It's Walk-a-thon week!! I hope everyone will be able to join in on Saturday! Please go to the website, www.altavistawalkathon.org, if you have not already registered so that you can be a part of this fun event. We will be doing one practice lap this week so that the kids have an idea of the lap length and what to expect. On Friday, the kids will receive both their walk-a-thon t-shirt (if they have signed up online & received a pledge of $40 by Wednesday) and their lanyard with the first foot. Please be sure to wear both the t-shirt & lanyard on Saturday. Every 5 laps, the kids get a different plastic foot on the lanyard/necklace. The kindergartners get a special foot already on their necklace for the practice lap that they did. These plastic feet are very motivating for the children! You will see them walk many more laps than you ever thought they could walk, all for a plastic foot! :) There are also treats every few laps and plenty of other fun things on campus like face painting and a crazy hair booth. The walk-a-thon runs from 9:00 to 3:00, but you can arrive and leave any time that fits with your schedule. Don't forget that if you are coming from a soccer game, etc., to mention that at check-in. Even if you can only come for an hour or so, please join in for a fun day that supports all of the enrichment programs at our school!
Our next big event is the school book fair starting this Thursday. You may check it out in the morning, at lunch, or after school (for the big kids) with your children. There are many great offerings, and a percentage of every dollar you spend there will go toward our school library. So please check that out as well!
Our next big event is the school book fair starting this Thursday. You may check it out in the morning, at lunch, or after school (for the big kids) with your children. There are many great offerings, and a percentage of every dollar you spend there will go toward our school library. So please check that out as well!
This week's letter is Rr. The Alphafriend is Reggie Rooster. We have two new high frequency words, in and it. We have started incorporating these words in our writing and encouraging the children to begin writing a short sentence. For example, now that we know I and see, we can write a sentence that starts with "I see...." As kindergarten progresses, the expectation is that the children will write at least two sentences on their own. We will be expecting things like detailed & colorful pictures, the use of some of our high-frequency words, attempts at spelling using phonetic spelling ("kat" for "cat", etc.), proper use of spacing between words, etc. It is very fun to watch their writing progress at this level.
Math
We are wrapping up our math topic on composing and decomposing numbers to 10, and will begin the topic on 2-Dimensional and 3-Dimensional shapes next week. Circle, square, rectangle, triangle, and hexagon are the shapes to know. Three dimensional shapes that we will cover include: cube, cone, sphere, and cylinder. Please reinforce these shapes as much as possible in your conversations at home. "What shape is the table?" "What shape is this paper?" "What shape is this can?" and questions of this nature are good to ask.
Science
We are also wrapping up our unit on Trees & Leaves this week. Tomorrow, we will be studying "what comes from trees." If you have a fruit-bearing tree, or a tree with interesting seed pods, pine cones, etc., please send in a small bag with item(s) from those trees. The children will be sorting the different items tomorrow at center time, and it's nice to have a variety of different things to show the kids.
Sharing
We will continue doing "letter of the week" sharing, as the kids are really enjoying it. This week, share something that starts with Rr. As a reminder, please have written clues prepared for your child in case they forget what they planned to say. This allows me to prompt them as needed. Thank you!
Field Trip
We had a great time at the performance of Peter Rabbit. When I asked the children what their favorite part of the play was the next day, I got many different answers, showing that they were very attentive. I think most kids really enjoyed the show.
Upcoming
Conferences: Thanks to everyone for scheduling your conferences with me so quickly. If you need a reminder about when your conference is, please click here: https://goo.gl/nFbxE7 Please note that you can no longer edit this form. If you need to change your conference time, please email me.
Halloween: Just a reminder that kindergarten will celebrate Halloween on Thursday the 29th. The am kindergarten parade will be at 8:15. The party will begin at approximately 9:00.
Thanksgiving Feast: I have purchased pillow cases for our upcoming Thanksgiving Feast. These will be turned into Pilgrim costumes with some simple cutting. Now, I need to have volunteers who can cut these at home. This is a great project for those who would like to help out but are unable to due to work commitments. I will send home pillowcases and a sample shirt for you to replicate. I also have aprons that need to be cut. You will need a pair of pinking shears (zigzag scissors) for this project. Please let me know if you do not have a pair-- I have an extra pair myself that I can loan out. I will not need the pillowcases back until a few days before the Feast (11/20). Please let me know if you can help!
This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: Return Blue Bags (Jillian), Centers (Camille & Hiromi), Sharing
Tuesday: Centers (Lizl & Tanya), Sharing
Wednesday: Computers (Lawrence), Sharing, Blue Bags go home
Thursday: Centers (Jill & Pantea), Sharing
Friday: Story time with Grandma Gail, SPARK P.E. (Johanna), Sharing
Saturday: WALK-A-THON!!!
Upcoming Events
10/17: Walkathon
10/19-10/27: Parent-Teacher Conferences
10/29: Kindergarten Halloween Parade & Celebration
10/30: No School: Staff Development Day
11/11: No School: Veteran's Day
11/20: Friendship Feast @ 10:15
11/23-11/27: No School: Thanksgiving Break
12/18: Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00
