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
