Week of December 18th

We have several events during this short week, so this email is mostly reminders to keep you organized during these hectic final three days!

Holiday Spirit Week
This is another schoolwide Spirit Week. Participation is always optional, but the children really enjoy seeing each other dressed up:
Monday: Snow Day: Wear beanies, mittens, scarves and anything else that keeps you warm on a "snow day."
Tuesday: We won't be able to participate due to needing to wear our Nutcracker clothes, but if your child wants to pack something in their backpack for after the show, the theme is Holiday Spirit Day: Wear anything festive that goes along with a winter holiday that you celebrate.
Wednesday: Pajama Day (both the schoolwide theme day, plus what we're wearing for our holiday breakfast party).

Nutcracker
A reminder about clothing for the Nutcracker: please remember to dress your children in the clothes suggested in the letter sent home in the Wednesday envelope two weeks ago. Children should come to school dressed in these items on Tuesday. Girls who are wearing leotards can wear something over the top of their leotards when they arrive and change into their ballet shoes for the performance. As a reminder, here is the list:

MARIE/FRITZ: Bathrobe/pajamas & slippers
NUTCRACKER/SOLDIERS/TROPAK DANCERS: White Shirt & Dark Pants w/ dark shoes
MICE/MOUSE KING/CHOCOLATE DANCER BOYS: Dark Shirt & Dark Pants & dark shoes
CHOCOLATE DANCER GIRLS: Black leotard or t-shirt, black tights or leggings (skirt provided)
SUGAR PLUM, RIBBON CANDY, FLOWERS: Light colored leotard/light colored tights/ballet slippers or light colored shoes-- leotards with tutus attached are fine & encouraged for Sugar Plum Fairies & Flowers, especially. Ribbon tutu provided for Ribbon Candies.
COFFEE DANCERS: Light colored fitted shirt w/ leggings or more form-fitting pants OR leotard w/ no tutu (we provide the Harem pants)
TEA DANCERS: Shirt doesn't matter so much (will be wearing jacket we provide) dark pants or leggings, dark shoes.

Please borrow whatever you need to borrow-- we don't intend for anyone to have to buy anything. We still have several leotards and a few pairs of ballet slippers in the classroom that are also available-- let me know if you need to borrow. I will send them home with children who want to borrow one on Monday. Please email me to let me know you'd like to borrow one.

Please arrive promptly in the cafeteria for the Nutcracker, as we intend to start the show right at 9:15. Also, please do not try to come early and save seats. We will be keeping the doors locked until about 10 minutes before the performance. If you do not have a visitor's badge from the office, you will need to get one before entering the cafeteria for the performance. As a reminder, you can check in with the office to get a visitor's badge anytime during school hours beginning on Monday. Once you have your badge, everyone will be directed to line up behind the marked cone that will be placed near the front entrance of the school until the doors are open. There are plenty of seats for everyone, so no need to stress!

Photography
We want everyone to enjoy the performance, so please refrain from standing and blocking the aisles. It is no fun to watch a performance with a raised camera in front of you blocking your view-- I've had this happen to me at several performances, and I ask that you refrain from this behavior. If you want to take pictures, please go to the back row or off to the side.

On another photography note, we will have Mrs. Grist's daughter at the performance recording a video of it on an iPad. I will also be taking photographs of the children in their costumes before the performance. You will have access to these photos & the video, so that you can spend your time on Thursday enjoying the performance. The only tripod that will be set up for videos is ours-- there simply isn't space in the cafeteria for multiple tripods, so please leave your tripods at home.

Front Row Tickets Auction
Congratulations to the winners of the auction! There will be eight seats marked in the front row marked "Reserved for Auction Winners." You & your party can sit in any of those eight seats.

Make-Up and Costuming
Thank you to Aida, Francesca, Fumi, and Kristen for offering to help with getting the children ready for the performance. Please come into the classroom with the kids on Tuesday morning and we will start right away.

Holiday Party
We will have our holiday party and gift exchange on Wednesday the 20th. This is a pajama party! Children are encouraged to wear their pajamas as we enjoy a fun breakfast and crafts. If you are helping for this party, please come in with the kids and get all the food set up while they are doing their morning tubs. Thank you!

Upcoming
When we return from Winter Break on January 4th, we are having a special district-wide two days called "Smart Restart." Basically, it's a couple of days of activities to get children excited about returning to school. We will be doing some fairy tale STEAM projects and having time to play to ease our way back into school.

Happy Holidays and enjoy your break!

Upcoming Events
Tuesday, 12/19 @ 9:15 am: Nutcracker Performance
Wednesday, 12/20: Classroom Holiday Party
12/21-1/3: Winter Break
Thursday, 1/4: School resumes, Smart ReStart
Monday, 1/15: No School: MLK Holiday
Monday, 1/29: No School: Teacher Work Day

Week of December 11th

Nutcracker

This week, the focus will be on all things "Nutcracker." We will be practicing daily for our show with the other kindergarten classes, so there will be no centers this week or next. We will still have library time on Wednesday, and that will be the last time we go to the library in 2023.

Please let me know if you did not receive the purple note in your child's Wednesday envelope with their Nutcracker role. If you have any difficulty rounding up the "base clothes" that we mentioned in the letter, please let me know. Remember that all costume accessories and many costume pieces are supplied by us. We also have a number of leotards available to borrow that have been donated over the years. Thank you for your help in getting the children prepared for the show on the 19th.

You will be able to start getting visitor's badges to attend the performance, on Monday the 18th. Please bring your driver's license to the office and tell Chitra that you'd like a badge for the Nutcracker performance on the 19th. All people attending the show must go through the office first and get a visitor's badge. It's a good idea to get it on Monday so that you don't have to worry about getting caught up in a line on Tuesday morning and missing some of the show. The show will start promptly at 9:15. A few other things:

• The cafeteria doors will open at about 9:00. Please do not enter the cafeteria earlier and attempt to save seats. Anything on the seats before the doors open will be moved.
• We will record a video of the performance on an iPad and will share that video with all the families. Our iPad will be set up on a tripod for this purpose, and this is the only tripod that will be allowed in the cafeteria. Please do not bring your own tripod since there simply isn't enough room in the cafeteria for multiple tripods.
• We want everyone to enjoy the performance, so please refrain from standing and blocking the aisles. It is no fun to watch a performance with a raised camera in front of you blocking your view-- I've had this happen to me at several performances, and I ask that you refrain from this behavior. If you want to take pictures, please go to the back row or off to the side.

Front Row Tickets Auction
Finally, we wanted to remind you that the Home & School Club will be auctioning off 4 pairs of front-row tickets to the show. I believe the online auction will open on Wednesday and close on Friday. All money will go to the enrichment programs that HSC supports. It's a win-win! Get front row seats AND support Alta Vista's enrichment programs. Look for the link to the auction on Wednesday.

Holiday Party
We will have our holiday party and gift exchange (socks) on Wednesday the 20th. Look out for an email from Gina, who will be coordinating a pancake breakfast. This is a pajama party! Children are encouraged to wear their pajamas as we enjoy a fun breakfast and crafts. Please also remember to send in a wrapped pair of socks, with a label showing who it is "from" (so your child doesn't get their own sock gift) by this Friday the 15th. Thank you!

Language Arts
This week, we will wrap up the introduction of all letters and sounds with Qq and Zz! If you notice that your child does not recognize all upper & lower case letters, as well as know all letter sounds, please provide additional reinforcement at home. To help your child form this week's letters correctly, please see the Fundations Family Letter. In this week's newsletter, there is also an activity to review all letters and their sounds. Our sight words this week are run and ran. These words are perfect for our Gingerbread Man unit, which we will continue this week. We have several activities and many more stories to read!

Math
This week, we have an exciting collaboration with some 8th graders who are math tutors at Union Middle School. They are going to come over and present some centers that will strengthen the kindergartners' number sense skills. We are excited to have the 8th graders join us on Tuesday.

**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.

**Volunteering Sign-Ups

This Week's Helpers & Activities
Monday: No Centers-- Nutcracker Practice
Tuesday: UMS students come for math centers
Wednesday: Library @ 8:30, Dismissal @ 1:15
Thursday: No Centers-- Nutcracker Practice
Friday: Music

Upcoming Events
Tuesday, 12/19 @ 9:15 am: Nutcracker Performance
Wednesday, 12/20: Classroom Holiday Party
12/21-1/3: Winter Break
Thursday, 1/4: School resumes
Monday, 1/15: No School: MLK Holiday
Monday, 1/29: No School: Teacher Work Day

Week of December 4th

This week, you will receive a note telling you what your child's part will be in the Nutcracker, and what items you may need to round up for your child to wear for the performance. After reviewing what clothes your child needs to wear, please let me know if there are any problems with gathering up the various clothes needed-- most parts call for either leotards or dark pants and either a light or dark shirt. Hopefully, if there is a clothing item you do not have, you can borrow it, as we do not intend for you to have to buy anything. We have several leotards that have been donated over the years that can be borrowed, and a few pairs of ballet slippers. Again, the performance of the Nutcracker will be at 9:15 on the 19th. As with the Halloween Parade, you will have to go through the office and scan your driver's license into the Visitor Management System & get a visitor's badge. You will want to allow plenty of time to do this so that you are in the cafeteria when the performance starts at 9:15. There are plenty of seats, and the doors will not open before 9:00, so there is no need to line up early. If you are really hoping for a front-row seat, there will be an online auction for front row tickets that will be held next week. Look out for an email from the Home & School Club about that!

On another Nutcracker note, I am in need of a few people who can help with make-up and costuming on the day of the show. You will come into the classroom at the start of the day and call children back one-by-one to get them ready for the stage. Please email me if you can help with this.

Language Arts
This week's letters are Xx and Yy. For the letter Xx, we focus on the ending sound, as in fox and box. The home support letter can be found here. Our sight words this week are yes and big. For the next two weeks, we will be reading different versions of The Gingerbread Man. I have a collection of many fun variations on this book that are perfect for this time of year.

Math
We are continuing with Module 3 in Eureka Math: Comparison of Weight, Length, Capacity, and Numbers to 10. Parent tips can be found here. This week, we will be looking at weight and volume of things. We will get to use the balance scales during centers to weigh various objects.

This is our final week of centers before the holidays, as next week we will be focusing on Nutcracker rehearsals. Thank you so much to our classroom helpers in 2023! I will send out the sign-up for the new year later this month.

**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: Centers (Fiorella & Sean)
Tuesday: Centers (Janelle & Gina)
Wednesday: Library @ 8:30 (Amanda & Ryan), Dismissal @ 1:15
Thursday: Centers (Naira & Grace)
Friday: Music

Upcoming Events
Tuesday, 12/19 @ 9:15 am: Nutcracker Performance
Wednesday, 12/20: Classroom Holiday Party
12/21-1/3: Winter Break
Thursday, 1/4: School resumes
Monday, 1/15: No School: MLK Holiday
Monday, 1/29: No School: Teacher Work Day