Week of January 30th

**No School Monday: Teacher Work Day

It was great hearing about all the kind acts of our Bulldogs 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!

Spring parent-teacher conferences are coming up on March 4 through March 12. I sent the sign-ups out for those last week. These are optional conferences, but are available to anyone who would like an update on their child's progress.

100 Day
This Wednesday is 100 Day! This is a fun celebration of the number 100 and being at school together for 100 days. There is a schoolwide Spirit Day on this day-- dress like you are 100 years old. As always, Spirit Days are totally optional, but very fun. I look forward to seeing many 100-year-old Bulldogs on Wednesday!

Language Arts
We have many fun stories to read and center activities to do in honor of 100 Day- it will be an all week celebration. Our sight words this week are my and is. This is the last week of Unit 2 in Fundations. We will finish upper case letter instruction, covering letters Qq through Zz this week.

A big emphasis right now is using our knowledge of letter sounds, 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. I have noticed that some students need extra reinforcement with addition. Use objects you have at home such as Legos, Cheerios, pennies, etc. to encourage children to work on their addition skills.

We will also have lots of number & counting fun this week in celebration of 100 Day.

Kimochis
This week, your child will learn the fourth Kimochis® Key to Communication: Choose helping words. This key helps us to both think before we speak and consider our word choices. Typically, children acquire a basic ability to understand another’s perspective between 3 and 4 years of age. This allows them to become caring people. However, they will need modeling and practice to do so. In our lesson, we will talk about words that make hearts feel good and words that hurt feelings and your hearts. Your child knows that everybody makes mistakes and can accidentally use words that hurt. Your child will learn to use the following communication tool when hurting words are used: 1. Place your hand over your heart. 2. Show a gentle, but hurt facial expression. 3. Make eye contact with the person who hurt you. 4. Say, “Ouch” in a soft, but hurt tone. The children now know that this is a safe, kind way to express hurt feelings. If a mistake is made, family members can use this tool so they can apologize and make things better.

Snacks
All the kindergarten teachers have noticed an uptick in children bringing candy for snacks. Although we love sweet treats too, we don't recommend this as a good choice to help fuel your child for learning. If we could save the candy for a treat at home, that would be much appreciated.

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 23 total students in our class: 14 girls and 9 boys.
• 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.

**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 Bulldogs t-shirts to show your school pride (this week it's dressing like you're 100 years old instead)

This Week's Helpers & Activities
Monday: No School: Staff Work Day
Tuesday: Centers @ 12:20 (Michelle & Marianne)
Wednesday: Library (Ryan & Aida), Dismissal @ 1:15
Thursday: Centers @ 12:20 (Ryan & Raji)
Friday: Music

Upcoming Events
Monday, 1/29: No School: Teacher Work Day
Wednesday, 1/31: 100th Day of School
Monday, 2/5: Snow Day
Wednesday, 2/14: Valentines Exchange
2/19-2/23: President's Week Vacation
3/4-3/12: Parent-Teacher Conferences

Week of January 22nd

*We are in need of 1 more center helper for Tuesday and Thursday, as well as other dates. If you are able to help, use this link to sign-up. Your time is greatly appreciated.

As you may have seen in Mrs. Bailey's weekly update, we are kicking off "The Great Kindness Challenge" this week at school. This is an opportunity to really focus as a family on how our kind acts can help make everyone's day a little better. In kindergarten, we will be keeping track of kind acts with a "kindness chain." Children can come in each morning and tell me about a kind act they did at home, and we will also celebrate kind acts done at school. When children tell me about a kind act, they will receive a loop for our kindness chain. They write their name on the loop, and we will add it to our classroom chain. We are hoping that by the end of the week, our chain gets all the way across the classroom! You can support children at home by reminding them to tell me about a kind act you saw them do and brainstorming ways that they can be kind & helpful, both at home and at school. You can find a list of some simple ideas here.

Spring parent-teacher conferences are coming up on March 4 through March 12. I will send the sign-ups out for those soon. These are optional conferences, but are available to anyone who would like an update on their child's progress. However, if your child had several areas marked with a "B," I would like to meet with you.

Language Arts
We will continue reading snow-themed stories and do writing projects and crafts around this theme. This week we will focus on the book, Snowmen at Night. The culmination of this theme will end with "Snow Day" on February 5th. Children will come to school dressed up in any winter gear they have, and we'll have some snow-themed fun! Our sight words this week are like and see.

Our emphasis in Fundations will continue to be blending sounds to read and write words with fluency. We also continue to work on the formation of upper case letters, covering two letters per day. This week, we will cover letters Ii through Pp. As I said last week, the Fundations Parent Letter has a lot of great tips on ways to encourage blending, as well as guides to correct formation of the upper case letters.

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. I do recommend that you look these over, because there will be some new vocabulary for those of you who do not have older students who have done the Eureka math program. Of particular importance are the words "compose" (finding numbers that add up to a given number-- like 3 & 2 compose 5) "decompose" (take apart a number-- like 5 can be 4 & 1 OR 3 & 2) and number bonds (a model to show mathematical thinking).

Kimochis
This week, your child will learn the third Kimochis® Key to Communication: Use a Talking Face and Body. We will practice strategies for maintaining a positive facial expression and body language when experiencing upset emotions and conflicts instead of a mean or hurtful facial expression (Fighting Face) and body language. When your child can keep his/her face and body from looking aggressive or hurtful, others will be more willing to listen. Your child will learn how to notice and read the facial expressions and body language of others as a way to understand the emotion behind the words. Your child will also learn a communication tool called the Talking Hand. This is a positive and effective strategy your child can use to respond to peers or siblings when they grab.

Art Vistas
We have an Art Vista lesson this week, and we will be doing fish prints! This lesson is always a highlight. We use rubber fish and will be stamping them onto canvas bags. Your students will have a beautiful canvas bag after this lesson.

Upcoming Events
100 Day: We will be celebrating our 100th day of school on January 31st! That week, our center activities will be around the number 100. The 100th day celebration is just a fun way to celebrate 100 days of school after we've been counting up to this day during calendar time.

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:

1. Please send in a card for each child. There are 23 total students in our class: 14 girls and 9 boys.
2. 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!
3. 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.

**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 Bulldogs t-shirts to show your school pride.

This Week's Helpers & Activities
Monday: Centers @ 12:20 (Aida & Fiorella)
Tuesday: Art Vistas, Centers @ 12:20 ( Marianne & ?)
Wednesday: Library (Aida), Dismissal @ 1:15
Thursday: Centers @ 12:20 (Sean & ?)
Friday: Music

Upcoming Events
Monday, 1/29: No School: Teacher Work Day
Wednesday, 1/31: 100th Day of School
Monday, 2/5: Snow Day
Wednesday, 2/14: Valentines Exchange
2/19-2/23: President's Week Vacation
3/4-3/12: Parent-Teacher Conferences

Week of January 16th

I hope you are all enjoying the long weekend. This week, we will hit the half-way mark (90th school day) in our kindergarten year. This is where the kindergarten curriculum really takes off, and your continued support with the curriculum will be especially important at this time. Reading to your children and asking them questions about what they are reading, helping them blend and read/write short vowel words (eg: hop, can, rat, etc.) and reinforcing math facts and sight words is really important at this time.

*We are in need of 1 more center helper for Tuesday as well as other dates in January. If you are able to help, use this link to sign-up. Your time is greatly appreciated.

Language Arts
We will begin reading many snow-themed stories for the next couple of weeks, and do writing projects and crafts around this theme. The culmination of this theme will end with "Snow Day" on Monday, February 5th. Children will come to school dressed up in any winter gear they have, and we'll have some snow-themed fun!
Our sight words this week are this and that. Our emphasis in Fundations will continue to be blending sounds to read and write words with fluency. This week, we will also begin instruction on the formation of upper case letters, covering two letters per day. As I said last week, the Fundations Parent Letter has a lot of great tips on ways to encourage blending, as well as guides to correct formation of the upper case letters.

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. I do recommend that you look these over, because there will be some new vocabulary for those of you who do not have older students who have done the Eureka math program. Of particular importance are the words "compose" (finding numbers that add up to a given number-- like 3 & 2 compose 5) "decompose" (take apart a number-- like 5 can be 4 & 1 OR 3 & 2) and number bonds (a model to show mathematical thinking).

**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 SCHOOL: MLK Day
Tuesday: Centers @ 12:20 (Kristen & ?)
Wednesday: Library @ 8:30 (Ryan & Naira), Dismissal @ 1:15
Thursday: Centers @ 12:20 (Grace & Hyunkyung)
Friday: Music

Upcoming Events
Monday, 1/15: No School: MLK Holiday
Monday, 1/29: No School: Teacher Work Day
Wednesday, 1/31: 100th Day of School
Monday, 2/5: Snow Day
Wednesday, 2/14: Valentines Exchange

Week of January 4th and 8th

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful vacation & are rested and ready to get back into the swing of things on Thursday! We are still in need of 2 center helpers for Tuesday 1/9 and 1 center helper for Thursday 1/11. Please use the link below to sign-up. Your time is greatly appreciated!

Center Help

Smart Re-Start
We will ease into our first few days back with some fun Fairy Tale STEAM activities. We will build structures that the "Big Bad Wolf" (AKA a hair dryer!) can't blow down, and we will try and find a material to cushion Humpty Dumpty from his fall off the wall. The district calls this week a "Smart Re-Start" to get the kids excited about returning to school.

Language Arts
Next week, we will introduce two new sight words, the and she. We will begin Unit 2 of the Fundations program. The main focus of this unit is blending sounds to read words. We start with CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) three-letter words. We encourage the children to "tap" or "chop" these words into their individual sounds (see the parent letter for explicit directions on how to reinforce this), and then blend those sounds together to both read and spell the words. In this unit, we will also be reviewing the formation of several upper case letters each week. There is only one parent letter for all of Unit 2, which can be found here. There are many valuable resources and ideas for supporting the reading of CVC words in the Unit 2 parent letter, and I encourage you to check it out.

During the week of 1/8, we will be studying bears. We will write about different attributes and habits of bears and do a few bear-themed crafts.

Math
We will begin Module 4, Number Pairs, Addition & Subtraction to 10. This is a core module in kindergarten, as it provides all the foundational skills to be successful at addition & subtraction. This module will continue for many weeks. Parent tips for this module can be found here.

Kimochis
Next week, your child will learn the second Kimochis® Key to Communication: Use a Talking Voice. This key helps children stay aware of how they use the tone and volume of their voice. Sometimes when we have upset feelings, it is easy to yell or use a tone of voice that makes the situation worse instead of better. The lesson will teach your child how to use a Talking Voice rather than a defensive, aggressive, or Fighting Voice. When we feel upset and are able to use a Talking Voice, we raise the odds that others will want to understand our feelings and resolve conflicts. Your child will also learn how to pay attention to the tone of voice of others as a way to understand the emotion behind the words.

Our Social Studies lessons in the TCI program will also focus on solving problems with others in more effective ways.

**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.

Week of 1/8 Helpers & Activities
Monday: Centers (Aida & Brian)
Tuesday: Centers (?)
Wednesday: Library @ 8:30 (Phil & Gina), Dismissal @ 1:15
Thursday: Centers (Janelle & ?)
Friday: Music @ 12:30

Upcoming Events
Thursday, 1/4: School resumes
Monday, 1/15: No School: MLK Holiday
Monday, 1/29: No School: Teacher Work Day
Wednesday, 1/31: 100th Day of School