Week 12: 10/29-11/01

Hello KC Families, 

What a joy it's been to meet with y'all this week! I enjoyed our conversations and appreciate you taking the time to meet with me. I am looking forward to another great quarter with your children! A couple quick reminders. There is no school on Monday 10/28, enjoy your long weekend! Friday 11/01 is a half-day for all students. 

Our Read-a-Thon is this coming Thursday 10/31. Your child may wear a costume aligned with a literary character or historical figure. If you have not heard from me your costume has been approved! We will have a celebration from 11:45-2:00. Half-day students are welcome to stay the full day to enjoy the days festivities, release is at 2:45.

This week will also be our book fair. See the blurb in the family newsletter for more information!

Here's a look at next week:

Spalding: This week we will continue to learn two letter phonograms adding new phonograms to the nightly homework. We will introduce two partner phonograms and we will also learn our first cues to differentiate the phonograms with the same sound. Our phonograms will be ai (cue: not used), ay, oi (cue: not used), oy.  We will practice recognizing these phonograms in words and continue to review the first 30 phonograms. 

Sight Words: This week we will introduce list 4:but, not, what, all, were, we, when, your, can, word

Literature: This week will explore two more of Aesop’s Fables, “The Lion and the Mouse,” and “The Stork and the Fox.”  We will dive into the morals of each story and identify the story elements. Our poem will be Diddle Diddle Dumpling.

Math: Students will work through different patterns. They will identify shapes that can be used to make patterns. They will also use colors and orientation to extend patterns.  

Science:  Students will be able to share facts about Louis Braille.  They will make a craft using Braille writing.

Movie Night

Congratulations to the Prep football team for making the playoffs! Due to AIA regulations and the scheduled playoff game this Friday, Movie Night is moved to Friday, November 22nd. Details can be found in the school newsletter. Thank you!

Winter Concert

Our Winter Concert is quickly approaching! It will be at Higley Center for the Performing Arts on November 20 ^th.  Students’ attire for our performances is NOT school uniform. Gentlemen are expected to wear a plain white dress shirt, black pants, black socks and black closed toed shoes. Solid dark colored vests and ties are optional for gentlemen. Ladies are expected to wear a white top, black skirt, black tights and black closed toed shoes. Please have your kindergartners at Higley Center for the Performing Arts by 4:45pm.

Please visit aretek-2music.blogspot.com or email jweddle@archwayarete.org for questions regarding the concert!

Homework Survey

Parents, thank you for partnering with us in your child's learning.  We believe that homework, while important, needs to be carefully balanced with a child's full family and extra-curricular life.  With that in mind, please reflect on your child's experience with homework in the first quarter by responding to a short survey. 

Week 11: 10/21-10/25

Hello KC Families, 

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Mr. Howard and I got to enjoy a friends wedding in Rocky Point, for a nice little weekend getaway!

A couple quick notes for this week. In observance of conference week we will have 1/2 days. This means there will be no lunch so please pack a bigger snack for your child. Release schedule is as follows:

K-2 11:45

3-5 12:05

Prep Siblings 12:25

Pick-up may take a tad be longer so thank you for being patient!

 Now here's a look at this week:

Spalding: This week we will continue to learn two letter phonograms adding more double letter phonograms on each night of homework. We will introduce ou, oo, ch, ar. We will practice recognizing these phonograms in words and continue to review the first 30 phonograms.

Sight Words: This week we will review list 3 and test over these words by the end of the week. A fun way to practice is to put the sight word somewhere around your house, when your child sees it, they have to give it a high five and say the word.  

Literature: We will be reading the African Trickster tale, "How Many Spots Does a Leopard Have?"  This is a fun story about animals guessing how many spots the leopard really has. We will also explore two other African Tales, “Anansi the Spider,” and “How the Leopard got his Spots.” Our Poem will be "Ride a Cockhorse.” We will also practice reading the leveled readers your child will bring home in the near future. We will practice good book handling skills and practice blending sounds into words. 

Math: Continuing our lesson on shapes, we will introduce 3D shapes:  cone, rectangular block, cylinder, cube, and sphere.  We will find every day items that look like these shapes, and an assessment will be taken on Friday.

We had a good time last week exploring pumpkins with our five senses, here's a look.

Week 10: 10/14-10/18

Happy Sunday and welcome to the second quarter of kindergarten! I hope everyone had a wonderful Fall Break, I know I enjoyed lots of family time, play dates and plenty of time with Harper. We got the chance celebrate my brother-in-law getting married, Harper was quite the cute flower girl!

The new addition to the Howard Family, Auntie Alex!

Fun at the farm.

Pumpkin patch time.

Play date with Mrs. Woinarowicz and Mrs. Worthy. 

A couple quick things for this week. If you have not done so, please sign-up for a time to meet for conferences. Please send your child's costume proposal for the Read-a-Thon back by the end of the week. 

Here's a look at our week ahead:

Spalding: We will begin our two letter phonograms this week, we kindly ask that you please do not teach ahead on the phonograms.  We will introduce “sh, ee, th, and ow.” Homework will be a review of the any of the first 26 phonograms.  We will continue to work on word sounds and syllables as we prepare to introduce spelling words. You can practice this skill at home by giving your child a simple CVC (consonant/vowel/consonant) word; can, dog, mat, etc. Next ask your child to give each sound in the word and identify how many syllables.    

Sight Words: This week we will introduce list 3: said, by, had, one, or, from, have, this, be at. Look for the word list coming home at the end of the week. 

Literature: We will explore a numbskull tale, which is a story that tells about a foolish creature who behaves in a ridiculous way. Our numbskull tale is about a foolish chicken who thinks the sky is falling, “Chicken Little." Our poem will be “Baa Baa Black Sheep."

Math:This week we will start our unit on shapes, focusing on shapes that are 2D. We will look at squares, triangles, circles, and rectangles. Students will identify the shapes by attribute and look for shapes in every day objects. 

Science:  Students will be able to identify the parts of the pumpkin, along with the lifecycle.   They will investigate the inside and outside of a pumpkin using all five senses.  Students will share facts they know about pumpkins and new ones they will discover.

And here what we were up to before we went on break. 

Congratulations to our September virtue award winner, Luke! Way to show citizenship in the classroom and around  our school!

Helping out.

Math time.  

Recess!

Conference Sign-Up

Good Morning Families and Happy (almost) Fall Break! Your kids told me all their exciting plans for break, sounds like they are in for fun.

After break we will be meeting for our Parent Teacher Conferences, follow the link to sign-up for your desired time. I look forward to meeting with you to talk about your child's growth. If you have any conflicts please reach out to me so we can accommodate a time for you. As a reminder, during conference week we will follow our half-day schedule, release is at 11:45. 

Specials conferences are optional. We recommend scheduling a conference only if you have a particular question, concern or love for one of our Specials. Parents will meet with K-1 Specials teachers in the Archway Art Room. Conferences will last 15 minutes. Follow the link to sign-up. 

Have a great Fall Break!