October 14 news

October 14, 2010

Room A NewsOctober 14^th

Dear Families,

Camp Day was a lot of fun! We had a full day: sitting around the campfire drinking hot cocoa, going fishing, reading in tents with flashlights and popcorn, going on a bear hunt, identifying plants in the garden, painting plants with watercolors, finding fossils, listening to stories, and making trail mix. I thoroughly enjoyed not only watching how our classroom community is developing through such a fun experience, but working with you on Sunday afternoon. Thank you for all your hard work! Mykle took some amazing pictures, and I’m working on editing them and putting them on the website. Please check the website in the next few days to see how our day went!

We continued reading this week by learning how to read alone and in partners. We started writing stories in Writing Workshop (mostly through drawing). Camp Day was the theme of our first stories. We are working on sorting in math.

We started talking about names—we learned about Kaden, Maxine, and Axel. We made books for them—take a look in the library! Many of your children seem not to know the story yet of how they got their names, so please, please talk about it with them so they will have a story to share!

***Reading Buddies: We will begin reading buddies next Friday. Our reading buddies are the 7^th graders, who will come to our class for a half hour each Friday to read and do other activities with us. We will start reading buddies by hosting them for breakfast next Friday.

If you have not already, please go to www.SignUpGenius.com/go/reading46/400491 to sign up to bring something. Because we are having this breakfast next Friday (October 22^nd), your child does not need Snack #1 on that day.

The A Snowy Day books that were sent home last week are for you to keep. We participated in a program with the Altadena library that provided copies of the book for different classes provided they all read the story on the same day. We read the book in English and Spanish last Thursday.

We are hoping to start planting next week. We are planning to contribute to the fresh salad bar at lunch. Here are the seeds we would like to get:

Kale

Brussels sprouts

Cauliflower

Turnips

Radish

Parsnip

Turnip

Chard

Carrots

Beets

Radish

Kohlrabi

Cabbage

Rutabaga

Lettuce

Zoo-Phonics

We continued learning letters this week with R-Robbie Rabbit, S-Sammy Snake, T-Timothy Tiger, and U-Umber Umbrella bird. Ask your children to show you what each letter does and the sound it makes. We spent a lot of time discussing words that have those sounds in them, see if you can generate a list at home (look around your house and find words that have the sound Francine Fish makes, etc.).

Homework

Read-please read to/with or both for 20 minutes a day.
What can you sort at home? (ideas: shoes, clothing, food items, books, etc.)
Story prompt for parent: tell a story about a time you went camping or hiking.
Handwriting: I will send home a copy of the handwriting we did in class so you can see what we are working on. Please ensure that your child is starting at the top and working to write the numbers/letters properly. This is the only time in class I expect them to write on lines/correctly. Let me know if you have any questions about it!

If you have not already, please send your contact information to our room parents:

Melody Lumpkin
melodylumpkin@gmail.com
(501) 749-4434

Mykle Parker
sunflowerhottie@gmail.com
(626) 345-1713

Upcoming Events:

ILP meetings begin next week. Please check the door to be reminded of your time.
Family Math Night, October 20, 5-7 pm
Earthquake Drill, October 21
Reading Buddies begins, October 22
Minimum Days October 27-29, 12:00 dismissal
Reading and Writing Workshop meeting November 3, 6:30 pm

November 4, 2:45 pm (please choose one to attend)

Annual Campaign Update

We are up to 21%. Let’s get 100% participation from Room A!

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Reminders

October 05, 2010

Picture Day is this Wednesday! Please have your child bring the order form if you would like pictures. There are extra forms in the office.
Our Kindergarten Picnic is this Sunday from 12-2. Please sign up for a dish if you have not already. Here is what the day will look like: We will eat together in the Community Hall, and then parents will go back to the classrooms to set up for Camp Day (while the students play in the yard with a few parents supervising). On Monday, there will be no morning reading so we can start our Camp Day experience right away (I will take pictures of their reaction to the room and post them on the website so you can see!). It is a really wonderful community building day for Room A! Please let me know if you have other questions.
Please say your good-byes before your child reaches the rug. I have videotaped myself for professional development reasons, and the last one caught our morning routine. It is taking a very long time for parents to say good-bye and is disrupting the flow of our day. Once the music starts, please put the book away with your child and say your good-byes. That way, your child can come to the rug ready to learn. Thank you for working with us!

For our camp day preparations, we need the following materials as soon as possible:
- 1 foot long ¼” dowels (24)
- Acorns, leaves, other small found objects
- 2 buckets of soil with a heave clay content

We will begin talking about names later this week. For this, each student needs to know the story of how he/she got his/her name. Please tell your child the story (a few times, hopefully, and have him/her repeat it back to you). You can also write it down in case he/she forgets.

Thank you!

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