Week of 3/3

We start conferences on Thursday. I'm looking forward to meeting with you & updating you on your child's progress. If you need to check the schedule, it can be found in your email. Please note that this is now a "view only" document. If you need to reschedule, please email me. Remember that dismissal will be at 1:15 from Thursday, March 6th through Friday, March 14th.

There are still some openings on the Sign-Up Genius for center & library help in late March & early April. Please check it out if you are able to come in!

Language Arts
Our sight words this week are for and back. The word for has an r-controlled sound in it (or) and the word back has an ending digraph (ck). Helping your children see the spelling chunks/"secrets" in the words help them to read and spell words more successfully. Here is a great article to read so that you can better understand how words become instantly recognizable and the importance of mapping words so that they can become "sight words."

We are now in our 4th week of Unit 3 in Fundations. Blending sounds to read and spell words is now the main focus in our reading curriculum. There are some great resources in the Unit 3 Fundations Home Support letter.

Math
We are continuing with Module 5: Addition and Subtraction. We are now in Topic C of the module where students transition from working with addition and subtraction separately to thinking about both as they determine which operation can be used to solve. As they focus on story context and the information presented, they build their capacity for sense-making and perseverance. This topic also presents a number of opportunities for students to practice finding partners to 10 through story and measurement contexts.

Upcoming Events & Activities
Leprechaun Traps: On Friday, 3/14, children will be designing and creating their own leprechaun traps! Most of the materials for this activity are provided by the AVHSC funds, but if you are out and about and see something that looks like a fun addition to our leprechaun traps, we will gladly take your donations for our supply of trap "accessories!" Thank you in advance!

Reminders
**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
**Classroom help is needed for Centers & Library Readers & Library Check-Out. Check out the Sign-Up Genius.

This Week's Helpers & Activities
Monday: No Centers
Tuesday: Return Library Books, No Centers
Wednesday: Library @ 9:10 (Meeta: Reader & Emily:Check-Out), Music @ 12:15, Dismissal @ 1:15
Thursday: Conferences begin: Dismissal @ 1:15
Friday: Conferences continue: Dismissal @ 1:15

Upcoming Events
3/6-3/14: Parent-Teacher Conferences
Friday, 3/14 @ 8:30: Leprechaun Trap Making Activity
Monday, 3/17: No School: Professional Development Day
4/7-4/11: Spring Break

Week of 2/10

Valentines Day

A final reminder about Valentines Day this Friday:

1. Please send in a card for each child. There are 23 total students in our class: 15 girls and 8 boys. It is fine for you to start sending your child's valentines in as soon as Monday, if you would like to. I will keep them safely in the classroom.
2. Please ONLY sign the card & put nothing in the TO box. It is challenging enough for kindergartners to pass out valentines to all their classmates. Having the "to" part filled out makes this extremely challenging and it takes far too long. Thank you for your help with this!
3. Please try to purchase valentines that do not have candy attached. I know those can sometimes be hard to find, but there are good choices with stickers, play tattoos, and other non-food goodies.

Language Arts

Our sight word this week is love, a perfect word for this week! Please check the words on the class website  to ensure your child is retaining these words. 

We will continue with Unit 3 of Fundations this week. Blending sounds to read and spell words is now the main focus in our reading curriculum. There are some great resources in the Unit 3 Fundations Home Support letter. 

Math

We will begin Topic B of Module 5 this week. In Topic B, we begin subtraction. Students solve subtraction problems and represent their thinking by using number sentences with mathematical symbols. For example, 5 − 3 = 2. They work with a single problem type, take from with result unknown, to understand subtraction as taking away. Students use familiar story structure (beginning, middle, and end) to write and understand subtraction sentences: “I had 5 watermelon slices. I ate 3 of them. Now there are 2 watermelon slices. 5 minus 3 equals 2.”

Clay

We have a Clay lesson on Thursday. This time, we will be looking at houses and designing our own "dream house." Thank you to Evelyn, Meeta, Emily, and Tomoko for helping out with the clay program 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 Grasshopper t-shirt or Alta Vista gear to show your school pride!

This Week's Helpers & Activities
Monday: Centers @ 12:20 (Emily & Jongse)
Tuesday: Return Library Books, Centers @ 12:20  (Ellen & Franklin)
Wednesday: Library @ 9:10 (Emily & Shelbie), Music @ 12:15, Dismissal @ 1:15
Thursday: Clay @ 12:20 (Emily, Meeta, Tomoko, Evelyn)

Friday: Valentines Exchange 

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, 2/12: Kindergarten Literacy Night

Friday, 2/14: Valentines Exchange in Class

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

3/6-3/14: Parent-Teacher Conferences 

Monday, 3/17: No School: Professional Development Day