Our first week of extended days went well! A few suggestions:
- Continue reminding your child what is for snack, and what is for lunch
- Go over the hot lunch menu with them in advance
- Make sure your child is getting plenty of sleep! Many were very tired by the end of last week.
A BIG thank you to the first week center volunteers and clay volunteers. The veteran kinder teachers (Mrs. Barbara and Mrs. Grist) prepared me for Kindergarten centers and shared lots of wisdom, but I really needed to see it for myself. Thank you to the center volunteers last week for your questions and feedback. I will send out a separate "what to expect" email for classroom centers.
Two other items I will send separate emails for that have come up: absent work and communication with me at the morning drop off. I realize both of these items were not discussed at the Kindergarten Back to School Night and this is the first elementary school experience for many of you, so that's up to me to communicate that. Apologies for the multiple emails, but thank you for taking the time to read them. 😁
This week, we will be making a craft to decorate our class banner for the Monster Mash Walkathon! We are so excited to participate in this school wide event on October 28th, which is Alta Vista's biggest fundraiser, and a true community event. We will start the walking at school, but any kindergartners who would like to come back and continue walking are invited to do so after school on Friday (2:40) with an adult (parent or friend's parent) accompanying them. Come out and join in on this fun & worthwhile event, which supports Alta Vista's enrichment programs.
Conferences
Parent-teacher conferences are coming up quickly. Kindergarten conferences will begin on November 7th and end on November 17th. All conferences will be in-person 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. Please see this document to sign up to meet with me for your child's conference.Language Arts
After this week, we will have introduced over half the alphabet! The letters your child should recognize & know the sounds of are: Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Ii, Mm, Nn, Oo, Rr, Ss, Tt, and Uu. This week, we are introducing our final vowel, Ee, as well as Rr. If you are noticing 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. *** Don't worry about your child reversing lowercase b and d. It's very common at this stage and up to about 2nd grade. Majority of kiddos will outgrow this as they get stronger in reading and writing. Each child has an image similar to these on their name tag, which we have discussed a couple of times and will continue to do so all year.
Our sight words this week are a and go. This week our stories will be from the author Aaron Reynolds: Creepy Carrots, Creepy Pair of Underwear, and Creepy Crayons.
Math
In math, we will begin a new module on shapes. We will be covering both 2D and 3D shapes over the next few weeks. We will learn shape names and attributes of those shapes. Children should understand how many sides, corners, faces, and vertices different shapes have. Going forward, most of our math involves hands-on activities in small-group centers, so you won't see as many math papers in the Wednesday envelopes. Parent tips for this math module can be found here.
After this week, we will have introduced over half the alphabet! The letters your child should recognize & know the sounds of are: Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Ii, Mm, Nn, Oo, Rr, Ss, Tt, and Uu. This week, we are introducing our final vowel, Ee, as well as Rr. If you are noticing 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. *** Don't worry about your child reversing lowercase b and d. It's very common at this stage and up to about 2nd grade. Majority of kiddos will outgrow this as they get stronger in reading and writing. Each child has an image similar to these on their name tag, which we have discussed a couple of times and will continue to do so all year.
Our sight words this week are a and go. This week our stories will be from the author Aaron Reynolds: Creepy Carrots, Creepy Pair of Underwear, and Creepy Crayons.
Math
In math, we will begin a new module on shapes. We will be covering both 2D and 3D shapes over the next few weeks. We will learn shape names and attributes of those shapes. Children should understand how many sides, corners, faces, and vertices different shapes have. Going forward, most of our math involves hands-on activities in small-group centers, so you won't see as many math papers in the Wednesday envelopes. Parent tips for this math module can be found here.
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!
Rhythm & Moves P.E./Indoor P.E.
Just another reminder that students will have weekly P.E. on Fridays with either Rhythm & Moves or indoor P.E. in the OT Room.
Just another reminder that students will have weekly P.E. on Fridays with either Rhythm & Moves or indoor P.E. in the OT Room.
- Children should wear shoes and clothing appropriate for fitness on Fridays.
- Shoe choice is extremely important, since when we go to the OT room, children will be removing their shoes and putting them back on again.
- Children need to be able to do this independently. I highly recommend slip-on/velcro sneakers every Monday, unless your child already knows how to tie shoes on their own (a great skill to start working on!)
This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: Art Vista Set A: Trains (Lia, Jessica, Dana, and Lior)
Tuesday: Return library books please, centers (Mariola and Andrea)
Wednesday: Library (Andrea & Bora), dismissal @ 1:15
Thursday: Return white envelopes, centers (Bora and Mikyoung)
Friday: P.E.-- wear shoes & clothes appropriate for fitness
Upcoming Events
Wednesday, 10/19: Field trip to Emma Prusch Farm
Wednesday, 10/26: Clay Glazing 8-10am
Friday, 10/28: Ala Vista Walkathon
Monday, 10/31: Schoolwide Halloween Parade (time TBD)
11/7-11/17: Parent-Teacher Conferences (whole school dismissal at 1:15)
Thursday 11/10: NO SCHOOL: Staff Development Day
Friday, 11/11: NO SCHOOL: Veteran's Day
