WEEK OF AUGUST 25-29

Dear Kindergarten Parents,

Last week we had such a great time learning about the parts of the apple. We would like to give a BIG thank you to our two wonderful mothers: Mrs. Julie Torres and Mrs. Miriam Alvarez for each sending us a delicious apple pie for the students to taste. The students loved them!

This week we are going to be focusing our study on the letter Tt. The vocabulary for this letter is tiger, turtle, tomato, teeth, telephone, telescope, table, tennis, ten, toaster, toys, tongue, t-shirt, toothbrush, toothpaste, tree, tire, ticket, and tear.

If you have any items at home that begin with this letter, send them over with your child and we will be discussing them in class, we will display them on a table and we will return them back on Friday. The kids get excited to bring things from home.

Our main focus will be learning about turtles. If you have any book, poster, video, or any other material that can be useful for us, we would really appreciate it if we can borrow it from you.

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

Tilly Turtle, Tiger, and Toad are having a terrific time at the tea party until a tiny accident occurs.

A little girl named Sophie is having tea with her mother in their kitchen. Soon they are joined for tea by a tiger who drinks all the tea, eats all the food in the house and drinks everything, even draining the water from the taps, so that Sophie cannot have her bath. Then he leaves. Sophie's father comes home and suggests that they all go out and have a lovely meal in a cafe. The following day Sophie and her mother go out to buy some more food, including a big tin of tiger food. But the tiger never returns.

The book begins with a one page explanation of what this species of sea turtles are and how they are different from tortoises and where they can be found. Then the real story begins. Where is she born? How does she survive in the vast ocean waters? Where does she travel?

As you all know we have been working with the words and, the, I, to, a. This week we are going to be adding the words in, is, you, that, it. Please practice these words daily with your children.

Please remember that your son/daughter is taking homework every day from Monday to Thursdays. We place the homework in their folders. Help us at home with this important routine in your child’s life!! On Fridays, they take home their evaluation for the week. Please sign it and return it to school on Monday.

In Social Studies, we will study about “Me and My Family.” We are requesting a family picture for TUESDAY. We will be keeping the picture for the following two weeks and returning it to you on Friday, September 5th. We will be discussing how families are alike and different. Each student will have the chance to talk to us about things they do together as a family. We will be discussing why families are important and why do we love our families.

This week we are going to introduce the concept of syllables. One of the easiest ways to help children realize that words are made up of several sounds and syllables is to allow them to “break up” words by clapping out their syllables.

In Math, we are going to be reviewing various concepts from numbers 0-5. Some of these concepts are more, less, sequencing, making sets, etc.

We are pleased to tell you that we will be using a website called IXL in our classroom this year. IXL is a comprehensive math review site with an unlimited number of math practice questions in hundreds of skills — all of which are aligned to state standards. One of the best things about IXL is that your child can access it from home, so you have a chance to see your child's progress!

Last week we sent home your child’s user name and password for them to log into the site. You will find it taped above your child´s name in their folder. Please find a time in which your child can be at the computer at least twice a week practicing the following skills:

Numbers and counting up to 3

A.3    Count by typing - up to 3

Numbers and counting up to 5

B.1     Count to 5

To get your child started on your home computer, please follow these easy steps:

1.            Go to www.IXL.com.

2.           Enter your child's username and password in the top right-hand corner and click Sign in.

3.           Navigate to your child's grade level on the Practice tab.

In addition to making math practice exciting, IXL is designed to help your child learn at his or her own pace. The website is adaptive and will adjust to your child's demonstrated ability level. The site also saves all of your child's results, so you can monitor your child's progress anytime by clicking on the Reports tab.

We hope you'll encourage your son or daughter to use IXL daily. Here's to a year of working together to make math fun for your child!

This Wednesday, August 27th, Kindergarten will be having a birthday celebration at snack time. You do not need to pack a snack for your child on this day. Drinks and cake will be provided for the students.

Also remember this is an early dismissal day for students. Children will leave school at 11:45 a.m.

We would like to thank Emma Camila Rápalo and Emilio Gutierrez for bringing the ingredients for our Kinder Kafe last week. The students enjoyed making an apple tree out of cookies, pretzel sticks, frosting and M&Ms. Yummy!!! This week the children in charge for donating the ingredients are Felipe Fúnez and Lucia Torres.

Encourage your child to share school experiences with you. Take an active interest in your children’s schooling. Ask specific questions about what happens at school each day and how your children feel about it.

ECOFRIENDLY LUNCH - Friday, August 29^th Pack a waste free lunch! Join in the fun activities to help us learn ways to reduce waste! Activities will be held during elementary lunch recess! For more information on waste free lunches, visithttp://www.wastefreelunches.org/

To help us learn more about waste free lunches and overall waste reduction, including the recycling program at school, the 10th grade environmental science students will visit us with fun lesson and activities on Monday, August 25th and Tuesday, August 26th. 

EARLY DISMISSAL ON WEDNESDAY – We want to remind our parents and students that this Wednesday, August 27 is the first professional development day for teachers this school year. On this Wednesday (as with every last Wednesday of each month) the students will be dismissed at 11:45 so our teachers can work on trainings and curriculum work. Please make sure you make the necessary arrangements for this early dismissal. We will follow AM Schedule.