Anna Much

Hello Dear Families,

We had another wonderful week together learning and growing, discovering and exploring! These chilly, and sometimes frosty mornings spark our conversations about the weather and the seasons and what we can do to keep warm. This beautifully leads into more questions about our environment such as, “How do animals keep warm in winter and what kind of homes or habitats do different animals have?” We’ll be learning more about habitats next week as we prepare for our field trip.

Field Trip Next Friday, January 24th:

We head to the Spring Lake Environmental Discovery Center for some exploration and discovery about “Habitats and Homes”. We leave at 9:00 and will be back to school around 1:00. Your child will need:
Backpack                 
Lunch/water bottle                 
Closed-toed shoes                 
Warm jacket/sweatshirt

Our weekly hike with Miss Kristen’s class:

We had another lovely hike with Miss Kristen’s class. We saw a hawk in the same tree-we’re thinking it may be the same hawk from last week and that it may nest in that tree. We also saw a hot air balloon! We walked all the way to the creek and had our snack along the bank. This time we wrote and drew about what we heard or saw on our walk. The children explored in the creek and some children started making leaf boats. Then, we all found a special leaf and whispered a little wish to it and sent it floating down the water. 

Student of the Day:

We will start Student of the Day on Tuesday. Your child will get to bring Abby the Tabby home for a night and write and illustrate a story in her journal to share with the class the next day. Your child will also get to bring in an item to share on that day. We talked about some ideas as a class so I hope they share with you some choices we discussed. I would like their share item to be something that is unique and special to them. Some ideas are: a collection of shells/rocks, a coin collection, an instrument that they play, a special stuffed animal or blanket from when they were a baby, a photo album, a special book, something from a loved one or ancestor. I brought in a tiny wooden trinket box that my grandmother gave me when I was 4 years old. Please help your child choose something special and unique to them. Some children asked about a Lego build. This is fine as long as it is keeping with our school values and is not a character and does not have weapons. Pets are welcome and students have even brought in their younger or older siblings as a share. If you are unsure, please check in with me. The main thing here is that I want children to be able to tell us about their share so it might be helpful to practice with them. We talked about how you need to tell people what it is, what you do with it, where it came from and why it is special.

Math:

We played a shape sort with different shaped found objects. We also started exploring 3-D shapes and learning about some of their attributes and then went on a shape hunt around the classroom.

Language Arts:

We read a book called Penguin Problems that was pretty silly but ended with a powerful message about gratitude. The children practice verbalizing their gratitude with our appreciation circles on Friday, times when we collaborate with other classes, and we have also started ending our day with two appreciations about someone at school. I choose two different children at the end of each day to share an appreciation for someone. These small acts really do make a big difference.The 1:00ers practiced their phonemic awareness with a sound sort. They had a whole bunch of fun objects to sort by their beginning sound. They also practiced sounding out words and figuring out the middle and end sounds as well. All of this gets them ready for reading, writing and spelling! The 3:00ers are learning question words and how to write a question. They learned about pen pals and wrote a question to their big buddy. We’re going to deliver the letter and then hope for a reply!We also read a book about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. today and learned about why he was such an important part of the Civil Rights Movement in our country. I started our day by reading one of Dr. King’s quotes, “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”~MLK Jr.

No School on Monday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr!!

Have a lovely weekend!!

With Much Love and Gratitude, 
💜 Miss Anna

Hello Families,

Happy New Year!! I hope you all had a lovely winter break. I so enjoyed the slower paced mornings at home and spending time adventuring with my family. It’s great to be back together with the children in the classroom. They have had so many stories to share about their time away from school and they have really enjoyed getting back into their work and play with one another. 

Hike with Miss Kristen’s Class: 

On Thursday we went on a hike with Miss Kristen’s class on the trail behind the school. It was such a beautiful day to be out and about soaking up the sun and all the beauty our natural world has to offer. We spotted a hawk far away on top of a tree and found orange and brown mushrooms (no Amanitas, though). We enjoyed a snack under the shade of an oak tree and then wrote and drew something that we saw or wondered about. The children buddied up with a child from Miss Kristen’s class on the walk and then shared pencils with her class. It was a beautiful experience and we plan to make it a weekly adventure.

Field Trip Friday, January 24th:

Our next field trip is to the Spring Lake Environmental Center to learn about Habitat and Homes of our local wildlife. We’ll leave at 9:00 and be back around 1:00. The Acorn class will be joining us and we’ll be collaborating with their class before we go to learn more about habitats.

Makers’ Day: 

We’ll be having a weekly Makers’ Day coming soon. I have a collection of materials but would love some more. Do you have anything to offer? Toilet paper rolls, plastic caps, bread ties, yogurt cups, cereal boxes etc. Please make sure containers are clean and dry before bringing them in.Thank you!I hope you all have a lovely weekend! 

💜 Much Love,
Miss Anna

Hello Families,

Well, it certainly has been a strange week here with so many of our students out sick. We have been thinking of them and sending them well wishes during our Mindful Minutes and our morning circle time and sure hope everyone recovers over the weekend!

We made lanterns with our big buddies this week and the buddies made one for the children that were absent. They are so beautiful! 

We led Monday morning circle and the children did so well! It’s not easy being some of the youngest children and standing up in front of the whole school to perform. We also hosted Village Friday today and recited our poem for Solstice and then sang Solstice songs with the whole school. 

Language Arts: We’ve been reading different versions of The Gingerbread Man and discussing the similarities and differences of the variations. The children also made Gingerbread People art yesterday and they are so creative! Come on in and take a look at our Wintery classroom in the morning or after school. 

We had a lovely field trip to the LBC today to see The Pasada Navideña. It’s such a beautiful show with dancing and music from Mexico. We are so lucky to have the opportunity to celebrate the diversity of our world!

Winter Solstice Festival: The festival is next Thursday. Please be dressed and in the classroom at 6:10. Bring a mug for a special treat afterwards. :)I wish you all a restful weekend. Be well and we hope to all be together again on Monday!

Much Love, 
❤️ Miss Anna

Hello Fantastic Families,

December is here and we are preparing for our Winter Solstice Festival. We’ve been singing songs with Miss Barnum’s class and Miss Kristen’s class as well as practicing our whole school songs. It really is a magical event that the children work hard on and becomes a huge part of our curriculum. Please let me know if your child will NOT be at the festival. It is Thursday, December 19 at 6:30 p.m. Students need to be dressed and in the classroom at 6:10.

Math: The 1:00ers have been composing and decomposing teen numbers and we have been learning about place value and what that “One in the front” represents in a teen number. 3:00ers learned a fun new math term this week: “Inverse Operation”. We have been making Fact Families and exploring the patterns of subtraction and addition.

We need Bay Leaves and evergreens!!! We need oranges and cinnamon sticks. Please let me know if you have any that you could donate. I need them by Tuesday. I am happy to purchase them but I heard from the students that some of you may have an orange tree. 

Solstice Details: Our class is dressing in Winter night sky colors: Think Northern Lights: Dark Blue, purple, green, fuchsia. My hope is that your child can wear something that they already have. Your child can wear all of the same color (all blue, all purple, all green) or wear a colored top and black bottoms (skirt or pants). 

Monday Morning Circle: We are leading the all school circle next Monday. Families are welcome to attend. We have a fun little skit planned that stemmed from our daily calendar routine. 

Field Trip: Next Friday, December 13th: We’re going to the LBC for the Posada Navideña. It’s a lovely show full of music and dancing honoring the Mexican holiday Posada Navideña. Here’s a little snippet from the LBC: “Posada is a Spanish word for “inn,” and los Posadas Navideñas recall the biblical story of the nativity. Much like the European tradition of going house-to-house to sing carols in the early darkened evenings, a local Posada Navideña often begins with a nighttime street procession of locals representing pilgrims. Carrying lighted candles, they follow children dressed up as Mary and Joseph on their search for an inn as they journey to Bethlehem. Singing a special posada song, the pilgrims knock on doors along the way as neighbors emerge to purposely refuse shelter (in song) until the procession reaches a designated house, where the party has been arranged.” 

Please remember to check the white board outside of the classroom for important information. I still have some Progress Reports that need to go home. Please stop by in the morning or after school to pick up. 

I hope you all have a lovely weekend! 

❤️ Miss Anna

Hello families,

I hope you all are well and staying safe out there with our wild weather. We had a fun week with our field trip to the LBC for an amazing puppet show, “Leonardo! A Wonderful Story About a Terrible Monster”. After the show, we reflected on the characters and their feelings and related it back to the children’s own experiences. We also discussed the various styles of puppets used in the show and how other elements such as song and sound effects were used to tell the story. The next day, we had a Language Arts lesson during centers time reflecting again on the show/book. We talked about how having a good friend can help you overcome fears or just feel better when you’ve had a hard day. I asked the children to think about what makes a good friend. They had wonderful ideas such as, being kind, sharing, and standing up when someone has been hurtful. Then, they made their own puppets and the children performed short puppet shows with a partner. All of this supports their Social/Emotional Learning as well as developing their speaking and listening skills. We’re keeping the puppets in the classroom for a bit to use when we get back from break. We plan to make more puppets and continue to talk about kindness. Do you have any old socks to donate? Or bits of ribbon, yarn or buttons? We could use some for our puppet creations. 

We also continued reading different versions of Stone Soup and comparing and contrasting the story variants. We had one more to read today, but we’ll just have to continue that when we return. The children had a great time washing and cutting vegetables for the soup and we even made butter. It was a great day to make soup and be cozy inside, yet still we got outside for a short but fun, rain adventure. The soup was delicious and nutritious!! Thank you to everyone who helped set up, bring bread and to all of you for bringing in the vegetables for the soup! It really does take a village to make all of these wonderful experiences happen. Thank you for being a part of our village!! 

When we return from break, we’ll be getting ready for our Winter Solstice Festival by learning songs and poems centered around the Winter Solstice. The teachers have started brainstorming and I will have the details about what your children will be wearing very soon. 

Progress Reports will be available on Monday, December 2. I will be hand delivering them so please stop in the classroom to pick up.
Thank you!

I hope you all have a lovely break and enjoy some quality time with friends and family, or maybe just some slower mornings where you don’t have to rush to school or work.

With Much Love and Gratitude, 
❤️ Miss Anna

Hello Families,

It was a short but fun week as we reflected on the beauty of our Dia de Los Muertos Festival, welcomed the rain and had an all school music practice to get ready for Winter Solstice! The 3:00ers took a hike with Miss Barnum’s class to the creek behind our school and we also learned a new poem for November’s Beaver Moon. So excited to see the Super Moon with some of you tonight! 

Field Trip next Monday, November 18th to the LBC for a puppet show: Leonardo! A Wonderful Story about a Terrible Monster. Drop off your child’s labeled car seat/booster in the parking lot with Miss Maria. Drivers will get their list and emergency packet and return to the classroom to wait for me and the children. NO BACKPACKS!!!!!

RAIN GEAR!!!!! Thank you if you already have rain gear (rain coat and boots) for your child. If you don’t please do get that gear. We do have extras (mostly boots) but rely on these if someone forgets. If you need some help finding/purchasing gear, please let me know. 

Extra Clothes!!! Please check your child’s backpack to be sure they have an extra set of clothes: pants, long sleeve, socks and underwear. They need extra clothes daily as they do tend to get wet during our rainy season. We play outside rain or shine!

Stone Soup: We read one version of Stone Soup today and will continue reading several more versions next week. We’ll be making Stone Soup on Thursday and you all are invited to join in our feast. Students will come home with a note of their vegetable to add to the pot on Tuesday. I would love to offer bread (gluten-free and regular) with our feast. Is there anyone who could help with this? Also, please let me know what adults are coming so I can plan for space. I have bowls for students but adults will need to bring a bowl or mug for soup.

Thank you!! I hope you all have a lovely and restful weekend!

With Much Love, 
💜 Miss Anna

Hello Dear Families,

What a beautiful Dia de Los Muertos Festival! Thank you for getting your child here on time and for bringing in photos. It really is such a beautiful way to honor our ancestors and loved ones. The children shared stories and we grew a little closer as a class community. Thank you to Shasta (Kyden’t mama), and Malika (Kyden’s grandma) for making the beautiful flower headbands! Thank you to Karla (Kaya’s mama) for helping us set up our beautiful ofrenda! Thank you to Lauren (Jasper’s mama) for bringing in more marigolds! We are so grateful to all of you and to our beautiful community. On Wednesday, the whole school had the honor of attending a Dia de los Muertos presentation by Juan, who shared his Aztec culture and ceremony with us. He reminded us that this was just a small example of what his culture does to remember loved ones and that all cultures have a way of honoring the deceased. He encouraged us to learn about our own culture and embrace the beauty of our similarities and differences. What an amazing experience for our students to be a part of! Thank you to Rebecca and the PA for organizing this!

Full Moon Walk: 

Next Friday, November 15th is a full moon and a supermoon (so it will appear larger as it is closer to the earth in its orbit). In Native American culture it is known as the Beaver Moon. We would like to invite you all to join us with Miss Kristen’s class for a walk out to our field to watch it rise. If you are interested, we’ll be meeting right outside the classroom at 5:00. Bring a mug and a blanket and dress in warm layers. Check out this link if you want to learn more about why it is called the Beaver Moon.  https://www.almanac.com/full-moon-november

Field Trip Monday, November 18th to the LBC.

I’m looking for one more driver who could drive 4 children. Please let me know asap if you are available. Thank you!

Progress Reports: 

Friday marked the end of the trimester. Progress reports will be out by 11/21 and can be picked up in the classroom.

Stone Soup Feast: 

Our class will be reading many different versions of Stone Soup over the next few weeks and we will make our own Stone Soup and celebrate gratitude and giving with a feast for students and families on Thursday, November 21th at 12pm. Please let me know if you are able to join us and/or if you are able to help out with set up or clean up.

Reminder:

No school on Monday in honor of Veteran’s Day!I hope you all have a lovely and restful weekend!!

Much Love, 
❤️ Miss Anna

Hello Fabulous Families,

Wow! What an exciting week! The weather is changing, we’ve started a new month, and we are getting ready for our Dia de Los Muertos Festival next Friday! The Sprouts (Kindergarten Acorns) joined us this week to practice our poem that we will be performing on Friday. It’s been fun having some old friends join us in our classroom. We’ve really been enjoying listening to the stories as children share about their loved ones. Talking about grandparents and great parents has led us to talking about family trees. 
****Please bring in a framed photo next week if your child has not already done so. Be sure to share a story about your loved one so that your child may share with us. 

Language Arts:

We have met all of our consonant letter friends and have now moved on to the vowels. Let me know if you are missing any letter friends so your child can have the complete set. 
We started formal handwriting this week!! We decided to name our groups: There are the Peregrine Falcons, the Golden Eagles, and the Owls. 

Dia de Los Muertos Festival:

The festival begins at 5:30. Please drop your child off at 5:00 in the classroom. This allows time to finish getting ready (wings and headbands), settle in a bit, and take a group photo. Bring a mug for a special treat after the festival. Please be sure to eat before the event. There is no food at this event. After the festival, please bring back the headbands and butterfly wings to the classroom. 

Volunteers/Help:

Is anyone interested in helping out next week? We would love some help deadheading. 
Also, our CD/tape player broke this week. Before I purchase a new one, does anyone have one they don’t use anymore? I would like it to have a CD player and cassette option. Or, does anyone want to see if they can fix it?

Thank you for all of your support!! I hope you all have a restful weekend! 

❤️ Miss Anna

Hello Fabulous Families,

We had a very exciting week with our field trip to the LBC to see the Sewam American Indian Dancers. The show was so amazing and we learned a lot about Native American culture and storytelling.
It really ties in so perfectly with our curriculum as we move into learning about and celebrating Dia de Los Muertos. We are learning about the importance of the marigolds and monarch butterflies and how this dates back to Aztec times. We’re learning some new Spanish words like calavera (skull) and calacas(skeletons) and pan de muerto (bread of the dead). We will be sharing our stories of loved ones as students bring in their framed photos and they add them to our ofrenda. Thank you, Karla (Kaya’s mama) for helping us create our ofrenda. It is soooo beautiful!!

Dia de Los Muertos Festival clothing: 

Please let me know if you need a black shirt. I have 3 available.

Music with Miss Rachel: 

We’ve started singing with Miss Rachel on Thursdays to begin practicing a song for Winter Solstice. We even got to practice with our buddies playing guitar!

Buddies day: 

We had such a fun time wearing our pajamas with our buddies. We read a book about popcorn, made popcorn and made some important signs for our campus. Just a friendly reminder that we do have a no cell phone policy on campus. We appreciate your support in adhering to this policy. We also sang Happy Birthday to Abby!!!

Reminder: 

We do not celebrate Halloween at Village so please do not send your in a costume on Thursday. Also, please remember our no sugar policy and do not send candy the next day. I know a lot of students will go trick-or-treating and we will read some Halloween books but we keep the other parts of this holiday for families. Thank you!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend! We are still looking for students to bring in fall leaves for our leaf prints.

Hasta Lunes! See you Monday!! 

🩵 Miss Anna

Hello Fabulous Families,

We had such a fun week learning new Letter Friends and reviewing old Letter Friends. If your child is missing a letter friend, please email me or let me know in the morning or after school. Then, we can get those letter friends home for more practice.

The 3:00ers had a fun time prepping herb recipes for the Farmer’s Market and we all enjoyed tasting the yummy drinks and foods available. Such a wonderful way to build community and learn about herbs! Thank you Miss Jess for organizing and facilitating this event!!

Field Trip Next WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23!! 

We are going to the LBC to see the Seewam American Indian Dancers. Please arrive on time or early if possible. The show starts at 9:30 so we will leave at 9:00. Please make sure your child’s car seat/booster is labeled with their name. Does your child have a turquoise Creek Clean up shirt from last year? If so, please have them wear it. If not, wear a turquoise or light blue shirt. Make sure your child eats a hearty breakfast. We will have a snack after the show at the LBC. Please have your child’s lunch and full water bottle in their backpack.Have you signed the field trip sign up on the white board? Thank you if you have already signed. If not, please do so asap!

Communication:

Please check the white board daily for important information. We also made a field trip poster with dictation that you may enjoy reading with your child. It’s right outside our door.

Math: 

We are continuing to work with shape identification and manipulation. The children have made some amazing pictures with wooden shapes and now some paper shapes that are on display in the classroom. They dictated a story about their picture/design and they are so creative. Stop by to check them out if you have a chance. The 3:00ers are starting to work on composing and decomposing numbers and learning about place value. We worked with place value mats and manipulatives today and then did a gallery walk to check one another’s work. 

Dia de Los Muertos: 

Our festival for Dia de Los Muertos is coming up on November 8th. Our class is going to wear all black so start looking for black pants and a black long sleeve shirt. If you need help with this, please let me know. I would also like to know if there is anyone who would be willing to help make silk flower headbands for any child who wants to wear one. If you are interested in helping with this, please let me know. If you can’t help make the headbands but you want to donate headbands or silk flowers, please let me know. We are going to start setting up our classroom Ofrenda soon. I will be asking the students to bring in a photo (in a picture frame) of a loved one (human or pet) who has passed so that we may honor them as we learn about this beautiful holiday. 

Pajama Day next Friday, October 25!!!!

We are having a pajama day with our buddies next Friday. Students can wear their pajamas all day and bring one stuffed animal. The stuffed animal must fit in their backpack. I haven’t told the children about this yet but just wanted to give you a heads up. I’ll be telling them on Monday.

Fall Leaves:

If you find some beautiful fall leaves on your adventures this weekend, please bring them in. We would love to do a leaf painting project. 

Thank you for all the ways you are a part of this community. I hope you all have a lovely weekend. Maybe I’ll see you at our Farm to Table Dinner on Saturday! 

💜 Miss Anna

Hello Families,

It was a short week but still loaded with fun and learning. We are diving into the apple curriculum and learning so much about apples, like the parts of the apple, how they grow and of course, how they taste. Today, we tasted some different varieties and made a graph of our favorite one. We also learned that it takes a lot of water to grow an apple tree in the beginning of its life. We did a fun math exercise to figure this out. We’ve been doing various mental math exercises at circle time where the children have to think about a math concept or math problem and then they justify how they got their answer. It’s a fun way to imbed math into our day and to show how we can think about math in different ways. 

Next Monday it is our class’s turn to lead All School Morning Circle and families are welcome to join. We are reciting a poem about apples. Your child came home with a copy of the poem today. Maybe they would like to practice with you over the weekend. 

Thank you to Hazel’s mom, Nicole, for coming in to teach us a little bit about the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. She read a lovely book to the children called All the World and then brought apple slices and honey to share as this is the Jewsih tradition to bring a sweet new year. The honey is symbolic because it comes from bees which make the sweet honey but also have a sting. Just as in life, we see how there are often two sides-the joy and the pain, the light and the dark-all a part of our world and lives.

Thank you for joining me for conferences this week. I really enjoyed talking with you about your child’s growth and development. Thank you all for your continued commitment to your child’s education, our school and our values and the kindness that is extended to our staff and community each day.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

With Much Love and Gratitude, 
💚 Miss Anna

Hello Families,

I hope you are all enjoying the fall break even though our weather has us stuck in summer. Although it’s been a bit toasty this week, we had a lovely time visiting the apple orchard for our field trip with the Acorn class. What an amazing experience! We had a tour from the farmer and got to see how they make their delicious apple cider. The children loved seeing all the bins of apples, watching the workers clean them, and seeing how the cider gets bottled. Of course, picking and eating the apples out in the orchard was such a treat! Thank you to all of our parent drivers/chaperones!! We couldn’t have done it without you! 
When we returned to the classroom we tasted some of that delicious apple cider. Yum!! The next day, we made applesauce with the apples from the orchard. The children washed, peeled, and cut the apples, then cooked them down into some delicious applesauce. We even put the peels back in because that’s where a lot of the nutrients are. Of course, we saved some so we could eat “apple snakes”. We also measured some apple peels using a yardstick and other items around the classroom like books, paper and blocks. Then, at the end of the day we invited our big buddies over to share the treat we made. 
We’re learning a new apple poem with some more complex vocabulary. We’ll continue more apple exploration next week with apple tasting and learning more about the parts of an apple and apple tree.

Conferences Next Week!! Early release at 1:15 all week!! Please let us know if there are changes to your child’s aftercare schedule.

Next Field Trip October 23: We’ll be going to the LBC for a show: The Seewam Indian Dancers. I’ll send out the email for drivers separately. 

I’m looking forward to meeting with you all next week to talk about your amazing children.  

❤️ Miss Anna

Hello Families,

Well, Fall is here and we are loving celebrating the season by noticing the changes we see in our garden and out in the world. If you and your family notice any colorful fallen leaves we would love to have some to explore in our classroom. We have made a nature stump where your child can place their findings and we’ll discuss at circle time and explore throughout the day. If anyone has a large collection of acorns we would love some for counting. 

Buddies: 

We had such a great time riding the bus with our big buddies and exploring the library together. I just love seeing the bond between little and big buddies grow. It was fun to see what books some children chose to bring back to the classroom and they’ve been enjoying checking out one another’s choices.

Art/Music: 

Yesterday, we did a lovely art project as a whole class. We listened to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (Autumn, of course) and drew a Fall tree with oil pastels. These are going to be the covers of our journals which we will be starting next week. Journaling will happen once a week and will be a time when children can write and draw on their own. I will give the children a different writing prompt each week and then they will have some quiet time to express themselves. Then, they will read their journal to teachers and maybe to one another. 

Language Arts: 

We read a funny book, “How Many Squirrels are in the World?” and also learned some fun facts about squirrels. Did you know that squirrels are only one inch long when they’re born? We also read a book called “I Like Me” and wrote a page for our book with the sentence starter, “I am special because…”. These children had some wonderful things to share about what makes them unique. We also learned some new Fall poems. Maybe your child can recite one to you.

Garden:  

Some of our seeds that we planted have sprouted and soon we’ll need to put up the string for the peas to climb. We planted a few more Sugar Snap Peas today. Does anyone have any Morning Glory seeds to donate?

Raingear: 

Now is the time to start getting ready for the rainy season. We will play in the rain and mud, and go on rain walks. Your child needs a raincoat and rainboots. Rain pants are a great way to keep dry during recess but are not necessary. Please let me know if you need help finding gear. There are some extra boots in the office. Also, check out Sweet Pea Children’s Consignment in Cotati. I have been shopping there since my kids were babies and they have great quality items at great prices. You could even call first to see what sizes she has. If anyone else has some leads on raingear, feel free to share with us.

Field Trip: 

We’re going apple picking next Tuesday, October 1st!!! We have our driver list and we’re all set…and super excited! Be sure that your child has a water bottle, lunch box, and extra set of clothes that fits into their backpack. Over the weekend might be a great time to practice packing and unpacking their belongings as this is an essential skill for children at school. It really helps build that life skill of Organization! On the day of the field trip please label your child’s car seat/booster and drop it off in the parking lot with Miss Maria. Do not send your child with money. They will get a small bag of apples to bring home and I will be purchasing apples for the classroom.
Please wear a turquoise or blue t-shirt if you have one. Maybe you have a VCS Creek Clean Up shirt or another shirt that is turquoise or blue. This will help us find our group among the apple trees. Let me know this weekend if you need a shirt. I may have one you can borrow.

Kale chip recipe:

https://www.thespruceeats.com/simple-kale-chips-dehydrator-method-1327574

Well, that’s all for now. Thank you for fulfilling our wish list, for helping with our ongoing jobs, and for raising such amazing humans. 

Much Love, 
❤️ Miss Anna

Hello Families,

This week the 3:00ers taught the 1:00ers the “Make a 10” game. It’s a fun math game that you could play anywhere with your child. One person holds up a number with their fingers and the other person has to add and make 10 with their fingers. Maybe your child can teach you? We also explored patterns a bit more with our pattern blocks and the children are learning that patterns come in so many forms: colors, shapes, numbers-and of course, we name those patterns with letters. 

Language Arts: 

We read a book called “What Does it Mean to be Kind?” and we had a lovely conversation about kindness. Your children really understand and show kindness each day and it is such a joy to be a part of that. We also read a beautifully poetic book called, “And if the Moon Could Talk” in honor of the full moon. I know it was a bit cloudy on the actual full moon but hopefully, you got a chance to see it at some point in its bright, round glow. Speaking of our friend, the moon, we have started our moon poems with the book, “When the Moon is Full”. Each month we will learn a different moon poem. Do you know what September’s moon is called? Ask your child. Maybe they can even recite the poem for you. They are truly amazing because we only just learned it on Tuesday, and today they really had it down. We talked about the Autumnal Equinox. It’s on Sunday so we’ll be celebrating the turning of the season when we return on Monday. 

We’re also working on a new book for the classroom that is going to feature each student. We’ll be focusing on what makes each of them special or unique and they’ll be writing and illustrating.

Music: 

We had another fun music class with Mr. Mike. We got to play lots of different percussion instruments and of course, our hands and bodies can be percussion instruments, too! 

3:00ers: 

We have been doing a little bit of an author study and reading different books by Arnold Lobel, such as, Frog and Toad, Owl at Home and Mouse Soup. These books are so much fun, lead to great discussions, and we’ve been finding our sight words in them too. 

We made kale chips and they were delicious!! Thank you to Greyson’s family for donating the kale!

Field Trip:

Thank you if you already signed up. The library field trip doesn’t require chaperones but I need you to sign to acknowledge that you know your child will be off campus. 

Apple picking field trip sign up will go out on Wednesday. I will send out the email to potential drivers by Monday. 

Thank you all for all that you do whether it is watering the garden, bringing flowers, washing the towels, or giving me a friendly hello. I am blessed to be a part of this magical Village! 

Much Love and gratitude, 
💜 Miss Anna

Hello Fantastic Families,

It has been such an exciting week! We continued working on our Color Poem books and finished them yesterday! This was a three week project! The children worked so hard on this book whether they were tracing, writing color words, or writing a whole sentence. They took pride in their art work and let their creativity shine! Yesterday, we invited the big buddies to our classroom and the children recited the color poem on “stage”. Then, they read to their big buddy. What a special experience for both buddies! Our class expressed to me how last buddy time they didn’t get enough time to play at recess with their buddies. So we practiced one of those important life skills, FLEXIBILITY, and had recess first with our buddies, and then lunch. It was such a joy to see your children running, climbing, and playing with their big buddies. We ended with an appreciation circle. Both big and little buddies have the kindest words to say about one another. We really do have a special thing happening here at Village!!

Music:  

Music is now drumming with Mr. Mike on Wednesdays. He is a music teacher at Art and Soul, and oh my, was he a lot of fun! He taught the children about counting beats and what that big word crescendo means. They tapped out beats on the floor with their hands and with drum sticks. We do a lot of tapping out patterns and beats in the classroom too, so it came very naturally to them. 

Field Trips: 

Thank you to everyone who has filled out the google form about car seats/boosters and to those of you who are able to drive/chaperone. I do need everyone to fill out that top portion of the form as it helps me determine how many cars we need, and who can fit in what car. So, if you haven’t filled it out, please do asap. We still have some gaps in our driver list. Please get all of your driver info to Carolyn in the office so I can start planning for the field trips. I appreciate your support with this.

Library with Big Buddies: 

We’ll be going to the Northwest Regional Library (over by Coddingtown) on September 24th with our big buddies. We’ll all take the #6 city bus at 9:42. We walk down to the bus stop at 9:30 and then we’ll get to the library around 10:00 and be back on campus around 11:30. Our big buddies will show us around the library and read some books to us. The big buddies have been taking the bus to the library for a while now and are pros! The children can check out one book of their choice on my library card that will stay in the classroom. What a fun way to get to know each other’s interests!

Letter Friends:  

This week we met Timothy Tiger, Dee Dee Deer and Koyo Kangaroo. Please let me know if you are missing any. Many of the children are excited about meeting the letter friends, doing sound boxes and making sound books. It was actually something that several children said they appreciated today at our appreciation circle. The 3:00ers are having fun writing their sentences and really thinking about those tall, small, and fall letters. We introduced that to the 1:00ers today at circle time.

Math Fun: 

We read a really fun book called “Zero” that was all about zero feeling left out and not “counting”. It tied into our continual learning about feelings and reinforced how important zero is as a number. The children did a pattern worksheet today where they had to figure out what comes next in the pattern. Patterns are so fun and maybe you can find some out in the world this weekend. We’ll be exploring more with patterns next week, too. The 3:00ers played a “Make a 10” game with a partner and are going to teach the 1:00ers next week. It’s a fun way to learn about adding and I bet they’ll be teaching you soon.

Yoga: 

We had another lovely yoga class today after recess. Maybe your child can show you dragon pose? It’s kinda tricky but they are getting it! They all have their favorite poses and are really embracing the stretching and the mindfulness of the practice.

Extra Clothes: 

Please check your child’s backpack to be sure they have an extra set of seasonal clothes including socks and underwear. 

Parent/Teacher Conferences:

October 8- October 11 
Early Release at 1:15 all week. Conferences will be 20 minutes starting at 1:30 each day until 5:00.
Sign up will be available next week on the white board. 

Kale Donation: 

Would anyone have an abundance of kale or be willing to donate some? We were talking about making kale chips (you know, we were playing with that “K” sound) and I would love to try to do this next week, if possible.

Thank you again to whoever fulfilled our Amazon class wishlist! 

I hope you all have a lovely and restful weekend.
I am grateful for you all and your amazing children!!! 

Much Love, 
❤️ Miss Anna

Hello Families,

I wanted to share with you that we did whole class yoga again yesterday and I will likely try to make that a regular Friday thing. We began with some mindful breaths, did a sun salutation, and then practiced our belly breaths with the help from some little animal friends. The children lay down on their back and place a small stuffed animal on their belly and then gently rock their stuffie as they belly breathe in and out. Then we ended with 3 students giving us their choice of pose and we all tried it. It’s a beautiful thing to see these children moving their bodies, practicing their breathing and calming their minds.

Donations/Help: 

I’m realizing I could use some more small stuffed animals (not puppets). No characters please. Also, the children mildly wipe down the yoga mats after using them but I would love a family volunteer to help with that. Ideally, once a week would be great but I will take whatever you can give at this point. Maybe two people want to share this job? It would be wiping them down with mild soap, wiping with clean water and then hanging on our railing to dry. Please let me know if you are interested.

I have a few more classroom items I am looking for so I am going to make an Amazon Wish List. Look for that soon!

Aftercare: 

Let me know if there are any changes to your child’s schedule. We have moved the schedule inside to free up room on the white board so you don’t need to add it there. Only add to the white board if there is a change or a one time need. 

Thank you for all you do!!!

💜 Miss Anna

Hello Families,

Thank you so much for joining me this week for our parent meeting. I loved connecting with you! No worries if you couldn’t make it. Hopefully, your child gave you the Zoo Phonics information packet. Please let me know if you have any questions about that or need a copy. The children are diving right into sound boxes and sound books so some of you should see those books coming home. Please encourage them to read the book to you again. Have you found a place to hang up those Letter Friends? More will be coming home next week! Our class is so excited about finding more words that begin with our letter friend sounds. Our cluster page was full so I encouraged them to make more lists at home if they are inspired. 3:00ers: The 3:00ers have been writing sentences from our cluster pages. They have been practicing what 3 three things a sentence needs. Maybe they can tell you? We also joined Miss Barnum’s class for some song and dance this afternoon. Always a jolly good time over there!

Feelings:  

We read a book called “I’m Happy-Sad Today” that extended our conversation about how you can feel more than one feeling at once. We shared about our own experiences and how to manage mixed-up emotions.

Math: 

We worked with some 10 frames (1:00ers) and some 15 frames (3:00ers) and Abby helped introduce us to that amazing math tool-the Abacus! We also started using the cubes and rods to explore measurement.

Independent Study: 

If your child is going to be out of school please let the office know so that you can fill out an Independent Study form and I can gather materials to send home. This helps ensure that our school gets the funding for those absent days.

Field Trips: 

Please fill out the google form to let me know what kind of car seat/booster your child will use for transportation to our field trips. This helps me know how many cars we need. Thank you to those of you who have already done this. Our first field trip is less than a month away but we can only get there if we have enough drivers. If you can drive make sure you give all of your info to Carolyn: Current Driver’s License, Current Insurance $100-$300,000, Fingerprinting (you need our VCS form). 

Thank you for your support! I hope you all have a lovely weekend. Hasta Lunes. 

💜 Miss Anna