Week of 2/10

Thank you for the wonderful games you sent in on Wednesday for Global School Play Day. It was truly one of the best GSPDs we've celebrated in K2! We had just enough games that everyone could play a game and rotate around the room to other games. The children who brought games were great experts at teaching others how to play. We had so much fun!

This week, we have another full week with Art Vista Fish Prints, Cornerstone, and Valentine's Day. We will also be learning about the presidents in celebration of our upcoming President's Week holiday.

Thank you so much for quickly filling so many dates in the helper schedule through April! I am so amazed by the parent support in this class. There are still many openings on the calendar, most immediately for this Tuesday the 11th. If anyone can fill that, I'd appreciate it. We will be doing two different posters of presidents on that day-- an Abraham Lincoln poster/craft, as well as a George Washington poster/craft. Please join us if you can!

Assessments
Thank you to all my non-USD Extended Care families for signing up for the assessment schedule this week. I look forward to meeting with your children from 1:40 to 2:40. Pick up will be at the door at 2:40 (the gates are open at that time). Thanks again.

Fish Prints
On Monday, we will be doing a favorite lesson in Art Vistas-- fish prints! Hopefully, you all received the email from Agnieszka asking for any additional helpers, as well as reminding you to please send children in clothes that are not "favorites" as they may get paint on them in the process. Thank you very much to the Wintrup family for providing t-shirts for the class so that they can have a fish print t-shirt to take home with them (after drying). It should be a very fun lesson!

Cornerstone
We have a Cornerstone lesson on Tuesday. Thank you to Jessica for presenting these valuable lessons which help build caring and inclusive schools.

Valentine's Day:
We will celebrate Valentine's Day on Friday in class.  Remember to only have your child sign the 20 valentines and leave the "to" box blank.  This helps us save time during the distribution of valentines as it is less confusing for the children during the passing out process.  Although this is not a formal party, we will be passing out valentines and having some valentine-themed activities.

Language Arts:
This week's sound will be the vowel team oo. Students will be reading and spelling words such as too, food, book, and cool. 

Our stories this week will be books around Valentine's Day and non-fiction selections about former presidents, especially Lincoln and Washington. Our sight words this week are little and love. Keep reinforcing the sight words at home to work toward greater reading fluency. I have noticed while assessing the students that many of those who know all the sight words we've introduced are jumping up in reading levels and fluency.

Math:
We are continuing with Module 5 this week: Numbers 10-20; Count to 100 by 1s and 10s. We will be breaking teen numbers into "a ten and some ones," continuing to use number bonds and ten frames to model teen numbers as a ten and some ones, and continuing to reinforce counting to 100 by 10s and 1s, which we've been doing on a daily basis during calendar time. Parent tips for this module can be found here.

Social Studies/Science:
We will be learning about Abraham Lincoln and George Washington all week. We have many biographies to share with the children about their lives, as well as some videos on Brainpopjr.com.

We continue with STEAM Fridays. Much of the focus in STEAM has been working and collaborating with groups. Children often have to design and build things as a team. We have had many discussions in class about the importance of teamwork and sharing the materials to produce one product. On Wednesday, we will take a trip to the Makerspace to create and test zipline cars out of Legos! This Friday, we will have an activity involving the Lincoln penny in honor of President's Day.

**Please remember your child's Blue Bag on Monday. Blue Bags will not be sent home this Wednesday due to the upcoming President's Week holiday.

This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: Blue Bags returned, Daily 5, Art Vistas, Centers (Tiffany H. & Hema)
Tuesday: Daily 5, Centers (Claire & ??????--help needed!)
Wednesday: Daily 5, Makerspace, P.E., Music, Blue Bags go home
Thursday: Daily 5, Centers (Sara & Ashwin)
Friday: Daily 5, STEAM Centers (Tiffany G. & Kerby)

Upcoming Events:

Friday 2/14: Valentine's Day Family Dance 2/17-2/21: President's Week Vacation
3/5-3/13: Parent-Teacher Conferences
Monday 3/16: Professional Development Day: No School
3/25-4/01: Spring Book Fair
Friday 3/27: Alta Vista Spring Family Picnic
Friday 4/03: Spring Fling
4/06-4/10: Spring Break