A young boy came across a butterfly chrysalis and brought it into his house. He watched, over the course of hours, as the butterfly struggled to break free from its confinement. It managed to create a small hole in the chrysalis, but its body was too large to emerge. It got tired and became still.

Wanting to help the butterfly, the boy snipped a slit in the chrysalis with a pair of scissors. But the butterfly was small, weak, and its wings crumpled. The boy expected the insect to take flight, but instead it could only drag its undeveloped body along the ground. It was incapable of flying.

The boy, in his eagerness to help the butterfly, stunted its development. What he did not know was that the butterfly needed to go through the process of struggling against the chrysalis to gain strength and fill its wings with blood. It was the struggle that made it stronger.

The struggle you’re in today is developing the strength you need for tomorrow.   In the future, when you are faced with problems, trust yourself that you will find a solution, even if it may not happen right away.  Other people can’t just give you Strength and Wisdom, you have to develop them yourself.  It takes hard work and it takes time.  Be patient, be brave, and don’t give up.

One of these people is sillier than the other one.

It is crucial that the skills you learned in reading and writing be used and refreshed regularly.  If you don’t read and write, you will not improve in fluency and it will be harder when you start First Grade.  I hope you have a lot of books at home to practice.  If you don’t, please try to get books from the library, or you can read these little stories.

Click to download: summer reading

June 12 is the last day of the school year according to the calendar, although it has lost a bit of its significance because of the strange situation we are in.  I am inviting all my students and parents to join me on one more Zoom meeting on Friday June 12, at 10:00 am.  Please prepare by thinking about something that you would like to say.  It may be a memory of a special moment in class when we were together,  it may be a silly thing that you did with your friend, it could be a favorite game that we played, you may also share something new that happened since March 16, etc. You can write it down, draw a picture, sing a song, etc.

The meeting code and password are the same as previous meetings, but I will send them again via REMIND on Thursday as a reminder.

When you write about an opinion, it is different from writing a story.  It does not need to have a character, a setting or actions.   But you have to tell people what you think.  First, you have to say what your opinion is, and then you MUST tell the readers a few reasons so they can understand why you think that way.

You can write about your opinion on any topic you like, or you can also practice writing an opinion using these ideas:

1. The most awesome superhero is ________.

2. The best animal to pick as a pet is ________.

3. The worst animal to pick as a pet is ________.

4. The best video game is ________.

5. The bravest person in my family is ________.

6. The silliest person in my family is _______.

7. The kindest person I have ever met is _______.

8. What kind of toys they should put in the Happy Meal?

9. What kind of food they should have in school cafeteria?

10. What is the best job in the whole world?

11. Are unicorns real?

12. Are space aliens real?

13. Are dinosaurs real?

14. Is magic real?

15. Is it wrong for Goldilocks to go in the bears’ house?

16. Is it wrong for Jack to climb the beanstalk to the giant’s house?

17. Is Elsa from Frozen a good sister?

18. Is Kylo Ren a good guy or a bad guy?

19. Which one is easier, learning to swim or learning to ride a bicycle?

20. Which one is harder, skateboarding or juggling?

21. Which one is  harder to catch, a frog or a butterfly?

22. What do you like more, Halloween or Christmas?

23. What do you like more, cupcake or pizza?

24. What do you like more, winter or summer?

25. What do you like more, candies or ice-cream?

26. What do you like more, pancake or cereal?

27. What do you like more, a pet dog or a pet cat?

28. On a hot day, the best place to go is __________.

29. Should kids watch scary movies?

30. Should kids help wash dishes?

Tips for parents

Help your child choose a topic and an opinion to express.  Let your child come up with their own reasons why they have that opinion.  Ask your child to write those reasons down independently.  Come back and discuss what they have written.  Focus on the reason, not so much on the spelling.  Talk about if the sentences support the opinion.  Let your child judge whether to keep a supporting reason or to replace it with a different idea.

For example:

“The Lego movie is very funny.  There is a Batman in that movie.  I watch it on Netflix. I like that movie” 

If you child wrote something like this, ask guiding questions to improve the first draft:

When someone reads this, will they figure out what is so funny about that movie?  Where does it tell them that? 

If a person disagree with you (“they think the Lego movie is not funny”), what would you say to try to change their mind?

Which of these sentences do you think you could change to show WHY you have that opinion? Which of these sentences is NOT helping to show why you have that opinion?

After making changes, rewrite it on a new sheet of paper, this time, you can point out mistakes in spelling or punctuation (uppercase, periods, etc.).

Goal:

Write two ‘Opinion Essays’ by the end of the month.  Each essay must state an opinion, with 2 or 3 reasons to support that opinion.

The actual quality of the writing is not the most important thing.  The MAIN IDEA is whether students understand there are different purposes of writing, writing an opinion has a different purpose from writing a story.

Here is a summary of what is coming up in the next 2 weeks.

Edgenuity:

I have added assignments for Language Arts to work on for May 18, 20, 22, 25, 27, 29.   The assignment for May 25 is about writing an opinion.  Therefore, we will have a writing lesson during the ZOOM meeting on May 22.  Please have a few pieces of paper and pencils ready for the ZOOM meeting.

I did not assign any Math on Edgenuity.  Students are free to explore any math topics from the Grade K or Grade 1 choices.  (Edgenuity is set up in such a way that students are only allowed to freely select their activities after the assigned lessons are completed.  That’s why I did not assign any math lessons to give you the ability to choose freely.)

Happy Numbers:

Happy Numbers lessons are pre-sequenced.  So you can do 1 lesson (1 step in the ‘star path’) per day.  You can do more if you like.

Amplify Reading:

Amplify Reading lessons are also pre-sequenced.  Please visit it each day and complete the tasks at your own pace.

9 Dot Coding:

Each week there is a new coding lesson.  Please try to keep up.

The ZOOM meeting code and password are the same as last time.  However, I will send them again via REMIND on Wednesday before the meeting.

If you have not sent me a message via REMIND or email for more than 3 weeks, please get in touch ASAP so I know you are getting these updates.

Please send pictures of your works of art to share.  (Drawings, comics, Lego creations, Minecraft buildings, paper craft, etc.)  This is your quarantine art gallery!

This is the final online resource that I will add to your choices.  This math program is optional, (that is, only if you want extra practices in math).  When you use it for the first time, if may give you a test to find out what level you are going to start.

Happy Numbers!