Week of 12/15

This is a very eventful week, so this post is mostly reminders to keep you organized during these hectic final five days! Last week we had our last days of centers & library in 2025. I want to thank you for volunteering your time in our classroom and in the library, and I look forward to seeing some new faces in 2026! Thank you for filling up the Sign-Up Genius so quickly!

Holiday Spirit Week
This is another schoolwide Spirit Week. Participation is always optional, but the children really enjoy seeing each other dressed up. :
Monday: Stuffy Day: Bring your favorite stuffed animal
Tuesday: PJ Day-- Come to school in your pajamas (no slippers allowed)
Wednesday: Vacation Vibe Day-- Dress like a tourist or pick an outfit inspired by your favorite travel spot
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 Winter Hat & Scarf Day
Friday: Schoolwide theme is Holiday Sweater Day, but we are having a pajama day again because our class party theme is pjs and breakfast. PJ bottoms and holiday sweater up top might be a solution on this day.

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 KING/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.

Holiday Party
We will have our holiday party and gift exchange on Friday the 19th. 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 please come in with the kids and get all the food set up while they are watching a video of their performance from the day before. Thank you!

Curriculum this Week
We have now introduced all letters and sounds in Fundations! In 2026, 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. In math, we will continue 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 5th, 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!

Week of 12/5

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. I will send pictures from this activity, as well as the next round of sign-ups for centers and library, in the next few days. 

We are looking forward to our field trip this Friday the 12th to the Center for Performing Arts to see their abbreviated version of The Nutcracker. Children must wear their Grasshopper t-shirts on the field trip-- this is not optional. The t-shirt makes it very easy to see all the children in our group. If your child is wearing layers, please make sure the t-shirt is the top layer and other shirts go underneath. Please also remember that unless you ordered a school snack/lunch for your child, you must pack a snack & lunch that day, as we will not be on campus to go through the snack or lunch line. We will actually eat lunch back at school, but we arrive on campus after the cafeteria is closed. I will send out a list of who ordered lunches when I send the field trip reminder on Thursday. 

Nutcracker

Please let me know if you did not receive the 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 18th.

You will be able to start getting visitor's badges to attend the performance, on Monday the 15th. Please bring your driver's license to the office and tell Maura that you'd like a badge for the Nutcracker performance on the 18th. All people attending the show must go through the office first and get a visitor's badge. The show will start promptly at 9:15, so I highly suggest getting the badge in advance. 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 during the show, 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 12th and close on Sunday the 14th. 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 19th. A note went home in last week's Wednesday envelope about the sock gift exchange. Please send a pair of fun/festive wrapped socks by Wednesday the 17th. Remember to label who it is "from" so that your child doesn't get their own sock gift. For the holiday party, look out for an email from Maria, 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 will and no.  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. Family Math ideas can be found here. 

**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 & Brian)

Tuesday: Centers (Anda & Kaela)

Wednesday: Library @ 9:10 (Brian: Reader, Mary: Check-out), Dismissal @ 1:15

Thursday: Music w/ Mr. Jason

Friday:  Field Trip: Depart school at 9:00

Upcoming Events

Friday, 12/12: Field trip to Center for Performing Arts

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

Friday, 12/19: Classroom Holiday Party

12/22-1/4: Winter Break

Monday, 1/5: School resumes

Monday, 1/19: No School: MLK Holiday