Week of 1/6

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful break & are rested and ready to get back into the swing of things on Monday! I wanted to thank you all so much for the generous gifts I received before break. I shopped, ate meals out, and had some delicious treats thanks to the Grasshopper families!

There are still spots available to help in both centers and the library. Please check out the Sign-Up Genius!

Smart Re-Start/Snow Day
We will ease into our first few days back with some hands-on activities and a snow-themed day. On Monday, we will make some playdough, and do a collaborative art project. On Tuesday, we will have a "Snow Day!" The kids can dress in their snow gear (whatever you have is fine-- hats, scarves, mittens, goggles, etc.) and we will have an all-kindergarten "snowball fight." Children should bring a separate bag for their snow gear for taking on and off, as it gets too warm wearing some of those items all day. They also tend to get lost if we don't have a place to put them. If they fit in your child's backpack, that is fine too. Our centers on Tuesday will all be snow-themed. It is always lots of fun. The district calls this week a "Smart Re-Start" to get the kids excited about returning to school.

Language Arts
We will introduce two new sight words, up and she. We will begin Unit 2 of the Fundations program. The main focus of this unit is blending sounds to read words. We start with CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) three-letter words. We encourage the children to "tap" or "chop" these words into their individual sounds (see the parent letter for explicit directions on how to reinforce this), and then blend those sounds together to both read and spell the words. In this unit, we will also be reviewing the formation of several upper case letters each week. There is only one parent letter for all of Unit 2, which can be found here. There are many valuable resources and ideas for supporting the reading of CVC words in the Unit 2 parent letter, and I encourage you to check it out. 

We will be reading snow-themed books this week, as well as begin reading non-fiction books about owls in preparation for our owl unit next week.

Math

We will begin Module 4: Composition & Decomposition. In this module, students explore part-total relationships as they compose and decompose shapes and numbers in more than one way. They represent the quantities and relationships in story problems with objects, fingers, drawings, and number bonds.

**Library is every Wednesday. Please return your child's library book by Tuesday each week.

**School spirit days are every Wednesday. Wear your Alta Vista t-shirts or your Grasshopper t-shirts to show your school pride 

 

This Week's Helpers & Activities
Monday: Smart Restart
Tuesday: Snow Day-- Bring/wear your snow gear, Centers @ 12:20  (Ellen & Emily)
Wednesday: Library @ 9:10 (Shelbie & Aesha), Music @ 12:15, Dismissal @ 1:15

Upcoming Events

Monday, 1/6: Welcome Back to School!

Tuesday, 1/7: Snow Day! (come dressed in whatever snow gear you have)

Monday, 1/20: No School: MLK Holiday

2/17-2/21: No School: President's Week

Week of 12/16

This is a very eventful week, so this email is mostly reminders to keep you organized during these hectic final five days! Last week we had our last days of centers & library in 2024. I want to thank you for volunteering your time in our classroom and in the library, and I look forward to seeing (hopefully) some new faces in 2025! Check out the Sign-Up Genius for openings through February.

Holiday Spirit Week

This is another schoolwide Spirit Week. Participation is always optional, but the children really enjoy seeing each other dressed up:

Monday: Grade Level Color Day: Kindergarten wears red

Tuesday: "Look Alike Day:" Dress in matching clothes with a friend OR just wear your Grasshopper shirt and you'll be sure to match with many people in the class!

Wednesday: Snow Day: Wear beanies, mittens, scarves and anything else that keeps you warm on a "snow day."

Thursday: We won't be able to participate due to needing to wear our Nutcracker clothes, but if your child wants to pack something in their backpack for after the show, the theme is Holiday Dress Day: Wear anything festive that goes along with a winter holiday that you celebrate.

Friday: Pajama Day (both the schoolwide theme day, plus what we're wearing for our holiday breakfast party).

Nutcracker

A reminder about clothing for the Nutcracker: please remember to dress your children in the clothes suggested in the letter sent home in the Wednesday envelope two weeks ago. Children should come to school dressed in these items on Thursday. Girls who are wearing leotards can wear something over the top of their leotards when they arrive and change into their ballet shoes (if wearing those) for the performance. As a reminder, here is the list:

MARIE/FRITZ: Bathrobe/pajamas & slippers
NUTCRACKER/SOLDIERS/TROPAK DANCERS: White Shirt & Dark Pants w/ dark shoes
MICE/MOUSE QUEEN/CHOCOLATE DANCER BOYS: Dark Shirt & Dark Pants & dark shoes

CHOCOLATE DANCER GIRLS: Black leotard or t-shirt, black tights or leggings (skirt provided)
SUGAR PLUM, RIBBON CANDY, FLOWERS: Light colored leotard/light colored tights/ballet slippers or light colored shoes-- leotards with tutus attached are fine & encouraged for Sugar Plum Fairies & Flowers, especially. Ribbon tutu provided for Ribbon Candies.
COFFEE DANCERS: Light colored fitted shirt w/ leggings or more form-fitting pants/track pants OR leotard w/ no tutu (we provide the Harem pants)
TEA DANCERS: Shirt doesn't matter so much (will be wearing jacket we provide) dark pants or leggings, dark shoes.

Please borrow whatever you need to borrow-- we don't intend for anyone to have to buy anything. We still have several leotards and ballet slippers in the classroom that are also available-- let me know if you need to borrow. I will send them home with children who want to borrow one on Monday. Please email me to let me know you'd like to borrow one.

Please arrive promptly in the cafeteria for the Nutcracker, as we intend to start the show right at 9:15. Also, please do not try to come early and save seats. We will be keeping the doors locked until about 10 minutes before the performance. If you do not have a visitor's badge from the office, you will need to get one before entering the cafeteria for the performance. As a reminder, you can check in with the office to get a visitor's badge anytime during school hours beginning on Monday. Once you have your badge, everyone will be directed to line up behind the marked cone that will be placed near the front entrance of the school until the doors are open. There are plenty of seats for everyone, so no need to stress!

Photography

We want everyone to enjoy the performance, so please refrain from standing and blocking the aisles. It is no fun to watch a performance with a raised camera in front of you blocking your view, and I ask that you refrain from this behavior. If you want to take pictures, please go to the back row or off to the side. 

On another photography note, we will have my daughter at the performance recording a video of it on an iPad. She & I will also be taking photographs of the children in their costumes before the performance. You will have access to these photos & the video, so that you can spend your time on Thursday enjoying the performance. The only tripod that will be set up for videos is ours-- there simply isn't space in the cafeteria for multiple tripods, so please leave your tripods at home. 

Front Row Tickets Auction
The auction is now live, and will continue to be through 7:00 pm on Sunday night. There will be eight seats marked in the front row with "Reserved for Auction Winners" signs. The four winners and their guests can sit in any of those eight seats (2 seats for each winner). Remember that all the proceeds from this auction go to support the AVHSC's enrichment activities.

Make-Up and Costuming

Thank you to Shelbie and Emily for offering to help with getting the children ready for the performance. I could use one more person if anyone else is available. Please come into the classroom with the kids on Thursday morning and we will start right away.

Holiday Party
We will have our holiday party and gift exchange on Friday the 20th. Don't forget to send in one wrapped pair of fun socks with a "From" label on it by Wednesday. The party is a pajama party! Children are encouraged to wear their pajamas as we enjoy a fun breakfast and crafts. If you are helping for this party (Shelbie, Dawn, and Meeta) please come in with the kids and get all the food set up while they are doing their morning tubs. Thank you!

Curriculum this Week

We have now introduced all letters and sounds in Fundations! In 2025, we will move onto blending sounds to read and spell CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words. This week, we will just have a review week in Fundations, but we will introduce two more sight words: be and we. In math, we will wrap up our module on Comparison. 

Library

Although we won't go to the library this week due to a Nutcracker rehearsal, please return your child's library book by Tuesday, as usual, so that you don't have to keep track of it over the holidays. Thank you.

Upcoming
When we return from Winter Break on January 6th, we are having a special district-wide few days called "Smart Restart." Basically, it's a couple of days of activities to get children excited about returning to school. We will be making Kool-Aid playdough and doing a collaborative art project, as well as having time to play to ease our way back into school.

Happy Holidays and enjoy your break!

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, 12/18: Last day to send in socks for gift exchange

Thursday, 12/19 @ 9:15 am: Nutcracker Performance 

Friday, 12/20: Classroom Holiday Party

12/23-1/5: Winter Break

Monday, 12/6: School resumes

Monday, 1/20: No School: MLK Holiday 

Week of 12/9

 **We have an opening in the library this week (reader) and plenty of openings in 2025. Please see the Sign-Up Genius!

Field Trip & UMS Math Tutors

We had some wonderful math centers last week with our collaboration with the UMS math students who came over and ran some great activities. We also really enjoyed our field trip to see the Nutcracker! It made us extra excited for our own show on the 19th! 

Nutcracker

Please let me know if you did not receive the pink note last week in your child's Wednesday envelope with their Nutcracker role. If you have any difficulty rounding up the "base clothes" that we mentioned in the letter, please let me know. Remember that all costume accessories and many costume pieces are supplied by us. We also have a number of leotards available to borrow that have been donated over the years. Thank you for your help in getting the children prepared for the show on the 19th.

You will be able to start getting visitor's badges to attend the performance, on Monday the 16th. Please bring your driver's license to the office and tell Maura that you'd like a badge for the Nutcracker performance on the 19th. All people attending the show must go through the office first and get a visitor's badge. It's a good idea to get it on Monday so that you don't have to worry about getting caught up in a line on Tuesday morning and missing some of the show. The show will start promptly at 9:15. A few other things:

• The cafeteria doors will open at about 9:00. Please do not enter the cafeteria earlier and attempt to save seats. Anything on the seats before the doors open will be moved.
• We will record a video of the performance on an iPad and will share that video with all the families. Our iPad will be set up on a tripod for this purpose, and this is the only tripod that will be allowed in the cafeteria. Please do not bring your own tripod since there simply isn't enough room in the cafeteria for multiple tripods.
• My daughter will also be in the classroom on the morning of the performance taking pictures of the children in their costumes before the show.
• We want everyone to enjoy the performance, so please refrain from standing and blocking the aisles. It is no fun to watch a performance with a raised camera in front of you blocking your view-- I've had this happen to me at several performances, and I ask that you refrain from this behavior. If you want to take pictures, please go to the back row or off to the side. 

Front Row Tickets Auction:
Finally, we wanted to remind you that the Home & School Club will be auctioning off 4 pairs of front-row tickets to the show. I believe the online auction will open on Friday the 13th and close on Sunday the 15th. All money will go to the enrichment programs that HSC supports. It's a win-win! Get front row seats AND support Alta Vista's enrichment programs. Look for the link to the auction on Friday.

Holiday Party
We will have our holiday party and gift exchange (socks) on Friday the 20th. A green note went home in last week's Wednesday envelope about the sock gift exchange. Please just bring a pair of fun/festive wrapped socks by Wednesday the 18th. Remember to label who it is "from" so that you child doesn't get their own sock gift. For the holiday party, look out for an email from Shelbie, Meeta, and Dawn, who will be coordinating a pancake breakfast. This is a pajama party! Children are encouraged to wear their pajamas as we enjoy a fun breakfast and crafts. 

Language Arts

This week, we will wrap up the introduction of all letters and sounds with Qq and Zz! If you notice that your child does not recognize all upper & lower case letters, as well as know all letter sounds, please provide additional reinforcement at home. To help your child form this week's letters correctly, please see the Fundations Family Letter. In this week's newsletter, there is also an activity to review all letters and their sounds. Our sight words this week are he and me.  We will continue reading different versions of The Gingerbread Man this week. We have several activities and many more stories to read!

Math

We will continue with our Module on Comparison. This week, students compare the number of objects in a set and describe the comparison by using the terminology more and fewer. Students develop a toolbox of comparison strategies that vary in complexity and precision. As they experience more complicated comparison situations, students find that matching and counting strategies are reliable ways to compare sets. They have opportunities to self-select tools to use for comparison and they evaluate the tools’ effectiveness.

Art Vista

We are looking forward to another Art Vista lesson this Thursday the 12th. Thank you to Emily, Shelbie, Mallory & Kevin for presenting our art lessons this year.

**Library is every Wednesday. Please return your child's library book by Tuesday each week.

**School spirit days are every Wednesday. Wear your Alta Vista t-shirts or your Grasshopper t-shirts to show your school pride.

This Week's Helpers & Activities

Monday: Centers (Emily & Ellen)

Tuesday: Centers (Anna & Michelle M.)

Wednesday: Library @ 9:10 (Emily: Check-out, READER IS OPEN), Music, Dismissal @ 1:15

Thursday: Art Vista @ 12:20

Friday:  No Special Activities

Upcoming Events

Thursday, 12/19 @ 9:15 am: Nutcracker Performance 

Friday, 12/20: Classroom Holiday Party

12/23-1/5: Winter Break

Monday, 12/6: School resumes

Monday, 1/20: No School: MLK Holiday