Friday, October 14, 2022

Week of 10/17

Field Trip 
Our field trip to Prusch Farm is this Wednesday! Children should come to school at the regular time, when we will start off our day with our usual routines. All students will board the bus so that we can leave at 9:30. Parent chaperones (Fadime, Taryn, Brittny, Shereen), please arrive at school at about 9:10, sign in, get your volunteer badge, and come down to the classroom. Even though you are driving separately, I will need your help to get everyone all packed up and onto the bus. Reminders for the students:
  • Please send a snack and a lunch. We will eat snack before we leave, but we will be picnicking at Prusch Farm for lunch. Only Emmi, Owen and Kai ordered a bag lunch. Everyone else needs to bring a lunch from home, preferably packed in a disposable bag so that we don't have to keep track of too many things. Please label lunches with your child's name.
  • Children should wear their class t-shirts. This helps us keep track of all students since they are wearing the same color-- they are much easier to spot. 
  • Children should wear close-toed shoes appropriate for walking. We do walk around the farm and will probably also visit Prush Farm's playground.
  • Dismissal time on Wednesday is 1:15, as usual on Wednesdays
Walkathon
The Mummy Mash Walkathon is coming right up on Friday, 10/28. All kindergarten students will participate at school on Friday between 10:30 and 11:30 and do as many laps as they can. All students will receive a t-shirt to keep track of their laps, but in order to be eligible for prizes, you must register your student & pay the $40 registration fee. This money all goes to support Alta Vista's enrichment programs, so it's a win for all! To clear up some confusion about the permission slip: TK and K students do not need to submit the permission slip to come back at 2:40 and walk. This is because if they come back to school at 2:40, they will be accompanied by an adult. Grades 1-5 need to submit the permission slip because some of them may just be continuing to walk after their bell rings at 2:40, and need parent permission to stay on campus. For more information about prizes, and to sign up, please see this flier. 

Picture Make-Ups
Picture day make-ups are on Friday, 10/21. If you would like your child to participate in a picture retake, either because you missed picture day or were dissatisfied with your child's picture, please email me. I will only send those students whose parents emailed me down to the cafeteria for retakes.

Conferences
Thank you for scheduling conferences so quickly! If you haven't had an opportunity to do so yet, please  sign up to meet with me for your child's conference. Just a reminder that conferences are for parent(s) only so that we can talk openly about your child’s progress, and there is one conference per child. 

In Class This Week

Language Arts:
We will introduce the letters Jj and Pp. To help your child form these letters correctly, please see the Fundations Family Letter. Our sight words this week are and and to. Our literature this week will be pumpkin-themed, both fiction and non-fiction, in preparation for our trip to the pumpkin patch.

Math
We will continue our module on shapes. This week's focus will be 3D shapes. The shapes we study are sphere, cylinder, cube, and cone. Children should be able to identify how many faces, edges, and vertices these shapes have. Parent tips for this module can be found here

Kimochis
This week, the Kimochis® Character named Bug will join our classroom to teach children about the feelings left out, shy, brave, and scared. Children who have a temperament like Bug’s, benefit from learning how to be brave in order to manage shy and scared feelings and try new things. It is helpful to tell your child that bravery means you might feel afraid, shy, or unsure, but you can still get yourself to say and do something that is right or try something new. In this week's lessons, your child will learn to use positive self-talk to help Bug take his wings out and fly. This self-talk tool will help your child manage emotions and develop confidence and resiliency.

Great Shake-Out
This Thursday, 10/20, Union School District is participating in the Great Shake-Out.  This is an event where people across California will be practicing earthquake safety. We will have an earthquake drill and practice exiting the building safely. I encourage you to talk with your children about earthquake safety at home and develop a plan in the event of an earthquake while in your home. 

**Library will be canceled this week due to the field trip. You can keep your books an additional week-- no need to return them until next week.

**Remember to wear shoes and clothes appropriate for fitness on Mondays.
 
**There is still a need for more lunch time yard duties for TK/K from 11:30 to 12:15, especially on Mondays & Wednesdays. If you can help, please email Salina at nelsons@unionsd.org

This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: PE-- wear shoes & clothes appropriate for fitness
Tuesday: Centers (Brittny & Natharin)
Wednesday: Field Trip (see reminders above), dismissal @ 1:15
Thursday: Return white envelopes, centers (Marina & Lauren M.)
Friday: Art Vistas @ 10:30 (Lauren D., Michael I., Natharin, Shereen), Centers (Fadime & Jhoann)

Upcoming Events
Wednesday, 10/19: Field trip to Emma Prusch Farm
Friday, 10/21: First Art Vista lesson
Friday, 10/29: Alta Vista Walkathon
Monday, 10/31: Schoolwide Halloween Parade
11/7-11/17: Parent-Teacher Conferences
Thursday 11/10: NO SCHOOL: Staff Development Day
Friday, 11/11: NO SCHOOL: Veteran's Day