We had a great first week of centers, and hopefully homework is going well, too! Thanks so much to all our center helpers. I 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 Blue Bag on Monday, with the homework folder inside. No need to pull the homework folder out and turn it in separately-- I have a parent helper who will go through all the bags and pull out the homework. You will receive a new book and some new homework again on Wednesday.
Sharing begins this week! Our sharing topic this week is Toy in a Bag. Your child should bring one item, hidden in a bag or backpack, with clues attached. The clues are very important and are part of the preparation for this oral language activity. Please work with your child to come up with three clues that will help the other children guess what is in the bag. If you are not sure of your child's sharing day, please click on the link on the right-hand side called "Sharing Info." Sharing topics each week are posted under the "calendar" link.
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" a couple of years ago, and found that it really improved sentence writing.
We began our science unit on Trees & Leaves last week, and the children are really enjoying 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 a a few leaves from trees around your home in a baggie on Monday, marked with your child's name. It can be in the blue bag if that's easier.
Upcoming Events:
9/19: Alta Vista Movie Night
9/24: September's Wacky Wednesday
10/20: Field Trip to California Theater Center
10/25: Alta Vista Walkathon
10/29: October's Wacky Wednesday
