Our extended days begin on Monday! Our schedule for the remainder of the year will be:
- Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays: 8:15 to 1:40
- Wednesdays and modified days during conference weeks: 8:15 to 1:15.**Please plan accordingly because on these 1:15 dismissal days the rest of the school releases at this time, so parking will not be available on the street in front of our classroom.
Lunch will be from 11:30 to 12:15. Children will be supervised by yard duties at that time, and will eat first and then play on the playground. A few take-aways from our lunch on Friday:
- Please make sure your child knows which items are for snack and what is for lunch. Separate boxes within the lunch bag would be helpful OR two separate bags entirely. Some students today were out of food at lunch, and then we had to send them through the hot lunch line.
- Please understand that microwaves are NOT available if your child packs a lunch from home.
- If your child packs a lunch or snack from home that needs utensils, please provide those in your child's bag.
- In general, students still need a lot of practice at opening their own snacks and food wrappers and containers. When children are at home with you, please let them attempt to open snacks & show them how to do this, rather than doing it for them. There is a lot of pride in children when they are able to do things on their own!
For those who are getting hot/school lunch:
- Please go over the menu (found on the "Nutrition" tab on the Alta Vista website) with your child, and have them make their choice with you so that they know what they are getting once they are in line.
- Practice "ordering" an item, using a clear and confident voice. At the very least, your child needs to be able to point to what they would like. Have children practice at home, restaurants, and even when pretending they're at a restaurant.
- Children have a choice between white milk, chocolate milk, or their own water bottle. Please go over this choice with them as well. If choosing milk, you should have them practice opening a carton on their own. This was very difficult for many today.
Language Arts
Last week, we started practicing one of our Daily 5 reading center activities- Read to Self. This week we will introduce 2 more Daily 5 activities: Lexia Core5 & "Word Work." Word Work is a variety of literacy games that we use to reinforce phonics, sight word recognition, and comprehension skills. In the next couple of weeks, we will be able to fully launch Daily 5. Once that happens, a small group of students will be meeting with me each day while the rest of the class is engaged in various other literacy centers. Your children will be receiving lessons targeted for their ability level in a small group instruction setting. Lexia Core5 is a district sponsored reading app done on the iPad. Students will take an assessment on the app this week that will place them at a level appropriate for their learning. Students will meet the prescribed amount of minutes throughout the week during Daily 5 centers.
Last week, we started practicing one of our Daily 5 reading center activities- Read to Self. This week we will introduce 2 more Daily 5 activities: Lexia Core5 & "Word Work." Word Work is a variety of literacy games that we use to reinforce phonics, sight word recognition, and comprehension skills. In the next couple of weeks, we will be able to fully launch Daily 5. Once that happens, a small group of students will be meeting with me each day while the rest of the class is engaged in various other literacy centers. Your children will be receiving lessons targeted for their ability level in a small group instruction setting. Lexia Core5 is a district sponsored reading app done on the iPad. Students will take an assessment on the app this week that will place them at a level appropriate for their learning. Students will meet the prescribed amount of minutes throughout the week during Daily 5 centers.
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, and q are all "Magic C" letters. Parent tips for this week's letters and concepts can be found here.
We will introduce our first sight words this week! Your children will be exposed to over 40 sight words this year. Using the phonics knowledge they already know, sight words will be taught through "orthographic mapping." This means that children will listen to how many sounds they hear in a word and then apply their phonics skills to "map" out those sounds. Each week, when we introduce new sight words, they will only contain sounds that we've already learned through the Fundations curriculum. This week's words are it and in. You can find the sight words we will be introducing on the classroom website. Go to the tab called "High Frequency Word List."
Math
In math, we will continue working with numbers to 10. This week, we will focus on the numbers 6-10 and doing various activities practicing PRECISION when counting.
We will introduce our first sight words this week! Your children will be exposed to over 40 sight words this year. Using the phonics knowledge they already know, sight words will be taught through "orthographic mapping." This means that children will listen to how many sounds they hear in a word and then apply their phonics skills to "map" out those sounds. Each week, when we introduce new sight words, they will only contain sounds that we've already learned through the Fundations curriculum. This week's words are it and in. You can find the sight words we will be introducing on the classroom website. Go to the tab called "High Frequency Word List."
Math
In math, we will continue working with numbers to 10. This week, we will focus on the numbers 6-10 and doing various activities practicing PRECISION when counting.
Music & Art
Our music program begins this week! Thanks to your generous donations to the Home & School Club, they are able to support our enrichment activities such as funding the music program. We have music class every Friday with Miss Emory.
We had our first Art Vista lesson last week. We started with looking at prints from professional artists, followed by a lesson on the aspects of shapes and lines of those prints. Thank you to Asma (Ibrahim's mom) and Shereen (Lily's mom) for coordinating these lessons.
*Remember to return your child's library book by Tuesday each week
*Classroom centers start next week! The Sign-Up Genius can be found here.
We need a library check in/out person this week 9:30-9:55 on Wednesday!
This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: first day of our extended day schedule
Tuesday: Return library books!
Wednesday: Library (Roshan & check in/check out needed!), dismissal @ 1:15
Thursday: Return white envelopes
Friday: Music with Miss Emory
Upcoming Events
Monday, 10/2: First Day of our Extended Day: 1:40 dismissal begins
Friday, 10/6: First Music Class
Friday, 10/6: First Art Vista lesson
Thursday, 10/12: Author Visit Assembly - Trudy Ludwig
Friday, 10/13: Alta Vista Walkathon ---> Register here!
10/19-10/22: Fall Break
