Mrs. Kranzlein's Koalas

Welcome

Welcome to Mrs. Kranzlein’s Koalas

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(used with permission)

Count Us In Games      Patterns                     Starfall 
Literacy Center            Dog Bone                   Coins 
Number Word              Name That Number     Seussville
Plant Pollinators            Plants  

Archibald Ant            Build A Bug         Ladybug Spots 
Save the Roses         Monster Bugs      Life Cycles    

Ocean Day

  

How Long is a Whale?

      

Week 35 and 36 in Review...and Looking Ahead One Last Time

Week 35 and 36 in Review
We hope that you enjoyed our Parent Celebration as much as we did.  Our koalas were so proud of everything they were able to share with you.  And we are ending our kindergarten year with a bang!  The koalas are amazing at estimating and really surprised us when we investigated "How Long Is a Whale".  Our ocean experiments in the science lab produced some "aha" and some "ooo-yuck" moments.  Field Day was a lot of fun for all.  We also want to send a shout out to the Fleetwood MaC class.  Our koalas enjoyed learning about what it is like to be in first grade.   

We have lots of pictures.  I will upload them in chunks as time allows.

Looking Ahead One Last Time
Please clean out backpacks nightly as we will be sending home many items over the next few days.  Here is an updated look at our last week:

5/18 Game Day, Author's Circle
5/19 Fun in the Sun/Picnic - look for more info in the blue folder
5/20 Water Day (weather permitting)
5/21 Packing/Cleaning Day - last day for backpacks or any other personal student items
5/22 Movie and Laptop Day - we will be watching Finding Nemo and using the laptops one last time

Please join us for a special Parent Celebration

Friday, May 8 8:30 – 9:15am

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Please make other arrangements for younger siblings! Thank you!

Week 32, 33, 34 in Review...And Looking Ahead

Week 32, 33, 34 in Review
Spring Break seems like a distant memory as we have already finished 3 of the 6 post-Spring Break weeks of school.  CRCT testing in the school and rehearsal for the Kindergarten program provided many opportunities to practice flexibility especially in our daily schedule.  Speaking of the Kindergarten performance, I was so pleased with our koalas.  They did a fantastic job.  We had seventeen of our twenty koalas there.  Thank you for such great participation.

GKIDS assessments are complete and a detailed student report will be included with the final report card.  Most of the year end assessments are complete as well and the growth in reading, writing and math has been remarkable.  I am so proud of all of our students.

Looking Ahead
As we count down the last 15 days of kindergarten, there are many activities and events that you will want to take note of.  We even made a big chart as a class to help us keep track of everything.  Here are some key dates:

Wednesday, May 6:  All library books are due
Thursday, May 7:  Ocean Day in the Science Lab (volunteers needed)
Friday, May 8:  8:30 - 9:15  Parent Celebration - please plan to come, no siblings

Monday, May 11:  Field Day Opening Ceremonies - wear koala shirt
Tuesday, May 12:  Kindergarten's Field Day - wear koala shirt & sunscreen, lunch delayed 1 hour
Wednesday, May 13:  Moving Up Day - we will be visiting Mrs. Fleetwood's 1st grade class

Monday, May 18: Author's Circle
Tuesday, May 19:  Fun in the Sun Day, Picnic
Wednesday, May 20:  Water Day
Thursday, May 21:  Packing/Cleaning Day
Friday, May 22:  Movie Day and 5th Grade Walk - no backpacks or lunchboxes

Weeks 30 and 31 in Review...and Looking Ahead

Week 30 and Week 31
What a fun couple of weeks it has been as we delved into the world of plants and bugs.  In week 30, we were able to spend some time outside exploring the different plants around Murdock.  We pried the seeds out of several fruits and vegetables to plant our own garden and made a Venn diagram in the computer lab comparing and contrasting flowers and trees.  We wrapped up week 31 by talking about caterpillars and tadpoles...Mrs. Kauffman had some cool tadpoles with little back feet growing in the science...and learning more about bugs.  Thank you to Ayden's mom for surprising us with a big 3D grasshopper puzzle.

In Social Studies, we have been discussing character traits such as honesty, moderation, patriotism and loyalty. We introduced the summer federal holidays...Memorial Day, Flag Day and Independence Day.  We also completed some activities involving chronological words such as now, long ago, past, present, and future.  Many of these topics are abstract and challenging for kindergarteners but I was pleased with how our koalas did.

Finally, our Koala Kash 'N Karry store was a huge success.  In fact, we have decided to bring it back for the last week of school excluding Friday.  The koalas have a better appreciation for earning money, making spending choices, saving for a big purchase, paying fines, and supply and demand.  Thank you to everyone who sent in donations for the store.  Every day, the koalas enjoyed discovering the new merchandise.

Thank You
Mrs. Nolan, Mrs. Pepe, and I extend a heartfelt thank you to all of our students and parents for the way you pampered us during Staff Appreciation week.  Breakfast each morning was such a treat!!!  The cards and sweet notes were precious.  You have been so supportive and encouraging...we just can't thank you enough. 

Congratulations!
One of the koalas had a writing piece that was selected to represent Murdock's kindergarten classes.  Ajay's piece won 2nd place in the Cobb County Writing Fair.  Way to go, Ajay!!!!

Looking Ahead
We hope everyone has a relaxing and enjoyable Spring Break.  Mrs. Richman has challenged all Murdock students to read 10 books during the break.  Whoever completes the challenge will receive a coupon for Bruester's ice cream. 

The week after Spring Break is a busy one.  The family project bug models are due on Monday...this project is meant to be fun, not stressful.  We will wrap up bugs and move straight into animals with the petting zoo coming to visit us on Friday.

The second week after Spring Break is CRCT week.  While kindergarten is not tested, we do our part to help the other Murdock students do their best including staying in our classroom during testing hours and eating lunch in our classroom.  Mrs. Nolan and Mrs. Pepe will both be needed to serve as testers and proctors.  If you would be willing to volunteer to help in our class during the testing window one day, please let me know.  You would need to arrive before the bell and stay through lunch.  No visitors are allowed to come to the classrooms once testing has started each day.

Other Important Dates
The Spring Picnic and Pavilion Dedication honoring Mrs. Petka will be held on Friday, April 17th.  The rain date for the event is April 24th.  Parents, you will also want to attend the Kindergarten Performance at the General PTA meeting at 6:00pm on Thursday, April 30th and our class Parent Tea on Friday, May 8th at 8:30am.  More information will follow, but go ahead and save the dates.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Little Koala, Little Koala
How does your garden grow?
With peaches and snow peas, peppers and kiwis
All in a row!

          
 

Weeks 27, 28, and 29...and Looking Ahead

Weeks 27, 28, and 29
The last few weeks have been heavy with assessments as we prepared report cards.  The math homework has really helped our koalas become more confident with two digit numbers as well as prepared them for adding coins to buy items at our class store in a couple of weeks. 

Some March highlights have been:

Getting regular visits from Murphy with math challenges for us.  
 

Having a book of our letters published by Mrs. Schmidt (you might even be able to check out our book).
 

Going on our field trip to the Chattahoochee Nature Center and exploring living and non-living things
             
   

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day
 

Searching for signs of Spring
  

Discovering the similarities and differences in plants
 

With our book buddies, we read the story Stella Luna and made bats.  We made marble-painted kites and wrote some wonderful stories about them.  We studied national symbols and holidays.  In math, we have been focused on coins. 

Looking Ahead
Spring is one of the funnest times of the year as we get to explore the natural world around us.  We will be spending more time outdoors especially in the early mornings so make sure your koala is dressed in layers for the cool mornings and warm afternoons.  We will continue our Science unit on plants and then on to bugs.  What fun!

In Math, we will be reviewing time and measurement and then moving quickly into exploring one digit addition and subtraction.  Also, look for more information to come home early next week about our Koala market days.  Our market will be every day the week before Spring Break from 7:25 - 7:55 each morning. 

If you have not done so already, we need pictures or picture money returned as well as the report card envelope and signature card.  If you stamp the report card envelope, then the final report card will be mailed to your home.  Otherwise, you will need to come to the school after the publicized date to pick it up.

Dr. Seuss Photos and more

We had a fun-filled day experimenting with oobleck and trying green eggs and ham!  Thank you to Harrison's grandmother and Clemens' mom for assisting us in the Science Lab.
                  

Our new document camera gave every child a great view of our cooking demonstration.  Green eggs and ham got a few thumbs down, but mostly thumbs up!
      

Last week, we got to pull out the laptops.  Koalas love laptops!
    

Week 26...and Looking Ahead

Week 26
Thank you to all for your support with the math homework.  We will continue the counting sheets one more week.  The practice at home is helping as we study coins and learn how to make fair trades with coins.  Counting by ones is also foundational for many of our math standards such as labeling sets. 

Thank you also to Harrison's grandmother for being our mystery reader on Friday.  The students are enjoying this. 

Looking Ahead
This will be a busy week with a few schedule changes.  We will be kicking the week off in the Science lab as we celebrate Dr. Suess' birthday by making oobleck and gak.  Please note that this one of our messiest excursions to the lab and it would be wise for students and volunteers to wear clothes that can get a little "messy".

Tuesday is an Early Release day with students dismissed two hours early.  Wednesday, we will be having specials first thing and going to the library in the afternoon.

Our units this week include national symbols, money, and rhyming.  We will also be finishing up our letter of the day projects.  This week we will complete v, w, x, y, and z.  Students may bring in articles or show and tell items that correspond with the letter of the day.