Week of 1/21

I hope you are enjoying some fun family time on this long weekend. We have Monday off school in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. On Tuesday, it will be very important to return the Blue Bags on time since we only have a day to turn them back around. So please put them by the door or wherever you will remember them Tuesday morning.

Language Arts:
This week, we will begin studying digraphs. We will look at the digraphs sh and th. Children will be reading and spelling words with those sounds.

Our story this week is Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner. We will write our own "Snowmen at Night" adventures after reading this story.

Picture of the Day
We have been doing something since school resumed in 2020 called "Picture of the Day." Children look at a different picture each day, which is projected onto our classroom screen. Children then make observations and inferences about the picture. All inferences must be supported with a "because" statement using evidence from the picture. For example, "I think the people are skydiving because I see a parachute on their backs." This activity will help develop children's observation skills as well as language skills and deductive reasoning. Ask your children about the picture of the day and see what they have to say about it!

Math:
We are wrapping up the addition portion of Module 4 this week. We will next start working with numbers in the teens (Module 5), then we will return to Module 4 for the subtraction piece.

Cornerstone
We have a Cornerstone lesson on Tuesday. Thanks again to Jessica for presenting these lessons.

Kindness Assembly
We will have an assembly on Wednesday on spreading kindness. This group came to the school last year and it was a very enjoyable assembly with a great message. Following this, next week is "Kindness Week" at Alta Vista, where we will be giving special focus to acts of kindness. In our classroom, I will have a kindness chain going across the top of our whiteboard. Every time the children do something kind that they'd like to report, they may write it down or tell me and add a chain to our kindness chain. The children are so excited to see the chain grow and can visually see all the acts of kindness we are doing together to help make the world a better place.

We still have two openings left for centers in early February! Please check the Sign-Up Genius.

This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: No School
Tuesday: Return Blue Bags, Daily 5, Cornerstone (Jessica), Centers (Claire & David W.)
Wednesday: P.E., Kindness Assembly, Music, Blue Bags go home

Thursday: Daily 5, Centers (Lauren & Sara)
Friday:Daily 5, STEAM Centers (Rosemary & Hema)

Upcoming Events:

Monday 01/20: No School: MLK Day
Wednesday 01/22: Kindergarten Registration Night at 6:00 for Incoming Parents
Tuesday 01/28: 100 Day
01/28-02/01: Frozen Play presented by AV Drama Club
Friday 01/31: Snow Day
Tuesday 02/04: STEAM Night @ 6:00
Friday 02/14: Valentine's Day Family Dance
02/17-02/21: President's Week Vacation