Kindergarten Newsletter for September 22-26, 2014

Hello Kindergarten Families!

Recap of the Week: Last week we began our literacy program by working on our Animal Alphabet Signals. I encourage you to have your child teach you the signals for each letter. In science, we did a lot of activities with leaves, including a walk outside to observe the trees. We also visited the folks over at Kindred. We will be going once a month, Wednesdays or Thursday. Parents are welcome to join us any time.

Math: We will graph the colors of apples that we bring in to share this week. We will also weigh them with a balance scale and measure their height using Unifix Cubes. We will work on matching digits to the number of items by playing a math game called Orchard Math.

Literacy: This week we begin to learn to match sounds to letters this week. We will work on the letters 'a' and 'b' for this week. We will identify words beginning with those sounds and also use the students' names to find more examples of the sounds in the real world. Students will be encouraged to participate by finding items beginning with these sounds. We will probably move faster in the coming weeks as students become familiar with this new routine.

Handwriting: We will work on the letters B and R. We are moving into the letters that contain curves. These are more difficult for little hands to make, so we will be doing lots of encouraging about making the 'round curves.' As we write, we are making sure to hold our pencil with a strong grip to ensure we can see the letters we write on the paper. We are also encouraging students to use the 3-finger, or tripod, grip.

Science: This week we are getting ready for Fall. We are doing lots of explorations with apples, and integrating them across all our learning. We will end the week by making Apple Pizza!

Bike Helmets: Remember to send a helmet to school for your child if he or she would like to ride on tricycles or scooters during outside play. Bikes are out on sunny days.

Carnival

The LAPSK all school carnival is coming October 3rd. Pre-sale tickets for food and game bracelets go on sale this week. Our classroom is responsible for the Bean Bag Toss game. There will be a sign-up sheet outside the classroom for volunteering to help run the game. This will go towards your 2 hours of volunteer time. We will also have food, a chili cook-off (anyone can take part) and 2 bounce houses. Invite your friends and family and come join the fun!!

Picture Day: We will be doing individual and classroom pictures on Monday October 6th at 10:00am. You will see the order forms in your child's cubby this week. We will make sure there are no "messy" activities that day, so students can wear their nice clothes.

Sickness: If your Kindergartener is sick, please call the school office, or you can send me an email or a text. Remember to keep kids home if they are running a fever, have a runny nose with mucus, or a constant cough that they can't keep covered. If they can't participate in our class activities, let them stay at home and get better. Thanks for your help in keeping illness to a minimum.

Please feel free to contact me if you have questions or concerns. I am fine with a text or a call, or you can email. I am here to help you and your child have a great kindergarten year!

Thank you for sharing your child with us,

Teacher Sinead & Teacher Caroline

Wish List:

2 liter bottles (empty and clean) for Carnival

Apples for our science, math and art projects

Dates to remember:

October:

1st.......................Tuition Due

3rd.......................All School carnival

6th.......................School pictures

10th.....................Tuition Grace Period ends

16th/17th.............Pumpkin patch field trip 
        (New venue this year) 
        http://www.vancouverpumpkinpatch.com/
26th..............Church sponsored “Trunk or treat” event

30/31............Classroom parties

November:

6th.................Parent/Teacher conferences

7th.................No classes/Church event

Tuition Prices 2014-2015 School Year

2 days a week $190.00 a month

3 days a week $245.00 a month

4 days a week $300.00 a month

5 days a week $355.00 a month

Kindergarten $405.00 a month