A Peek Into Our Day


Week of February 18

We hope you all had a relaxing weekend and enjoyed the extra day off. We will learn about presidents this week as we investigate coins. Our theme is Quarters, Dimes, Nickels, and Pennies as we focus on the letter Q. We will have coins on the Science Table with magnifying glasses. In the sensory table, we will experiment with cleaning coins using vinegar and salt. On the STEAM Table, the children will add water to the top of coins using an eye dropper as they learn about surface tension. Our kitchen area is now a Bank with play money. This week, we will learn to write the numbers 9 and 10 correctly.

Please send in one of each of the following coins for Wednesday: quarter, dime, nickel, and penny.

We have been working with puzzles. They are on the tables at morning drop off and on the Math table during Shelf Work. The children would benefit from playing with wooden puzzles at home. They are a great fine motor and problem solving activity. They need to be reminded to work with the outer edges first.

Tuesday: We began our day with our V Cooking. Thank you to Ethan for our cooking activity. It was very good!
                                       
Conversation with the Principal will still take place Wednesday, weather permitting.

Reminder: If we have an early dismissal due to weather, ALL children in our building are dismissed by the playground. We do not dimiss as Milltown or Limestone. This begins in first grade. However, if another adult is picking up who I have not met, please email me his or her name so I am aware.

Wednesday: 


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Week of February 11

Two celebrations await us this week. Thanks to our snow day on Monday, our 100th Day of School is now Friday. On Thursday, we will celebrate Valentine's Day. The Letter V is our Letter of the Week and we will focus on the number 100. 

Thank you for the donations of wipes for our classroom! We appeciate it. We have enough hand wipes. We could use more Clorox/ Lysol wipes.

We will be working with our 100 items tomorrow. If your child has not counted out their items, please send them into school tomorrow.

Tuesday: We began mailing our Valentines today. Last week, the children were provided paper, envelopes, and stamps (stickers) in the EC4A Post Office. They really enjoyed writing letters to each other and mailing them. This week I changed the Post Office to accomodate their Valentine mailbags. One at a time, the children enter the Post Office with Mrs. Wolff. The child reads the name on the Valentine and mails them in the correct mailbag. Thank you for helping your child to write the names on the valentines. They were so proud of their work and it made the activity more meaningful for them.

We created a Valentine penguin craft. The children had to cut an oval for the body and two hearts for the wings. They also cut another white heart for the belly. The other pieces were precut since they were smaller. We completed this project as a group. The children are working on staying on task and focused during group work. It is easy to become distracted by classmates and miss a direction. The children are also learning to work on pace with their classmates. During Shelf Work, we can be more flexible with timing as we work in small groups. During group work, they need to stay on track with me. I display a completed model and then create one along with the children. This helps to demonstate the amount of time necessary to complete the project.   

Due to the two hour delay, we had Library in the afternoon.

We discussed tomorrow's Science experiment. We will attempt to dissolve conversation hearts in different liquids. We brainstormed possible liquids. I invited the children to bring in a liquid that we could use if they would like to do so. This is not mandatory, but the children had great ideas and were excited about the experiment. We need 1/2 to 1 cup of liquid. We will return the containers tomorrow. Some ideas were: milk, juice, dish soap, vinegar, soda.

Tomorrow, we will have visitors from the Catholic Schools Office. They will spend time visiting all the classrooms.

Wednesday: The children shared their 100 items with the class during Circle Time. We compared the various items. They were amazed that 100 pieces of cereal were quite small when compared to 100 crayons. They were schocked when I closed my fingers over a bag of 100 kernels, and it practically disappeared. The bag was showing, but they could no longer see the 100 kernels. We then used a balance scale to weigh the items and the children guessed which bag would weigh more. The items are on the STEAM table for the rest of the week so the children can work in pairs while comparing the items.

This afternoon, we experimented with liquids and candy hearts. Thank you for sending in liquids with your child. The children were delighted to have a decision in our experiment. The children brought in milk, Sprite, Coke, vinegar, water, and lemonade. The Sprite and Coke made the candies float. The vinegar bubbled around the candies. The lemonade became cloudy. The candies in the milk and water sank to the bottom immediately.At the end of the day, the candies appeared slightly smaller. The candies may take a day or so to completely dissolve.

Parent Valentine's gifts were sent home today. Tomorrow we will send home the Valentine mailbags. Today, I helped some children mail their valentines. I am so impressed with how they read each others names. They first read the name aloud and then search for the correct bag.   

Reminder: Tomorrow is Tag Day. The theme is Valentine's colors. Pretzels are provided for snack time. Thank you for the donations for our Valentine snack and 100 Day Munchie Mix. A Sign Up Genius was sent over the weekend and several emails were returned as disabled and therefore it would not send.

Thursday: We painted with watercolor palettes for the first time today. We learned to put our brush in the "washing machine" after each color before using a different color. The children painted hearts which allowed them to work on their brush control. 

Due to the 100th Day of School being moved, I was able to move a few activities. Our 100 Munchie Mix Cooking is Friday morning. Our V cooking will take place on Tuesday morning. This morning we enjoyed our pretzels for snack. And our Valentine snack took place after rest time.

Reminder: Friday is our 100th Day of School. Children may dress down and wear clothing with numbers.

Friday: We finally made it to the 100th Day of School! We enjoyed our yummy Munchie Mix for snack and the extras were placed in a zip lock bag in our lunch boxes. However, some frineds could not resist finishing the snack at lunch time.

Have a wonderful weekend! Enjoy the extra day off!
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Week of February 4

The children seemed to really enjoy our Catholic Schools Week activities last week. Now we are back to our regular routine. Our Letter of the Week is N and we will enjoy books from the "If You Give..." series by the author, Laura Numeroff. We will also practice writing the numbers 6 and 7. Next week, we will celebrate Valentine's Day and the 100th Day of School. We will complete a few projects to prepare for these events.

Our Kitchen area has been transformed into a Post Office. The children can write letters and mail them. They can wear Postal employee vests as they work. Our sensory table has water play this week. The children can scoop and pour water through tubes. The children can connect the tubes to send the water in different directions.The children are designing and building animals with Legos at the STEAM table.

Monday: We read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and used story props to retell the story. After hearing the book, the children were given a prop. The childen had to sequence the props to retell the story. During Shelf Work, the children painted a paper plate to create the mouse character. Later, we also read If You Give a Moose a Muffin, If you Give a Pig a Pancake and If You Give a Pig a Party. 

Tuesday: We created our own muffin patterns by gluing muffin shapes to a strip of paper. The children have have identifying the next item in a pattern. We identify patterns during calendar each morning and during Shelf Work. The next step is for the children to create a pattern by themselves. The children were provided red, blue, and yellow muffins to use to create their patterns.

Happy Birthday, Olivia! Thank you for the yummy cupcakes!

We learned that George Washington Carver was a scientist. He discovered threee hundred ways to use peanuts, including to make adhesives and shaving cream. We had fun writing and drawing in shaving cream this afternoon.
              
       

Wednesday: Today we prepared for Valentine's Day by decorating our mailboxes. Next week, we will mail our Valentine to our classmates in our Post Office. Sending Valentines in with your child is optional, but if you choose to do so please adhere to the directions that were given with the class list. This will ensure each child has the opposrtunity to read and mail the cards just like a true mail carrier. We also completed a Valentine project for our parents.

Mrs. Saldutti was our substitute in Art Class today. We did not have Spanish since a substitute was not available fo that class.

Our supply of Clorox/ Lysol wipes is running low. If you are able to donate a container, it would be greatly appreciated. We could also use baby wipes/ hand wipes for the classroom to wipe our hands/ faces after messy activities or snacks.

Thursday: We made a Valentine present today for our parents. We cannot wait to bring them home next week. We also practiced how to write the numbers 6 and 7. I explained to the children that we will have a counting jar activity in the next few weeks. Once we are comfortable writing numbers, we will begin the activity. Upon arrival, the children will visit the iPad table to estimate how many items are in the jar. The jar will contain up to twenty items and we will learn the terms add and subtract. 

Thank you to AJ for providing the Apple Nachos for our Cooking Activity this morning. The Nachos were nice and very delicious!
                                 

Friday: We continued with ABC Yoga today. We worked on letters I through P and the children really enjoyed the challenging poses. 

We tried a new technique for painting today. We used a heart tracer to decorate a gift bag to hold our parent gifts. I was very proud of how they followed directions. We taped the tracer onto the bag. The children used circular sponges to paint inside the heart tracer. We cannot wait to bring send home the gifts for you next week.

After hearing the story, If You GIve a Cat a Cupcake, we created our own cupcake artwork. Inspired by George Washington Carver's work with adhesives and shaving cream, we created puffy paint. We previously mixed shaving cream and glue to make our melted snowmen. This time we added food coloring to our mixture to create the icing for our cupcakes.

Have a great weekend!
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Week of January 28

Happy Catholic Schools Week! We join Catholic Schools all over the country in celebrating. Please be sure to check the calendar of events for this special week. We will not have a Letter of the Week this week. We will review letters and practice writing the letters 3, 4, and 5. We will also have a STEAM activity involving snow.

Monday: We began Catholic Schools Week with a Dance Party. The Three and Four Year Old classes had a great time! We even turned off the lights for a few songs so we could see our bracelets GLOW in the dark. When we returned from the Gym we enjoyed our Chick-Fil-A lunches.

We talked about how our school is special. We can openly pray and have Religion class. The children cut out a cross and made a pattern with our school colors to decorate our prayer table board. We also had a lesson on how to treat others. I suggested different interactions with classmates and family members. The children gave me two thumbs up if the interaction would make Jesus happy and two thumbs down if not. Each child then completed the statement, "I can show my love for Jesus ..." and drew a picture on a heart to illustrate.  These illustrations will decorate our Religion bulletin board for February.

Reminder: Tomorrow is Crazy for SJB Dress Down Day for the classes in the Early Childhood Building (EC3, EC4. and Kindergarten). Pretzels will be provided for morning snack.

Tuesday: We began our day with Alphabet Yoga. Using the book, ABC Yoga by Christiane Engel, we practiced our letters and sounds. For each letter, the children do an animal pose. The poses were Armadillo, Butterfly, Crocodile, Dog, Elephant, Fox, Grasshopper, and Hippo. The children enjoyed the challenge and being animals for a bit. We will continue with the other letters this week and next week.

We had indoor recess and watched an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with Mrs. Albert's class in our classroom. The chilodren enjoyed having guests! After lunch, we practiced writing the numbers three and four.

Reminder: Home and School is providing pizza for lunch on Wednesday. Please remember to pack a drink and snack. If your child does not eat pizza, please pack a substitute. 

Wednesday: Since we haven't had a decent snowfall, we took matters into our own hands this morning! We created snow in the classroom by using Insta-Snow powder. The children were amazed to watch a tiny scoop of white powder transform into fluffy snow. The powder absorbs the water as we poured it into the bowl. It is soft and fluffy just like real snow. It is cool, but not cold so we did not need to wear gloves. Playing in the snow is so much better without gloves. 

Home and School provided water bottles and Pringles to the children along with pizza for lunch. Thank you for sending the snacks. I was not aware that the children would be getting a drink and snack also. Many children did eat the snacks from home as well. I think some of our friends are having a growth spurt. They are always hungry!

Reminder: Thursday is Favorite Team Shirt Day. Your child may wear a jersey or team shirt over their regular uniform. This is not a full dress down day. The children will also receive ice cream during lunch, so please do not pack any extra sugary snacks for lunch.

Thursday: Today we learned about fiction and non-fiction books. I read the class a non-fiction book about penguins. Then we read My Silly Penguin books that the children colored, which were fiction.

We are preparing for our next holiday, Valentine's Day. The children created a gumball machine craft today, Instead of gum, our machines had candy hearts. Thank you for completing the Heart homework for our bulletin board. I cannot wait to display the children's creations. 

Reminder: Friday is SJB Spirit Wear Day. Children are permitted to wear any SJB shirt with their regular uniform sweatpants. If your child does not have a shirt, he or she can wear a shirt that shows school colors of black and yellow. We will attend the 9:30 Mass. 

The children's Good Deed tree shapes for January were snowmen. In December, I mentioned that I was changing the Good Deed tree to a Good behavior tree to encourage better behavior. In January, we continued with the Good Deed tree. Therefore, you will notice less stickers on the snowman this month. The children earn stickers when they help a friend or do something kind without being asked to do so by a teacher.

Friday: We attended the 9:30 Mass. In the afternoon, we watched Cars 3 for Catholic Schools Week Movie Day. We set up our mats and curled up with blankets and had a great afternoon to end our special week.

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Week of January 22

Thank you for taking time from your busy schedules to meet with me for Parent/ Teacher Conferences. It was great to share your child's portfolio with you and chat about his or her progress. I enjoyed meeting with all of you and I am very proud of all that the children have accomplished so far this year. Please contact me if any questions or issues arise.

This week we continue learning about Winter as we focus on the Letter W and Winter. We have been learning about the season of Winter. This week, we will discover how animals survive the cold temperatures.

Tuesday: Today we discussed how animals survive in the cold temperatures. We learned that polar bears have thick fur and claws to help them navigate the ice. Cardinals have feathers and can puff themselves into a small ball to minimize heat loss. Seals have layers of blubber to consefve body heat. The children created a craft to demonstrate their knowledge. They glued cotton balls to a polar bear, feathers to a cardinal, and foam pieces to a seal.

Wednesday: We discussed how birds survive in the Winter. We learned that some migrate to warmer weather. Some stay, but may have a difficult time finding food if it snows. The children shared that some families have bird feeders or have made bird feeders with peanut butter. We colored three birds to use for a bird feeder craft tomorrow.

Reminder: Friday is our next Tag Day and the children may wear pajamas to school. There will also be pretzels for snack for those who ordered.

Thursday: Today we continued with our bird feeder craft. The children glued craft sticks to build the bird feeder structure. Then they glued the birds that we colored yesterday and bird seed to the bird feeders.

After lunch, we read The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. It is one of my favorite Winter books and it inspires great discussions with the children. The children then drew their favorite activity to do in the snow. Most children responded that having a snowball fight was their favorite thing to do when it snows. Watch out, if we ever get any snow! On the topic of snow... I have to admit we prayed for a snow day to occur before Valentine's Day during Morning Prayer this morning. As of now, our 100th Day of School celebration falls on Valentine's Day. Both days have fun activities and I wouldn't want to delete something because of time constrants. If it has to be, then we'll go for it and it will be a fun filled adventure. 

Thank you to Kate, for providing our W Cooking activity today. The Warm Strawberries and Whipped Cream was a wonderful treat! It was also Kate's birthday and she shared cupcakes with the class.
                                

Friday: We wish every Friday could be Pajama Day! The children enjoy showing off their clothes whenever it is a Tag Day. Every time another student walked into the classroom this morning you could hear, "Look at my PJ's!" or "Aren't my PJ's so cool!". Therefore, I decided we needed a Fashion Show! At Morning Circle, the children were able to walk the runway on our rug and show off their pajamas. They loved the attention and the opportunity to make sure everyone saw the special pajamas they chose for the day. Pictures on on the Photo Tab.

We watched a video on igloos this morning. We learned that igloos were first invented because there was no other materials around to build shelter. We discussed how the Pilgrims were able to search the forest for trees to build houses. Without a forest in cold areas, people could only find ice and snow. We created our own igloos by first cutting out the igloo shape. Then we glued paper squares. Just as if we were building a real igloo, we started by gluing a bottom row. Then we stacked other rows on top.

Today in the folder is a purple paper with words on it. The children learned the words snow, cold, ice, hat. I had index cards on the easel with these words and the children had to write the words on the purple paper. It was a fun way to practice writing letters and learn a few Winter words.

Have a great weekend!
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Week of January 14

We will learn about the Letter K and our theme is Kindness with Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. this week. We will learn what it means to be courageous and a hero. We will also discuss how to be kind and caring to others. Our centers will continue to reflect the season of Winter. The sensory table has changed. The children will experiment with melting ice. I froze toy animals in four blocks of ice. The children will pour salt and water (using eye droppers and spray bottles) on top of the ice to melt it. 

Reminders for the week: 
     - Chick-Fil-A orders are due January 21st. Please order on Smart Tuition and
       send the form into school so we can keep accurate counts.

     - Conferences are this week for the Early Childhood classes. Thursday is a
       regular day, including Eagles Club. There is no school on Friday for the
       three and four year old classes. Grades K to 8th have a half day.

Monday: We read a book about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We learned that people were treated differently because of the way they looked, where they lived, or their beliefs. He worked hard to change laws in our country. The children drew their mid-year self portraits today for their portfolios.

Tuesday: This morning we read Courageous People Who Changed the World. We learned about Martin Luther King, Jr., Susan B. Anthony, Abraham Lincoln, Rosa Parks, and Malala Yousafzai. We discussed how they are considered heroes for standing up for what they believed. Each child drew a person who they consider a hero and explained the reason why that person was chosen. 

Yesterday, we earned our last Mr. Potato head piece! We voted and will have a Dance Party on Thursday.     
                         

Wednesday: We read What It Means to Be Kind? We learned many great ways to be kind to others. After reading, we decorated Valentine cards for a student in our school who is not feeling well. The children were so proud to make these cards and spread kindness to another child.
                      
                  

Conferences: I have your child's January letter and number assessment to share when we meet. I will also share your child's portfolio binder which is a great way to see the growth so far this year.

For all conferences, you will need to park in the front parking lot.

Thursday: If your conference is scheduled between 1:00 and 2:00, we will meet in the Main Building in the Conference Room. Mrs. Wolff will stay with the children who will have rest during that time. Unfortunately, we cannot coordinate early dismissals during that time. If you need an early dismissal, please schedule it before 12:45 or after 2:15.

If your conference is afterschool on Thursday, we will meet in the Faculty Room in the Early Childhood building. Eagle Club is taking place in our classroom this week and our room is unavailable for conferences. You do not have to go the Main Office first. Eagles Club staff will let you in the building and I will have a sign in sheet.

Friday: The children do not have school. Grades K through 8th have a half day. Conferences will take place in our classroom. You do not have to go to the Main Building first. There will be a sign in sheet on a table outside the classroom.

Thursday: We made Kooky Waffle Faces for Cooking. The class enjoyed making silly faces on the waffles using grapes, apple slices, blueberries, and marshmallows.

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Week of January 7

The children spent last week adjusting to the school routine again. With eleven days away from school, the children needed several reminders of rules, behavior, and learned skills such as putting on their own coats and zippering. The boys needed to learn how to walk in line without pushing each other again. I enjoyed witnessing how much they truly missed each other. It was wonderful to see them come in each day with smiles and hugging each other. They have formed great friendships already. 

This week we will focus on the Letter O and our theme will be Outdoor Fun. We will learn about the Seasons and Weather. Our centers will stay the same as last week. We will have a Season Show and Tell on Friday. Each child will bring in an item, article of clothing, or picture to represent his or her assigned season to show the class. On Monday, your child will bring home the paper with the assigned season.

Monday: We began a Season Tree project today. The children created four trees from their handprints. As the week goes on, we will decorate each tree to represent one of the seasons.

Tuesday: We discussed the weather that is typical with each of the four Seasons. We talked about how weather can affect our plans and ability to travel or play outside. The recent rain has made the field very muddy and we have to adjust our recess plans. On Tuesdays and Thursday, we have the field first. Then we go to the big playground. Sometimes we do sidewalk chalk instead of running in the field, but today the sidewalk was wet. Weather can have a big impact on our lives.

Our Clifford magazine focused on ice. We talked about penguins and how they waddle around on the ice. We took turns waddling while protecting our baby egg (a ball) with our feet.

Please be mindful of arriving on time. Doors close at 7:35 and first period begins at 7:40. Mrs. Newcomb scans the parking lot and if she sees children approaching she will wait to close the doors. However, if your child arrives after 7:35, he or she is late for school.

Wednesday: We played a Season card match game this morning. The four Season words were hung in four areas of the classroom. Each child was given a picture card. He or she had to determine the correct Season for the picture and go to the correct area. The children had to read the Season words. Winter and Fall were easy to determine due to the first letter. Spring and Summer were a bit trickier. We looked at the letters in the words and sounded out the words. The children determined that they could hear "m" in the middle of summer so this clue helped them to read the words. The children have been doing a great job trying to sound out words when we do our Question of the Day at snack time. Their recognition of sounds and ability to hear sounds in words are incredible for this point of the school year. Great job!

In the folder today, I have placed your child's most recent name writing practice. I have added a blue piece of paper with notes on what to practice with your child at home. We are working on making our initial "tall and proud". We can focus on the size of the other letters later. If you child has been writing the initial tall, I may have written on the note to move ahead with the other letters.

Thursday: Today we completed our Season trees. We added paint and tissue paper to the correct trees. Again, the children did a great job reading the Season words to determine which tree to decorate.

Due to the weather, we ate in the classroom for lunch. We had just returned from Gym class and were working hard on our trees. It takes so long to dress for the weather. Rather than rushing through lunch, I decided to eat in the classroom so the children could take their time. Mrs. Wolff helped the children get their lunch boxes out as I went to the Hall to pick up the Hot Lunches. We do this at times when it is raining hard or snowy, but often it depends on how many children order lunch. If it is an easy lunch to transport I can do this easily.

Thank you to Jonah for providing our O cooking activity. The Oatmeal Pancakes were outstanding!
                                      

Tomorrow is our Seasons Show and Tell. Please send in an item, picture, or article of clothing that represents your child's assigned Season.

Friday: The children did a great job presenting and guessing during Seasons Show and Tell. During Shelf Work, we created melting snowmen by painting a mixture of shaving cream and glue. The children then dictated the reason why their snowmen melted. 

We experimented with wind this afternoon. The children used a straw to blow a feather across the table. The stronger the "wind", the further the feather moved.
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Week of January 2

Welcome back! I hope you all enjoyed your time away from school. We are now beginning the second half of the year and the transition period of the first trimester is over. The excitement and busy holiday times are behind us  and now we look forward to growing and gaining more independence as the year progresses. We will continue to strengthen fine motor skills. At this point, first names should be written legibly and correctly. In December, we were encouraging the children to write their initials taller then the rest of the other letters. If your child is writing letters backwards, they would benefit from practice at home.

Since September, we have been counting to 100 during our morning exercises. We will begin counting individually each month to assess how high the children can count. If they can reach 100, they become members of our 100 Club. Counting to 100 is a skill that should be mastered in kindergarten. 

We will also encourage the children to be independent learners and to take responsibilty for their belongings and behavior. This is a critical component of kindergarten readiness. The children are expected to walk into the building in the mornings by themselves. Walking down the hallway to kindergarten will be more challenging next year.

At conferences this month, I will share goals for your child to help them grow as we steer through the final months of the four year old class and prepare for kindergarten. If you did not sign up for a conference, please do so right away.

This week, we will focus on the Letter J and the New Year. During break, I turned our classroom into a Winter Wonderland. In the sensory table, we will be driving toy cars through shaving cream to create snow tracks. The children enjoyed the Christmas bake shop in the kitcthen area so much, that I turned it into a Hot Chocolate Shop. I also wrapped three large boxes in white paper so the children could build a snowman. At our STEAM table, the children are practicing fine motor skills by using tweezers to place white pom poms into a water bottle that is decorated like a snowman. And I have prepared many fun winter activities for the next few weeks. 

Wednesday: It was an easy day to transition back into our routine considering we had Art and Spanish classes today. We created snowmen by tracing and cutting circles, hats, and mittens. The children also had to listen and follow directions well since this project was completed as a group lesson. The snowmen will decorate our hallway bulletin board.

Thursday is Silly Sock Day. We will be learning about symmetry and pairs. The children will wear silly socks and show them to each other to demonstrate matching pairs.

Thursday: We began our morning discussing symmetry and matching pairs. The children enjoyed showing each other their matching silly socks. During Shelf Work, we decorated a mathcing pair of mittens. The children glued cotton balls or foam shapes to construction paper mittens to demonstrate their understanding of matching. We also revisited the story of the Three Wise Men. We learned that the Wise Men visited Baby Jesus in our Christmas discussions. We created Three Wise Men artwork that required the children to follow a model. My sample was hung for them to reproduce. We will attend the 9:30 Mass tomorrow to celebrate the Epiphany.

Friday: What a busy day! We began with J Cooking and then scooted off to Computer Class. Then we attended Mass and headed to lunch. Even with the craziness this morning, the children were very well behaved. Their beahvior in Church was excellent! A great improvement from previous times we attended. After lunch, we enjoyed our Jiggling Jello while watching an episode of Paw Patrol as a reward. Thank you Gabriella for the joyful cooking activity.
                                 

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Week of December 17

We had a great day last Friday. Our morning began with a wonderful concert performed by the school Band. Thank you for sharing this special time with us. It was a very festive way tp celebrate the holiday together. We completed our Christmas presents for our families. And we celebrated Madelyn's birthday with cupcakes.

This week we will focus on the letter C and Christmas. Last week, we learned about the birth of Jesus. We will continue to discuss the religious aspect, but we will add more secular activities such as making reindeer food. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are expected to be normal days. Thursday and Friday we will celebrate. 

Monday: We created Christmas trees using measurement. The children cut a triangle into strips. They compared the lengths and glued them onto paper to create a tree. Then decorated the tree with sequins.

Our Advent Good Deed of the day was to give our school nurse, Mrs. Perrine, a thank you card for keeping us safe and healthy.

Tuesday: Today we made two types of candy canes. We talked about the colors and what they represent. Last week in Church we learned that Jesus is both Human and Divine. I explained to the children that the red color represents Jesus as a Human who he came down to the Earth. Red is the color of blood and all humans have blood inside of them. White represents that Jesus is Divine. As God, Jesus is pure like a plain piece of white paper. We created candy canes using beads and pipe cleaners. The children worked hard to keep the correct patterns of beads. We also created a rainbow candy cane with paper. The children followed directions as we completed this project as a group.

Our Advent Good Deed of the day was to sing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" to our Librarians.

Wednesday:  Today we read There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell by Lucille Colandro. We sequenced the story afterwards. The children glued the items that the Old Lady swallowed in order.

The children are bringing home the gifts they made for the parents today in a Chrsitmas tree bag. (Some Eagles Club brought theirs home yesterday) We hope you enjoy them!

Thursday is Christmas Stories and Pajama Day for EC4A. The children may wear pajamas to school and sneakers. In Gym, the children will be doing Reindeer Games on scooters. Please have your child wear pajamas that will not interfere with this. In the afternoon, we will enjoy milk and cookies while the teachers read Christmas stories.

*** We are in need of another parent to help in Gym class with the Reindeer
      Games. Please email me tonight if you can fill in. Thank you! 

After I planned this fun day for the children, I learned that the school would be having an Ice Cream Party for Bidamania during lunch time. When packing your child's snacks and lunch, please keep in my mind that they will be having ice cream and cookies.

Thursday: We had a very busy, but exciting day. We began with our C Cooking activity. Thank you, Maddie, for the Christmas cupcakes for us to decorate. They were colorful! Then we headed to Gym for Reindeer Games. During Shelf Work, we created a Santa Claus craft and made Raindeer Food. The children were treated to a cup of vanilla ice cream at lunch. In the afternoon, we sat at the tables and enjoyed milk and cookies while Mrs. Wolff read Santa and the Christ Child and we also practiced our songs for tomorrow morning. After rest, I read Olive the Other Reindeer.
                              
Friday is Tag Day and the theme is Christmas. It is also a Pretzel Day. There is no Hot Lunch and we will be eating in the classroom. We have our Christmas breakfast in the classroom. We will begin with the children singing a few songs. Please be on time so we came begin promptly as many parents may have to go to work.   

Congratulations to Ethan for being named the EC4A Peacemaker for the first Trimester. Each trimester, a child in each homeroom is awarded the Peacemaker Award for demonstrating the Franciscan values that we learn from Jesus and St. Francis. In the spirit of St. Francis and fairness, homerooms alternate between boys and girls. "A" homerooms chose a boy this time and a girl will be chosen in T2. 

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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.

The children were very excited to shop this morning. Mrs. Tobin had a wonderful store set up for them in the Art Room. They were smiling when they returned to our classroom. I hope you all enjoy your gifts. Speaking of gifts..... I cannot tell you about our projects this morning because we made a gift for our parents. Again, I saw their big smiles when they realized they were creating special gifts for their parents. They also designed a special gift bag to carry their gifts.

Tuesday: We are learning about the birth of Baby Jesus. We created a craft of the stable using craft sticks to represent the wooden walls of the stalls. The children colored Mary, Joseph, and Jesus and then glued them onto the craft sticks. This morning we attended Church to hear the rosary in Spanish to celebrate the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Fr. Lewis returned to SJB to visit and share his knowledge.

We did not rest today due to the Spirit Rally this afternoon. At the end of each trimester, grades EC3 through third grade celebrate a job well done. The Special teachers each choose one class to honor with the Spirit Award. After Mr. Hart presents the awards, we have fun activity in the Hall. This trimester we will enjoy a presentation by the SJB Cheerleaders. Grades fourth through eighth recognize honor students with breakfast and lunch. 

On Wednesday, the Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Carol Ripken, will visit our school and spend time observing our classes.

      EC4A was honored to receive the Spirit Award for Art this trimester!
          

Wednesday: We read The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie dePaolo. The children recognized an illustration of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the book. "We saw that picture in Church yesterday!" We compared the tradtions of Christmas in Mexico and at St. John's. We then cut out six red petals and two green leaves to create our own poinsettia flowers. It was a lot of cutting today, but we are trying to improve our speed. They are comfortable with scissors and are able to cut on the line well. However, two students completed cutting eight pieces in the same amount of time that several only had one completed. The petals were very simple, but they leaves had more curves. The end results were quite impressive!

Reminder that this Friday the children may dress in Christmas colors or clothing for our Band Concert. It is also a half day of school.

Thursday:  This morning, the children worked on their Christmas presents for their parents. I am proud to say that the children were much better in Gym class than last week. I was happy to receive a good report from Mrs. Schock. The past two weeks the children have been practicing proper use of scooters in preparation for next week's reindeer games. Thank you to the parents who signed up to volunteer next week.

We have been selecting our Advent Good Deeds of the day each day, however, with our busy schedule we had difficulty visiting our chosen recipients. Today we were able to complete our good deeds! We were visited Sr. JoAnn and Mrs. B in the office to present Post It pads for them to use (Monday's deed: surprise our office ladies) and sang Jingle Bells to them (Tuesday's deed: sing to Sr. JoAnn). Yesterday our deed was to thank our Gym teacher. We created a Christmas card and delivered it when we went to Gym today. Today our deed was to spread cheer in Art class, but we missed our opportunity to deliver candy canes to a class. We will definitely visit one of Mrs. Newcomb's classes tomorrow.

Thank you to Parker for this week's B Cooking. The Baby Pizza Bagels were the best!    
                                         
Tomorrow the children may wear Christmas colors or clothing to school. Parents are welcome to join us for the Band concert in Mr. D's band room in the Main Building at 8:00.

Tomorrow the entire school will be dismissing at 11:35. To ensure a smooth and timely dismissal, please come forward when you see me at the edge of the sidewalk. As you see your child at the front of the line, please come up so I can dismiss your child directly to you.
 
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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!!!

***************************************************
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!!!!
  

***************************************************
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! 
                     
***************************************************
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.

***************************************************
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.
                          

***************************************************
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.

***************************************************
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.