As you've probably noticed, the end of the year calendar is packed with events! Please continue to read the weekly updates and mark your calendars for all the events in May.
Go Green Program
We kick off this week with an assembly on Monday presented by environmentalist and author Jessica Jane Robinson. She will also visit our classroom on Wednesday to follow up with the students and discuss the importance of recycling, and how they can help make a difference.
Spring Pictures
Spring pictures are on Tuesday. There is no pre-ordering necessary. Similar to the Fall pictures, you will get a QR code to order your child's pictures and you can go to the website and view them before ordering, if you choose to do so. For Spring pictures, there is no group shot-- just individuals.
Baby Guessing Book
In this week's Wednesday envelope, you will receive a page for our final class book, the "Baby Guessing" book. Your child will complete a page that describes him/herself. Please let your children complete this page on their own, with their own spellings (some help is ok to make it all readable). Then, you attach a baby photo to the page, and we make it into a book where we try and guess who each baby is. We love looking at how much we've all grown-- it's a really fun book! Start looking for a special baby picture that you can attach to your child's page, and please send your child's page back to school in the following week's Wednesday envelope, on May 9th (sooner is ok too). We will turn these pages into our final class book, which will be on display at Open House on May 22nd.
Language Arts
This week, we will continue focusing on digraphs as we begin our final unit of Fundations. This unit will focus on merging all the skills we've learned so far: spelling, sentence writing, writing conventions, and reading with fluency. Parent tips for this unit can be found here. Although the parent tips mention that we will begin discussing the differences between informational and narrative texts, we've actually been talking about these differences all year. Your children are experts on the differences between these types of books.
We are beginning to study caterpillars! This week, we will have live caterpillars in our classroom that we will watch as they transform into butterflies. We will kick off this unit this week by reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, and making our own take-off of this book.
Math
We will continue working on story problems this week in math. Students will be exposed to problems that will require both addition and subtraction skills to solve the story problem. Students are taught to listen for phrases such as "how many altogether or in all?" and "how many are left?"
STEAM
This week, we will go to the Makerspace to work with Snap Circuits again. Children will move onto the next challenges, picking up where they left off two weeks ago.
Fun Friday
This Friday, there will be several fun events. There is a school Spirit Day: "Dress like a Teacher." Spirit Days are always optional, but a fun way to join your classmates and show some school spirit. There will also be ice cream sales after school, but since this is on a Friday, it will be at 2:40 (when the rest of the school gets out). Finally, this Friday is our kindergarten movie night!! More information will come in a separate email to all those who bought this item at the AVHSC online auction.
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 Bulldog t-shirts to show your school pride
This Week's Helpers & Activities
Monday: Go Green Assembly
Tuesday: Picture Day, Centers @ 12:20 (Sean & Brian)
Wednesday: Library @ 8:30 (Kaela & Naira), MakerSpace, Go Green Classroom visit, Dismissal @ 1:15
Thursday: Centers @ 12:20 (Kristen & Ryan)
Friday: "Dress Like a Teacher" Day, Music @ 12:30, Ice Cream sales @ 2:40, Kindergarten Movie Night @ 5:00
Upcoming Events
Tuesday, 4/30: Spring Pictures
Friday, 5/3 @ 5:00: Kindergarten Movie Night (tickets required)
Friday, 5/10: AV Fantasy Fair "Animal Adventure" 5:00-8:00 pm
Wednesday, 5/22: Open House
Thursday, 5/30: Kindergarten Family Day @ 8:15
Friday, 5/31: AV Multicultural Night & Art Vista Art Show
