Week of 10/9

Conferences
Thank you for all signing up for a conference time. The conference schedule can be viewed here, but please note that it can no longer be edited. If you need to change your conference time, please email me. I look forward to meeting with you all in November!

Field Trip
You should have all received a permission slip in last week's Wednesday envelope for our first field trip to Spina Farms Pumpkin Patch. We are very excited for this trip! For all field trips at Alta Vista, children travel by school bus to the location. The trip is on October 25th, and children will come to school as usual from 8:05 to 11:25. Please sign the permission slip and return it to school as soon as possible, if you haven't already.

Walkathon
Please continue signing your children up for the walkathon on October 21st, which is only three weeks away!  Go to:  http://www.altavistawalkathon.org  to register or solicit sponsors for your children. Not only does it help raise money for all of the wonderful enrichment programs at our school, but it is a great community event. There is so much to do besides the walking!  Come out and enjoy the day.

Clay
We have our first clay project coming up this Wednesday the 11th. Alta Vista is one of the few schools in USD that have a clay program. Children get to do two clay projects per year and glaze those projects. On Wednesday, they will be making pinch pots. Thank you to Tanya, Surbhi, and Camille for helping with the clay program this year.

Cornerstone
We will also have our fist Cornerstone lesson this Wednesday. Project Cornerstone  is a program that helps develop respect and positive messages toward others. Thank you to Celeste & Lawrence for heading up this program.

Substitute
I will be out again this week for more language arts training. The students will have a substitute on Wednesday, so I will miss out on all the fun with Clay & Cornerstone.

Language Arts
This week's letters are Oo and Pp. Our new sight word is go. We have been incorporating these words in our writing and encouraging the children to begin writing a short sentence.  For example, now that we know I, see, my, like, and can, we can write a sentence that starts with "I see...."  or "I like..." 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 have two weeks left in our first module in Eureka math. We have been learning about numbers to 10, writing those numbers, and learning what one more and one less than a given number would be. We are also learning to recognize the dots on a 10 frame by sight as the number that they represent.

Science
We are continuing our unit on Trees & Leaves this week by taking a closer look at leaves. Please go on a "leaf walk" around your neighborhood with your child and collect a small baggie of leaves.  On Monday, we will investigate and compare those leaves and sort them by their shape. We will also be comparing the different sizes of leaves this week. Last week, we had some fun with leaf rubbings.

Upcoming
Halloween: Just a reminder that we will be celebrating Halloween on Tuesday the 31st. I believe the school-wide parade is at 8:30 and our class party will follow at 9:00, but the timing of the school wide parade has not been confirmed.  Did I share with you that the kindergarten classes were the  top classes in participation in the Home & School Club Membership drive? Thank you so much for your participation-- the Grasshoppers have won a pizza party again! We have decided to serve that pizza at the Halloween party, so no need to pack a lunch on that day.

**Please send in your child's Blue Bag on Monday, and your child's envelope if you haven't already. Please also make sure your child has a small baggie of leaves to share on Monday.

This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: Return Blue Bags, Daily 5, Centers (Camille & Lauren)
Tuesday: Daily 5, Centers (Anastasia & Josie)
Wednesday: Clay, Recess 101, Blue Bags go home
Thursday: Daily 5, Centers (Tanya & Pantea)
Friday: Daily 5, STEAM Centers (Jackie & Celeste), Story time with Grandma Gail

Upcoming Events:
Saturday 10/21: Alta Vista Walkathon
Wednesday 10/25: Field trip to Spina Farms Pumpkin Patch
Tuesday 10/31: Halloween Parade & Party
Monday 11/6: Parent-Teacher Conferences begin
Thursday 11/9: No School: Staff Development Day
Friday 11/10: No School: Veteran's Day
Friday 11/17: Friendship Feast
Friday 12/22: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performances