Week of 10/23

Dear Parents,

It was GREAT to see so many of you yesterday at the Walk-a-thon! Almost our entire class participated, and it looked like much fun was had by all. Thanks for coming out and supporting the school, and hopefully, it was the beginning of many Walk-a-thons to come for all of you!  Tomorrow, send your children with their walk-a-thon necklaces so that we can all celebrate the laps that we walked! And if you didn't have a chance to check out the Book Fair yesterday, it runs through Thursday of this week, before school (for the big kids), at noon, and after school.

We have a busy week this week with all the regular activities, plus Red Ribbon Week, plus an Art Vista lesson, along with a WACKY WEDNESDAY for the p.m. class  (10:00 to 1:20)!!

Our letter this week is Tt. The alphafriend is Tiggy Tiger. We have a new high frequency word, my. We will be finishing up our math unit on numbers 6-10. Your children should now be able to count, compare, and write numbers 6-10.

The sharing this week is song, poem, or nursery rhyme.  Kids can sing a song they know, recite a short poem, or even recite/sing one of the Alphafriend songs.  This is a fun one to do because it also allows children who may speak another language to do a poem or song that they know in that language.  We always love what we hear for this one-- just help your child choose something that s/he is comfortable with.  It can be as simple as Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star to a poem with several verses to a song that they love on the radio-- just discuss the selection with your child so that s/he knows what to do :)

Red Ribbon Week is this week. In kindergarten, we do not get into a big discussion about drugs, as that is typically way over their heads. We try to keep the focus on positive choices-- things to do to keep their bodies healthy. We talk about eating right, getting enough sleep, and getting exercise. Sometimes smoking and alcohol do come up, as these are things the children have seen. We will talk about those things if they come up. but mostly we like to keep the focus on "what TO do" rather than "what NOT TO do." There are some theme days that go along with Red Ribbon Week. These are entirely optional. Sometimes the kindergartners do get a kick out of these days, especially if they have older siblings at the school. They are:

•  MONDAY: Wear red (Red Ribbon Week)
• TUESDAY: Wear crazy or mismatched socks (Sock it to drugs)
• WEDNESDAY: Wear a baseball cap (Put a cap on drugs)
• THURSDAY: Wear a sports team jersey/shirt (Team up against drugs)
• FRIDAY: Wear some clothes backwards (Turn your back on drugs)

We also have our first Art Vista lesson this week.  Art Vista is a program paid for by the Alta Vista Home & School Club, thanks to your generous donations to events like the Walk-a-thon.  It is a very hands-on art program, where the children will look at copies of paintings by many great artists and discuss an artistic element such as line, shade, perspective, etc.  Then they will have a follow-up art project that focuses on the particular element. 

Finally, thanks to the many parents who have volunteered to cut pillowcases for us for our Friendship Feast outfits.  Many parents collected bags at the Walkathon, but we do have a few left.  I have brought my pinking shears to school for someone to borrow.  Pop in on Monday and I will give you a bag.   Thanks again to all of you for making my job so much easier by offering your time, help, and support.

Please remember to send in your child's blue bag tomorrow in the midst of all the craziness this week.

Upcoming Events:
10/26: October's Wacky Wednesday  
10/31: Halloween Parade @ 1:15
11/7-11/17: Parent-Teacher Conferences
11/11: No School, Veteran's Day
11/21: Kindergarten Friendship Feast @ 10:15 (a.m.) and 1:30 (p.m.)
11/22: Grandparents' Day @ 10:30 (a.m.) and 11:30 (p.m.)
11/30: November's Wacky Wednesday  
12/16: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m.) & 1:30 (p.m.)