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.
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
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
