Week of 1/22

Dear Parents,

I wanted to thank parents and students for having such a great first month of journal entries with the Blue Bags! Everyone is working on letting their children do all their own spelling, and are encouraging them so well in their efforts! I already see improvement in the writing just in this short time. Remember that the focus in kindergarten is giving kids the ability to use their phonics skills to write on their own and get their thoughts down on paper. As they move through the grade levels, spelling will become more of a focus. Right now the focus is the process and applying phonetic sounds so that they have that framework to fall back on whenever they need to write on their own.

We had a wonderful "Snow Day" on Friday-- thank you!  The kids all looked so cute in their snow gear and were able to have our "snowball fight" during a break in the rain. The kids enjoyed the hot cocoa afterward.

Language Arts:
We have two new word families this week: ip and ig. We will be reading and spelling words like hip, rip, big and dig. Our sight word this week is little. This is an additional sight word that we thought was important to introduce. We are now up to 19 sight words.  Please check the sight word link on the website and make sure that your child knows the words we've introduced, as this is a heavy emphasis at this time. If your child is struggling with these words, a good website to go to is http://www.spellingcity.com and log in under my name for the "40 Word List" of all the sight words we're covering this year.

We will continue reading and writing with a snow theme. We will read Elmer in the Snow by David McKee this week and do a fun art project. We will also write about favorite snow activities.

The sharing this week is Homemade item. Please have your child bring in a craft or art project that s/he has made, either at home or in a class or at preschool, etc. Children should be prepared to talk about how they made the item.

Math:
We will continue working on number bonds and ten frames to familiarize ourselves with fact families to 10.  Please continue reinforcing the concept at home using apps on iPhones & iPads or logging into their ixl.com account.  Although ixl isn't a "game," it does provide solid reinforcement of the facts & concepts covered in kindergarten.  If you need a reminder of how to log into your child's ixl account, please email me.

Other sites to continue taking advantage of are raz-kids.com and lexia.com.  All of these sites-- ixl, lexia, and raz-kids, are paid for by the district, and you should definitely make use of them.  These are great sites to use for the children who'd like more homework.  Raz-Kids has comprehension questions after reading books at the "A" level on up, so it is a good way to build up reading comprehension skills.  If you are having trouble accessing any of these sites, please email me.

Social Studies:
This week, we will begin talking about the Lunar New Year, which begins on the 28th. Thank you to Isabella's mom for coming in this Friday to do a special presentation. The children will even get to do a Lion Dance! If anyone else would like to help with the presentation or send something in, please let me know.

Homework:
Our homework this week will be the journal, as usual. In addition, your children will be preparing for their 100 Day sharing. Directions will be in the homework folder, but they will be working on counting out 100 objects and then presenting those items to the class for sharing the week of the 30th.

Please send in your child's blue bag Monday, with the book & homework folder inside.  Thank you!

Valentine's Day:
On Tuesday, February 14th, we will be celebrating Valentine's Day in class. We do not have a party, we just pass out valentine cards. Just to give you some advanced notice (since I know your children will be eagerly shopping for/making Valentines soon!) in kindergarten, we have the kids sign their valentines, but we do not have them write who the valentine is "to." This makes distribution MUCH easier, since many kids cannot read the names. So please sign the cards, but leave the "to" box blank. Please send in 20 valentines so that there are enough for each child in the class. Thanks!

Conferences:
A link has been sent out to sign up for Spring conferences, which run from March 9th through March 17th. Please contact me if you did not receive the link or if you need any assistance with scheduling a conference.

This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: Blue Bags returned (Ting), Centers (Marylu & Anna R.), Sharing
Tuesday: Centers (Anne-Marie & Claire L.), Sharing
Wednesday: Recess 101, Sharing, Blue Bags go home

Thursday: Centers (Alison & Belinda), Sharing
Friday: Lunar New Year celebration (Annie), Story Time with Grandma Gail, Sharing

Upcoming Events:
Friday 1/27: Lunar New Year Celebration
Wednesday 2/1: Global Play Day/Art Vista Presentation
Thursday 2/2: 100 Day
Friday 2/10: Alta Vista Family Valentine's Dance
Tuesday 2/14: Valentine's Day celebration
2/20-2/24: President's Week Vacation
Thursday 3/2: Read Across America Day
3/9-3/17: Spring Conferences
Saturday 3/18: Alta Vista Hawaiian Luau/Auction