Saturday, October 30, 2010
Week of 10/31
Dear Parents,
We hope you had a happy & safe Halloween, and thank you to all who were involved in our wonderful party on Friday. The kids all had a great time, and it sent them off on a fun Halloween weekend.
Thank you again to the many volunteers who offered to help with our yearbook page. We are all covered there now, too! And we have several parents cutting away on the various costume pieces for our Thanksgiving Feast. When they have had enough cutting, we will pass the shirts/aprons/collars onto another group of parents. Thanks again for all the help.
So that you can plan ahead, we have two big events (back-to-back!) in November. On Monday the 22nd, we have our Thanksgiving Feast. If you can take some time off work to join us, this is a pretty fun and special event. We ask each family to send in a dish for the event-- either a traditional Thanksgiving dish or a dish from your family's cultural background. We always enjoy the wonderful mix of foods that we get. Both morning kindergartens come together for this event. The children from our class will be dressed as Pilgrims, and the children in Mrs. Arrieta's class will be dressed as Native Americans. No need to provide any costumes-- this is what parents are preparing for us right now out of pillow cases and sheets. The event will be at 10:00 and is definitely a great photo-op!
The next day, Tuesday the 23rd, we have Grandparents' Day. This is an event for grades K-2, so there is a general reception held in the cafeteria at 10:30. So that we have time to introduce the grandparents beforehand (and in case they need to go to other classrooms) we will invite the grandparents into our room at 10:00. The kids can briefly introduce their grandparents and tell whose parents they are (mom's, dad's, or both sets) and then the grandparents will go to the reception during our recess time. Then we will reconvene in K2 at 10:50 for a special art project. We hope that all grandparents can join us, but if distance, etc., makes this impossible, the children can also invite another special adult to join in (uncle, aunt, special neighbor, even mom or dad). Also, children are welcome to bring in pictures of grandparents who are too far away to make the trip.
Our letter this week is Bb, and our Alphafriend is Benny Bear. Our sight words this week will be like. In math, we are introducing a new unit on Comparing Numbers: 0-10. Again we will be comparing numbers to identify which numbers are more than each other, less than each other, and equal. We will also be ordering numbers.
We have begun doing a lot of blending exercises during our opening. This is an important pre-reading skill. We say words with the beginning sound separated, for example, b-ath for bath or f-o-x for fox. We ask the children to guess what the word is if they put it back together. This is a great game to play in the car, etc., and really helps them start to learn how to blend isolated sounds into words.
Our sharing this week is Letter of the Week sharing. Please have your child bring in something that starts with Bb, in a bag, with three clues about it.
We will be doing some Fall art projects this week-- Indian corn, squirrels, acorns and cornucopias are all in the plans!
We are looking forward to meeting with each of you beginning next Monday the 8th, for your child's conference. Conferences will be held in the library since the p.m. class will be in session during most conference times. The library/Media Center is located in the building directly behind the kindergarten building. Often, we are in the library office, which is behind the check-out desk. If you are unsure of your conference time, please e-mail us. Thanks!
Finally, please send in the Red Bags tomorrow with your child's "I Love to Read" calendar inside. Remember that if you've misplaced the official calendar, you can always e-mail an approximation of your child's total reading minutes for the month to Manami or Margaret.
This Week's Activities/Helpers:
MONDAY: Centers (Megan & Kristi), Sharing, Library, Red Bags Due w/ I Love to Read Calendars
TUESDAY: Centers (Jamie & Wendy), Sharing
WEDNESDAY: Red Bags & Wednesday Envelopes prepped (Karla/Angie/Derek), Computers (Margaret), Sharing, Red Bags go home
THURSDAY: Centers (Tammi & Matt/Lorraine), Sharing
FRIDAY: Sharing, SPARK P.E. (Tim, Margaret, Megan)
UPCOMING EVENTS:
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
Wednesday, 11/24-Friday, 11/26: Thanksgiving Break
Friday, 12/17: 10:00 am Nutcracker Performance (don't miss this annual kindergarten favorite!)
Monday, 12/20-Friday, 12/31: Winter Break
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Week of 10/24
Dear Parents,
We have a busy week this week with all the regular activities, plus Red Ribbon Week, plus a clay lesson on Wednesday & Halloween celebrations on Friday!
Our letter this week is Tt. The alphafriend is Tiggy Tiger. We have a new high frequency word, my. We will be finishing up our math unit on numbers 6-10. Your children should now be able to count, compare, and write numbers 6-10.
Our sharing this week will be book share. Please have your child bring in a book with a favorite page bookmarked. They should be prepared to tell the title of the book and a bit about what it's about.
Red Ribbon Week is this week. In kindergarten, we do not get into a big discussion about drugs, as that is typically way over their heads. We try to keep the focus on positive choices-- things to do to keep their bodies healthy. We talk about eating right, getting enough sleep, and getting excercise. Sometimes smoking and alcohol do come up, as these are things the children have seen. We will talk about those things if they come up. but mostly we like to keep the focus on "what TO do" rather than "what NOT TO do." There are some theme days that go along with Red Ribbon Week. These are entirely optional. Sometimes the kindergartners do get a kick out of these days, especially if they have older siblings at the school. They are:
Friday is our Halloween Party! Kindergarten children should arrive to school dressed up in their costumes. Remember that if the costume has a weapon with it (pirate sword, Star Wars lightsaber, etc.) to please leave those at home. No gory costumes/fake blood allowed either, although that's not usually a problem in kindergarten :) We will parade around the classrooms at school that have their doors opened starting at 8:30. Then we will return to our classroom for party activities planned by Jen Lipscomb, Edna Eng, Kristi Guardanapo, and Sue Rowatt. Thank you! There is no need to pack a snack on Friday, because in addition to some of the party snacks, we will also be having our pizza party on Friday for turning in 100% of the Consolidated Classroom Payments! Thanks again for turning that money and all the forms in so quickly. We were the only pizza party winners in the primary grades! Finally, if you are returning to the school-wide Halloween parade at 1:15, your children can come into our classroom and get a chair and sit with Mrs. Lawson's afternoon class. Please let us know if you plan on doing that.
Please remember to send in your child's red bag tomorrow in the midst of all the craziness this week! Also, if you can please send in your Walk-a-thon money tomorrow (enclosed in the envelope that went home last Wednesday), I know that the Walk-a-thon committee would appreciate it!
Finally, we were able to order black pillow cases this year for our Thanksgiving Feast. That cuts out the whole dying phase :) The pillow cases have arrived, so we are ready to start cutting them. There are no special skills necessary-- just a willingness to do some cutting at home! If you own zig-zag scissors, we will also need those, but if you don't, I have a pair to borrow. We will need voluneers to cut boy shirts, girl dresses, girl aprons, and boy belts. Please let us know if you can help out.
Activities/Helpers this week:
MONDAY: Centers (Tammy & Megan), Sharing, Library, Red Bags Due w/ Walkathon $$
TUESDAY: Centers (Manami & Jamie), Writing Assessment, Sharing
WEDNESDAY: Red Bags & Wednesday Envelopes prepped (Karla/Angie/Derek), Computers (Matt), Sharing, Clay (Tammi, Manami, Laura, Nicole, Margaret) Red Bags go home
THURSDAY: Centers (Tammi & Arden), Sharing
FRIDAY: Halloween Parade & Party, Sharing
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Monday, 10/25: Round Table Pizza Fundraiser
Friday, 10/29: 8:15 am: Kindergarten Halloween Parade & Party
Friday, 10/29: 1:15 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
Friday, 12/17: 10:00 am Nutcracker Performance (don't miss this annual kindergarten favorite!)
We have a busy week this week with all the regular activities, plus Red Ribbon Week, plus a clay lesson on Wednesday & Halloween celebrations on Friday!
Our letter this week is Tt. The alphafriend is Tiggy Tiger. We have a new high frequency word, my. We will be finishing up our math unit on numbers 6-10. Your children should now be able to count, compare, and write numbers 6-10.
Our sharing this week will be book share. Please have your child bring in a book with a favorite page bookmarked. They should be prepared to tell the title of the book and a bit about what it's about.
Red Ribbon Week is this week. In kindergarten, we do not get into a big discussion about drugs, as that is typically way over their heads. We try to keep the focus on positive choices-- things to do to keep their bodies healthy. We talk about eating right, getting enough sleep, and getting excercise. Sometimes smoking and alcohol do come up, as these are things the children have seen. We will talk about those things if they come up. but mostly we like to keep the focus on "what TO do" rather than "what NOT TO do." There are some theme days that go along with Red Ribbon Week. These are entirely optional. Sometimes the kindergartners do get a kick out of these days, especially if they have older siblings at the school. They are:
- MONDAY: Wear red (Red Ribbon Week)
- TUESDAY: Wear crazy or mismatched socks (Sock it to drugs)
- WEDNESDAY: Wear a baseball cap (Put a cap on drugs)
- THURSDAY: Wear a sports team jersey/shirt (Team up against drugs)
- FRIDAY: Wear some clothes backwards (Turn your back on drugs)
Friday is our Halloween Party! Kindergarten children should arrive to school dressed up in their costumes. Remember that if the costume has a weapon with it (pirate sword, Star Wars lightsaber, etc.) to please leave those at home. No gory costumes/fake blood allowed either, although that's not usually a problem in kindergarten :) We will parade around the classrooms at school that have their doors opened starting at 8:30. Then we will return to our classroom for party activities planned by Jen Lipscomb, Edna Eng, Kristi Guardanapo, and Sue Rowatt. Thank you! There is no need to pack a snack on Friday, because in addition to some of the party snacks, we will also be having our pizza party on Friday for turning in 100% of the Consolidated Classroom Payments! Thanks again for turning that money and all the forms in so quickly. We were the only pizza party winners in the primary grades! Finally, if you are returning to the school-wide Halloween parade at 1:15, your children can come into our classroom and get a chair and sit with Mrs. Lawson's afternoon class. Please let us know if you plan on doing that.
Please remember to send in your child's red bag tomorrow in the midst of all the craziness this week! Also, if you can please send in your Walk-a-thon money tomorrow (enclosed in the envelope that went home last Wednesday), I know that the Walk-a-thon committee would appreciate it!
Finally, we were able to order black pillow cases this year for our Thanksgiving Feast. That cuts out the whole dying phase :) The pillow cases have arrived, so we are ready to start cutting them. There are no special skills necessary-- just a willingness to do some cutting at home! If you own zig-zag scissors, we will also need those, but if you don't, I have a pair to borrow. We will need voluneers to cut boy shirts, girl dresses, girl aprons, and boy belts. Please let us know if you can help out.
Activities/Helpers this week:
MONDAY: Centers (Tammy & Megan), Sharing, Library, Red Bags Due w/ Walkathon $$
TUESDAY: Centers (Manami & Jamie), Writing Assessment, Sharing
WEDNESDAY: Red Bags & Wednesday Envelopes prepped (Karla/Angie/Derek), Computers (Matt), Sharing, Clay (Tammi, Manami, Laura, Nicole, Margaret) Red Bags go home
THURSDAY: Centers (Tammi & Arden), Sharing
FRIDAY: Halloween Parade & Party, Sharing
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Monday, 10/25: Round Table Pizza Fundraiser
Friday, 10/29: 8:15 am: Kindergarten Halloween Parade & Party
Friday, 10/29: 1:15 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
Friday, 12/17: 10:00 am Nutcracker Performance (don't miss this annual kindergarten favorite!)
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Week of 10/17
Dear Parents,
It was GREAT to see so many of you yesterday at the Walk-a-thon! Almost our entire class participated, and it looked like much fun was had by all. Thanks for coming out and supporting the school, and hopefully, it was the beginning of many Walk-a-thons to come for all of you! Tomorrow, send your children with their walk-a-thon necklaces so that we can all celebrate the laps that we walked! And if you didn't have a chance to check out the Book Fair yesterday, it runs through Thursday of this week, before school, at noon, and after the big kids' school (2:45).
This week's letter is Rr. The Alphafriend is Reggie Rooster. We have a new high frequency word, in. Additionally, in the next two weeks, we will have our first kindergarten writing assessment. The scores are not reported at the District level at this time (but will be in the Spring) but they are something that we will be sharing with you at your Parent-Teacher conference in November. We will be looking for things like detailed & colorful pictures, the use of some of our high-frequency words, attempts at spelling using phonetic spelling ("kat" for "cat", etc.), proper use of spacing between words, etc. This is more of a practice test than anything else, so do not worry if your child is not capable of these skills at this time.
We will continue with our math topic on numbers 6-10. We will be counting, comparing, and making numerals from 6-10. We will also be looking at combinations that build 6-10, which is often featured in the homework pages. Remember that we are looking for different combinations each time in these pages (1 and 5, 6 and 0, 2 and 4, etc.)
Also on the homework cover page, please be sure that your children are coloring all things that start with the sound. Check the directions at the bottom of each page, as sometimes they vary. This past week, the children had to finish the pictures that were missing something, as well as draw something new that starts with Mm on the table on the back. Remember to try and have children choose something that's not already on the page, so that they are showing you that they can isolate the sound and think of some things that start with it on their own. Thanks again for all your support with homework & for sending in the Red Bags each Monday. We appreciate it!
We have our first Art Vista lesson this Wednesday. Art Vista is a program paid for by the Alta Vista Home & School Club, thanks to your generous donations to events like the Walk-a-thon. It is a very hands-on art program, where the children will look at copies of paintings by many great artists and discuss an artistic element such as line, shade, perspective, etc. Then they will have a follow-up art project that focuses on the particular element. Thanks to Angie Lu, Tammy Pochop, and Lorraine Meere for being our art docents this year.
The share this week is back to Toy in a Bag. Please have your children bring a toy, hidden in a bag or backpack, with 3 clues about that item attached or enclosed in the bag. The clues are important-- please don't send an item without clues. Thank you!
Thanks to everyone for scheduling your conferences with us so quickly. You should have received a confirmation notice in last week's Wednesday envelope (stapled to a walk-a-thon notice) with your official time. If you did not receive the confirmation, please contact us. Also, if you still need to schedule a conference with Mrs. Sheikh, please do so as soon as possible.
Finally, it is hard to believe that we are already talking about Thanksgiving, but we need to start planning for our Friendship Feast on November 22nd. Our class will be Pilgrims this year, and they will wear these great costumes that we make out of pillow cases. We need volunteers to do some pillow case dying for us, as well as some cutting. We provide the pillow cases and RIT dye, but we will need someone who owns a top-loading washer (front loaders don't work) to volunteer to dye the cases black. It's pretty easy-- you just fill your washer with water, add the black dye, and throw in the pillow cases. And though it sounds scary for your future wash loads, we have been told by previous volunteers that they didn't have any problems :) If you can volunteer for this, or for the cutting of the pillow cases, please let us know.
MONDAY: Centers (Kristi & Tammy), Sharing, Library, Red Bags Due
TUESDAY: Centers (Wendy & Manami), Sharing
WEDNESDAY: Red Bags & Wednesday Envelopes prepped (Karla/Angie/Derek), Computers (Margaret), Sharing, Art Vistas (Angie, Tammy, Lorraine) Red Bags go home
THURSDAY: Centers (Margaret & Matt/Lorraine), Sharing
FRIDAY: Sharing, ZUMBA!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Friday, 10/29: 8:15 am: Kindergarten Halloween Parade & Party
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
Friday, 12/17: 10:00 am Nutcracker Performance (don't miss this annual kindergarten favorite!)
It was GREAT to see so many of you yesterday at the Walk-a-thon! Almost our entire class participated, and it looked like much fun was had by all. Thanks for coming out and supporting the school, and hopefully, it was the beginning of many Walk-a-thons to come for all of you! Tomorrow, send your children with their walk-a-thon necklaces so that we can all celebrate the laps that we walked! And if you didn't have a chance to check out the Book Fair yesterday, it runs through Thursday of this week, before school, at noon, and after the big kids' school (2:45).
This week's letter is Rr. The Alphafriend is Reggie Rooster. We have a new high frequency word, in. Additionally, in the next two weeks, we will have our first kindergarten writing assessment. The scores are not reported at the District level at this time (but will be in the Spring) but they are something that we will be sharing with you at your Parent-Teacher conference in November. We will be looking for things like detailed & colorful pictures, the use of some of our high-frequency words, attempts at spelling using phonetic spelling ("kat" for "cat", etc.), proper use of spacing between words, etc. This is more of a practice test than anything else, so do not worry if your child is not capable of these skills at this time.
We will continue with our math topic on numbers 6-10. We will be counting, comparing, and making numerals from 6-10. We will also be looking at combinations that build 6-10, which is often featured in the homework pages. Remember that we are looking for different combinations each time in these pages (1 and 5, 6 and 0, 2 and 4, etc.)
Also on the homework cover page, please be sure that your children are coloring all things that start with the sound. Check the directions at the bottom of each page, as sometimes they vary. This past week, the children had to finish the pictures that were missing something, as well as draw something new that starts with Mm on the table on the back. Remember to try and have children choose something that's not already on the page, so that they are showing you that they can isolate the sound and think of some things that start with it on their own. Thanks again for all your support with homework & for sending in the Red Bags each Monday. We appreciate it!
We have our first Art Vista lesson this Wednesday. Art Vista is a program paid for by the Alta Vista Home & School Club, thanks to your generous donations to events like the Walk-a-thon. It is a very hands-on art program, where the children will look at copies of paintings by many great artists and discuss an artistic element such as line, shade, perspective, etc. Then they will have a follow-up art project that focuses on the particular element. Thanks to Angie Lu, Tammy Pochop, and Lorraine Meere for being our art docents this year.
The share this week is back to Toy in a Bag. Please have your children bring a toy, hidden in a bag or backpack, with 3 clues about that item attached or enclosed in the bag. The clues are important-- please don't send an item without clues. Thank you!
Thanks to everyone for scheduling your conferences with us so quickly. You should have received a confirmation notice in last week's Wednesday envelope (stapled to a walk-a-thon notice) with your official time. If you did not receive the confirmation, please contact us. Also, if you still need to schedule a conference with Mrs. Sheikh, please do so as soon as possible.
Finally, it is hard to believe that we are already talking about Thanksgiving, but we need to start planning for our Friendship Feast on November 22nd. Our class will be Pilgrims this year, and they will wear these great costumes that we make out of pillow cases. We need volunteers to do some pillow case dying for us, as well as some cutting. We provide the pillow cases and RIT dye, but we will need someone who owns a top-loading washer (front loaders don't work) to volunteer to dye the cases black. It's pretty easy-- you just fill your washer with water, add the black dye, and throw in the pillow cases. And though it sounds scary for your future wash loads, we have been told by previous volunteers that they didn't have any problems :) If you can volunteer for this, or for the cutting of the pillow cases, please let us know.
MONDAY: Centers (Kristi & Tammy), Sharing, Library, Red Bags Due
TUESDAY: Centers (Wendy & Manami), Sharing
WEDNESDAY: Red Bags & Wednesday Envelopes prepped (Karla/Angie/Derek), Computers (Margaret), Sharing, Art Vistas (Angie, Tammy, Lorraine) Red Bags go home
THURSDAY: Centers (Margaret & Matt/Lorraine), Sharing
FRIDAY: Sharing, ZUMBA!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Friday, 10/29: 8:15 am: Kindergarten Halloween Parade & Party
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
Friday, 12/17: 10:00 am Nutcracker Performance (don't miss this annual kindergarten favorite!)
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Week of 10/10
Dear Parents,
Walk-a-thon week is finally here! As you know, this is a very fun family event, and the biggest fundraiser for Alta Vista. We will do our practice laps this week, so when your children check in on Saturday morning, they will already have a foot on their Walk-a-thon lanyard. Please join us for some great exercise, fun, and fundraising!
In class this week, we will be focusing on the letter Mm. We will also have a new sight word, see. We will also begin some Halloween projects. We have a fun book coming up that is about a ghost who changes colors, depending on what he eats. We will have some great discussions about food and colors!
In math, we will start a new math topic tomorrow on numbers 6-10. Please continue reviewing the concept of "more" and "fewer" with your children, as that was difficult for many. Ask how many you would have if you have one more, one fewer, etc.
This week's sharing is Song, Poem, or Nursery Rhyme. We'd like to have your children come up and recite a short song, poem, or rhyme that is familiar. Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill, singing the ABCs, singing Twinkle, Twinkle, etc., are all popular kindergarten choices. Another option is to sing one of the Alphafriend songs. They can sing last week's song, Sammy Seal. This is also a great opportunity for children who speak more than one language to bring in a song or rhyme they know in that language. We always really enjoy to hear other languages for this share.
We had our first Cornerstone lesson last Friday with Wendy Rowatt & Jen Lipscomb. Cornerstone is a social skills development program that helps teach children ways to interact with one another respectfully. Thank you Wendy & Jen for volunteering to read the stories and lead the activities that go with this program.
This week, we will begin assessing your children at center time so that we have up-to-date information to share with you at conference time. We will be working with them individually to check them on things such as letter recognition, letter sounds, rhyming, etc. We look forward to sharing this information with you in early November. This of course means that it is also time to sign up for conferences! We will be sending out our conference sign-up sheet this week. Remember that while Mrs. Sheikh & I discuss your child's progress and do report cards together, you will only be meeting with one of us. On the schedule, we have indicated who you will be conferencing with. When you receive the form via e-mail, please select THREE times that are convenient for you, and we will send out a confirmation with your time as soon as we put together our schedule. The sooner you return the form (either e-mail your time preferences to us, or print out the form and send it back to us) the more likely you will get your first choice for a time! Please note that Mrs. Sheikh and I prefer to do one conference per child. In the case of divorced parents, we prefer that we all come together at the same time to hear the same information so that we are all on the same page-- working together to help and support the child's learning. If this is a huge problem, please let us know, but we have found that this has always worked well in the past.
Red bags, with homework folders inside are due tomorrow. Thanks for being so great about returning those!
MONDAY: Centers (Megan & Kristi), Sharing, Library, Red Bags Due
TUESDAY: Centers (Jamie & Wendy), Sharing
WEDNESDAY: Red Bags & Wednesday Envelopes prepped (Karla/Angie/Derek), Computers (Matt), Sharing, Red Bags go home
THURSDAY: Centers (Arden & Margaret), Sharing
FRIDAY: Sharing, ZUMBA!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Saturday, 10/16: 9:00 am Alta Vista Back Field: Walk-a-thon
Friday, 10/29: 8:15 am: Kindergarten Halloween Parade & Party
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
Friday, 12/17: 10:00 am Nutcracker Performance (don't miss this annual kindergarten favorite!)
Walk-a-thon week is finally here! As you know, this is a very fun family event, and the biggest fundraiser for Alta Vista. We will do our practice laps this week, so when your children check in on Saturday morning, they will already have a foot on their Walk-a-thon lanyard. Please join us for some great exercise, fun, and fundraising!
In class this week, we will be focusing on the letter Mm. We will also have a new sight word, see. We will also begin some Halloween projects. We have a fun book coming up that is about a ghost who changes colors, depending on what he eats. We will have some great discussions about food and colors!
In math, we will start a new math topic tomorrow on numbers 6-10. Please continue reviewing the concept of "more" and "fewer" with your children, as that was difficult for many. Ask how many you would have if you have one more, one fewer, etc.
This week's sharing is Song, Poem, or Nursery Rhyme. We'd like to have your children come up and recite a short song, poem, or rhyme that is familiar. Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill, singing the ABCs, singing Twinkle, Twinkle, etc., are all popular kindergarten choices. Another option is to sing one of the Alphafriend songs. They can sing last week's song, Sammy Seal. This is also a great opportunity for children who speak more than one language to bring in a song or rhyme they know in that language. We always really enjoy to hear other languages for this share.
We had our first Cornerstone lesson last Friday with Wendy Rowatt & Jen Lipscomb. Cornerstone is a social skills development program that helps teach children ways to interact with one another respectfully. Thank you Wendy & Jen for volunteering to read the stories and lead the activities that go with this program.
This week, we will begin assessing your children at center time so that we have up-to-date information to share with you at conference time. We will be working with them individually to check them on things such as letter recognition, letter sounds, rhyming, etc. We look forward to sharing this information with you in early November. This of course means that it is also time to sign up for conferences! We will be sending out our conference sign-up sheet this week. Remember that while Mrs. Sheikh & I discuss your child's progress and do report cards together, you will only be meeting with one of us. On the schedule, we have indicated who you will be conferencing with. When you receive the form via e-mail, please select THREE times that are convenient for you, and we will send out a confirmation with your time as soon as we put together our schedule. The sooner you return the form (either e-mail your time preferences to us, or print out the form and send it back to us) the more likely you will get your first choice for a time! Please note that Mrs. Sheikh and I prefer to do one conference per child. In the case of divorced parents, we prefer that we all come together at the same time to hear the same information so that we are all on the same page-- working together to help and support the child's learning. If this is a huge problem, please let us know, but we have found that this has always worked well in the past.
Red bags, with homework folders inside are due tomorrow. Thanks for being so great about returning those!
MONDAY: Centers (Megan & Kristi), Sharing, Library, Red Bags Due
TUESDAY: Centers (Jamie & Wendy), Sharing
WEDNESDAY: Red Bags & Wednesday Envelopes prepped (Karla/Angie/Derek), Computers (Matt), Sharing, Red Bags go home
THURSDAY: Centers (Arden & Margaret), Sharing
FRIDAY: Sharing, ZUMBA!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Saturday, 10/16: 9:00 am Alta Vista Back Field: Walk-a-thon
Friday, 10/29: 8:15 am: Kindergarten Halloween Parade & Party
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
Friday, 12/17: 10:00 am Nutcracker Performance (don't miss this annual kindergarten favorite!)
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Week of 10/3
Dear Parents,
We have an exciting week this week as we begin our intensive study of each letter of the alphabet, which will not be in alphabetical order. We introduce an "Alphafriend" to help your child remember the sounds of the letter. The children really enjoy the Alphafriends, and singing the songs that accompany each one.
At this point, it is very helpful for the children to have recognition of most letters under their belts, so that they can focus on learning the sounds. If you are noticing that your child does not recognize a number of letters, we highly recommend the DVD called The Letter Factory, which is available for about $10 at Target, etc. It is also available for check-out in the local libraries, although those copies are often scratched. This DVD really helps the children to learn both letter names and letter sounds, and it is truly a great investment. I have used it with my own two children and really seen results.
This week we will introduce the letter Ss. The worksheets that accompany our Language Arts program will all be about the letter Ss (and the stories we are reading)-- we will cover the sound and the handwriting of the letter, and the Alphafriend's name is Sammy Seal. In your child's homework packet this week, you will find a page where they cut out things that begin with the letter Ss, as well as draw something that starts with that letter. If your child is looking for a little more challenge, encourage him/her to draw the picture (or more than one) AND write the word(s) that go along with those pictures. This is entirely optional. Please be prepared at home with a gluestick or tape and some child-safe scissors for this homework, as it will appear in the packet weekly from now on. This will help you to know what letter we are studying in class so that you can reinforce it at home, if necessary.
This week's share is "Letter of the Week" share. Since our letter of the week is Ss, please have your child bring something that starts with Ss. They do like to do the guessing game with this item, so please have it hidden in a bag with three clues written about the item. Because it has to start with the letter Ss, this will also encourage them to think of things that start with the sound.
In addition to a letter of the week, we will also begin introducing a sight word each week. These are words that the children should know instantly, by sight, when the words are shown to them. Many of these words cannot be sounded out. This week's word is I. We will write sentences using the word I and look for the word in things that we are reading. There is a link on our webpage that has the list of sight words so that you can begin practicing with your child. There are 40 words that we will be covering this year. Words that have an asterisk next to them are words that we've introduced in class. We will be assessing the children on these words each trimester for report card information, and they continue using the sight words in first grade, so these are important words to master.
Another thing happening this week is Walk/Bike to School Week. We are encouraging children to walk, bike, ride scooters, etc., to get to school, rather than riding in a car. We realize that some children live too far from the school to walk. What we're asking for you to try in that case is driving, but parking a few blocks away so that your children get in some walking. Obviously, this encourages healthy activity, and it also reduces the congestion around the school. We hope you'll participate, even if only for a few days.
While on the topic of fitness, we also want to remind you that October 16th is coming up quickly! The kick-off assembly for the Alta Vista Walkathon will be this week. Though kindergarten does not attend the assembly, we will be doing practice laps so that the children will already have a "foot" on their Walkathon necklaces to get the fun started. Every few laps at the Walkathon, they add a foot to a necklace chain. When the children come to school on Monday following the Walkathon, they love to wear the necklace to show-off all the laps they completed! We hope you are all planning to come out for the Walkathon-- it is a great community event.
Also starting this month is the "Student in the Spotlight" program. This is a school-wide character building program, where we emphasize a positive characteristic each month such as honesty, respectfulness, etc. Several children from the class will get chosen for a certificate each month. By the end of the year, every child will be rewarded for a positive trait that they have exhibited. So if you see a certificate with "Student in the Spotlight" at the top, be sure to congratulate your child!
Remember your child's Red Bag tomorrow, with the homework folder inside the bag :)
MONDAY: Centers (Tammy & Megan), Sharing, Library, Red Bags Due
TUESDAY: Centers (Manami & Jamie), Sharing
WEDNESDAY: Red Bags & Wednesday Envelopes prepped (Karla/Angie/Derek), Computers (Margaret), Sharing, Red Bags go home
THURSDAY: Centers (Tammi & Matt/Lorraine), Sharing
FRIDAY: Sharing, SPARK P.E. (Megan, Margaret, Tim)
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Wednesday, 10/6: Willow Street Pizza fundraiser
Saturday, 10/16: 9:00 am Alta Vista Back Field: Walk-a-thon
Friday, 10/29: 8:15 am: Kindergarten Halloween Parade & Party
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
Friday, 12/17: 10:00 am Nutcracker Performance (don't miss this annual kindergarten favorite!)
We have an exciting week this week as we begin our intensive study of each letter of the alphabet, which will not be in alphabetical order. We introduce an "Alphafriend" to help your child remember the sounds of the letter. The children really enjoy the Alphafriends, and singing the songs that accompany each one.
At this point, it is very helpful for the children to have recognition of most letters under their belts, so that they can focus on learning the sounds. If you are noticing that your child does not recognize a number of letters, we highly recommend the DVD called The Letter Factory, which is available for about $10 at Target, etc. It is also available for check-out in the local libraries, although those copies are often scratched. This DVD really helps the children to learn both letter names and letter sounds, and it is truly a great investment. I have used it with my own two children and really seen results.
This week we will introduce the letter Ss. The worksheets that accompany our Language Arts program will all be about the letter Ss (and the stories we are reading)-- we will cover the sound and the handwriting of the letter, and the Alphafriend's name is Sammy Seal. In your child's homework packet this week, you will find a page where they cut out things that begin with the letter Ss, as well as draw something that starts with that letter. If your child is looking for a little more challenge, encourage him/her to draw the picture (or more than one) AND write the word(s) that go along with those pictures. This is entirely optional. Please be prepared at home with a gluestick or tape and some child-safe scissors for this homework, as it will appear in the packet weekly from now on. This will help you to know what letter we are studying in class so that you can reinforce it at home, if necessary.
This week's share is "Letter of the Week" share. Since our letter of the week is Ss, please have your child bring something that starts with Ss. They do like to do the guessing game with this item, so please have it hidden in a bag with three clues written about the item. Because it has to start with the letter Ss, this will also encourage them to think of things that start with the sound.
In addition to a letter of the week, we will also begin introducing a sight word each week. These are words that the children should know instantly, by sight, when the words are shown to them. Many of these words cannot be sounded out. This week's word is I. We will write sentences using the word I and look for the word in things that we are reading. There is a link on our webpage that has the list of sight words so that you can begin practicing with your child. There are 40 words that we will be covering this year. Words that have an asterisk next to them are words that we've introduced in class. We will be assessing the children on these words each trimester for report card information, and they continue using the sight words in first grade, so these are important words to master.
Another thing happening this week is Walk/Bike to School Week. We are encouraging children to walk, bike, ride scooters, etc., to get to school, rather than riding in a car. We realize that some children live too far from the school to walk. What we're asking for you to try in that case is driving, but parking a few blocks away so that your children get in some walking. Obviously, this encourages healthy activity, and it also reduces the congestion around the school. We hope you'll participate, even if only for a few days.
While on the topic of fitness, we also want to remind you that October 16th is coming up quickly! The kick-off assembly for the Alta Vista Walkathon will be this week. Though kindergarten does not attend the assembly, we will be doing practice laps so that the children will already have a "foot" on their Walkathon necklaces to get the fun started. Every few laps at the Walkathon, they add a foot to a necklace chain. When the children come to school on Monday following the Walkathon, they love to wear the necklace to show-off all the laps they completed! We hope you are all planning to come out for the Walkathon-- it is a great community event.
Also starting this month is the "Student in the Spotlight" program. This is a school-wide character building program, where we emphasize a positive characteristic each month such as honesty, respectfulness, etc. Several children from the class will get chosen for a certificate each month. By the end of the year, every child will be rewarded for a positive trait that they have exhibited. So if you see a certificate with "Student in the Spotlight" at the top, be sure to congratulate your child!
Remember your child's Red Bag tomorrow, with the homework folder inside the bag :)
MONDAY: Centers (Tammy & Megan), Sharing, Library, Red Bags Due
TUESDAY: Centers (Manami & Jamie), Sharing
WEDNESDAY: Red Bags & Wednesday Envelopes prepped (Karla/Angie/Derek), Computers (Margaret), Sharing, Red Bags go home
THURSDAY: Centers (Tammi & Matt/Lorraine), Sharing
FRIDAY: Sharing, SPARK P.E. (Megan, Margaret, Tim)
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Wednesday, 10/6: Willow Street Pizza fundraiser
Saturday, 10/16: 9:00 am Alta Vista Back Field: Walk-a-thon
Friday, 10/29: 8:15 am: Kindergarten Halloween Parade & Party
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
Friday, 12/17: 10:00 am Nutcracker Performance (don't miss this annual kindergarten favorite!)