Week 12: October 28th to November 1st

Hello KB families!

I enjoyed meeting with all of you this week.  It's wonderful to share the pride we have in our children. They have worked hard and accomplished so much already.

Please remember that we have an academic break on Monday and there is no school!  Mrs. Woinarowicz will be back to greet your children on Tuesday, the 29th!

I want to thank Mrs. Zavala and Mrs. Santana for sharing the responsibility of supporting and guiding your children over the last few weeks and months.  I feel blessed to work alongside such intelligent and compassionate people!

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Congratulations to the Prep football team for making the playoffs! Due to AIA regulations and the scheduled playoff game this Friday, Movie Night is moved to Friday, November 22nd. Details can be found in the school newsletter.

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Please read this announcement from Miss Weddle.

Our Winter Concert is quickly approaching! It will be at Higley Center for the Performing Arts on November 20 ^th.  Students’ attire for our performances is NOT school uniform. Gentlemen are expected to wear a plain white dress shirt, black pants, black socks and black closed toed shoes. Solid dark colored vests and ties are optional for gentlemen. Ladies are expected to wear a white top, black skirt, black tights and black closed toed shoes. Please have your kindergartners at Higley Center for the Performing Arts by 4:45pm.

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Here is what we will be learning this week.

Math:  Students will work through different patterns. They will identify shapes that can be used to make patterns. They will also use colors and orientation to extend patterns.

Spalding: This week we will continue to learn two letter phonograms adding new phonograms to the nightly homework. We will introduce two partner phonograms and we will also learn our first cues to differentiate the phonograms with the same sound. Our phonograms will be ai (cue: not used), ay, oi (cue: not used), oy.  We will practice recognizing these phonograms in words and continue to review

the first 30 phonograms. 

Sight Words: This week we will introduce list 4:but, not, what, all, were, we, when, your, can, word

 Literature: This week will explore two more of Aesop’s Fables, “The Lion and the Mouse,” and “The Stork and the Fox.”  We will dive into the morals of each story and identify the story elements. Our poem will be Diddle Diddle Dumpling.

Science:  Students will be able to share facts about Louis Braille.  They will make a craft using Braille writing.

Week of October 21 - October 25th

Hello KB Families!

Our first week back was terrific.  It was great to see all those beautiful faces again!

We had our second trip to the school library.  The children are always so excited to look through the books and make their next selection!

Thanks to the Weigle family for donating a pumpkin to the kindergarten classes.  The students had the opportunity to use their five senses to explore, then describe the pumpkin.

Ask your children what they discovered.  How many lines or seeds did the pumpkin have?  Did you taste the pumpkin?  If so, what did it taste like?  Did our small pumpkin sink or float?

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Due to parent-teacher conferences, we will have half days for the entire week.  NO LUNCHES WILL BE SERVED!  Please make sure your children have extras snacks.  Thank you!

Release times are:

11:45 - ALL kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade students without siblings; (this includes half day
            kindergarten).

12:05 - student(s) with sibling(s) grades 3 to 5

12:25 - student(s) with prep siblings


Mrs. Zavala and I look forward to meeting with you!

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Parents, thank you for partnering with us in your child's learning.  We believe that homework, while important, needs to be carefully balanced with a child's full family and extra-curricular life.  With that in mind, please reflect on your child's experience with homework in the first quarter by responding to a short survey.

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Here is what we will be learning this week.

Spalding: This week we will continue to learn two letter phonograms adding more double letter phonograms on each night of homework. We will introduce ou, oo, ch, ar. We will practice recognizing these phonograms in words and continue to review the first 30 phonograms.

Sight Words: This week we will review list 3 and test over these words by the end of the week. A fun way to practice is to put the sight word somewhere around your house, when your child sees it, they have to give it a high five and say the word.  

Literature: We will be reading the African Trickster tale, "How Many Spots Does a Leopard Have?

This is a fun story about animals guessing how many spots the leopard really has. We will also explore two other African Tales, “Anansi the Spider,” and “How the Leopard got his Spots.” Our Poem will be "Ride a Cockhorse.” We will also practice reading the leveled readers your child will bring home in the near future. We will practice good book handling skills and practice blending sounds into words. 

 Math:  We are continuing our lesson on shapes.  We will introduce 3D shapes:  cone, rectangular block, cylinder, cube, and sphere.  We will find every day items that look like these shapes, and an assessment will be taken on Friday.

Week 10: October 14th - October 17th

Hello KB families!

I can't believe the first quarter is coming to a close!  Your children have worked so hard and I can see their growth in many ways.  It now time for a little break to enjoy the cooler weather and some quality family time.

Please make sure to sign up for your parent teacher conference through the sign up genius. 
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0948AAAB28A7F58-quarter

If you are also interested in meeting with the specials teachers, their sign up genius is
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090a4aacab23a6f94-k1specials1

Your child's checklist (report card) may be accessed through power school from 10/11 to 10/16.

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Our virtue for September was citizenship.  Valentina displayed this virtue through helping others and cleaning trash on the playground without being asked.  Good job Valentina!

Here is what we will be learning after break.

Spalding: We will begin our two letter phonograms this week, we kindly ask that you please do not teach ahead on the phonograms.  We will introduce “sh, ee, th, and ow.” Homework will be a review of the any of the first 26 phonograms.  We will continue to work on word sounds and syllables as we prepare to introduce spelling words. You can practice this skill at home by giving your child a simple CVC (consonant/vowel/consonant) word; can, dog, mat, etc. Next ask your child to give each sound in the word and identify how many syllables.    

Sight Words: This week we will introduce list 3: said, by, had, one, or, from, have, this, be at. Look for the word list coming home at the end of the week. 

Literature:  We will explore a numbskull tale, which is a story that tells about a foolish creature who behaves in a ridiculous way. Our numbskull tale is about a foolish chicken who thinks the sky is falling, “Chicken Little." Our poem will be “Baa Baa Black Sheep."

Math:  This week we will start our unit on shapes, focusing on shapes that are 2D. We will look at squares, triangles, circles, and rectangles. Students will identify the shapes by attribute and look for shapes in every day objects.

Science:  Students will be able to identify the parts of the pumpkin, along with the life cycle.   They will investigate the inside and outside of a pumpkin using all five senses.  Students will share facts they know about pumpkins and new ones they will discover.