Junior Kindergarten

• Field Day- Thursday, May 22nd. JK is invited to attend as long as they are accompanied by a caregiver for the entire event. Have you grabbed your duck for the big Duck Race? Don’t miss out on the quackiest race of the year — get yours now at summer.wcdsedu.com!

Dear JK Families,

How lucky we are to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard! This group of kiddos has been absolutely amazing and have filled the year with some many magical moments. Together we have laughed, we have cried, we have created, we have gotten messy, and we have learned. We thank you all for trusting us and supporting us in our endeavors. We will definitely miss these learners, but know that they will continue to blossom next year.

This week started with the students creating a personalized portfolio to carry all of their beautiful things home. Oil pastels and markers made specifically for black paper helped make for some interesting designs. When we weren’t working on our portfolios, we did one final entry in our journals. The students drew and described their favorite memory of the year. Cake-making, playground time, painting, parachute dropping, lunch, and the showcase were just a few of the things that the students will be taking with them in their hearts. If we asked the students next week, we are confident that some of them would say our EC Water Play Day was one of their favorites. The excitement about wearing a bathing suit to school was contagious and boy, were they necessary! We got soaked and had a blast!

Another amazing moment we had together was the launch of the JoJoXI weather balloon. Done as a 5th grade science project, it pays tribute to Josiah Titus-Glover, a former student of WCDS who tragically left this Earth too soon. “Look how big it is!” was exclaimed as we watched the giant balloon being inflated. The countdown began, the balloon was released, and we continued to look up for it as it drifted into the clouds. The balloon was retrieved in record time and the kiddos were so excited to see photos and videos from Mr. Michael and two 5th grade helpers.

Our final day together was spent with a quick trip across the creek to the big field. We munched on yummy popcorn and popsicles, played together, had lunch, and just enjoyed each others company. Some of the friends even took on the big tree, straddling the wide branches and holding on tight.

These children will always hold a special place in our hearts. We have loved watching them take on their learning with gusto and passion, letting their imaginations run wild. We hope you all have amazing summers filled with lots of core memories.

This is not goodbye, but a see you later!

Miss Claire and Miss Liz

In and Out of the Classroom

Water Day

Weather Balloon Launch

Last Day Together

• CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS
• May 14th is Water play Wednesday! Please send your children in shoes and clothing that can get wet (preferably with a bathing suit underneath) and a change of clothes for after.
• Friday, May 16th is Junior Kindergarten’s last day of school.
• Thursday, May 22nd is Field Day. JK is invited to attend as long as they are with a caregiver.

Here are the videos that played at Thursday night’s showcase. Enjoy watching these little cuties in action!

WOW JK families, what a week!

Somehow, someway, we’ve found ourselves on the threshold of our final five days together as a second school family. Like they always say, it happens in the blink of an eye. This week we walked down memory lane as we prepared for the end of the year showcase. Your child’s August chubby cheeks and shorter stature have been replaced with a taller and wiser kiddo who is ready to take on whatever comes next! The children were abuzz with anticipation of welcoming you to the grand opening of their bakeshop, The Beautiful Window Bakery! How could we host an opening without throwing a tea party to celebrate!? In preparation, the class made elements of the tea party tablescape including, their own cake stands made out of painted paper plates and cups, napkin rings using a shaped popsicle stick and ribbon, and of course a placecard to welcome their family! With the aesthetics in place, it was time to think about their taste buds and the treats they would bake up. The class measured, poured ingredients, cracked eggs and mixed everything together to whip up delicious chocolate chip cookie bars. We paired the cookies with a variety of mini cupcakes, sweet tea, and lemonade for everyone to enjoy! The evening also featured two commercials for The Beautiful Window Bakery made by Mr. Alex, their drama teacher, featuring a jingle written by Miss Dena, their music teacher! Talk about collaboration! Finally it was showcase night. Watching the children arrive, dressed in their favorite outfit was nothing short of magical. Each entrance was made with such pride and excitement. The night they had been waiting for was here! We dressed the class in their tie dye aprons and chef’s hats and made our way to the gym. We hope you enjoyed seeing their beginning of the year and end of the year portraits, name art, and collaborative cake documentation on display. The evening continued with not only our tea party treats, but a sundae bar too! Soon bubbles were floating around, and foam planes soared so high they got stuck in the trees of our outdoor space. It was a magical night honoring the children we adore so much!

In addition to all the hustle and bustle leading up to our end of the year showcase, the class also worked hard in focus groups, tackled letter Ww and prepared for the upcoming holiday of Mother’s Day by reading the beautiful story, Mama and Me by Cozbi A. Cabrera. They also created a special gift for their moms to wear! We hope you rest and enjoy this beautiful weekend!

With love,

Miss Liz and Miss Claire

Early Childhood End of the Year Showcase

Mother’s Day Gifts

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Mark your calendars for The Early Childhood End of the Year Showcase: Thursday, May 8th from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. 

What to expect:

Families should drop off their child/children to their classroom by 5:15. Parents can then go to the gym, where the evening will begin. At 5:30 the children will come to the gym with their teachers and take their place within their exhibition space. Parents will be invited to explore their child’s exhibit and the other classes as well. Following the exhibits within the gym, children and families will be invited to enjoy refreshments in the amphitheater (weather permitting) and tour classrooms.

Here are the details for Junior Kindergarten: 

The children will be celebrating the grand opening of their bakery, “The Beautiful Window Bakery.” Not only will parents get a chance to enjoy the bakeshop, and a commercial featuring the children but also a sweet treat at a classroom tea party! They can come dressed up in an outfit that makes them feel good to celebrate the end of their Junior Kindergarten year- as fancy or a casual as they would like!

Dear JK Families,

Preparations for our end-of-year showcase continued this week as the students revisited the most important thing in our classroom…themselves! To help us remember all of the magical things we studied this year, we showed the students pictures from each month. Initial classroom explorations, superheroes, all of the holidays, zip lines, and lots of time together brought thrills of excitement and shrieks of “That’s me!” from the kiddos as the memories flooded back. Inspired by all of our work, we invited each student to create a final self-portrait using pencil, markers, and black Sharpie. No details were left unturned and the amount of growth from the beginning of the year is quite noticeable. The students also made a canvas to show off their name-writing skills. Mixing vibrant colors of acrylic paint, each student painted over a taped out first letter of their name. Once the taped was carefully peeled off, revealing bright white underneath, each student wrote their name using a black marker. They will be on display for you next week when you visit during the showcase.

With our aprons tie dyed, rinsed and dried, as well as an extra special touch added (not to be shared until next week), we moved on to complete our baking uniforms with a personalized chef hat. The students added watercolors and Sharpie to their hat, giving each one just the right amount of colorful flair. Wait until you see them put together!

When we weren’t busy in the classroom, we were outside together enjoying the sunshine! Let the mud pies and dirty clothes begin!

Enjoy the weekend and see you on Monday!

Miss Claire and Miss Liz

Self-Portraits and Names

Chef Hats

JK Classroom Fun!

CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS

Early Dismissal, Friday, May 2nd: 11:30 dismissal today with aftercare available until 3:00.

Mark your calendars for The Early Childhood End of the Year Showcase: Thursday, May 8th from 5:30p.m. to 6:30p.m. 

What to expect: Families should drop off their child/children to their classroom by 5:15. Parents can then go to the gym, where the evening will begin. At 5:30 the children will come to the gym with their teachers and take their place within their exhibition space. Parents will be invited to explore their child’s exhibit and the other classes as well. Following the exhibits within the gym, children and families will be invited to enjoy refreshments in the amphitheater (weather permitting) and tour classrooms.

Here are the details for Junior Kindergarten: 

The children will be celebrating the grand opening of their bakery, “The Beautiful Window Bakery.” Not only will parents get a chance to enjoy the bakeshop, and a commercial featuring the children but also a sweet treat at a classroom tea party! They can come dressed up in an outfit that makes them feel good to celebrate the end of their Junior Kindergarten year- as fancy or a casual as they would like!

Hello JK families,

We returned from Easter break ready to take on the wild ride to the end of the school year. Yes, you read that right, the end of the school year is somehow near and it’s got us looking back in awe of how fast it went and how much these kiddos have grown! Preparations for the end of the year showcase are underway as the class prepares to have real life visitors come to their bakeshop! This week the children added details to the space including a sign and logo, art for the walls, money and money-cup, tablecloths and table numbers, and flowers in the outdoor seating area. They also began working on their aprons using tie dye in shades of blue.

In math we reached number 12, and with baking on the brain, we thought it was the perfect time to learn about the meaning of “a dozen.” We read two books celebrating dozens of doughnuts and dozens of dachshunds! The class then practiced counting objects up to 12 in what else, but an egg carton! We then arranged hula-hoops on the floor to replicate an giant egg carton. We gave each child an egg with dotted papers inside and asked them to subitize the number and match it with the number in the carton on the floor. They loved pretending to be eggs!

We also studied the letter Vv this week and enjoyed adding words like violin, volcano, vegetable, and vacation to our word web. We can’t forget all the silly fun that was had for student appreciation week! The children enjoyed a yogurt bar, ice cream sundae bar, Wacky Wednesday, and ended the week celebrating International Day! Next week lots of fun awaits as we prepare to welcome you all to view our end of the year showcase and class tea party. It is going to fabulous!

We wish you a wonderful weekend,

Miss Liz and Miss Claire

Adding Details to the Bakery and Tie Dying Aprons

Dozen counting

Student Appreciation Week

More JK Fun!

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Dear JK Families,

The Bakeshop has been a hit and we just love seeing it utilized to its fullest. Menus have been ordered from, treats have been delivered, money has been used and returned, and jobs have been assigned. What is amazing to see is that there are still more ideas coming from the students to make the bakeshop even more successful and we cannot wait to start those explorations next week. We even have an extra special treat that Mr. Alex is helping us with during his Drama class…stay tuned!

With Easter just around the corner, the students had started sharing their plans and activities they will be doing over the long weekend. We hopped on their excitement and took to exploring lots of Spring and Easter-inspired provocations. We read a fun and interactive Easter book titled, Don’t Push That Button by Bill Cotter. When the red button was pushed, all kinds of Easter things started to happen including the main character being turned into a bunny and eggs appearing. When asked what would happen if they pushed the button, here is what the kiddos had to say:

“Carrots would fall from the sky.”-Dax

“I would turn into the Easter bunny.”- Kipton 

“I would turn into the Easter bunny.”- Izaak

“I would turn into everything. I would turn into a dog.”- Lucas

“I would turn into a chicken.”- Heidi 

“I would rain eggs, chocolate and real eggs so they could crack open and ooze out chocolate.”-Sophia 

“I want to turn into a banana.”- Mylah

“I’d turn into a shark.”- Rory

“I would become a beautiful unicorn and look for rainbow eggs.”- Scarlett

“I would turn into a chicken, too.”- Emma 

“There would be a carrot inside the box and I would munch it all up. Munch, munch, munch.”- Hailey 

“I would become an old man.”- Bodhi 

“I would turn into an Easter bunny and it would be raining Easter eggs and carrots.”- Lola

“A cheeseburger. I would turn into one.”- Henry 

“Shark shark shark! Turn into one!”- Wendell 

“I would turn into another button actually I’d turn into a spider. I’d become a leg.” -Bradford 

“I’d become a frog a poisonous frog.”- Leonardo

“I’d become the Easter bunny.”- Ollie 

“I’m going to turn into a tiger.”- Hunter 

“A horse. To ride.” -Bria 

To help us look extra festive for the 5th grade Easter Egg Hunt, we created spectacular Easter bonnets. The students first painted a sheet of newspaper, making sure it was completely covered. Once dried, we then shaped their paper onto their heads, which proved to be a very silly process. We have to give a big shout-out to Mylah for being our extra set of “hands” with each hat, making sure to hold the paper steady as we taped and taped. Once we gave each hat a trim, the students then adorned their creation with markers, tissue paper, and a selection of bunnies, chicks, duckies, bows, and flowers. We made quite the statement in our hats and we just loved seeing the kiddos giggle as they found their eggs on the playground. We thank the 5th grade for providing us with the best little hunt every year!

When we weren’t setting new fashion trends, we were decorating eggs. The students covered wooden eggs in beautiful pieces of tissue paper and napkins, making sure to cover each edge with plenty of Modge Podge. They turned out so lovely! We then provided them with the opportunity to dye a real egg. The students carefully dunked and dunked their egg, mixing color upon color. While the eggs were being colored, we spent time exploring several provocations. We had “color your own” playdough that the students designed into eggs using flowers, puzzles pieces, buttons, and dried pasta. A bin of green lentils and pearl couscous made for a fun sensory experience, especially with all of the little hidden treasures inside. Lastly, a rug full of small world play items turned our room into a fairy-like garden. There were tree cookie slices, gnomes, tiny homes, flowers, eggs, grass, and lights that they children used to create a plethora of magical scenes.

We also had a special visit from the Fire House this week. Officer John and the two firemen helped us remember to Get Out and Stay Out should anything happen at our homes. The students did a great job in the house and we thank the officers for coming to share such valuable information.

We hope you all have a wonderful long weekend and holiday! See you on Tuesday!

Miss Claire and Miss Liz

Easter Bonnets

Eggs-plorations and Egg Hunt

Spring Provocations

Classroom Fun and Firehouse

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Hello JK families,

It is officially CELEBRATE time and our butterflies are ready to take flight! After the painted vellum dried, we transferred the children’s butterfly drawings on to the surface and then invited them to add glittery texture. This really helped make their lines and designs pop! After the butterflies were complete we attached them to a beautiful wooden ladder wrapped with mossy vine. We presented the artwork to the kids and asked them to name the artwork that will be auctioned off Saturday night! Here is what they had to say:

Heidi- Kitty Butterfly

Scarlett- Unicorn Kitty

Mylah- Butterfly Magic

Henry- Butterfly Disney World

Leonardo- Cake

Wendell- Butterfly Garden

Forrest- Butterfly Fantasy

Lucas- Butterfly World

Sophia- Butterfly Garden

Lola- Butterfly Swirl

Noah- Rainbow Butterflies

Dax- Butterfly Tree

Izaak- Butterfly Window

Bradford- Butterfly Ghost

Rory- Butterfly School

We finally landed on Rory’s suggestion, Butterfly School since the butterflies represent the children in the class! We read the classic Eric Carle story The Very Hungry Caterpillar, as the children fed the caterpillar all the silly things he ate before turning into a butterfly.

In our bakery studies we read the book, Helpers in our Community: Bakers by Christine Honders. Using real life pictures, the children were able to see different aspects of the job come to life. We then had to draw a journal entry answering the prompt, “if I worked in a bakery, I would…” Here are a few of their responses.

“make a heart cookie and a cake.” – Lola

“make the dough.” -Dax

“make a cake.” – Leonardo

“make a face cake, a tree cake, and sun cakes.” -Stylee

“clean out the food.” – Kipton

“make a TV cake.” – Wendell

“bake cakes.” -Noah

“make a confetti cake.” -Mylah

“make 14 cookies!” – Lucas

As you can see, cakes are on their minds! We are planning some fun ideas around cake making in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned!

In literacy the children reviewed the letter Dd in their focus groups and then began studying letter Oo. In math, we finally reached number 10. Before moving on to the tricky teen numbers, we had to review 1-10. One of our student teachers, Miss Heather, taught a lesson where the children counted to 10 on their fingers and counted packing peanuts into cupcake cups.

We hope to see you at CELEBRATE and wish you a wonderful weekend!

Miss Liz and Miss Claire

Celebrate Artwork

Bakery Show and Tell and Journal Entries

Handwriting, 1 to 10 Review, and Classroom Fun!

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⭐️Your kids have been working hard on their class art piece and hope you will be at Celebrate to see it and bid-there are still event tickets left!  Please turn all raffle tickets into the office by Monday.  Thank you for always supporting WCDS- https://app.betterunite.com/wcds-celebratewonderland

• Friday, March 28th– 11:30 am dismissal, Aftercare is available until 3 pm

Dear JK Families,

Spread your wings and fly! Color upon color upon color filled the room this week as we continued to work on our CELEBRATE art piece. After drawing unique butterflies previously, the students tried a new way of painting to create a base for their large-scale creature. Using clear poster or vellum, the students squeezed multiple colors of acrylic paint in lines, swirls, and zig zags. They then squeegeed across the plastic, marveling at how their colors spread and mixed. Layers and layers of paint were added, resulting in a beautiful stained glass effect. Our next step is to transform them into massive butterflies. We cannot wait for you to see the final masterpiece!

When we weren’t exploring with color, our two student teachers taught lessons to reinforce our learning in the classroom. Miss Trista played a fun fishing game with the students, focusing on upper case and lowercase letters. The students were very careful not to get their hands chomped as they fed the large shark. Miss Heather read us The Bakery Dragon by Devin Kurtz and encouraged the students to draw something that they would protect in their hoard. We had everything from gold to donuts to flowers.

With butterflies on the brain, we introduced the students to the wonderful world of symmetry. We read Seeing Symmetry by Loreen Leedy, showing us that there are symmetrical things all around us. The students then tried their hand at making symmetrical images on our whiteboard table using markers and loose parts. We also created some interesting designs using the classic smoosh painting technique. After folding a piece of paper in half, the students squirted paint on one side. They then folded it again, rubbed and rubbed their hands on top, then carefully opened for a splendid reveal. We hope to add to these unique pictures next week.

We can’t forget about the tricky leprechaun that came to visit our room on St. Patrick’s Day. What a mess he left with chairs toppled over, cards and other materials thrown on the floor, toilets not flushed, and even snotty tissues! He did leave us some fun treasures, including chocolate coins and bags of Lucky Charms.

We hope you all have a great weekend and see you on Monday!

Miss Claire and Miss Liz

Butterflies

Student Teachers at Work

Symmetry

Let’s Play!

 CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS

Hello JK families,

Our return from Spring Break couldn’t have been more exciting! Brand new floors along with a new train table and a new giant castle dollhouse (Thank you Bradford’s family!!) welcomed the children Monday morning. They quickly embraced the idea of taking off their shoes when they were in the classroom and loved being in their socks or slippers. Not only did the classroom feel new, but the weather did too! The sudden sunshine and warm temperatures allowed for explorations to resume in our outdoor space. The hillside was once again alive with zooming cars and superhero capes, while by the sandbox habitats for worms and mudpies were being made. These beautiful days are the perfect example of what childhood is all about!

We jumped back into our bakery studies by reading Bakers and What They Do by Liesbet Slegers. The children loved the beautiful illustrations. A few of them had a chance to sit center stage in front of the class and show and share their pictures of them baking or with a speciality baked good! The kiddos were so excited to share their birthday cakes, pumpkin pies, and even a homemade pizza. The show and share will continue next week for the rest of the class. The children also made cat lights for the bakeshop (Emma’s idea!) using paper cups, Sharpies, and tape. Each cat face has its own personality. We can’t wait to light them up! The class also painted their clay desserts. Adding color really made these treats come to life!

Lastly, we set to work to begin our CELEBRATE auction art! The children drew beautiful butterflies after looking at up close photos of wings. They also enjoyed the story Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert. Next week we will explore butterflies further. We are excited to see how this unfolds!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Miss Liz and Miss Claire

New Classroom Fun and Outdoor Play

Butterfly Drawings for CELEBRATE art

Cat Lights

Clay Desserts

Baking Show and Share and Letter Dd