Week of February 26th

I hope you are all enjoying some nice family time this week. We start conferences next Monday the 4th. I'm looking forward to meeting with you & updating you on your child's progress. If you need to check the schedule, it can be found here. Remember that dismissal will be at 1:15 from Monday, March 4th through Wednesday, March 13th.

I've added a few new dates on the Sign-Up Genius. One special event to note is that on March 14th, we will be doing a STEAM activity that is an annual favorite: designing and creating leprechaun traps. I hope some of you can join us!

Language Arts
Our sight words this week are for and are. Going hand-in-hand with these sight words, we will also look at the "Bossy R," or r-controlled vowels, which both these words have.

We will continue with the 3rd week of Unit 3 of Fundations. Blending sounds to read and spell words is now the main focus in our reading curriculum. There are some great resources in the Unit 3 Fundations Home Support letter.

Math
We are beginning a new module, Module 5: Numbers 10-20; Count to 100 by 1s and 10s. We've already covered the counting portion of this module, so our focus will be writing and decomposing numbers in the teens. Parent tips for this module can be found here. We will return to Module 4 for the subtraction portion of that module after we finish with numbers in the teens.

Upcoming Events & Activities
Leprechaun Traps: In class on Thursday, 3/14, children will be designing and creating their own leprechaun traps! Most of the materials for this activity are provided by our grade level money from the Home & School Club, but if you are out and about and see something that looks like a fun addition to our leprechaun traps, we will gladly take your donations for our supply of trap "accessories!" Thank you in advance!

Reminders
**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 & Judy)
Tuesday: Centers @ 12:20 (Gina & Sean)
Wednesday: Library @ 8:30 (Marianne & Kaela), Dismissal @ 1:15
Thursday: Centers @ 12:20 (Ryan & Aida)
Friday: Music

Upcoming Events
3/4-3/12: Parent-Teacher Conferences
Thursday, 3/14: Special Event: Leprechaun Trap Building
Friday, 3/15: No School: Teacher Work Day
4/8-4/12: Spring Break

Week of February 12th

We will celebrate Valentine's Day in class on Wednesday. One final reminder about the guidelines:

• 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.

Spring parent-teacher conferences are coming up on March 4 through March 12. Check the sign-ups if you'd like to meet with me. These are optional conferences, but are available to anyone who would like an update on their child's progress.

Language Arts
Our sight words this week are love and into. Love is another tricky word because the sounds don't follow the traditional phonics rules, while into is a compound word composed of two words we've already learned.

We will continue with Unit 3 of Fundations this week. Blending sounds to read and spell words is now the main focus in our reading curriculum. There are some great resources in the Unit 3 Fundations Home Support letter.

Math
We will continue with Module 4 this week. In class, I have noticed that some children are struggling when we move away from physical counters. Encourage your children to use their fingers to find the answers. Any reinforcement you can provide at home on solving addition problems is appreciated.


**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 & Sean)
Tuesday
Wednesday: Library @ 8:30 (Eileen & Juliet), Dismissal @ 1:15
Thursday
Friday: Music

Upcoming Events
Wednesday, 2/14: Valentines Exchange
2/19-2/23: President's Week Vacation
3/4-3/12: Parent-Teacher Conferences
Friday, 3/15: No School: Teacher Work Day

Week of February 5th

We have "Snow Day" this week on Monday. See below for details on this winter-themed school day.

I have added a few more dates on our Sign-Up Genius, If you're interested in either helping with Centers or Library, please check it out! We need 1 more helper for Tuesday.

Spring parent-teacher conferences are coming up on March 4 through March 12. Check the sign-ups if you'd like to meet with me. These are optional conferences, but are available to anyone who would like an update on their child's progress. I would really like to meet with anyone whose child had more than two areas marked with a "B" last trimester.

Language Arts
Our sight words this week are his and to. We now are up to 31 sight words! Please check the words on the class website to ensure your child is retaining these words.

We will begin Unit 3 of Fundations this week. Blending sounds to read and spell words is now the main focus in our reading curriculum. There are some great resources in the Unit 3 Fundations Home Support letter.

Math
We will continue with Module 4 this week. In class, I have noticed that some children are struggling when we move away from physical counters. Encourage your children to use their fingers to find the answers. Parent tips for this module can be found here.

Kimochis

This week, your child will learn the fifth Kimochis® Key to Communication: Redo hurtful moments. This key helps us remember to own and name our mistakes by apologizing and making things right. Although younger children may not always realize when they have said or done something wrong, they need to understand why it’s important to say they’re sorry. Learning the words “I’m sorry” comes faster than the genuine feeling behind it.1 As children develop the ability to take the perspective of someone else (between ages 3 and 4), their apology skills will improve. Kimochis® Cat comes with bandages that can help young children understand that hurt feelings are like an injury that needs attention. Children who can learn to redo communication mistakes will have healthier and more successful social relationships.

UPCOMING
Snow Day:
Snow Day will be on Monday the 5th. This is a day when the children come to school all dressed in their snow gear-- whatever items you have. Mittens, knit hats, jackets, snow boots, scarves, goggles, etc. are all welcome! Please do not buy anything special for this day, just use what you have or borrow from a friend. They wear their gear, and then we will be having a "snowball fight" among all our K classes using wadded up recycled paper just after our 10:00 recess. Children should bring a separate bag for their snow gear for taking on and off, as it gets too warm wearing some of those items all day. They also tend to get lost if we don't have a place to put them. If they fit in your child's backpack, that is fine too. Our centers on Monday will all be snow-themed. It is always lots of fun.

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 24 total students in our class: 13 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 Bulldog t-shirts to show your school pride

This Week's Helpers & Activities
Monday: Snow Day, Centers @ 12:20 (Aida & Naira)
Tuesday: Centers @ 12:20 (Zachary & ?)
Wednesday: Library @ 8:30 (Kaela & Aida), Dismissal @ 1:15
Thursday: Centers @ 12:20 (Janelle & Fumi)
Friday: Music @ 12:30

Upcoming Events
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
Friday, 3/15: No School: Teacher Work Day