We've made it to an exciting week in kindergarten, where we start centers and sharing and our first homework bag will be returned on Monday!
As a reminder to center helpers, centers run from about 9:00 to 10:15. Please come a little before 9:00 so that you can sign in & get a visitor's badge in the office. Then just come straight to the classroom & you will catch my explanation of the center to the children so that you know what the expectation is. If there is clean-up involved at the end of centers, if you could stay for a bit afterwards to help with that so that things are ready for the afternoon class, I'd appreciate it. Thank you so much-- the schedule for centers each week is posted below, in addition to the link on the right, "Helper Schedule."
Please return your child's blue bag tomorrow, and this will become your routine every Monday. The book should be inside the bag, as well as the homework folder. Your child will get a new book and a new page in the homework folder on Wednesday each week.
Sharing also 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. Sharing days are:
MONDAY: Aiden, Alexandre, Anna, Bodie
TUESDAY: Brett, Cameron, Cody, David
WEDNESDAY: Emil, Isabella, Joseph, Keigo
THURSDAY: Liam, Lila, Madison, Mimi
FRIDAY: Peyton, Rez, Safa, Sophie
If you ever forget which day is your child's sharing day, or if you need more information about the sharing topic, please click on the link on the right-hand side called "Sharing Info." Sharing topics each week are posted under the "calendar" link.
MATH:
LANGUAGE ARTS:
We will introduce letters Gg & Hh plus continue working on rhyming. We will read more non-fiction books about apples. We will introduce our first sight word, I. We will begin our handwriting program, Handwriting without Tears, this week. We will work on correctly forming the letter Bb. We will continue working on name writing and we will have a name writing page again for homework this week. We really want to ensure that children are forming the letters in their names correctly. The sooner they break any bad habits, the better.
SCIENCE:
We will look at how the change in seasons affect how an apple tree looks throughout the year. We will continue learning about apples and apple trees.
STEAM: (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Math)
We had our first STEAM centers on Friday, and the children were excited! They worked with Keva Planks, designed a marble run, used Osmo, and programmed a Bee-Bot. We are incorporating STEAM centers into our program once a week, and we look forward to much collaboration, innovation, trial & error, and excitement in the process! For more information on STEM/STEAM (used interchangeably) in the primary classroom, read this article.
Helpers & Activities This Week
Monday: Blue Bags returned (HoSun), Centers (Anna R. & Annie), Sharing
Tuesday: Centers (Claire K. & Anne-Marie), Sharing
Wednesday: Sharing, Blue Bags go home
Thursday: Centers (Alison & Susan), Sharing
Friday: STEAM Centers (Barry)
Upcoming Events:
Monday 9/12: Centers begin
Friday 9/16: Alta Vista Movie Night Inside Out
Friday 9/16: Alta Vista Movie Night Inside Out
Friday 9/30: Picture Day
Monday 10/10: Field trip to see a play
Saturday 10/15: Alta Vista Walkathon
Friday 10/28: Halloween Parade & Party
Monday 10/10: Field trip to see a play
Saturday 10/15: Alta Vista Walkathon
Friday 10/28: Halloween Parade & Party
Monday 10/31: No School: Staff Development Day
