September 17, 2009

Upcoming Dates

Friday, September 18th: No School – Staff Learning Day
The Cupertino School District will have a day to introduce teachers to the new math program this year.

Monday, October 5th – Tuesday, October 13th: Parent Conferences
You will be assigned a 20 minute time slot during the school day to talk about your child’s progress. Please make sure you arrive on time because we have back-to-back conferences and we cannot go over the time allotted to you. All the kindergarten teachers will have a substitute for three full days during conferences. I will be meeting with each of you in the UPPER GRADE WING – CONFERENCE ROOM (Next to Room 17).

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Dear Families,

This was another short week! On Monday, you children brought home their “warm-colored” Kindergarten Keepbook Box. Please remember to put them somewhere where your child can access them whenever they want to read. I told the students a good place may be in their room, such as in their closet, on a shelf, or under the bed. We will be taking home mini-books about once a week, so please keep them altogether!

Here are some highlights for the week:

• Language Arts: We worked on many of the letters this week including O, P, Q, R, S, and T. Our handwriting is starting to look better and I am seeing good control on holding the pencil correctly! Many of the students can copy the letters if they have an example, but cannot write it properly on their own. This will be our next step. Keep practicing at home! We have been reading many stories such as Hooway For Wodney Wat, Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon, and Freckleface Strawberry, which are about accepting differences and being special just the way you are. We want to make sure we only saw kind things to each other and never name-call or make fun of others.

• Social Studies: Congratulations to David, who was chosen as our second Star of the Week! You can read about him in the “Classwork” section of our website, and click under “Star of the Week.” Please remember to take care of Beebear if you take him home for the weekend. He is pretty old, so he needs to be treated gently! Thanks! Also this week, we made a minibook for the words to the Pledge of Allegiance. We recite the Pledge everyday, so your child should have the words memorized! Please add this minibook to our Kindergarten Keepbook Shoeboxes!

• Math: We completed the first unit of our math books. I assessed students individually this week to see if they understood the concepts of the first unit. We also started the second unit, or chapter 4 this week on shapes. We are practicing to sort and identify squares, rectangles, triangles, and circles. We also continued working with patterns.

• Computer Lab: This week we explored the Stamp function in Kidpix. We found stamps that we liked and made them different sizes. Next week we will begin our first project.

• Buddies: We saw our fourth grade buddies for the second time today. Ms. Allen read us all a story called, Me on the Map. This was a social studies activity for students to learn about where they are in relation to the world. Little buddies had to draw themselves, their bedroom, their house, and their street. Big buddies had to draw their town, town state, their country, and the world.

• Library: This was our second visit to the library. Mrs. Glass read us a story, and then reviewed the library rules: walking feet, whisper voices, using a shelf marker to find books, putting books away, and reading quietly at the tables. We are really working on following these rules, and not just playing during library time. Please begin getting in the habit of reading with or to your child every night, even just a few minutes. We want students to learn to love reading, or at this stage, love to hear stories, look at pictures, and think about what’s happening in the story.

• Music: We saw Ms. Disney again today! She always has fun movement songs for us to learn. We reviewed some of the activities from last class. In music, we are trying to remember when it is ok to be silly and when it is time to be quiet.

Remember that next week, sharing begins! Hopefully, you have kept the sharing schedule in a safe place! Next week, the topic is anything your child wants to share! Please remember to prepare at least 4 sentences, and bring a visual to show the class (whether it is the actual object, or a large, colorful picture). All the sharing information is on the website under “Classwork” and then “Sharing.” Just a reminder:

Mondays –
AM: Aditi, Caroline, Chris, Connor
PM: Aditya, Colleen

Tuesdays –
AM: David, Jennifer, Kavya
PM: Daniel, Edison, Grace

Wednesdays –
AM: Keona, Kristina, Kumiko
PM: Jewel, Lauren, Matthew N.

Thursdays –
AM: Leah, Michael, Raphael, Sahithi
PM: Sara, Shaunak

Fridays –
AM: Sean, Matthew C., Yuma
PM: Tanisha, Woojin, Yash

I’m looking forward to hearing everyone’s sharing next week!!! Have a wonderful weekend!