Erin Munavu
K Teacher
September 30 Newsletter
September 30, 2010
Room A NewsSeptember 29th
Dear Families,
This week we learned more about our friends and our classroom. We learned what to do when the fire alarm goes off. We made books to show everyone what our class expectations look like (find them in the library and read them with your child!). We started exploring patterns by reading a book called “Pattern Fish”. We each got to share our favorite books and see how some of them are the same and some are different. Some have been very well-loved! Next week, we will start our first reading workshop unit of Emergent Storybooks (I’ll write more about it next week), but if you have any of the following books at home, now would be a great time to read them to get us ready for our Reading Workshop: Corduroy, A Snowy Day, Caps for Sale, Madeleine, Little Red Hen, Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, the 3 Little Pigs, Where the Wild Things Are 3 Billy Goats Gruff.
.
Meet Ms. Gloria!
My name is Gloria Rios. I enjoy working with kids and I have worked with different ages. I first stared volunteering at Hamilton Elementary where my kids attended school. I worked at Children’s Center at Caltch. Then, about 10 years ago, I stared working at OCS with the 4th graders and I’ve been in different classes, with the K-1, the 2-3, the 1-2 and now with the K in Room A. All together I worked here 8years, and hope to have a wonderful year and a great experience.
The updated wishlist is on the website, and it includes a list of books we will need for our reading unit next week. We would love new OR used copies of these books.
Camp Day is coming up! We need your help collecting supplies for the day. Here are supplies we need as soon as possible.
***We need soil with a high clay content. Please let me know if you have some you can share (I need to know so I can plan a different activity if no one has any).
- small seashells
- small pieces of wood
- small leaves
- small and large rocks
- nuts in shells
- 24 1' x 1/4" dowels
Please also check the classroom for a list of supplies needed the day of (or to bring the day of the Picnic). There is also a potluck sign-up in the classroom.
We are also hoping to start planting soon. 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 (I) Inny Inchworm, J (Jerry Jellyfish), K, (Kayo Kangaroo), L (Larry Lizard). 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.
- Environmental Print: Children do not realize how much they can already read, so to support this please help them to choose and bring in environmental print of words they already know—(cut out top of pizza box, cut out front of cereal box, clean favorite juice box, something with their favorite sports teams name or their team, and so many more—let them get creative!
- Look for patterns at home. See if your child can find clothes that have patterns or dishes in the kitchen. What materials do you have at home that you could arrange into different patterns?
- Story prompt for parent: tell a story about a reading memory.
Volunteering
I have a sign-up sheet to help wash dress-up clothes each month and clean the classroom on Friday afternoons. Please sign-up to help.
I also have these small jobs:
- Putting books together
- Labeling books
- Sorting and labeling books for the library (in the classroom-maybe after school)
Upcoming Events:
- Kindergarten Potluck Sunday, October 10th, 12-2 (Please check the sign-up in the classroom)
- ILP meetings begin October 18. Please make sure you signed up for a time.
- Family Math Night, October 20, 5 pm
- 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)
*Please email your information to Mykle at sunflowerhottie@gmail.com if you have not already done so. This is for a parent list so you will be able to contact each other.
Annual Campaign Update
We are up to 21%. Let’s get 100% participation from Room A!
Tags:
COMMENTS
No comments yet. Be the first!
Ms. Gloria!!!
September 23, 2010
My name is Gloria Rios. I enjoy working with kids and I have worked with different kinds of ages. I first stared volunteering at Hamilton Elementary where my kids attended school. I worked at Children’s Center at Caltech. Then about 10 years ago I stared working at OCS with the 4th graders and I’ve been in different classes, with the K-1, with the 2-3rd also with 1-2 and now with the K in Room A. All together I worked here 8years, and hope to have a wonderful year and a great experience.
Tags:
COMMENTS
No comments yet. Be the first!
September 23 Newsletter
September 23, 2010
Room A NewsSeptember 23rd
Dear Families,
We did a lot of community building. We narrowed down our class expectations to: Treat each other nicely, treat our stuff nicely, keep our bodies calm and safe (Can you tell the students came up with them?). We learned how to use the Peace Path. We got new fish and plants for our fish tank and we had 2 day old baby chicks visit our class. We worked on 4 shapes: circle, triangle, square, rectangle. Students are starting to get personal things (such as word study notebooks) to put in the personal mailboxes and learn how to use them.
.
The updated wishlist is on the website, and it includes a list of books we will need for our reading unit next month. We would love new OR used copies of these books. We also need a carpet roll (not a roll of carpet, but the cardboard inner tube the carpet comes on). If anyone is able to go to a carpet store to get one and bring it to class, that would be very helpful (it will be our tree trunk for a tree we’ll be decorating with leaves, etc. for Camp Day). We need it next week.
Zoo-Phonics
We continued learning letters this week with D (Deedie Deer), E (Ellie Elephant), F (Francine Fish), and G (Gordo Gorilla). 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.
- Environmental Print: Children do not realize how much they can already read, so to support this please help them to choose and bring in environmental print of words they already know—(cut out top of pizza box, cut out front of cereal box, clean favorite juice box, something with their favorite sports teams name or their team, and so many more—let them get creative!
- Story prompt for parent: tell a story about a time you went to the beach.
- Go on a shape hunt at home: how many circles can you find? Triangles? Squares? Rectangles?
- For Monday, please have your child bring in his/her favorite book. We will share these and keep them in a special bin in the classroom for a few weeks.
Toys, Stuffed Animals and Shares
Students should not bring any toys, stuffed animals, etc to school. We will begin Secret Share Days in October and I will send home dates and information about this at a later date.
Mondays
We only have a 1st snack on Mondays due to the shortened day.
Volunteering
I have a sign-up sheet to help wash dress-up clothes each month and clean the classroom on Friday afternoons. Please sign-up to help.
Other take-home/before/after school projects I would love help with:
- Sharpening pencils (there are a lot!)
- Putting together handwriting toolboxes
- Putting together writing toolboxes
Family Tree
We have a family tree in our classroom so that we can all feel the presence of our families throughout the year. Please give your child a picture of your family to put on our tree. It will be returned at the end ofthe year.
Upcoming Events:
- Kindergarten Potluck Sunday, October 10th, 12-2
- ILP meetings begin, October 18. Please make sure you signed up for a time.
- Minimum Days October 27-29, 12:00 dismissal
Tags:
COMMENTS
No comments yet. Be the first!
September 16 News
September 16, 2010
Welcome to Room A!
Dear Families,
We had a busy week! We are working hard to learn each other’s names—you can see each child’s picture on our webpage to practice names. In math, students are learning how to use different materials, and we completed an apple graph of our favorite colored apples and a birthday graph. Make sure to check out the classroom to see some of the things we’ve done. We also talked about our hopes for the kindergarten year, and then we are creating our list of classroom expectations
.
The updated wishlist is on the website, and it includes a list of books we will need for our reading unit next month. We would love new OR used copies of these books. We also need a carpet roll (not a roll of carpet, but the cardboard inner tube the carpet comes on). If anyone is able to go to a carpet store to get one and bring it to class, that would be very helpful (it will be our tree trunk for a tree we’ll be decorating with leaves, etc. for Camp Day).
Zoo-Phonics
We are beginning our year with letter/sound recognition using the Zoo-Phonics program. This is to help those who are learning their sounds and to review the letter/sounds for those who already have them down. It is fun and interactive. started learning our Zoo Phonics (we learned all the symbols, and are focusing on A (Allie Alligator), B (Bubba Bear), and C (Catina Cat) this week.
Homework
- Read-please read to/with or both for 20 minutes a day.
- Environmental Print: Children do not realize how much they can already read, so to support this please help them to choose and bring in environmental print of words they already know—(cut out top of pizza box, cut out front of cereal box, clean favorite juice box, something with their favorite sports teams name or their team, and so many more—let them get creative!
- Story prompt for parent: tell your child something special about your elementary school experience.
Toys, Stuffed Animals and Shares
I am sending home all toys, stuffed animals and other items they had to share the first two weeks. We will begin Secret Share Days in October and I will send home dates and information about this at a later date.
Mondays
We only have a 1st snack on Mondays due to the shortened day.
Volunteering
I am excited to learn that many of you want to volunteer in the classroom (and out of the classroom!), however, it may be a few more weeks before we are ready for classroom volunteers. You are welcome to join us for the beginning of the day. Each morning, students put their snacks and lunches away, answer the question of the day and lunch chart, and read a book. Please feel free to stay with them and help them get settled until we are ready to start our morning at 8:30. If you have any questions, please let me know.
I have a sign-up sheet to help wash dress-up clothes each month and clean the classroom on Friday afternoons. Please sign-up to help. I also have some cutting projects this week. Let me know if you’d like to help!
Family Tree
We have a family tree in our classroom so that we can all feel the presence of our families throughout the year. Please give your child a picture of your family to put on our tree. It will be returned at the end ofthe year.
Upcoming Events:
- Back to School Night Wednesday, September 22, 5pm
- Kindergarten Potluck Sunday, October 10th, 12-2
Tags:
COMMENTS
No comments yet. Be the first!
September 9 Room A Newsletter
September 09, 2010
Welcome to Room A!
Dear Families,
Welcome to the 2010-2011 school year at Odyssey! Ms. Gloria and I are looking forward to an exciting year! Today we continued getting to know each other and our new school, and will be getting comfortable with each other and the routines of our classroom for the next few weeks of school. Your children are working hard at learning each other’s names and learning about the things in our classroom (such as how to hold scissors, cleaning up after Creative Workshop, and washing our hands).
Please check in with me to let me know how your child’s first week of school is going! You can contact me anytime by email at erinm@ocsmail.org (not erinw as I sent out before), stop by after school, or set up an appointment for before school. I look forward to working with you this year!
I will post each newsletter and information that goes out in email or in the packet on my page on the odyssey website, so please check it frequently for updates. I have also posted the class wishlist, so if you’d like to check what we still need, please check there.
Volunteering
I am excited to learn that many of you want to volunteer in the classroom (and out of the classroom!), however, it may be a few more weeks before we are ready for classroom volunteers. You are welcome to join us for the beginning of the day. Each morning, students put their things away, answer the question of the day and lunch chart, and read a book. Please feel free to stay with them and help them get settled until we are ready to start our morning at 8:30. If you have any questions, please let know.
I will have a sign-up sheet to help wash dress-up clothes each month and clean the classroom on Friday afternoons. Please sign-up to help. I also have some cutting projects this week. Let me know if you’d like to help!
I also need help taking down chairs each morning. Please take down a few chairs when you enter the classroom in the mornings.
We will have a KINDERGARTEN PICNIC for both kindergarten classes on Sunday, October 12th from 12:00-2:00. We will have a potluck lunch and then the yard and other activities for children, and some special work for parents/other family members. Please feel free to stop by for as much or as little time as you can. We will have a food sign-up when it gets closer.
Please fill out the attached surveys to help me learn about your child and share your volunteer preferences.
PE
On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, we have PE with Mr. Denny. Please make sure your child comes to school dressed appropriately on these days.
Extra Clothes
If you have not already done so, please send an extra set of clothes for your child in case we get messy or have accidents.
Family Tree
We have a family tree in our classroom so that we can all feel the presence of our families throughout the year. Please give your child a picture of your family to put on our tree. It will be returned at the end ofthe year.
Storytelling
We are working on oral storytelling in class, and will be telling each other lots of stories. We’ll also be meeting our class puppets--Penguino and Tembo. Storytelling is a great skill to practice at home (and students love hearing your stories).
If you did not pick up the handouts on the Parent Board in the classroom (on the front door), please do! Please bear with me as I learn your names, it may take me a few weeks to get them all down.
This will be the last hard copy newsletter. Please check on the survey if you would like to continue receiving a hard copy. Otherwise, I will send it through email and post it on our class page on the Odyssey website.
Please return the Thursday Envelope each Friday. Thank you for a great first week!
Tags:
COMMENTS
No comments yet. Be the first!
Wishlist
September 08, 2010
Wishlist
Emergent Books (new or used)
- Caps for Sale
- Little Red Riding Hood
- Madeline
- Goldilocks and the Three Bears
- The 3 Little Pigs
- 3 Billy Goats Gruff
- Clifford the Big Red Dog
- Little Red Hen
Learning Tools
· 2 doz. Paper Mate Flair pens black ink
· Expo Dry Erase Low Odor Markers (Thin)
· Golf Pencils (box)
Play Items
· Shaving cream (for sensory play)
· Bean Bags or comfortable seats for library
· Puppet Theater
· Dress Up/Used Work Clothes (such as firemen, police, singing, gas station, chefs jacket, etc.)
· Restaurant Menus
· Soccer and Basketballs
· Outdoor lockable toy storage shed/trunk
Classroom
· Boxes of tissues
· Sponges (with scrubbing side)-5
· Gallon sized Ziploc bags
· Plastic Utensils (for lunch!)
· An inner carpet tube
Gift certificates to Staples, amazon.com, or Target are always welcome!
Wishlist
Emergent Books (new or used)
- Caps for Sale
- Little Red Riding Hood
- Madeline
- Goldilocks and the Three Bears
- The 3 Little Pigs
- 3 Billy Goats Gruff
- Clifford the Big Red Dog
- Little Red Hen
- Jack and the Beanstalk
Learning Tools
· 2 doz. Paper Mate Flair pens black ink
· Expo Dry Erase Low Odor Markers (Thin)
· Golf Pencils (box)
· Erasers
· Teaching Clock from Really Good Stuff (online store)
· Hi-Ho Cherrio game
· Xacto Pencil Sharpener (that can be bolted to a table)
Play Items
· Shaving cream
· Bean Bags or comfortable seats for library
· Puppet Theater
· Dress Up/Used Work Clothes (such as firemen, police, singing, gas station, chefs jacket, etc.)
· Restaurant Menus
· Soccer and Basketballs
· Hula Hoops
· Outdoor lockable toy storage shed/trunk
Classroom
· Boxes of tissues
· Sponges (with scrubbing side)-5
· Gallon sized Ziploc bags
· Plastic Utensils (for lunch!)
· An inner carpet tube
Gift certificates to Staples, amazon.com, or Target are always welcome!
Tags:
COMMENTS
No comments yet. Be the first!
Drop Off/Pick Up Routines
September 05, 2010
I open my doors @ 8:10. Students and Parents enter through the back door.
Morning Routine: 1st Week
- Put snacks in snack box: make sure snacks are labeled with child’s name (you can put it on tape for tupperware)
- If your child gets hot lunch, please help your child answer the lunch question daily!!! This is new and I am still working out how it will look, so bare with me if it changes.
- Put lunches, etc. in cubby (except 1st day)
- Each day the first week there will be an art project to do with your child. Check front board for directions.
- Read with your child.
- I will give a 5 min. warning @ 8:40. Please begin to wrap up your books and say your goodbyes. (If your child is having difficulty separating from you please let me know and I will support them but I find it is better if parent does not linger)
This week I expect parents to be modeling and teaching your child to do these routines independently.
You may also drop your child off after 7:45, as there will be playground supervision then. If you need to drop them off earlier, please contact the office regarding morning care.
***If you are late you must stop at the office and pick up a tardy slip--anyone coming in after the 8:15 bell will be sent back to the office for a slip. PLEASE get your child to school on time—it is very disruptive to their morning routine and that of the whole class.
Pick Up Procedure
Kindergartners stay in the classroom for pick up.
If you want to come to the classroom to pick up your child, please park in the Odyssey parking lot. When the bell rings at 2:30, you are welcome to come into the room to greet your child.
If you pick your child up at the front of the school in the pick up line, the staff members will ask your child’s name and call me to send your child to the front.
If you would like to have the older sibling pick up your K child let both teachers know and I will release into their care.
After School Programs/ Playdates/Friend-Relative
Please email me with alternative pick up plans.
Tags:
COMMENTS
No comments yet. Be the first!
P R E V I O U S P O S T S
A R C H I V E
B L O G S B Y T A G
parents, schedule, volunteers, wish list