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. Even if you can't join us, please consider signing up so that your child can receive a t-shirt to wear and you can also help support all the great enrichment programs at Alta Vista. 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!
Thank you for all signing up for a conference time. The conference schedule can be viewed here, but please note that it can no longer be edited. If you need to change your conference time, please email me.
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. Even if you can't join us, please consider signing up so that your child can receive a t-shirt to wear and you can also help support all the great enrichment programs at Alta Vista. 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!
Thank you for all signing up for a conference time. The conference schedule can be viewed here, but please note that it can no longer be edited. If you need to change your conference time, please email me.
This week's letters are Oo and Pp. Our new sight word is can. Hopefully, you have been receiving our list of sight word sentences each week in your child's Wednesday envelope. Please listen to your child read these sentences. They love coloring the stars at the bottom every time they read them! We have also 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 have two weeks left in our first module in Eureka math. We have been learning about numbers to 10, "decomposing" them into parts (4 and 5 make 9, 6 and 4 make 10, etc.), and learning how to count objects arranged in different ways. We have been learning what one more and one less than a given number would be. We are also learning to recognize the dots on a 10 frame by sight as the number that they represent.
Science
We wrapped up our unit on trees & leaves last week. We studied the leaves that the children collected and made leaf rubbings. Next, we will be studying pumpkins.
Sharing
The sharing topic this week is a new one: Song, Poem, or Nursery Rhyme. Children should be prepared to recite a short poem or sing a song they know. It can be as simple as the ABC song, a color song that we've learned in class, a letter song we've learned in class, or a song or poem that they know in another language. We always love to hear children speak in another language they might know and this is a chance to do that! *If we don't have time for children to share on Monday, they can share any other day this week.
Field Trip
Please be sure to send your children in their Grasshopper t-shirt on Monday. We will leave promptly from school, so please arrive on time. We should be back by 11:25 dismissal, but traffic is always a factor!
Upcoming
Halloween: Just a reminder that we will be celebrating Halloween on Friday the 28th due to the staff development day on the 31st. I believe the school-wide parade is at 8:30 and our class party will follow at 9:00. I was excited to find out last week that we had 100% participation in the Home & School Club Membership drive!!!! Thank you so much for your participation-- the Grasshoppers have won a pizza party again! We have decided to serve that pizza at the Halloween party, so no need to pack a lunch on that day.
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 (11/18). Please let me know if you can help!
Monday: Return Blue Bags (Asma), Field Trip to CA Theatre Center, Sharing
Tuesday: Centers (Marylu & Chris), Sharing
Wednesday: Recess 101, Sharing, Blue Bags go home
Thursday: Centers (Claire K. & Susan), Sharing
Friday: STEAM Centers (Anna R.), Sharing
Upcoming Events:
Monday 10/10: Field trip to see Frog Prince
Saturday 10/15: Alta Vista Walkathon
Friday 10/28: Halloween Parade & Party
Monday 10/31: No School: Staff Development Day
Friday 10/28: Halloween Parade & Party
Monday 10/31: No School: Staff Development Day
11/1-11/10: Parent-Teacher Conferences
Friday 11/11: No School: Veteran's Day
Friday 11/18: Friendship Feast
11/21-11/25: Thanksgiving Vacation
Friday 12/16: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performances
