Week of 1/14

**Please note that this is a four-day week, due to a staff professional development day on Friday. There is no school on both Friday, January 18th and Monday, January 21st. Enjoy your 4-day weekend!

This week, we will hit the half-way mark in our kindergarten year. This is where the kindergarten curriculum really takes off, and your continued support with the curriculum will be especially important at this time. Helping children complete their writing journals, reading to your children and asking them questions about what they are reading, and reinforcing math facts and sight words is really important at this time. I want to ensure that everyone is prepared for first grade, and I definitely need your help :).

Speaking of journal writing, I hope that it has gone successfully this week. My goal is that the children are excited about writing, not stressed out by it, so please let me know if there were any problems. A few other reminders about the journal page:

• Writing should always be in PENCIL.
• Above the writing, in the blank box, children should draw a neat, (at least) four-color picture.
• Encourage your children to spell high-frequency words that we've introduced correctly.
• Please DO NOT copy a sentence from the book.

Language Arts:
Our story this week is a classic, Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats. We will introduce the sight words are and ran.  Please review the "High Frequency Word" tab on the right to learn which words we've introduced so far this year.

Math:
We will begin Module 4, Number Pairs, Addition & Subtraction to 10. This is an extremely important part of our kindergarten math program, and we dedicate a large amount of time to this module. In fact, we will be on this module for the remainder of this trimester. Parent tips for this module can be found here. I do recommend that you look these over, because there will be some new vocabulary for those of you who do not have older students who have done the Eureka math program. Of particular importance are the words "compose" (finding numbers that add up to a given number-- like 3 & 2 compose 5) "decompose" (take apart a number-- like 5 can be 4 & 1) and number bonds (a model to show mathematical thinking).

Also-- please take note below at some upcoming events that have been posted.  They are:

• Kindergarten Registration Info Night 1/23 5:30 to 6:15:  If you have friends or neighbors with incoming kindergartners who live in the AV attendance area, please let them know about this informational evening about the upcoming 2019-20 school year.
• Snow Day 1/25: children will dress up in whatever snow gear they have-- hats, mittens, coats, scarves, etc. and we will have a fake snowball fight with K1.  
• 100 Day 1/31-- we celebrate the 100th day of school with some special activities.  
• Alta Vista Family Valentine's Dance 2/08: Come to the Alta Vista Cafeteria from 6:00 to 8:30 pm for this fun family evening. There will be a DJ, photo booth, desserts & drinks. Tickets are on sale now at MySchoolAnywhere for $5.42/person.

This Week's Helpers & Activities:
 Monday: Return Blue Bags, with completed book report in folder (Hiromi), Daily 5, Centers (Nisha & Hiromi
Tuesday: Daily 5, Centers (Mary & Kassie)
Wednesday: Recess 101, Cornerstone (Erika/Pablo & Kassie), Blue Bags w/ Book Report go home

Thursday: Daily 5, Centers (Claire & Pablo/Erika)
Friday: NO SCHOOL

Upcoming Events
Friday 1/18: Professional Development Day: No School
Monday 1/21: Martin Luther King Day, No School
Wednesday 1/23 @ 5:30: Kindergarten Registration Info Night
Friday 1/25: Snow Day
Thursday 1/31: 100 Day
Friday, 2/8: AV Family Valentiine's Dance
2/18-2/22: President's Week Vacation