Week of 10/19

There are several upcoming October/November events that you should know about, especially if you are new to Alta Vista. Please read carefully for some important information. Also, we have an opening this week for a library check-out person. Please see the Sign-Up Genius if you are able to help at 9:10 on Wednesday.

Book Fair

The Book Fair begins on Monday! There are special kindergarten hours on Tuesday the 20th 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 to nearly 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. Please see my conference schedule if you haven't yet signed up.

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 30th 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 30th. It's a simple process:

1. Stop by the office with your driver’s license anytime the week before Halloween, starting on Friday the 23rd, 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 30th.

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 word this week is like. 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 last Thursday. 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. 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. Many of the Family Math ideas have games you can try at home, and the pieces for these games can also be found in your child's math workbook. 

Science

This week, we will be investigating pumpkins! We will take an up-close look at both the external and internal parts of a pumpkin. We will also measure and weigh mini pumpkins. 

**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 (Kira & Sara)

Tuesday: Return library books, Centers (Shereen & Prithvi)

Wednesday: Library (Reader: Yishan, Checkout: OPEN), Meet with 3rd grade Buddies, dismissal @ 1:15

Thursday:  Return white envelopes, Music with Mr. Patrick

Upcoming Events

10/19-10/23: Alta Vista Literati Book Fair

Tuesday, 10/20: Special Kindergarten Hour @ Bookfair 1:40-2:40

Friday, 10/30: Halloween Schoolwide Parade @ 9:00

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

11/12-11/20: Parent-Teacher Conferences, dismissal at 1:15 daily

11/23-11/27: Thanksgiving Break

Week of 10/13

I hope you are enjoying your long weekend. We will return to school on Tuesday the 13th.

Walkathon

It's Walkathon week! This is a great event, and I encourage you all to return with your students after school on the 16th, if you are able. After we walk as a class from 10:15 to 11:15, 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. This is Alta Vista's biggest fundraiser & we couldn't have programs like Clay, Art Vistas, Music, field trips, etc. without your participation. 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. That happened last week, and we got immediate coverage-- thank 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 being a library reader: 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 another sight word: I. 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 a few 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. This week, we will finish with Topic G: Analyze the Count Sequence. Students analyze the count sequence focusing on the idea that each successive number is 1 more when counting forward and 1 less when counting backward. The number stairs model clearly illustrates these patterns. 

Clay

We have our first Clay lesson this Friday at 12:15! It will be nice for the kids to do some art after a morning of walking. We will be making pinch pots. Thank you to Kira, Sara, May, Kimia, Shereen, Michelle, and Yishan for helping with Clay this year. 

Book Fair

The Book Fair begins next Monday the 19th. The kindergarten teachers do not take the children to the book fair-- there is a special kindergarten shopping hour after class on Tuesday the 20th from 1:40-2:40 if you'd like to take your children to the Book Fair. It is also open after school daily when grades 1-5 get out at 2:40. If you are interested in contributing to our classroom library, I do have a wish list and it can be found here. Thank you!

**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. Also, if you forgot to return your child's Wednesday envelope last Thursday, please send it on Tuesday.

This Week's Helpers & Activities:

Monday:No School: Federal Holiday

Tuesday: Return library books, Centers (Shereen & Sara)

Wednesday: Library (Reader: Shereen, Checkout: Cherie), dismissal @ 1:15

Thursday:  Return white envelopes, Music with Mr. Patrick

Friday: Walkathon (10:15-11:15 AND 3:00-6:00)

Upcoming Events

10/9-10/12: No School: October Mini-Break

Friday, 10/16: Boot Scootin' Walkathon 10:15-11:15 & 3:00-6:00

Friday, 10/16: Clay Lesson @ 12:15

10/19-10/23: Alta Vista Literati Book Fair

Tuesday, 10/20: Special Kindergarten Hour @ Bookfair 1:40-2:40

Friday, 10/30: Halloween Schoolwide Parade @ 9:00

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

11/12-11/20: Parent-Teacher Conferences, dismissal at 1:15 daily

11/23-11/27: Thanksgiving Break

Week of 10/5

The Alta Vista Walkathon is just two weeks away (October 16th), 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. ALL students will walk during the school day, but they're not eligible for prizes without signing up. The fun continues after school (an adult must accompany any child participating after school) with even more activities (face painting, crazy hair, and the Cougar Corral) and food trucks will be on site. The event runs until 6:00-- please mark your calendars for this wonderful community event! 

**Remember that there is no school this Friday the 9th and Monday the 12th.

Conferences

Fall parent-teacher conferences are coming up quickly. This is a time where we meet together to discuss your child's progress toward the kindergarten standards. Conferences will begin on November 12th and end on November 20th. All conferences will be held in the classroom. Please note that during conference weeks, dismissal is at 1:15 daily, instead of 1:40. Conferences are for parent(s) only so that we can talk openly about your child’s progress, and there is one conference per child. 

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. 

Language Arts
This week, I will begin meeting with students in small, differentiated reading groups. I am able to deliver reading instruction to students with lessons focused on their ability level. While I am working with a group, the rest of the students are working on various other literacy centers in the classroom with the support of our classroom aide, Ms. Neena. 

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. Hand-in-hand with our first sight word, I will also introduce 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. 

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 continue introducing all numbers 0-10 and will practice writing the final few numbers this week, 8-10. 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. 

**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 (Kira & Sara) 

Tuesday: Return library books, Centers (Shereen & Yishan)

Wednesday: Library (Reader: Nivedita, Checkout: Kira), dismissal @ 1:15

Thursday:  Return white envelopes, Music with Mr. Patrick

Friday: NO SCHOOL

Upcoming Events

10/9-10/12: No School: October Mini-Break

Friday, 10/16: Boot Scootin' Walkathon

10/19-10/23: Alta Vista Literati Book Fair

Tuesday, 10/20: Special Kindergarten Hour @ Bookfair 1:40-2:40

Friday, 10/30: Halloween Schoolwide Parade @ 9:00

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

11/12-11/20: Parent-Teacher Conferences, dismissal at 1:15 daily