Week of 4/24

Dear Parents,

We are so excited for our field trip this Wednesday to Emma Prusch Farm!  This trip is always a hit.   The bus will leave shortly after our 8:05 start time, so please be on time. Please send your children in their class t-shirts, and put a shirt underneath for warmth if needed, so that I can still see the class t-shirt. The weather is predicting rain right now for Wednesday, and this trip goes on rain or shine.  Definitely send your children in close-toed shoes that are appropriate for walking and would do well in mud. Of course, if it's raining, jackets will be necessary. Please also pack a fully disposable snack (with your child's name visible on the bag) so that we don't have to worry about losing lunchboxes, water bottles, etc.

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 spending another week on measurement. This week, we will be looking at weight and capacity, as well as continuing to compare lengths and sizes of things.

We wrapped up the science unit with the wonderful "box structures" that were sent home last Tuesday & Thursday!  Children loved recycling boxes and creating something else with them.  It was a perfect tie-in with Earth Day as well.

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 Mother's Day celebration is coming right up on Friday, May 6th at 10:00 a.m. Please let me know ahead of time if you have a conflict and are unable to come. If possible, please send another family representative to join your child so that s/he has someone to honor: a grandma, aunt, neighbor, even dads have come in a pinch before! I hope moms can all join us!

I'd also like to encourage you all to come to the Alta Vista Hoedown on Friday the 13th.  This event is a big favorite of the kids-- a fun carnival with game booths and inflatables, as well as entertainers such as a cowboy doing roping demonstrations and a 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. The theme this year is "Hoedown" so start getting creative with those cake-decorating ideas!

Don't forget to order your child's yearbook if you are interested. The kids usually love having a yearbook, and on the last few days of school, we have time to let them go around and sign each other's books. If you are interested, you must order by May 5th by going to this link.

Please also remember your blue bags Monday. I am going to try to send them home on Tuesday this week, instead of Wednesday, since Wednesday will be really busy with the field trip. It will be really important this week for me to have all bags back on Monday so that I can do this. Thank you for your help with this.

This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: Return Blue Bags (Jillian), Centers (Johanna & Hiromi), Sharing
Tuesday: Centers (Lizl & Tanya), Sharing, P.E. with Coach Drew, Blue Bags go Home
Wednesday: Field Trip to Emma Prusch (Gunnar, Jill, Amorette, Kim, Johanna, Thanh, Lawrence)
Thursday: Centers (Jill & Maha), Sharing
Friday: Story Time with Grandma Gail, Sharing

Upcoming Events:4/27: Field Trip to Emma Prusch Farm
4/27: Parent Volunteer Tea
5/6: Mother's Day Tea @ 10:00
5/13: Alta Vista Hoedown 5:00-8:30 pm
5/25: Open House
5/30: Memorial Day
6/2: Art Vista Art Show
6/3: End of the year Party & Water Play Day
6/7: Kindergarten Promotion Ceremony
6/9: Last Day of School: All Kindergartners come from 8:05-11:25

Week of 4/17

Dear Parents,

We are going to be introducing our second-to-last consonant this week, Yy!  The Alphafriend is Yetta Yo-Yo. We will also have a new sight word, she.  Children spent last week working with our new vowel, Ee, to spell and write short-vowel words such as pet, led, get, fed, met, etc.   The children are using a combination of sight words and short-vowel words to write sentences on the white boards that I dictate to them.  It is important that you continue working with your children on sight word recognition and fluency, as the children are being asked to used these in sentences and on worksheets on a daily basis.  Most importantly, these words are very commonly found in the books and stories that they are reading, so it will help them with their reading fluency and accuracy.

It was wonderful to see so many Grasshopper families at the Multicultural Fair on Friday! Our families represented China, Sweden, Japan, South Africa, and India, and I saw many other Grasshopper families who were there as "tourists" like myself. What a great evening it was!

We will be wrapping up our "Wood and Paper" science unit this week.  If you still have boxes to send in, we are still collecting them for two more days.  We will be using them for two different projects this week, and the children have much fun with these concluding lessons.

In math, we will begin a unit on measurement. Children will be studying length along with weight and capacity.

The sharing this week is Book Share. Please send in a book and have your child prepared to talk about what the title is, a bit about what it's about, and bookmark a favorite page. If you have books about farm animals, fiction or non-fiction, those would be wonderful to see and possibly read to the class.

Tomorrow, we will be glazing our clay projects that we made last month. One of the center moms will be helping Jill during this activity, but we could probably use another hand. Also, please remember to send your children in an outfit that is not a huge favorite, as the clay glaze does stain if it gets on clothes.

Keep checking the upcoming events for what's coming up in K2!  There are many memorable events coming soon,  so we're trying to give working parents a heads-up so that they can take some time off if possible and join us.

Please remember your blue bags on Monday, homework folder inside with "baby guessing" pages ready for our class book :) Double-check that your child's name is on the BACK of the baby guessing page.

This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: Return Blue Bags (Jillian), Centers (Johanna & Camille), Clay Glazing (Jill), Sharing
Tuesday: Centers (Lizl & Hema), Sharing
Wednesday: Computers (Lawrence), Sharing, Blue Bags go Home
Thursday: Centers (Jill & Lisa), Sharing
Friday: Cornerstone, Sharing, SPARK P.E. (Jill)

Upcoming Events:
4/27: Field Trip to Emma Prusch Farm
4/27: Parent Volunteer Tea
5/6: Mother's Day Tea-- moms, mark your calendars!
5/13: Alta Vista Hoedown 5:00-8:30 pm
5/25: Open House
5/30: Memorial Day
6/2: Art Vista Art Show
6/3: End of the year Party & Water Play Day
6/7: Kindergarten Promotion Ceremony
6/9: Last Day of School: All Kindergartners come from 8:05-11:25

Week of 4/10

Dear Parents,

I hope you all enjoyed a nice week off with your children.  As I mentioned a few weeks ago, we are now into the "final stretch" of kindergarten, and the time will fly by very quickly! I am looking forward to some great fun and learning in the weeks ahead.

This week, we have a new letter, Ww. The alphafriend is Willy Worm. We have a new word, play. We also have a new vowel, Ee. The alphafriend is Edna Elephant. After this week, we only have one vowel and two consonants remaining! In math, we will begin a unit on numbers to 100. Children are learning more about the tens place & ones place and how numbers to 100 look.

In our final weeks of the science unit on Wood & Paper, we will have the chance to make paper mache. We will also see how paper can be woven from strips to make a bigger sheet of paper. Finally, we will take apart boxes and look at how the flat template appears before being folded into a box. Then, we will use the remaining boxes to create structures. For the box piece, I am asking for donations of cereal boxes, cracker boxes, tissue boxes, etc. Please send empty boxes into the classroom starting on Monday.  This unit has been a lot of fun! Our next science unit will be on animals and will begin in May.

The sharing this week will be Letter of the Week, Ww or Ee.  Please have your child bring something that starts with Ww or Ee, hidden in a bag, with three clues written about it.  Please make sure that the clues are included as that helps the children be prepared with what they are going to say, rather than standing up there with a lot of "ummmms."  Thank you.

Homework this week will include a special project called the Baby Guessing Book. Your child will complete a page that describes him/herself. A baby photo will be attached to the page, and then we circulate the book and try and guess who each baby is. This is always one of our most popular books, so start looking for a special baby picture that you can attach to your child's page!

We have our field trip on April 27th to Emma Prusch Farm coming right up.  We are so excited for this trip as it is always a hit. Permission slips will be coming home in this week's Wednesday envelopes. I already have enough chaperones for this trip-- thank you!

Alta Vista's Multicultural Family Night is this Friday from 5:00 to 7:30. This event is in its 6th year, and is a wonderful family event. A few students in our class are participating by having a board on display of their family's culture or even taking part in cultural performances! Check it out if you can!

I will look forward to seeing the children Monday and hearing all about their adventures over the past week!

This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: Centers (Hiromi & Camille), Sharing
Tuesday: Centers (Tanya & Gwenny), PE with Coach Drew, Sharing
Wednesday: Computers (Conrad), Sharing, Blue Bags go Home
Thursday: Centers (Jill & Diane), Sharing
Friday: Sharing

Upcoming Events:
4/15: Multicultural Family Night
4/27: Field Trip to Emma Prusch Farm
4/27: Parent Volunteer Tea
5/6: Mother's Day Tea-- moms, mark your calendars!
5/13: Alta Vista Hoedown 5:00-8:30 pm
5/25: Open House
5/30: Memorial Day
6/3: End of the year Party & Water Play Day
6/7: Kindergarten Promotion Ceremony
6/9: Last Day of School: All Kindergartners come from 8:05-11:25