Dear Parents,
It's Walk-a-thon week!! We will be doing our practice laps this week
so that the kids have an idea of the lap length and what to expect. On
Friday, the kids will get a peek at their special necklace that they
will get at check-in. Every 5 laps, the kids
get a different plastic foot on the necklace. The kindergartners get a
special foot already on their necklace for the practice laps that
they've done. These plastic feet are very motivating for the children!
You will see them walk many more laps than you
ever thought they could walk, all for a plastic foot! :) There are
also treats every few laps and plenty of other fun things on campus like
face painting and a crazy hair booth. The walk-a-thon runs from 9:00
to 3:00, but you can arrive and leave any time
that fits with your schedule-- don't worry about needing to check in at
the start. You can check in any time during the day, and don't forget
that if you are coming from participating in a soccer game, etc., to
mention that at check-in. Even if you can only
come for an hour or so, please join in for a fun day that supports all
of the enrichment programs at our school!
Our next big event is the school book fair starting this Thursday.
You may check it out in the morning, at lunch, or after school with your
children. There are many great offerings, and a percentage of every
dollar you spend there will go toward our school
library. So please check it out!
Language Arts
This week's letter is Rr. The Alphafriend is Reggie Rooster. We have a new high frequency word,
in. We have started incorporating these words in our writing and
encouraging the children to begin writing a short sentence. For
example, now that we know
I and see, we wrote a sentence that started with "I
see...." As kindergarten progresses, the expectation is that the
children will write at least one sentence on their own. We will be
expecting 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. It is very fun to watch their writing progress at this
level.
Math
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 (1 and 5, 6 and 0, 2 and 4,
etc.) The idea behind many of the coloring pages you'll
see coming home (they are often red & yellow) is to help the
children visualize number combinations that make the bigger number. We
are also working on the concept of counting on. We use a "five frame"
and we know that if it is full, we just count on from
5 (5, 6, 7, 8...). This is a hard concept for kindergartners, but it is an important one to know.
Homework
On the homework letter page this week & next, 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. If
there is a box to draw a picture that starts
with the letter, 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 Blue Bags each Monday. I appreciate
it!
Sharing
The share this week is song, poem, or nursery rhyme. Children should
be prepared to recite a familiar song, poem or nursery rhyme that they
know. A good choice for this one if your child is "stuck" is to sing a
color song or an Alphafriend song. This
is also a great time for children who know another language to share a
song or nursery rhyme in that language. We love hearing other languages
in K2!
Upcoming
Thanks to everyone for scheduling your conferences with me so
quickly. If you have not yet scheduled a conference, please do so as soon as possible.
We are still in need of cardboard egg cartons. We have a project
coming up this week where we use sections of egg cartons for eyes and a
nose. If you have an empty cardboard egg carton at home that you can
send in, I'd appreciate it.
Just an update on the Halloween parade-- the school-wide parade is
now at 8:30. Kindergarten will not be participating in that. Instead,
we will take advantage of our Wacky Wednesday and have an
all-kindergarten parade at 10:30 on the kindergarten yard.
Kindergartners should come to class dressed in their costumes.
Please send in your child's blue bag tomorrow, homework folder inside :)
Upcoming Events:
10/20: Walk-a-thon
10/31: October's Wacky Wednesday
10/31: Halloween Parade & Celebration, 10:30
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)
