WEEK OF NOVEMBER 25-29

Dear Parents,

We would like to give a big THANK YOU to the parents that helped out organizing our delicious lunch for Thanksgiving (Pucci Agurcia, Kayrn Aguirre, Josie Alvarez and Raul Bertrand). The children had a blast. They all enjoyed eating a very yummy turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, carrots, and corn. After our lunch the children traced their hands (leaves) and wrote something they are thankful for. Then, they placed their “leaves” on “Our Thankful Tree.”

 

 

 

We have been talking a lot about the meaning of this celebration. We discussed things that we should be thankful for. Some of the answers we got from our students were that they are thankful for their family, friends, food, clothes, animals, trees, flowers, school, toys, and teeth! This week we are going to continue talking about Thanksgiving and things we are thankful for.

 

This is going to be a very short week. We are going to be reviewing all the letters and sounds that we have worked with. We are also going to review syllable counting, patterns, numbers. We will be making a lot of games to review all the sight words covered so far. Please encourage your child at home to practice these words with you at least 15 minutes a day. It is extremely important for them to recognize them out of context. Once they are comfortable with them it is going to be much easier to learn how to read and write on their own.

 

We are going to continue with our theme on Plants. This week we are going to review the steps of the Scientific Method. We are also going to be doing some experiments about plants. The kids know the parts of the plant and they also know what a plant needs to survive. Ask our little scientists what they know about Plants and you will be surprise to see all the wonderful things they know about it.

MIDTERM REPORTS – Midterm reports were issued last Friday, November 22. These should be signed by parents and returned to the teacher as soon as possible. If you would like a conference and one was not requested by the teacher, please call the school to set up an appointment. 

MINI CHRISTAMS BAZAAR – Our school DPTO is organizing an early shopping opportunity for our families on December 5 and 6. The event will last all school day long! Come and support our DPTO and take advantage of the great items that will be on sale at terrific prices!!!!

SONGFEST – In order to avoid the late afternoon and early evening traffic congestion, the School’s annual Songfest will be held on Friday, December 13 at 1:30 p.m. Parents are welcome to come and have lunch with our students before the performances. There will be a sale of food, baked goods and drinks.

PREPARATION FOR SONG FEST - In preparation for our Songfest, we are asking parents who have spare Christmas decorations which they would like to share with us for the stage presentation taking place on December 13, to please send them to your child's homeroom teacher next week. We will take good care of them and return them by Monday, December 16. Anticipated thanks for your unconditional support in all of our school activities.

CHRISTMAS GIVING TREE:  Nuestro Pequeños Hermanos (NPH) is an international organization that takes in abandoned and orphaned children, providing a home and education.  Here in Honduras, the NPH organization provides for over 500 children in a large ranch near La Venta and home in Tegucigalpa for severely handicapped children.   While many children at the ranch have aunts, uncles, or grandparents that come to visit them and can provide some Christmas gifts, some children at a ranch have no family to visit.  It is these children for whom we would like to provide this Christmas.   On the second floor of the secondary building, an NPH Giving Tree will be set up.   Choose a paper tree that has a child’s information about his/her size for shoes or socks.  Purchase the new item and return it to Mrs. Agurcia’s Room (Rm. 7) by Tuesday, December 10, with the tree tag taped to it.  As well, there are tree tags for basic food items that will be donated to the orphanage.  Cash donations will also be accepted to provide shoes and socks for children whose tags were not selected.  Thank you for giving this Christmas!  If more information about NPH’s work in Honduras, please visit http://www.nph-honduras.org/.

FUNDACION ABRIGO - Discovery School, in solidarity with FUNDACION ABRIGO ( A foundation that provides lodging for families from outside Tegucigalpa who bring patients to Hospital Escuela), is asking our school community’s collaboration. If you would like to participate and help this organization, please send a donation of 1 gallon of disinfectant per family by Friday, December 6. Your contribution will be greatly appreciated!

 

 

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 18-22

Dear Parents,

This week we are going to be working with the letter Uu. The vocabulary words that we are going to be focusing on are the following: upstairs, underwear, umpire, umbrella, and under.

 

Some stories that we are going to be reading this week are:

 

 

Umbrella bird is very unhappy about his unusual feather until they save the day!

 

 

 

Bismark the Buffalo is grumpy and unlovable until his friends teach him how to laugh and show him that wearing colorful underwear can be great fun.

 

Carlos walks into the cloud forest with his green umbrella, where the only sound is the steady, drip, drip, drip of drops falling from the trees.  Carlos is sure that he will see lots of animals--perhaps a toucan, a tapir, maybe the monkey, and if he is lucky, the exotic quetzal bird.  He leaves his umbrella at the foot of a giant fig tree and climbs up for a better look.  Perhaps Carlos should have stayed below, where; first a mischievous tree frog hops into the umbrella, followed by one animal after another, each one larger than the last!

In Math, we are going to be working with numbers 19 and 20. We are going to be doing a lot of sequencing activities, writing missing numbers from 0-20, and making sets with these two numbers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Science we are going to continue working with PLANTS. Last week the children had the chance to plant some beans into cups. They are all very eager to see their plant grow and they are all recording the observations they see every day in their Plant Growth Journal. We also introduced the Scientific Method. They all became little scientists and know that there is a process to do experiments. Ask them about Purpose, Research, Hypothesis, Analysis and Conclusion.

Please take a moment every day to review with your child the sight words we are studying in class. We will continue working with but, not, what, all, we.

The sight words your child should know up to now are: the, of, and, a, to, in, is, you, that, it, he, was, for, on, are, as, with, his, they, I, at, be, this, have, from, or, one, had, by, words.

·         This Friday, November 22^nd, the Thanksgiving Committee is providing LUNCH for the students. The children will get to see a well cooked turkey. Yummy!!! You only need to pack a snack for your child on this day. THANK YOU parents for organizing this event!

·         This Friday, Progress Reports are going home in your child´s folder. Please read it carefully and return it signed on Tuesday, November 26^th.

·         Some parents have not returned the Report Card envelope signed. If you still have this with you, we would really appreciate if you can send it in your child´s folder someday this week.

·         We are NOT going to be having Kinder Kafe this week since we are going to be having the Thanksgiving luncheon instead.

FROM THE COUNSELOR: We invite you to visit our teacher and administrator blogs and become a follower of the ones for which you wish to receive updates. There's always valuable information posted on them that you might find useful with your children. All you need to do is click on "Participar en este sitio" or "Follow this site" and provide your name and email information, and you will be notified of updates to that particular blog automatically. You can follow as many blogs as you would like to.

 

FROM THE SCHOOL’S CAFETERIA -  Please visit the Cafeteria blog http://discoverycafeteria.blogspot.com/ for information on the delicious Pecan, Apple and Pumpkin pies that can be ordered for your Thanksgiving celebrations. The cafeteria is also offering a meal for the classroom festivities at a very attractive price!

 

LAST WEEK FOR DONATIONS  FOR “YA TENGO DONDE ESCRIBIR”:  Don’t forget to send in cereal boxes. Wednesday, November 20 is the last day! The grade that brought the most boxes will be awarded a pizza party or ice cream party! Please help us help those in need!

 

CHRISTMAS GIVING TREE:  Nuestro Pequeños Hermanos (NPH) is an international organization that takes in abandoned and orphaned children, providing a home and education.  Here in Honduras, the NPH organization provides for over 500 children in at large ranch near La Venta and home in Tegucigalpa for severely handicapped children.   While many children at the ranch have aunts, uncles, or grandparents that come to visit them and can provide some Christmas gifts, some children at a ranch have no family to visit.  It is these children whom we would like to provide for this Christmas.   On the second floor of the secondary building, a NPH Giving Tree will be set up.   Choose a paper tree that has a child’s information about his/her size for shoes or socks.  Purchase the new item and return it to Mrs. Agurcia’s Room (Rm. 7) by Tuesday, December 10th, with the tree tag taped to it.  As well, there are tree tags for basic food items that will be donated to the orphanage.  Cash donations will also be accepted to provide shoes and socks for children whose tags were not selected.  Thank you for giving this Christmas!  For more information about NPH’s work in Honduras, please visit http://www.nph-honduras.org/. 

 

 

Our students really enjoy having show and tell on Fridays. We would like to remind you that they can bring something every Friday to show the class.  Please help them make a wise decision on what to bring to school.

 
 
 
 

 

Remember that there will be NO SCHOOL on Monday, November 25^th.

 

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 11-15

Dear Parents,

This week we are going to be working with the letter Ll. The vocabulary words that we are going to be focusing on are the following: lollipop, lizard, lemon, light bulb, ladder, lamb, lips, lobster, lock, lamp, lightning, lettuce, ladybug, lid, and log.

 

In Science, we are going to be introducing the unit of PLANTS. This week we are going to be studying the parts of the plant. We are going to be discussing the ways to take care of the plants. The children will be planting beans. Every day we are going to be observing our plant and recording any changes it may have. If you have anything that can help us with this unit, we would really appreciate it if you can let us borrow it.

 

Some of the stories we are going to be reading this week are:

 

Lulu the Lamb doesn’t know when to stop laughing until Lion teaches her a lesson.

 

This story explores the concepts of time, size and manners through the exploits of one very grouchy ladybug. When it refuses to share aphids with another ladybug, the grouchy insect flies off to pick a fight an hour with a succession of ever-larger animals.

 

When a little boy plants a carrot seed, everyone tells him it won't grow. But when you are very young, there are some things that you just know, and the little boy knows that one day a carrot will come up. So he waters his seed, and pulls the weeds, and he waits ...

 

 

Sid is a seed who is quite at home, living in his little underground world. He has two living companions, a spider and a caterpillar, which are making plans to become something great. Slowly his friends leave on their exciting journeys, leaving Sid by himself, longing for his own life changing event.

 

 

 

In Math, we are going to be introducing number 18. The children will make sets with this number. We are also going to be constructing pictographs. Each child will have the chance to create their own graph.

 

The sight words we are going to be studying for the next couple of weeks are: but, not, what, all, we. Click on the following link to find a great game you may want to try with your child at home.  http://www.starfall.com/n/matching/sight-words/play.htm?f

 

The children in charge for donating the ingredients for Kindergarten Kafe this Friday are Alegria Aguirre and Stevie Posivak. Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

FROM THE SCHOOL’S CAFETERIA -  Please visit the Cafeteria blog http://discoverycafeteria.blogspot.com/ for information on the delicious Pecan, Apple and Pumpkin pies that can be ordered for your Thanksgiving celebrations. The cafeteria is also offering a meal for the classroom festivities at a very attractive price!

 

DONATIONS NEEDED:  Don’t forget to send in cereal boxes for “Ya Tengo Donde Escribir” between now and November 20. The grade that brought the most boxes will be awarded a pizza party or ice cream party! Please help us help those in need!

 

 

CHILDREN’S OPERA – Thanks to all our parents who accompanied us to the Theater last Wednesday. Your contributions helped to the success of this field trip.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 4-8

Dear Parents,

This week we are going to study the letter Rr. The vocabulary that we will be focusing on with this letter is the following: radio, rooster, rocket, robot, rose, rake, ribbon, rope, rug, ruler, rhinoceros, rice, raisins, restaurant, rainbow.

Some of the stories we will be reading during this week are:

The most beautiful fish in the ocean is asked to share one of his shining scales with a little blue fish, and to which he refuses. All the other fish in the sea leave him alone, and he wondered why. He goes to the wise octopus for advice, and she tells him to give away his scales. Rainbow Fish reluctantly does so, except for one. In the end, he is less beautiful then he was before, but he has new friends and is now the happiest fish in the sea.

 

 

The Runaway Bunny tells the story about a little bunny that wanted to run away but his mom told him that she's going to run after him. So whenever the bunny wants to go his mom is going to follow him. Then the little bunny decided to stay home and be with his mom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A mother rabbit takes her five babies out of the nest for the first time. They all go out to nibble clover and meet the other creatures. When it rains, they hop back under the bushes and wait out the storm.

The author describes the process of a child and mother's annual garden planting. She begins with the bulbs planted in winter and goes all the way through the summer blooming of the various plants and flowers.

 

The sight words we are going to be working on this week are: or, one, had, by, words.  Please take some time to practice daily these words with your child. It is very important for them to recognize all the sight words.

 

 

In our phonemic awareness we will continue to work with ending consonants. You may want to practice with your child at home asking them questions such as: what is the sound that you hear at the end on the word cat, bag, pencil, eraser, glass,? etc.

Visit http://www.powell-riedl.com/K_Reading.html to play some online games.

In Math we are going to be working with number 17. We will also continue to work with the concepts of top, middle, bottom.

Visit http://www.turtlediary.com/kindergarten-games/math-games.html to play some math online games.

  Please practice the following skills:

Numbers and counting up to 20

D.13 Complete a sequence – up to 20

Positions

K.3 Top, Middle, Bottom

 

 

We would like to remind you that this Wednesday, the children are going to the presentation of LA TORTUGA Y LA MAGICA CANCION UWUNGELEMA, the first Children’s Opera to be presented in Honduras. We will leave the school at 8:00 a.m. and return at around 11:00 a.m. The fee for the entrance and transportation is L180.00. If you have not sent this fee, please make sure you do so by Monday.  For this field trip, each grade must have one parent chaperon for every 4 students. If you are interested in helping, please contact your child’s teacher. Since this is a field trip to the National Theater, we are asking students to dress formally for this occasion (i.e. dress/skirt and blouse and dressy shoes for girls, slacks, shirt and shoes for boys).

 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT THIS WEEK -  Missi Love is returning for a follow-up training at the end of this week. She will work with all of our teachers on the Four Blocks Literacy Program, Literature Circles, and 6+1 Traits of Writing, and guide teachers’ discussions of how they grade written work, and why. This will take place on Friday, November 8 and Saturday, November 9. These two days will be full working days for teachers.  There will be no school for students on Friday, November 8 as stated in the school calendar.

 

DONATIONS NEEDED:  Please remember to send in cereal boxes for “Ya Tengo Donde Escribir” between now and November 20. The grade that brought the most boxes will be awarded a pizza party or ice cream party! Please help us help those in need!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GAME OF THE WEEK: Indoor Foot Volleyball

What you'll need

·         Yarn or string

·         10-inch inflated balloon

How to play

To play, first tie a piece of yarn or string across a 10-foot playing area, about 1 foot above the floor. Divide the players into 2 teams and have them set up crab style (faceup, leaning on their hands and feet) in their stocking feet on each side of the string.

Use a coin toss to determine which team will serve first, then have 1 player on that team launch the balloon into the air for a teammate to kick over the string to their opponents.

The teams kick the balloon back and forth, taking all the hits they need to send the balloon to the other side. If one team lets the balloon touch the floor, the other team earns 1 point and restarts the game by serving the balloon from their side. The first team to reach 15 points wins.