Room A News Jan 12

January 12, 2012

Room A News

January 12^th, 2012!

 

 

What we are learning:

           We are beginning our social studies until on our Community.  Students shared what they know about our local community.  We will take our first field trip into the community next Thursday with a walk to the library.  In math, we are reviewing numbers and talking about more, less, and greater than.  We are reviewing our readers’ toolbox (tools we use to figure out tricky words).  Ask your child about them!  We will talk tomorrow about Dr. Martin Luther King and the dream he had for the world.  Then we will come up with our own dreams for ourselves and for the world.  You can start to talk about Martin Luther King and his impact on our country tonight.

 

What we will be learning:

          We will be finishing our personal narrative writing unit next week, and then we will begin a fiction unit. 

           

Ways for you to support:

• Story prompt:  tell your child a story about Martin Luther King.
• Make sure you are reading at least 20 minutes a night. 
• Practice fine motor skills.  I’m noticing a lot of students still struggling with pencil grasp, pressure when holding a pencil, or hands getting tired quickly when writing.  This site has some easy ideas: http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/fine-motor-skills-activities-for-children.html
• Ask your child about kindergarten: 
  • How do you play monster squeeze?
  • What are the months of the year?  What month is it now?  What year is it?

 

 

 

 

Upcoming events

 

 

• NO SCHOOL (Martin Luther King Day): Monday, January 16
• Field Trip to Library: Thursday, January 19^th, from 9:45-11:30
• Look for more field trips in the next few weeks to: Loma Alta Park, Altadena Community Garden and the Altadena Stables; the Fire Station, hiking, and possibly 1 or 2 more!

 

 

Mystery Reminders:

Tuesday: Ziggy, Wednesday: Yuna Thursday: Valentina

 

Class Wishlist

• Found items, such as toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, egg cartons, empty yogurt containers, etc.

 

 

 

**Reminder: If you are on campus past 8:30, you MUST get a visitor’s pass from the front office.  Thanks!

 

 

Annual Campaign Update

 

15 of our families have donated to the annual campaign, bringing us to 60%!!!  Please donate whatever amount you are able if you have not to help us reach our goal of 100% of families participating and to retain our PE and Computer program.

 

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Mystery schedule

January 12, 2012

Mystery Schedule

 

January

 

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday
1/16 NO SCHOOL	1/17 Ziggy	1/18 Yuna	1/19 Valentina
1/23 Theo	1/24 Sanye	1/25 Santi	1/26 Robby
1/30 Ravi	1/31 Pascal

 

February

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday
		2/1 Nevin	2/2 Mikel
2/6 Max	2/7 Logan	2/8 Laila	2/9 Jack
2/13 Ivy	2/14 Gigi	2/15 Emery	2/16 Ella
2/20 NO SCHOOL	2/21 Desha	2/22 Cooper	2/23 Christian
2/27 Brianna	2/28 Asha	2/29 Asa

 

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Kindergarten News November 17

November 17, 2011

Room A News

November 17th, 2011!

What we are learning:
We had a very fun week in kindergarten. On Tuesday, Zero the Hero came to visit us and brought a deck of cards for each student! I hope you’ve been playing Top-It at home! Please teach your child other games that you know (i.e. Go Fish, Crazy 8s)-these games help with number recognition. On Wednesday, Nevin’s mom, Traci, came with Alan (Melody’s dad from Room B) to teach us World Music. We sang songs in a West African language, in Sign Language, played in a drum circle, and sang a lot. It was lots of fun and we look forward to the next Music class! We had Yoga with Ravi’s mom, Susan. Tomorrow is our first time with our Reading Buddies-this is a time for us to get to know some older students at school. It is one of my very favorite things we do at Odyssey.
Kindergarteners got Just Right books! I am teaching how to read pattern books. The first two lessons were getting our minds ready to read: before we read a new book (adults do this, too!), we look at the cover and the title and think “What is this book going to be about?”, then we take a book walk—we look inside the book and just talk about what we notice in the pictures. Next we will talk about paying attention to the pattern, and then using the pictures to figure out tricky words.

What we will be learning:
Stone Soup Day is next week! Please make sure you check the sign-up genius http://www.signupgenius.com/go/room390 for what you need to bring no later than Monday.
Unfortunately, I may be called to jury duty next week, but I’m crossing my fingers I won’t!

Ways for you to support:
• Story prompt: tell your child a story about Thanksgiving.
• Make sure you are reading at least 20 minutes a night.
• Ask your child about kindergarten:
o What did you learn in Music?
o Can you show me a yoga pose?
o What is the story of Stone Soup?
o Tell me about your just right books? How do you get your mind ready to read?
o Tell me one of the stories you have written in Writing Workshop.

 

Upcoming events

• Stone Soup Day! Tuesday, November 22nd This is a great family
event!!! Soup will be served @ 11:30 The whole family is invited. You can sign your child out after lunch to take them home for the long weekend.
• NO SCHOOL Wednesday, November 23-25. Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Volunteering/Classroom Help

• We NEED boxes of tissues. Please bring one or two if you can.

**Reminder: If you are on campus past 8:30, you MUST get a visitor’s pass from the front office. Thanks!

If you didn’t already, click here: http://www.odysseycharterschool.org/campusuite/modules/photo-gallery.cfm?box_id=6088&grp_id=5724&kind=image&preview=yes
For pictures from Camp Day. If you have any you took in the morning or afternoon that you would like to share, please send them my way and I will add them to the page. Thanks!

By the way, we are always putting up new things in the classroom. Make sure to check out our Camp Day stories on the wall. You can also find potatoes that seemed to be the grossest from our germ experiment. Ask your child about it.
Annual Campaign Update

15 of our families have donated to the annual campaign, bringing us to 60%!!! Please donate whatever amount you are able if you have not to help us reach our goal of 100% of families participating and to retain our PE and Computer program.

 

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Kindergarten News October 27

October 28, 2011

Room A News

October 27th, 2011!

 

What we are learning:
We added I and a to the word wall this week. We continued adding animals to our Camp Day decorations. We explored oil pastels and gluing different materials for mask making. We had an amazing Creative Dance class with Laila’s dad, Todd. In reading and writing workshop, we talking about making choices that will help students do their best work (i.e. getting straight to work, picking a writing spot not near friends, taking care of business before or after). We have also been working on pumpkin math—we put the pumpkins in order from biggest to smallest and then made predictions of how many seeds they have. We counted the seeds today.

What we will be learning:
We will do a fun cooking project and continue getting ready for Camp Day. We will paint river rocks, learn about and make fossils, decide what else our room needs to look like a forest, etc. We will continue to learn about reading and writing routines, and wrap up our Emergent Storybook unit. In two weeks, we will begin reading just right books! Stay tuned for information on a meeting for parents regarding reading and writing in kindergarten.

Ways for you to support:
• Story prompt: tell your child a story about a pumpkin.
• Make sure you are reading at least 20 minutes a night. Record your reading on your Read-a-thon form!
• What can you order at home? This can be biggest to smallest, tallest to shortest, etc.

Reminder:
Odyssey does not celebrate Halloween, please make sure your child does not come in costume on Monday.

 

Upcoming events

• Kindergarten Potluck (check the email from our room parents!), Saturday, November 5, 12:30-2:30
• NO SCHOOL, Friday, November 11—Veteran’s Day Holiday
• Stone Soup Day! Tuesday, November 22nd

FYI: Fridays are Odyssey spirit days. Your child can wear an Odyssey shirt or the color red!

 

Volunteering/Classroom Help

• I need a few muffin tins (mini muffins) for our cooking project on Monday. Please bring them if you have (please label them). Thank you!!!
• Please look out for an email from our room parents for supplies and help needed for Camp Day (Monday, November 7th)

I need volunteers to clean the classroom on Friday afternoons. You can sign up here: Please sign-up here to help:
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/classroom559


Annual Campaign Update
10 of our families have donated to the annual campaign, bringing us to 40%.
I know we had many more donations last night, so I will have updated numbers soon! If you have not already contributed, please help us be one of the classes to reach 100% and help Odyssey maintain our wonderful programs.

 

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Newsletter October 13

October 13, 2011

Room A News

October 13th, 2011!

What we are learning:
We are still working through the alphabet with Sammy Snake (s), Timothy Tiger (t), Umber Umbrella Bird (u), Vincent Vampire Bat (v), and Willy Weasel (w). We began Reading Workshop by learning how to read emergent storybooks. I taught how to read a book by reading the pictures, using storyteller words as you tell the story, and using the pictures to remember what happened in the story. We also began Writing Workshop—if your child comes home drawing oval people, it is because that is how I begin teaching them. We read about and made dragonflies/fireflies (you can ask your child which he/she made) for Camp Day.

**Each morning, students are responsible for answering the question of the day when they come in the room. Please do NOT read the question to them. You might have noticed that the beginning of the question is the same from day to day. Students have memorized this part (and if they have not, you can prompt them by pointing to the words and asking them what they think it says—this works on tagging, which is a beginning reading skill). The final word is in the picture. If they cannot tell what the picture is, direct them to the first letter of the word and have them think what it could be that starts with that letter. If you need help with this, I’m happy to demonstrate!

What we will be learning:
Next week, we will continue to get ready for Camp Day by making and learning about different forest animals. We will talk about more animal adaptations, including camouflage. We will revisit a germ experiment we begin tomorrow and talk about the importance of washing our hands and cleaning thoroughly. On Monday, we will celebrate the 30th day of school and launch the Read-A-Thon! Ms. Ketryn will be with us once again on Tuesday as I pull students and assess to prepare for our ILP meetings. Tuesday is also a PE day (we have PE every other Tuesday).

Ways for you to support:
• Story prompt: tell your child a story about your favorite book.
• Ask your child the steps of the Peace Path and why we use it. What is it for?
• Please ask your child the movements that go with the sounds of S, T, U, V, and W.
• Make sure you are reading at least 20 minutes a night.
• ENVIRONMENTAL PRINT: Your children know how to read a lot of words! Words on cereal boxes, words on signs, clothing, etc. Please cut these out and send them in with your child. We will have a wall in the classroom dedicated to the words your child is already reading.
• Ask students how to write their numbers (we start at the top). Please make sure when your child is doing the practice sheets at home, they are writing the numbers correctly (handwriting is the only time of day we ask our students to form letters and numbers correctly).

Homework:
Any homework I send is for you to keep at home, please do not send it back to school. Have fun!

 

If you have not signed up for an ILP meeting, please do so: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/ilpsignup

 

Upcoming events
• Family Math Night, Thursday, October 20th, 5-7 pm (please check the OCS Thursday packet for the pizza slip and return to the classroom)
• Kindergarten Potluck (sign-up coming soon!), Lookout for an email on this later today or tomorrow.

A quick note on our morning routine: please help us start our day on-time by saying goodbye to your child as soon as I turn on the music. I aim to start our morning meeting right when the Good Morning song goes on, but it is difficult when there are still parents in the room. Also note that if you come in after the 8:15 bell, you need to stop by the office and get a tardy slip. Thanks for your help!

Volunteering

I need volunteers to clean the classroom on Friday afternoons. You can sign up here: Please sign-up here to help: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/classroom559

Pumpkins

We need pumpkins of different sizes for math we will be doing in the next few weeks. Please let me know if you can bring in a pumpkin (we will need one of each size—from the palm sized ones to big carving pumpkins). If you would like, you can either donate it to the class (we will need 5 to keep) or take it home at the end of the month. Thank you!

Annual Campaign Update
10 of our families have donated to the annual campaign, bringing us to 40%.
I know we had many more donations last night, so I will have updated numbers soon! If you have not already contributed, please help us be one of the classes to reach 100% and help Odyssey maintain our wonderful programs.

Our inaugural Read-A-Thon is finally ready to "Blast OFF!"
That's our theme: Blast off into Reading.

Your kids will be getting a notice with all the details of the event in their Thursday Packets this week. (If that doesn't make it home, we will have the information on the OCS web site soon too.) The event starts on Monday the 17th.

The basic details are 2 goals for the kids:
Goal: Read an additional 15 minute a day for 12 days (or the little ones can have someone read to them.)
Goal: Raise at least $15 in pledges

Two ways you can help me launch the Read-A-Thon:

1. Friday the 14th, 8:30am
I will be hanging up posters and decorating the school to get us ready to go.
Come by and help if you want. I will do this right after drop off on Friday. Just come by the picnic bench area in the courtyard. It shouldn't take too long. Bring masking or blue tape, if you have it. We can always use more!

2. Monday the 17th, 8:30am
We will have a school wide assembly to launch the event.
Every class will get to count down and blast off their own balloon "rocket."
We welcome all parents to stay after drop off. The kids will come to the field for a quick gathering to get everyone excited and ready to read. If you'd like to help before school getting the rockets ready, let me know or just come by. I'll be on the back field early that morning.

This is a new fundraiser for Odyssey. Your participation is all we need to make it very successful. Thank you!

Rebecca Mercado
elirebecca@aol.com
(310) 869-7283
 

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