Week of November 6th

I am looking forward to meeting with everyone in the upcoming two weeks! Remember that for the next two weeks (except Monday, 11/6), dismissal will be at 1:15 daily. If you need to check your conference time, you can find it here. Please note that this sign-up can no longer be edited. If you need to reschedule your conference, please email me.

Special Family Project
I am excited to see all the decorated turkeys this week! You can start sending those in on Monday, but no later than Thursday, when you return your child's Wednesday envelope. Please allow your child to lead this project. We are not looking for Pinterest-perfect turkeys and would much prefer to see child-created projects.

Parking Lot Gate
Did you know that there is a protected walkway up to the kindergarten gates? When you are walking both to and from school, it is much safer to use this walkway, which is protected by yellow bollards, and is right next to the school garden. Rather than having your children walk through a parking lot behind cars that may be backing out, encourage a safe habit by using the protected walkway. If the parking lot gate is closed, please do not open it so that you can walk in this way. Please go to the protected walkway.

In Class This Week

Language Arts
This week, we will begin the labeling unit in our writing program. Children will be encouraged to draw pictures and add labels to them to help facilitate independent writing. As children develop as writers, we ask for your support in allowing them to sound out words on their own. If they spell a word phonetically and end up writing "morkr" for "marker," this is the first phase of learning to write and spell independently, and please encourage those attempts!

Our letters this week are Pp and Jj. These are both letters that drop down to the "worm line." To help your child with correct letter formation, please look at the Home Support letter. Our sight words this week are me and be.

Math
This will be a review week in math. Children should continue working on counting to 100 by 1s and 10s, counting on from any given number, and writing numbers legibly and correctly to 20, as well as counting objects up to 10.

Kimochis

This week, the Kimochis® Character named Cat will join our classroom to teach children about the feelings curious, cranky, and sorry. Cat is the Kimochis® Character who knows what she wants, when she wants it, and why she wants it! When Cat makes up her mind, there is no stopping her. When the group needs a leader, Cat is always ready to help. She loves to be in charge, but she can be a little bit bossy. Cat may seem mean on the outside, but on the inside, she is very sweet.

**Library is every Wednesday. Please return your child's library book by Tuesday each week.
**School spirit days are every Wednesday. Wear your Alta Vista t-shirts or your Bulldog t-shirts to show your school pride.

This Week's Helpers & Activities
Monday: No centers, dismissal at 1:40
Tuesday: Conferences begin. Dismissal at 1:15
Wednesday: Library @ 8:30 (Janelle & Naira), Dismissal @ 1:15
Thursday: Turkey Project due, Conferences, Dismissal at 1:15
Friday: NO SCHOOL: Veteran's Day


Upcoming Events11/7-11/17: Parent-Teacher Conferences-- dismissal @ 1:15 daily
Thursday 11/9: Return Turkey Trouble project in Weds. envelope
Friday 11/10: NO SCHOOL: Veteran's Day
11/20-11/24: Thanksgiving Break
Tuesday, 12/19 @ 9:15 am: Nutcracker Performance

12/21-1/3: Winter Break