Good Afternoon,
Thank you to all the parents who came on our Wild Wood Park Field Trip. It was so much fun learning about trees and playing on the playground. Be on the look out for our tree fact book coming home soon!
I also want to thank all the parents for helping us with our community service projects. It is so important to build the skills of helping others early on. I am glad we have parents and students with “Red Juicy Hearts”.
If you signed up to volunteer for Pow Wow day at the beginning of the year or would like to volunteer, would you please stop in to see me after school on Monday so I can explain what we are going to be doing at Pow Wow. I will be in the class at 12:00 and then at 2:10 so if you have a child at either dismissal time, I will be able to accommodate you.
This week we:
- Continued to work on our math unit on number sense
- Completed our Native American
- Went on our field trip
- Studied trees
- Went to PE and Music
Next we will:
- Have Pow wow day! This is a non-extended day. We have 12:00 dismissal!
Homework: Homework will be finishing odds and ends jobs from November. Please do not turn in the homework on Tuesday or at all. This is work that can be completed and left at home.
- Our Native American Book: I will be sending our Native American books home with a few loose pages. Students can complete their books over the Thanksgiving holidays.
- Math: I will be sending a math review packet that we covered in class on Unit 2, but never had time to complete. Students know how to work on all of the pages as a review.
- Community Service Letter: Please continue writing letters and notes and turn them in on Monday, November 30th! The Ronald McDonald House can always use more notes. We will deliver them on the first Friday of December.
Please read below for description about our community service projects) Write and draw a beautiful picture, card, book, story, or note for one or more of the children of the Ronald McDonald organization. Address it to My Ronald McDonald Friend and sign your name. Please put in your best effort because we will be sending them off during the first week of December! We want to have at least 50 special projects to send. We will also be working on a second note for our friends in class.
- Sharing:
No sharing this week!
“ARGONAUT: KIDS HELPING KIDS”.
This year, our children have an opportunity to learn about giving. Self-less acts of kindness is what we try to do for others and what we try to instill in our children and in every human being. Starting tomorrow we will begin working on two different community service projects for two non-profit organizations. Our first project is affiliated with Argonaut’s fall Community Service project with the Boys and Girls Club. The other project is a small community service project that room 14 kindergarten can work on at home and in class for the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford Hospital. Please read below for further details.
- The Boys and Girls Club of Silicon Valley (www.bgclub.org): NOVEMBER 16-20
The Club is always in need of art supplies for their day-to-day activities, and books to build their library. They could use our help by looking through art supplies and books we have at home to help supplement the club’s supplies.
If you have any of the following at home, please bring them in during the week of NOVEMBER 16-20. Please try not to go out and purchase the items, only if you really have to. We want the kids to understand that they can share a little piece of what they already own to help someone else. It shouldn’t be items they don’t really want; we want to emphasize sharing something of their own or something they enjoy! All items should be in usable condition…
Markers, crayons, pencils, paper (construction or colored or white printer paper), paint, glue sticks, glitter glue, popsicle sticks, colored pencils, and any other art supply
2. Ronald McDonald House: (www.ronaldhouse.net) Recently at parent/teacher conferences, I had a wonderful discussion with one of our parents in class about providing our children with experiences about doing something for others. We discussed how we could help the Ronald McDonald House, which helps many sick children in the Bay Area with leukemia, other forms of cancer, genetic disorders, kidney issues, and much more. We thought it would be wonderful for our children to help other children. Our wonderful mom in class wrote the Ronald McDonald
House and this was the response she received:
“Thank you very much for contacting the Ronald McDonald House and expressing an interest in engaging your young children in volunteering. We would love to accept any cards or notes from the children. We actually have 48 rooms, but we have many more children in the House because we include the young patient’s siblings as well. So, if you're class would like to make more cards, that's fine too. Most of the families are at the hospital during the day for medical appointments, visiting their children, or perhaps some are in complete isolation here.
Unfortunately, we aren't able to give out any personal information such as names due to confidentiality policies. Also, it would be helpful if you can have the cards gender neutral as well, the kids will appreciate the thoughts. Since the cards will be dropped off on 12/4, perhaps you can start making them more Holiday related. Other ideas include making Reindeers with clothespins or some of other type of arts/crafts. However, please stay away from glitter! We have a hard time removing glitter from the House. Thanks!”
What can our kindergarten class do?
· For homework this week write and draw a beautiful picture, card, book, story, note, or craft for one or more of the children at the hospital. Please address it to my Ronald McDonald Friend and sign your name. Please put in your best effort because we will be sending them off in the first week of December! We want to have at least 50 special projects to send. We will also be working on the projects at school.
The Ronald McDonald house also responded with the following:
“We would also be very thankful for receiving any of the Wish List items on our website, particularly if your class would like to host a toy drive. The holidays are rapidly approaching and we are in need of new toys for the children.”
If you would like to help with their toy drive, please contact me, but there is no obligation. I just wanted everyone to know that is an option. We will not be hosting a toy drive, but if you would like to help, I would be happy to drive over any donations to the hospital.
Important Dates in November:
- Tuesday, November 24th is Kindergarten Pow Wow Day: This is an all morning celebration of our Native American study unit. Please arrive at 8:30 and plan on being finished by 11:30. I will need about four volunteers on this day.
- Wednesday, November 25, Thursday, November 26, and Friday, November 27 is our Thanksgiving break! No School.