A Peek Into Our Day


Week of December 10

We have a very festive week ahead! We begin with Santa Shop on Monday, Spirit Rally on Tuesday, and end with a special Christmas Concert from Mr. D's Band students on Friday. As we enter this second week of Advent, we will focus on the letter B and Baby Jesus. Our Sensory Table has been transformed into Santa's workshop as the children wrap presents (wooden blocks). A 3 foot artificial tree has been placed in the Housekeeping area for the children to decorate. We will be using our new Legos from St. Nicholas day to build Christmas trees at the STREAM table.

Reminders:
     - Adopt a Family gifts are due Monday.     

     - Santa Shop and HASA will provide a pizza lunch. I have Goldfish and
       popcorn also. Please send in morning snack and a drink for lunch.

     - No rest time on Tuesday due to Spirit Rally. The SJB Cheerleaders will
       entertain us.

     - No Hot Lunch Monday or Tuesday

     - Friday at 8:00, parents are welcome to join us for the Band Concert in the
       Band Room. Mr. D's Band students will perform a few Christmas songs for
       us and then introduce the children to their instruments. We will have
       cookies and the children may dress in Christmas clothes or colors.

     - 11:35 dismissal on Friday. No Eagles Club

     - Students are expected to be proper uniform everyday. Students should be
       wearing white crew socks, SJB logo black sweatshirt or fleece/ or navy
       sweatshirt.

Monday: Progress Reports are in the folders today. The first trimester is a report focusing on the transition to the four year old class and beginning skills. The second and third trimester reports are the diocesan report card which will address more skills. Please sign the envelope and return it ASAP. You may keep the report card. If you did not sign up for a conference on the Sign Up Genius, please do so.   

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Week of December 3

Gingerbread Men and the letter G are the theme of the week. Last week, the children were so well rested and ready to learn that we were able to complete much of what I had planned. I decided to begin G today, but we will continue to practice the letter M as well. I kept the Nutrition games at the Science and STREAM tables. They are really enjoying the Sink the Boat game in the Sensory table, so I kept that also this week. For our Gingerbread theme, the kitchen area is a Christmas Bake Shop with foam gingerbread cookies, baking tools, aprons, and cash registers. We have a felt board activity, Decorate the Gingerbread Family on the rug. At the easels, they will paint a gingerbread print out. I told the children that our easel activity is a challenge for them. I provided small paint brushes for them to paint the candies and a bigger paint brush for the cookie. I told them it was a challenge to control the paint brush and keep the paint inside the smaller areas as we strengthen our fine motor skills.

Reminders:
     -  Santa Shop envelopes are in the folders today. Please return by Friday.
        Our class is scheduled to attend first thing Monday morning and we would
        to have the envelopes in order Friday afternoon. The gifts for the ECP
        Santa Shop in the Art Room are all $2.00.

     - Tuesday is our rescheduled Vision Screening at 8:00.

     - I will send a Sign Up Genius for conferences in January tonight or
        tomorrow.

     - In the folders today is a paper with name writing practice that we
       completed last Friday. We are working on size of letters in our names.
       Initials should be tall and proud! Many children write all the letters
       the same size, regardless of upper or lowercase. Please practice this and
       encourage your child to write their name the big kid way. We have several
       that are forgetting to use lowercase letters.

Monday:  Our Advent Good Deed for today was to pray an Our Father for our families. We read Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett. We created paper gingerbread houses to capture the Gingerbread Baby. They were very creative! The children were provided two sheets of candy pictures to choose and color. We had a great day and earned the last four pieces to complete Mrs. Potato Head. We will vote tomorrow morning on our class reward! 

Each morning the children slide their name into a shape upon arrival. For December, I switched to last names. Each child needs to identify his or her last name and slide it into the Christmas tree.

The class was very excited to be back in the Hall for lunch. They immediately looked up and said WOW at the new ceiling. You may notice that your child is not finishing his or her lunch. Not putting on coats and walking to the Hall gave us more time for lunch during the last month. We try our best to encourage them to eat and not play around during lunch time. It may take time for the children to adjust to being back in the Hall and the shorter lunch time.

Tuesday: We read the story Gingerbread Kid goes to School by Joan Holub. We compare this story to Gingerbread Baby that we read yesterday. On the four year old level, we discussed the plot, setting, and characters. The children answered who, what, how, and where questions about the books. We will read two other books this week and compare all four books.

Our Advent Good Deed of the Day is to help our parents with a chore at home. Enjoy the extra help tonight! 

We had our vision screenings today. Basically, they took a picture of the children's eyes with a special hand held machine. Also, today we had a visitor. Our friend, Dylan, from EC4B brought his mom to school today to discuss nurition with both classes. We reviewed the food groups and learned how to make healthy choices. We learned what a "sometimes" snack is. The children have really enjoyed learning about My Plate. They are proud of their healthy choices at snack and lunch and have been sharing them with us. "Look, I brought fruit today!" "I have dairy!"

On Thursday, we will be having our first Buddy Reading. This year, we are pairing up with Mrs. Hartley's fourth graders. Please have your child pick out two books that they would like the fourth grader to read to them. This is a great activity for both age groups. The fourth graders will gain confidence in reading aloud. Our students will see another child reading which will inspire them.

Last night I sent out the Conference Sign Up Genius. I received an email stating that 18 emails were undeliverable. Usually, a couple of emails bounce back due to out of office settings. However, 18 seems unusual. If you did not receive the email, please let me know so I can resend.

Wednesday: Ninjabread Man by C.J. Leigh was the Gingerbread story of the day. The children have been doing a great job identifying the characters, plot, setting, and conflict. In each of the three stories we have read, the Gingerbread character is very mischievous.Each had a very unique way that the Gingerbread character was captured.

The children were happy to be back in Art and Spanish classes! We have not seen those teachers since November 14th. Our Advent Good Deed was to be extra kind to our classmates.

Do not forget to send in slipper or shoe to place outside the classroom for Saint Nicholas Day tomorrow. We hope Saint Nick visits us during rest time.

Also, send in two books to share with our Fourth Grade reading buddies tomorrow. We will do this after lunch. 

We voted today for our Mrs. Potato Head class reward. On Friday, your child may bring a stuffed animal to school for a show and snuggles! 
                          

Thursday: We celebrated St. Nicholas's Feast Day today. We left our shoes outside the classroom in hopes that a treat would be left for us. We returned from lunch to find our slippers filled and a gift for the classroom! Santa left new Legos for us and two bases.
                                

Thank you to Cooper for providing our Grinch Kabobs for the Letter G Cooking. Thay were great! 
                               

Tomorrow we will decorate Gingerbread Man shaped cookies as a fun activity to end G and Gingerbread week. Thank you to everyone who provided items for this activity. We appreciate it! Also, don't forget to send in a stuffed animal for our reward. 

The behavior of the children the past two days has not been the best. There was much anticipation for St. Nicholas day today and they could not control their behavior. Most upsetting to me is the inappropriate behavior for the special teachers both days. It was difficult to hear that all of my boys lost a few minutes of gym time because they were not following the safety rules. We are doing our best to keep them calm, but our schedule is very busy this month. 

The children enjoyed their first Buddy Reading of the year. We hope to get together with 4A at least once a month. 

Friday: I am happy to say that the behavior was better today! I am glad because we had such a fun day planned. Computer was cancelled today so we were able to write Christmas cards for our parents. I wrote the letters on the Smart Board as the children helped to sound out the words. We cannot wait for you to see them.

Our Advent Good Deed was to surprise Mrs. B. We gave her a package of Post It Notes to help her keep track of all of her Admissions tours. We returned to our classroom to decorate Gingerbread cookies to conclude Gingerbread Week. Once back at our classroom we realized that the Gingerbread Baby had stolen our cookies! He left a note sending us on a scavenger hunt throughout the school to find the cookies. The children had to decipher the clues to determine where to look. We searched the faculty room, girls' bathroom, Spanish class, Main office, and finally the Library, where we found our cookies. The children enjoyed decorating the cookies. They were very creative with the icing, mini chocolate chips, and mini m&m candies. Thank you to everyone who donated an item for this activity.   
     
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Week of November 26

No school on Monday, November 26, Tuesday, November 27th, or Wednesday, November 28th due to pipe bursting in the school building. See everyone on Thursday! Decorated stockings are due on Friday. Take advantage of the days off to complete this project.

Welcome back! Mrs. Wolff and I hope that everyone had a relaxing break. It is great to be back. We will focus on the letter M this week and will learn about My Plate and nutrition. Advent begins next Sunday so we will focus on that liturgical season during Religion. In the sensory table, we will continue to experiment with floating and sinking. The children will play sink the boat where they will add fish weights to plastic boats in an attempt to sink them. At the STREAM table, we will play Nutrition Lotto and the children will sort items into the correct food group. 

Thank you for your understanding these past few days. I know it is difficult to find childcare on these unexpected days off. The Library will be closed for some time. Mrs. Oldiges and Mrs. Tobin will be taking inventory of the books that were damaged and putting the room back in order.

Mrs. Wolff and I were busy in the classroom today preparing for Christmas. Typically, I wait until Advent begins to decorate the classroom. However, we decided to take advantage of the bonus prep time. The fireplace is up and awaiting the arrival of the children's stockings. Our Advent wreath and Advent Good Deeds bulletin board is set. During Advent, as a class we complete one good deed a day. Each morning, we choose a deed from the tree. Some deeds are done at school and some are done at home.

I plan to cover M and introduce My Plate on Thursday and Friday. Depending on how much we cover, I may continue with M next Monday as well. M is easy to write and many of the children recognize its sound so I feel we can accomplish a lot. Next week's letter G is a bit more challenging and I would like to spend as much time as possible on that letter. 

Wednesday: We are looking forward to seeing all of our friends on Thursday! School will reopen and we will have M Cooking. The faculty just had a meeting with Dr. D'Angelo and Carol Ripken of the diocese in attendance. The hallway by the Library will be open tomorrow for traveling, however, those rooms are still closed. The Hall will be open on Monday (and this weekend for Breakfast with Santa) and Hot Lunch will resume. 

Thursday: There are a lot of items in the folders today. The November letter and number assessment sheet is one of them. My plan was to assess lowercase letters on Monday and Tuesday this week. Due to the missed days, I have decided not to assess lowercase for the month of November.

There was so much excitement this morning! The children came running in with smiles. They were so happy to be back with their friends. It is great to see how they have bonded with each other. We began with cooking for the letter M and then had our last Gym class in the classroom. During Shelf Work, we pin punched the letter M and created our My Plate pictures. During lunch, the children had fun naming the food groups they brought. We looked to see who had fruit, vegetables, dairy, protein, and grains.

Due to the chilly weather, we did not go on the field for recess. We did go outside for our 20 minute playground time. Please be sure that your child has a hat/earmuffs and gloves/ mittens everyday. You may leave a set in the backpack if you like. Sweatshirts are expected everyday as part of the uniform.

Thank you to Logan for our M Cooking activity this morning. We wnjoyed munching on our Merry Christmas Santa Bagels.
                               

The stockings that came in today were fabulous! I will upload a picture of the bulletin board when it is complete. The children were so excited to share them.

Friday: This morning we read It Looked Like Spilt Milk by George Shaw. After guessing what the pictures were in the book, we were inspired to create our own. We spilled milk (white paint mixed with water) onto blue paper. As it dried we decided what our spilt milk looked like. Then some of the children attempted to spell the words. Since I work with each child individually, it takes some time to recognize the sounds in the word and then practice writing the letters. The remaining children will complete this on Monday. 

Happy Birthday to Julian who will celebrate his birthday this weekend! Thank you for the munchkins today.

I am not sending home the rest blankets and sheets this weekend. We only used them two days so I will keep them and send them home next Friday. Have a great weekend! December is upon us so new seats for the children on Monday!

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Week of November 19

Thank you to everyone for your help with our Thanksgiving Feast last Friday. The children really enjoyed themselves!

We will continue with our theme of Thanksgiving and the letter T.  This week, we will focus on the lives of the Native Americans and the Pilgrims. On Monday, we will learn about the Native Americans and we will have a tee pee in the classroom for the children to explore during Shelf Work. On Tuesday, we will have Mayflower Day as we learn about the Pilgrims. Don't forget to send in an item that your child would pack if they were a Pilgrim sailing on the Mayflower. On Tuesday, we will have a STREAM activity based on the Mayflower. The children will design and build their own aluminum foil boats (Mayflower). We will test if they float in our sensory table. Then we will add cargo to the boats and see if they continue to float. 

Monday and Tuesday are both half days with 11:35 dismissal. I hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving break and safe travels. Enjoy your time with your family!
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Week of November 12

Thanksgiving and the letter T will be our theme for the next seven days. We will focus on being thankful, turkeys, and the First Thanksgiving. This Friday, we will have our Thanksgiving Feast in the classroom. Parents are invited to attend at 10:30. Thank you to everyone who volunteered to send in an item for our feast. We appreciate it. In Math, we are practicing ABC patterns and bar graphs. 

Reminders for the week:
     - Last day to purchase raffle tickets for a chance to wim a gift card to Barnes
       and Noble is Tuesday.
     - Vision Screenings will take place on Wednesday.
     - Barnes and Noble Book Fair at the Christiana Mall is Wednesday.
     - Thanksgiving Feast is Friday, 10:30 to 11:30.
     - Bidamania donations are due through Smart Tuition by November 20th.
     - Parent/ Teacher Conferences are next week. Dismissal is 11:35 on
       November 19th and 20th. Conferences are scheduled by parent or
       teacher request.

Monday: We read Thanksgiving is Here by Diane Goode. We began a turkey art project. We painted a paper plate and a bowl brown. We also traced and cut out six turkey feathers. Tomorrow, we will glue and assemble our turkey.

*** Please do not send candy in your child's lunch. I allowed the children to enjoy the candy after Halloween during lunch because I know how excited they were to receive it. However, Halloween is over and the children are so focused on the candy it is difficult to get them to eat their lunch. Thank you.

Tuesday: Being thankful was the theme of the day. We read Thankful by Eileen Spinelli. Each child then stated one thing for which he or she was thankful. Mrs. Wolff and I wrote these on feathers to decorate our turkey on our bulletin board. We assembled our turkeys which required a lot of glue!

Yesterday, we earned our last Mr. Potato Head piece! Today we voted for our class reward. We will have a pajama day on Thursday, November 15th. Please wear sneakers since it is a Gym day. If the weather is correct, we may be wearing snow boots into school! 
          

Barnes and Noble Book Fair is tomorrow! Hope to see everyone there. I will be at the gift wrapping table, 5:00 to 6:00. Stop by and say hello!

Wednesday: The Vision Screening that was scheduled for today will have to be rescheduled. Their machine was not working properly so they could not finish. Our class is one of two that need to be rescheduled.

Today was the last day that Miss Lindsay came in to observe our classroom. She has completed her ten hours. The children really enjoyed having her visit us.

*** Tomorrow is pajama day for EC4A. As I mentioned yesterday, the children voted for this reward. Our class is the only class participating.

*** Book Fair is all day today. If you can not attend, but would like to support our school, use the online code 12399572. This code is available until November 25th if you or family members are looking for Christmas gifts and a way to support our school Library.

Thursday: Due to the weather, Eagles Club is cancelled for today. All students will be dismissed from the back parking lot by the playground. Please stand back until you see me at the edge of the sidewalk to allow the other teachers to dismiss their classes. When you see me, please come forward to collect your child. It will be very crowded and we need to dismiss quickly. You do not have to email me about Milltown or Limestone preference. This does not apply to us. You may park as a Milltown rider in front, however, you must walk back and pick up your child.

Thank you very much for your patience and understanding at dismissal today. It went very smooth and we were able to dismiss quickly and get the children into the cars safely.

We learned about My Plate in Gym class today. Mrs. Schock explained the children to the different food groups. It was a great lesson to introduce My Plate, which we will look at more closely when we return from Thanksgiving break. We created turkey headbands to wear tomorrow at our feast. You do not have to send in a lunch tomorrow as this will be provided at the feast. Please send in a morning snack. If your schedule permits, you can come to the classroom for our feast. If you cannot, no worries. Our Christmas Celebration will be a Chrsitmas breakfast and all parents are welcome to come into the classroom at drop off. Hopefully, you will be able to spend a few minutes with us before you head to work or last minute Christmas errands. More information will be sent home after Thanksgiving.

Thank you to Enzo for providing our Cooking activity for the letter T. The Turkey Treats were terrific! The treats were sent home in the schoolbag today and we enjoyed the remaining popcorn and Chex Mix for snack. 
                       

Tuesday, November 20th, is Mayflower Day. We will discuss necessity vs. luxury. Students will bring in an item that they would pack if they were sailing on the Mayflower as a Pilgrim. We also will have a STREAM Mayflower activity.

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Week of November 5

Learning about shapes and colors and the Letter L will be the theme of the week. Ellen Stoll Walsh's two books, Mouse Shapes and Mouse Paint, will be our inspiration this week. We will explore shapes in the world around us. Searching for circles in our clocks and rectangles on our bulletin boards. We will experiment with primary colors to create secondary colors. In our sensory table, we are experimenting with sinking and floating. Each day, different objects will be provided for the children to hypothesize if they will float or sink. They will test their theories in the water in the sensory table. At the STREAM table, we are creating colorful dinosaurs. The building kits will require the children to assemble and screw together the dinosaurs.

Monday: In the book Mouse Shapes, the mice find many shapes. They use the shapes to create structures to hide from the mouse (a house, a tree). After reading the book, the children created shape pictures of their own. The glued shapes to form pictures such as dogs, monsters, and houses. In Religion, we began discussing Creation. We learned about water and why it is so important. Appropriate for today considering our rainy weather. 

*** If you wish to purchase raffle tickets for the Book Fair, please send money in an envelope marked with your child's name. Chances are 5 for $1.00. The winner of the $25 Barnes and Noble gift card will be drawn on November 13th.

Tuesday: We learned about primary and secondary colors. In the book Mouse Paint, the mice found red, blue, and yellow jars of paint which they used to create orange, green, and purple. We then experimented with food coloring and water. We made orange, green, and purple water. We began painting a color wheel and on Thursday, we will mix primary color paint to create secondary colors.

Wednesday: We played two games this morning during circle to review our colors and shapes. Since this class loves to dance, I played a color song. Each child was given two color cards. During the song, they had to listen to the lyrics to know when to stand up and dance based on the colors in their hands. This was a great activity for listening and following directions as well. The other game first involved the Smart Board. We looked at pictures and had to identify the shape. For example, the clock was a circle. The kite was a diamond. Then I spun the spinner on my game board to determine what color or shape the circle had to find in the classroom. If I landed on a color, they had to find that color in the room. If I landed on a shape, they had to find an object in the room that was that shape. In the four year old class, children are expected to identify shapes and colors by name. If I ask, "Can you point to the circle?", they can identify them. (receptive) But when ask them, "What is this shape called?", some students cannot name all of them. (expressive) The shapes we are focusing on this week are circle, square, rectangle, triangle, oval, diamond. heart, and star.

Monday began Winter Uniform. Every child is expected to come into school wearing his or her school sweatshirt or fleece everyday. If the room becomes warm, I allow the students to take off their sweatshirts. We wear them into the big building due to variation of conditions in the classrooms.

We have been having issues with behavior in the classroom. The excitement of Halloween was the beginning and with the upcoming holidays it will definitely continue. It is a tough time of the year for little ones who do not understand the concept of time. They accompany you to any store and Christmas is all around. They cannot contain their excitement. The constant interruptions and not being able to keep our hands to ourselves is taking away from our learning and play time. Today we began a new behavior reward. We are continuing with Mr. Potato Head, but since that is a group goal it will be difficult to achieve. I altered our Good Deed Tree to become our Good Behavior Tree. Throughout the day, the children have been receiving stickers on their turkey cut out for good behavior. Some did not earn any today. Each day you can ask your child if he or she earned star stickers today on his or her turkey.

Reminders:
        - Bag of Fall Findings (leaves, acorns, twigs) is due tomorrow.
        - Friday is Tag Day and the theme is Sports. I suggested to the children to
          wear a professional team shirt or jersey, their team shirt (Soccer Shots),
          or a shirt that has sport equipment (football or baseball).
        - Friday is also pretzel day for those who ordered.
        - Friday is Chick-Fil-A day for those who ordered. Please send in a lunch
          box, because some children only eat half of their pretzels or do not finish 
          their Chick-Fil-A dessert. We will send those home inside the lunch box.

Thursday: We completed our color wheel by mixing paint and creating the secondary colors of orange, green, and purple. I also assessed the children's ability to identify colors by name with a game to also assess their ability to follow three step directions. Often children only focus on the first direction that is given and do not wait to hear and process the rest of the directions. This is a four year old skill and one that the children will should master by the end of the year.     We had Gym in the classroom today and they did very well.

We made Lemon Pudding Pie in a Cup today. It was a lovely after rest treat! Since the pudding had to chill and set, we enjoyed it in the afternoon. Some children added whipped cream to the top.
                              

Scholastic Order forms are in the folders today, if you would like to purchase books for your child. Orders can be placed online using my teacher code. I cannot accept check or cash. All money collected must go through Smart Tuition, and this will delay our order's delivery. 

Tag Day tomorrow!!!!!

Friday: What an exciting day! We love Tag Day and pretzel days. And our first Chick-Fil-A lunch was a success. They were so excited to have lunch delivered to our classroom. Some asked, "When are the nuggets coming?", as we passed out pretzels during snack at 8:45 this morning!

We viewed the story Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert on the Smart Board. During Shelf Work, we used our fall findings that the children collected to create our own leaf art. They were very creative and had great ideas.

Next Friday, we will celebrate our Thanksgiving feast. Sign Up Genius was sent from our homeroom parents. Thank you to these parents and to all of you for your donations. We truly appreciate eveything you do to make these classroom parties a memorable event for the children. Parents are welcome to attend at 10:30.
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Week of October 29

This week we will focus on the letter S and learn about Saints and Scarecrows. This Thursday is All Saints Day and we will attend the 9:30 school Mass. We will sit with the seventh graders. S can be one of the most difficult letters for children to learn to write. Some children do not have the fine motor control for the curves and can become very frustrated. It would be beneficial to practice writing the letter S at home this week.The children will be building scarecrows in the sensory table with baby clothes and shredded paper. At the STREAM table, the children will build scarecrows with magnets.

Ten children will present their Saint projects on Monday and ten on Tuesday. The Saints will be displayed on our Religion bulletin board inside the classroom. Please be sure to submit the project on time. The ones that were submitted last week were amazing. I can wait for the class to share them with each other.

We will eat lunch in the classroom until the end of November. Remember to send in napkins, spoons, and straws since we cannot access those from Aramark. 

Halloween Reminders:
      * Children wear costumes to school
      * Parade is out back at 8:30 near the playgound
      * After parade, we will change into uniforms. If possible, wear uniforms
         under costume. Please send in a bag if uniform will not fit in school bag.
      * Snack and lunch will be provided by donations. If your child does not like
         pizza, please send in a sandwich or another substitute. Also, please send
         in a water bottle. Since snack and lunch are provided today, lunch boxes
         are not needed. This will leave space in the school bag for costumes.
      * Classroom party for the students will take place during their regular 
         scheduled lunch time, 10:50 to 11:30 in the classroom. 
      * After lunch, we will playing Halloween games in the classroom.

Monday: Today we learned about many Saints with the help of our friends. The children did a great job sharing their Saint and one fact about the Saint. Ten students presented today and the rest of the class will share tomorrow. During Shelf Work, we created scarecrows by coloring and gluing a scarecrow picture. We also built scarecrows tangrams with shape manipulatives. We enjoyed Halloween songs during Music class.

In the folders today, is your child's monthly letter and number assessment report. I recommend that you keep this to compare each month. You want to note which letters your child retains each month and which letters may need more practice. I am looking for growth each month. If you child identified seven uppercase letters in October, then in November I hope to see ten letters identified. At this point, the children should be able to identify the letters in his or her first name (upper and lowercase). Numbers zero through five should be recognized at this point of the year. Eleven through twenty are challenging and many students cannot identify these until later in the school year. In class, we have been focusing on zero through ten: number idenfication,  counting the number of objects using one to one correspondence, more/ less, and counting in Spanish.

*** I was forwarded the Halloween Sign Up Genuis last night and realized there was a discrepancy with the time of the Classroom party.  It stated that the party begins at 10:00, but the children will be in Spanish class. The correct time is 10:50 until 11:30. The party is during lunch time and the children will enjoy pizza and other treats. 

Tuesday: Today we had our Prevent Child Abuse Presentation with Mrs. Twilley. I have seen this presentation several times at SJB and my previous schools. It is presented in a manner that is appropriate for the age group. She introduces PA Bear (Prevent Abuse Bear) and uses him to demonstrate what to do if someone is hurting you. Basically, she tells them only people who are keeping you clean and healthy may touch your private areas. The children have a coloring book in their folders today from Mrs. Twilley.

I forgot to mention yesterday that our Saint of the Day was St. Joseph and we discussed how he was the father of Jesus when He was on Earth. Today we learned about two Saints, Saints Francis and Clare of Assisi, who both took care of the poor.

*** Today is the last day to order Chick-Fil-A lunch for Friday, November 9. Please order on Smart Tuition and return the form in the folder so we can keep track of all orders. EC4A and EC4B are NOT participating in the November 16th Chick-Fil-A lunch due to our Thanksgiving Feast.

*** Letter L Cooking is open for next Thursday, November 8th. Please email me if you are interested in providing the recipe for next week. Thanks! 

The children are very excited about Halloween tomorrow. They are full of energy and had a hard time listening and concentrating on their work today. Good luck this evening! See you at the parade tomorrow! 

Wednesday: Happy Halloween!!! We had a fun today beginning with our parade. After our parade, my plan was that the class would attend Spanish to allow time for our wonderful Homeroom moms to prepare for our lunch party. Ms. Koval was absent today so we had recess earlier and went to the playground. Then we enjoyed lunch. After lunch, we played Halloween Hopscotch, Pin the Nose on the Witch, Halloween Bingo, and Spider Toss. Thank you to everyone who donated an item for our party. We had so much food and some leftovers! I will keep those snacks for our next Mr. Potato Head classroom reward. Pictures have been added to the Photos tab.

Thursday: Happy November! The children were excited to find their new seats for the month. The class was well behaved in Church today. It was very crowded and they were respectful. The walk with the seventh graders as they receive Communion. I taught them to cross their arms over their chest to alert the priest or minister that they are not yet ready to receive. Of course, the priests would realize this, but it kept the children quiet and still as they walked with their buddies. We had Gym in the classroom due to renovations of the Hall.
Due to Mass, I scheduled S Cooking for Friday.

Friday: We were very pleased that the rain held off and we could enjoy the warm weather and the playground today. We learned about St. John the Beloved and created a puppet of him. I was so impressed at how the children's cutting skills have improved. They all followed directions to assemble the puppet. We also learned how to draw faces. Our St. John puppets will be on display in the classroom.

Thank you to Ellie for providing our S Cooking activity today. The S'mores
were super!
                             
Have a great weekend!!!

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Week of October 22

Halloween is in the air and so is the letter H! The weather definitely feels like Halloween. Please be sure your child's sweatshirt is labeled with his or her name on the tag. We encourage the children to place their sweatshirts inside the school bag when they are warm and remove the sweatshirt, but they do not always follow through and sweatshirts are left on the floor. This is the same request for all articles of clothing, hats and gloves especially.

We have three members of our Zipper Club so far! We have been observing the children as they put on their coats and zipper them. We will be able to add more members now that the children will be wearing coats everyday and getting lots of practice. To be a member, the children must put on their coats by themselves (without putting on the floor and flipping it), fix sleeves that are inside out, and zipper independently. Once a member, their names are placed on the Zipper Club poster to acknowledge this accomplishment.

This week are projects revolve around monsters, ghosts, and mummies. (all friendly of course) We also will experiment with candy. Our STREAM activities include designing a monster, using a catapult to see how far candy corn will go, and a gummy bear experiment.

On Firday, we will have a Fall Nature Walk around campus. So far we have one parent volunteer and could use a few more. If you are available, please let me know. You can stay and have lunch with us afterwards, if you like.

Monday: We read Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley. We painted a paper plate green to create our own silly big green monsters. Once dry, we will glue its facial features. At the STREAM table, the children were provided with various materials and were tasked with designing a monster and gluing it together. At the easels this week, we are painting a candy corn picture with pom poms. The Early Childhood building is BOOing each other this week to celebrate Halloween. EC4A began the fun by BOOing KB and leaving a bag of treats for the students in the class. Since we were first, we will be BOOed last on Friday.

Tuesday: Today was a very busy day! We watched a reading of the story The Ghosts Dinner by Jacques Duqennoy. In the book, the ghosts are having a dinner party and they change color based on the food they eat. The children completed a comprehension activity where they colored the ghosts based on the food it ate. During Shelf Work, the children colored a coffee filter to correspond with the food their ghost would eat. We will spray the filter to create a bleeding effect with the colors and them form the filter into a ghost shape.

We learned about the Scientific Method today. I explained to the children the steps to the Gummy Bear Experiment. The children made predictions of how the candy would react in the cup of water. During the day, we observed the four cups of water containing the gummy bears. At the end of the day, we recorded our observations. The cup of warm water dissolved the gummy bear and we were left with yellow water. The red gummy bear expanded and grew in the cold water. In the salt water, the red gummy bear was slightly bigger. And in the sugar water, the green gummy bear shrunk. We decided to leave the candy in their cups overnight to see if there were any additional changes.

Tomorrow, we will have a guest in our classroom for part of the morning. An education major from Del Tech will be coming in to observe our class. She is required to observe ten hours this semester for her course. She does have her background clearances and will be observing my lesson.

Wednesday: Our STREAM activity this morning was experimenting with catapults. To prepare, we watched a video of pumpkin chunkin contest. The children were provided with catapults dseigned from craft sticks. We launched candy corn and candy pumpkins. After several practices, we had a challenge where two students simultaneously lanched the candy to see if they could send it over the block wall. We concluded that the lighter candy (candy corn) went further. However, the pumpkin candy was easier to control its landing spot.
                           
We also earned our last Mrs. Potato Head piece! This one took a little longer to earn. We voted and will be having a dance party Friday afternoon.
             
Please be sure to check your email regarding the closure of the Hall. The email came from the office and has a letter attached from Mr. Hart. There will be no hot lunch available from October 29th until November 30th. We will eat inside the classroom. Gym classes wil take place outside if the weather permits. Otherwise, Gym will be in the classroom.

******Conferences: As I mentioned at Back to School Night, conferences in November by request. In January, all families will meet with me for a conference. If you have a concern (social, emotional, academic) and would like to have a conference in November, please send me an email so we can set up a time. I also will be contacting families that I would like to meet with in November. Conference will be November 19th and 20th, in the afternoon. The students have an early dismissal, 11:35, both days.

Thursday: Today we created mummies. The children were provided with a mummy cut out and about a yard of masking tape. They had to estimate the size of the piece they needed. Then they cut the tape and placed it on the cut out. Two wiggly eye stickers were added.

Thank you to Jonah for our Haunted Bananas cooking recipe for the letter H. The children were happy to eat this snack!
                               

If your child is having their school picture retaken, please send in the original pictures to return. Your child may dress down if he or she is having their picture retaken.

It appears that the rain from the Nor'Easter will begin later in the afternoon, so our Nature Walk should go on as planned tomorrow. 

Friday: We had a very busy day today! We attended Spanish class today to watch the fifth graders perform The Very Hungry Caterpillar in Spanish. Unfortunately, they were a bit late so we had to leave before the performance. However, we enjoyed the extra time with Ms. Koval doing Spanish songs while we waited. We then attended Computer Class, Afterwards, we had our Nature Walk. Thank you ro Mr. Denbow and Mrs. Ciconte for walking with us! We had a great time enjoying the nature scavenger hunt and using our binoculars. We walked around with clipboards and a paper to record our findings. 

After lunch we had our Dance Party that we earned for good group time behavior. I have posted pictures on the Photos tab. All the children should sleep well tonight. I know Mrs. Wolff and I will!

Remember to pack lunch everyday beginning Monday as renovations begin on the Hall.

                                   WE WERE BOO'ED TODAY!!!!
  

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Week of October 15

Last Friday was the 26th Day of School. We count the days of school by placing a straw in the bucket for each day. We group the straws into ones and tens, and eventually hundreds. We are counting up to the 100th Day of School celebration. Now that we have reached a month of school, expectations have increased. We have allowed the children to write their name without pressure and become comfortable with using the pencil. Now, I am looking for the children to write more than their initial. Many children were hesitant to write their name and make a mistake, but now is the time to encourage that they write their full name. We are also looking for an uppercase initial and the rest of the letters are lowercase. Now that the children have adjusted to their new school or new classroom, I expect good behavior at all times. They have learned to use indoor and outdoor voices when appropriate. We sit quietly on the rug and we always keep our hands to ourselves. The children have been doing amazing with the classroom jobs and cleaning up after themselves. They have been doing a great job walking into the building all by themselves in the morning.

This week, we will continue with the letter P and pumpkins. 

Monday: We learned about the parts of a pumpkin: stem, skin, pulp, seeds, and strand. We cut open one of our large pumpkins and the children scooped out the seeds. Some children used their hands and some used a spoon. The children glued together a model of a pumpkin and attached the correct labels to the pumpkin. 

In Religion, we learned about the Sign of the Cross, which we have been practicing all month. Please practice making the Sign of the Cross at home. Today your child is bringing home a saint project in the folder. Please write the saint fact on the index card on the opposite side of where I wrote your child's name.

Tuesday: We reviewed same and different today. We played a game on the Smart Board to identify the item that was different. Then I asked children to find two items that were the same in the classroom, such as blocks. Next, the children had to find two items that were different. Later, we played a game where the children had to use position words to describe the location of a pumpkin. I hid a small pumpkin somewhere in the classroom and the children had to tell us where they found it. "in the blue basket, next to the box of tissues, on top of the shelf" We are encouraging the children to use their words to communicate and express their needs and ideas. For example, when a child approaches a teacher and tells us that his or her coat is unzipped, we explain that they are telling us something. We encourage then to ask a question. This is difficult for some to comprehend, but we are modeling how to commincate with others. During our game, several children jumped up and said "The pumpkin is there!". Descibing where the pumpkin was located, was more challenging.

We learned how to use a tracer to create corn for an art project. The children traced and cut one yellow ear of corn and two green pieces. Tracing was easy, however, cutting on a line that they drew themselves was a new expereince for many. Afterwards, we glued them together and added tissue paper kernels.

Wednesday: We reviewed rhyming words with a game this morning. We first played a game together on the Smart Board. Then each team of partners were given a picture card. They had to go around the room to find where the matching rhyming picture was hung. We had Art and Spanish class today.

Thank you for practicing how to make the Sign of the Cross at home. I have noticed the improvement in many of the children!

Thursday: We read the book, Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf, by Lois Ehlert. The colors of the fall leaves inspired our own leaf creations. We painted a leaf shape with glue and then sprinkled colored sand over the glue. The children loved the textured look of the sand. I began assessing recognition of numers 0 through 20 individually today. By of the year, the children should recognize 0 through 10 without hesitation. We encourage them to learn as many of the teens as they can. I will send home the monthly letter and number assessment report next week. In September, I assessed just the uppercase letters. I suggest that you hold on to these reports so you can compare them month to month to see which letters your child is retaining.

Thank you to Parker and his family for providing the recipe for P week, Parker's Pumpkin Pancakes. They were perfect! The children gobbled them up and begged for more! We used the Krusteaz brand Pumpkin Spice mix. The mix can make pancakes, muffins, waffles, or bread. The children rated it a "two thumbs up" recipe.                 
                                   

Tomorrow is Tag Day. Children may wear pink and white for Breast Cancer Wawerness Month. If you did not pay for Tag Days, please check your Smart Tuition account. It was one fee for the whole year and Student Council donates the money to different charities. Also, if you ordered pretzels for the year for your child, he or she will have a pretzel at snack time.

Friday: It was great to have Tag Day during P week! There was pink and pretzels all around! We even taste tested mini pumpkin muffins. We practiced writing the letter P and our first names. I also assessed cutting a square and a circle to compare with our initial September assessments.

                             Have a wonderful weekend! 
                     
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Week of October 8

We begin a two week theme of the Letter P and Pumpkins. Thank you to all the parents who volunteered to send in a pumpkin or gourd to enhance our learning. We appreciate it! Next week, we will cut open our pumpkins to investigate the inside. In Math, we are reviewing patterns (another great P word!). In our sensory table, we are using hammers to nail golf tee to our pumpkin. This is always a favorite activity and the children feel just like carpenters. We have foam pumpkins and wheel barrows in the kitchen area/ pumpkin patch. We will be painting pumpkins at the easel. In our STREAM area, we will engineering gates with various building materials to hold "5 Little Pumpkins". All of these pumpkin activities are preparing us for the field trip on Friday to Coleman's Tree Farm.

Tuesday: Our first pumpkin art was to create paper bag pumpkins. The children stuffed brown paper bags and tied a rubber band around the top to create a stem. Then the children painted the bag orange. Our Scholastic Clifford magazine was all about pumpkins as well. When your child brings home the magazine, be sure to watch the videos with your child. In the top corner of the magazine, the link is noted. We do two magazines per month. We had Library today as well.

A letter was in the folder today with field trip reminders. Please be sure your child is dressed for the weather. If it does rain on Thursday as predicted, the farm will be muddy. Your child may wear boots with his or her school uniform. A chaperone letter also went home today with a few instructions.

Wednesday: Today we introduced the Five Little Pumpkins rhyme. Many children were familiar with it. During group time, we had a STREAM activity to create a gate for five pumpkin candies to sit upon.  Each child worked with a partner and each group was given different materials as well as craft sticks for the pumpkins to sit. The engineering part was easy, however, some struggled with the cooperative component. They wanted the build their own gate and not share materials. We usually do STREAM activities as a center so this was definitely a great group learning experience for this point of the year. The photos are on the Photos Tab to the left. Ask your child to show you their groups' gate.

Thursday: We learned about how a pumpkin grows today. We looked at several pictures of pumpkin patches and different size pumpkins. We can't wait to see the pumpkin patch tomorrow at Coleman's Tree Farm! We created a Five Little Pumpkins art to coincide with our STREAM activity yesterday. The children had freedom to create their scene in any way they wanted. They were provided with popsicle sticks to form the gate and pumpkin stickers. Also, there were foam shapes (bats, ghosts, moons) to finish the scene. We also had gym today.

Field Trip reminders:
       - All children are expected to arrive at school at regular time.
       - Chaperones arrive at 8:15 and wait in the hallway outside our classroom,
         after signing in at the office.
       - Children must be in school uniform. The weather is expected to be in the
         upper sixties so please dress your child in layers. They may want to
         remove a coat or sweatshirt while running on the playground after
         lunch. Rainboots are permitted as the farm may be muddy after today's
         rain. Please be sure your child's name is written on all articles of clothing
         and lunch bag.
      -  School bags are not needed tomorrow. Children only need lunch and
         drinks in a disposible lunch bag. 

Friday: We had a great day for our first field trip! The weather cooperated and the children were very well behaved. We began our day with our usual circle time activities and then discussed expectations for the trip. We had Goldfish for snack before we boarded the bus. We had a hayride, fed the ducks and turkeys, picked a pumpkin, gourd, and corn from the pumpkin patch. We had lunch and then played on the playground. Several children napped on the bus ride back. When we returned to school, we watched an episode of Paw Patrol and I allowed the children to lay down, if they chose to do so. Then we played a bit and it was time for the weekend. Thank you to all the chaperones for their help today.

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Week of October 1

This week we will focus on the Letter F and Fire Prevention. We will be very busy as there is much to learn about fire safety. We will have fun washing a fire engine in the sensory table and building a fire engine on our STEAM table with Legos. We will paint fire engines at the easel and play with fire engines in the block area. October also brings new seats at the tables. An apple with your child's name on it will be in the folders on Monday. This apple hung on our Tree of Good Deeds and the stickers designate a good deed that your child did.

Monday: What an exciting way to begin Fire Prevention Week! Mill Creek Fire Company visited us after lunch. They brought the ladder truck and showed us all the equipment the truck can hold. The fire fighters showed us their special protective clothing. We even went inside the truck! We created a Fire House Dog during Shelf Work.
                           
Tuesday: Today we learned about the different types of fire engines (ladder truck, pumper truck, tiller truck, fire boat, fire helicopter, and off road fire trucks) We painted a paper towel and toilet paper roll red to create a fire engine. Once dry, we will add wheels, a ladder, and a window.

Wednesday: We were very busy today with Art class and Spanish class. During morning circle, we learned about 911 and how it is used for emergencies only. We practiced calling 911 on our play phone. Even though the adults will be calling, it is still a good lesson for the children to learn. You see many stories on the news about a child calling 911 to save a family member.

*** School pictures are in the folders today.

*** Check out the school's FaceBook page for pictures of our first cooking activity and Mill Creek Fire Truck visit. The link is on the Home Page of the school website.

We are not attending the school Mass tomorrow. The first Mass our class will attend is November 1st. Seventh Grade buddies will sit with us.

Thursday: What a busy day! Mr. Taggart visited us and talked to us about Fire Safety. He asked the children to go home and discuss with families a good meeting place, if there should ever be a fire where everyone would meet safely. We had F Cooking today. Mrs. Elliott and Mrs. Wolff provided today's, Fire Engine recipe. Thank you to Mrs. Clark for coming in to help us cook. After rest, Deacon Fontana came to our class and blessed our pet, Nemo Mickey. He talked to the children about Saitn Francis.
                          

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Week of September 24

Our first Letter of the Week is here! This week we will focus on the Letter A and our theme of Apples. We are bobbing for apples in the sensory table with water and various tools for lifting the apples such as slotted spoons and tongs. We are using a balance scale to weigh and compare apples to other items to see which weighs more. We are sorting plastic apples by size and color. 

Independence Day is Monday. The children must walk into the building by themselves. The are ready for this challenge and have been doing a great job so far. 

On Monday, the Field Trip Permission Slip for Coleman's Tree Farm will be in the folders. I will be chosing chaperones Tuesday morning so if you are interested in being a chaperone, please send in a note tomorrow. 

Also, on Monday, I will send home your child's results of our Monthly Letter Assessments. This was a preliminary assessment to see what letters the children knew coming into the class. I played a Letter Game to assess uppercase letters. For lowercase letters, I only asked the children to name the letters in his or her first name. The goal is to identify all uppercase letters by the end of the year and as many lowercase as possible. I did not assess numbers in September. Beginning in October, I will assess upper and lower case letters and numbers each month so we can track the growth and retention of skills each month. The goal is to see improvement each month. You will receive a copy of the results each month so you are aware of your child's progress in school.

Monday: When began our day by introducing the Letter of the Week. After using our Handwriting Without Tears Program wooden pieces to assemble the Letter A, the children had the opportunity to write an A on the Smart Board. We discussed words that begin with A. At Shelf Work, the children pin punched the Letter Aa, which is a great fine motor and hand eye coordination activity. We created apples by gluing tissue paper squares to an apple shape.

Happy Birthday, Vicky! Vicky's birthday was over the weekend and she brought in cupcakes today to celebrate.

Tuesday: Today we discussed that apples can be used as an ingredient in other foods we love, such as apple sauce and apple pie. We read The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall. We learned about how to make an apple pie. We cut and glued our own apple pie creations. Each child chose their favorite apple color to create their pie.

Happy Birthday, Cooper! Thank you for the yummy cupcakes.

I have submitted the names of the 10 chaperones to Mrs. Malatesta. She is reviewing the names to confirm that all have the appropriate clearances. I will announce the names of the chaperones when Mrs. Malatesta informs me if the chaperones are approved. 

Last night I sent out the Guest Reader Sign Up Genius. If you did not receive it, please let me know so I can confirm that I have the correct email for you. I will send out the Special Classes Sign Up Genius later this week.

Wednesday:The class was excited to have Art with Mrs. Newcomb this morning. They were happy to have class in the Art room like a big kid! We also had Spanish Class today and Mr. D, Music teacher for grades 1 through 8, stopped by Spanish class to say hello. Mr. D and I have been discussing the possiblity of the School Band coming to our class and showing us their instruments and performing for us. The band is very interesting in doing this, but will need some time to prepare a song for us. We hope to have this activity in the upcoming weeks.

We learned about the Life Cycle of an apple. I read An Apple a Day by Melvin Berger, which had great photographs of an apple tree. We then watched a time lapse video that demonstrated how the pink and white blossoms become an apple. We also completed the A page of our ABC Pictionary for our Binders. Each week, the children review words that begin with the Letter of the Week. We choose a few to draw on our page and I demostrate how to draw on the Smart Board. Today we also tried to write the word APPLE on our page. They did amazing following along as I wrote the letters and were so proud of themselves. 

*** Tomorrow Bishop Malooly is visiting our school. We will go to Church and perform a song for him along with the other classes in our building. If your child has a Birthday Dress Down Pass from last year, they may not be used tomorrow (or any days that we are in Church).

*** Don't forget to send in one paper towel roll and three toilet paper rolls by Friday for upcoming projects. If you have extras, please send them in! We could use them.

Thursday: We did it! Yesterday, we earned the last two pieces to Mr. Potato Head for great group time behavior. We voted this morning on our reward and the children decided on a show with their stuffed animals. Tomorrow your child may bring in a stuffed animal to school. (one that will fit inside the school bag)
        

The children did a great job singing for the Bishop this morning. They sounded like angels. The did their best trying to stay quiet and still in Church. 

Friday: We had quite a busy, apple filled day! I added some pictures on the Photos tab. We had an apple taste test. We tried red, green, and yellow apples and apple juice. We then did an experiment with the apple seeds. We discussed bouyancy and placed the seeds in a cup of vinegar. They sank, but a few small ones did float. We then added a teaspoon of baking soda and watched the seeds dance as they floated up and down. 

Thank you to Gabriella and her family for providing our first cooking activity for the year. We made apples bread for the letter A and also tried apple butter with the bread. We practiced our cutting and spreading skills. It was Amazing! Thank you for purchasing aprons for all the children to wear during cooking each week. They loved them and look like real chefs!!!
                                     

The children enjoyed their Show and Stuffies. We watched an epidose of Paw Patrol. The children were allowed to have their stuffed animals all afternoon, including during rest time. On Monday, we will switch to Mrs. Potato Head and hopefully earn another fun reward soon.

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Week of September 17

This is All About Me Week! We are learning that Gid created us and we are unique and loved. Don't forget to send in the All ABout Me bag with your child on his or her assigned day. (These were sent home last week) In Math, we are sorting objects by color, shape, and size. In Science, we are invertigating with magnets. 

Next Monday, September 24th, is Independence Day when your child will be required to walk into the building by his or her self. Many children are already doing this and doing a fabulous job. Take this week to help your child adjust to this. Walk him or her to the classroom door, but allow your child to walk in the classroom by his or her self. The children should be placing the folder into the basket by themselves, so please allow them to practice this week. This will ease any anxieties about next Monday if we spend this week preaparing.

Monday: We read Designed By God So I Must be Special and created self portraits by decorating a child cut out. They practiced using Elmers Glue by placing an appropriate amount of glue on the picture with a q tip. We also decorated a cover for our binders. Home and School Association provided the entire school with pretzels for our Tag Day today. Please remember to send in the pretzel order tomorrow for the remainder of the school year.

Tuesday: This morning we continued our discussion of being unique and special by using rocks to demonstrate. God created the rocks just as he created everything in the world. The rocks are all unique. The children responded that the rocks were different, shapes, colors, and sizes. Some were smooth and others had ridges. Each child chose a rock and we wrote his or her name on it. Then everyone added their own unique and special fingerprints to the rock. These rocks will be added to our prayer table to remind us all year how special we are.

We had Library with Mrs. Oldiges and Mrs. Tobin today. The children read two stories about dogs. Each week the children color a picture in Library to go along with the books they hear. Be sure to ask your child about it.

Happy Birthday to Gabriella! Thank you for the yummy cupcakes.

Wednesday: This morning during our Art class we practiced a Code Red drill, however, the class did not realize we were doing that. I called it an emergency drill. The children brainstormed ideas of what might be an emergency that would require us to leave the classroom/ stay inside the classroom. They answered a fire, flood, thunderstorm. We practiced with my whistle. Whenever they hear my whistle, they need to "Stop, Look, and Listen". We went outside to play on the blacktop and rehearsed with the whistle. I gave them different places to move to such as "Follow Mrs. Wolff to the back gate." I told them sometimes we need to get inside the building quickly, like in a thunderstorm. Sometimes we need to move away from the school, like in a fire. We practiced walking out the back gate and walking to the third house and we also practiced walking to the bridge next to the playground. During the school year, we practice Code Red drills with the whole school. I wanted to take the time to ease their concerns now and practice with just our class before we have an entire school drill. They were great! Their only question was why I was telling them to move to silly places. I took that as a sign that they were comfortable with our practice! I will talk more about our drills at Back to School night tomorrow.

We had Spanish class today and next week we will meet our new Art teacher.

Thursday: We are improving and growing everyday! In the past two days, we have earned 5 Mr. Potato Head pieces! We are really trying to improve our behavior and listening at group time. We read the book Only One You by Linda Kranz. We painted for the first time this year using water colors to paint vibrant fish like in the story. We had Gym class with Mrs. Schock and we discussed that next week, we will begin our Weekly Alphabet Cooking. They are very excited!

If you do not wish to purchase the Kids Stuff Book, please return the book and attach a note. We are not sure if the books are being returned or if you haven't seen the book yet and they were left in the backpack.

Back to School Night: Please come directly to our building. not the Main Building. We will begin in the classroom at 6:30 p.m.

Friday: Thank you for attending Back to School Night last night. I know how hard it is to leave your little ones at night. If you did not attend, there is a Power Point located on the Back to School Night Tab to the left under my name. All families are required by the office to sign that they viewed the information. A form to sign is located in the folder for you to sign after you view the Power point.

We read When I Grow Up by Al Yankovic and shared what we want to be when we grow up. We then completed a craft to display our choices.

Permission slips for the field trip will be sent home Monday. If you are interested in being a chaperone, please send a note in the folder by Tuesday morning. We will need 10 chaperones. I will pull 10 names from a hat to choose our chaperones on Tuesday morning. I will notify you if you are chosen. You must have your Background clearance completed, signed Volunteer Covenant submitted, and Acceptable Use Policy (which was completed electronically). 

Happy Birthday, Gianna! Gianna's birthday is this weekend and she brought in Munchkins today for snack.

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Week of September 10

Our theme this week is Welcome to SJB! We will continue to reinforce classroom rules and expectations. We will discuss being a good friend and classmate. We will read many stories about school and kindness. Mrs. Wolff and I will be assessing fine motor skills to see the children abilities. 

Monday: We began our day voting on the name of our fish. We had a tie between Nemo and Mickey. To break the tie, the four friends that voted for Dory had the opportunity to vote again. Nemo is the name! 
                      
We also met our new friend Olivia! I was telling the children last week all about her and that she would be starting school soon. We read The Kissing Hand today by Audrey Penn. We made special hand prints and kissed a heart before we glued the heart to the hand print. We had indoor recess since it was very wet on the playground. After lunch, we had Music Class with Mrs. Wagner in our classroom.

Tuesday: Today we read If You Take a Mouse to School by Laure Numeroff and There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Books by Lucille Colandro. We discussed supplies that are necessary for school and how to care for them. We have Library today with Mrs. Oldiges and Mrs. Tobin.

We had a very special visitor this morning! Tomorrow a new student is coming to our class. Victoria and her family came to see the classroom before her first day tomorrow. The children are very excited and were very welcoming to her. 

After lunch, we had our first Group Work activity. We completed our Clifford Magazine, which is in the folder today. There is an online compnent where your child can watch the videos at home that we watch in class that go along with the magazine. 

Reminders:   - Picture Day is Thursday. Please send in money or order online.
                   - Tag Day Money is due Thursday. An email was sent on Monday.
                   - Pretzel Money is due Tuesday, September 18th.
                   - Eagles Club snack for those who attend should be separate from
                     the lunch box, preferably in the front smaller pocket of the school
                     bag. This will help the Eagles Club staff find the snack quickly.

The children are adjusting to their new schedule. Mrs. Wolff and I are trying our best to encourage our friends to eat and drink. The children are learning to talk with their friends and eat at the same time. They have 30 minutes to eat lunch.

Wednesday: Wednesdays tend to be very busy. Usually, we have two specials, Art and Spanish. Therefore, on Wednesdays we don't always have time for Shelf Work. Since we do not have an Art teacher yet, we enjoyed extra Shelf Work time in the room. We had Spanish with Miss Koval. Returning students were very excited to see her new classroom.

We read The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. We talked about being kind, sharing, and being a good friend. I introduced our Tree of Good Deeds. Each month, on our tree decoration, I add shapes labeled with each child's name. AS children do ramdom acts of kindness, we add stickers to the shapes. We try to see how many stickers we can earn! We also introduced our Mr. Potato Head class reward. To encourage positive group behavior, we can earn pieces to dress Mr. Potato Head. When he has his eyes, arms, nose, etc., we will vote on a group reward such as a dance party or a special snack.

Happy Birthday to Logan!!!! We enjoyed your brownie treat for snack time. 

PICTURE DAY TOMORROW!!!!!! We have Gym tomorrow so please wear appropriate shoes for running in class and the playground.

Thursday: Wow! What a busy day! Picture Day was a success. All students happily had their pictures taken. Can't wait to see how they turn out. We did relay races in Gym with Mrs. Schock. We had to learn to stay in our lines and wait for our turn. Something we are working on in the classroom as well.

We began looking at the letters in our first name. We discussed writing our name the "big kid way" with an uppercase initial followed by all lowercase letters. Many children find it difficult to break the habit of writing their names in all uppercase letters. The children practiced writing their names on a laminated name tag with a special crayon. This allowed them to trace, wipe, and trace again. I expect to see a combination of upper and lower case letters for awhile. As long as the children write their names by themselves, I am happy. Even if they can only write their initial at first, I want them to be confident in their own skills.

Friday: We survived the first full week of school! The children did a great job considering many of them attended half days or three days last year. They are adjusting well to the classroom schedule, bathroom schedule, and eating schedule. They are very excited about school and their friends. We are encouraging them to eat and drink (and a little less socializing during those times). We have had a few bathroom accidents which should subside next week.

Today we read The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew DeWalt. We cut out a crayon shape to decorate. All the cutting practice this week with Mrs. Wollf paid off! The crayons are perfect. To end Welcome to SJB Week, we drew and dictated why SJB is fun. The children had great examples. Some said their favorite center and
others said their favorite special. These will both be on display in the classroom for you to see at Back to School Night, next Thursday.

Happy Birthday, Neko! Thank you for the yummy cupcake treats.

Reminders for next week:
           - Monday, September 17th, is our first Tag Day. Students may dress
             down according to the theme, Red, White, and Blue.

           - Pretzel money is due Tuesday, September 18th.

           - Back to School Night is Thursday, Septembr 20th. This is for parents
             only in the classroom at 6:30.
                          
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Week of September 6

Thursday: We had an amazing first day of school! We had a few tears this morning, but as soon as we gathered on the rug everyone was involved and happy to be at school. This is one of the reasons I like to start our day at the tables. We immediately head to circle time at 7:40. The children are so busy talking with each other and doing their morning "Super Star Jobs". It helps the tears fade quickly. We had Gym this morning with Mrs. Schock. Be sure to periodically check the web pages of the Specials teachers so you know what your child is doing in those classes.

We read Pete the Cat, Rocking in My School Shoes. We then colored a picture of Pete the Cat, which your child brought home today, during Shelf Work. Mrs. Wolff worked on cutting skills with the children during Shelf Work time. I kept our Shelf Work activities minimal today so the children had more of an opportunity to explore the new areas of their classroom. They were great at taking turns at the iPad table. The kitchen area was very popular! Due to the weather, we had indoor recess. If the weather cooperates tomorrow, we will have fun on the playground.

Thank you for sending in all of their supplies so promptly. And thank you for the donations! We appreciate it!

Looking forward to another great day tomorrow!

Friday: Day 2 was another great day in EC4A! The children already have the routine down. They are very kind and friendly with each other. We had Technology Class with Ms. Luce in the "Big Building" up on the second floor. We are working on following the person in front of us when walking in a line. We read another Pete the Cat book this morning, Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons. We colored Pete the Cat using markers. Then we added button stickers to his shirt. The buttons had numbers on them and the children had to recognize the numers 1, 2, 3, 4 and add them to the shirt in the correct order. In Religion, we discussed that Mary is the mother of Jesus. We colored a flower as a gift to Mary for her birthday, which is celebrated on September 8th. These flowers will decorate our bulletin board.

Reminders for next week: 
           - Please send in three napkins in the lunch box. One for snack time and 
             two for lunch time. Remember to send a drink for lunch that is inside
             the lunchbox. Please send an extra water bottle for snack and after
             recess.

           - Picture Day is Thursday, September 13th. Purchase is optional, but all
             students will be photographed for the yearbook. Students may dress
             down for pictures. Please send in sneakers for after pictures since we
             will have Gym that day.