Kindergarten News - Week of April 13th

 We have had 135 days of school!

Announcements/Reminders:

                                                              

Happy Birthday to Isaiah (April 16th)!! 

• SHOW and TELL on Monday, April 20th: Talia and Isaiah. Please bring one item from home to show to the class.
• FOLDERS: Please check these and remove all papers.
• Bloomz: Please check the Bloomz App for reminders and the latest photos - in the “April 2026” album.

•    Practice at home:

• Black & White reading books: No new books were sent home this week.  If you have one at home, please return it on Wednesday, for a new take home book.
• ​Phonics: Read and Draw Activity
• Math: Combinations to Ten

A Peek At our Week:

Star Student: 

Nylah is our Star Student! She is 6 years old today! Nylah's favorite colors are pink and purple. Her favorite food is pizza. In her free time she likes to play with her sisters and to swim. Her favorite sport is tennis. When Nylah grows up, she wants to be a doctor. 

We had a wonderful Week of the Young Child (WOYC)!  How great is it that every year we can take time out and focus on our youngest learners?

Music Monday​: Mr. Deval Stevens, our GHCDS steel pan​ instructor, visited the

ELC and played steel pan music for the children. Between tunes, children had the opportunity to play a note or two. The children also sang "One Love" with Mr. Deval and all ended by dancing happily to "Baby Shark"! Many thanks to Mr. Deval for sharing his talent with our youngest learners.

Show and Tell: Though Monday turned into a very stormy day which cut our time short, we still managed to get Jaspers show and tell in and then Nylah's later in the week. Jasper brought us his favorite flower - the Spider Lily. He told his classmates how much he liked it and that it's actually very easy to grow. Jasper brought everyone a seed pod so they could try to grow their very own. Later in the week, Nylah finally had a chance to show off her "Skip ball", which she had received for her birthday. Nylah skillfully demonstrated how to use it with skipping and jumping. She then gave her classmates the opportunity to give it a try. They discovered that Nylah made it look much easier than it actually is! Great toy to get exercise and work on coordination.

Tasty Tuesday​: Nutritionist, Ms. Angela Coursey, made​ a healthy rainbow smoothie with the children. With each ingredient that was added, she taught them what the health benefits are. So it was that they learned that red fruit is particularly beneficial to the heart. Most of the children thought the smoothie was delicious!

Artsy Wednesday​: Probably the highlight of the week, as we got off campus for a visit to Caribbean Museum Center for​ the Arts (CMCA). Our trip on the taxi bus was also very exciting. Everyone was looking for familiar landmarks and pointing out directions to their homes. Once we arrived at the museum,  we were given a tour of exhibits and explanations about several of their favorite pieces on display. They also had the opportunity to create their own art using water color. With everyone already looking quite tired and hot, we still managed a short walk over to the clock tower and admire the beautiful sea. Many thanks to our hosts at CMCArts and to the parents who joined us and helped keep an eye on this high energy group.

Work Together Thursday​: Coach Jacob kindly set up a fun obstacle course in the gym for our ELC children to have fun in. They ran and jumped and tumbled and happily repeated the course several times. At the end of it they worked together to help fold and stack the large mats that were a part of the course. Thank you, Coach Jacob!

Family Friday​: Though the field trip created a lot of excitement, it was this event that Kindergarteners seemed to look forward to the most. Thank you to all for helping us end the week on such a beautiful note! 

Kindergarten News - Week of April 6th

  We have had 130 days of school!

Announcements/Reminders:

                                                              

Happy Birthday to Nylah (April 10th)!! 

• Permission Slip: If you have not done so already, please sign and return the permission slips for our field trip on April 15th to the Caribbean Museum for the Arts (CMCA) that were sent home earlier this week. 
• SHOW and TELL on Monday, April 13th: Nylah and Jasper. Please bring one item from home to show to the class.
• NEXT week (April 13-17) is the Week of the Young Child (WOYC)!  Hurray!  This annual celebration, sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the world's largest early childhood education association, features special events for children every year. Below is a tentative schedule of activities to engage and honor the children as we celebrate them​:
  April 13 – Music Monday​: Mr. Deval Stevens, GHCDS steel pan​ instructor, will play steel pan music for the children.
  April 14 – Tasty Tuesday​: Nutritionist, Ms. Angela Coursey, will make​ healthy smoothies with the children.
  April 15 – Artsy Wednesday​: Art at Caribbean Museum Center for​ the Arts (CMCA) - There will be a field trip to CMCA, located in
  Frederiksted.
  April 16 – Work Together Thursday​: Coach Jacob will lead the​ children in working together to build obstacle courses and have fun.
  April 17 - Family Friday​: Parents are invited to bring lunch for​ themselves and their child, and enjoy eating together at school. Lunch
  starts at 12:15pm.
• FOLDERS: Please check these and remove all papers.
• Bloomz: Please check the Bloomz App for reminders and the latest photos - in the “April 2026” album.

•    Practice at home:

• Black & White reading books: No new books were sent home this week.  If you have one at home, please return it on Wednesday, for a new take home book.
• ​Phonics: Spelling words with digraphs (wh, sh, ch, th, ck).
• Math: Fill it to Five

A Peek at our Week:

MATH: How Heavy? Weight & Number   Who knew a scale could be so exciting?

This week we introduced a new Work Place which will give everyone the opportunity to compare the weights of different items. We have a ‘pan balance scale’ which they will be using for this activity. If you have any small items at home that would work well for this activity (and can stay in our class for a few weeks), feel free to send it to school. In Number Corner we are also looking at different types of measurement - length, capacity, temperature, and weight. Please check the Unit 7 overview.

SEL: In our social emotional lesson this week, Ms. Bird asked the class to think of moments where someone was unkind to them or when they were unkind to someone. For each of these moments, Ms. Bird, holding a paper cutout of a person, punched a hole in it. The class cringed each time she did - a true reflection of how unkind words can hurt. The lesson then being that we can apologize for our unkind words and actions, but it is hard to completely erase the hurt we caused.

Butterfly Smash Art. Everyone loves those beautiful colorful fluttering creatures. We talked about the symmetry of butterfly wings and did our best to replicate by using paint and "smashing" both wings together. The results were amazing. As some finished with their butterfly they stuck around to see what the next one would look like and were surprised each time by the result. Pictures when this art project is complete!

Cambridge Global Perspectives: Quite appropriately, as we approach Earth Day, we are learning about things that we can do to take care of the earth. We talked about being more mindful of using paper and how we could dispose of different items if we could recycle everything.

Kindergarten News - Week of March 30th

 We have had 126 days of school!

Announcements/Reminders:

                                                              ​​

​To everyone celebrating, Happy Easter!! 

• Permission Slip: If you have not done so already, please sign and return the permission slips for our field trip on April 15th to the Caribbean Museum for the Arts (CMCA) that were sent home earlier this week.
• NO SCHOOL next Thursday (April 2nd): Conferences
• NO SCHOOL next Friday (April 3rd) and Monday (April 6th): Easter Break
• SHOW and TELL on Monday, April 13th: ​Nylah and Jasper. Please bring one item from home to show to the class.

• FOLDERS: Please check these and remove all papers.
• Bloomz: Please check the Bloomz App for reminders and the latest photos - in the “March/April 2026” album.

•    Practice at home:

• Black & White reading books​: No new books were sent home this week.  If you have one at home, please return it on Wednesday, for a new take home book.
• Digraph Detective ​-​ look for digraphs (wh, sh, ch, th, ck) in stories you are reading at home.
• ​Find the Trick (Sight) Words in favorite story books

A Peek at our Week:

Show and Tell: This week our two Birthday celebrants were in the Show and Tell spotlight. Leith brought a Hot Wheels track with car. Everyone was fascinated by how the car zoomed around the loop on the track. Leith did a great job demonstrating how it worked. Then Olivia showed her beautiful Tiana Barbie doll, who would magically start singing Happy Birthday. By the end of the presentation, the whole class was singing along to Tiana's Birthday song!

Gardening with Ms. Christina: It had been a while since we 'worked' in the

garden. This week, Ms. Christina took the class in search of sweet potatoes. She showed them how to check if there were any and then they started digging them up. By the end they had uncovered 21 sweet potatoes! Afterwards, the class tasted pieces of sweet potato that Ms. Christina has already prepared for them. They then had a piece of brownie. And as they were enjoying them, they learned that there were sweet potatoes in the brownies! They also munched on a couple of cucumbers that were also growing in our garden. 

Easter Egg Hunt:  This week was all about the Easter Egg Hunt! The class was so excited! On Tuesday we dyed hard boiled eggs. Having already smelled vinegar during an experiment a few week ago, everyone was eager to avoid it, but they were happy to measure a tablespoon of vinegar for their dye mixture. In addition, Ms. Jessica (Nicholas' mom) let us borrow a little machine that rotated the egg while each child used markers to make lines. Those turned out really great! The Easter Egg Hunt itself took place on Wednesday morning. Many thanks to Olivia's, Nylah's and Kinnick's mom (and grandma) for our “Easter Bunnies” this year! The children had a fun time searching for the eggs and got some practice giving their friends hints to find their eggs. Thank you, as always, for your support and for sending some treats to add to their baskets.

Kindergarten News - Week of March 23rd

 

 We have had 123 days of school!

Announcements/Reminders:

       Happy Birthday to Leith (Sunday) and Olivia (Monday)! 

• ​Easter Egg Hunt Wednesday (April 1st)
• Monday (March 30th):  Please bring in 2 hard boiled eggs 
• Tuesday (​March 31st): We will dye the eggs.  Also, please send a small basket or bag for eggs and other treats.
• Wednesday (April ​1st): Easter Egg Hunt first thing in the morning! If you would like to send in some small treats to add to the bag, I know they would love that! If anyone would like to stick around and help hide eggs, we always appreciate it.
• SHOW and TELL on Monday, March 30: ​Leith and Olivia. Please bring one item from home to show to the class.
• ​NO SCHOOL next Thursday (April 2nd): Conferences
  
• NO SCHOOL next Friday (April 3rd) and Monday (April 6th): Easter Break
• FOLDERS: Please check these and remove all papers.
• Bloomz: Please check the Bloomz App for reminders and the latest photos - in the “March 2026” album.

•    Practice at home:

• Black & White reading books (Please return black and white books every Wednesday, for a new take home book.) 
• Digraph Detective Activity
• Trick (Sight) Words (week 2): be, me
• Math “Race You to Zero"

A Peek at our Week:

March Birthdays: We were happy to celebrate March Birthdays this week! Happy Birthday to Wissam and Salah (Nursery) and our own Leith and Olivia. Thank you for the delicious cupcakes and pizza!

Star of the Week: It is so appropriate to be celebrating VI History Month and Olivia as our Star this week! She lights up with pride every
time we talk about beautiful St. Croix. Olivia will be turning 6 on March 30th. Her favorite color is green. Olivia's favorite sport is Volleyball. She enjoys hiking, dancing, aerials and playing. Her favorite food is hamburger. When Olivia grows up she would like to be a neonatologist and a Moko Jumbie. How cool is that?

Show and Tell: This week it was Ghalia who was in the spotlight. She brought her new baby doll, which she had just received for Eid. Ghalia said, "She's so new, she doesn't even have a name yet!" Along with the baby there were of course some extras, a baby bottle, teething rings and a diaper (ew! they all giggled). Ghalia's baby also 'borrowed' a Llama stuffy from her sister Saja.

MATH: Number Stations:  This week was a bit tedious to many, because math suddenly felt more challenging. We are officially in the last trimester of the school year! The class was introduced to three “number stations”, each one giving an opportunity to practice writing equations. It was hard work, but they all powered through and by the end of the week, some of the problems were just a bit less challenging. 

VI History Month: This week we listened to the story of "Anansi and the Tar Baby" as read by Mr. Pete (Mr. Pete's Playhouse - Storytime). The class enjoyed hearing this even though there were many expressions they couldn't understand. On Friday, as we listened to Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights, everyone painted yellow flowers - in honor of the official flower of the US Virgin Islands, the Ginger Thomas.

Kindergarten News - Week of March 16th

  We have had 118 days of school!

Announcements/Reminders:

 ☾⭑To all families celebrating ~ 

⋆.˚ ☾⭒.˚ Eid Mubarak! Wishing you a joyful celebration!

• MUSIC ​: Mr. Hayut asked me to pass along this video of Peter and the Wolf which the Kindergarten class has been learning about in Music class. They will be performing a part of it at the Spring concert, so it would be nice if you could watch with them at home. Peter and the Wolf
• SHOW and TELL will be on Monday, March 23rd: Ghalia, and Jasper. Please bring one item from home to show to the class.
• Ugly Animal Preservation Society - a group of adorable 4th grade student came by to promote their idea to sell special water filled balloons, with a
  face painted onto it (they assured me they won't easily burst) to raise funds for this very interesting organization.
  
  Ugly animals, are animals too, after all and deserve some attention. I promised the girls I would let our families know. $1 gets your child a medium size balloon 'squishy' and supports the cause. Balloon squishies will be delivered to our classroom next Friday.
• FOLDERS: Please check these and remove all papers.
• Bloomz: Please check the Bloomz App for reminders and the latest photos - in the “March 2026” album.

•    Practice at home:

• Black & White reading books (Please return black and white books every Wednesday, for a new take home book.)

• ​Digraphs review
• Trick (Sight) Words (week 1): we, he, she
• Math “Ten & More Bingo"

A Peek at our Week:

Farewell to Iron: Wednesday was Iron's last day with us. The class gave him a very loving sendoff. There were cupcakes and there was pizza, there was lots of laughter and there certainly were many, many hugs. We wish Iron and his family all the best as they settle into life in Iowa.

Eid: Thank you so much for the many treats we received from our friends celebrating Eid. We were so grateful to be included so thoughfully.

Show and Tell: Jahlicia was in the "spotlight" this week. She proudly showed the class her scooter and
helmet. Jahlicia talked about where she uses her scooter and the class was especially interested in knowing whether she can do any tricks. After taking a few questions, the whole class went out for a demonstration and everyone was impressed. These Kindergartners are a great audience!

Virgin Islands History Month (Social Studies/Art): Moko Jumbies were the focus this week - and everyone just loves them. At the beginning of the week we watched an episode of Mr. Pete's Playhouse about Moko Jumbies (see episode). To end the week, everyone painted colorful Moko Jumbies to decorate our windows.

Kindergarten News - Week of March 2nd

  We have had 1​13 days of school!

Announcements/Reminders:

• SHOW and TELL will be on Monday, March 16th: J​ahlicia, Ghalia, and Jasper. Please bring one item from home to show to the class.
• SPRING BREAK is next week! March 9th to March 13th.
• FOLDERS: Please check these and remove all papers.
• Bloomz: Please check the Bloomz App for reminders and the latest photos - in the “February 2026” album.

•    Practice at home:

• Black & White reading books (Please return black and white books every Thursday, for a new take home book.)

• Spelling Words​ (week 6)
• Trick (Sight) Words: was
• Math “​Shapes and Spinners Graphing"

Have a wonderful Spring Break!

See you on Monday, March 16th!

A Peek at our Week:

STAR STUDENT: Leith is our Star Student! He had an opportunity to show some very cool pictures, including one in the cockpit of a plane and one holding a snake, among others. Leith's Birthday is on March 29th. His favorite colors are blue and green. Leith enjoys swimming, playing with dinosaurs and building with Legos. His favorite foods are pizza, burgers, and Mozzarella Sticks. And when Leith grows up he wants to be a pilot so that he can travel around the world! 

Show and Tell: Frankie and Deen were up this week. Deen got us started with an album of Pokemon cards. He freely admitted that his

brother Zayn is the real expert, but the class was fascinated by the cards, especially the gold and shiny ones. Then Frankie presented her 'Bunny' which she made herself out of paper towel and other material. The class was very interested in hearing about how she made it. They asked how long it took to make it and if she made it all by herself. Great job being creative, Frankie!

STEM Fair: It was an exciting experience for Kindergarten to visit the STEM fair this week. They received tours in small groups by upper school students and showed interest in visiting almost every single display. When asked what their favorite was, many said that estimating the unifix cubes in the jars - which made sense, since we had done a similar activity just a few days before! They were also very interested in the lion fish.

SEL: This week's lesson focused on the concept of "Including and Excluding". Ms. Bird first read a Piggy and Elephant book, which gave great examples of how friends can make an effort to include each other. The class talked about the meaning of those words and recalled times that they have been included or excluded and how that made them feel. To end the lesson, Ms. Bird showed them pictures of different scenarios, and the class either made an x for excluding or hug for including for each image.

Read Across America / Reading Buddies: March 2nd, inspired by Dr. Seuss' birthday, was Read Across America day, but in Kindergarten we turned it into Read Across America Week. We read many Dr. Seuss or Dr. Seuss style books, which are a great way to practice rhyming words. The class was also invited to bring a favorite stuffy to school to read with during Reading time. At the end of the week, we met with our Reading Buddies again. Having fun with reading is the best way to encourage reading at any age!

VI History Month: It's Virgin Islands History Month! Hurray! It was a busy week, but we managed to watch an episode of Mr. Pete's Playhouse, which gives a

great overview of VI culture. One of my former students, Melodie (Melo) was even on it as a local storyteller! The class enjoyed learning a bit of Crucian, they danced, got excited about the Moko Jumbies among other things. Here's the link to the video, if you'd like to check it out: Learn About the Virgin Islands . We also enjoyed listening to some Quelbe music. Happy VI History Month!

Kindergarten News - Week of February 23rd

  We have had 10​8 days of school!

Announcements/Reminders:

    Happy Birthday to Talia (the 24th) and Fiona (the 29th)!    

           

• SHOW and TELL will be on Monday, March 2nd: ​Frankie and ​Deen. Please bring one item from home to show to the class.
• Scholastic Book Orders for the month of March are due next Wednesday, March 4th
• SPRING BREAK is the week of March 9th
• FOLDERS: Please check these and remove all papers.
• Bloomz: Please check the Bloomz App for reminders and the latest photos - in the “February 2026” album.

•    Practice at home:

• Black & White reading books (Please return black and white books every Thursday, for a new take home book.)

• Spelling Words
• Trick (Sight) Words: as and has
• Math “​Cylinders & Spheres Race To Twenty”

A Peek at our Week:

February Birthdays: Happy Birthday to Talia and Fiona! We enjoyed celebrating our friends and wish them joyful celebrations!

Show and Tell: Brooklyn and Isaiah were up for their Show and Tell this week.

Brooklyn got us started showing off her baby dolls. It was easy to see that she absolutely loves them. She talked about how she plays with them and mentioned that they sleep on a bunk bed. Isaiah brought us a stuffed seal that represents a real seal living in the Pacific. Isaiah's seal was tracked all the way to Alaska at one point. Ms. Ani, Isaiah's mom, came by to show the App that tracks his seal. The class was fascinated!

Family Tree: We were so happy to have Deen and his mom tell us about their family tree! We learned that all of Deen's

family lives right here on St. Croix. He

was even brave enough to preform a little of a Palestinian dance and the class learned that he learned the dance from his family at a wedding. "And where did they learn?" they asked. We're hearing some great questions and learning so much about family traditions and cultures. If your child did not bring a family tree, we're happy to see it any time! Check the Family Tree tab for instructions.

Black History Month/Art: We continued to learn about

Black History month, this time focusing on the artist by the name of Alma Thomas. Her art is so colorful, the class was admiring several of her pieces and wondered if they would be able to do something like that. Alma Thomas is the first black painter to have her work on display at the White House. On Friday, during our art time, and inspired by what they had learned about Alma Thomas, everyone tried to make their own masterpiece. They discovered that it truly takes a lot of patience to create something original.

MATH: What do you know about three dimensional shapes?  We ended unit 5 focusing on 2D or flat shapes and welcomed unit 6 learning about 3D or Solid shapes. This week we focused on the cube, sphere, and cylinder. Please see attachment for an overview of Unit 6.