Dear Parents,
We are wrapping up our overview of the alphabet this week, and will begin our weekly study of the letters next week with the letter Ss. The letters do not go in alphabetical order. To help your children in learning the sounds of each letter, we will have an "Alphafriend" that goes along with each letter. Their names are all alliterative, like Sammy Seal, Larry Lion, Mimi Mouse, etc. The children will learn a song for each Alphafriend. They really enjoy these songs and have fun with them. Look forward to hearing your children singing these songs around the house!
We have begun focusing on beginning sounds in our "Daily Phonemic Awareness." We have fun activities where we take a step forward if the two words start with the same sound, etc. You can reinforce this concept at home with similar activities. Riding in the car is a great time to play games like these. Children can respond with a silly word if the two words that you say to them start with the same sound: "Say ga-ga if bunny & boat start the same," etc. It's a fun way to reinforce what's going on at school.
We will start a new math unit this week, "More & Fewer." This is a more challenging topic, where we really delve into the value of numbers and understand their value in relation to other numbers.
We are wrapping up our FOSS Science unit on trees & leaves this week. We will be looking at edible things that come from trees this week, starting tomorrow. If you have a fruit or nut-bearing tree at your house and your child would like to bring an apple, walnut, etc., that would be very helpful. We will show those things in our discussion. We will be providing walnuts & peanuts for them to look at, crack open, and taste. We have no nut allergies listed in our class or the afternoon class, but please let me know if you do not want your child to participate.
This week's share is homemade item. This does not need to be hidden in a bag. The children just bring an item that they made (or mostly made) at home or at preschool or elsewhere. They should be able to tell a bit about how they made it.
Please send in your child's Red Bag tomorrow, with the homework folder inside the bag. I go through the bags and pull out the homework, so there is no need for it to be separate. Thanks for the great job with that last week!
Remember that Friday is Picture Day. Send in your picture order NO LATER THAN Friday morning, because it is very difficult to order afterward. If you are not happy with the pictures when they come in, your child can do a retake. We are also having our first SPARK P.E. lesson this Friday. It may be a bit tricky with the fancy clothes, but we will try to make it work! We are very fortunate that Mrs. Sheikh is a certified Zumba (a fun dance for fitness) instructor. She will be leading Zumba lessons on Fridays with our class, and on the days she doesn't do Zumba, we will have SPARK P.E. Please send your children in sneakers on Fridays.
On a final note, Silly Bandz have become a bit of an issue in our classroom. We have a very social class, and we are finding that they love to talk among themselves constantly on the rug :) One topic of conversation consistently seems to be about the Silly Bandz that everyone is wearing. Kindergartners have a hard time resisting playing with them, too. Please talk to your children about the Silly Bandz and let them know that they are to stay on their wrists. If your child is missing Silly Bandz at the end of the day, it is because we had to take them, as that is our policy if they are too much of a distraction. Also, starting this week, we are going to be assigning spots for everyone on the rug to cut down on all of the socializing.
Here's who is helping this week and other schedule items:
MONDAY: Centers (Kristi & Tammy), Sharing, Library, Red Bags Due
TUESDAY: Centers (Wendy & Manami), Sharing
WEDNESDAY: Red Bags & Wednesday Envelopes prepped (Karla/Angie/Derek), Computers (Matt), Sharing, Red Bags go home
THURSDAY: Centers (Margaret & Arden), Sharing
FRIDAY: Sharing, SPARK P.E. (Megan, Margaret, Tim)
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Friday, 10/1: Picture Day
Wednesday, 10/6: Willow Street Pizza fundraiser
Saturday, 10/16: 9:00 am Alta Vista Back Field: Walk-a-thon
Friday, 10/29: 1:00 pm: School-wide Halloween Parade (come back and join us if you'd like!)
Monday, 11/8: Parent-Teacher Conferences begin
Thursday, 11/11: No School: Veteran's Day
Friday, 11/12: No School: Staff Development Day
Monday, 11/22: Thanksgiving Friendship Feast
Tuesday, 11/23: Grandparent's Day, grades K-2
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Week of 9/19
Dear Parents,
We had a great first week of centers & sharing, and hopefully homework is going well, too! Thanks so much to all our center helpers. We appreciate your diligence in coming on time, working with the children, and finding substitutes when you are unable to come. All went very well last week!
Remember to send in your child's Red Bag on Monday, with the homework folder inside. You will receive a new book and some new homework again on Wednesday.
This week's sharing is book share. Remember, if you ever forget what the share topic is (or I forget to mention it), it is marked on the calendar on our web page. For book share, we'd like the children to come prepared with a favorite page bookmarked, and to also know the title of the book and a general idea of what it's about. No clues necessary on this one!
We will continue with our math topic on numbers 1-5. We are especially reinforcing the formation of numbers in handwriting. Some of these numbers are quite tricky to make, so watch that your child is starting at the top and going in the right direction.
We will also continue with our overview of the alphabet, plus working on rhyming. Letters Pp through Tt will be covered this week.
We began introducing some of our line strokes last week using Handwriting without Tears, and as mentioned, we also worked individually with each student on his/her name writing. This week, we will begin another component of the Handwriting program called "Sentence School." In sentence school, we will all copy a sentence from the easel and work on handwriting and word spacing, while also reinforcing vocabulary and sight words. We started using "Sentence School" last year, and found that it really improved sentence writing.
We began our science unit on Trees & Leaves last week, and the children really enjoyed it. We introduced important vocabulary such as roots, leaves, branches, and trunk. We talked about evergreens and deciduous trees. This week we will begin looking more closely at leaves. Please send in about 5 or 6 leaves tomorrow in a plastic baggie in your child's red bag.
It was great to see so many of you at the Back-to-School Movie Night! Our next school event is this Thursday, the 23rd-- Family Science Night. It starts at 6:30 p.m. in the cafeteria. This is a fun night that is sponsored by the Children's Discovery Museum. The children have an opportunity to participate in some great hands-on projects with their parents. Come out and enjoy the fun & learning!
I have also placed a list at the bottom of this e-mail with other important upcoming dates. Please mark your calendars accordingly-- you won't want to miss many of these events :) Please double-check with our website calendar if you forget to mark an event.
Here's a schedule of the events & helpers this week:
MONDAY: Homework/Red Bags due, Library, Centers (Megan & Kristi), Sharing
TUESDAY: Centers (Jamie & Wendy), Sharing
WEDNESDAY: Red Bags & Envelopes (Angie & Karla), Computers (Margaret), Sharing, Red Bags go home.
THURSDAY: Centers (Tammi & Matt/Lorraine), Sharing
FRIDAY: P.E. (please wear sneakers), Sharing
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Thursday, 9/23: 6:30pm Alta Vista Cafeteria, Family Science Night
Saturday, 10/16: 9:00 am Alta Vista Back Field: Walk-a-thon
Friday, 10/29: 1:00 pm: School-wide Halloween Parade (come back and join us if you'd like!)
Monday, 11/8: Parent-Teacher Conferences begin
Thursday, 11/11: No School: Veteran's Day
Friday, 11/12: No School: Staff Development Day
Monday, 11/22: Thanksgiving Friendship Feast
Tuesday, 11/23: Grandparent's Day, grades K-2
We had a great first week of centers & sharing, and hopefully homework is going well, too! Thanks so much to all our center helpers. We appreciate your diligence in coming on time, working with the children, and finding substitutes when you are unable to come. All went very well last week!
Remember to send in your child's Red Bag on Monday, with the homework folder inside. You will receive a new book and some new homework again on Wednesday.
This week's sharing is book share. Remember, if you ever forget what the share topic is (or I forget to mention it), it is marked on the calendar on our web page. For book share, we'd like the children to come prepared with a favorite page bookmarked, and to also know the title of the book and a general idea of what it's about. No clues necessary on this one!
We will continue with our math topic on numbers 1-5. We are especially reinforcing the formation of numbers in handwriting. Some of these numbers are quite tricky to make, so watch that your child is starting at the top and going in the right direction.
We will also continue with our overview of the alphabet, plus working on rhyming. Letters Pp through Tt will be covered this week.
We began introducing some of our line strokes last week using Handwriting without Tears, and as mentioned, we also worked individually with each student on his/her name writing. This week, we will begin another component of the Handwriting program called "Sentence School." In sentence school, we will all copy a sentence from the easel and work on handwriting and word spacing, while also reinforcing vocabulary and sight words. We started using "Sentence School" last year, and found that it really improved sentence writing.
We began our science unit on Trees & Leaves last week, and the children really enjoyed it. We introduced important vocabulary such as roots, leaves, branches, and trunk. We talked about evergreens and deciduous trees. This week we will begin looking more closely at leaves. Please send in about 5 or 6 leaves tomorrow in a plastic baggie in your child's red bag.
It was great to see so many of you at the Back-to-School Movie Night! Our next school event is this Thursday, the 23rd-- Family Science Night. It starts at 6:30 p.m. in the cafeteria. This is a fun night that is sponsored by the Children's Discovery Museum. The children have an opportunity to participate in some great hands-on projects with their parents. Come out and enjoy the fun & learning!
I have also placed a list at the bottom of this e-mail with other important upcoming dates. Please mark your calendars accordingly-- you won't want to miss many of these events :) Please double-check with our website calendar if you forget to mark an event.
Here's a schedule of the events & helpers this week:
MONDAY: Homework/Red Bags due, Library, Centers (Megan & Kristi), Sharing
TUESDAY: Centers (Jamie & Wendy), Sharing
WEDNESDAY: Red Bags & Envelopes (Angie & Karla), Computers (Margaret), Sharing, Red Bags go home.
THURSDAY: Centers (Tammi & Matt/Lorraine), Sharing
FRIDAY: P.E. (please wear sneakers), Sharing
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Thursday, 9/23: 6:30pm Alta Vista Cafeteria, Family Science Night
Saturday, 10/16: 9:00 am Alta Vista Back Field: Walk-a-thon
Friday, 10/29: 1:00 pm: School-wide Halloween Parade (come back and join us if you'd like!)
Monday, 11/8: Parent-Teacher Conferences begin
Thursday, 11/11: No School: Veteran's Day
Friday, 11/12: No School: Staff Development Day
Monday, 11/22: Thanksgiving Friendship Feast
Tuesday, 11/23: Grandparent's Day, grades K-2
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Week of 9/12
Dear Parents,
We've made it to our "big week" in kindergarten, where we start sharing, centers, library, computers, and homework! We also have our first Wacky Wednesday on the 15th. These do not affect the morning class time-wise, but your children will get to share the room with our friends from the afternoon class for about an hour and a half. We are in and out of the room for much of that time, as we have computers & recess, but it is fun for the kids to meet up with the children that they share the room with.
In language arts, we continue our overview of the alphabet and our readings of familiar tales and fables. In the past few weeks, we've covered The Gingerbread Man, The Three Pigs, The Three Bears, Chicken Little, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Tortoise and The Hare, The Lion and the Mouse, among others. The children have had fun listening to retellings of these favorite stories.
In math, we will start a new topic: Numbers 1-5. We will be looking at the value of these numbers, as well as how to write them correctly. Math is one of the subjects we cover in centers, so though the paperwork is the same, the hand-on activities will be different, depending on the ability of the group.
In science, we will begin our unit on Trees & Leaves. This is a fun hand-on science unit through our FOSS science program. We will be looking at trees and learning some names of different types of trees. We will be learning about deciduous trees vs. evergreens.
Our art this week is centered around apples. We have a few fun apple art projects, and we'll be using paint! Parent helpers and students beware-- don't wear clothes that you are overly concerned about keeping neat this week. :)
Our sharing topic this week is Share in a Bag. Just a reminder again that your child should bring one item, hidden in a bag or backpack, with clues attached. The clues are very important and are part of the preparation for this oral language activity. So please work with your child to come up with three clues that will help the other children guess what is in the bag. If you are not sure of your child's sharing day, please check the class website or e-mail us.
Mrs. Sheikh has extended the deadline on the first book order of the year on Scholastic. Please go to our class website and follow the link: "Scholastic Books" if you are interested in ordering.
If you are participating in the Great American fundraiser, all orders are due on Tuesday the 14th.
Here is how our "day by day" rough schedule looks this week-- helpers are in parentheses:
MONDAY: Our first visit to the school library (we don't check out books), Centers (Tammy & Megan)
TUESDAY: Centers (Manami & Jamie), Sharing
WEDNESDAY: Computers (Matt), Sharing, Homework/Red Bags go home for the 1st time
THURSDAY: Centers (Margaret & Arden), Sharing
FRIDAY: Spiral Review of stories & letters, Sharing
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Tuesday, September 14th: Great American Fundraiser Ends
Friday, September 17th: Back-to-School Picnic & Movie Night
Saturday, October 16th: Walkathon 9:00-3:00
We've made it to our "big week" in kindergarten, where we start sharing, centers, library, computers, and homework! We also have our first Wacky Wednesday on the 15th. These do not affect the morning class time-wise, but your children will get to share the room with our friends from the afternoon class for about an hour and a half. We are in and out of the room for much of that time, as we have computers & recess, but it is fun for the kids to meet up with the children that they share the room with.
In language arts, we continue our overview of the alphabet and our readings of familiar tales and fables. In the past few weeks, we've covered The Gingerbread Man, The Three Pigs, The Three Bears, Chicken Little, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Tortoise and The Hare, The Lion and the Mouse, among others. The children have had fun listening to retellings of these favorite stories.
In math, we will start a new topic: Numbers 1-5. We will be looking at the value of these numbers, as well as how to write them correctly. Math is one of the subjects we cover in centers, so though the paperwork is the same, the hand-on activities will be different, depending on the ability of the group.
In science, we will begin our unit on Trees & Leaves. This is a fun hand-on science unit through our FOSS science program. We will be looking at trees and learning some names of different types of trees. We will be learning about deciduous trees vs. evergreens.
Our art this week is centered around apples. We have a few fun apple art projects, and we'll be using paint! Parent helpers and students beware-- don't wear clothes that you are overly concerned about keeping neat this week. :)
Our sharing topic this week is Share in a Bag. Just a reminder again that your child should bring one item, hidden in a bag or backpack, with clues attached. The clues are very important and are part of the preparation for this oral language activity. So please work with your child to come up with three clues that will help the other children guess what is in the bag. If you are not sure of your child's sharing day, please check the class website or e-mail us.
Mrs. Sheikh has extended the deadline on the first book order of the year on Scholastic. Please go to our class website and follow the link: "Scholastic Books" if you are interested in ordering.
If you are participating in the Great American fundraiser, all orders are due on Tuesday the 14th.
Here is how our "day by day" rough schedule looks this week-- helpers are in parentheses:
MONDAY: Our first visit to the school library (we don't check out books), Centers (Tammy & Megan)
TUESDAY: Centers (Manami & Jamie), Sharing
WEDNESDAY: Computers (Matt), Sharing, Homework/Red Bags go home for the 1st time
THURSDAY: Centers (Margaret & Arden), Sharing
FRIDAY: Spiral Review of stories & letters, Sharing
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Tuesday, September 14th: Great American Fundraiser Ends
Friday, September 17th: Back-to-School Picnic & Movie Night
Saturday, October 16th: Walkathon 9:00-3:00
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Week of 9/5
Dear Parents,
We hope you all enjoyed a nice 4 (or 3) day weekend!
This week, we will continue with our overview of the alphabet. We will be covering letters Gg-Jj. We will also be working on the five senses. We have a fun book with some hands-on activities that we do with the children. We will continue on our math topic on sorting, and we will also be working on number writing in a book called, "My Beary Good Book of Numbers." We will also begin our first Social Studies unit on being a Good Citizen. This is basically an overview of rules in the classroom and rules in our community. Some newsprint "booklets" accompany the Social Studies program.
You will also probably catch your children singing some color songs at home. We introduced these songs last week with the color "red," and these catchy tunes help them learn how to spell their color words. Ask your children to sing the red song for you!
Of course, next week is a big week for us. We will begin sharing on the 13th. Our first share topic is "toy in a bag." The topic lasts for the whole week, (each week is a different topic) but your child's share day never changes. The share days are:
Homework will also begin next week on the 15th. Finally, centers will begin next week on Monday. I am working on the helper schedule and will have it out this week. If you signed up to help with centers on Monday, be prepared to possibly come in on the 13th! It looks like we have enough volunteers that we will be doing a rotation of helpers (meaning you won't have to come in weekly). Thank you again for volunteering in so many different areas. I believe we have every activity covered!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Tuesday, September 14th: Great American Fundraiser Ends
Friday, September 17th: Back-to-School Picnic & Movie Night
Saturday, October 16th: Walkathon 9:00-3:00
We hope you all enjoyed a nice 4 (or 3) day weekend!
This week, we will continue with our overview of the alphabet. We will be covering letters Gg-Jj. We will also be working on the five senses. We have a fun book with some hands-on activities that we do with the children. We will continue on our math topic on sorting, and we will also be working on number writing in a book called, "My Beary Good Book of Numbers." We will also begin our first Social Studies unit on being a Good Citizen. This is basically an overview of rules in the classroom and rules in our community. Some newsprint "booklets" accompany the Social Studies program.
You will also probably catch your children singing some color songs at home. We introduced these songs last week with the color "red," and these catchy tunes help them learn how to spell their color words. Ask your children to sing the red song for you!
Of course, next week is a big week for us. We will begin sharing on the 13th. Our first share topic is "toy in a bag." The topic lasts for the whole week, (each week is a different topic) but your child's share day never changes. The share days are:
- Monday: Abby, Andrew, Ava, Avery
- Tuesday: Cami, Claire, Damian, Dylan, Emily
- Wednesday: Emma, Hannah, Hunter, Hinako, Isabella
- Thursday: Jackson, Jared, Madeline, Miles
- Friday: Natalie, Patrick, Railey, Sean, Will
Homework will also begin next week on the 15th. Finally, centers will begin next week on Monday. I am working on the helper schedule and will have it out this week. If you signed up to help with centers on Monday, be prepared to possibly come in on the 13th! It looks like we have enough volunteers that we will be doing a rotation of helpers (meaning you won't have to come in weekly). Thank you again for volunteering in so many different areas. I believe we have every activity covered!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Tuesday, September 14th: Great American Fundraiser Ends
Friday, September 17th: Back-to-School Picnic & Movie Night
Saturday, October 16th: Walkathon 9:00-3:00