October 22, 2010

Dear Families,

This was a fun week for us! Next week is a short week and it will also be filled with lots of special activities. It is Red Ribbon Week, and we have our Halloween parade and party too! Unfortunately, I will not be at school from Wednesday to Friday next week. I am very sad to miss Halloween especially because I love to take pictures of all the children in their costumes =( My husband has a conference that he is presenting at and I will be flying with him to attend the conference. We have a substitute coming and it is very important that the kids remember to follow the rules. Please remind them to be on their best behavior!

Here are some highlights for the week:

• Language Arts: Our journal entry this week was to write about spiders. We practiced capital letters, spaces, periods, and sounding out words. We also learned how to draw a spiderweb! In literacy centers, our letter of the week was T. You can see our computer center illustrations for the letter T in our website, under “Classwork.” The story of the week was called Alice and Greta. Keep practicing writing the listening center sentences about your child’s favorite part. We start the sentence with: I like when __________.

• Social Studies: Congratulations to Sreenidhi, who was chosen as our seventh Star of the Week! You can read about her in the “Classwork” section of our website, and click under “Star of the Week.”

• Math: We started our next chapter on comparing sets. We learned to use the words more, less, fewer, greater, equal, and same, to compare two sets of objects. We also learned how to use the > greater than, < less than, and = equal sign to compare numbers. The last few problems in our math worksheet had us practice word problems such as: Draw more ducks than ponies. We practiced how to solve these problems.

• Computer Lab: This week we finished our October Kidpix illustrations of our Pumpkin poem. We practiced making a background for our pumpkins including a ground, sky, moon, and stars! You can see these drawings in our “Classwork” section of our website!

• Science: We finished our Pumpkin, Pumpkin books about the life cycle of a pumpkin! Have your child share with you the stages of how a pumpkin grows: seed, sprout, plant, flower, pumpkin, green to orange, and then it is picked and carved out to become a Jack O’Lantern!

• Enrichment Day: Thank you to all the parents who came to help during this special school-wide event! Our first presentation was by two dentists, and they taught us how to take care of our teeth. They gave us toothbrushes! Our second presentation was by the sheriff and they gave us stickers that looked like badges! The third presentation was by the librarians from the Cupertino Public Library. They gave us applications for library cards, if you don’t already have one! The last presentation was by several Kindergarten moms, and they taught us how to make pumpkin pie! The recipe is in today’s Friday folder!

• Pumpkin Patch: Thank you for all the parents who came to chaperone on this trip. We decorated our own little pumpkins and also pet some farm animals. We had a great time!

Eaton has had some problems recently with the silly band bracelets that have been in fashion lately. If your child has them, that is fine as long as they keep it on their wrist. However, they cannot trade them or give them away, because of Eaton’s policy against toys. Please make sure they wear them and are not playing with them!

Another reminder is to please come to school on time! Once the kids enter the classroom door, then school has officially started. Unfortunately, if you come in after we have closed the door, your child is marked “Delayed.” This record will be counted on your child’s progress report.

Have a wonderful three-day weekend!