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Thyda Bearry » Teacher/Parent Communication

Teacher/Parent Communication

Mrs. Bearry's email: [email protected]
Alta Sierra School phone: 530-272-2319

I check my email early in the morning before my TKers come to school, and after 2:00 pm. If you happen to email me about special instructions for your child, and I haven't responded (especially if your email is sent after 7:00am on a school day), please call the office to ensure I get your important information in time. Thanks so much!
 
When school begins, please communicate with the office your TKer's detailed after-school plan.
 
For example:
Picked up by who at 11:25am on the upper parking lot?(11:15am until after Labor Day)
          or
Going to the TK After-School Program (known as Little ELO)?
          Who is picking up at 2:00 pm on the lower parking lot or which bus is your TKer going home on?
          OR Staying longer than 2:00 pm for the TK-5 after-school program (known as BIG ELO)?
 
Also, please let the office know of ANY change to regular pick-up/after school plans that occur during the year. For the safety of students, all changes need to be given in writing or spoken directly by parents/guardians to an office staff member. Thank you so much for your help with this.
 

Posts

TK Week of March 22nd-27th

This week in TK was full of excitement as we welcomed spring, looked forward to our Easter celebration, and enjoyed a fun surprise to end the week!

Spring Time – We've been talking about Spring and blossoms on the trees and singing a fun song called “Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree.” Be sure to ask your child to sing it for you! We’ve also created some adorable spring-themed artwork to go with it.

Easter Celebration – Thursday was our TK Easter day, and it was a wonderful success! A big thank you to everyone who helped provide supplies—we truly appreciate it. The day was filled with fun activities, and if you ask your child, they’ll likely tell you their favorite parts were dyeing Easter eggs and participating in our playground Easter egg hunt. 

Wild Things Assembly – Our big surprise came Friday morning with the Wild Things assembly! It was a fantastic experience, and the students learned some interesting facts about different animals. Ask your child to share what they remember! This assembly was a perfect way to build excitement as we begin learning about zoo animals after Spring Break.

Spring Break – I hope everyone enjoys a wonderful and restful break from March 30th through April 3rd. Please remind your child that I’m looking forward to seeing them back at school on Monday, April 6th. (We return on this date due to the emergency day we used in February.)

Zoo Field Trip – Our field trip is scheduled for Thursday, May 21st. Permission slips and additional information will be sent home around April 20th. I wanted to share the date early so you can plan ahead if you’d like to join us—there is no limit on the number of chaperones, and we would love to have you! I want to let everyone know ahead of time that our TK day to the Sacramento Zoo will be from 7:55am-2:00.

Thank you for your continued support, and have a wonderful Spring Break!

DATES TO REMEMBER
March 30th-April 3rd - Spring Break (no school)
April 6th - See everyone back at school
May 14th - Open House Night! Hope to see you there!
May 21st - TK field trip to the Sacramento Zoo

TK Week of March 16th-20th

Happy first day of Spring!
 
This week has been full of festive St. Patrick’s Day fun! When we arrived on Tuesday morning, we discovered that the leprechauns had been busy playing with all of our green toys. To thank us for sharing, they left behind a special surprise—their favorite treat, “leprechaun dust” (pistachio pudding)! We were amazed to see the magical white powder transform into a bright green treat as soon as we added milk. We also had so much fun going on a rainbow hunt using our special rainbow finders! We created colorful rainbow-patterned Fruit Loop necklaces.
 
Willy Weasel’s W (“Hello smile, slide down, slide up, slide down, slide up”) has been a tricky letter for us to remember—it has a long, three-clap name! Practicing saying and clapping it together throughout the week would be extra helpful. This would also be a great weekend to head outside and create some fabulous sidewalk chalk W’s!
 
TK Easter Celebration - TK gets to have Easter Egg Hunt fun this next Thursday. Thank you so much to those of you who were able to help us with supplies for this fun day. (And thank you for all of the help we've recently had with our Dr. Suess and St. Patrick's Day fun as well!) If you were still wanting to donate anything, our Sign-up Genius still has items available. Thank you for all you do!
 
Have a wonderful weekend!
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
March 30th-April 3rd - Spring Break (no school)
May 14th - Open House Night! Hope to see you there!
May 21st - TK field trip to the Sacramento Zoo

 

TK Week of March 9th-13th

Rainbows - Our TKers have been learning a lot about rainbows! With the help of our classroom prisms, we have been finding lots of rainbows this week. We've noticed they're so beautiful, there's no wonder Leprechauns love them! We've painted them and read about them. We even made a rainbow with Skittles and milk.
 
Vinnie Vampire Bat's V ("Hello smile, slide to the middle, slide up") - TK thinks
/v/ is a very fun sound to make, but we found out it's kind of tricky to think of a lot of words that start with /v/. Count how many words you both can think of together?
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
March 19th (NEW DATE) - Family Story Night! Hope to see you there!!
March 30th-April 3rd - Spring Break (no school)
May 14th - Open House Night! Hope to see you there!
May 21st - TK field trip to the Sacramento Zoo

 

TK Week of March 2nd-6th

This week we celebrated Dr. Seuss Week, and it was full of rhyme, silliness, creativity, and lots of smiles!

Our class had so much fun painting silly socks, using our strong fingers to cut and glue adorable Cat in the Hat hats. We also made our very own Wockets for our pockets, graphed our One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish goldfish crackers, and even tasted some delicious green eggs!

It was a week full of imagination, learning, and laughter—just the way Dr. Seuss would have liked it! ❤️

Nigel Night Owl's N - Our letter of the week was N ("hello smile, big line down, ribbit, slide down, and up") - This might be a good weekend to bring out the pudding to make some delicious N's together. Going on an N hunt (little n too) in a favorite picture book would also be fun to do together!
 
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
March 19th (NEW DATE) - Family Story Night! Hope to see you there!!
March 30th-April 3rd - Spring Break (no school)
May 14th - Open House Night! Hope to see you there!
May 21st - TK field trip to the Sacramento Zoo

TK Week of February 23rd-27th

After adding another straw to our Let’s Count chart today, I realized we only have 67 more days of TK left! February really flew by. I’m secretly hoping time slows down a little, because I truly treasure every single day with our TK cuties. They are growing and changing in the most wonderful ways, and it’s such a joy to watch them learn and blossom each day. 💛

Missy Mouse’s M
(“Hello smile, big line down, ribbit, slide down, slide up, and down!”)

A fun and helpful activity would be to see how many words you and your child can come up with that begin with the /m/ sound. Make it a game and count them together!

With nicer weather coming our way, this would also be a wonderful weekend to fill your driveway with fabulous sidewalk chalk M’s. Big ones, little ones, rainbow ones — the more M’s, the merrier! 🐭💛

Social Emotional Learning – Dealing with Disappointment

Thank you so much for taking the time to discuss and participate in our weekly Social Emotional Learning lessons through the flyers that come home in your child’s Thursday Folder. Your support truly makes a difference.

This week, we talked about disappointment as a strong and uncomfortable feeling in our bodies — similar to frustration or anger. We practiced recognizing those big feelings and learned that the best first step to feeling better is calming our bodies down. When our bodies are calm, our brains are ready to think clearly and solve problems.

Thank you for continuing these important conversations at home. 💛

When we have a strong, uncomfortable feeling we can:
1. Put our hands on our tummy and say, "Stop".
2. Name our feeling.
3. Take belly breaths.
 
Afterwards, talking to a trusted grown-up can really help.
 
I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
March 19th (NEW DATE) - Family Story Night! Hope to see you there!!
March 30th-April 3rd - Spring Break (no school)
May 14th - Open House Night! Hope to see you there!
May 21st - TK field trip to the Sacramento Zoo
 

TK Week of February 2nd-6th

TK had a great week!
 
Kao Kangaroo' K ("Hello smile, big line down, ribbit, kick in, slide out") - As grown-ups we forget how tricky it was for our brains to figure out how to make diagonal lines going TWO different directions, but our TKers have been champs at working on doing hard things this week. Practice at home with something fun (like a plate with a little salt on it) would be extra helpful. 
 
Valentines - I wanted to remind everyone that our class will be celebrating Valentines Day on THURSDAY, February 12th. Valentines can begin arriving this Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.
 
Four Day Weekend - I wanted to remind everyone that we won't be having school this Friday (Feb. 13th) or the following Monday (Feb. 16th) in honor of Presidents' Day.
 
I hope everyone has an extra nice weekend together!
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
February 12th - TK's Valentine Celebration
February 13th-16th - Presidents Day Weekend (no school)
February 19th - Family Story Night! Hope to see you there!!
March 30th-April 3rd - Spring Break (no school)
May 14th - Open House Night! Hope to see you there!
May 21st - TK field trip to the Sacramento Zoo

TK Week of January 26-30

TK has had another fabulous week!
 
Robbie Rabbit's R - R ("Hello smile, ribbit, little curve, slide out") has been our letter of the week. This is our first letter with a diagonal line, and it can be extra challenging, so lots of practice at home would be great. It would also be lots of fun to go on a /r/ hunt together around the house. 
 
Valentine List - Our class Valentine list went home yesterday. If participating, next week would be the perfect time to let your TKer practice signing his/her name on Valentines, so they are ready to begin putting in classmate's decorated bags (we'll be making them at school) the following week beginning on Monday, February 9th.
 
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
February 12th - TK's Valentine Celebration
February 13th-16th - Presidents Day Weekend (no school)
February 19th - Family Story Night! Hope to see you there!!
March 30th-April 3rd - Spring Break (no school)
May 14th - Open House Night! Hope to see you there!
May 21st - TK field trip to the Sacramento Zoo

TK Week of January 19th-23rd

I'm so sorry for such a late TK post! 
 
Bubba Bear's B ("Hello smile, big line down, ribbit, little curve, little curve) - We had fun working with the letter B this last week. You'll definitely want to have your TKer show you some fabulous Bs, and then together you could play the game "How many /b/ beginning words can we say together in a minute?"
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
February 13th-16th - Presidents Day Weekend (no school)
February 19th - Family Story Night! Hope to see you there!!
March 30th-April 3rd - Spring Break (no school)
May 14th - Open House Night! Hope to see you there!
May 21st - TK field trip to the Sacramento Zoo

TK Week of January 12th-16th

I can’t believe how quickly our TK year is flying by! We are just a few days away from being halfway through the school year. It has been such a joy watching how much our TKers have grown already, and I can’t wait to see all the learning and fun the next few months will bring.

Peewee Penguin’s Letter P
We practiced the letter P using the chant: “Hello smile, big line down, ribbit, little curve down.” Since /p/ is such a fun sound to make, see how many P words you and your TKer can think of together. With the beautiful weather this weekend, making sidewalk chalk P’s could be extra fun!

Martin Luther King Jr.
We learned that Martin Luther King Jr. helped the world understand how important it is to treat everyone fairly. We talked about how what matters most is how people act and treat others—not what they look like.

Thank you for your continued support at home!

Zoo Trip on May 21st - Hopefully you can mark your calendar, and join us as a chaperone for our TK field trip to the Sacramento Zoo in May. (There's no limit to the number of chaperones that can join us.) Life is busy, and if you can't make it we completely understand. There will be plenty of chaperones, but if you can work it out that would be wonderful! (PTC is paying for our TKers' entrance fee - thank you, PTC! - but chaperones will need to pay the special group price of $10.)

I hope everyone has a wonderful three day weekend!
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
January 19th - Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday (no school)
February 13th-16th - Presidents Day Weekend (no school)
February 19th - Family Story Night! Hope to see you there!!
March 30th-April 3rd - Spring Break (no school)
May 14th - Open House Night! Hope to see you there!
May 21st - TK field trip to the Sacramento Zoo

TK Week of January 6th-9th

I hope everyone had a wonderful Winter Break!
 
It was so much fun being back together on Tuesday, and getting back into our TK routine. 
 
DeeDee Dear's D  ("Hello smile, big line down, ribbit, big curve down") - Be sure to have your cutie show you how to make a fabulous D, and together you could hunt for things in the house that begin with /d/.
 
Coats - Mornings down in our little valley are often colder than other parts of Alta Sierra, so our 9:15am recess time and our Friday 8:30am PE time can be COLD! Making sure your TKer comes to school each morning with a warm coat will make play time outside comfortable and fun. 
 
Thank you for all you do, and I hope everyone has a nice weekend!
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
January 19th - Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday (no school)
January 4th-100th Day of School
February 13th-16th - Presidents Day Weekend (no school)
February 19th - Family Story Night! Hope to see you there!!
March 30th-April 3rd - Spring Break (no school)

TK Week of December 8th-12th

Holiday Cheer - Thank you for helping to make Tuesday night's TK performance such a special event! It was so fun seeing the smiles on our TKer's faces, knowing they were doing something special for the ones they love most. 
 
Food Drive - Our box is filling up! Thank you so much for letting your cutie be part of the help we're giving to our local food bank this holiday season. If you haven't had a chance, but still want to donate non-perishable food items, I bet Monday would still be a great day to donate.
 
Sammy Snake's S - Please be sure to have your cutie show you some of their fabulous S letters, and together you can hopefully go on an /s/ sound hunt. 
 
Spirit Week - Please look at our DATES TO REMEMBER below, for a second reminder of the fun things happening each day. 
 
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
December 15th - Christmas Sweater (or Shirt) Day
December 16th - Christmas Colors Day
December 17th - Favorite Stuffie Day
December 18th - Christmas Hat or Hair Day
December 19th - PAJAMA DAY (and Pancakes in TK!)
December 22nd-January 2nd - Winter Break (No School)
January 5th - Teacher Professional Development Day (No School)
January 6th - Yay! We're Back in School Together!
January 19th - Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday (No School)
February 13th-16th - Presidents' Day 4-Day Weekend (No School)

TK Week of December 1st-15th

I am so proud of our TKers! On Friday, they participated in their very first Rally Around the Flag and sang for the entire school. Although they’d practiced earlier in the week for a few of the older classes, this was by far their biggest audience — and they were incredibly brave! They even performed “Feliz Navidad” with huge smiles and some fantastic dance moves.
 
Holiday Cheer Performance THIS Tuesday - Woohoo! Your TKer can't wait to perform for you this Tuesday in the Multi-Purpose Room. You'll want to be there at least 5 minutes early, since we will be starting our program right at 6:00 pm, It's about a 15 minute program.  
 
The program will be immediately followed by our TK Family Social.  Thank you for bringing an appetizer or dessert to share. Yay! It will be so much fun being able to mingle and getting to know each other better.
 
Also, the more the merrier! Brothers, sisters, grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles - they're all invited!
 
Gordo Gorilla's G - G was our letter of the week. It's a tricky one, and extra practice at home would be fun and extra helpful. A sweet idea would be to make some delicious Gs on a plate filled with instant pudding - and while you're at it why not have your cutie show you some of their other letters as well.
 
I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend, and I'm looking forward to seeing you soon!

TK Week of November 16th-20th

No, Go, and Tell - On Tuesday student puppeteers from Nevada Union came to our school to share an important lesson. Our TKers learned that if someone ever asks them to do something with them that they first say no, then go and tell Mom, Dad, or other caregiver to make sure all is safe and well first.
 
TK Feast - It was so much fun seeing all of our TKers sitting around our big table with adorable turkey hats on, and each sharing something they are thankful for, before enjoying their apple juice, friendship fruit salad, popcorn, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and cornbread muffins. Those muffins were extra good because of the butter on top that they made all by themselves! (There was A LOT of shaking going on!) 
 
Singing Christmas Songs to the School on Friday, December 5th - On the first Friday we get back to school, our TKers are going to attend our first Rally Around the Flag with our other Alta Sierra Students. Mr. Bivens asked if we would sing a couple of our Christmas program songs for everyone, so we are going to give it a try! To feel more comfortable (and to get ready for our big program on December 9th) we are going to have different classes join our practices on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
 
Queenie Quail's Q - Q was our letter of the week.
 
Social Emotional Learning - This week we focused on noticing the emotion of anger in others, and what to do if we're feeling angry. Thank you for all your help in continuing the conversation each week at home.
 
I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving week with family, and I can't wait to see our TKers again on Monday, December 1st.
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
November 24th-28th - Thanksgiving Break (No School)
December 5th - TK gets to sing Christmas songs for our school Rally-Around- the-Flag at 8:00am
December 9th - TK's Holiday Cheer Program - 6:00pm in MPR
December 12th - PTC's Evening Winter Wishes Activity
December 22nd-January 2nd - Winter Break (No School)

TK Week of November 12th-14th

When you only have three days together, the time seems to fly! But we filled those three days with lots of good things.

TK Thanksgiving Feast – We were busy getting ready for our feast next week by making turkey hats (adorable!) and placemats for our special meal together.

I want to thank everyone who was able to sign up (through SignUpGenius) to bring the items we need for this fun event.

NO SNACK IS NEEDED ON THURSDAY.

Friendship Fruit Salad – Just a quick reminder that your cutie will need to bring a piece of their favorite fruit Thursday morning. We’ll cut everything up and share it together in our Friendship Fruit Salad.

Ollie Octopus’ O – Since TKers are now experts at Catina Cat’s C, we knew they could jump right in to learning how to make an awesome O! Please have your cutie show you how they do it, and maybe practice together at home for fun.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
 
November 24th-28th - Thanksgiving Break (No School)
December 5th - TK gets to sing Christmas songs for our school Rally-Around- the-Flag at 8:00am
December 9th - TK's Holiday Cheer Program - 6:00pm in MPR
December 22nd-January 2nd - Winter Break (No School)
 

Hi everyone,

Oops — things got a bit busy today, and I forgot to send out the Thursday Folders. I’ll make sure they go home tomorrow. Thanks so much for your understanding!