

We finished our road trip around the United States by returning safely to Minnesota. We studied our state symbols and topped off the day by making the Minnesota muffin and drinking the Minnesota drink—blueberry muffins and milk!

Our next theme was discovering the roles of the doctor, vet, police officer, construction worker, and teacher. It was a smooth transition as we learned about our social studies standard involving community helpers. This unit included lots of writing. The children have grown so with their writing skills. I just loved reading their special sentences in the Community Helpers book and the creative notes they wrote during our center time that told about their pets and the jobs they might have some day! We ended this unit by making a book about our community helpers in Parkers Prairie and enjoyed a visit from a police officer. Thank you for sharing some safety tips with our students!

We are “under construction” too! Building character was a topic that we touched on this week. Our kindergarteners are learning how to be a friend and how to socialize with others. These young children are just beginning their next stage of group play. They need our help to use their words to grow into caring and gentle friends. We read a wonderful book by Nancy Carlson and then made a special book about how to be a good friend.

Finally, we ended this week with some leprechaun mischief! A wee little lad lost his fairy dust in our room along with his special recipe for a magical treat! We mixed up and taste-tested his treasure to see if we liked it too! Counting gold by 2s and then practicing addition and subtraction with the pieces was part of our math activities on Friday.

I read an interesting book on brain development. One message from the book that I would like to pass on is that children need a good night of sleep (10 – 12 hours) so their brains can process what they learn each day. I know it can be hard to get children to bed on time because of the daylight savings time changes, but your child will benefit from being tucked in early!

Students will not have school on March 26th. Teachers will have a workshop that day. We will have to make up the snow day we had, so we will have school on April 9th.

No doubt you have been hearing about our music program. Mark your calendar for April 27th. You are in for a treat as the children will sing about special helpers in our community. I will pass on the time once it is set.

I have spring fever! I‘m hoping that the grass will soon turn green and we can enjoy more time outside on sunny days. Signs of Spring will be our next fun unit. We can't wait!