Oct 20-24

Dear Sunshine Families, Last Week: I hope everyone that made it out the Velvet Acres enjoyed it! We lucked out with the rain; even if we got a little muddy! This was a new farm for us and we'd love to hear feedback from you to help us plan for next year's trip! This week: We will talk about farms and farm animals in class this week. Velvet Acres is a working farm with dairy cows and acres of fresh vegetables. We will talk about what we saw there and create our own red barns with farm animals. We will read Click, Clack, Moo and Mrs. Wishy Washy's Farm. Social/emotional: This week we will work one on one with each child doing number and letter assessments, writing practice and cutting practice. We are getting ready or conferences in November. This is a great time for Vanessa and I to work individually with the kids; once assessments are done we will have a better understanding of where the kids are and what things we will focus on for the rest of the year! Halloween Parties: Next week will celebrate the season with class parties Thursday and Friday. We will make mini pizzas for snack; I will have a sign up sheet out for donations of pizza ingredients. Kids are welcome to dress up but please keep weapons at home. We will parade around the school and walk over to Kindred to parade for the 'grandmas and grandpas'! Fundraisers: Little Acorn is a non profit preschool and fundraisers are vital to keep our program strong. we currently have Kiggins Theatre, Usborne book efair, scholastic books, box tops and Scentsy running. The scensty orders need to be turned in the week; 100 percent of sales from scensty will go directly towards the school. We also have a parent photographer that has offering family portraits to the first 4 or 5 families that sign up. Pictures will be $150 for a 30 minute session on 11/8 from 9:00-11:00. Fliers will be in cubbies this week. Trunk Or Treat: Trunk or Treat is this coming Sunday. It is a fun, community event hosted by the church. Little Acorn teachers will be there with a decorated trunk! Fliers were put in cubbies last week. Word Wall: The letter this week is "E". Kids can bring anything starting with the letter "E"! Teacher Tasha

Oct 13-17

Dear Sunshine Families, Last Week: We began our all unit. We went on a nature walk and collected twigs, pinecones and leaves. Check out our facebook page for pictures of the art we created last week with our found fall things. We were unable to complete all the projects I had planned last week so we will continue this week. This week: We will finishing up the leaf prints we started last week. These look so neat and the kids are having a great time painting the leaves and seeing the print the leave on the paper. We will also use clear contact paper to create fall collages to hang on the window. Social/emotional: We have a been really working hard in class on following directions during clean up time and our transition times; such as lining up and walking outside and in the restrooms when we are washing up for snack. We really stress the importance of safety during these times; it is my job to keep everyone safe and it is the kids job to keep themselves and their friends safe. We want to create an environment where everyone feels comfortable at school. We will continue stressing the importance of keeping hands to ourselves, talking to our friends and asking for teachers help if a conflict arises. For many kids this is their first time in a classroom setting, it will take time to settle in and we are working each day to help the kids learn how to share, use their words and get along with each other. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we will have a third teacher joining us from 9:45-11:45 to help support us. Teacher Sabrina has worked as a support in the classrooms for the last couple years and we are excited to have her! It would be helpful if you could have a conversation at home about cleaning up when its clean up time, staying with the group when we are in the hall or outside and being kind to friends at school. Let them know that Vanessa, Sabrina and I are always there to help and support them! Pumpkin Patch: Our first field trip of the year is here! We will not be in class on Thursday and Friday; we will meet at the farm at 9:15 so we can start our trip at 9:30. Field trips require parent transportation and supervision. Fundraisers: Little Acorn is a non profit preschool and fundraisers are vital to keep our program strong. we currently have Kiggins Theatre, Usborne book efair, scholastic books, box tops and Scentsy running. The scensty orders need to be turned in the week; 100 percent of sales from scensty will go directly towards the school. We also have a parent photographer that has offering family portraits to the first 4 or 5 families that sign up. Pictures will be $150 for a 30 minute session on 11/8 from 9:00-11:00. Fliers will be in cubbies this week. Trunk Or Treat: The church is hosting the annual "Trunk or Treat" this year on Sunday October 26th. This is a free community event. Church members will decorate their trunks and pass out treats. Little Acorn teachers will have a trunk decorated as well! More info will be put in cubbies soon! Word Wall: Because this is a short week in class instead of a letter kids can bring in something related to fall. This could be something they have found outside or something they have at home. We will pick up next week with the letter "E". Teacher Tasha

Oct 6-10

Dear Sunshine Families, Last Week: We had a lot of fun learning about the alphabet with Chicka Chicka Boom, Boom. We made chicka chicka trees with the letters o the kids names on them. We also wrote out names and counted the letters in them. As we make our way through the alphabet for word wall we will continue to develop our learning of letters. This week: We will begin talking about Fall! The weather is still warm but signs of fall are everywhere; the mornings are chilly, the leaves are changing colors and falling and the squirrels are busy collecting food. We will collect leaves from around the school and make leaf rubbings. We will also make a fall collage to hang on our classroom windows. We will read Fletcher and The Falling Leaves, Let it Fall and A is for Autumn. Carnival: Carnival was a huge success! Thank you to everyone that came and supported our school and everyone that volunteered to run booths, help set up and clean up. We couldn't have done it without your help! Picture Day: Class pictures are this week! Our scheduled day is Tuesday, for those that Tuesday isn't a normal school day would you be able to come in at 9:30 to get individual pictures done and then we can do one class photos that will include everyone. If this doesn't work for people than I will add Monday as a picture day as well. Picture packets were put in cubbies last week. These will need to be returned by Oct 7th. Pumpkin Patch: Our annual Farm trip is planned for Oct 16 and 17 at 9:30. This year we will be going to The Vancouver Pumpkin Patch at Velvet Acres. The cost is $5 per child and that includes a pumpkin! We will visit farm animal in the petting zoo, play in hay tunnels and take a hay ride out to the patch! If you'd like to pack a picnic lunch we can plan to eat lunch together after we are done at the farm. Please sign up on the sheet posted on the bulletin board to the left of the sign in sheets. We need an idea of how many are attending this fun trip! Work Wall: The letter of the week is 'D'. Kids can bring in items that start with the letter 'D'. These can be toys, objects found around the home or pictures. We will look around our classroom for objects starting with the letter 'D'. Teacher Tasha Tuition Prices 2 Days a week: $190 a month 3 Days a week: $245 a month 4 Days a week: $300 a month 5 Days a week: $355 a month Kindergarten: $405 a month