Week of 9/30

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. Instead, it is in the order of frequency of these sounds in words.  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. I have noticed in the past several weeks while we were doing our daily overview of the alphabet that a few children had difficulty recognizing the letters out of sequence.  They also had trouble completing the activities at the bottom of those pages, whether it was matching upper case letters with lower case letters, or figuring out which letter came next in a sequence of letters.  If you are noticing that your child has had difficulty with these activities, I highly recommend the DVD called The Letter Factory, which is available for about $10 at Target, and I have also seen it recently at Costco.  This DVD really helps the children to learn both letter names and letter sounds, and it is truly a great investment. I used it with my own two children and really saw 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 pages like this will appear in the packet quite often 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 my 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 I've introduced in class. I 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.  Although kindergarten is not formally participating in this activity, we are encouraging children to walk, bike, ride scooters, etc., to get to school, rather than riding in a car.  Obviously, this encourages healthy activity, and it also reduces the congestion around the school. I hope you'll try coming to school by "foot power" even if only for a few days.

While on the topic of fitness, I also want to remind you that the Walkathon is coming up quickly on October 20th! Kindergarten will be doing practice laps so that the children will already have a tally mark on their Walkathon t-shirts to get the fun started. The children will also be collecting plastic feet on a necklace on the day of the event.  Every few laps at the Walkathon, they add a foot to the 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! There is a kick-off assembly this week to get the kids excited about the walkathon, but kindergarten students usually don't attend assemblies.  However, I wanted to give you the link to the walkathon's website, where you can register your child and easily solicit donations on his/her behalf :)  It is: http://www.altavistawalkathon.org  The first 100 registrants get a coupon for a free bundtlet from "Nothing Bundt Cakes" in Los Gatos.  I hope you are all planning to come out for the Walkathon-- it is a great community event & your child won't want to miss it.

Finally, last week,  Miss Miller hosted the first Cougar Gold Card lunch.  When children are "caught being good," I give them Cougar Gold Cards.  At the end of each month, one child's name is drawn from each classroom to come to a pizza lunch with the principal.  Obviously, only 10 children will get to go to this lunch, but I keep telling the kids that the more Cougar Gold Cards they have, the better their chances :) 

On a final note, if anyone thinks they may be going to IKEA in the next month, please let me know.  We purchase the pillow cases that we use for the Thanksgiving Feast costumes there at a very reasonable price.  If you are going, please e-mail me and I will give you the details on what we need, and of course, you will be fully reimbursed for the purchase.

Remember your child's Blue Bag tomorrow, with the homework folder inside the bag :)

Upcoming Events:
10/1-10/5:  Walk to School Week
10/12: No School, Staff Development Day
10/20: Walk-a-thon  
10/31: October's Wacky Wednesday  
10/31: Halloween Parade & Celebration, 10:30 a.m.
11/6-11/16: Parent-Teacher Conferences 
11/12: No School, Veteran's Day 
11/19: Kindergarten Friendship Feast @ 10:15 (a.m. class) and 1:30 (p.m. class) 
11/20: Grandparents' Day @ 10:30 (a.m. class) and 11:30 (p.m. class)
11/28: November's Wacky Wednesday  
12/21: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class) 

Week of 9/23

Dear Parents,

Happy Fall!  In our first days of Fall, we continue with our FOSS science unit on trees.  We are still studying the leaves on trees.  Last week, we collected leaves around campus, along with the leaves that the children brought in from home.  This week, we are doing leaf rubbings on Thursday.  If you have any large or interesting leaves in your yard at home, we'd love to use those for leaf rubbings. Finally, we will be talking about things that come from trees this week.  If you have a fruit or nut-bearing tree,  it would be great if your child can bring in an apple, walnut, lemon, etc. from a tree that you may have.  Please send those items in tomorrow or Tuesday.  Thank you!

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 jump 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 boo 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.

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.

We have our first Wacky Wednesday this week on the 26th.  The p.m. class runs from 10:00 to 1:20.  The p.m. class & a.m. class will do a joint activity and have some fun together during the overlap!

Remember that Friday is Picture Day.  At this time, I have not seen a picture order envelope.  I am guessing it may go home in this week's Wednesday envelope.  Look for it there.

Please send in your child's Blue 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!

Please note below: we have set the dates for the Friendship Feast & the Nutcracker performance-- mark you calendars-- you won't want to miss out :)

Upcoming Events:
9/26: First Wacky Wednesday (10:00-1:20)
9/28: Picture Day
10/12: No School, Staff Development Day
10/20: Walk-a-thon  
10/31: October's Wacky Wednesday  
10/31: Halloween Parade & Celebration 
11/6-11/16: Parent-Teacher Conferences 
11/12: No School, Veteran's Day 
11/19: Kindergarten Friendship Feast @ 10:15 (a.m. class) and 1:30 (p.m. class) 
11/20: Grandparents' Day @ 10:30 (a.m. class) and 11:30 (p.m. class)
11/28: November's Wacky Wednesday  
12/21: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class)

Week of 9/16

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. I 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 Blue Bag on Monday, with the homework folder inside.  No need to pull the homework folder out and turn it in separately-- I go through all the bags and pull out the homework.  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, I'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. I am 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" a couple of years ago, and found that it really improved sentence writing.

We began our science unit on Trees & Leaves last week, and the children are really enjoying 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 a leaf from home in a baggie on Monday.  It can be in the blue bag if that's easier.

Our next school-wide event is this Thursday, the 20th-- Family Science Night.   Participation is totally optional.  It starts at 6:15 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! 

Upcoming Events:
9/20:  Family Science Night @ 6:15 in Cafeteria
9/26:  First Wacky Wednesday
9/28:  School Picture Day
10/12:  No School: Staff Development Day
10/20:  Alta Vista Walkathon
10/31:  Halloween Party & Parade
10/31:  October's Wacky Wednesday

Week of 9/9

Dear Parents,

We've made it to our big week in kindergarten, where we start sharing, centers, and homework!

Just a reminder that homework goes home in the Blue Bag on Wednesday and is due back on Monday.    The Blue Bag will have a book inside that we'd like you to read a few times.  There is also a homework folder.  On the right side of the folder is the homework packet for the week.  On the left side of the folder are two laminated reference sheets, that stay in the folder all year.  One sheet explains the Blue Bag program, and has a letter formation guide from Handwriting without Tears on the back.  The other sheet has discussion question ideas for when you finish reading the book with your child.  Please keep in mind that the book in the blue bag is not a book that we expect your kindergartner to read alone.  These are to be read to your children.  Also, the books in the program are of different genres and themes.  The idea is to expose your children to different types of literature.  If the book is really not a favorite of your child's, just read it once and move onto other books that your child prefers.  Please try to keep the blue bags in a place where the dog won't eat it, food won't be spilled on it, etc.  We'd like to keep them nice for the future years of kindergartners!

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 Boy Who Cried Wolf, The Tortoise and The Hare, The Lion and the Mouse, and Jack and the Beanstalk, 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.   We enjoyed many activities with last week's science unit on the Five Senses.  The children tasted sour, sweet, salty, and bitter foods and they felt items in a "mystery box."  They also smelled some mystery smells in canisters and tried to guess what they were.  We had a great time!

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 Toy 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. 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 click on the link below for the classroom website, and look on the right-hand side at the "Sharing Info" link.  Sharing topics each week are posted under the "calendar" link.

Upcoming Events:
9/20:  Family Science Night
9/26:  First Wacky Wednesday
9/28:  School Picture Day
10/12:  No School: Staff Development Day
10/20:  Alta Vista Walkathon
10/31:  Halloween Party & Parade
10/31:  October's Wacky Wednesday

Week of 9/2

Dear Parents,

This week, we will continue with our overview of the alphabet. We will be covering letters Gg-Jj. We will also continue reading familiar fairy tales as well as some Aesop's Fables.  We will begin studying the five senses. I have a fun book with some hands-on activities that I do with the children, ending with doing a taste test of different apples for "taste". We will continue on our math topic on sorting, and we will also be working on an "All About Me" book.

In the next couple of weeks, we will be working on 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.

We have also been learning how to spell color words through singing some catchy tunes. We are introducing a new song each week. You may have enjoyed hearing your children sing the "red" song last week.

Of course, next week is a big week for us. We will begin sharing on the 10th. 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. Please click on the links (a.m. or p.m.) to the right to find more information about the share topics, as well as your child's share day.

Homework will also begin next week on the 12th.  It will come home in a blue bag.  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 10th!

Upcoming Events:
9/3:  No School: Labor Day
9/7:  Alta Vista Movie Night
9/20:  Family Science Night
9/26:  First Wacky Wednesday
9/28:  School Picture Day
10/20:  Alta Vista Walkathon