I hope you are enjoying a nice long weekend. We had a lot of fun this past week with a few STEAM activities around some fairy tales and nursery rhymes.
Language Arts
We will begin launching the Fundations program in the upcoming weeks, which is a language arts program that we've been using for the past few years. A big focus of this program is learning the correct formation of letters, hand-in-hand with learning their sounds. Handwriting serves to link visual processing with motor experience, facilitating subsequent letter recognition skills. The expectation is that by the end of the first trimester (early November) students know all their letters & sounds. Every week, I will link a parent support letter with ideas on how to reinforce what we're learning at school at home.
We will begin launching the Fundations program in the upcoming weeks, which is a language arts program that we've been using for the past few years. A big focus of this program is learning the correct formation of letters, hand-in-hand with learning their sounds. Handwriting serves to link visual processing with motor experience, facilitating subsequent letter recognition skills. The expectation is that by the end of the first trimester (early November) students know all their letters & sounds. Every week, I will link a parent support letter with ideas on how to reinforce what we're learning at school at home.
We will also continue with our drawing unit this week. The kindergarten team started using this program a few years ago, and we found that by teaching students how to draw, their written stories for the entire year were so much better. Often, we ask children to map out their stories first by drawing. If they get stuck in the drawing step, they can't fully express themselves in writing. Studies show that explicitly teaching drawing in conjunction with writing contributes to better literacy skills.
Math
Last week, we started Module 1: Counting and Cardinality. This module includes counting experiences that integrate the four parts of the number core: number sequence, cardinality, one-to-one correspondence, and written number symbols. Students connect sorting a group into parts and decomposing numbers. A "Family Math" letter accompanies each topic in the module, and these will be sent home each time we start a new topic. Here are links to both Topic A and Topic B Family Math letters.
Wednesday Envelopes
This Wednesday, you will receive your child's first "Wednesday Envelope." Since most communications from the school are now online, and most work in the classroom is hands-on, this will often only contain a few items of completed work from the classroom. Please look over the items and work in the envelope to see any areas where your child may need additional support. Every Thursday, please return the empty envelope to school so that we can send their work home each Wednesday in that envelope. There will be a basket on the picnic table on Thursday morning where your children can return their envelopes each week.
Classroom Help Update
The AVHSC has set the dates for the trainings for the wonderful enrichment programs we have at the school. If you'd like to help out with Art Vistas, Clay, Garden Club, or Dad's Club, the training dates can be found here.
Soon, I will also send out a Sign Up Genius for library helpers. Library visits start on Wednesday the 10th. Our library time is every Wednesday, from 9:10 to 9:30. We will have sign-ups for both a check-out person and a story reader. I hope to see many of you in the library! It's a fun way to help out with a very small time commitment. For library check-out: you will first scan in the books that children checked out the previous week. Then you will scan the new books the children select for the week. You will also assist children in finding books that they'd like. For library reader: please bring or select a book from the library ahead of time to read to the students. The book should take about 5 or so minutes to read, leaving the rest of the time for children to select a book to check out, which you will also assist with.
Remember that if you plan on helping at all this year, the Volunteer Code of Conduct must be filled out at least a week in advance of the first time you help. It is best to just fill it out right away so that you are all set for the year, since this only needs to be filled out once per school year.
Thank you also for your continued donations to the C.A.G.E. drive to support our enrichment programs. If you haven't had a chance to donate yet, please consider donating by going to this link: https://altavistahsc.
Upcoming Events
Monday, 9/1: No School: Labor Day
Tuesday, 9/2: No School: Teacher Work Day
Thursday, 9/11: Be Seen & Heard Assembly
Friday, 9/12: Alta Vista Movie Night Under the Stars
