- Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays: 8:15 to 1:40
- Wednesdays and modified days during conference weeks: 8:15 to 1:15. **Please plan accordingly on these days as the rest of the school releases at this time, so parking will not be available on the street in front of our classroom.
Lunch will be from 11:30 to 12:15. If you haven't let me know whether or not your child will be buying hot lunch in the next two weeks, please do so here. I see about 2-3 children buying hot lunch each day this week, and those are the only children I will send to the hot lunch line. Please help us reduce confusion for your child during the upcoming weeks by letting me know your plans for hot lunch. Thank you for your help during this transition.
**Please continue signing up for parent-teacher conferences.
Walkathon
Alta Vista's Walkathon is coming right up, and I hope to see everyone out there! The Grasshopper Team continues to get more and more members. Go Grasshoppers! Continue registering at this link. Please mark your calendars for Saturday, October 19th, and plan to come out for this great community-building day-- your child won't want to miss it!
And...since I've heard many of your children talking about soccer, I wanted to let you know that if you have to leave for a soccer game (or come a little later because of soccer) please let the people at the check-in desk know. Your child gets 10 laps of credit for soccer games or other outside sports obligations that they have during the walkathon event.
Language Arts:
We
have now launched all of our Daily 5 activities, and this week, we will begin meeting with
the teacher for guided reading lessons. Your child will be receiving
lessons targeted for his/her ability level in a small group instruction
setting. It is a very hands-on program, and we have been pleased with the results.
In class this week, we will be focusing on the letters Mm and Nn. Our plan is to have all letters introduced by the end of the first trimester, which is coming up in early November. If you are noticing that your child is having difficulty recognizing letters and knowing letter sounds, especially those that we've introduced already (A-L), please provide additional reinforcement at home. As the kindergarten year continues, it becomes very difficult to keep up with the pace of the curriculum if your child is still not mastering letter recognition and sounds. Good reinforcement is available by watching Leap Frog's The Letter Factory, which is available on Netflix streaming or on YouTube. There is also a website & app called starfall.com which is excellent. Finally the video series we are using in class, called HeidiSongs, is available here, and streams on Vimeo.
In class this week, we will be focusing on the letters Mm and Nn. Our plan is to have all letters introduced by the end of the first trimester, which is coming up in early November. If you are noticing that your child is having difficulty recognizing letters and knowing letter sounds, especially those that we've introduced already (A-L), please provide additional reinforcement at home. As the kindergarten year continues, it becomes very difficult to keep up with the pace of the curriculum if your child is still not mastering letter recognition and sounds. Good reinforcement is available by watching Leap Frog's The Letter Factory, which is available on Netflix streaming or on YouTube. There is also a website & app called starfall.com which is excellent. Finally the video series we are using in class, called HeidiSongs, is available here, and streams on Vimeo.
Our sight word this week
is am. The sight words we've introduced so far are: I, a, at, me, the to and am. Please
also continue reinforcing these words at home and listening to your
child read the sight word sentences that come home weekly. These are in your child's Wednesday envelope each week.
Our stories this week will be the various versions of Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems. We will have a SeeSaw activity posted this Friday that is a response to this story.
Our stories this week will be the various versions of Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems. We will have a SeeSaw activity posted this Friday that is a response to this story.
Math:
In
math, we continue our topic on numbers to 10. Children will continue
counting objects and writing numbers to 10. Most of our math involves
hands-on activities in small-group centers. That is why you often don't
see math papers in the Wednesday envelopes, but we do have daily math
activities and lessons in class.STEAM:
We will be going to the Makerspace this Wednesday to do an activity around the poem, Jack be Nimble. Children will be launching "Jack" over the candlestick. We visit the Alta Vista Makerspace approximately every other week.
**Please send in your child's Blue Bag tomorrow, and your child's envelope if you haven't already. They will go home as usual this week on Wednesday. Children will need to come into the classroom on Wednesday after music (music goes right until the end of our day) to collect their blue bags & backpacks.
This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: Return Blue Bags, Daily 5, Centers (Gomathi & Patty H.)
Tuesday: Daily 5, Centers (Claire & Lisa)
Wednesday: Rhythm & Moves P.E., Music with Mrs. Threet, Blue Bags go home
Thursday: Daily 5, Centers (Hema & Carole)
Friday: Daily 5, STEAM Centers (Hema & Carlene)
Upcoming Events:
Friday 10/11: YSI Field Trip "Animal Adaptations"
Saturday 10/19: Alta Vista Walkathon
Thursday 10/31: Halloween Parade & Party@ 8:30
Nov. 4th-14th: Parent-Teacher Conferences & Early Dismissal
Friday 11/22: Friendship Feast at 10:00
Thursday 12/19: Nutcracker Performance at 10:00
