Dear Parents,
We had a great first week of centers & sharing, and hopefully homework is going well, too! Thanks so much to all our center helpers. We appreciate your diligence in coming on time, working with the children, and finding substitutes when you are unable to come. All went very well last week!
Remember to send in your child's Red Bag on Monday, with the homework folder inside. You will receive a new book and some new homework again on Wednesday.
This week's sharing is book share. Remember, if you ever forget what the share topic is (or I forget to mention it), it is marked on the calendar on our web page. For book share, we'd like the children to come prepared with a favorite page bookmarked, and to also know the title of the book and a general idea of what it's about. No clues necessary on this one!
We will continue with our math topic on numbers 1-5. We are especially reinforcing the formation of numbers in handwriting. Some of these numbers are quite tricky to make, so watch that your child is starting at the top and going in the right direction.
We will also continue with our overview of the alphabet, plus working on rhyming. Letters Pp through Tt will be covered this week.
We began introducing some of our line strokes last week using Handwriting without Tears, and as mentioned, we also worked individually with each student on his/her name writing. This week, we will begin another component of the Handwriting program called "Sentence School." In sentence school, we will all copy a sentence from the easel and work on handwriting and word spacing, while also reinforcing vocabulary and sight words. We started using "Sentence School" last year, and found that it really improved sentence writing.
We began our science unit on Trees & Leaves last week, and the children really enjoyed it. We introduced important vocabulary such as roots, leaves, branches, and trunk. We talked about evergreens and deciduous trees. This week we will begin looking more closely at leaves. Please send in about 5 or 6 leaves tomorrow in a plastic baggie in your child's red bag.
It was great to see so many of you at the Back-to-School Movie Night! Our next school event is this Thursday, the 23rd-- Family Science Night. It starts at 6:30 p.m. in the cafeteria. This is a fun night that is sponsored by the Children's Discovery Museum. The children have an opportunity to participate in some great hands-on projects with their parents. Come out and enjoy the fun & learning!
I have also placed a list at the bottom of this e-mail with other important upcoming dates. Please mark your calendars accordingly-- you won't want to miss many of these events :) Please double-check with our website calendar if you forget to mark an event.
Here's a schedule of the events & helpers this week:
MONDAY: Homework/Red Bags due, Library, Centers (Megan & Kristi), Sharing
TUESDAY: Centers (Jamie & Wendy), Sharing
WEDNESDAY: Red Bags & Envelopes (Angie & Karla), Computers (Margaret), Sharing, Red Bags go home.
THURSDAY: Centers (Tammi & Matt/Lorraine), Sharing
FRIDAY: P.E. (please wear sneakers), Sharing
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Thursday, 9/23: 6:30pm Alta Vista Cafeteria, Family Science Night
Saturday, 10/16: 9:00 am Alta Vista Back Field: Walk-a-thon
Friday, 10/29: 1:00 pm: School-wide Halloween Parade (come back and join us if you'd like!)
Monday, 11/8: Parent-Teacher Conferences begin
Thursday, 11/11: No School: Veteran's Day
Friday, 11/12: No School: Staff Development Day
Monday, 11/22: Thanksgiving Friendship Feast
Tuesday, 11/23: Grandparent's Day, grades K-2
