I hope you are having a nice long weekend. We will get right back into the swing of things on Tuesday, with after school assessments continuing next week, as well as the continuation of our drawing unit.
FYI - these emails are always posted on our class website in case you ever need to reference and searching your inbox is too cumbersome. :) The link to the class site is below in my email signature.
Reminder: Please bring in those framed family photos to decorate our classroom and build a sense of community among families. Have your child practice showing who each person is in the photo too. More info about this at the bottom of this email. :)
Work coming home:
*** I did not send home Wednesday envelopes last week, but I will this week! Remember to bring it back to school the following day. Help your child to remember that on THURSDAYS they bring in their water bottle AND Wednesday envelope. There will be a bin to their left when they enter the classroom. Thank you!
*** Please take the time to go through your child's work. It's a good exercise to go through it with your child too. Ask them to show you what they are proud of. My family just got a basket for our kindergartener to put all of his papers/Wednesday envelope work in. That way there is a consistent place for him to place his work and then he can put his Wednesday envelope RIGHT BACK in his backpack. We want to try to build that independence and good habits now!
*** Sometimes your child may have papers in their backpack other days of the week. These papers are part of our motor skills/play morning tubs. Some of the activities have a paper component and those go straight home.
Afternoon Assessments
Thank you for signing your child up on my assessment schedule. If your child goes to extended care, I already began assessing them after lunch while they are at extended care, so three is no need for you to sign up. This will help me to best meet the differing needs of the students in my class during small group instruction. I was able to complete almost all of the assessments for extended care students last week, and I look forward to meeting with the rest of the students in the upcoming weeks. Please come to Gate E (our morning entry gate) at the time of your child's assessment. I will come out and open the gate for you. Keep in mind the rest of the school is dismissed at 2:40 pm and at 1:15 pm on Wednesdays, so please plan ahead for traffic and parking. If you need to check the schedule, you can view it
here. Please note that you can no longer edit this document. If you need to reschedule your child's time, please email me.
Language Arts
In language arts, we have been working on a drawing unit as a way to ease into the process of building kindergarten story writers. The kindergarten team started using this program last year, and we found that by teaching students how to draw, their written stories for the entire year were so much better. Often, we ask children to map out their stories first by drawing. If they get stuck in the drawing step, they can't fully express themselves in writing. Studies show that explicitly teaching drawing in conjunction with writing contributes to better literacy skills.
Kimochis
This week, the Kimochis® Character named Cloud will join our classroom to teach your child about the feelings happy, sad, and mad. Cloud is the Kimochis® Character who can be moody, so sometimes it is hard for him to get along with his friends. When Cloud is happy, he spreads sunshine everywhere, which makes everyone feel fantastic! But when Cloud feels mad or sad, he might snap or yell. Because he has a hard time controlling his anger, he might do things that hurt feelings, even though he doesn’t mean to. Cloud helps children develop patience, tolerance, and understanding for friends who are still learning how to express upset feelings in positive, healthy ways.
Enrichment/Classroom Help Update
Thank you for answering the call for supporting our enrichment programs! All our positions are filled, and the informational meetings for launching Art Vistas, Room Parents, and the Clay program start next week. If you signed up for these programs, please look out for the emails about training sessions, and try to attend those. Later this week, I will also send out a Sign Up Genius for classroom center help and library helpers. Classroom centers begin the week of October 2nd, but library visits start next Wednesday the 13th. Our library time is every Wednesday, from 9:30 to 9:50 (if you can stay a few minutes after and help us get library books in backpacks that is nice, but if you need to leave that's OK). We will have sign-ups for both a book check in/out person and a story reader. I hope to see many of you in the library! It's a fun way to help out with a very small time commitment. Parents and grandparents/other family members are all welcome as center and library helpers! If you plan on helping at all in the classroom, please fill out the Volunteer Code of Conduct at your earliest convenience, especially if you're thinking of helping in the library next week.
Thank you also for your continued donations to the C.A.G.E. drive to support our enrichment programs. If you haven't had a chance to donate yet, please consider donating by going to this link:
https://altavistahsc.membershiptoolkit.com/home
Yard Duties Still Needed
We are still in need of yard duties for TK and Kindergarten (we are all out on the playground together) on Tuesdays, and Thursdays. TK/K lunch time runs from 11:30 to 12:15, so if you can spare 45 minutes to help at lunch, we need you! Please see Chitra in the office if you are interested.
Upcoming Events
Monday, 9/4: No School: Labor Day
Friday, 9/15: Picture Day!
Friday, 9/22: Alta Vista Movie Night
Framed Family Photos - I would love for every student to bring in a framed photograph of their family. This should be a 4x6 inch size, as there's not a lot of room in the classroom! This really helps with community building. I would also like for your child to practice a quick, informal presentation with their photograph. In this short presentation, they will tell us who is in the picture. I'm OK with the picture including grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. or it can just be parents and siblings.
Here is a video of my example. Please bring a framed 4x6 family photo by next Friday, September 8th. I have a few spare frames in the classroom if you need one. You will get these back at the end of the year!
