It was wonderful hearing about all the kind acts of our Pandas during Kindness Week last week. I was so impressed with the things students were doing to be kind! It was wonderful emphasizing kind acts in the classroom, as well as at home. I hope you benefitted from plenty of kind acts in your home last week!
There are still some openings on our Sign-Up Genius, including tomorrow Tuesday the 31st. There are special 100 Day centers this week, so it would be very helpful to have parent helpers so students can do the fun activities planned. Please check it out if you have any availability this week. Thank you!
Spring parent-teacher conferences are coming up on March 2 through March 10. I sent the sign-ups out for those earlier today. These are optional conferences, but are available to anyone who would like an update on their child's progress.
Language Arts
This week is 100 Day! This is a fun celebration of the number 100 and being at school together for 100 days. We have many fun stories to read and center activities to do! Our sight word this week is his. We will also look at the ending digraph, ck.
We began Unit 3 of Fundations last week. Blending sounds to read words is now the main focus in our reading curriculum. If your child has not mastered letter sounds yet, it is really important to continue reviewing those since we are now spending the majority of our time working on blending skills and building fluency. There are some great resources in the Unit 3 Fundations Home Support letter.
Another big emphasis right now is using our knowledge of letter sounds, digraphs, word families, and sight words to write simple sentences. Children need to be able to put together a readable sentence on their own by the end of kindergarten. Encourage your children to write and spell phonetically as often as possible to build their abilities as independent writers. Try to resist the temptation to spell words for them if they ask, rather, encourage them to "stretch the word out" and put down all the sounds they hear themselves. They can write notes to you, grocery lists, cards for family members, etc.
Math
We will continue with Module 4 this week; just the addition portion of this module will last up until President's Week Break. Parent tips for this module can be found here. We will also have lots of number & counting fun this week in celebration of 100 Day.
Music
We begin our new music program this Friday. We are excited to have music class each Friday after lunch from now on. Thanks to your generous donations and fundraising for the AVHSC, there were enough enrichment funds to support this program.
Kimochis
This week, your child will learn the fifth Kimochis® Key to Communication: Redo hurtful moments. This key helps us remember to own and name our mistakes by apologizing and making things right. Although younger children may not always realize when they have said or done something wrong, they need to understand why it’s important to say they’re sorry. Learning the words “I’m sorry” comes faster than the genuine feeling behind it.1 As children develop the ability to take the perspective of someone else (between ages 3 and 4), their apology skills will improve. Kimochis® Cat comes with bandages that can help young children understand that hurt feelings are like an injury that needs attention. Children who can learn to redo communication mistakes will have healthier and more successful social relationships.
Upcoming Events
Valentines Day: I know that valentines are now available in most stores, and children will be asking about our celebration. We will exchange cards in class on February 14th, but this is not a "party." We have a fun celebration of friendship, exchange valentines, and take them home to show our families. So that you can prepare for this event, I wanted to share some information:
- Please send in a card for each child. There are 24 total students in our class: 13 girls and 11 boys.
- Students can make homemade valentines or buy from the store.
- Please ONLY sign the card & put nothing in the TO box. It is challenging enough for kindergartners to pass out valentines to all their classmates. Having the "to" part filled out makes this extremely challenging and it takes far too long. Thank you for your help with this!
- Please try to purchase valentines that do not have candy attached. I know those can sometimes be hard to find, but there are good choices with stickers, play tattoos, and other non-food goodies.
Reminders
**P.E. is every Friday-- please send your children in shoes & clothes appropriate for fitness. This week, we have a make-up PE session with Coach Amy on Friday morning, we might go to room 2 in the afternoon if we need some wiggle time.
**Library is every Wednesday. Please send your child's book back to school by Tuesday each week.
**Panda t-shirt day is Friday each week.
This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: NO SCHOOL: Professional Development Day
Tuesday: Centers (need 2 volunteers!)
Wednesday: Library (we need a reader volunteer! & Bora), dismissal @ 1:15
Thursday: Return Weds. envelopes, centers (need 1 volunteer & Vidya)
Friday: Make-Up PE session, Music Class
Upcoming Events
Thursday, 2/2: 100 Day
Thursday, 2/9: Snow Day
Tuesday, 2/14: Valentines Exchange
Week of 2/20: Presidents Week Vacation
3/2-3/10: Spring Conferences
