Dear Parents,
It was great to see you all at the Hoe-Down! I think I saw just about every student there, and it looked like lots of fun was being had by all.
We have another review week covering several consonants this week (Dd, Jj, Nn, Ww). All letters have now been introduced, so please work on practicing both writing and reading consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words. Your children should be able to read all of those types of words using their letter sounds and blending skills-- cut, bus, rat, sip, hot, etc. This is a really important skill to work on now and through the summer, as this is something your children will be expected to do proficiently in first grade. Books such as the leveled Scholastic Readers, Bob Books, I Can Read Books, and Ready to Read Books are great for reinforcing blending skills and practicing fluency. Please keep your children reading 20-30 minutes daily now and through the summer. Also, continue working on the sight words. They need to know all 40, and in first grade, the list increases to 100 words. That list can be found on the first grade page here: http://www.unionsd.org/cms/lib07/CA01001465/Centricity/Domain/97/100_Sight_Words.pdf: I can't emphasize enough that the best way to help your child become a successful reader is to offer plenty of opportunity for practice.
Speaking of plenty of practice-- the Alta Vista Book Fair is a great source for new books for your children, and it is open beginning this Thursday the 21st and runs through Thursday the 28th. On both May 21st & 22nd, the book fair will be open at 11:30 to accommodate kindergarten drop-off. These shopping hours will be much more quiet, so if you'd like to go in and make a purchase of a book your child had his/her eye on, this is the time to do it. It will also be open during Open House, if you'd like to make purchases at that time. Stop by & check it out!
This is our last week of centers! I'd like to thank all of the volunteers for their commitment to coming in weekly to help us in the classroom. This was an amazing year for classroom help-- whenever somebody was unable to come in, someone else stepped right up as a sub. That small-group instruction time is so important, and without all of the helpers, it would not have been possible. Thank you, thank you!
The upcoming final 18 days (can you believe it??) will be devoted to reviewing and reinforcing concepts that we have learned in kindergarten. We will introduce two more sight words, do and had. I have also been and will continue to be administering the final round of assessments to evaluate your children for the 3rd trimester report cards. Those report cards will come home with your children on the last day of school.
We are also continuing our animal unit in science. We studied snails this past week, and next week, we will be continuing to watch our caterpillars & learning about the life cycle of a butterfly! The children are really enjoying this hands-on opportunity to take a closer look at several different species.
Please send in your Blue Bags tomorrow. This Wednesday, we will send home the final blue bag! Please use the extra time in the remaining weeks to do "virtual homework assignments." I would like to see the children spending at least 15 minutes a day on either Lexia, ixl.com , or raz-kids for the next few weeks. I would also encourage using the extra time to read, read, read!
Upcoming Events:
5/25: Memorial Day
5/27: May's Wacky Wednesday & Open House
6/4: Art Vista Art Show @ 6:00 pm
6/8: End of the year Party & Water Play Day
6/9: Kindergarten Promotion Ceremony
6/10: June's Wacky Wednesday & Olympic Day
6/11: Last Day of School: All Kindergartners come from 8:05-11:25
