The week of Feb. 21-24.

Are we sure it isn't spring?  This weather is absolutely fantastic!  It seems like we never have very many San Diego spring days before it is hot!  I hope you all were able to get out and enjoy it!

Thank you to the parents that helped make our Valentines' Day Party awesome!  The kids had a blast!  See pictures below!

Once again, I want to tell all of you THANK YOU for coming to your child's conferences!  I really enjoy sharing how much I enjoy your child and watching their progress throughout the year!  If you ever have any concerns please don't hesitate to let me know.

Spelling tests!  Yes, we are going to begin taking spelling tests over our sight words next week. It will consist of five sight words and a bonus, color word. I will send out the schedule for the tests and an informative letter explaining them tomorrow.  I apologize for not having this ready at conferences! The letter also gives ten ideas to practice spelling the sight words.  I will talk to the kids about it tomorrow!
I am also going to send home a handwriting practice sheet that you can make copies of to take practice tests at home.  It will be just like the sheet your child will take the test on at school.  I will say the spelling word, then put it in a sentence, and say it again.  I will mix up the words for the test, so make sure to practice them randomly.  Thank you for studying with your child each day so they feel ready and successful!  I do feel bad for a child if they have a blank face and struggle.  I know this is a first for your child and some words will be a challenge for them.  However, learning how to spell the words will help with learning them!  They feel so good when they can spell the words when writing them!

ELA:  English Language Arts--you will be hearing this term as your child gets older.  We have been working on capitalization and punctuation all year.  Your child knows when a sentence makes sense, but they do not know that they are making sure there is a noun and verb in their sentence to make it complete.  

This week I am introducing what a noun is.  We will look for nouns (person, place, or thing) in our Scholastic magazine tomorrow, find nouns in a sentence slide Thursday, write sentences with nouns Thursday and put them in a paragraph Friday!  It will be a busy week learning about nouns!  Ask your child what a noun is each day to review!  Look for nouns around the house!

Sight words:  do, how
Letter of the week:  long u, review the short u

Math:  
Topic 8 Subtraction
We will continue to work on subtraction this week using the minus sign, learning how the "difference" is the answer to the subtraction problem, and practicing subtracting from 5.  

I will pass out subtraction flash cards on Friday.  If your child knows all of their addition facts through 5, then please begin working on the subtraction facts from 5.

It would really be helpful if your child also learned their doubles to 10. (1 + 1, 2 + 2, etc.)  This will help them in first grade when adding one and two more to a number.

Coming up!
Thurs. Feb. 23  KDG Round-up at 6 pm for incoming KDG.
Feb. 27-Mar. 3  Read Across America
Thur. Mar. 2      Dr. Seuss' birthday
Fri. Mar.  10      Last day of 3rd quarter!
Mar. 13-17         Spring Break!
Mar. 20              No School!  Inservice/workday
Thurs. Mar. 30  Farm Day Planning Meeting at 4:15 

100's Day!  Making our trail mix with our 1,400 snack pieces!  (3 kids were absent)

Valentines' Day Party!