Mrs. Baltos' Kindergarten

Dear Kindergarten Families, Our library is excited to announce that Kevin Hawkes will be visiting our school this year!  Our students will be able to meet him and hear him present.  We will be meeting him on April 29th. As part of the author's visit, families may purchase some of Kevin Hawkes' books at a discounted price.  This is great opportunity for students to get a new book signed by the author! Book order forms came home today in red folders.  All purchases MUST be made in advance.  There will be no  extra books available for purchase during the visit.   This is simply due to the volume of books that will be needed. If you wish to order some of his books, please make sure that the order form is returned by Tuesday, April 2nd . If you need a new form, please let me know as soon as possible!  Thank you! I cannot wait for our students to meet Kevin Hawkes in person! While we wait, he is the link to his website:  https://www.kev...

We are in full swing of our dinosaur project!  Students have learned about many different kinds of dinosaurs.  We used a great resource: PebbleGo  to learn about them.  Students created focus questions: What did they eat? How did they move? Where did they live? What did they look like? How did it defend itself? How did they become extinct? Students wrote their own dinosaur books, which were shared at conferences.  We also shared these with our book buddies! Next, students picked partners to plan, design, and create a dinosaur.  Student could re-create a true dinosaur or "discover" a new one!  Students also had to decide what the dinosaur eats and how does it defend itself.  Students planned with their partner what materials they needed and how it was going to be put together.    I am so proud of the work that the students have done so far!  They have truly been working on most of the 21st Century Skills!  T...

Hello! We have had an exciting month so far! We have started learning about dinosaurs! Students came up with several research questions to help us focus on our learning. Questions include "What did they eat? Where did they live? How did they protect themselves?" And the famous: "Why did they disappear?" We have been using a fantastic website for our research: PebbleGo.  This website is available through our school's library website: http://libguides.spsd.org/skillin We have been learning about what dinosaurs eat. Ask your child what carnivores, herbivores, omnivores, and scavengers eat! Thank you for your cardboard, feathers, and other donations for our dinosaur creations. There is still time to send in recycled materials, such as cracker or cereal boxes, plastic containers, and paper towel rolls. Please no glass, milk containers, or peanut butter jars. Thank you! Students have been writing non-fiction books about dinosaurs.  I cannot wait to share ...

Good Evening! Please make sure to check your child's red folder for a lot of important information! The FREE literacy night is tomorrow (Thursday) at Skillin from 5:30-6:30pm.  There will be games and you could win a prize!  Make sure to visit our classroom for some activities! Parent-Teacher Conferences!  I would LOVE to have an opportunity to meet with you.  There is a sign-up (Pink paper) in your child's folder.  Please pick at least TWO  times.  This is first-come, first served.  I do my very best to be flexible around schedules and to find a time that works for you! Dinosaurs!  We have started learning about dinosaurs!  Today as a class, we listed all of the things that we knew about dinosaurs.  We also made a list of questions that we wonder about them.  We will be learning what they ate, how they may have behaved, and how they protected themselves.  We will be writing about the facts that we learned. As pa...

Happy 100 days of Kindergarten! We had an exciting day celebrating 100 days of K today!  Students made necklaces will 100 beads, wrote to 100, ordered tiles to 100, made hats, built a tower with 100 cubes, and built with 100 cups! Lots of pictures below! We ended the day with a special visitor, Mrs. Connolly, to read to us: 100 Snowmen by Jen Arena. She has been visiting classrooms in our school as part of the Maine #ReadtoME challenge.   Save the Date! On Thursday, February 28th please join us for a literacy night at Skillin.  It is from 5:30-6:30pm.  We will have activities in many of the classrooms.  There will be raffles, books to check out in the library, and a ReadtoME photo booth!  I look forward to seeing you and your child there! Happy Vacation! Finally, I hope that you have a wonderful vacation!  I can't wait to see your child back to school on Monday, February 25th!  Enjoy! Love,  Mrs. Baltos ...

Hello! As part of a whole school community initiative and collaboration challenge, we were tasked with creating a structure that will last 5 days outside.  This past week, with inspiration from the story of The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf, we created our whole class structure.  We read many different versions of the story, including one of my favorites: The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig .  The story ends with the little wolves building a house from flowers, that help to change the Pig's heart and turn towards being a kind, good friend. Students started by making a list of materials and house structure ideas.  I love the idea of popcorn! And ice cream to make an ice cream house! Yum! Then students were set with the task of drawing and writing about their ideas (just like an engineer!) Finally, working as small groups, we completed our Pig House.  Materials include: paper towel and toilet paper rolls, straws, pipe cleaners, duct tape, ...

With winter here I wanted to send some reminders on how to keep us healthy at school.  Of course, I love seeing your child everyday, however, if your child is sick: Please keep him or her home. This is so important to keeping both students and staff healthy and prevents illness from spreading. Here are some friendly reminders, please keep your child home if: They have fever of 101 F or more.  They seem run down or more tired than usual.  This may be a sign that they are coming down with something.   They have diarrhea or are vomiting.   They have a contagious disease such as pinkeye, flu, strep throat, or something similar.  Please check with your doctor about treatment and to know when it is ok for your child to return to school. Thank you SO much for your help in keeping us all heathy!