Dear Parents,

We have completed the first quarter of the school year. The kindergarten children have adjusted to the daily routine. They have been busy learning letters and sounds, writing in their journals, learning about shapes and patterns, and decorating the classroom with their many art projects. We have learned about growing pumpkins and about bats. We have talked about the many gifts that God has given us and how we can take care of these gifts and show our thanks to God. We had a great time on our field trip to Lemos Farm and Pumpkin Patch in Half Moon Bay. Thank you to our parent chaperones.

We have much to look forward to as we start the second quarter. We will continue to read our predecodable and decodable books and learn more high frequency words. It's important that you practice these words with your child every day. We will continue to introduce a new letter and sound each week. Please keep up with this. In Math, we will be finishing up with patterns and start numbers. In Science, we will finish up our unit on Animals and Plants and start our unit on Earth Science. We will be learning about landforms and bodies of water. In Social Studies we will be starting a unit on our big, wide world. We will talk about the first Thanksgiving and prepare for our Thanksgiving feast with KB. In Religion, we will talk about the things we are thankful for and learn about advent and preparing ourselves for Jesus' birthday.

Remember to read with your child every night. Review all worksheets that come home. Allow opportunities for your child to express their thoughts and feelings. Listen to them as they tell you about their day. Ask them questions and help them to answer in complete sentences. Give them opportunities to draw and dictate a sentence about their drawing. Allow them to use their imagination. Have your child read the predecodable and decodable books on a regular basis. Remember that homework is for the child. It's the parent's job to guide. It's the child's job to do the homework. Letting go is hard but the rewards are great. It allows your child to grow and become independent.

Welcome to KA

Thank you so much to all the Kindergarten parents that came to Back to School Night. It was nice meeting so many of you. I hope the information was useful and that it will help make your child's transition to the OLM Kindergarten Program a smooth one.

The new school year is off to a good start. I am excited for a fresh start with a new class of kindergartners. I am eager to get to know all the new students. Kindergarten is an important and exciting year for your child. This year, your child will be given many opportunities to learn new academic and social skills, to grow physically and spiritually, to become more independent, and to develop their God given talents.

Kindergarten is a time for imagination and creativity, so encourage your child to use his or her imagination at home. You can do this by reading to your child nightly, offering your child blocks and puzzles to play with, encouraging your child to draw and talk about his/her drawing. Encourage your child to ask questions and to express his or her thoughts, feelings, and ideas with others. If you would like to help your child get a head start, work on recognition of letter names, both upper and lower case. Coming into kindergarten knowing the names of and recognizing the alphabet letters is a tremendous help to your child. Always remember that each child grows at his or her own pace.

Never compare your child to a sibling or to another child.

I hope this will be a great year for all of us, and a good start for your child in school. I look forward to working together with our parents to make this a fun, exciting, and successful school year.