Week of 1/29

I wanted to thank parents and students for having such a great first month of journal entries with the Blue Bags! Everyone is working on letting their children do all their own spelling, and are encouraging them so well in their efforts! I already see improvement in the writing just in this short time. Remember that the focus in kindergarten is giving kids the ability to use their phonics skills to write on their own and get their thoughts down on paper. As they move through the grade levels, spelling will become more of a focus. Right now the focus is the process and applying phonetic sounds so that they have that framework to fall back on whenever they need to write on their own.

We had a wonderful "Snow Day" on Friday-- thank you!  The kids all looked so cute in their snow gear and I think they enjoyed all the snow-themed activities. Pictures from the day will come soon!

Language Arts:
We will continue working on the digraphs sh and th this week, especially since our new sight word, she, starts with one of those digraphs. We are now up to 16 sight words.  Please check the sight word link on the website and make sure that your child knows the words we've introduced, as this is a heavy emphasis at this time. If your child is struggling with these words, a good website to go to is http://www.spellingcity.com and log in under my name for the "40 Word List" of all the sight words we're covering this year.

We will continue reading and writing with a snow theme. We will read Elmer in the Snow by David McKee this week and do a fun art project. We will also read many 100 Day-themed books. Finally, we will sneak in a few Groundhog-themed books, in honor of Groundhog's Day on Friday.

Math:
We will begin Module 4 this week, Number Pairs, Addition, and Subtraction to 10. Parent tips for this unit can be found here. This is the "heart" of kindergarten math skills, and will be our focus for quite a while. We will build on our knowledge of 10 frames this week by using two-color counters to look at number combinations. We will be using a math app called "10 Frame Fill" to look at combinations for the number 10.  Please continue reinforcing math concepts at home using apps on iPhones & iPads or logging into their ixl.com account.  Although ixl isn't a "game," it does provide solid reinforcement of the facts & concepts covered in kindergarten and beyond. If you need a reminder of how to log into your child's ixl account, please email me.

Another site to continue taking advantage of is lexia.com.  Both of these sites-- ixl and lexia, are paid for by the district, and you should definitely make use of them.  These are great sites to use for the children who'd like more homework.  If you are having trouble accessing any of these sites, please email me.

UPCOMING

100 Day:
100 Day will be on Tuesday, and the students are very excited about it! Because another main focus of kindergarten math is number sense, number recognition, and counting, we count out the number of days we've been in school as part of our calendar activities each day. During this time, we study place value and number recognition to 100. We study patterns on the 1-100 number chart and do mental math using the chart. On the 100th day, we have a fun celebration and look at the value of 100 in different ways. We have been looking forward to filling our 1-100 chart for quite a while now, so Tuesday will be a special day!

Valentine's Day:
On Wednesday, February 14th, we will be celebrating Valentine's Day in class. We do not have a party, we just pass out valentine cards. Just to give you some advanced notice (since I know your children will be eagerly shopping for/making Valentines soon!) in kindergarten, we have the kids sign their valentines, but we do not have them write who the valentine is "to." This makes distribution MUCH easier. So please sign the cards, but leave the "to" box blank. Please send in 21 valentines so that there are enough for each child in the class. Thanks!

Conferences:
A link has been sent out to sign up for Spring conferences, which run from March 8th through March 15th. Please contact me if you did not receive the link or if you need any assistance with scheduling a conference.

This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: Blue Bags returned (Touria), Daily 5, Centers
Tuesday: 100 Day!, Daily 5, Centers (Camille & Josie)
Wednesday: Recess 101, Blue Bags w/ Journals go home

Thursday: Daily 5, Centers (Tanya & Surbhi)
Friday: Daily 5, STEAM Centers (Mary & Celeste)

Upcoming Events:

Tuesday 1/30: 100 Day
Wednesday 2/7: Global Play Day & Art Vista Fish Prints
Friday 2/9: Valentine's Dance @ 6:30 pm
Wednesday 2/14: Valentine's Day Celebration
2/19-2/23: President's Week Vacation
Saturday 3/3: Back to the 80s Auction @ 6:00-11:00
3/8-3/15: Parent-Teacher Conferences

Week of 1/22

We have Snow Day this week. It will be on Friday, at the beginning of school, for both K1 & K2. This is a day when the children come to school all dressed in their snow gear-- whatever items you have. Mittens, knit hats, jackets, snow boots, scarves, goggles, etc. are all welcome! Please do not buy anything special for this day, just use what you have or borrow from a friend. They wear their gear, and then we will be having a "snowball fight" using wadded up recycled paper & later we'll have some hot cocoa at snack!  Our STEAM centers that day will all be snow-themed. It is always lots of fun. If you want to stick around to collect snow gear back up or just to watch the fun, feel free.

Language Arts:
This week, we will begin studying digraphs. The two digraphs we will introduce are th and sh. Children will be reading and spelling words with these digraphs. We will also have a new sight word: he. Our story this week is Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner. We will write our own "Snowmen at Night" adventures after reading this story.

Math:
We will conclude Module 3 this week by comparing lengths of things. We will also compare numbers to 10.

The Great Kindness Challenge
This week, Union School District is participating in The Great Kindness Challenge. We will be promoting acts of kindness each day, and asking the children to try different acts of kindness. We will encourage small things, like smiling at a friend, picking up extra pieces of trash to help beautify our school, asking a new friend to play, etc. We hope by promoting a culture of kindness at our school and in our district, that it will permeate to our local community as a whole.

Reading Response Journal
The journals in the blue bags looked great last week! I just want to reiterate that your children should be writing as independently as possible on the journal page. If they become over-dependent on an adult spelling words for them, they will have great difficulty when we write in class. We do have a writing assessment coming up in February. I want all the children to be comfortable and able to put a sentence together on their own so that this assessment is not stressful for them.

This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: Blue Bags returned (Ying), Daily 5, Independent Centers
Tuesday: Daily 5, Centers (Pantea & Josie)
Wednesday: Recess 101, Blue Bags w/ Journals go home

Thursday: Daily 5, Centers (Ying & Tanya)
Friday: Snow Day Fun, Daily 5, STEAM Centers (Ching & Celeste)

Upcoming Events:

Tuesday 1/23: Incoming Kindergarten Orientation (tell your friends!)
Friday 1/26: Snow Day
Tuesday 1/30: 100 Day
Friday 2/9: Valentine's Dance @ 6:30 pm
2/19-2/23: President's Week Vacation
Saturday 3/3: Back to the 80s Auction @ 6:00-11:00

Week of 1/15

Dear Parents,

I hope you are enjoying some fun family time on this long weekend. Of course, we have Monday off school in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. On Tuesday, it will be very important to return the Blue Bags on time since we only have a day to turn them back around. So please put them by the door or wherever you will remember them Tuesday morning.

This week, we will hit the half-way mark in our kindergarten year. This is where the kindergarten curriculum really takes off, and your continued support with the curriculum will be especially important at this time. Helping children complete their writing journals, reading to your children and asking them questions about what they are reading, and reinforcing math facts and sight words is really important at this time. I want to ensure that everyone is prepared for first grade, and I definitely need your help :).

Speaking of journal writing, I hope that it has gone successfully this week. My goal is that the children are excited about writing, not stressed out by it, so please let me know if there were any problems. A few other reminders about the journal page:

• Writing should always be in PENCIL.
• Above the writing, in the blank box, children should draw a neat, (at least) four-color picture.
• Encourage your children to spell high-frequency words that we've introduced correctly. A reference sheet of those words is in the homework folder.
• Please DO NOT copy a sentence from the book.

Language Arts:
Our story this week is a classic, Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats. We will introduce the sight word for.  Please review the "High Frequency Word" tab on the right to learn which words we've introduced.  A good way to practice reading and spelling the sight words is by logging onto http://www.spellingcity.com/k2grist.  "Missing Letter" and "Audio Word Match" are great games for younger players.

Math:
We will continue with Module 3, Comparison of Weight, Length, Capacity, and Numbers to 10. Parent tips for this module can be found here.

***Please continue donating glue sticks to the class. Thank you for your help!

Also-- please take note below at some upcoming events that have been posted.  They are:

• Kindergarten Registration Info Night 1/23 6:00-7:30:  If you have friends with incoming kindergartners who live in the AV attendance area, please let them know about this informational evening about the upcoming 2018-19 school year.
•  Snow Day 1/26: children will dress up in whatever snow gear they have-- hats, mittens, coats, scarves, etc. and we will have a fake snowball fight with K1.  
• 100 Day 1/30-- we celebrate the 100th day of school with some special activities.  
• Alta Vista Family Valentine's Dance 2/09: Come to the Alta Vista Cafeteria from 6:30 to 8:30 pm for this fun family evening. There will be a DJ, photo booth, desserts & drinks. Tickets are on sale now at MySchoolAnywhere for $5/person.
• Back to the 80s Auction 3/03 6:00-11:00 @ The JCC:  Tickets are on sale now for this fun event--go to MySchoolAnywhere to purchase. It is sure to be a fun evening, raising money for Alta Vista's Enrichment programs. Tickets have sold out very quickly in the past-- don't miss out!  Contact Jayme Monroe if you have any questions: jlmonroe78@yahoo.com

This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: NO SCHOOL: MLK Day
Tuesday: Blue Bags returned (Jillian), Centers (Anastasia & Josie)
Wednesday: Recess 101, Blue Bags w/ Journals go home

Thursday: Daily 5, Centers (Emily & Tanya)
Friday: Daily 5, STEAM Centers (Lynda & Chris)

Upcoming Events:

Monday 1/15: Martin Luther King Day, No School
Tuesday 1/23: Incoming Kindergarten Orientation (tell your friends!)
Friday 1/26: Snow Day
Tuesday 1/2: 100 Day
Friday 2/9: Valentine's Dance @ 6:30 pm
2/19-2/23: President's Week Vacation
Saturday 3/3: Back to the 80s Auction @ 6:00-11:00

Week of 1/08

Dear Parents,

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful vacation & are rested and ready to get back into the swing of things!

First of all, I wanted to thank everyone for all the help I received with the Nutcracker performance. From applying the make-up and helping children get dressed, to photographers-- every job was covered! The kids did a wonderful job and they all looked amazing! We had a great cast party afterward, thanks especially to Tanya for coordinating and to those who donated cookies.  Finally, a huge thanks again to everyone for their generosity and thoughtfulness with the wonderful gifts I received.  I wanted to let you know that I did spend the gift card over the break, and I ended up buying a much-needed new ski jacket. Thank you so much! I am looking forward to a fun & productive 2018 with all of you.

I will be doing something new to schedule parent help in 2018. Please look for an email with a link to "Sign-Up Genius." By using Sign-Up Genius, parents can go in and choose dates that will work with their schedule. I'm hoping this will give everyone who would like to help a chance to get into the classroom!

Smart Start:
We are excited to start the year off with a fun day of hands-on learning. Children will get to experiment and play at a rice table, create with play-dough, play with "slime,", paint, stamp, and string beads. Thank you to Camille, Lauren, and Celeste for helping the children at all the exciting centers.

Language Arts:
This week, we will focus on the story Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson. We will also read some non-fiction texts about bears. We will put together a fact book of our own with information we've learned about bears. Our sight word this week is with. 

Math:
We are beginning Module 3, Comparison of Weight, Length, Capacity, and Numbers to 10. Parent tips for this module can be found here.

Upcoming:
Now that we are coming up on our half-year mark, we do need to refresh a few of our supplies.  Especially needed are glue sticks.  If you can donate any glue sticks, we'd appreciate it.

Blue bags will go home on Wednesday, of course. Remember that from now on, the blue bags will contain a "book report" component. Very specific directions about our expectations with the book report will be in your child's homework folder this week. Please leave the directions there for your continued reference. Basically, your child will use the journal page in the homework packet to respond to the book that's in the blue bag. Children need to write at least one sentence about the book-- what they liked/didn't like, who their favorite character was, etc. If it is a non-fiction book, they will be writing a fact they learned. We DO NOT want children to copy a sentence from the book or copy a sentence that you have written for them. This is their chance for developing writing skills, which will help their confidence when we take our first writing assessment in February. A sentence written: "I like the fune got" for "I like the funny goat." is great and is what is expected from them at this time. If you would like to go over spelling with them once they are done, you can pencil it in underneath their words and show them what the conventional spelling looks like. However, do not make them correct their writing at this time. We want to encourage them in their thinking before we start focusing on the mechanics.

Enjoy your final day of vacation, and I look forward to seeing your children on Monday!

This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: Smart Start Day (Camille, Lauren, Celeste)
Tuesday: Centers (Josie & Celeste)
Wednesday: Recess 101, Blue Bags w/ Journals go home

Thursday: Daily 5, Centers (Tanya & Surbhi)
Friday: Daily 5, STEAM Centers (Mary & Daniela)

Upcoming Events:

Monday 1/8: District-wide "Smart Start Day"
Monday 1/15: Martin Luther King Day, No School
Tuesday 1/23: Incoming Kindergarten Orientation (tell your friends!)
Friday 1/26: Snow Day
Tuesday 1/2: 100 Day
2/19-2/23: President's Week Vacation