Week of 11/3

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Halloween! We had a fun & enjoyable party-- special thanks to Maria, Mary, Laura, John, Meenakshi, and Louise for helping with the party centers. 

Special Family Project

In this week's Wednesday envelope, we will be sending home a turkey for your child to "disguise." This project goes along with a book called Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano. In this book, the turkey does not want to become Thanksgiving dinner, so he disguises himself in many different costumes to avoid getting caught. Your children will receive their own turkey to disguise, along with directions for this project, in their envelope. Examples of this project can be found here, here and here, but please let your child lead this project with their ideas on how to disguise the turkey. All writing on the project should be done by your child, and we welcome children attempting to spell on their own as well, as you can see in the second & third examples. We love seeing these projects year after year and look forward to this year's editions!

Please note: the projects are due back in the following week's envelope, which will be 11/12. We will be making this project into a class book to share with all the families, so encourage your children to take their time on the project and have fun with it!

Mulitcultural Night

Mark your calendars for Multicultural Night this Friday, November 7th! This is another hallmark Alta Vista event! Students will be performing in the cultural presentations and dances, and families from our class will be helping sponsor booths. You won't want to miss it!

Language Arts

Our letters this week are Pp and Jj. These are both letters that drop down to the "worm line." To help your child with correct letter formation, please look at the Home Support letter. Our sight word this week is like.

Math

This week, we will wrap up Topic B in math, and then begin Topic C. In Topic C, prior experience with attributes paves the way for building, drawing, and composing shapes. To manipulate materials and successfully construct a shape, students draw from the mental images built in the first two topics. Experiences constructing and composing shapes provide students opportunities to observe how shapes look from multiple perspectives, how parts fit together to make a whole, and how shapes relate to one another. 

At this point in Module 2, students should now recognize the 2D shapes: square, rectangle, circle, triangle, and hexagon and be able to discuss attributes of those shapes. They should also be able to name the 3D shapes: cube, cylinder, cone, sphere, and pyramid and discuss those shapes' attributes. 

Art Vistas

We have our second Art Vista lesson coming up this Thursday at 12:30. Thank you to Anda, Mary, Kay, Fatemeh, and Nadia for presenting our art lessons this year.

Centers

This is our last week of centers until after Thanksgiving. Thank you SO much to our center helpers for making things run so smoothly and enabling me to provide small group instruction.

Nutcracker Performance

You may have noticed in last week's upcoming events that an annual kindergarten favorite is fast approaching-- our performance of The Nutcracker! This is a very improvisational version of the classic ballet. All children have parts in the performance, and it is a must-see event. Please mark your calendars for Thursday, 12/18 at 9:15 am. 

Picture Make-Ups

If you missed Picture Day back in September, or were unhappy with your child's pictures, you can participate in make-ups on Thursday the 6th.

**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 (Mary & Eva)

Tuesday: Return library books, Centers (Nadia & Eva)

Wednesday: Library (Reader: Laura, Checkout: Mary), dismissal @ 1:15

Thursday: Return Weds. Envelopes, Music w/ Mr. Jason

Friday: Art Vistas @ 12:30 (Anda, Mary, Nadia, Kay, Fatemeh)

Upcoming Events

Thursday, 11/6: Picture Make-Up Day for those who missed it in Sept.

Friday, 11/7: Multicultural Fair

Tuesday, 11/11: No School: Veteran's Day

11/13-11/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences

11/24-11/28: Thanksgiving Break

Thursday, 12/18: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 9:15 am 

Week of 10/27

Halloween
If you plan on attending the parade on Friday at 9:00, I highly recommend that you go into the office on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, either before school or after school (until 3:00) to get a visitor's badge ahead of time. If you do not get a visitor's pass prior to Friday morning, you will most likely miss the parade, as the line will be very long. Every adult who plans on attending the parade must have a visitor's badge. Please plan accordingly!

On Friday, children should come to school in their costumes, as we won't have time to get 24 children changed into their costumes for the parade at 9:00. Also, I plan on taking pictures of the children before the parade. After the parade, children will be going straight to recess. At this point, costumes should be removed to avoid spilling on or damaging costumes during recess & lunch, and I encourage you to take costumes home with you if you are on campus for the parade. If you are not coming for the parade, please send your child with a bag for their costume, especially if it won't fit inside their backpack. Please have your children wear a layer under their costume that they will be comfortable wearing for the remainder of the day. Thank you to Maria, Taryn, and Jen for planning a Halloween party for the kids to enjoy following recess on Friday.

Conferences

Conferences are coming right up-- thank you everyone for signing up for a time. During the eight days beginning 11/12 and ending on 11/21, dismissal will be at 1:15 daily.  Please note that the sign-up can no longer be edited. If you need to reschedule your conference, please email me directly.

What We're Learning this Week

Language Arts
We will introduce the letters e and r. Please see the Fundations Family Letter for tips on how to form these letters correctly. We have now introduced 16 letters & sounds: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, i, m, n, o, r, s, t, and u. Our sight words this week are I and go. Our seven sight words so far are: a, and, to, is, the, I, go. Check in with your children to make sure they are retaining all the letter sounds and sight words.

Math
We are moving onto Topic B in Module 2. Students continue to focus on defining attributes and extend the list to include features of three-dimensional, or solid, shapes: faces and edges. Through sorting, they discover that some attributes are common to both flat and solid shapes, such as corners. Their spatial thinking evolves as they consider how geometric attributes affect the way a solid shape can be moved or the type of imprint it leaves.

**Library books are due by Tuesday each week
**Grasshopper/AV T-shirt Days are Wednesday each week

This Week's Helpers & Activities
Monday: Centers (Mary & Laura)
Tuesday: Return library books, Centers (Mary & Eva)
Wednesday: Library (Reader: Kaela, Checkout: Laura), dismissal @ 1:15
Thursday: Return Weds. Envelopes
Friday: Halloween Parade & Party beginning at 9:00

Upcoming Events
Friday, 10/31: Halloween Parade @ 9:00
Friday, 11/7: Multicultural Fair
Tuesday, 11/11: No School: Veteran's Day

11/13-11/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
11/24-11/28: Thanksgiving Break
Thursday, 12/18: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performance @ 9:15 am

Week of 10/20

There are several upcoming October/November events coming up that you should know about, especially if you are new to Alta Vista. Please read carefully for some important information.

Book Fair

The Book Fair begins on Monday! There are special kindergarten hours on Tuesday the 21st at 1:40-2:30. Only kindergartners and TK students will be in the book fair (with parents) at that time, since the rest of the school is still in session. If you can't make it on Tuesday, you'll have to brave the after school crowds on Wednesday, or return to school on Thursday or Friday at 2:40. The children do not go to the fair during class time, since they need to be with a parent to purchase books. 

Conferences

Thank you, everyone, for signing up for a Fall 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. My conference schedule has now been converted to "view only." If you need to change your time, please contact me.

Halloween

Alta Vista will be celebrating Halloween with a costume parade that includes ALL of our TK through fifth grade students. The Halloween Parade will be on Friday, October 31st at 9:00 AM. During the school day, all visitors (Grandma and Grandpa too) must check into our office through our Visitor Management System. Safety remains a top priority for our school and district and the check-in process takes a couple of minutes for each guest. The Halloween Parade has always been a popular event and we are expecting quite a crowd. To help expedite the check in process on Halloween, please help us by pre-registering into our Visitor Management System prior to the 31st. It's a simple process:

1. Stop by the office with your driver’s license anytime the week before Halloween, starting on Friday the 24th, between 8:00 and 3:00. Let Mrs. Keenan know that you would like a visitor’s sticker for the Halloween Parade.

2. Keep the sticker in a safe place until the day of the event. You will need to wear the sticker in a visible place on your shirt when you come for the parade on the 31st.

3. There will be two lines on the morning of the event. One will be for those who have pre-registered and have their sticker on. They will have their stickers checked and let in through the gate closest to the office. The other line will be for those that have not pre-registered for the event.

Please note, if you are unable to pre-register and pick up a sticker during the week prior to the parade, we anticipate a long line the morning of the event. It can take up to 2 minutes in some cases to check in each person. We highly suggest you come early so that you don’t miss the fun. No adult will be allowed on campus without a visitor’s sticker from the office. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we prioritize keeping students safe during school-wide events.

In Class this Week

Language Arts:

Our letters this week are Dd and Ss. These are more difficult letters to form in handwriting, and it's really important to form both letters correctly to prevent reversals. Please check the Fundations letter formation guide for these letters, and reinforce this as much as possible at home.

Our sight words this week are and and to. You can find the sight words we've introduced on the classroom website. Go to the tab called "High Frequency Word List."

Math:

You should have received your child's Module 1 workbook in last week's Wednesday envelope. Please look through the workbook and see if there are any areas your child may need additional support. This week, we begin Module 2, Two and Three Dimensional Shapes. In this module, students analyze and describe two and three-dimensional shapes by considering their attributes. This allows students to identify shapes in the world and create their own examples through building and drawing. By the end of this module, students should be able to identify and list attributes of the following shapes: square, triangle, circle, rectangle, hexagon, cube, cone, sphere, and cylinder. Family Math ideas for Topic A can be found here. You may have noticed that the Family Math letters are also in your child's workbook, so you will have hard copies of the letters when your children bring home the completed workbook.

Clay Glazing

We will be glazing our clay pots this Friday at 10:30. Please do not send your children in any favorite clothes, as the clay glaze does stain. Thank you to Fatemeh, Eva, Claudia, Natharin, Kay, Laura and Mary for helping with the Clay program this year.

**Library books are due on Tuesday each week

**School Spirit Days are every Wednesday-- wear your Alta Vista gear OR your class t-shirt (coming soon!) to show your school spirit.

This Week's Helpers & Activities:

Monday: Centers (Tiffany & Eva)

Tuesday: Return library books, Centers (Mary & Nadia)

Wednesday: Library (Reader: Mary, Checkout: Anda), dismissal @ 1:15

Thursday: Return Weds. Envelopes

Friday: Clay Glazing

Upcoming Events

10/20-10/24: Book Fair

Tuesday, 10/21: Special Kindergarten Hours @ Book Fair: 1:40-2:40

Friday, 10/31: Halloween Parade @ 9:00

Tuesday, 11/11: No School: Veteran's Day

11/13-11/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences

11/24-11/28: Thanksgiving Break 

Week of 10/13

 Walkathon

It's walkathon week! This is a great event, and I encourage you all to return with your students after school on the 17th, if you are able. After we walk as a class from 10:30 to 11:30, you can bring your student back anywhere from 3:00 to 6:00 to continue walking and raising funds for Alta Vista's enrichment programs. You won't want to miss it! Register today at this link.

Centers

Thank you so much for a great start to centers last week! It is so nice having extra adults in the room, which allows for small group instruction. There are a few things I forgot to mention last week.  If, for some reason, you are ever unable to join us on your scheduled day (illness in the family, etc.), please email me as soon as possible, or message the class yourself, so that we can get a substitute for you. Please come to campus at about 12:15 so that you can check in at the office. Remember to bring your driver's license so that you can be scanned through the Raptor system to get your visitor's badge. Then head down to K2, and just enter the classroom through the front door (redwood tree side) and wait at the back while I explain the centers to the students (and you). Discuss with your child ahead of time that when you are in the classroom, you are another teacher, and will need to be helping all the students-- in fact, sometimes parents may not even be at a center that their child goes to on that day. We look forward to seeing you on your center day!

A reminder, also, about library time: please try to choose a story that is about 10 minutes in length or less. I know it can be harder to find stories on the shorter side, but I want to allow about 10 minutes for the children to find and check out a book for the week. Thank you!

Conferences

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. 

Language Arts 
After this week, we will have introduced 11 letters and sounds. The letters your child should recognize & know the sounds of are: Aa, Bb, Cc, Ff, Gg, Ii, Mm, Nn, Oo, Tt, and Uu. This week, we are introducing another vowel, Aa, as well as another consonant, Gg. We will also learn two new sight words: is and a. If you notice that your child is having difficulty recognizing letters and knowing letter sounds, please provide additional reinforcement at home. Watching and singing The Better Alphabet Song is a great way to continually review letters and sounds. It is also important to keep checking your child's letter formation in handwriting. Reading the weekly Fundations Family Newsletter is a great way to support your child's learning.

Math

We have just two lessons left in Module 1. Children should now be very familiar with numbers to 10, their value, and how to count objects in different arrangements. This week, we will continue working on counting both backward and forward, as well as further practicing number formation.

**Remember to send in your child's library book by Tuesday each week so that s/he can check out a new book on Wednesday

This Week's Helpers & Activities:

Monday:No School: Federal Holiday

Tuesday: Return library books, Centers (Mary & Eva)

Wednesday: Library (Reader: Laura, Checkout: Mary), dismissal @ 1:15

Thursday:  Return white envelopes, Music with Mr. Jason

Friday: Walkathon (10:30-11:30 AND 3:00-6:00)

Upcoming Events

Friday, 10/17: Walkathon

10/20-10/24: Book Fair

Friday, 10/31: Halloween Parade @ 9:00

Tuesday, 11/11: No School: Veteran's Day

11/13-11/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences

11/24-11/28: Thanksgiving Break

Week of 10/6

The Alta Vista Walkathon is just two weeks away, and you won't want to miss it! This is our largest fundraiser, and it's a win-win. You get to come out and participate in a great community-building event, get some exercise, and raise money for all of Alta Vista's great enrichment programs! You will be amazed to see how many laps your children will walk. There are special charms for a necklace that they earn each lap, and they are very motivated by these! Every five laps earns a different type of charm, and the kids love wearing their necklaces the following week(s) to show off all their charms. Please come out and support our school's enrichment programs by signing up here.

**Remember that there is no school this Friday the 10th and Monday the 13th.

Centers Begin

I am excited to welcome parents into the room this week for classroom centers! Centers begin just after lunch at about 12:20 and go to the end of the kindergarten day. Students will work in small groups of six to do thematic projects and other activities that are better taught in a small group setting. No experience is necessary! I will give you all the directions to the project each week, and you just supervise the children and help them complete the project before they rotate to the next center. There are still several openings, including for next Tuesday the 14th. Check it out here.

Language Arts
This week, I will begin meeting with students in small, differentiated reading groups. I will be working on introducing the Red Word Book. By highlighting these "red words" (words that cannot yet be sounded out with the phonics skills they have) and orthographically mapping them, we are helping students build fluency in their reading. 

We will introduce our first sight word this week, the. Your children will be exposed to almost 50 sight words this year. You can find the sight words we will be introducing here.

In Fundations, we will introduce the letters Cc and Oo. The letter c is important in handwriting, because many letters start with the "magic c," as we call it. The letters a, d, g, o, q  and s are all "Magic C" letters. 
 

Math
We have now introduced all numbers 0-10 and practiced writing those numbers in many different ways. I have noticed that many children need additional reinforcement on correct number formation. All numbers should be written by starting at the top and moving downward. Please work with your children to ensure they are forming their numbers correctly. This week, we will begin Topic G: Analyze the Count Sequence. Students analyze the count sequence focusing on the ideas that each successive number is 1 more when counting forward and 1 less when counting backward. The number stairs model clearly illustrates these patterns. 

Conferences

I sent my parent-teacher conference schedule out yesterday morning. If you haven't signed up for a time yet, you can do so here.

**Remember to send in your child's library book by Tuesday each week so that s/he can check out a new book on Wednesday

This Week's Helpers & Activities:

Monday: Centers (Louise & Sally) 

Tuesday: Return library books, Centers (Fatemeh & Eva)

Wednesday: Library (Reader: Ruchi, Checkout: Eva), dismissal @ 1:15

Thursday:  Return white envelopes, Music with Mr. Jason

Friday: NO SCHOOL

Upcoming Events

Friday, 10/10: No School: Staff Development Day

Monday, 10/13: No School: Federal Holiday

Friday, 10/17: Walkathon

Tuesday, 11/11: No School: Veteran's Day

11/13-11/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences

11/24-11/28: Thanksgiving Break

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