Dear Parents,
The main "business" of this week is all things Nutcracker! We will be practicing daily this week, so I am canceling centers. We do not have a new letter or any new sight words. Therefore, there will also be no homework/red bags this Wednesday. Enjoy a stress-free week to focus on your holiday preparations!
We will continue our topic on addition this week and on into the first week of 2015. This is definitely a concept that needs additional reinforcement at home as well. Get out those iPads over the break, or go to a math reinforcement website to work on both addition and subtraction (coming in January) facts.
This week's share is book share. Please have your child bring a book they enjoy. They should be prepared to tell the title of the book, a bit about what it's about, and then show a favorite page.
We have a Wacky Wednesday this week for the p.m. class. At the end of class that day, at 1:25, we will be having a costume-making party in K2. We are asking a few parents from each class to come in and help us make the paper costume pieces for the Nutcracker. We have patterns for everything, and it shouldn't take too long. Kids are welcome to play in the room while we work. Thanks to those who have volunteered to come in!
We have a photographer, (another one would be perfect), but we will also need just a few parents to help us with the theater make-up and costuming on the day of the performance. Please let us know if you can help with this.
A reminder about clothing for the Nutcracker: please remember to dress your children in the clothes suggested in the letter sent home last Wednesday. Children should come to school dressed in these items on Friday. Girls can wear something over the top of their leotards when they arrive and change into their ballet shoes for the performance. As a reminder, here is the list:
MARIE: Bathrobe/pajamas & slippers
SOLDIERS/RUSSIAN DANCERS: White Shirt & Dark Pants w/ dark shoes
MOUSE KING/MICE: Dark Shirt & Dark Pants & dark shoes
SUGAR PLUM, RIBBON CANDY, FLOWERS: Light colored leotard/light colored tights/ballet slippers or light colored shoes-- leotards with tutus attached are fine & encouraged for Sugar Plum Fairies & Flowers, especially. Ribbon tutu provided for Ribbon Candies.
ARABIAN: Light colored fitted shirt w/ leggings OR leotard (we provide the Harem pants)
CHINESE DANCERS: Shirt doesn't matter so much (will be wearing jacket we provide) dark pants.
Please borrow whatever you need to borrow-- we don't intend for anyone to have to buy anything. I have 2-3 leotards and a few pairs of ballet slippers in the classroom that used to belong to my daughter that are also available-- let me know if you need to borrow.
Please arrive promptly in the cafeteria for the Nutcracker, as we intend to start the show right on time. Also, please do not try to come early and save seats. We will be keeping the doors locked until about 15 minutes before the performance.We want everyone to enjoy the performance, so please refrain from standing and blocking the aisles as much as possible. Also remember that school-aged siblings are not to be pulled out of class to watch the performance. Thank you!
Remember to bring your blue bags tomorrow. Starting in January, a journal will be added to the homework packet so that your children can write a response to the book in the bag each week. No blue bags this Wednesday, but there will be Wednesday envelopes. Please return those on Thursday so that they don't get lost over the long holiday.
Happy Holidays!
Upcoming Events:
12/17: December's Wacky Wednesday/Nutcracker "Hat Party" (parents come in to help make costume pieces)
12/19: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class)
12/22-1/4/15: Winter Break
1/15: Incoming Kindergarten Parent Info Night @ 6:00 pm
1/19: Martin Luther King Holiday: No School
1/28: January's Wacky Wednesday
2/16-2/20: President's Week
2/25: February's Wacky Wednesday
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Week of 12/7
Dear Parents,
I will be letting your children know about their Nutcracker parts this week! You will be receiving a notice regarding your child's part, and what s/he should wear on the 19th in this week's Wednesday envelope. Please let me know if there are any problems with gathering up the various clothes needed-- most girls will be wearing leotards, and most boys will be wearing dark pants and either a light or dark shirt. Hopefully, if there is a clothing item you do not have, you can borrow it, as I do not intend for you to have to buy anything. Girls-- I have several leotards of my daughter's that can be borrowed. Again, the performance of the Nutcracker will be at 10:00 (a.m. class) and 1:30 (p.m. class) on the 19th. Get there a little early (the invitation we are sending home tomorrow has a time 10 minutes before the start) so that you can be seated when the performance begins. You won't want to miss it!
On Wednesday the 17th at 1:20, we will have the "Paper Party" for the Nutcracker costume pieces. I would love to have parent helpers from our class join helpers from all the other kindergarten classes to cut and prepare the paper costume pieces for the Nutcracker performance, using patterns, samples, and materials that we will have ready to go. We will be meeting in K2 to work for no more than an hour on all the bits and pieces. Kids are welcome to play in the room while you work. We already have a few volunteers, but could use a couple more. Thank you!
On another Nutcracker note, I am in need of two photographers with decent cameras for the event. They will be responsible for taking constant pictures throughout the performance, and then insuring that I get a high-resolution copy of the pictures afterward as soon as possible. We will offer priority seating to the photographers. Please let me know if you can help.
Curriculum
This week's letter is Cc, and the Alphafriend is Callie Cat. We have two new sight words this week: that and at. We will be continuing with our math unit on addition. Again, I want to remind you that any reinforcement you can provide with addition is very helpful. If your child has access to an iPad, "Hungry Fish" and "Math Bingo" and I'm sure many other great math apps are out there. I would suggest continuing to work on addition throughout the holidays as well.
This week's sharing is Letter of the Week share. Please have your child bring in something that starts with Cc. Please write clues and hide it in a bag.
This is our final week of centers before the holidays, as next week we will be focusing on Nutcracker rehearsals. Thank you so much to our classroom helpers in 2014, and thank you for your continued support in 2015! Mrs. Grist's class-- please check this website for the updated 2015 schedule.
Blue Bags are due tomorrow, and will go home again on Wednesday for the last time before the holidays. When we return from Winter Break, the journal component will be added to the Blue Bags. Your children will be asked to write a response to the story they read. We would like them to write a sentence about what they liked about the book, and draw a nice picture to go along with it. More details will follow in the Blue Bag on the week of the January 4th.
Upcoming Events:
12/17: December's Wacky Wednesday/Nutcracker "Hat Party" (parents come in to help make costume pieces)
12/19: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class)
12/22-1/4/15: Winter Break
1/15: Incoming Kindergarten Parent Info Night @ 6:00 pm
1/19: Martin Luther King Holiday: No School
1/28: January's Wacky Wednesday
2/16-2/20: President's Week
2/25: February's Wacky Wednesday
I will be letting your children know about their Nutcracker parts this week! You will be receiving a notice regarding your child's part, and what s/he should wear on the 19th in this week's Wednesday envelope. Please let me know if there are any problems with gathering up the various clothes needed-- most girls will be wearing leotards, and most boys will be wearing dark pants and either a light or dark shirt. Hopefully, if there is a clothing item you do not have, you can borrow it, as I do not intend for you to have to buy anything. Girls-- I have several leotards of my daughter's that can be borrowed. Again, the performance of the Nutcracker will be at 10:00 (a.m. class) and 1:30 (p.m. class) on the 19th. Get there a little early (the invitation we are sending home tomorrow has a time 10 minutes before the start) so that you can be seated when the performance begins. You won't want to miss it!
On Wednesday the 17th at 1:20, we will have the "Paper Party" for the Nutcracker costume pieces. I would love to have parent helpers from our class join helpers from all the other kindergarten classes to cut and prepare the paper costume pieces for the Nutcracker performance, using patterns, samples, and materials that we will have ready to go. We will be meeting in K2 to work for no more than an hour on all the bits and pieces. Kids are welcome to play in the room while you work. We already have a few volunteers, but could use a couple more. Thank you!
On another Nutcracker note, I am in need of two photographers with decent cameras for the event. They will be responsible for taking constant pictures throughout the performance, and then insuring that I get a high-resolution copy of the pictures afterward as soon as possible. We will offer priority seating to the photographers. Please let me know if you can help.
Curriculum
This week's letter is Cc, and the Alphafriend is Callie Cat. We have two new sight words this week: that and at. We will be continuing with our math unit on addition. Again, I want to remind you that any reinforcement you can provide with addition is very helpful. If your child has access to an iPad, "Hungry Fish" and "Math Bingo" and I'm sure many other great math apps are out there. I would suggest continuing to work on addition throughout the holidays as well.
This week's sharing is Letter of the Week share. Please have your child bring in something that starts with Cc. Please write clues and hide it in a bag.
This is our final week of centers before the holidays, as next week we will be focusing on Nutcracker rehearsals. Thank you so much to our classroom helpers in 2014, and thank you for your continued support in 2015! Mrs. Grist's class-- please check this website for the updated 2015 schedule.
Blue Bags are due tomorrow, and will go home again on Wednesday for the last time before the holidays. When we return from Winter Break, the journal component will be added to the Blue Bags. Your children will be asked to write a response to the story they read. We would like them to write a sentence about what they liked about the book, and draw a nice picture to go along with it. More details will follow in the Blue Bag on the week of the January 4th.
Upcoming Events:
12/17: December's Wacky Wednesday/Nutcracker "Hat Party" (parents come in to help make costume pieces)
12/19: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class)
12/22-1/4/15: Winter Break
1/15: Incoming Kindergarten Parent Info Night @ 6:00 pm
1/19: Martin Luther King Holiday: No School
1/28: January's Wacky Wednesday
2/16-2/20: President's Week
2/25: February's Wacky Wednesday
Friday, November 28, 2014
Week of 11/30
Dear Parents,
I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving break. I'd like to thank all of you for making the Feast such a success! We had a wonderful spread of food, and the children all looked darling! Thanks to the MANY parents who helped with that event.
Now...onto a very busy but exciting time in kindergarten as we prepare for our Nutcracker presentation on the 19th, as well as continue with all the academics & seasonal artwork!
Academics
We will have a new letter this week, Vv, and the Alphafriend is Vinnie Volcano. We will also have a new high frequency word, to. We will begin a math topic on addition this week. We will do a lot of manipulative-based activities to build a visual understanding of math facts. Any reinforcement you can provide at home on this would be great, as this is obviously a core concept.
At the side of this webpage, there is a link for kindergarten websites. There is one website, http://www.spellingcity.com/k2grist that I'd like you all to check out with your children. This is a fun way to reinforce both the sight words and short-vowel words that they will be expected to recognize and spell in kindergarten. I have pre-loaded the list of sight words onto Spelling City, but if you want to make your own list of short-vowel words, you can do that, too. In addition to Spelling City, you may also want to check out: www.raz-kids.com Information on how to log onto this site was sent out previously. Please email me if you need help with this.
We will return to centers for the next two weeks, then we take a break from centers again the week of December 14th. Please check the helper schedule.
This week's sharing is Toy in a Bag. Please have your child bring in any toy hidden in a bag, with three clues written about it to help the rest of the class guess what's inside. If children would like to start attempting writing their own clues with single words as prompts (e.g.: furry, brown, cuddly for "bear") that would be great!
Upcoming
Thank you for returning your blue bags last week. If you still have a white envelope, please send it in on Monday. Blue Bags will go home for the next two weeks. They will not go home on December 17th.
On December 17th, we will be having our annual "Nutcracker Hat Party." We need parents to come in straight after the p.m. class's Wacky Wednesday (1:20) to help make all the paper parts of the Nutcracker costumes. Children are invited to play in the classroom while parents create from provided patterns. If all goes well, this will last about an hour: 1:20 to 2:20 or so. Please let us know if you can join!
Looking forward to seeing everyone Monday!
Upcoming Events:
12/17: December's Wacky Wednesday/Nutcracker "Hat Party" (parents come in to help make costume pieces)
12/19: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class)
12/22-1/4/15: Winter Break
1/15: Incoming Kindergarten Parent Info Night @ 6:00 pm
1/19: Martin Luther King Holiday: No School
1/28: January's Wacky Wednesday
I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving break. I'd like to thank all of you for making the Feast such a success! We had a wonderful spread of food, and the children all looked darling! Thanks to the MANY parents who helped with that event.
Now...onto a very busy but exciting time in kindergarten as we prepare for our Nutcracker presentation on the 19th, as well as continue with all the academics & seasonal artwork!
Academics
We will have a new letter this week, Vv, and the Alphafriend is Vinnie Volcano. We will also have a new high frequency word, to. We will begin a math topic on addition this week. We will do a lot of manipulative-based activities to build a visual understanding of math facts. Any reinforcement you can provide at home on this would be great, as this is obviously a core concept.
At the side of this webpage, there is a link for kindergarten websites. There is one website, http://www.spellingcity.com/k2grist that I'd like you all to check out with your children. This is a fun way to reinforce both the sight words and short-vowel words that they will be expected to recognize and spell in kindergarten. I have pre-loaded the list of sight words onto Spelling City, but if you want to make your own list of short-vowel words, you can do that, too. In addition to Spelling City, you may also want to check out: www.raz-kids.com Information on how to log onto this site was sent out previously. Please email me if you need help with this.
We will return to centers for the next two weeks, then we take a break from centers again the week of December 14th. Please check the helper schedule.
This week's sharing is Toy in a Bag. Please have your child bring in any toy hidden in a bag, with three clues written about it to help the rest of the class guess what's inside. If children would like to start attempting writing their own clues with single words as prompts (e.g.: furry, brown, cuddly for "bear") that would be great!
Upcoming
Thank you for returning your blue bags last week. If you still have a white envelope, please send it in on Monday. Blue Bags will go home for the next two weeks. They will not go home on December 17th.
On December 17th, we will be having our annual "Nutcracker Hat Party." We need parents to come in straight after the p.m. class's Wacky Wednesday (1:20) to help make all the paper parts of the Nutcracker costumes. Children are invited to play in the classroom while parents create from provided patterns. If all goes well, this will last about an hour: 1:20 to 2:20 or so. Please let us know if you can join!
Looking forward to seeing everyone Monday!
Upcoming Events:
12/17: December's Wacky Wednesday/Nutcracker "Hat Party" (parents come in to help make costume pieces)
12/19: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class)
12/22-1/4/15: Winter Break
1/15: Incoming Kindergarten Parent Info Night @ 6:00 pm
1/19: Martin Luther King Holiday: No School
1/28: January's Wacky Wednesday
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Week of 11/16
Dear Parents,
Upcoming Events
Looking ahead on your calendars at this busy time of year, I wanted to make sure that you are all marking your calendars for Friday, December 19th-- our annual performance of The Nutcracker. This is something that you will not want to miss. To help you clear your calendar, the kindergarten teachers have decided that we will do our class holiday party and the Nutcracker performance all on the same day. We will have a big "cast party" after the performance so that we can send the kids off on a great holiday break!
Please remember your child's blue bag tomorrow. We will have no homework this week due to the Thanksgiving holiday next week, but we will send home a white envelope. Please try & return it on Thursday so that it doesn't get lost over the week-long break.
Have a great Thanksgiving!
Upcoming Events:
11/13-11/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
11/19: November's Wacky Wednesday
11/21: Kindergarten Friendship Feast @ 10:15 (a.m. class) and 1:30 (p.m. class)
11/24-11/28: Thanksgiving Week Vacation
12/17: December's Wacky Wednesday/Nutcracker "Hat Party" (parents come in to help make costume pieces)
12/19: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class)
I have enjoyed meeting with many of you so far during parent-teacher conferences, and have gained some great insights on your children from you. Thank you for meeting with me and being such active participants in your children's educations. I look forward to meeting with the rest of you this week. If you need to confirm your conference time, please contact me.
We will still be taking a break from centers this week while we continue with parent-teacher conferences, and they won't resume until after Thanksgiving. Then we will start back up with centers for two weeks before winter break (there are no centers again the week before the holidays).
The p.m. class has a Wacky Wednesday this week on the 19th. Class runs from 10:00 to 1:20.
Curriculum
Our letter this week continues to be Hh. The Alphafriend is Hattie Horse. We will also be introducing our first vowel, Aa, Andy Apple! This means that we will begin blending and spelling short-vowel words now. Our new sight word is a. We continue reviewing numbers to 10 in math.
This week's sharing is Song, Poem, or Nursery Rhyme. If your child is stuck for an idea, s/he is always welcome to choose an Alphafriend song or a color song or any other song we enjoy singing at school. As always, songs, poems, and rhymes in another language are always welcome and appreciated!
This week, we will also continue taking a closer look at the Pilgrims & Native Americans as we talk about the first Thanksgiving & prepare for our reenactment of this event, our Friendship Feast on the 21st. We have a great simple book that we will be putting together about the first Thanksgiving, and we have some interesting books that we will be reading to the children. It would be wonderful if you can all join us for the Feast on Friday, even if you can only come briefly. The children look so cute in their costumes & love sharing the meal with family members. Younger siblings are welcome if there is a child care issue. Thank you to everyone for sending in food for the event!
The p.m. class has a Wacky Wednesday this week on the 19th. Class runs from 10:00 to 1:20.
Curriculum
Our letter this week continues to be Hh. The Alphafriend is Hattie Horse. We will also be introducing our first vowel, Aa, Andy Apple! This means that we will begin blending and spelling short-vowel words now. Our new sight word is a. We continue reviewing numbers to 10 in math.
This week's sharing is Song, Poem, or Nursery Rhyme. If your child is stuck for an idea, s/he is always welcome to choose an Alphafriend song or a color song or any other song we enjoy singing at school. As always, songs, poems, and rhymes in another language are always welcome and appreciated!
This week, we will also continue taking a closer look at the Pilgrims & Native Americans as we talk about the first Thanksgiving & prepare for our reenactment of this event, our Friendship Feast on the 21st. We have a great simple book that we will be putting together about the first Thanksgiving, and we have some interesting books that we will be reading to the children. It would be wonderful if you can all join us for the Feast on Friday, even if you can only come briefly. The children look so cute in their costumes & love sharing the meal with family members. Younger siblings are welcome if there is a child care issue. Thank you to everyone for sending in food for the event!
Upcoming Events
Looking ahead on your calendars at this busy time of year, I wanted to make sure that you are all marking your calendars for Friday, December 19th-- our annual performance of The Nutcracker. This is something that you will not want to miss. To help you clear your calendar, the kindergarten teachers have decided that we will do our class holiday party and the Nutcracker performance all on the same day. We will have a big "cast party" after the performance so that we can send the kids off on a great holiday break!
Please remember your child's blue bag tomorrow. We will have no homework this week due to the Thanksgiving holiday next week, but we will send home a white envelope. Please try & return it on Thursday so that it doesn't get lost over the week-long break.
Have a great Thanksgiving!
Upcoming Events:
11/13-11/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
11/19: November's Wacky Wednesday
11/21: Kindergarten Friendship Feast @ 10:15 (a.m. class) and 1:30 (p.m. class)
11/24-11/28: Thanksgiving Week Vacation
12/17: December's Wacky Wednesday/Nutcracker "Hat Party" (parents come in to help make costume pieces)
12/19: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class)
Saturday, November 8, 2014
Week of 11/9
Dear Parents,
We hope you are enjoying a nice long weekend as we head into a busy week & a half before Thanksgiving! We will see your children on Wednesday the 12th.
We look forward to meeting with many of you this week in the office conference room (Mrs. Grist) or the library (Mrs. Sheikh). Before school conferences for Mrs. Sheikh and after school conferences for Mrs. Grist will be held in the classroom. If you need to confirm your time, please email your child's teacher.
We will be taking a break from centers for the next two weeks while we continue with parent-teacher conferences, and they won't resume until after Thanksgiving. Then we will start back up with centers for two weeks and take another break the week before winter break.
Curriculum
Our new letter this week is Hh. The Alphafriend is Hattie Horse. We will also be introducing our first vowel, Aa, Andy Apple! This means that we will begin blending and spelling short-vowel words now. Our new sight words are a and with.
Our math topic on reviewing numbers to 10 continues this week. Common Core really focuses on delving deeper into number sense. We are understanding that each number can be made up of two other numbers, and visualizing how numbers appear using 10 frames, dot cards, and dice, as well as writing and practicing number formation. There is a great free app for iPads and iPhones called Ten Frame Fill that focuses on Kindergarten Common Core concepts of understanding numbers to 10. Check it out if you have these devices.
We are also enjoying a subscription to Time for Kids this year, provided by the district to support Common Core learning in Social Studies/non-fiction reading. The kids are enjoying reading topical articles on current events.
There is no sharing this week due to the shortened week. Sharing with return next week.
The Blue Bags will go home again this Wednesday, and then the following week, there will be no homework due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
Upcoming
This week, we will also be taking a closer look at the Pilgrims & Native Americans as we talk about the first Thanksgiving. We will be preparing for our upcoming feast on Friday the 21st. If you haven't had a chance to sign up for the feast (how you can help/what dish you can send) please do so ASAP. It would be great if each child has a parent in attendance. This is a fun time for the kids, as they love to show off their costumes and enjoy the meal with their families. Even if you are unable to attend, please send a food item with your child-- no need for anything complicated! Thanks to those who have already signed up.
Upcoming Events:
11/10-11/11: No School, Veteran's Day
11/13-11/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
11/19: November's Wacky Wednesday
11/21: Kindergarten Friendship Feast @ 10:15 (a.m. class) and 1:30 (p.m. class)
11/24-11/28: Thanksgiving Week Vacation
12/17: December's Wacky Wednesday/Nutcracker "Hat Party" (parents come in to help make costume pieces)
12/19: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class)
We hope you are enjoying a nice long weekend as we head into a busy week & a half before Thanksgiving! We will see your children on Wednesday the 12th.
We look forward to meeting with many of you this week in the office conference room (Mrs. Grist) or the library (Mrs. Sheikh). Before school conferences for Mrs. Sheikh and after school conferences for Mrs. Grist will be held in the classroom. If you need to confirm your time, please email your child's teacher.
We will be taking a break from centers for the next two weeks while we continue with parent-teacher conferences, and they won't resume until after Thanksgiving. Then we will start back up with centers for two weeks and take another break the week before winter break.
Curriculum
Our new letter this week is Hh. The Alphafriend is Hattie Horse. We will also be introducing our first vowel, Aa, Andy Apple! This means that we will begin blending and spelling short-vowel words now. Our new sight words are a and with.
Our math topic on reviewing numbers to 10 continues this week. Common Core really focuses on delving deeper into number sense. We are understanding that each number can be made up of two other numbers, and visualizing how numbers appear using 10 frames, dot cards, and dice, as well as writing and practicing number formation. There is a great free app for iPads and iPhones called Ten Frame Fill that focuses on Kindergarten Common Core concepts of understanding numbers to 10. Check it out if you have these devices.
We are also enjoying a subscription to Time for Kids this year, provided by the district to support Common Core learning in Social Studies/non-fiction reading. The kids are enjoying reading topical articles on current events.
There is no sharing this week due to the shortened week. Sharing with return next week.
The Blue Bags will go home again this Wednesday, and then the following week, there will be no homework due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
Upcoming
This week, we will also be taking a closer look at the Pilgrims & Native Americans as we talk about the first Thanksgiving. We will be preparing for our upcoming feast on Friday the 21st. If you haven't had a chance to sign up for the feast (how you can help/what dish you can send) please do so ASAP. It would be great if each child has a parent in attendance. This is a fun time for the kids, as they love to show off their costumes and enjoy the meal with their families. Even if you are unable to attend, please send a food item with your child-- no need for anything complicated! Thanks to those who have already signed up.
Upcoming Events:
11/10-11/11: No School, Veteran's Day
11/13-11/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
11/19: November's Wacky Wednesday
11/21: Kindergarten Friendship Feast @ 10:15 (a.m. class) and 1:30 (p.m. class)
11/24-11/28: Thanksgiving Week Vacation
12/17: December's Wacky Wednesday/Nutcracker "Hat Party" (parents come in to help make costume pieces)
12/19: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class)
Saturday, November 1, 2014
Week of 11/2
Dear Parents,
I hope you all enjoyed a fun Halloween with your children. What a great party we had in class! A huge thanks to the room parents and parent helpers who organized such wonderful Halloween centers & treats. The kids all enjoyed themselves very much.
Remember that Daylight Savings Time ends. Hopefully, you got to enjoy an extra hour of sleep on Sunday!
Curriculum
Our letter this week is Nn, and our Alphafriend is Nyle Noodle. Our sight words this week will be can (we didn't have enough time to properly cover it last week). In math, we have a few upcoming review weeks. We will continue working on 3D & 2D shapes, while also looping back to numbers 0-10, especially focusing on the handwriting of these numbers.
Sharing this week will be Letter of the Week share for Nn. Children should bring in an item that starts with Nn, hide it in a bag, and write three clues for that item.
Upcoming
We will have no centers for two weeks due to Parent-Teacher Conferences. However, I will still need help on Wednesdays with Computer Lab, and we will also continue with SPARK P.E., weather permitting. Centers will resume the week after Thanksgiving. There are a few projects that I may need some help on in class in the upcoming weeks. I will try to send out an e-mail for those projects to see if anyone may be available.
Please remember to send in your child's Wednesday envelope, if you have not done so already, by tomorrow. With Halloween celebrations last Thursday, I know that many of you didn't send it in last week. We will send home the envelopes this week, but not the homework bags, due to the long 4-day weekend ahead. In this week's Wednesday envelope, you will find a sign-up form for the food and help at the Friendship Feast on the 21st. Please fill that out and turn it in as soon as you can. We need many helpers and plenty of food to make this a success. We are looking forward to a fun event!
Soon, I am going to start putting together the helper schedule on the website for 2015. Please e-mail me if any changes need to be made/you need to switch days/etc. If anyone new would like to be added to the schedule, even only occasionally, please let me know. Thanks so much to everyone for your generosity with your time-- centers and all enrichment activities have run SO smoothly so far!
Upcoming Events:
11/10-11/11: No School, Veteran's Day
11/13-11/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
11/19: November's Wacky Wednesday
11/21: Kindergarten Friendship Feast @ 10:15 (a.m. class) and 1:30 (p.m. class)
11/24-11/28: Thanksgiving Week Vacation
12/17: December's Wacky Wednesday/Nutcracker "Hat Party" (parents come in to help make costume pieces)
12/19: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class)
I hope you all enjoyed a fun Halloween with your children. What a great party we had in class! A huge thanks to the room parents and parent helpers who organized such wonderful Halloween centers & treats. The kids all enjoyed themselves very much.
Remember that Daylight Savings Time ends. Hopefully, you got to enjoy an extra hour of sleep on Sunday!
Curriculum
Our letter this week is Nn, and our Alphafriend is Nyle Noodle. Our sight words this week will be can (we didn't have enough time to properly cover it last week). In math, we have a few upcoming review weeks. We will continue working on 3D & 2D shapes, while also looping back to numbers 0-10, especially focusing on the handwriting of these numbers.
Sharing this week will be Letter of the Week share for Nn. Children should bring in an item that starts with Nn, hide it in a bag, and write three clues for that item.
Upcoming
We have another school-wide spirit day this week-- Color Day-- on Wednesday the 5th. Each grade level will dress as a color of the rainbow. Kindergarten has been assigned the color red. Wear red clothes on Wednesday if you'd like to participate.
We begin Parent-Teacher conferences next Thursday the 13th through Friday the 21st. Although grades 1-5 have an altered schedule during conferences, the kindergarten schedule remains the same. The p.m. class will still dismiss at 2:50 during the duration of conferences, with the exception of Wednesday the 19th, which is a Wacky Wednesday.We will have no centers for two weeks due to Parent-Teacher Conferences. However, I will still need help on Wednesdays with Computer Lab, and we will also continue with SPARK P.E., weather permitting. Centers will resume the week after Thanksgiving. There are a few projects that I may need some help on in class in the upcoming weeks. I will try to send out an e-mail for those projects to see if anyone may be available.
Please remember to send in your child's Wednesday envelope, if you have not done so already, by tomorrow. With Halloween celebrations last Thursday, I know that many of you didn't send it in last week. We will send home the envelopes this week, but not the homework bags, due to the long 4-day weekend ahead. In this week's Wednesday envelope, you will find a sign-up form for the food and help at the Friendship Feast on the 21st. Please fill that out and turn it in as soon as you can. We need many helpers and plenty of food to make this a success. We are looking forward to a fun event!
Soon, I am going to start putting together the helper schedule on the website for 2015. Please e-mail me if any changes need to be made/you need to switch days/etc. If anyone new would like to be added to the schedule, even only occasionally, please let me know. Thanks so much to everyone for your generosity with your time-- centers and all enrichment activities have run SO smoothly so far!
Upcoming Events:
11/10-11/11: No School, Veteran's Day
11/13-11/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
11/19: November's Wacky Wednesday
11/21: Kindergarten Friendship Feast @ 10:15 (a.m. class) and 1:30 (p.m. class)
11/24-11/28: Thanksgiving Week Vacation
12/17: December's Wacky Wednesday/Nutcracker "Hat Party" (parents come in to help make costume pieces)
12/19: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class)
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Week of 10/26
Dear Parents,
It was GREAT to see so many of you yesterday at the walk-a-thon! 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 & t-shirts, if possible, so that we can all celebrate the laps that we walked!
If you didn't have a chance to check out the Book Fair yesterday, it runs through Thursday of this week, before school (for the big kids), at noon, and after school (for the big kids). Check it out!
If you didn't have a chance to check out the Book Fair yesterday, it runs through Thursday of this week, before school (for the big kids), at noon, and after school (for the big kids). Check it out!
Here's what's going on in the classroom this week:
Language Arts:
Our letter this week is Bb, and our Alphafriend is Benny Bear. Our sight words this week will be like and can.
Sharing this week will be Book Share. Please have your child bring a favorite book (perhaps a new book from the book fair!) Be prepared to tell: the title, a bit about what the book is about, and have a favorite page bookmarked. Friday children can share any other day of the week.
We are also doing much more writing using phonetic spelling. We went over this a bit at Back-to-School Night, but this is where children are encouraged to sound words out on their own and spell them phonetically. For example, they may spell hope as hop or monster as monsr. These spellings are totally acceptable at this time as a first tool to becoming an independent writer. Please try your best not to constantly spell words for your child. Encourage them to think for themselves and experiment with phonics so that they have a tool to fall back on when they need to spell on their own.
Math
In math, we are continuing our study of shapes by moving onto 3-Dimensional (solid) shapes. We are studying the cube, sphere, cone, and cylinder. Not only do children need to be able to name these shapes, but they need to be able to tell the characteristics of the shape. For example, a cube has six square surfaces and 8 corners/vertices. Ask your children what they know about these shapes-- I think you will be impressed with their use of math language!
Language Arts:
Our letter this week is Bb, and our Alphafriend is Benny Bear. Our sight words this week will be like and can.
Sharing this week will be Book Share. Please have your child bring a favorite book (perhaps a new book from the book fair!) Be prepared to tell: the title, a bit about what the book is about, and have a favorite page bookmarked. Friday children can share any other day of the week.
We are also doing much more writing using phonetic spelling. We went over this a bit at Back-to-School Night, but this is where children are encouraged to sound words out on their own and spell them phonetically. For example, they may spell hope as hop or monster as monsr. These spellings are totally acceptable at this time as a first tool to becoming an independent writer. Please try your best not to constantly spell words for your child. Encourage them to think for themselves and experiment with phonics so that they have a tool to fall back on when they need to spell on their own.
Math
In math, we are continuing our study of shapes by moving onto 3-Dimensional (solid) shapes. We are studying the cube, sphere, cone, and cylinder. Not only do children need to be able to name these shapes, but they need to be able to tell the characteristics of the shape. For example, a cube has six square surfaces and 8 corners/vertices. Ask your children what they know about these shapes-- I think you will be impressed with their use of math language!
Halloween
On Thursday, all Kindergarten children should arrive dressed up in their costumes. The morning class/school-wide parade is at 8:30, between the primary playground and rooms 7, 8, and 9. The afternoon class parade is at 1:00 on the kindergarten playground. 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 :) Parties will immediately follow the parades. Parents are welcome to attend.
November Events
While on the subject of classroom events, and to give you an opportunity to plan ahead, we have another big event coming up in November. On Friday the 21st, 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 K1 & K2 kindergartners come together for this event. The children from our class will be dressed as Native Americans, and the children in K1 will be dressed as Pilgrims. No need to provide any costumes-- we have some special costumes made out of pillowcases that a few parents have offered to cut for us in the upcoming weeks. This event is definitely a great photo-op!
Conferences
I am looking forward to meeting with each of you beginning November 13th for your child's conference. Conferences will be held in the library (a.m. class conferences) or the office conference room (p.m. class conferences) since the kindergarten classes will be in session during most conference times. The conference room is located in the main office, 2nd door to the right after you walk through the swinging half-door. The library is the building directly behind the kindergarten building. If you are unsure of your conference time, please e-mail me. Thanks!
Reminder: Afternoon class has a Wacky Wednesday this week. Class runs from 10:00 to 1:20. No school Friday the 31st due to a staff development day.
Remember your blue bags tomorrow, homework folder inside.
Upcoming Events:
10/29: October's Wacky Wednesday
10/30: Halloween Parade & Celebration
10/31: Staff Development Day: No School
11/10-11/11: No School, Veteran's Day
11/13-11/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
11/19: November's Wacky Wednesday
11/21: Kindergarten Friendship Feast @ 10:15 (a.m. class) and 1:30 (p.m. class)
11/24-11/28: Thanksgiving Week Vacation
12/17: November's Wacky Wednesday/Nutcracker "Hat Party" (parents come in to help make costume pieces)
12/19: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class)
On Thursday, all Kindergarten children should arrive dressed up in their costumes. The morning class/school-wide parade is at 8:30, between the primary playground and rooms 7, 8, and 9. The afternoon class parade is at 1:00 on the kindergarten playground. 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 :) Parties will immediately follow the parades. Parents are welcome to attend.
November Events
While on the subject of classroom events, and to give you an opportunity to plan ahead, we have another big event coming up in November. On Friday the 21st, 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 K1 & K2 kindergartners come together for this event. The children from our class will be dressed as Native Americans, and the children in K1 will be dressed as Pilgrims. No need to provide any costumes-- we have some special costumes made out of pillowcases that a few parents have offered to cut for us in the upcoming weeks. This event is definitely a great photo-op!
Conferences
I am looking forward to meeting with each of you beginning November 13th for your child's conference. Conferences will be held in the library (a.m. class conferences) or the office conference room (p.m. class conferences) since the kindergarten classes will be in session during most conference times. The conference room is located in the main office, 2nd door to the right after you walk through the swinging half-door. The library is the building directly behind the kindergarten building. If you are unsure of your conference time, please e-mail me. Thanks!
Reminder: Afternoon class has a Wacky Wednesday this week. Class runs from 10:00 to 1:20. No school Friday the 31st due to a staff development day.
Remember your blue bags tomorrow, homework folder inside.
Upcoming Events:
10/29: October's Wacky Wednesday
10/30: Halloween Parade & Celebration
10/31: Staff Development Day: No School
11/10-11/11: No School, Veteran's Day
11/13-11/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
11/19: November's Wacky Wednesday
11/21: Kindergarten Friendship Feast @ 10:15 (a.m. class) and 1:30 (p.m. class)
11/24-11/28: Thanksgiving Week Vacation
12/17: November's Wacky Wednesday/Nutcracker "Hat Party" (parents come in to help make costume pieces)
12/19: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class)
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Week of 10/19
Dear Parents,
It's Walk-a-thon week!! I hope everyone will be able to join in on Saturday! Please go to the website, www.altavistawalkathon.org, if you have not already registered so that you can be a part of this fun event. We will be doing one practice lap this week so that the kids have an idea of the lap length and what to expect. On Friday, the kids will receive both their walk-a-thon t-shirt (if they have signed up online & received a pledge of $35 by Wednesday the 22nd) and their lanyard with the first foot. Please be sure to wear both the t-shirt & lanyard on Saturday. Every 5 laps, the kids get a different plastic foot on the lanyard/necklace. The kindergartners get a special foot already on their necklace for the practice laps that they did. 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 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 that out as well!
Field Trip
A few reminders again about the field trip-- First, it is a Wacky Schedule for the p.m. class. Both a.m. & p.m. students need to arrive promptly at the start of the day (8:05 & 10:00) or they may miss the bus. Please send your children in their class t-shirts, with a fully disposable snack (please avoid lunch boxes and reusable water bottles on this day as we don't want to have things left behind on the bus). Please try to have the class t-shirt visible-- if your child wears a long-sleeved shirt for warmth, please have it UNDER their class t-shirt so that we can quickly see who is in our group.
Language Arts
Our letter this week is Tt. The alphafriend is Tiggy Tiger. We have a new high frequency word, my.
The sharing this week is Homemade Item. Please have your child bring in an item they made themselves, either at preschool, a party, or at home, and have them be prepared to tell a bit about how they made it. No bags or clues necessary for this share-- just a little description of what the item is and how they made it.
Math
We will continue our topic on shapes. Children are expected to be able to identify triangles, rectangles, circles, squares, and hexagons. Additionally, children should be able to tell the characteristics of those shapes. For example, a triangle has three corners and three sides. The 3D shapes that they will be expected to know are cones, spheres, cubes, and cylinders. Again, they also need to be able to tell the characteristics of those shapes.
Upcoming
Conferences: Thank you to everyone for scheduling your conferences so quickly with me. If you need to confirm your time, please email me.
Halloween: The school-wide parade will be at 8:30 am. on the blacktop between the primary playground & rooms 7, 8, and 9. Afternoon kindergarteners are welcome to come to that parade and join in with the morning kindergartners if they would like. However, there will be a separate K1 & K2 p.m. parade on our kindergarten playground at 1:00. Parents, of course, are welcome & encouraged to attend either parade. Classroom parties will follow the parades.
Thanksgiving Feast: We have purchased pillow cases for our Thanksgiving Feast. These will be turned into Native American costumes with some simple cutting. Now, we need to have volunteers who can cut these at home. This is a great project for those who would like to help out but are unable to due to work commitments. We will send home pillowcases and a sample shirt for you to replicate. We also have aprons that need to be cut. You will need a pair of pinking shears (zigzag scissors) for this project. Please let us know if you do not have a pair-- we have a couple of pairs ourselves we can loan out. We will not need the pillowcases back until a few days before the Feast (11/21). Please let us know if you can help!
Please send in your child's blue bag tomorrow, homework folder inside.
Upcoming Events:
10/20: Field Trip to California Theater Center
10/25: Alta Vista Walkathon
10/29: October's Wacky Wednesday
10/30: Halloween Parade & Celebration
10/31: Staff Development Day: No School
11/10-11/11: No School, Veteran's Day
11/13-11/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
11/19: November's Wacky Wednesday
11/21: Kindergarten Friendship Feast @ 10:15 (a.m. class) and 1:30 (p.m. class)
11/24-11/28: Thanksgiving Week Vacation
12/19: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class)
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 that out as well!
Field Trip
A few reminders again about the field trip-- First, it is a Wacky Schedule for the p.m. class. Both a.m. & p.m. students need to arrive promptly at the start of the day (8:05 & 10:00) or they may miss the bus. Please send your children in their class t-shirts, with a fully disposable snack (please avoid lunch boxes and reusable water bottles on this day as we don't want to have things left behind on the bus). Please try to have the class t-shirt visible-- if your child wears a long-sleeved shirt for warmth, please have it UNDER their class t-shirt so that we can quickly see who is in our group.
Language Arts
Our letter this week is Tt. The alphafriend is Tiggy Tiger. We have a new high frequency word, my.
The sharing this week is Homemade Item. Please have your child bring in an item they made themselves, either at preschool, a party, or at home, and have them be prepared to tell a bit about how they made it. No bags or clues necessary for this share-- just a little description of what the item is and how they made it.
Math
We will continue our topic on shapes. Children are expected to be able to identify triangles, rectangles, circles, squares, and hexagons. Additionally, children should be able to tell the characteristics of those shapes. For example, a triangle has three corners and three sides. The 3D shapes that they will be expected to know are cones, spheres, cubes, and cylinders. Again, they also need to be able to tell the characteristics of those shapes.
Upcoming
Conferences: Thank you to everyone for scheduling your conferences so quickly with me. If you need to confirm your time, please email me.
Halloween: The school-wide parade will be at 8:30 am. on the blacktop between the primary playground & rooms 7, 8, and 9. Afternoon kindergarteners are welcome to come to that parade and join in with the morning kindergartners if they would like. However, there will be a separate K1 & K2 p.m. parade on our kindergarten playground at 1:00. Parents, of course, are welcome & encouraged to attend either parade. Classroom parties will follow the parades.
Thanksgiving Feast: We have purchased pillow cases for our Thanksgiving Feast. These will be turned into Native American costumes with some simple cutting. Now, we need to have volunteers who can cut these at home. This is a great project for those who would like to help out but are unable to due to work commitments. We will send home pillowcases and a sample shirt for you to replicate. We also have aprons that need to be cut. You will need a pair of pinking shears (zigzag scissors) for this project. Please let us know if you do not have a pair-- we have a couple of pairs ourselves we can loan out. We will not need the pillowcases back until a few days before the Feast (11/21). Please let us know if you can help!
Please send in your child's blue bag tomorrow, homework folder inside.
Upcoming Events:
10/20: Field Trip to California Theater Center
10/25: Alta Vista Walkathon
10/29: October's Wacky Wednesday
10/30: Halloween Parade & Celebration
10/31: Staff Development Day: No School
11/10-11/11: No School, Veteran's Day
11/13-11/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
11/19: November's Wacky Wednesday
11/21: Kindergarten Friendship Feast @ 10:15 (a.m. class) and 1:30 (p.m. class)
11/24-11/28: Thanksgiving Week Vacation
12/19: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class)
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Week of 10/12
Dear Parents,
We have some exciting things going on in K2 this week! We are getting closer to our field trip on Monday the 20th. Please be sure to turn in your permission slips. Also, keep signing up for the Walkathon by logging into www.altavistawalkathon.org Our class has almost everyone signed up! Don't miss out on all the fun!
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 can write a sentence that starts 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 begin our math topic on 2-Dimensional and 3-Dimensional shapes. Circle, square, rectangle, triangle, and hexagon are the shapes to know. Three dimensional shapes that we will cover include: cube, cone, sphere, and cylinder. Please reinforce these shapes as much as possible in your conversations at home. "What shape is the table?" "What shape is this paper?" "What shape is this can?" and questions of this nature are good to ask.
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!
Field Trip
Thank you for returning the permission slips so quickly! If you still need to send one in, please send it at your earliest convenience.
Upcoming
Thanks to everyone for scheduling your conferences with me so quickly. If you still need to schedule a conference, please email me to ask how to do so.
Just an update on the Halloween parade-- the school-wide parade is now at 8:30 on the blacktop between the primary playground & rooms 7, 8, and 9. Afternoon kindergarteners are welcome to come to that parade and join in with the morning kindergartners if they would like. However, there will be a separate K1 & K2 p.m. parade on our kindergarten playground at 1:00. Parents, of course, are welcome & encouraged to attend either parade.
Please send in your child's blue bag tomorrow, homework folder inside.
Upcoming Events:
10/20: Field Trip to California Theater Center
10/25: Alta Vista Walkathon
10/29: October's Wacky Wednesday
10/30: Halloween Parade & Celebration
10/31: Staff Development Day: No School
11/10-11/11: No School, Veteran's Day
11/13-11/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
11/19: November's Wacky Wednesday
11/21: Kindergarten Friendship Feast @ 10:15 (a.m. class) and 1:30 (p.m. class)
11/24-11/28: Thanksgiving Week Vacation
12/19: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class)
We have some exciting things going on in K2 this week! We are getting closer to our field trip on Monday the 20th. Please be sure to turn in your permission slips. Also, keep signing up for the Walkathon by logging into www.altavistawalkathon.org Our class has almost everyone signed up! Don't miss out on all the fun!
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 can write a sentence that starts 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 begin our math topic on 2-Dimensional and 3-Dimensional shapes. Circle, square, rectangle, triangle, and hexagon are the shapes to know. Three dimensional shapes that we will cover include: cube, cone, sphere, and cylinder. Please reinforce these shapes as much as possible in your conversations at home. "What shape is the table?" "What shape is this paper?" "What shape is this can?" and questions of this nature are good to ask.
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!
Field Trip
Thank you for returning the permission slips so quickly! If you still need to send one in, please send it at your earliest convenience.
Upcoming
Thanks to everyone for scheduling your conferences with me so quickly. If you still need to schedule a conference, please email me to ask how to do so.
Just an update on the Halloween parade-- the school-wide parade is now at 8:30 on the blacktop between the primary playground & rooms 7, 8, and 9. Afternoon kindergarteners are welcome to come to that parade and join in with the morning kindergartners if they would like. However, there will be a separate K1 & K2 p.m. parade on our kindergarten playground at 1:00. Parents, of course, are welcome & encouraged to attend either parade.
Please send in your child's blue bag tomorrow, homework folder inside.
Upcoming Events:
10/20: Field Trip to California Theater Center
10/25: Alta Vista Walkathon
10/29: October's Wacky Wednesday
10/30: Halloween Parade & Celebration
10/31: Staff Development Day: No School
11/10-11/11: No School, Veteran's Day
11/13-11/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
11/19: November's Wacky Wednesday
11/21: Kindergarten Friendship Feast @ 10:15 (a.m. class) and 1:30 (p.m. class)
11/24-11/28: Thanksgiving Week Vacation
12/19: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class)
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Week of 10/5
Dear Parents,
This week is Walk & Roll week, which is an event to promote walking to school for your health, as well as to reduce traffic around the school. The kids have been informed that children who walk/roll (bike or scooter) to school the most will be entered into a raffle for some prizes. Please try and walk or scooter/bike to school at least once this week. Remember that if driving is necessary, that you can always park a few blocks away to get a little extra exercise and reduce congestion around the school. If your child attends Holy Cross for daycare, I know that they always park the bus further away this week so that the children can participate.
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, with a focus on color words. 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! The color songs that we've been singing (and that hopefully, you've heard your children singing at home) will help the children spell out the color words on their own.
In math, we continue our topic on deconstructing numbers to 10. Children should be learning combinations that make up numbers to 10, for example, 8 & 2 make 10 or 1 & 4 make 5. Our next topic is on two & three dimensional shapes.
This week's sharing is Letter of the Week sharing again-- this time for the letter Mm. It is great to give the children an opportunity to think about things that start with the letter of the week. Please have three clues about what is inside the bag either written on the bag or on a paper inside the bag.
This week, I will begin assessing your children at center time so that I have up-to-date information to share with you at conference time. I will be working with them individually to check them on things such as letter recognition, letter sounds, sight word recognition, rhyming, etc. I look forward to sharing this information with you in November. This of course means that it is also time to sign up for conferences! You will be hearing from us this week about conference sign-ups.
We are doing very well with our walkathon sign-ups! Keep on registering your children at: http://www.altavistawalkathon.org The children all seem very excited about the walkathon, so I hope to see you all there on the 25th! Not only does it help raise money for all of the wonderful enrichment programs at our school, but it is a great community event. There is so much to do besides the walking! Come out and enjoy the day.
And...since I've heard many of your children talking about soccer, I wanted to let you know that if you have to leave for a soccer game (or come a little later because of soccer) please let the people at the check-in desk know. Your child gets 10 laps of credit for soccer games or other outside sports obligations that they have.
Please continue sending in permission slips for the field trip on the 20th. I now have enough parent chaperones for the trip-- thank you!
This week is Walk & Roll week, which is an event to promote walking to school for your health, as well as to reduce traffic around the school. The kids have been informed that children who walk/roll (bike or scooter) to school the most will be entered into a raffle for some prizes. Please try and walk or scooter/bike to school at least once this week. Remember that if driving is necessary, that you can always park a few blocks away to get a little extra exercise and reduce congestion around the school. If your child attends Holy Cross for daycare, I know that they always park the bus further away this week so that the children can participate.
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, with a focus on color words. 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! The color songs that we've been singing (and that hopefully, you've heard your children singing at home) will help the children spell out the color words on their own.
In math, we continue our topic on deconstructing numbers to 10. Children should be learning combinations that make up numbers to 10, for example, 8 & 2 make 10 or 1 & 4 make 5. Our next topic is on two & three dimensional shapes.
This week's sharing is Letter of the Week sharing again-- this time for the letter Mm. It is great to give the children an opportunity to think about things that start with the letter of the week. Please have three clues about what is inside the bag either written on the bag or on a paper inside the bag.
This week, I will begin assessing your children at center time so that I have up-to-date information to share with you at conference time. I will be working with them individually to check them on things such as letter recognition, letter sounds, sight word recognition, rhyming, etc. I look forward to sharing this information with you in November. This of course means that it is also time to sign up for conferences! You will be hearing from us this week about conference sign-ups.
We are doing very well with our walkathon sign-ups! Keep on registering your children at: http://www.altavistawalkathon.org The children all seem very excited about the walkathon, so I hope to see you all there on the 25th! Not only does it help raise money for all of the wonderful enrichment programs at our school, but it is a great community event. There is so much to do besides the walking! Come out and enjoy the day.
And...since I've heard many of your children talking about soccer, I wanted to let you know that if you have to leave for a soccer game (or come a little later because of soccer) please let the people at the check-in desk know. Your child gets 10 laps of credit for soccer games or other outside sports obligations that they have.
Please continue sending in permission slips for the field trip on the 20th. I now have enough parent chaperones for the trip-- thank you!
Blue bags, with homework folders inside are due tomorrow. Thanks for being so great about returning the Blue Bags each week on time.
Upcoming Events:
10/20: Field Trip to California Theater Center
10/25: Alta Vista Walkathon
10/29: October's Wacky Wednesday
10/30: Halloween Parade & Celebration
10/31: Staff Development Day: No School
11/10-11/11: No School, Veteran's Day
11/13-11/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
11/19: November's Wacky Wednesday
11/21: Kindergarten Friendship Feast @ 10:15 (a.m. class) and 1:30 (p.m. class)
11/24-11/28: Thanksgiving Week Vacation
12/19: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class)
Upcoming Events:
10/20: Field Trip to California Theater Center
10/25: Alta Vista Walkathon
10/29: October's Wacky Wednesday
10/30: Halloween Parade & Celebration
10/31: Staff Development Day: No School
11/10-11/11: No School, Veteran's Day
11/13-11/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
11/19: November's Wacky Wednesday
11/21: Kindergarten Friendship Feast @ 10:15 (a.m. class) and 1:30 (p.m. class)
11/24-11/28: Thanksgiving Week Vacation
12/19: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class)
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Week of 9/28
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.
This week we will introduce the letter Ss. The worksheets that accompany our Language Arts program will all be about the letter Ss-- we will cover the sound and the handwriting of the letter, and the Alphafriend's name is Sammy Seal.
We will also officially begin the Handwriting without Tears program this week. Whatever the letter of the week is, that will be the letter we are learning in Handwriting. We will be using mini-chalkboards on Mondays to help the children practice the formation of letters in an engaging & multi-sensory way. On Tuesday, we will do a sentence writing lesson using the Sentence School part of the program.
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 this 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 (their list has 100 words), so these are important words to master.
Our art this week will center around scarecrows and Fall things. We have a fun scarecrow book that will help reinforce the spelling and reading of color words.
We completed our FOSS science unit on Trees & Leaves. The children really enjoyed looking at different trees, learning about the parts of a tree, and looking closely at leaves & other things that grow on trees. Thank you for sending in leaves, fruit, and other items from your trees-- the unit was a lot of fun for the kids.
I also want to remind you that the Walkathon is coming up quickly on Saturday, October 25th! We will have a kick-off mini-assembly in our classroom on Monday, and then the children will do a practice lap with me some time before the 25th. The practice lap will give them a sense of where they will be walking and how big the lap is, and they will also earn their first "foot," which they will receive the Friday before the walkathon. The children will be collecting these plastic feet on a necklace on the day of the event. Every five 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! You can start registering your children and checking our progress on the walkathon website: http://www.altavistawalkathon.org 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.
Remember your child's Blue Bag tomorrow, with the homework folder inside the bag :)
Upcoming Events:
10/20: Field Trip to California Theater Center
10/25: Alta Vista Walkathon
10/29: October's Wacky Wednesday
10/30: Halloween Parade & Celebration
10/31: Staff Development Day: No School
11/10-11/11: No School, Veteran's Day
11/13-11/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
11/19: November's Wacky Wednesday
11/21: Kindergarten Friendship Feast @ 10:15 (a.m. class) and 1:30 (p.m. class)
11/24-11/28: Thanksgiving Week Vacation
12/19: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class)
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.
This week we will introduce the letter Ss. The worksheets that accompany our Language Arts program will all be about the letter Ss-- we will cover the sound and the handwriting of the letter, and the Alphafriend's name is Sammy Seal.
We will also officially begin the Handwriting without Tears program this week. Whatever the letter of the week is, that will be the letter we are learning in Handwriting. We will be using mini-chalkboards on Mondays to help the children practice the formation of letters in an engaging & multi-sensory way. On Tuesday, we will do a sentence writing lesson using the Sentence School part of the program.
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 this 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 (their list has 100 words), so these are important words to master.
Our art this week will center around scarecrows and Fall things. We have a fun scarecrow book that will help reinforce the spelling and reading of color words.
We completed our FOSS science unit on Trees & Leaves. The children really enjoyed looking at different trees, learning about the parts of a tree, and looking closely at leaves & other things that grow on trees. Thank you for sending in leaves, fruit, and other items from your trees-- the unit was a lot of fun for the kids.
I also want to remind you that the Walkathon is coming up quickly on Saturday, October 25th! We will have a kick-off mini-assembly in our classroom on Monday, and then the children will do a practice lap with me some time before the 25th. The practice lap will give them a sense of where they will be walking and how big the lap is, and they will also earn their first "foot," which they will receive the Friday before the walkathon. The children will be collecting these plastic feet on a necklace on the day of the event. Every five 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! You can start registering your children and checking our progress on the walkathon website: http://www.altavistawalkathon.org 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.
Remember your child's Blue Bag tomorrow, with the homework folder inside the bag :)
Upcoming Events:
10/20: Field Trip to California Theater Center
10/25: Alta Vista Walkathon
10/29: October's Wacky Wednesday
10/30: Halloween Parade & Celebration
10/31: Staff Development Day: No School
11/10-11/11: No School, Veteran's Day
11/13-11/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
11/19: November's Wacky Wednesday
11/21: Kindergarten Friendship Feast @ 10:15 (a.m. class) and 1:30 (p.m. class)
11/24-11/28: Thanksgiving Week Vacation
12/19: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class)
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Week of 9/21
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-bearing tree, it would be great if your child can bring in an apple, lemon, lime, 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 with the letters Uu-Zz. We 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 on decomposing numbers. We will play some fun math games while we will look at combinations that make up a number. For example, 5 can be 1 & 4, 2 & 3, 5 & 0. Obviously, this sets them up for pre-addition skills.
This week's share 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 this general script:
1) My book is called:______________
2) It is about: ___________________
3) My favorite page is: (have favorite page bookmarked)________________
We have a Wacky Wednesday this week on the 24th. The p.m. class runs from 10:00 to 1:20.
Remember that Friday is Picture Day. We have not yet received the order forms, but I assume they will come home in this week's Wednesday envelope. You can either order online, or send in the order form with your child. Please make sure that you place your order by Friday, at the latest. The kids need to have their order envelopes in-hand (or an online order place) on Friday.
Please send in your child's Blue Bag tomorrow, with the homework folder inside the bag. A parent helper goes through the bags and pulls 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 your calendars-- you won't want to miss out :)
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-bearing tree, it would be great if your child can bring in an apple, lemon, lime, 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 with the letters Uu-Zz. We 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 on decomposing numbers. We will play some fun math games while we will look at combinations that make up a number. For example, 5 can be 1 & 4, 2 & 3, 5 & 0. Obviously, this sets them up for pre-addition skills.
This week's share 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 this general script:
1) My book is called:______________
2) It is about: ___________________
3) My favorite page is: (have favorite page bookmarked)________________
We have a Wacky Wednesday this week on the 24th. The p.m. class runs from 10:00 to 1:20.
Remember that Friday is Picture Day. We have not yet received the order forms, but I assume they will come home in this week's Wednesday envelope. You can either order online, or send in the order form with your child. Please make sure that you place your order by Friday, at the latest. The kids need to have their order envelopes in-hand (or an online order place) on Friday.
Please send in your child's Blue Bag tomorrow, with the homework folder inside the bag. A parent helper goes through the bags and pulls 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 your calendars-- you won't want to miss out :)
Upcoming Events:
9/24: September's Wacky Wednesday (10:00-1:20)
9/26: Picture Day
10/20: Field Trip to California Theater Center
10/25: Alta Vista Walkathon
10/29: October's Wacky Wednesday
10/30: Halloween Parade & Celebration
10/31: Staff Development Day: No School
11/10-11/11: No School, Veteran's Day
11/13-11/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
11/19: November's Wacky Wednesday
11/21: Kindergarten Friendship Feast @ 10:15 (a.m. class) and 1:30 (p.m. class)
11/24-11/28: Thanksgiving Week Vacation
12/19: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class)
9/24: September's Wacky Wednesday (10:00-1:20)
9/26: Picture Day
10/20: Field Trip to California Theater Center
10/25: Alta Vista Walkathon
10/29: October's Wacky Wednesday
10/30: Halloween Parade & Celebration
10/31: Staff Development Day: No School
11/10-11/11: No School, Veteran's Day
11/13-11/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
11/19: November's Wacky Wednesday
11/21: Kindergarten Friendship Feast @ 10:15 (a.m. class) and 1:30 (p.m. class)
11/24-11/28: Thanksgiving Week Vacation
12/19: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00 (a.m. class) & 1:30 (p.m. class)
Friday, September 12, 2014
Week of 9/14
Dear Parents,
We had a great first week of centers, 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 have a parent helper who will go through all the bags and pull out the homework. You will receive a new book and some new homework again on Wednesday.
Sharing begins this week! Our sharing topic this week is Toy in a Bag. 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 on the right-hand side called "Sharing Info." Sharing topics each week are posted under the "calendar" link.
We will continue with our math topic on numbers. 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 correct 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 a few leaves from trees around your home in a baggie on Monday, marked with your child's name. It can be in the blue bag if that's easier.
Upcoming Events:
9/19: Alta Vista Movie Night
9/24: September's Wacky Wednesday
10/20: Field Trip to California Theater Center
10/25: Alta Vista Walkathon
10/29: October's Wacky Wednesday
We had a great first week of centers, 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 have a parent helper who will go through all the bags and pull out the homework. You will receive a new book and some new homework again on Wednesday.
Sharing begins this week! Our sharing topic this week is Toy in a Bag. 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 on the right-hand side called "Sharing Info." Sharing topics each week are posted under the "calendar" link.
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 a few leaves from trees around your home in a baggie on Monday, marked with your child's name. It can be in the blue bag if that's easier.
Upcoming Events:
9/19: Alta Vista Movie Night
9/24: September's Wacky Wednesday
10/20: Field Trip to California Theater Center
10/25: Alta Vista Walkathon
10/29: October's Wacky Wednesday
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Week of 9/7
Dear Parents,
We've made it to an exciting week in kindergarten, where we start 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 pages 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 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 continue with the 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 may 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. :)
Parents of p.m. kindergartners-- at Back-to-School Night, I mentioned that there may be a few additional Wacky Wednesdays. There will not be. Miss Miller has hired substitutes for those few dates so that your kindergartner's schedule will stay as planned, and Miss Mangione & I can attend the trainings. Thank you for your patience while we worked that out.
Upcoming Events:
9/12: No School: Staff Development Day
9/19: Alta Vista Movie Night
9/24: September's Wacky Wednesday
10/25: Alta Vista Walkathon
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Week of 9/1
Dear Parents,
I hope you are all having a great 3 day weekend, and will be ready to get back into the swing of things on Tuesday!
This week, we will continue with our overview of the alphabet. We will be covering letters Ii-Ll. We will also continue reading familiar fairy tales as well as some Aesop's Fables. We will begin studying the five senses in science. I have a fun book with some hands-on activities that I do with the children, ending with doing a taste test of salty, sweet, sour, and bitter items.
In math, we will begin studying numbers to 5. We will have some hands-on activities in class as well as begin our math book pages.
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. The children watch engaging interactive videos that go over these concepts.
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.
Next week, the week of 9/7. we will begin both homework and centers. We will not start sharing until our first five-day week, which is the following week (9/14). Homework will go home on 9/10. It will come home in a blue bag, and we will be reinforcing correct name-writing, which the children have been working on in class. Finally, centers will begin next week on Monday the 8th. I am working on the helper schedule and will have it out this week. If you signed up to help with centers on a Monday, be prepared to possibly come in on the 10th!
Upcoming Events:
9/1: No School: Labor Day
9/12: No School: Staff Development Day
9/19: Alta Vista Movie Night
9/24: September's Wacky Wednesday
10/25: Alta Vista Walkathon
I hope you are all having a great 3 day weekend, and will be ready to get back into the swing of things on Tuesday!
This week, we will continue with our overview of the alphabet. We will be covering letters Ii-Ll. We will also continue reading familiar fairy tales as well as some Aesop's Fables. We will begin studying the five senses in science. I have a fun book with some hands-on activities that I do with the children, ending with doing a taste test of salty, sweet, sour, and bitter items.
In math, we will begin studying numbers to 5. We will have some hands-on activities in class as well as begin our math book pages.
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. The children watch engaging interactive videos that go over these concepts.
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.
Next week, the week of 9/7. we will begin both homework and centers. We will not start sharing until our first five-day week, which is the following week (9/14). Homework will go home on 9/10. It will come home in a blue bag, and we will be reinforcing correct name-writing, which the children have been working on in class. Finally, centers will begin next week on Monday the 8th. I am working on the helper schedule and will have it out this week. If you signed up to help with centers on a Monday, be prepared to possibly come in on the 10th!
Upcoming Events:
9/1: No School: Labor Day
9/12: No School: Staff Development Day
9/19: Alta Vista Movie Night
9/24: September's Wacky Wednesday
10/25: Alta Vista Walkathon
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Week of 8/24
Dear Parents,
Apologies in advance for the long post, but I know that many of you are new parents to Alta Vista, and you will start to notice that I tend to err on the side of over-communication ;)
We had a great first week reading books from the "If You Give a...." series by Laura Numeroff, along with beginning our Language Arts workbook! Right now, our workbook pages are focusing on a quick overview of the alphabet—one letter a day, in alphabetical order. We familiarize ourselves with all the names of our classmates by looking for those letters in each person’s name. Of course, when we are done with the overview, we will begin a more intense study of each letter—a week per consonant/vowel, along with meeting that letter’s “Alphafriend.” The Alphafriends go along with our reading program and help the children remember letter sounds in a fun & catchy way.
We will also begin our math program this week. Our first unit is on shapes. At Back-to-School Night, I will be talking to you a bit more about the national "Common Core Standards" that are focusing on a more intense study of curriculum topics with higher level questioning. Though the topic of shapes sounds simple enough, with our common core standards, we will be talking about angles, sides and points, using higher level mathematical language.
In the next few weeks, we will be listening to familiar tales (Three Pigs, Jack & The Beanstalk, Three Billy Goats Gruff, etc.) and nursery rhymes. Hearing different versions of familiar tales and rhymes is a fun way to get children engaged in reading. Some families may own these traditional tales in another language. If you do, these may be fun for your child to bring in and share with the students.
During the past week, I have observed that some of the students will need to work on name-writing skills. One of our kindergarten standards is writing a name with one capital letter and the rest lower-case. We will begin practicing this in class by tracing our names on a worksheet, but I encourage you to reinforce this at home-- we try and drop the all-capital letter name writing as quickly as possible. The faster children can write their names correctly, the easier it is for them to get going on assignments, as we encourage them to write their names first. I appreciate your help with this.
In class, your child will be using a program called, "Handwriting without Tears." This is a wonderful program that really focuses on correct formation of letters along with correct pencil grip. It is so important to get in good habits (and in some cases, break bad habits) with handwriting early on. I will begin introducing the basics of this program by introducing a jazzy song called "We Start our Letters at the Top"--- and we will use it in conjunction with our letter program in language arts. When your child is learning about the letter "s," s/he will also be learning the correct formation of that letter.
Back-to-School Night is this Wednesday, starting at 6:45 in the cafeteria with a presentation from Alta Vista's Home & School Club. Following that presentation, I will begin my classroom presentation at about 7:15. This is a night for parents only, as I go over our curriculum and classroom policies. Please make every effort to attend so that you can be informed about the year ahead. I cover a lot of information that night in only 45 minutes, so afterwards, if you need more information on anything, please don’t hesitate to contact me. If you are unable to attend Back-to-School Night, please let me know so that I can set aside materials for you.
One item I will be covering during our meeting is the Consolidated Classroom Payment.
The CCP is a payment that each grade level at Alta Vista asks for at the beginning of each year. It is different than a donation to the Home & School Club, which goes to school-wide programs such as Art Vistas, Clay, etc. This payment goes directly to your child. Rather than asking for money and items every time we have an event, the kindergarten team has totaled up what our costs will be for the entire year. So instead of paying for your child's entrance fee each time we have a field trip, or running out to buy a pillow case when we have our Thanksgiving Feast (it's part of the costume), we ask for the money for these items up front. Then we go out and do the purchasing in bulk, saving you time and money. The CCP for kindergarten this year is $80. Please do whatever you can to make this payment, as it covers the costs of your own child's supplies and entrance fees and bus fees for field trips. Even if you can only make a partial payment at this time-- every little bit helps. If for some reason we don’t spend all of the money, it stays with your child and will go toward their first grade consolidated payment.
It is a lot easier to collect this payment at Back-to-School Night, so I’d appreciate it if you bring your checkbooks. Plus, there's a school-wide contest to see which class can get their CCP payments in first, and my class has won that contest for the past six years, earning a class pizza party! Let's try to keep the streak going! If this payment is a hardship, the Home & School Club does help supplement the CCP money for our grade level, so just let us know if you need a scholarship. Thank you in advance for your support with this payment—it helps us do a lot of projects and activities that would otherwise not be possible.
Some of you have asked for more details about classroom help. Please continue to sign up here: https://goo.gl/RPRs4v I will be going over all the volunteer opportunities as part of my presentation at Back-to-School Night. I will also put the center helper sign-ups back out that night. You will find out which days you are officially helping after I have a chance to look over all of the information, and make sure I have coverage for all the activities and days. Then, I put together a schedule, usually for an entire quarter, so that you know which days to schedule on your calendar in advance for classroom help. If you sign up to help at center time, we will begin centers the week of September 14th. Thank you to so many of you who signed up to help at the Orientation—we already have most of our activities covered! I know we do still need more center helpers, so I’ll hope for a few more volunteers at Back-to-School Night. Center time is a wonderful way to get involved in our classroom, get to know the children, and stay apprised of what we are learning.
For your upcoming scheduling: There is no school on Friday the 4th or Monday the 7th.
I am looking forward to another fun week with your children, and I am excited to meet and talk with you all Wednesday night!
Apologies in advance for the long post, but I know that many of you are new parents to Alta Vista, and you will start to notice that I tend to err on the side of over-communication ;)
We had a great first week reading books from the "If You Give a...." series by Laura Numeroff, along with beginning our Language Arts workbook! Right now, our workbook pages are focusing on a quick overview of the alphabet—one letter a day, in alphabetical order. We familiarize ourselves with all the names of our classmates by looking for those letters in each person’s name. Of course, when we are done with the overview, we will begin a more intense study of each letter—a week per consonant/vowel, along with meeting that letter’s “Alphafriend.” The Alphafriends go along with our reading program and help the children remember letter sounds in a fun & catchy way.
We will also begin our math program this week. Our first unit is on shapes. At Back-to-School Night, I will be talking to you a bit more about the national "Common Core Standards" that are focusing on a more intense study of curriculum topics with higher level questioning. Though the topic of shapes sounds simple enough, with our common core standards, we will be talking about angles, sides and points, using higher level mathematical language.
In the next few weeks, we will be listening to familiar tales (Three Pigs, Jack & The Beanstalk, Three Billy Goats Gruff, etc.) and nursery rhymes. Hearing different versions of familiar tales and rhymes is a fun way to get children engaged in reading. Some families may own these traditional tales in another language. If you do, these may be fun for your child to bring in and share with the students.
During the past week, I have observed that some of the students will need to work on name-writing skills. One of our kindergarten standards is writing a name with one capital letter and the rest lower-case. We will begin practicing this in class by tracing our names on a worksheet, but I encourage you to reinforce this at home-- we try and drop the all-capital letter name writing as quickly as possible. The faster children can write their names correctly, the easier it is for them to get going on assignments, as we encourage them to write their names first. I appreciate your help with this.
In class, your child will be using a program called, "Handwriting without Tears." This is a wonderful program that really focuses on correct formation of letters along with correct pencil grip. It is so important to get in good habits (and in some cases, break bad habits) with handwriting early on. I will begin introducing the basics of this program by introducing a jazzy song called "We Start our Letters at the Top"--- and we will use it in conjunction with our letter program in language arts. When your child is learning about the letter "s," s/he will also be learning the correct formation of that letter.
Back-to-School Night is this Wednesday, starting at 6:45 in the cafeteria with a presentation from Alta Vista's Home & School Club. Following that presentation, I will begin my classroom presentation at about 7:15. This is a night for parents only, as I go over our curriculum and classroom policies. Please make every effort to attend so that you can be informed about the year ahead. I cover a lot of information that night in only 45 minutes, so afterwards, if you need more information on anything, please don’t hesitate to contact me. If you are unable to attend Back-to-School Night, please let me know so that I can set aside materials for you.
One item I will be covering during our meeting is the Consolidated Classroom Payment.
The CCP is a payment that each grade level at Alta Vista asks for at the beginning of each year. It is different than a donation to the Home & School Club, which goes to school-wide programs such as Art Vistas, Clay, etc. This payment goes directly to your child. Rather than asking for money and items every time we have an event, the kindergarten team has totaled up what our costs will be for the entire year. So instead of paying for your child's entrance fee each time we have a field trip, or running out to buy a pillow case when we have our Thanksgiving Feast (it's part of the costume), we ask for the money for these items up front. Then we go out and do the purchasing in bulk, saving you time and money. The CCP for kindergarten this year is $80. Please do whatever you can to make this payment, as it covers the costs of your own child's supplies and entrance fees and bus fees for field trips. Even if you can only make a partial payment at this time-- every little bit helps. If for some reason we don’t spend all of the money, it stays with your child and will go toward their first grade consolidated payment.
It is a lot easier to collect this payment at Back-to-School Night, so I’d appreciate it if you bring your checkbooks. Plus, there's a school-wide contest to see which class can get their CCP payments in first, and my class has won that contest for the past six years, earning a class pizza party! Let's try to keep the streak going! If this payment is a hardship, the Home & School Club does help supplement the CCP money for our grade level, so just let us know if you need a scholarship. Thank you in advance for your support with this payment—it helps us do a lot of projects and activities that would otherwise not be possible.
Some of you have asked for more details about classroom help. Please continue to sign up here: https://goo.gl/RPRs4v I will be going over all the volunteer opportunities as part of my presentation at Back-to-School Night. I will also put the center helper sign-ups back out that night. You will find out which days you are officially helping after I have a chance to look over all of the information, and make sure I have coverage for all the activities and days. Then, I put together a schedule, usually for an entire quarter, so that you know which days to schedule on your calendar in advance for classroom help. If you sign up to help at center time, we will begin centers the week of September 14th. Thank you to so many of you who signed up to help at the Orientation—we already have most of our activities covered! I know we do still need more center helpers, so I’ll hope for a few more volunteers at Back-to-School Night. Center time is a wonderful way to get involved in our classroom, get to know the children, and stay apprised of what we are learning.
For your upcoming scheduling: There is no school on Friday the 4th or Monday the 7th.
I am looking forward to another fun week with your children, and I am excited to meet and talk with you all Wednesday night!
Monday, August 18, 2014
Welcome!
Dear Parents,
We'd like to welcome you and your children to our kindergarten class, and we were happy to meet so many of you at the orientation.
Our primary form of communication is via e-mail, so hopefully, you were able to provide an e-mail address to us at the orientation. If not, please make sure to do so between now and Back-to-School Night. We will send a few test e-mails between now and then, too, so look for those in your inbox.
The kindergarten daily schedules are:
Please mark your calendars and arrange babysitters for Back-to-School Night on Wednesday, August 27th. The schedule is as follows:
At the orientation, we provided you with the Alta Vista handbook, a computer print-out of the information the office has on file, and a "pick-ups & drop-offs" form. Please look over this handbook with your child (as appropriate). Please return the final page of this booklet as soon as possible. If you were unable to return your "office info" updated sheet today, please return that as well. There are signature areas on both sides of that form. Finally, I think many of you may have missed the "pick-ups & drop-offs" form, so I will have those available again tomorrow. If you could just fill that out & give me a rough idea of who to expect each day at the door, particularly for pick-ups at the end of the day, I'd appreciate it.
We are looking forward to an exciting year!
We'd like to welcome you and your children to our kindergarten class, and we were happy to meet so many of you at the orientation.
Our primary form of communication is via e-mail, so hopefully, you were able to provide an e-mail address to us at the orientation. If not, please make sure to do so between now and Back-to-School Night. We will send a few test e-mails between now and then, too, so look for those in your inbox.
The kindergarten daily schedules are:
- 8:05-11:25 AM Session
- 11:30-2:50 PM Session
- Please arrive on time and have your child ready to enter the classroom at the start time.
- Please say goodbye to your children at the door, rather than following them into the classroom and prolonging the goodbyes. We will both be there to comfort any children who need an extra hug!
- Pack a healthy snack for your child that includes a drink. If your child is attending day care either before or after kindergarten, it is a good idea to separate the snack items from the lunch items, as kindergartners often get confused and will eat all the food in one sitting!
- We do like your children to have a small backpack. Although it may often come home empty (except on Wednesdays!), we do have a project here and there that we send home during the week. Having a backpack gets the children in an early habit of taking responsibility for their things and putting them all in one place.
- All supplies are provided for your children, but we do appreciate donations of baby wipes, tissues, glue sticks, and Clorox/Sanitizing Wipes.
- The kindergarten parking lot will continue to be closed this year at 7:45 a.m. This is due to traffic congestion problems. Please plan on walking or parking on Westchester between the hours of 7:45 to 8:15 a.m. AND 2:15 to 3:00.
Please mark your calendars and arrange babysitters for Back-to-School Night on Wednesday, August 27th. The schedule is as follows:
- 6:00-6:45 AM Class Presentation in K2
- 6:45-7:15 Home & School Club Presentation in the Cafeteria
- 7:15-8:00 PM Class Presentation in K2
At the orientation, we provided you with the Alta Vista handbook, a computer print-out of the information the office has on file, and a "pick-ups & drop-offs" form. Please look over this handbook with your child (as appropriate). Please return the final page of this booklet as soon as possible. If you were unable to return your "office info" updated sheet today, please return that as well. There are signature areas on both sides of that form. Finally, I think many of you may have missed the "pick-ups & drop-offs" form, so I will have those available again tomorrow. If you could just fill that out & give me a rough idea of who to expect each day at the door, particularly for pick-ups at the end of the day, I'd appreciate it.
We are looking forward to an exciting year!
Friday, June 20, 2014
Summer 2014
We thank the students and parents from the kindergarten class of 2013-2014 for a wonderful year, and we look forward to meeting our new kindergartners of 2014-2015!
Kindergarten Orientation is Monday, August 18th, from 10:00 to 11:00 (a.m.) and 11:00 to 12:00 (p.m.)
Supplies that we usually ask for include glue sticks, tissues, #2 pencils, white board markers, and baby wipes. Check Back-to-School sales for these items-- we appreciate it!!
School begins on Tuesday, August 19, 2013-- morning session is 8:05 to 11:25 and the afternoon session is 11:30 to 2:50. Child care for both sessions is available at Champions (408) 356-3178 or Holy Cross (408) 356-6828.
You will receive a letter the week of August 11th stating whether your child will be in the morning or afternoon session. Due to fluctuation in enrollment, we cannot let you know before that time.
For kindergarten readiness, we highly recommend that your child comes into kindergarten:
If you have any other questions about our program, please feel free to e-mail us at: gristn@unionsd.org or sheikhm@unionsd.org
Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you in August!
Kindergarten Orientation is Monday, August 18th, from 10:00 to 11:00 (a.m.) and 11:00 to 12:00 (p.m.)
Supplies that we usually ask for include glue sticks, tissues, #2 pencils, white board markers, and baby wipes. Check Back-to-School sales for these items-- we appreciate it!!
School begins on Tuesday, August 19, 2013-- morning session is 8:05 to 11:25 and the afternoon session is 11:30 to 2:50. Child care for both sessions is available at Champions (408) 356-3178 or Holy Cross (408) 356-6828.
You will receive a letter the week of August 11th stating whether your child will be in the morning or afternoon session. Due to fluctuation in enrollment, we cannot let you know before that time.
For kindergarten readiness, we highly recommend that your child comes into kindergarten:
- recognizing most letters
- writing his/her name legibly, using one upper-case & the rest lower-case letters
- recognizing numbers to 10 & beyond
- knowing names of basic shapes
- having good cutting/scissor skills
- able to sit attentively for the duration of a picture book
If you have any other questions about our program, please feel free to e-mail us at: gristn@unionsd.org or sheikhm@unionsd.org
Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you in August!
Saturday, June 7, 2014
Week of 6/8
Dear Parents,
It's exciting and a little sad at the same time, but we are heading into our last week together. What a wonderful year it's been! I'd like to thank you for the fantastic support you've given me all year long.
Here is a day-by-day run-down of the week:
MONDAY: No special activities. School Spirit Day: Mustache Monday. Please send your child with a large bag or backpack to bring home their Art Vista portfolios.
TUESDAY: Promotion Ceremony in K2. Be prepared for a brief presentation from the children and a great walk down memory lane of our wonderful year together. Please plan on attending this event or sending another family member who can attend! This is a special time to share with your children. No snacks needed-- refreshments will be served.
WEDNESDAY: Olympic Day. This is a school-wide event. Please wear class t-shirts and appropriate footwear! Sunblock would also be a good idea, and hats, too. The event starts at 10:00 and goes on until noon. We will have snack time, so please send snacks on this day. Thank you to the parents who have volunteered to walk around with the class. I could use you all, or the Olympic Day stations can use you, too!
THURSDAY: All children in kindergarten on an early schedule (8:05-11:25), so we will have 44 children in the room! Children will clean the classroom, sign yearbooks, and participate in our annual "Alphafriend Song Marathon!" Please send a snack on this day if you think your child will get hungry.
Happy Summer!!!
It's exciting and a little sad at the same time, but we are heading into our last week together. What a wonderful year it's been! I'd like to thank you for the fantastic support you've given me all year long.
Here is a day-by-day run-down of the week:
MONDAY: No special activities. School Spirit Day: Mustache Monday. Please send your child with a large bag or backpack to bring home their Art Vista portfolios.
TUESDAY: Promotion Ceremony in K2. Be prepared for a brief presentation from the children and a great walk down memory lane of our wonderful year together. Please plan on attending this event or sending another family member who can attend! This is a special time to share with your children. No snacks needed-- refreshments will be served.
WEDNESDAY: Olympic Day. This is a school-wide event. Please wear class t-shirts and appropriate footwear! Sunblock would also be a good idea, and hats, too. The event starts at 10:00 and goes on until noon. We will have snack time, so please send snacks on this day. Thank you to the parents who have volunteered to walk around with the class. I could use you all, or the Olympic Day stations can use you, too!
THURSDAY: All children in kindergarten on an early schedule (8:05-11:25), so we will have 44 children in the room! Children will clean the classroom, sign yearbooks, and participate in our annual "Alphafriend Song Marathon!" Please send a snack on this day if you think your child will get hungry.
Happy Summer!!!
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Week of 6/1
Dear Parents,
With only 9 days to go in kindergarten, this post will mostly just remind you of upcoming special events, and this week is a week of a few more "lasts!"
It is the last week of sharing. In celebration of that fact, children may pick ANY share topic-- toy in a bag; book share; song, poem, or nursery rhyme; or homemade item.
Our last Wednesday envelope will go home this week. Please review the papers, and then keep the envelope-- no need to send it back again.
On Thursday the 5th, please come to the cafeteria any time between 5:30 and 8:00 to enjoy the Art Vista Art show. Every child in our class will have several pieces on display. The Art Vista art show is always a sight to behold-- such beautiful artwork from all the grade levels! It is truly impressive.
We have our water play day/class party coming up this Friday the 6th. We will have a pizza lunch, so no need to pack a snack, and some fun in the sun! Please send your children with a towel, a swimsuit under their clothes (or boys just wear their swimsuits as shorts) water shoes or flip flops or old shoes you don't mind having them get wet. We don't like them to go barefoot on the blacktop, so we need them to be wearing shoes that will work with the water. Please coat them in sunblock before their arrival, as sun block is most effective if applied about a half hour before the activity. Children who are going to daycare after class should have a change of clothes and shoes.
Our last big event (parental attendance strongly encouraged) together is next Tuesday the 10th for our Promotion Day celebration. This should wrap up before class is out, and then the kids can stay and sign yearbooks, etc. If you want them to leave early that day, please sign them out in the office. Please plan on joining us as we have a small presentation and will look back on our wonderful year together!
Wednesday the 11th, we do have a school-wide Olympic Day. So that the children can participate, the afternoon class will have another Wacky Wednesday that day. I could use a few parent helpers to walk around with us. Also, I know they are in need of parent helpers to run the various stations. Here's the link if you'd like to help at a station: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0848ACAD2CA02-olympic
There are no events on Thursday the 12th, but all kindergarten classes attend from 8:05 to 11:25. Both the morning class and the afternoon class will be in the room together, cleaning up, signing yearbooks, and wrapping up our year together.
In our final weeks, there will be a few opportunities to watch movies (class party, after Olympic Day, etc.) If your child has any Rated G movies that s/he would like to bring in to share, I'd appreciate it. We do not have a Blue-Ray player, just a DVD player (and VHS if anyone still has those lying around!) Please clearly mark the movies with your child's name.
Upcoming Events:
6/5: Art Vista's Art Show 5:30-8:00
6/6: Water Play Day & Class Party-- please have swimsuits & towels!
6/10: Kindergarten Promotion Ceremony-- 8:30 (a.m.) and 1:00 (p.m.)
6/11: June's Wacky Wednesday & Olympic Day
6/12: Last Day of School: all students come from 8:05-11:25
With only 9 days to go in kindergarten, this post will mostly just remind you of upcoming special events, and this week is a week of a few more "lasts!"
It is the last week of sharing. In celebration of that fact, children may pick ANY share topic-- toy in a bag; book share; song, poem, or nursery rhyme; or homemade item.
Our last Wednesday envelope will go home this week. Please review the papers, and then keep the envelope-- no need to send it back again.
On Thursday the 5th, please come to the cafeteria any time between 5:30 and 8:00 to enjoy the Art Vista Art show. Every child in our class will have several pieces on display. The Art Vista art show is always a sight to behold-- such beautiful artwork from all the grade levels! It is truly impressive.
Our last big event (parental attendance strongly encouraged) together is next Tuesday the 10th for our Promotion Day celebration. This should wrap up before class is out, and then the kids can stay and sign yearbooks, etc. If you want them to leave early that day, please sign them out in the office. Please plan on joining us as we have a small presentation and will look back on our wonderful year together!
In our final weeks, there will be a few opportunities to watch movies (class party, after Olympic Day, etc.) If your child has any Rated G movies that s/he would like to bring in to share, I'd appreciate it. We do not have a Blue-Ray player, just a DVD player (and VHS if anyone still has those lying around!) Please clearly mark the movies with your child's name.
Upcoming Events:
6/5: Art Vista's Art Show 5:30-8:00
6/6: Water Play Day & Class Party-- please have swimsuits & towels!
6/10: Kindergarten Promotion Ceremony-- 8:30 (a.m.) and 1:00 (p.m.)
6/11: June's Wacky Wednesday & Olympic Day
6/12: Last Day of School: all students come from 8:05-11:25
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Week of 5/25
Dear Parents,
I hope you are all enjoying this long weekend. We have a few fun things in the upcoming week, starting with a presentation on Tuesday from the Youth Science Institute (YSI) called "Life in the Pond." The children have been learning about pond life along with studying fish, worms, and pond snails, so this is an exciting culmination of our unit. Also, I hope many of our classroom helpers received their invitations and will be coming to the Volunteer Appreciation Tea on Wednesday the 28th. I want to thank all the classroom volunteers for their generous donation of time. Without you, centers, Art Vista, Cornerstone, Clay, computer lab, field trips, and SPARK P.E. would not be possible!
The sharing this week is book share. Bring in any book your child may have purchased at the book fair or any other book your child wants to share to get us excited about summer reading options. Children should be prepared to tell the title of the book and a little bit about what it's about. Also, a favorite page should be bookmarked to share. In class, we will continue our science unit on animals. The children have really enjoyed observing fish, guppies, red worms, and night crawlers so far. Our butterflies should be hatching soon-- hopefully not over the weekend! This week, we will be observing sow bugs and pill bugs. We will also wrap up our social studies units. We continue to do a lot of writing, and this week, we'll do a few pieces of writing for our memory books. We are also completing our Common Core supplemental math book. Right now, we are really hitting on addition and subtraction concepts. Addition & subtraction facts up to 5 (5-3, 4+1, 5-4, etc.) should be very innate at this point and should not require fingers or manipulatives.
"Virtual homework" continues this week. Please take about 15-20 minutes a day to have your child do either Lexia or ixl.com.
The Home & School Club is conducting a survey right now to get feedback on the various programs that they fund & support. Please take the time to do the survey-- it's a quick one-- so that they have the opinions of the majority of the school. The link is: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/AVHSC_2014_Survey
Next week, on Thursday the 5th, please come to the cafeteria in the evening (exact time will be posted soon!) to enjoy the Art Vista Art show. Every child in our class will have several pieces on display. The Art Vista art show is always a sight to behold-- such beautiful artwork from all the grade levels! It is truly impressive.
We have our water play day/class party coming up on Friday the 6th. We will have a pizza lunch and some fun in the sun! Please send your children with a towel, a swimsuit under their clothes (or boys just wear their swimsuits as shorts) water shoes or flip flops or old shoes you don't mind having them get wet. We don't like them to go barefoot on the blacktop, so we need them to be wearing shoes that will work with the water. Please coat them in sunblock before their arrival, as sun block is most effective if applied about a half hour before the activity. Children who are going to daycare after class should have a change of clothes and shoes.
Wednesday the 11th, we do have a school-wide Olympic Day. So that the children can participate, the afternoon class will have another Wacky Wednesday that day. I could use a few parent helpers to walk around with us. Also, I know they are in need of parent helpers to run the various stations. Here's the link if you'd like to help at a station: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0848ACAD2CA02-olympic
The afternoon class also has a Wacky Wednesday this week. Class runs from 10:00 to 1:20. Thank you.
Our last big event together is Tuesday the 10th for our Promotion Day celebration. Please plan on joining us as we have a small presentation and will look back on our wonderful year together! This should wrap up before class is out, and then the kids can stay and sign yearbooks, etc. If you want them to leave early that day, please sign them out in the office. Remember that this event is for immediate family only due to space limitations, as it is in our classroom. Also, school-aged siblings are not to be pulled out of class to attend. Thank you for your understanding.
There are no events on Thursday the 12th, but all kindergarten classes attend from 8:05 to 11:25. Both the morning class and the afternoon class will be in the room together, cleaning up, signing yearbooks, and wrapping up our year together.
In our final weeks, there will be a few opportunities to watch movies (class party, after Olympic Day, etc.) If your child has any Rated G movies that s/he would like to bring in to share, I'd appreciate it. We do not have a Blue-Ray player, just a DVD player (and VHS if anyone still has those lying around!) Please clearly mark the movies with your child's name.
Upcoming Events:
5/27: In-class presentation from YSI, "Life in the Pond"
5/28: May's Wacky Wednesday
6/5: Art Vista's Art Show 5:30-8:00
6/10: Kindergarten Promotion Ceremony-- 8:30 (a.m.) and 1:00 (p.m.)
6/11: June's Wacky Wednesday & Olympic Day
6/12: Last Day of School: all students come from 8:05-11:25
I hope you are all enjoying this long weekend. We have a few fun things in the upcoming week, starting with a presentation on Tuesday from the Youth Science Institute (YSI) called "Life in the Pond." The children have been learning about pond life along with studying fish, worms, and pond snails, so this is an exciting culmination of our unit. Also, I hope many of our classroom helpers received their invitations and will be coming to the Volunteer Appreciation Tea on Wednesday the 28th. I want to thank all the classroom volunteers for their generous donation of time. Without you, centers, Art Vista, Cornerstone, Clay, computer lab, field trips, and SPARK P.E. would not be possible!
The sharing this week is book share. Bring in any book your child may have purchased at the book fair or any other book your child wants to share to get us excited about summer reading options. Children should be prepared to tell the title of the book and a little bit about what it's about. Also, a favorite page should be bookmarked to share. In class, we will continue our science unit on animals. The children have really enjoyed observing fish, guppies, red worms, and night crawlers so far. Our butterflies should be hatching soon-- hopefully not over the weekend! This week, we will be observing sow bugs and pill bugs. We will also wrap up our social studies units. We continue to do a lot of writing, and this week, we'll do a few pieces of writing for our memory books. We are also completing our Common Core supplemental math book. Right now, we are really hitting on addition and subtraction concepts. Addition & subtraction facts up to 5 (5-3, 4+1, 5-4, etc.) should be very innate at this point and should not require fingers or manipulatives.
"Virtual homework" continues this week. Please take about 15-20 minutes a day to have your child do either Lexia or ixl.com.
The Home & School Club is conducting a survey right now to get feedback on the various programs that they fund & support. Please take the time to do the survey-- it's a quick one-- so that they have the opinions of the majority of the school. The link is: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/AVHSC_2014_Survey
Next week, on Thursday the 5th, please come to the cafeteria in the evening (exact time will be posted soon!) to enjoy the Art Vista Art show. Every child in our class will have several pieces on display. The Art Vista art show is always a sight to behold-- such beautiful artwork from all the grade levels! It is truly impressive.
We have our water play day/class party coming up on Friday the 6th. We will have a pizza lunch and some fun in the sun! Please send your children with a towel, a swimsuit under their clothes (or boys just wear their swimsuits as shorts) water shoes or flip flops or old shoes you don't mind having them get wet. We don't like them to go barefoot on the blacktop, so we need them to be wearing shoes that will work with the water. Please coat them in sunblock before their arrival, as sun block is most effective if applied about a half hour before the activity. Children who are going to daycare after class should have a change of clothes and shoes.
Wednesday the 11th, we do have a school-wide Olympic Day. So that the children can participate, the afternoon class will have another Wacky Wednesday that day. I could use a few parent helpers to walk around with us. Also, I know they are in need of parent helpers to run the various stations. Here's the link if you'd like to help at a station: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0848ACAD2CA02-olympic
The afternoon class also has a Wacky Wednesday this week. Class runs from 10:00 to 1:20. Thank you.
Our last big event together is Tuesday the 10th for our Promotion Day celebration. Please plan on joining us as we have a small presentation and will look back on our wonderful year together! This should wrap up before class is out, and then the kids can stay and sign yearbooks, etc. If you want them to leave early that day, please sign them out in the office. Remember that this event is for immediate family only due to space limitations, as it is in our classroom. Also, school-aged siblings are not to be pulled out of class to attend. Thank you for your understanding.
There are no events on Thursday the 12th, but all kindergarten classes attend from 8:05 to 11:25. Both the morning class and the afternoon class will be in the room together, cleaning up, signing yearbooks, and wrapping up our year together.
In our final weeks, there will be a few opportunities to watch movies (class party, after Olympic Day, etc.) If your child has any Rated G movies that s/he would like to bring in to share, I'd appreciate it. We do not have a Blue-Ray player, just a DVD player (and VHS if anyone still has those lying around!) Please clearly mark the movies with your child's name.
Upcoming Events:
5/27: In-class presentation from YSI, "Life in the Pond"
5/28: May's Wacky Wednesday
6/5: Art Vista's Art Show 5:30-8:00
6/10: Kindergarten Promotion Ceremony-- 8:30 (a.m.) and 1:00 (p.m.)
6/11: June's Wacky Wednesday & Olympic Day
6/12: Last Day of School: all students come from 8:05-11:25
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Week of 5/17
Dear Parents,
We have an exciting week ahead of us with Open House on Wednesday. The kids are very excited to show off their work and art projects, so please plan on coming-- the whole family is welcome! Open House is at 7:00 to 8:00, following a 6:30 Home & School Club meeting to approve the 2014-15 Home & School Club board.
We have another review week covering several consonants this week (Dd, Jj, Nn, Ww). All letters have now been introduced, so please work on practicing both writing and reading consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words. Your children should be able to read all of those types of words using their letter sounds and blending skills-- cut, bus, rat, sip, hot, etc. This is a really important skill to work on now and through the summer, as this is something your children will be expected to do proficiently in first grade. Books such as the leveled Scholastic Readers, Bob Books, I Can Read Books, and Ready to Read Books are great for reinforcing blending skills and practicing fluency. Please keep your children reading 20-30 minutes daily now and through the summer. Also, continue working on the sight words. They need to know all 40, and in first grade, the list increases to 100 words. That list can be found on the first grade page here: http://www.unionsd.org/cms/lib07/CA01001465/Centricity/Domain/97/100_Sight_Words.pdf: I can't emphasize enough that the best way to help your child become a successful reader is to offer plenty of opportunity for practice.
Speaking of plenty of practice-- the Alta Vista Book Fair is a great source for new books for your children, and it is open through this Thursday the 22nd. It will also be open during Open House, if you'd like to make purchases at that time. Stop by & check it out!
This is our last week of centers! I'd like to thank all of the volunteers for their commitment to coming in weekly to help us in the classroom. This was an amazing year for classroom help-- whenever somebody was unable to come in, someone else stepped right up as a sub. That small-group instruction time is so important, and without all of the helpers, it would not have been possible. Thank you, thank you!
The upcoming final 18 days (can you believe it??) will be devoted to reviewing concepts that we have learned in kindergarten. We will introduce our final two sight words, by and his. I have also been and will continue to be administering the final round of assessments to evaluate your children for the 3rd trimester report cards. Those report cards will come home with your children on the last day of school.
We are also continuing our animal unit in science. We studied our goldfish & guppies this past week, and next week, we will be looking at worms! We were excited to see most of our caterpillars go into chrysalids last Friday. The children are really enjoying this hands-on opportunity to take a closer look at several different species.
Please send in your Blue Bags tomorrow. You will no longer see the Blue Bags! Please use the extra time in the upcoming weeks to do "virtual homework assignments." I would like to see the children spending at least 15 minutes a day on either Lexia or ixl.com for the next few weeks. I have not confirmed whether or not Lexia will be available through the summer, so please make use of it in these final weeks while you still definitely have access to it. The ixl.com membership is only for 30 days-- please take advantage of it. I would also encourage using the extra time to read, read, read!
Upcoming Events:
5/21: Open House 7:00-8:00
5/27: In-class presentation from YSI, "Life in the Pond"
5/28: May's Wacky Wednesday
6/5: Art Vista's Art Show 5:30-8:00
6/10: Kindergarten Promotion Ceremony-- 8:30 (a.m.) and 1:00 (p.m.)
6/11: June's Wacky Wednesday & Olympic Day
6/12: Last Day of School: all students come from 8:05-11:25
We have an exciting week ahead of us with Open House on Wednesday. The kids are very excited to show off their work and art projects, so please plan on coming-- the whole family is welcome! Open House is at 7:00 to 8:00, following a 6:30 Home & School Club meeting to approve the 2014-15 Home & School Club board.
We have another review week covering several consonants this week (Dd, Jj, Nn, Ww). All letters have now been introduced, so please work on practicing both writing and reading consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words. Your children should be able to read all of those types of words using their letter sounds and blending skills-- cut, bus, rat, sip, hot, etc. This is a really important skill to work on now and through the summer, as this is something your children will be expected to do proficiently in first grade. Books such as the leveled Scholastic Readers, Bob Books, I Can Read Books, and Ready to Read Books are great for reinforcing blending skills and practicing fluency. Please keep your children reading 20-30 minutes daily now and through the summer. Also, continue working on the sight words. They need to know all 40, and in first grade, the list increases to 100 words. That list can be found on the first grade page here: http://www.unionsd.org/cms/lib07/CA01001465/Centricity/Domain/97/100_Sight_Words.pdf: I can't emphasize enough that the best way to help your child become a successful reader is to offer plenty of opportunity for practice.
Speaking of plenty of practice-- the Alta Vista Book Fair is a great source for new books for your children, and it is open through this Thursday the 22nd. It will also be open during Open House, if you'd like to make purchases at that time. Stop by & check it out!
This is our last week of centers! I'd like to thank all of the volunteers for their commitment to coming in weekly to help us in the classroom. This was an amazing year for classroom help-- whenever somebody was unable to come in, someone else stepped right up as a sub. That small-group instruction time is so important, and without all of the helpers, it would not have been possible. Thank you, thank you!
The upcoming final 18 days (can you believe it??) will be devoted to reviewing concepts that we have learned in kindergarten. We will introduce our final two sight words, by and his. I have also been and will continue to be administering the final round of assessments to evaluate your children for the 3rd trimester report cards. Those report cards will come home with your children on the last day of school.
We are also continuing our animal unit in science. We studied our goldfish & guppies this past week, and next week, we will be looking at worms! We were excited to see most of our caterpillars go into chrysalids last Friday. The children are really enjoying this hands-on opportunity to take a closer look at several different species.
Please send in your Blue Bags tomorrow. You will no longer see the Blue Bags! Please use the extra time in the upcoming weeks to do "virtual homework assignments." I would like to see the children spending at least 15 minutes a day on either Lexia or ixl.com for the next few weeks. I have not confirmed whether or not Lexia will be available through the summer, so please make use of it in these final weeks while you still definitely have access to it. The ixl.com membership is only for 30 days-- please take advantage of it. I would also encourage using the extra time to read, read, read!
Upcoming Events:
5/21: Open House 7:00-8:00
5/27: In-class presentation from YSI, "Life in the Pond"
5/28: May's Wacky Wednesday
6/5: Art Vista's Art Show 5:30-8:00
6/10: Kindergarten Promotion Ceremony-- 8:30 (a.m.) and 1:00 (p.m.)
6/11: June's Wacky Wednesday & Olympic Day
6/12: Last Day of School: all students come from 8:05-11:25
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Week of 5/11
Dear Parents,
First of all, I'd like to thank everyone for the wonderful Teacher Appreciation Week. From the beautiful flowers to the touching notes-- thank you so much for your thoughtfulness and for entrusting me with your wonderful children. Thank you also to all the moms (and a few dads!) for coming on Friday. The children were so excited to have you there for our Mother's Day event, and it was wonderful that each child had someone to honor. I hope all the moms enjoy their day Sunday.
We have now introduced all of the consonants & vowels. This week (and all the rest of the weeks this school year) will be a review week. We will be reviewing the letters Bb, Cc, Ll, but we do have two new sight words-- he & as. In math, we will wrap up our unit on weight & capacity. Then, for the final weeks of the school year, we will return to addition and subtraction review.
In science, we are continuing our unit on the life cycle of a butterfly. We are watching our caterpillars and awaiting the chrysalis stage! We also got some land snails, pond snails, and goldfish & guppies in our classroom last week for our final science unit on animals. We began observing the snails last week and will continue our animal observations this week.
We are busily preparing for Open House, on the night of May 21st. We will have much on display in our room that night, and the kids are very excited to show off their work. Please plan on attending with your child! There is a Home & School club meeting that evening in the cafeteria at 6:30, followed by the classrooms being open between 7:00 and 8:00. Stop by any time during that hour to have your child show off all of his/her projects to you!
Our sharing this week is Letter of the Week: Bb, Cc, or Ll. Have your child bring in something that starts with Bb, Cc, or Ll. They can hide it in a bag and write clues. Great job recently to so many of the kids for writing their own clues!
Please send in your Blue Bags tomorrow!
Upcoming Events:
5/21: Open House 7:00-8:00
5/27: In-class presentation from YSI, "Life in the Pond"
5/28: May's Wacky Wednesday
6/5: Art Vista's Art Show 5:30-8:00
6/10: Kindergarten Promotion Ceremony-- Mark your Calendars!
6/11: June's Wacky Wednesday & Olympic Day
6/12: Last Day of School: all students come from 8:05-11:25
First of all, I'd like to thank everyone for the wonderful Teacher Appreciation Week. From the beautiful flowers to the touching notes-- thank you so much for your thoughtfulness and for entrusting me with your wonderful children. Thank you also to all the moms (and a few dads!) for coming on Friday. The children were so excited to have you there for our Mother's Day event, and it was wonderful that each child had someone to honor. I hope all the moms enjoy their day Sunday.
In science, we are continuing our unit on the life cycle of a butterfly. We are watching our caterpillars and awaiting the chrysalis stage! We also got some land snails, pond snails, and goldfish & guppies in our classroom last week for our final science unit on animals. We began observing the snails last week and will continue our animal observations this week.
We are busily preparing for Open House, on the night of May 21st. We will have much on display in our room that night, and the kids are very excited to show off their work. Please plan on attending with your child! There is a Home & School club meeting that evening in the cafeteria at 6:30, followed by the classrooms being open between 7:00 and 8:00. Stop by any time during that hour to have your child show off all of his/her projects to you!
Our sharing this week is Letter of the Week: Bb, Cc, or Ll. Have your child bring in something that starts with Bb, Cc, or Ll. They can hide it in a bag and write clues. Great job recently to so many of the kids for writing their own clues!
Please send in your Blue Bags tomorrow!
Upcoming Events:
5/21: Open House 7:00-8:00
5/27: In-class presentation from YSI, "Life in the Pond"
5/28: May's Wacky Wednesday
6/5: Art Vista's Art Show 5:30-8:00
6/10: Kindergarten Promotion Ceremony-- Mark your Calendars!
6/11: June's Wacky Wednesday & Olympic Day
6/12: Last Day of School: all students come from 8:05-11:25
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Week of 5/4
Dear Parents,
Our Cinco de Mayo dance will be this Monday, May 5th, at 11:15 a.m. Please arrive on time so that you don't miss it! All four kindergarten classes are involved in this dance, so parking may be tricky. The afternoon class should probably arrive even slightly beforehand so that they are ready to dance by 11:20. We have some costume items to hand out, so please arrive on time with that in mind. If your children have any festive, bright dresses or bright colorful tops and pants, those always make the scene even more vibrant. Remember that if work constraints only allow you occasional days off that we would prefer that you are present for the Muffins with Mom event next Friday the 9th. I am looking forward to celebrating with all the moms or other "representatives" at 8:30 for the morning class, and at 2:00 for the afternoon class. We have a short presentation of a mini-play and a few songs, and then you can enjoy some treats with your child. This is an event the kindergartners always look forward to sharing with their moms/someone special, so please try to have someone come. Thank you!
We are now getting to that time in the school year where there are several events each week, so please keep your calendar updated & come and enjoy all the school has to offer! This week, in addition to the Cinco de Mayo dance and Muffins with Mom, we also have a great school-wide event. Fantasy Faire is this Friday, May 9th. This is a super fun school-wide carnival that your child will not want to miss. I also really encourage you to participate in the cake-making competition that morning (cakes must be submitted by 8:15, so bring yours early if you are in the afternoon class). It is really fun to participate, and the cakes are so amazing! Don't be intimidated-- this is definitely a child-friendly competition :) Finally, the Fantasy Fair still needs a lot of help. Please check out the online sign-up to offer your assistance: http://cosmith.ivolunteer.com/faire_001
This week, we introduce our final two letters. The consonant is Jj and the Alphafriend is Jumping Jill. Our final vowel is Uu, and the Alphafriend is Umbie Umbrella. We will also have a new word, are. We are also beginning our math topic on weight, volume, and capacity. Similar to the measuring unit, children will need to identify which container holds more/less, which container would be appropriate given the item it needs to hold, etc. While doing last week's unit on numbers to 100, many children struggled with writing numbers in a sequence from a random starting point. We had papers that had, for example, 66, 67, ____, ____.... Filling in these blanks was quite difficult for some students. Continue reviewing numbers and number sequences with your children.
The sharing this week is book share. Please send your child with a favorite book. Please have him/her be prepared to tell the class the title of the book, a bit about what it's about, and show a favorite page.
In science, we are beginning our unit on the life cycle of a butterfly. We will have some real caterpillars arrive in class this week, and we will watch the metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly. This is a very exciting unit for the children.
We are busily preparing for Open House, on the night of May 21st. We will have much on display in our room that night, and the kids are very excited to show off their work. Please plan on attending with your child!
Please send in your Blue Bags tomorrow-- there are only two weeks left of homework!
For your future planning-- please review all dates in the "Upcoming Events" section below. Critical dates (where I'd really like a parent to try to come) are: Muffins with Mom (this Friday), Open House (May 21st), and the Promotion Ceremony (June 10th). The Promotion Ceremony is our big last "hurrah" together, where we look back on our year & celebrate the children. Also, please be aware that the last day of school, Thursday the 12th, all K classes are on a MORNING schedule (8:05 to 11:25)-- there are no celebrations or parties as we will have 46 kids in the classroom and don't have room for any extra bodies!
Upcoming Events:
5/5: Cinco de Mayo Dance @ 11:15
5/9: Mother's Day Celebration: 8:30 (a.m.) & 2:00 (p.m.)
5/9: Alta Vista's Fantasy Faire 5:00-8:30 pm
5/21: Open House
5/27: In-class presentation from YSI, "Life in the Pond"
5/28: May's Wacky Wednesday
6/5: Art Vista's Art Show 5:30-8:00
6/10: Kindergarten Promotion Ceremony-- Mark your Calendars!
6/11: June's Wacky Wednesday & Olympic Day
6/12: Last Day of School: all students come from 8:05-11:25
Our Cinco de Mayo dance will be this Monday, May 5th, at 11:15 a.m. Please arrive on time so that you don't miss it! All four kindergarten classes are involved in this dance, so parking may be tricky. The afternoon class should probably arrive even slightly beforehand so that they are ready to dance by 11:20. We have some costume items to hand out, so please arrive on time with that in mind. If your children have any festive, bright dresses or bright colorful tops and pants, those always make the scene even more vibrant. Remember that if work constraints only allow you occasional days off that we would prefer that you are present for the Muffins with Mom event next Friday the 9th. I am looking forward to celebrating with all the moms or other "representatives" at 8:30 for the morning class, and at 2:00 for the afternoon class. We have a short presentation of a mini-play and a few songs, and then you can enjoy some treats with your child. This is an event the kindergartners always look forward to sharing with their moms/someone special, so please try to have someone come. Thank you!
The sharing this week is book share. Please send your child with a favorite book. Please have him/her be prepared to tell the class the title of the book, a bit about what it's about, and show a favorite page.
In science, we are beginning our unit on the life cycle of a butterfly. We will have some real caterpillars arrive in class this week, and we will watch the metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly. This is a very exciting unit for the children.
We are busily preparing for Open House, on the night of May 21st. We will have much on display in our room that night, and the kids are very excited to show off their work. Please plan on attending with your child!
Please send in your Blue Bags tomorrow-- there are only two weeks left of homework!
For your future planning-- please review all dates in the "Upcoming Events" section below. Critical dates (where I'd really like a parent to try to come) are: Muffins with Mom (this Friday), Open House (May 21st), and the Promotion Ceremony (June 10th). The Promotion Ceremony is our big last "hurrah" together, where we look back on our year & celebrate the children. Also, please be aware that the last day of school, Thursday the 12th, all K classes are on a MORNING schedule (8:05 to 11:25)-- there are no celebrations or parties as we will have 46 kids in the classroom and don't have room for any extra bodies!
Upcoming Events:
5/5: Cinco de Mayo Dance @ 11:15
5/9: Mother's Day Celebration: 8:30 (a.m.) & 2:00 (p.m.)
5/9: Alta Vista's Fantasy Faire 5:00-8:30 pm
5/21: Open House
5/27: In-class presentation from YSI, "Life in the Pond"
5/28: May's Wacky Wednesday
6/5: Art Vista's Art Show 5:30-8:00
6/10: Kindergarten Promotion Ceremony-- Mark your Calendars!
6/11: June's Wacky Wednesday & Olympic Day
6/12: Last Day of School: all students come from 8:05-11:25
Saturday, April 26, 2014
Week of 4/27
Dear Parents,
This week, we have another review week with letters. We only have one consonant and one vowel left to formally introduce, so we will have many review weeks ahead of us. We will be reviewing both w and y, as those are more difficult sounds which are often confused. Our sight words are if and was.
In math, we are still looking at numbers to 100. This week, we will be completing number sequences starting at a random number. For example, children will write the missing numbers in 22, 23, ___, ___, 26, 27, _____, _____, etc. Children will also color in a 100 chart with clues given such as, "Color the number that is 2 less than 32." At the end, the picture should be of something recognizable. Familiarity with numbers to 100 is essential at this point in the year.
We wrapped up the science unit with the wonderful "box structures" that were sent home last Thursday! Children loved recycling boxes and creating something else with them. It was a perfect tie-in with Earth Day last Tuesday.
Sharing this week is Song, Poem, or Nursery Rhyme. Children should come prepared to recite a poem or sing a song to the class. Songs and poems in other languages that your child may know are always welcome and encouraged.
The afternoon class has a Wacky Wednesday this Wednesday the 30th. Class runs from 10:00 to 1:20.
Our Cinco de Mayo dance will be next Monday, May 5th, at 11:15 a.m. Please arrive on time so that you don't miss it! All four kindergarten classes are involved in this dance, so parking may be tricky. If your children have any festive, bright dresses or bright colorful tops and pants, those always make the scene even more vibrant. Remember that if work constraints only allow you occasional days off that we would prefer that you are present for the Muffins with Mom event next Friday the 9th. If you cannot come, please consider sending a grandma, aunt, good friend, etc. Thank you!
I'd also like to encourage you all to come to the Fantasy Faire next Friday the 9th. Fantasy Faire is a big favorite of the kids-- a fun carnival with game booths and inflatables, as well as entertainers such as a fortune teller and balloon twister. It starts at 5:00 and runs until 8:30. Your kids will not want to miss it! Additionally, I would love to see our kindergartners participating in the cake decorating contest that morning. It is so fun to see all the creativity with cake decorating, and the kindergartners love to show off their cakes! Cakes do have to be dropped off in the morning (by 8:15) to be part of the judging, but it is really fun to participate. The cakes that are created then get donated to the cake walk.
We are currently circulating our final class book, the "Baby Guessing Book." It is really important when you get this book to please make sure you turn it right back around and send it to the classroom the next day. We will not get through all the children in the class if this book gets forgotten a lot. Thank you for your help with this! Please also remember your blue bags tomorrow :)
Upcoming Events:
4/30: April's Wacky Wednesday
5/5: Cinco de Mayo Dance
5/9: Mother's Day Celebration: Moms-- Mark your Calendars!
5/9: Alta Vista's Fantasy Faire 5:00-8:30 pm
5/21: Open House
5/27: In-class presentation from YSI, "Life in the Pond"
5/28: May's Wacky Wednesday
6/10: Kindergarten Promotion Ceremony-- Mark your Calendars!
6/11: June's Wacky Wednesday & Olympic Day
6/12: Last Day of School
In math, we are still looking at numbers to 100. This week, we will be completing number sequences starting at a random number. For example, children will write the missing numbers in 22, 23, ___, ___, 26, 27, _____, _____, etc. Children will also color in a 100 chart with clues given such as, "Color the number that is 2 less than 32." At the end, the picture should be of something recognizable. Familiarity with numbers to 100 is essential at this point in the year.
We wrapped up the science unit with the wonderful "box structures" that were sent home last Thursday! Children loved recycling boxes and creating something else with them. It was a perfect tie-in with Earth Day last Tuesday.
Sharing this week is Song, Poem, or Nursery Rhyme. Children should come prepared to recite a poem or sing a song to the class. Songs and poems in other languages that your child may know are always welcome and encouraged.
The afternoon class has a Wacky Wednesday this Wednesday the 30th. Class runs from 10:00 to 1:20.
Our Cinco de Mayo dance will be next Monday, May 5th, at 11:15 a.m. Please arrive on time so that you don't miss it! All four kindergarten classes are involved in this dance, so parking may be tricky. If your children have any festive, bright dresses or bright colorful tops and pants, those always make the scene even more vibrant. Remember that if work constraints only allow you occasional days off that we would prefer that you are present for the Muffins with Mom event next Friday the 9th. If you cannot come, please consider sending a grandma, aunt, good friend, etc. Thank you!
I'd also like to encourage you all to come to the Fantasy Faire next Friday the 9th. Fantasy Faire is a big favorite of the kids-- a fun carnival with game booths and inflatables, as well as entertainers such as a fortune teller and balloon twister. It starts at 5:00 and runs until 8:30. Your kids will not want to miss it! Additionally, I would love to see our kindergartners participating in the cake decorating contest that morning. It is so fun to see all the creativity with cake decorating, and the kindergartners love to show off their cakes! Cakes do have to be dropped off in the morning (by 8:15) to be part of the judging, but it is really fun to participate. The cakes that are created then get donated to the cake walk.
We are currently circulating our final class book, the "Baby Guessing Book." It is really important when you get this book to please make sure you turn it right back around and send it to the classroom the next day. We will not get through all the children in the class if this book gets forgotten a lot. Thank you for your help with this! Please also remember your blue bags tomorrow :)
Upcoming Events:
4/30: April's Wacky Wednesday
5/5: Cinco de Mayo Dance
5/9: Mother's Day Celebration: Moms-- Mark your Calendars!
5/9: Alta Vista's Fantasy Faire 5:00-8:30 pm
5/21: Open House
5/27: In-class presentation from YSI, "Life in the Pond"
5/28: May's Wacky Wednesday
6/10: Kindergarten Promotion Ceremony-- Mark your Calendars!
6/11: June's Wacky Wednesday & Olympic Day
6/12: Last Day of School