Hello School Family!

This photo pretty much sums it up...I miss you!  I really miss all of you a lot.  I hope you are all being  your best selves at home.  Make sure you are being helpful at home, not hurtful.  Do kind things for your moms, dads, brothers and sisters.  Like we always say at school...We are better TOGETHER!!!

Remember...be responsible, be respectful, be safe and kind.  I wish you well!❤️

Have a good weekend.

Love, Mrs. Kurt

Kindergarten Happenings

Hello families!

First and foremost, thank you for your patience and support as of late.  There is so much happening and I am doing my best to keep up, learn new technology and get life in order at home as well as at school.  It looks as if this is going to be our new normal, at least for a while, so let's be mindful that many people are going through major changes and that we are doing the best we can!

I will be communicating with you via school e-mail, this blog site and our new See Saw site.  Please check your e-mail for the link to connect to that site if you have not already done so.  Thank you to everyone who has connected to See Saw and have sent e-mails, photos or messages.  It is so great to hear from you and your kids.  Please encourage them to message or e-mail me...I will respond and I would love to hear from them!

I will be around during spring break and will likely be practicing my skills on See Saw.  Do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns.  If/when distance learning begins, you will get lots of information regarding schedules, assignments, contact information and hours for me, etc.  It is a LOT coming at all of us, so when you have questions...ASK!  The only silly question is the one you don't ask.  We will get through this TOGETHER!!

I am so grateful for my amazing students, their families, my very patient and supportive colleagues and the entire Northview All Star family.  Thank YOU for your patience, understanding and support. We really have the best school family there is!  I wish you well and stay healthy!

Warmly,
Mrs Kurt

Changing Wood

On Friday, I gave the kindergarten scientists a piece of basswood, safety goggles and a paper plate and posed the question...How can you change wood?  We had a good discussion and thought about lots of ways (many unsafe for kindergartners) we could change wood.  Next we handed out sand paper and talked about it...what it looked like, how it felt, etc.  We decided to see if we used the sandpaper on the wood, would it actually change the wood?  We got to work!

   

   

   

   

We predicted that we would collect lots of sawdust on the paper plates.  We all sanded for a long time and got pretty tired doing it.  We did not collect as much sawdust as we anticipated, but we were able to change the wood by sanding it!  We also noticed how smooth the wood samples were where we were sanding them.  We are excited for more science investigations on wood!

Crazy Times!

Dear Families,

Please be patient as we navigate these difficult  times at District 196 and beyond.  I will be in touch and will update you to anything as soon as I get the information.  Thank you for your understanding and patience.  In the mean time, stay safe and healthy!  Please let me know if your have any questions or concerns.

Mary Pat Kurt

More Fun with the Three Little Pigs

Here is a peek at one of our Managed Independent Learning groups last week reenacting the story of The Three Little Pigs.  The students are really enjoying this fun activity and we are excited for more groups to get the opportunity to play in this area soon.

   

   

   

Science Investigation: Wood and Water

Well, if we are going to act and write like scientists, we need to look like scientists!  We pulled out the white lab coats and safety glasses to get ready for our investigation on wood and water.

   

   

Once we were dressed and ready, we were introduced to a new science tool.  This tool was an eye dropper.  Many of us had seen eye droppers before, but not many of us knew how to use them.  We talked about the parts of the eye dropper and spent some time practicing using them.

   

   

   

Our next job was to put some drops of water on samples of cedar and particleboard, using the eye dropper.  Then we had to observe to see what would happen.  Observing is sometimes the tricky part because you need to be very patient,  you need to wait and watch!

   

   

   

After that, we added water to the samples of basswood, pine and plywood.  Again...patience!

   

   

It was interesting to see which of the wood samples soaked in (absorbed) the water and which ones did not soak it in (repelled).  The final part of the investigation was to see if any or all of the wood samples would sink if we put them in a tub off water.  We predicted that the samples would sink because wood is heavy.   

   

   

   

We were surprised to discover that initially, none of the five samples sank to the bottom of the tub of water.  Within a few hours, the particleboard sample did sink to the bottom.  However, even after leaving the samples sitting in the water overnight, the basswood, cedar, pine and plywood did not sink!

The Three Little Pigs Houses

I could not be more proud of these students and how they worked together to complete these beautiful houses for our dramatic play area.  Many thanks to Mrs. Radermacher for her help with this project, too.  We are excited to play with them very soon!