This week, we have Picture Day on Tuesday. If you wish to order pictures of your child, you will be able to see a proof first before deciding if you'd like to order. Our picture day time is 9:00, so children will take pictures before any recesses or snack, so hopefully they will stay tidy!
Walk & Roll
Next week is an event at Alta Vista that encourages families to find other ways of coming to school than just by car. "Walk & Roll" week is an annual week where we encourage children to try and walk to school or ride a scooter/bike/something with wheels. Obviously, this encourages fitness in the children as well as reducing congestion around the school. Even if you normally drive, if you just park a few blocks further away next week to encourage some walking, that would be great. There are prizes involved with this event, so make sure you find the parents out at the front of the school who will be distributing different prizes each day.Language Arts
In language arts, we continue introducing letters and letter sounds, along with the handwriting of those letters, using the Fundations program. We have introduced Tt, Bb, and Ff, which are all "sky-line letters" and this week, we will introduce Mm and Nn, which are "plane-line letters." If you'd like more information about the formation of these letters to support your student at home, as well as posters that are similar to the ones we use in the classroom, please read this week's home support letter.
We will wrap up our Drawing Unit this week as well. Children are ending the unit by drawing a character with a setting. We will share these picture stories at the end of the week. Our next step will be adding labels and eventually sentences to our drawings.
Math
This week, we will begin Topic E: Counting Up to 10 Objects. Topic E builds on the work of topic B as students apply number core concepts to sets of 6 to 10 objects. As the size of the group gets larger, tracking the count becomes more challenging. Students consider how to choose an accurate counting strategy. Here is this week's Family Math ideas.
Math
This week, we will begin Topic E: Counting Up to 10 Objects. Topic E builds on the work of topic B as students apply number core concepts to sets of 6 to 10 objects. As the size of the group gets larger, tracking the count becomes more challenging. Students consider how to choose an accurate counting strategy. Here is this week's Family Math ideas.
Kimochis
This week, the Kimochis® Character named Huggtopus will join our classroom to teach your child about the feelings silly, frustrated, excited, and proud. Huggtopus (or Huggs) is our Kimochis® Character who is strong and affectionate, but she sometimes gets a little carried away with her big, friendly personality. She might hug too tightly or play too roughly, which upsets her friends. This can be confusing and frustrating to Huggs because she doesn’t know why her friends say, “Don’t bother me.” With Huggtopus, your child is learning to read social cues, such as facial expressions, body language, and sounds from peers. Huggtopus also teaches children how to celebrate our differences. Huggs is a six-legged octopus and is proud that she is so unique!
Clay
We have our first clay shaping lesson this Friday! Children will get to work with clay to mold a pinch pot. Thank you to Fatemeh, Eva, Natharin, Kay, Laura, and Mary for helping with this activity.
CAGE Drive Update
It's still not too late to donate to the CAGE drive! The CAGE drive helps fund things like the crossing guards, our art, music, and clay programs, field trips, and for 1st graders and beyond, p.e. and recess programs. We are still quite short of our goal to continue funding all these programs. Please help spread the word and encourage others to make their donations-- we truly couldn't have all the programs that make Alta Vista so great without the support of parents like you. Please login to MTK and go to the C.A.G.E Donation Link. Thank you!!
Classroom Center Update
I wanted to update you that we still don't have the primary music schedule from our music program, The Music Place. I am hoping to start classroom centers on the week of 10/6, and they will be two days per week. I like to have two parent helpers each day that I run centers. Unfortunately, I can't start the sign-ups yet until I know which day we have music (we likely wouldn't be able to have centers on the same day as music). I will push out the sign ups for centers as soon as the schedule is in place for music. Thank you for your patience!
This Week's Helpers
Wednesday: Library: Kay (Reader), Mary (Check-out)
Upcoming Events
Week of 9/22: Walk & Roll Week: Walk/bike/scooter to school for special prizes!
Tuesday, 9/23: Picture Day
Friday, 10/10: No School: Staff Development Day
Monday, 10/13: No School: Federal Holiday
Friday, 10/17: Walkathon
