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!)
