Week of 11/1

Dear Parents,

I hope you are all enjoying a fun Halloween weekend 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!

Also, if you were not able to send in your child's Wednesday envelope last Thursday (it was kind of a crazy day!), please send it on Monday.

Language Arts
We get back to centers this week, for the next three weeks. Yea! Please check the schedule at the bottom of this post to see if you are helping. The letter this week is Bb and the Alphafriend is Benny Bear. There are two new sight words this week: like and can. 

We will be focusing on the season of Fall this week in our writing and our art projects. Children will be writing and reading about Fall things. We will create scarecrows, Indian corn, and owls in our art.

Sharing this week will be a special topic: Solid Shape Sharing. Children should bring something shaped like one of the solid shapes we've been studying: cube, cone, cylinder or sphere. They can hide it in a bag and have clues. Then they should be prepared to tell what shape the item is when they reveal it (if they didn't have the shape as part of their clues). This will help them become more familiar with these shape vocabulary words.

Math
In math this week, and for the next three weeks up to Thanksgiving, we will be having review weeks. We will be focusing on the shapes (both flat and solid) and we will review composing and decomposing numbers to 10. We will play games and really get a handle on these concepts.

Science & Social Studies
You may have noticed that your child is bringing home a little newspaper called "Scholastic News." These weekly newspapers cover a variety of science and social studies topics in a fun way. Additionally, there is an online link to these articles that feature movies and additional information that we will be showing in class. This is a fun way to keep up on current events and topics that are interesting to kindergartners.

Upcoming Events
As you know, our next big event is the Friendship Feast on November 20th. Children will dress as Pilgrims and Native Americans and come together with their friends in K1 to sing a few songs and share some food. In this week's Wednesday envelope, you will find a sign-up form for the food and help at that event.  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!

The 20th is also the day that the report card is sent home. Hopefully, I'll see you at the Feast to hand that to you. Otherwise, it will be in your child's backpack.

This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: Centers (Hiromi & Maria), Sharing
Tuesday: Centers (Lizl & Gwenny), PE with Coach Jose, Sharing
Wednesday: Computers (Duan or Thanh-Nhan), Sharing, Blue Bags go home
Thursday: Centers (Jill & Mahadevi), Sharing
Friday: Story Time with Grandma Gail, Sharing

Upcoming Events
11/11: No School: Veteran's Day
11/20: Friendship Feast @ 10:15
11/23-11/27: No School: Thanksgiving Break
12/16: Nutcracker "Hat Party" at 1:20
12/18: Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00

Week of 10/25

Dear Parents,

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 child's education. 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 Halloween. However, on Thursday, we do have special Halloween-themed centers that we'd love to have some help with. Please email me or Jill Brehmer if you can come on Thursday to help. There is also a sign-up next to the front door (redwood tree side) that has items we need for the party. Please check that out to see if there is something you could supply.

Language Arts
Due to the shortened week this week, we won't be introducing a new letter. We will continue to review the letters we've introduced so far: Ss, Mm, Rr, and Tt. There will also be no new sight words, and we will review I, see, in, it, and my.

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 beginning to do 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!

Homework
Blue bags will not go home this week so that you can enjoy a homework-free long Halloween weekend.  Have fun and stay safe!

Halloween
On Thursday, the Halloween parade will begin at 8:15. All Kindergarten children should arrive dressed up in their Halloween costumes. If the costume has a weapon with it (pirate sword, Star Wars lightsaber, etc.) please leave those at home.  No gory costumes/fake blood allowed either, although that's not usually a problem in kindergarten :)  The party will begin at about 9:00.  Parents are welcome to attend. There is no need to pack any food for your child on Thursday-- pizza lunch will be provided due to our class having 100% participation in the Consolidated Classroom Payment. Thanks everyone!

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 20th, 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 Pilgrims  and the children in K1 will be dressed as Native Americans.  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!

This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: Return Blue Bags (Jillian), Sharing
Tuesday: Sharing
Wednesday: Computers (Lawrence), Sharing, Blue Bags go home
Thursday: Halloween Parade, Halloween Centers (whoever can come!), Sharing
Friday: NO SCHOOL: Staff Development Day

Upcoming Events
10/19-10/27: Parent-Teacher Conferences
10/29: Kindergarten Halloween Parade & Celebration
10/30: No School: Staff Development Day
11/11: No School: Veteran's Day
11/20: Friendship Feast @ 10:15
11/23-11/27: No School: Thanksgiving Break
12/18: Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00

Week of 10/18

Dear Parents,

It was GREAT to see so many of you Saturday at the walk-a-thon! Our ENTIRE class signed up, 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!  On Monday, 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 at the walkathon, it runs through Thursday of this week, closing at 1:30 on the 23rd.  Check it out!

Here's what's going on in the classroom this week:

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 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!

Art Vistas & Clay
We have our first lessons this week from both these programs. These programs are some of the great enrichment programs at our school that fundraising events like the walkathon help fund.  The Art Vista lesson will be on Wednesday, and we'll be talking about trains. Children will look at famous paintings of trains and study different aspects of these prints, such as line and color. Afterward, children will get to create trains of their own. Extra hands are always appreciated. The art lesson will begin at around 10:00. The clay lesson will be on Thursday. Children will get to work with clay to make a special project that they will also glaze at a separate time. Again, I'm sure that the clay leads would love extra hands to help set up, work with the children, and clean up. I believe they are starting at around 8:15. Please email me if you can help.

Math
We will begin 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
I am looking forward to meeting with each of you beginning Monday for your child's conference. All conferences will be held in the office conference room, except for the 7:30 am time slot, which will be held in the classroom. The conference room is located in the main office, 2nd door to the right after you walk through the swinging half-door.  To confirm your conference time, please click here: https://goo.gl/nFbxE7 Please note that you can no longer edit this form. If you need to change your conference time, please email me.

Halloween
Despite the fact that the rest of the school is celebrating Halloween on Wednesday, kindergarten is celebrating Halloween on Thursday the 29th. The a.m. parade will begin at 8:15, and our party will begin at about 9:00. More information about signing up to send in items or helping will be coming out soon!

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 20th, at 10:00, 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 Pilgrims, and the children in K1 will be dressed as Native Americans.  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!

Please send in your child's blue bag tomorrow, homework folder inside.

This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: Return Blue Bags (Jillian), Centers (Johanna & Nancy), Sharing
Tuesday: Clay (Lizl, Jill, and ????), P.E. with Coach Jose, Sharing
Wednesday: Art Vistas (Lizl, Kim, Amorette, and ????), Sharing, Blue Bags go home
Thursday: No Centers (conferences), Sharing
Friday: Story time with Grandma Gail, Sharing

Upcoming Events
10/19-10/27: Parent-Teacher Conferences
10/29: Kindergarten Halloween Parade & Celebration
10/30: No School: Staff Development Day
11/11: No School: Veteran's Day
11/20: Friendship Feast @ 10:15
11/23-11/27: No School: Thanksgiving Break
12/18: Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00

Week of 10/11

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 $40 by Wednesday) 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 lap 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 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 (for the big kids) 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!

Language Arts
This week's letter is Rr. The Alphafriend is Reggie Rooster. We have two new high frequency words, in and it. 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 two sentences 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 are wrapping up our math topic on composing and decomposing numbers to 10, and will begin the topic on 2-Dimensional and 3-Dimensional shapes next week.  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.

Science
We are also wrapping up our unit on Trees & Leaves this week. Tomorrow, we will be studying "what comes from trees." If you have a fruit-bearing tree, or a tree with interesting seed pods, pine cones, etc., please send in a small bag with item(s) from those trees. The children will be sorting the different items tomorrow at center time, and it's nice to have a variety of different things to show the kids.

Sharing
We will continue doing "letter of the week" sharing, as the kids are really enjoying it. This week, share something that starts with Rr. As a reminder, please have written clues prepared for your child in case they forget what they planned to say. This allows me to prompt them as needed. Thank you!

Field Trip
We had a great time at the performance of Peter Rabbit. When I asked the children what their favorite part of the play was the next day, I got many different answers, showing that they were very attentive. I think most kids really enjoyed the show.

Upcoming
Conferences: Thanks to everyone for scheduling your conferences with me so quickly.  If you need a reminder about when your conference is, please click here: https://goo.gl/nFbxE7 Please note that you can no longer edit this form. If you need to change your conference time, please email me.

Halloween: Just a reminder that kindergarten will celebrate Halloween on Thursday the 29th. The am kindergarten parade will be at 8:15. The party will begin at approximately 9:00.

Thanksgiving Feast: I have purchased pillow cases for our upcoming Thanksgiving Feast.  These will be turned into Pilgrim costumes with some simple cutting.  Now, I 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.  I will send home pillowcases and a sample shirt for you to replicate.  I also have aprons that need to be cut.  You will need a pair of pinking shears (zigzag scissors) for this project.  Please let me know if you do not have a pair-- I have an extra pair myself that I can loan out.  I will not need the pillowcases back until a few days before the Feast (11/20).  Please let me know if you can help!

Please send in your child's blue bag tomorrow, homework folder inside.

This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: Return Blue Bags (Jillian), Centers (Camille & Hiromi), Sharing
Tuesday: Centers (Lizl & Tanya), Sharing
Wednesday: Computers (Lawrence), Sharing, Blue Bags go home
Thursday: Centers (Jill & Pantea), Sharing
Friday: Story time with Grandma Gail, SPARK P.E. (Johanna), Sharing
Saturday: WALK-A-THON!!!

Upcoming Events
10/17: Walkathon
10/19-10/27: Parent-Teacher Conferences
10/29: Kindergarten Halloween Parade & Celebration
10/30: No School: Staff Development Day
11/11: No School: Veteran's Day
11/20: Friendship Feast @ 10:15
11/23-11/27: No School: Thanksgiving Break
12/18: Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00

Week of 10/4

Dear Parents,

We are excited for our first field trip this Thursday! We will be going to the California Theater Center to see a live performance of Peter Rabbit. We will travel by bus and leave shortly after arriving at school. We will return in time for dismissal at 11:25.

In class this week, we will be focusing on the letter Mm. We will also have a new sight word, see. We will continue our science unit on trees and leaves. Thank you for sending in such a great variety of leaves last week! The children will do one more activity with those leaves this week.

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. If your child normally shares on Thursday, this week s/he can share any other day of the week due to the field trip on Thursday.

We are doing very well with our walkathon sign-ups!  Keep on registering and soliciting sponsors for 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 17th!  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.

I also wanted to give you an update on Halloween. While the rest of the school (grades 1-5) will be celebrating Halloween on Wednesday the 28th, kindergarten will NOT celebrate on that day. Our parade and celebration will be on Thursday the 29th due to the fact that the 28th is a Wacky Wednesday, and it would be too hard for us to organize a party with 48 children involved. Our AM parade will be right at the start of the day on the kindergarten playground, at approximately 8:15, followed by Halloween-themed centers that will begin at approximately 9:00. Food will be served toward the end of the day (10:30ish). Looking forward to lots of Halloween fun on the 29th!

Blue bags, with homework folders inside are due tomorrow.  Thanks for being so great about returning the Blue Bags each week on time.

This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: Return Blue Bags (Jillian), Centers (Amorette & Johanna), Sharing
Tuesday: Centers (Lizl & Gwenny), Sharing, PE with Coach Jose
Wednesday: Computers (Conrad), Sharing, Blue Bags go home
Thursday: Field Trip to CA Theater Center (Stephanie)
Friday: Sharing

Upcoming Events
10/08: Field Trip to California Theatre Center
10/17: Walkathon
10/19-10/27: Parent-Teacher Conferences
10/29: Kindergarten Halloween Parade & Celebration
10/30: No School: Staff Development Day
11/11: No School: Veteran's Day
11/20: Friendship Feast @ 10:15
11/23-11/27: No School: Thanksgiving Break
12/18: Nutcracker Performance @ 10:00