Erin Munavu
K Teacher


Odyssey Charter School Blog

Thursday newsletter, December 17

December 17, 2009

 

Room A Newsletter!
December 17, 2009
Dear Families,
            Can you believe it is already Winter Break? I cannot believe the first trimester is over, and I will be leaving on my maternity leave. It has been an amazing trimester—as I know you have seen, all of your children have made growth in all areas: socially, emotionally, in reading, in writing, and in math. You will see more growth during the next trimester—especially in their reading and writing! Mollie will be teaching a lot of great units including how readers think and talk about books, a how-to and a fiction writing unit. She will continue to teach about space and the planets in science, and will be building more on number sense and working with bigger numbers.
            We celebrated the end of our reading and writing units. Last Friday, we read our published stories to our 8th grade reading buddies, and then our buddies toasted to us. Ask your child what his/her buddy said (they were very thoughtful toasts!). On Tuesday, each child read aloud a just right book to 10 classmates. They were so proud to share their learning, and were eager to give each other toasts in celebration. I am very proud of how they are able to reflect on what they have learned and give each other compliments!
            Over the vacation, please make sure your child is reading every day, whether that is alone, reading to an adult, sibling, or friend, or being read to by an adult, sibling, or friend. You can also refer to the December calendar or the supplementary homework sheet I previously sent home. 
Other ideas to continue learning over the vacation:
  • keeping a journal. Have your child write/draw about something that happens each day over break.
  • look at the night sky and talk about the stars and moon. You can also keep a daily weather graph.
  • count, sort, make patterns. Math can be integrated into almost any activity (let’s count the ornaments, how many more days until 2010, looking at the calendar, etc.).
 
**Please sign up to help wash towels and/or clean the classroom on Fridays. Even though I will not be here after break, the sign up is for the following trimester. There are more slots on the back! Let’s make it as easy as possible for Mollie!

Upcoming events:
·         Walking Trip to Loma Alta Park, tomorrow: December 18th from 11:45-2:15, I’m anticipating I might have to drive (this baby is getting heavy!), so it would be extremely helpful if we could have volunteers to walk with the class! Family is welcome to eat lunch with us and enjoy the last afternoon before holiday vacation! We’ll also have a small holiday celebration, so if you’d like to bring a small treat or game to play, we’d love it!
·         Winter Vacation December 19-January 10
Thank you:
To everyone who has taken wash home this trimester: Albert’s family, Ocean’s family, Peyton’s family, Finn’s family,  Candace’s family, Austin’s family, Charlotte’s family, Marisol’s family, Logan’s family, and Matthew’s family!
To everyone who has come in on Fridays to clean the classroom: Chris, Karla and Edward, RJ,  Julie U, Julie J,  Sun, Toni, Heather, Zarina, Tracie, Ellen, and Adriana!
To everyone who has volunteered in the classroom: Christa, Ellen, Zarina, Ilse, Susie, Cari, Sun (cleaning Scooter’s tank!), Heather (we love music!), Susan (we love movement!), and all the parents who were here on Camp Day!
To everyone who has done work at home for the classroom: Taffany, Zarina, Ellen, Susie, Sun, Cari, and Julie U.
--You have made this a smooth, fun trimester for the students and for me!
Thank you also for getting your children to school on time, making sure they have healthy snacks, reading take home books with them, and being such supportive, wonderful parents! It truly shines through in our classroom community!
Report Cards should arrive over the vacation. For the first trimester, most students are still developing concepts, so you should expect to see a lot of 1s on the report card. Also, many parts of this report card do not apply to kindergarten, so they will be intentionally left blank. If you have any questions, please let me know!
Wish List: 
·         Gift Certificates to PetCo would be greatly appreciated for Scooter’s tank!
·         Outdoor toys for students to play with during recess, including sand toys, balls, hula hoops, etc.
 
Ways to Help OCS
 
  • If you have not already, please give to the ANNUAL CAMPAIGN. We are very fortunate to have great programs still at Odyssey (Computers, PE), but we will not be able to have them next year without your support. Thank you for being great supporters of our Odyssey community!
 
One Cause – www.onecause.com
The OneCause community is managed by CauseLoyalty, a wholly owned subsidiary of RakutenUSA, Inc. Since being founded in 1999, OneCause has provided simple ways to turn thousands of consumers' everyday purchases into much-needed contributions totaling over $200 million to more than 30,000 causes and schools nationwide.

When you start your everyday shopping at OneCause.com, you will contribute up to 20% of every eligible purchase to your chosen cause or school, at no extra cost to you! Simply shop online at hundreds of well-known merchants, save money with valuable Coupons & Deals and earn contributions on every eligible purchase.

 
 
Electronic Scrip Incorporated (ESI) is a California-based corporation dedicated to establishing relationships between commerce and community -- to provide resources to organizations and projects that support children.

 
•
You register any one or all of your existing grocery loyalty, debit and credit cards for use in the program.
 
•
Participating merchants will make contributions to your chosen group, based on purchases made by you, just by using the cards you have registered.
 
•
Your purchases are tracked and available to you online, allowing you to see just how much you are earning on your child's behalf!

 
Happy Holidays!

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Thursday newsletter, December 10

December 10, 2009

 

Room A Newsletter!
December 10, 2009
Dear Families,
            Time is going so quickly! The first trimester is almost over! We have hired a new TA for the classroom—Ms. Natasha. She is here this week and will be here next Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Natasha has a lot of experience working with young children, and we are very happy to have her in the classroom. Please introduce yourself if you see her!
We’ve continued reading our just right books (hopefully, your child is enjoying bringing it home each day!). Students have learned a lot of tools for reading just right books, and we’ll be celebrating their work next week.
Tomorrow, we’ll be celebrating our published writing with our reading buddies. Students picked their favorite piece of writing and we spent the week making it ready for the world! We talked about adding details to the drawings, adding words, and making sure our word wall words are spelled correctly. Students will read them to their buddies and then we’ll give our published writers a toast with juice! We will put these on display in the classroom: stay tuned!
            In science, made paper miche planets and today, they painted them. Ask your child if he/she can remember the planet he/she worked on!
           
Books in the Thursday packet: Your child should have a printed book in his/her Thursday packet this week (if not, it will be there next week). Each week, I meet with students in groups to introduce new concepts at a book that is slightly above his/her just right level. We read the book together, and then they get to take it home to read and practice. These books (and optional worksheets) are for you to keep at home. Let me know if you have any questions about it!
 
**Please sign up to help wash towels and/or clean the classroom on Fridays. Even though I will not be here after break, the sign up is for the following trimester. There are more slots on the back! Let’s make it as easy as possible for Mollie!
 
 
**Next week (December 14-18) will be spent talking about holidays. I would love to incorporate your family traditions! If you would like to come in at any time during that week to share a cooking, art, or other cultural activity with the class, we’d love to have you! Please let me know!

Upcoming events:
·         Walking Trip to Loma Alta Park, December 18th from 11:45-2:15, I’m anticipating I might have to drive (this baby is getting heavy!), so it would be extremely helpful if we could have volunteers to walk with the class! Family is welcome to eat lunch with us and enjoy the last afternoon before holiday vacation!
·         Winter Vacation December 19-January 10
 
 
Thank you:
To everyone who has taken wash home this trimester: Albert’s family, Ocean’s family, Peyton’s family, Finn’s family,  Candace’s family, Austin’s family, Charlotte’s family, Marisol’s family, Logan’s family, and Matthew’s family!
To everyone who has come in on Fridays to clean the classroom: Chris, Karla and Edward, RJ,  Julie U, Julie J,  Sun, Toni, Heather, Zarina, Tracie, Ellen, and Adriana!
To everyone who has volunteered in the classroom: Christa, Ellen, Zarina, Ilse, Susie, Cari, Sun (cleaning Scooter’s tank!), Heather (we love music!), Susan (we love movement!), and all the parents who were here on Camp Day!
To everyone who has done work at home for the classroom: Taffany, Zarina, Ellen, Susie, Sun, Cari, and Julie U.
--You have made this a smooth, fun trimester for the students and for me!
Thank you also for getting your children to school on time, making sure they have healthy snacks, reading take home books with them, and being such supportive, wonderful parents! It truly shines through in our classroom community!
Report Cards should arrive over the vacation. For the first trimester, most students are still developing concepts, so you should expect to see a lot of 1s on the report card. Also, many parts of this report card do not apply to kindergarten, so they will be intentionally left blank. If you have any questions, please let me know!
Wish List: 
·             White chalk
  • Staplers!!
·         Gift Certificates to PetCo would be greatly appreciated for Scooter’s tank!
·         Outdoor toys for students to play with during recess, including sand toys, balls, hula hoops, etc.
·         Black Flair Pens
 
Ways to Help OCS
 
  • If you have not already, please give to the ANNUAL CAMPAIGN. We are very fortunate to have great programs still at Odyssey (Computers, PE), but we will not be able to have them next year without your support. Thank you for being great supporters of our Odyssey community!
 
One Cause – www.onecause.com
The OneCause community is managed by CauseLoyalty, a wholly owned subsidiary of RakutenUSA, Inc. Since being founded in 1999, OneCause has provided simple ways to turn thousands of consumers' everyday purchases into much-needed contributions totaling over $200 million to more than 30,000 causes and schools nationwide.

When you start your everyday shopping at OneCause.com, you will contribute up to 20% of every eligible purchase to your chosen cause or school, at no extra cost to you! Simply shop online at hundreds of well-known merchants, save money with valuable Coupons & Deals and earn contributions on every eligible purchase.

 

 

 
 
Electronic Scrip Incorporated (ESI) is a California-based corporation dedicated to establishing relationships between commerce and community -- to provide resources to organizations and projects that support children.

 

 
•
You register any one or all of your existing grocery loyalty, debit and credit cards for use in the program.
 
•
Participating merchants will make contributions to your chosen group, based on purchases made by you, just by using the cards you have registered.
 
•
Your purchases are tracked and available to you online, allowing you to see just how much you are earning on your child's behalf!

 

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Thursday newsletter, December 3

December 03, 2009

 

Room A Newsletter!
December 3, 2009
Dear Families,
            Time is going so quickly! The first trimester is almost over! We have three weeks before winter break—three weeks before I go on maternity leave! Your students have made so much progress, I know I will be amazed when I return in April! Mollie and I have been preparing for her to take over the class, and Lauren is working on hiring a temporary TA for Mollie from January to April. If you have any questions about any of this, let me know!
We’ve continued reading our just right books (hopefully, your child is enjoying bringing it home each day!). Students are learning new strategies for figuring out tricky words, such as using the picture, looking at the first letter of the tricky word and using the picture, and remembering the title because those words are usually in the pattern.
           
            In science, we’ll begin talking more in depth about space and the planets. We will be making paper miche plants and students will be responsible for learning about one planet. 
           
Books in the Thursday packet: Your child should have a printed book in his/her Thursday packet this week (if not, it will be there next week). Each week, I meet with students in groups to introduce new concepts at a book that is slightly above his/her just right level. We read the book together, and then they get to take it home to read and practice. These books (and optional worksheets) are for you to keep at home. Let me know if you have any questions about it!
 
**Please sign up to help wash towels and/or clean the classroom on Fridays. Even though I will not be here after break, the sign up is for the following trimester. Let’s make it as easy as possible for Mollie!
 
** We have been collecting recycling, only to find out that our trash company no longer picks up paper recycling. Does anyone have the capacity to take it home to be recycled?? Thank you!
 
**The week before vacation (December 14-18) will be spent talking about holidays. I would love to incorporate your family traditions! If you would like to come in at any time during that week to share a cooking, art, or other cultural activity with the class, we’d love to have you! Please let me know!

Upcoming events:
·         Scholastic Book Orders Due BY Tuesday, December 1 so they will arrive in time for the holidays. If you put in an order online, please let me know so I can make sure it goes through!
·         Saturday, December 5th Pancake Breakfast, Rummage Sale, and Book Fair!
·         Walking Trip to Loma Alta Park, December 18th from 11:30-2:30, I’m anticipating I might have to drive (this baby is getting heavy!), so it would be extremely helpful if we could have volunteers to walk with the class! 
·         Winter Vacation December 19-January 10
Wish List: 
·         Staplers!!
·         Gift Certificates to PetCo would be greatly appreciated for Scooter’s tank!
·         Outdoor toys for students to play with during recess, including sand toys, balls, hula hoops, etc.
·         Black Flair Pens
 
Ways to Help OCS
 
  • If you have not already, please give to the ANNUAL CAMPAIGN. We are very fortunate to have great programs still at Odyssey (Computers, PE), but we will not be able to have them next year without your support. Thank you for being great supporters of our Odyssey community!
 
One Cause – www.onecause.com
The OneCause community is managed by CauseLoyalty, a wholly owned subsidiary of RakutenUSA, Inc. Since being founded in 1999, OneCause has provided simple ways to turn thousands of consumers' everyday purchases into much-needed contributions totaling over $200 million to more than 30,000 causes and schools nationwide.

When you start your everyday shopping at OneCause.com, you will contribute up to 20% of every eligible purchase to your chosen cause or school, at no extra cost to you! Simply shop online at hundreds of well-known merchants, save money with valuable Coupons & Deals and earn contributions on every eligible purchase.

 
 
Electronic Scrip Incorporated (ESI) is a California-based corporation dedicated to establishing relationships between commerce and community -- to provide resources to organizations and projects that support children.

 
•
You register any one or all of your existing grocery loyalty, debit and credit cards for use in the program.
 
•
Participating merchants will make contributions to your chosen group, based on purchases made by you, just by using the cards you have registered.
 
•
Your purchases are tracked and available to you online, allowing you to see just how much you are earning on your child's behalf!

 

 

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