A Peek Into Our Day


May 21, 2018
It is hard to believe we have reached the last week of school! This year has flown by! It has been a pleasure to witness the growth of each and every child in our class. Mrs. K and I will miss them dearly. Tell them to wave hello as they pass our classroom each morning next year.

Thank you to all the families for your support this year. Thank you for coming in to be our Guest Readers and demonstrating the importantance of reading. By giving of your time, you have sparked a love of reading in our students. Thank you for providing Cooking activities each week. Some children were brave enough to try new foods. Thank you for volunteering your time and donations for our class parties and activities. Thank you for chaperoning our field trips and other school activities such as field day and Walk-A-Thon. Thank you for sharing your time with our special classes. I know those teachers appreciated the extra set of hands.

Let's pray for sunshine all week. Camping Week was rather wet last week, but we all enjoyed the activities. Thank you to Erin and Jenna's families for providing the ingredients for S'mores on Friday. 
             
 
                 

Monday: Today we made a special picture for our Dad for Father's Day. We talked about the fact that Father's Day is in the summer, but we wanted to make a special gift now. Mr. Habbersett's eighth grade Spanish class came to read their Spanish picture books this morning. This event was supposed to take place last Friday, but was moved to today. Our class loved hearing the older students speak in Spanish and hearing the stories they wrote.

*** We will be sending home your child's artwork and materials this week. We will send a little bit each day so the children are not overwhelmed on the last day. Please empty your child school bag and folder each day to make room. 

*** Progress reports will be sent home in the folder on Wednesday.

*** Thursday is our Picnic to celebrate the Last Day of School. It will take place 11:00 to 12:30. Please remember to bring a blanket or chairs to sit on while eating. If you did not order your child McDonald's lunch from the school, do not forget to bring your child a lunch. Parents may bring lunch for themselves and siblings to enjoy. You may bring outdoor toys and games to occupy the children during this time. We will have Rita's water ice as well. After the picnic, children are permitted to be dismissed with parents. Eagles Club is open.

Thank you for sending in the soda can tabs for the Ronald McDonald House. We have collected a large amount in the past few months. Feel free to collect over the summer and bring to school next September to my class or Mrs. Grimes's class.                
                        

Tuesday: Today in the folders are the Superhero Dad picture/ Father's Day gifts. Happy Father's Day to all of our Dads!

We have been enjoying our last few days in class together. We have been doing our favorite morning exercise songs and favorite games at Shelf Work. This afternoon, we used play dough to review letters and numbers. Ask your child to show you the game.

*** Reminder: There is no Hot Lunch tomorrow due to Middle School Field Day.

Wednesday: Yearbooks are in the school bags today for those who ordered one. I am keeping the change of clothes in school until tomorrow in case of spills during the picnic. 

I noticed on the school calendar that a dress down day was added tomorrow. This is in honor of Walk-A-Thon contributions. Children may dress down tomorrow on the last day of school , however, they should wear sneakers. 

Our End of Year Picnic is tomorrow at 11:00. Feel free to come a few minutes early and set up your blanket/ chairs. Small pop up tents are welcome as well. The side of our building is reserved for the four year old classes. The back of our building is reserved for the three year old classes. We may not use the playground or black top as the other grades use it during that time for lunch recess. Please remember to bring a lunch for your child if you did not order the McDonald's lunch and lunch for yourself and siblings. We will bring the children outside at 11:00 and the picnic ends at 12:30.

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May 14, 2018
We are camping this week in EC4A. Our classroom has been transformed into a camp site. Our kitchen area is our tent area and our Library area has a campfire and hot dogs to roast. We fishing in the sensory table with magnetic fish. There are stars in the sky thanks to twinkling Chrsitmas lights. On Wednesday, we will go on a hike around the campsite of SJB. Each child needs to pack three camping/ hiking essentials in his or her backpack on Wednesday. Please do not send the three items in until Wednesday. During morning circle, we will have a show and tell of our items and we will hike after lunch. On Friday, we will enjoy S'mores for snack. If anyone would like to donate an ingredient for our S'mores or help with the serving, please email me. Thank you!

Thursday is Field Day. Thank you to everyone who volunteered to help with this event. I know Mrs. Schock appreciates it. Students may wear their regular uniform bottoms with one of the following shirts (SJB uniform shirt, Blue Ribbon shirt, or Walk-A-Thon shirt). Children may wear a hat and please apply sunblock before school. Weather permitting, the students will be outside all morning. Students should bring a water bottle that is labeled with their name and EC4A. Home and School will provide a morning snack and a slice of pizza for lunch that day. Please send in a drink and snack to accompany the pizza lunch.

On Friday, we have a special activity in the morning. Mr. Habbersett, the middle school Spanish teacher, assigned the eighth graders a fun project to create children's picture books in Spanish. Our class loves Spanish so I suggested that they share their books with us when they are completed. The eighth graders will read their books to us on Friday morning.

Monday: Today is Tag Day, "Wear Your Red Nose to the Beach". A red nose, thanks to Madelyn's family, was waiting for each child on the tables when they arrived this morning. We brain stormed ideas for a camping trip packing list. At shelf work, each child drew one item that he or she would pack for a trip. At lunch, we enjoyed an ice cream party. We were served vanilla ice cream with our choice of toppings in appraciation for the Walk-A-Thon. After lunch, we went directly to the dunk tank. Mrs. Albert was in the dunk tank for the four year olds who earned a chance to throw balls at the dunk tank. We then enjoyed Sno Cones and popcorn.
                              

Tuesday: We looked at the self portraits of Vincent VanGogh, Claude Monet, and Norman Rockwell for inspiration this morning. We began drawing our own self portraits and we will paint them with watercolors. We completed our camp fire art craft that we began yesterday. 

*** Tomorrow is our Show and Tell of three camping/ hiking essentials. Don't forget to send them into school. All items must fit inside the school bag. I explained to the children that I planned a hike around SJB after lunch, but Mother Nature may have other plans for us.
***  All McDonald's Lunch orders for the Last Day Picnic are due Thursday.

Wednesday: We had a successful Show and Tell this morning! All the students were excited to share their three items and explain why they chose the items. Some friends had to share after lunch because we took such a long time this morning. We did not have our hike, but we sang campfire songs together. We will try to fit our hike in sometime this week.

Field Day has been moved indoors tomorrow and the schedule has drastically changed. Our Field Day time is 12:00 to 1:00 in the gym. If weather permits, we will have water balloon toss 1:00 to 1:30 in the back parking lot. This schedule does not allow for rest time tomorrow.

Students will be provided with a bag of pretzels for morning snack. Our lunch is at 11:00 and Home and School is providing pizza. Please send in a drink for lunch and snacks. Please send in a water bottle to carry over to the gym.

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May 7, 2018
This week our theme is Mother's Day. A majority of our activities are surprises for our Mommies, so I can't spill the beans! We will also play a few fun games to review the letters and their sounds. 

We will attend the May Procession on Wednesday at 1:15. We will not have rest that day. We will have a quiet activity beforehand. Children are to wear their regular school uniform. Birthday dress down passes are not permitted.

Please note that our May Tag Day has been changed to Monday, May 14th. The theme is "Wear Your Red Nose to the Beach" in honor of Red Nose Day and summer approaching. Please refer to the email from the office regarding appropriate dress for that day.

Monday: We colored a picture of the Blessed Mother to decorate our Prayer table's bulletin board for the month of May and the May Procession this week. We began two surprises for our Moms that will take a few days to complete.

Tuesday: We began our day with an outdoor alphabet review! After morning circle, we walked outside and wrote our letters with sidewalk chalk. It was a beautiful morning, and we enjoyed a fun way to practice our letters. We also wrote our numbers 1 through 10, as requested by a few students. We continued work on our Mother's Day surprises.
               
               
                                 

Thank you to Madelyn and her family for purchasing red noses for the entire class to wear for our Tag Day, "Wear Your Red Nose to the Beach", on Monday, May 14th. Red Noses are ready, now you just have to choose a beach/ summer themed outfit!

*** Tomorrow we will attend the May Procession at 1:15.

Wednesday: Thank you to everyone in the class for the beautiful flowers for Teacher's Appreciation Day! Mrs. K and I are so appreciative of your kindness. Mrs. Ferris presented us with the flowers after school yesterday.

We attended the May Procession at 1:15, which is our rest time. Therefore, we did not have our usual rest time. We watched an episode of Paw Patrol (they love that show!) and sat calmly on the rug right before we attended Church.

I shared with the children that tomorrow is our last Gym class for the year. They were disappointed, but I told them not to worry. We have Field Day with Mrs. Schock next week.

Field Day is Thursday, May 17th. We are in need of one more parent to walk around with the class that day. We have five parents signed up, and Mrs. Schock requested six. This job cannot be a parent who signed up to help with a station as those helpers will be very busy and cannot leave that area. If you are able to help, please sign up on the Primary Field Day Sign Up Genius that was forwarded by the Main Office. It is also available on Mrs. Schock's web page under Specials. 

Thursday: We did not have Gym today due to the fact that Mrs. Schock was absent. The children were disappointed, but we were able to have a longer Shelf Work and center time. This definitely made things better.

Friday: Mrs. K and I wish all of you a wonderful and relaxing Mother's Day weekend. Enjoy your time with your families and the gifts that your child made you.  

Monday, May 14th, is a busy day. It is Tag Day. We have red noses for everyone. The theme is Wear Your Red Nose to the Beach. The Dunk Tank from the Walk-A-Thon was rescehduled for Monday. Our class attends at 11:40 immediately after we eat lunch. During lunch, every child in the school will enjoy an ice cream party, a reward for the Walk-A-Thon. After the Dunk Tank, we are scheduled for snow cones and popcorn. I am not sure that we will be able to stomach all of those treats! We will most likely save the popcorn for home.

Thursday, May 17th, is Field Day. I will give more details next week. Each child will be given a slice of pizza for lunch that day courtesy of Home and School.

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April 30, 2018
We have reached our last Letter of the Week, Y. Our last Alphabet Cooking takes place as well. I cannot believe we are entering the last month of school! A letter regarding the Last Day of School Early Childhood Picnic will be in the folders on Monday. A lunch order form is attached, if you wish to order lunch for your child that day. We will be learning about the Ocean this week and our classroom will look like an ocean with all the ocean creatures displayed around us.

Monday: We began our Ocean unit reading Hooray for Fish by Lucy Cousins. The illustrations of the book inspired our fish water color paintings this morning. There are various types of shells on our Science table for the children to investigate this week. They were shocked to hear the ocean in one of the shells. Some shells were added to the sand in the sensory table. At the easel the children are free painting their favorite ocean creature this week.

Tuesday: We compared and contrasted jellyfish and seahorses today. Your child should be able to tell you that jellyfish are very soft and are mostly made of water. We looked at the sizes and shapes of jellyfish. There is one type pf jellyfish that has tentacles up to 20 feet long. You child should also recall that seahorses are very hard because they have a type of body armor as protection. They have three fins to help them swim, however, it can difficult with the armor. To show the differences, we created jellyfish with tissue paper and seahorses with sequins. 

Wednesday: Today we read about Noah's Ark. We then created the scene of Noah's ark. We glued an ark, drew a rainbow to signify that the flood was over, and cut out animals and glued them on the ark. Mrs. Taylor took the children outside for Art class this morning. They used pastel chalk to make wonderful sidewalk art creations.

*** Summer birthdays: If your child's birthday takes place in the summer, I don't want them to miss out on celebrating with a special snack at school. You may choose to celebrate your child's birthday during the month of May. Please email me and let me know what day you would like to send in a birthday treat. Due to those who have a May birthday and other special dates, the following days are not available for summer birthday celebrations: May 9, 14, 16, 17, 22, 24.

Thursday: Today we focus on the starfish and shells. The children thought it was very cool that a starfish can regenerate its ray (arm) if it should break off. They traced and cut the starfish on paper. Then added glue and sand to make the starfish rough. The children then spoomge painted a seashell. We read There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell. Tomorrow, we will read the book, What Lives in a Shell? to continue our discussion on shells.

After Easter break, I changed the way we have done Mr. Potato Head. The children have excellent behavior in our special classes. They work well together and help each other during Shelf Work. The one area we are continuing to grow in is staying quiet during group work. It is difficult for some of my friends to control their excitement and enthusiasm, as well as the side conversations they have. This causes some of my friends to miss hearing directions and ask questions that were already addressed. So for the past three weeks, they have only earned Mr. Potato Head pieces only during group times. If they earn five pieces each week, then we have Friday Fun Day with a different fun activity each week. The past two weeks we did not earn Friday Fun Day. We are very close this week. If we earn the last piece tomorrow morning at circle time, we will have morning snack outside!

We are very sad that today was our last Cooking activity for the year. The children have enjoyed it every week. Thank you to all of you for your creative recipes and giving of your time to help us with this meaningful and memorable activity.

Thank you Logan for our yogurt parfaits today. We had vanilla yogurt and the children could choose the other ingredients to add such as strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, granola, and mini chocolate chips. They were yummy, yummy, yummy! (A quote form one girl!)

                             

Friday: Our ocean unit concluded with the octopus. The main fact the children should remember is that an octopus has eight legs with suckers on them. Just like suction cups, the suckers grab the food as it swims or crawls by. The octopus may hide its body inside a hole and just stick out its legs.

Today we completed our green Handwriting Without Tears workbooks. The children may keep them home. If your child has any pages that were not completed, he or she may work on them at home. We complete these books in the afternoon during Group Work time, therefore it is not possible to make up the pages when the children are absent. The children may also go back and write letters on the pages. We traced the letters, but there is space to write a few letters as practice.

Unfortunately, we did not earn our last Mr. Potato Head piece this morning. We were not able to have snack outside. Hopefully, we can earn this next week.

In Computer class, when Ms. Luce logged into Teach Your Monster to Read she was pleased to see how many friends have been playing at home. Many of our students are progressing through the Kindergarten level, but have reached the point where there are more sight words. Since the children require assistance with that, you will need to be with them when they play at home. Give them clues. For example, if they need to find the word "go", ask them what letter go begins with and work on beginning sounds as you help them to sound out the words. Also, from time to time have your child play the game on the computer. We don't want them to lose their mouse skills over the summer. Ms. Luce gave me a print out of what level each child is one and which letter sound they have mastered. In September, she will reset all children back to the beginning of the kindergarten level to review. 

Have a great weekend!
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April 23, 2018
This week will be zany and wild as well learn about the letter Z and Zoo animals. We will focus on giraffes, zebras, monkeys, elephants, lions, and flamingos. We will also discuss where these animals live in the wild. We will create these animals using different art techniques. We have been practicing writing numerals 1 through 10 and will complete a Zoo Counting Book.

This week is Special Persons Lunch Week, 11:30 to 12:30. Tickets were sent home with the oldest or only child in the family. Please bring your tickets with you and go directly to the hall when you arrive on your assigned day. Mrs. K will walk the children over to the hall and will bring the children to their tables. Guests should bring lunch for themselves and the child. After eating, you are welcome to tour the school. Your child can show you our Special classes (Spanish, Library, and Computer). The Art Fair is in the Main Building and the Book Fair is in the Library. The children that are not attending Special Persons Lunch will eat in the classroom. You are welcome to visit the classroom when you bring your child back. Those children who are not attending lunch will be involved with our afternoon activities so please remind your child to enter the classroom quielty with you.
*** If you did not receive your tickets, or forgot to sign up, please contact the Main Office.

This Friday is the Walk-A-Thon. Remember to have your child decorate his or her shirt. Each child should bring a water bottle to carry around during the day, labeled with his or her name. An extra pair of socks would be a good idea in case socks become wet or dirty during the moon bounce. Please refer to the information that was emailed from the office, especially the schedule for the day. Our snack will not take place at our usual time and will be a bit later. However, lunch will be a half hour earlier. Keep that in mind when preparing breakfast. Don't forget sunblock and you may send in a hat.

Monday:  We read Curious George Visits the Zoo and discussed how animals live in the zoo compared to the wild. We noticed in the book the different types of enclosures to keep the animals safe. We used a paint roller to paint a giraffe shape at the easels. We painted stripes on a zebra shape by using cars. The children rolled the wheels of a toy car in black paint. Then they rolled the wheels onto the paper. 

*** Tomorrow is the Book Fair for our class. If you would like to send money for books or raffle tickets with your child, Mrs. K will walk them over during our regular Library class time. There will be volunteers in the Library to help with purchases. Only children with money will attend the Book Fair at this time.

*** You may remember back in January I mentioned new programs the children were working on in Computer Class. Today in the folder your child's username and password for Teach Your Monster to Read is stapled onto the pocket. Your child may continue to work on these at home on the computer. We waited to send these home until the children were comfortable with the game. In the past, Ms. Luce found that children had help from parents and siblings at home and then became very frustrated in class when doing it alone. This game requires the children to pass each level before it allows them to continue to the next one. Many children are onto the kindergarten and first grade levels. Some are still on the pre-k level if they haven't played the game as often as others. Some Computer Classes are free choice and the students have a few letter and sound games that they are permitted to play.

Tuesday: We learned about monkeys today in class. Many children commented that they wish they could swing around like a monkey! Monkeys are so strong and move around quickly. We danced to one of our favorite songs, "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed". We followed directions to create a monkey by cutting and gluing the body parts in the correct places. We also learned about elephants and painted an elephant shape at the easel. We compared the bodies of monkeys and elephants. We determined that a monkey would be softer since it has hair and fur. We thought elephants would feel rough so we added sand to our gray paint.

Wednesday: This morning we created a lion. The lion's mane was formed by gluing strips of orange and yellow paper in a pattern. Next, we curled the mane by wrapping the strips around our pencils. We also painted half a paper plate to prepare for tomorrow's flamingo craft. We continued to work on our Zoo Counting Books. 

Reminders for the Walk-A-Thon on Friday:
  *** Each child should decorate/ color his or her T-shirt in some way.
  *** Each child needs a water bottle labeled with names and EC4A. We will
         carry these with us all day.
  *** Send in an extra pair of socks in case the grass is wet at the moon
         bounces. 
  *** There is a chance of rain Friday. Be sure your child has a rain coat or coat
         with a hood. The Walk-A-Thon is rain or shine and we have two activities
         in the Gym so we will be outside for parts of the day. 
  *** Children are encourage to wear accesories that will not interfere with
         jumping, such as tutus, crazy socks, and hats. Please be sure your child's
         name is written inside the hat.  

Thursday: Our Zoo animal today was the flamingo. Now that we have completed all of our zoo animals, we will be creating a zoo bulletin board outside the classroom to display all of our animals. We will display a sampling of each child's artwork. We also completed a journal writing activity, "If I was a zookeeper, I would take care of the ________". The children drew the animal they would like to be in charge of at the zoo. It's amazing to see how their drawings have progressed this year! 

Our Z Cooking Activity was quite zany. Thank you, Anthony, for the Zoo Animals treat!                               
                            

Tomorrow is our Walk-A-Thon. This is our biggest fundraiser of the year. It alternates with Bid-A-Mania, which will take place next year. The moon bounces are being moved to inside the Gym and all events except the dunk tank will take place. The dunk tank will be rescheduled. Please refer to yesterday's post for all the reminders.

Friday: Your children are going to be exhausted after today. I know I am! Our last activity ended at 1:00, so we began rest later than usual. However, we took advantage of the rain and had indoor recess. We watched an episode of Paw Patrol and rested our legs. This morning we enjoyed a presentation by Tiger Kicks and three moon bounces in the gym. It was not raining when we left the gym so we took a long walk back to our class (our Walk-A-Thon walk). We had popcorn for snack and then had lunch a bit later. After lunch recess, we had relay races in the hallway and then went back to the gym for a fitness class. They had a great day and a lot of food to eat. Some of their treats are being sent home. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

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April 16, 2018
This week we will focus on the letter D and Deserts. We will learn about desert animals and climate and compare a desert to another D word, Delaware. We will also complete a number book to review writing our numbers.Later this week, we will assess counting to 100 and see if anyone other students are ready to become a member of the 100 Club. 

On Wednesday, we will be doing a "research project" and comparing Deserts and Delaware. To prepare for this each child will need to bring in two pictures, one for deserts and one for Delaware. The pictures can be an animal, plant, or picture that represents the climate or landform of deserts and Delaware. You can google and print a picture or your child can write a word on an index card (or any paper that size). For example, your child could bring in a picture of an armadillo and a picture of a deer.

Monday: This morning we watched two YouTube videos on the Smart Board about the desert. One video was from SciShow Kids where they explained the climate and how plants and animals survive in the desert. The other video I shared was actual footage of the Saguaro Wilderness desert. The students were shocked to see the 107 degree temperature. They also noticed that the animals were very active at night (when it was only 72 degrees!) and slept most of the day when the temperature and the sun were much warmer. During Shelf Work, we created a cactus. We learned about the parts of a cactus and how it doesn't require frequent waterings. We compared the cactus to the seeds we planted last week, which need water everyday.

*** An email regarding Chick-Fil-A lunch for the Walk-A-Thon was sent today. If you wish to order, please send in the payment by this Friday. If you are volunteering to help with the Walk-A-Thon, you may order as well. The students voted last month on their preference for lunch for that day. We didn't see the results until the email was sent. If your child chooses not to order, please pack a lunch. There is no Hot Lunch on the day of the Walk-A-Thon.

Tuesday: We learned about animals that can be found in a desert. I shared photos and information with the children from a Children's Animal Encyclopedia. We learned about camels, desert tortoises, rattlesnakes, bat eared foxes, scorpions and geckos. Then we listened to the sounds these animals make on the Smart Board. We created a camel using our hand print. We painted a sunset with watercolors, which will be used for a project later in the week.

*** Please remember to send in your child's two pictures for our "research project" tomorrow morning. We have a Desert poster and a Delaware poster ready for all their pictures or words. Pictures and words can be the size of an index card or smaller.

Happy Birthday, Stella! Thank you for the yummy cupcake treat at lunch today.

Wednesday: We had a great discussion about Delaware and deserts this morning. The children were really excited to share their pictures and tell us why it belonged on each poster. We split into two groups; and Mrs. K worked with the Delaware poster and I did the Desert poster. Then the groups switched places. The posters are hanging inside the classroom. Tomorrow, we will look at the map of Delaware. Please go over with your child which part of Delaware he or she lives in. (Wilmington, Hockessin, Newark)

Today the children are bringing home their bean seeds in a zip lock bag. The experiment was a success and our seeds did grow inside the paper towels. I planted my three seeds in a pot so we can continue to observe their growth in the classroom. Later this week, we will send home our zinnia sprouts.

An email was sent earlier today from the school office regarding an incident with a student before school on campus. I have been asked to remind all parents that the door to our building does not open until 7:20 a.m. All parents are asked to walk their children to the steps of our building and supervise them in the parking lots both before and after school.

Thursday: Today we had fun painting with paint rollers, sponges, pom poms, and toothbrushes on a paper plate. We created a desert rattlesnake. Once dry, I will cut the plate in a snake shape. We also learned about the three counties in Delaware. We followed directions to color a map. We colored New Castle County yellow and glued a picture of SJB. We colored Kent County green to represent farmland and placed a star at Dover. We colored Sussex County orange to remind us of the sand at the beaches.

Our Cooking activity was Dirty Dirt Dessert. It was delicious! Thank you, Liam B.
                                  

Walk-A-Thon t-shirts are in the schoolbags today. The children are to wear these shirts next Friday along with their regular uniform bottoms. The children are to add color to the shirts. They may color the shirt (Sharpies or fabric markers) or feel free to tie dye the shirt.

*** Tomorrow is Crazy Tag Day. Students may dress crazy or mismatched.     
       Pretzels will be available for those who ordered.
*** The Book Fair will be open 3:00 to 7:00 Friday, after school.
*** Scholastic Book Orders are due tomorrow.
*** Walk-A-Thon pledges and money is due tomorrow.
*** Family Bingo is tomorrow night.
*** Walk-A-Thon Chick-Fil-A orders are due.

Friday: Today we learned about Earth Day and brainstormed ways that we could help protect the Earth. The students used watercolor paints to paint a Earth. We made pattern rattlesnakes using beads to conclude our Desert unit. 
  
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April 9, 2018
Welcome back everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter break. Mrs. K and I are very excited to see all our friends again! Hopefully, Spring weather will arrive since our theme this week is Outdoor Fun. We will be planting seeds and learning about plantsool.
. In the sensory table, our future gardeners can plant silk flowers in pots with real soil. There are different vegetable and flower seeds to investigate. Our chick eggs and incubator will spend the week with us as we anxiously await the hatching of the eggs. The incubator will be in the housekeeping area so that they children have plenty of room to observe. Our art this week will include chick and flower projects. We will focus on the letter O. And since it is now April, our seats at the tables have changed.

Reminders for the week:
*** Chick-Fil-A orders are due Tuesday.
*** Spirit Rally for the 2nd Trimester is Wednesday afternoon. We will have an
       early/ shortened rest time. Weather permitting the Spirit Rally will be next
       to the playground.
*** Due to the Honors Luncheon for the older grades, there is no Hot Lunch
       available on Wednesday.
*** Family Bingo Night (April 20th) forms are due Friday, if you wish to attend.
*** We will attend the 9:30 Mass on Friday.
*** Chick-Fil-A Lunch is Friday for those who ordered.

WE ARE IN NEED OF CLOROX/ LYSOL WIPES. If you are able to donate
a package, we would appreciate it!

Monday: Morning circle was rather long this morning, we had so much to talk about! All the children entered the classroom enthusiastically and ready to learn and play today. I made several changes to the room over break and they immediately noticed and wanted to discuss. We have a new guessing jar in the morning and a new sign in on the Smart Board during arrival. They visited our Science table and were shocked to see how our plants have grown. They are going to be tired tonight after our busy day!

We read a book, From Chick to Hen, this morning and discussed what to expect this week with our chick eggs. The book had great photographs for the children to view. Right after snack time, the representative from the University of Delaware arrived with our incubator. The four year old and Kindergarten classes are participating in the program. We received several different types of eggs. After she went from room to room setting up the four incubators, she spoke with the class. She had plastic eggs of the chick life cycle. Each egg represented one of the 21 days and showed the chick at each stage. Today is Day 19 so we could possibly have chicks hatch tomorrow or Wednesday. At the end of the day, we will complete our Chick Journal and record what happened each day.

*** We need Chick-Fil-A orders tomorrow morning, if you wish to order for this Friday. I know having Easter break in the middle of our ordering time was not ideal. The children really do love Chick-Fil-A!
                      

Happy Birthday, Xander! Thank you for sharing the yummy munchkins with us. Xander turned five years old during Easter break.

Tuesday: This morning we read The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss and we did story retellings. Usually, we when we retell a story I ask the children to sequence the parts of the story verbally, using props, or a game on the Smart Board. Today the children drew the three main parts of the story. I gave them a piece of paper divided into three parts. The story is very short and easy to remember. In the beginning the little boy plants a carrot seed. I expected the children to draw a seed, possibly sitting in the ground or the boy dropping the seed into the ground. For the middle, there were two situations. The family members told the boy it would never grow and the little boy watered the seed and pulled the weeds from around the seed everyday. At the end, the carrot grows and suprisingly is so large it needs to be transported in a wheel barrow. Some children drew the carrot. Some drew the carrot in the wheelbarrow. Some even added the boy in the ending picture. I love doing this project because it really gives me an insight into their little minds. Those children who are verbal/ auditory learners did very simple drawings, but repeated practically word for word the book. Those artistic children enjoyed redrawing the story. And those who are detail oriented had very accurate recreations of the book's illustrations. And my friends who don't like to make a mistake, kept asking for reassurance because this was a project we have not done before. We also created a carrot art project where our hand print became the leafy top of the carrot. Ask your child to retell The Carrot Seed story tonight and see if he or she can remember the story hours later. 

As I write this, we have a crack in one egg! It is exhausting for the little chicks to break their way out. We noticed the crack this morning and are still waiting. It takes several hours for the chick to hatch. I know the children will be excited to share our chicks with you. We should have several chicks by Thursday. At arrival on Thursday and Friday mornings, you are welcome to walk your child into school and see our little darlings.

Reminders: 
*** There is no Hot Lunch tomorrow due to the Honors Luncheon. All students must pack a lunch and we will eat in the classroom.
*** At 1:30 tomorrow, we will attend the Spirit Rally. We will have an early/ shortened rest time.
*** If you ordered Blue Rocks tickets, they are in the folders today.

Wednesday: The children were surprised to find two chicks in the incubator this morning. After all the children arrived and saw the chicks, Mrs. K and I removed them from the incubator and placed them in a tub with food, water, and a heat lamp. Two more hatched this morning and are drying off and gaining strength in the incubator. We have several cracks and movement in many of the eggs. As I mentioned yesterday, you are welcome to walk your child into school tomorrow and Friday to see the chicks. Siblings may visit as well, but please make sure they are not late for their classes.
 

We discussed the three necessary things for a seed to grow. Ask your child what those three things are. We began a Science experiment to see if we could grow bean seeds without soil. Each child wrapped three bean seeds in a paper towel and placed the towel in a zip lock bag. We then wet the towels and placed them in the window so they could get warm by the sun. We will observe the bags for several days to see if the seeds will grow.
                          

Happy Birthday, Grace! Thank you for the yummy cupcake/ brownie treats!

Miss Koval was absent today so we did not have Spanish Class. The children did not mind since it gave them extra time enjoying the chicks. 

Reminders:
*** Tickets for Special Persons Lunch are coming home today with the oldest child in the family. On your assigned day, Mrs. K will walk the children to the hall and I will be in the classroom with the other children. Family members wait at the tables and Mrs. K will walk around and help the children find their tables. 
*** We are missing several spare clothes that belong to the school. If your child's clothes became wet and used our spare clothes (usually from Snack time), we sent your clothes home in a plastic bag. We need these clothes returned please. We lose track because sometimes Eagles Club may borrow our spare clothes. Every child is supposed to have his or her own spare clothes in the cubby. We have needed the school spare clothes when a child doesn't have a spare set in the cubby or forgot to return the clothes after being used. 
*** Thank you so much for the Clorox/ Lysol wipes. We appreciate it!!!

Thursday: Thank you for visiting our chicks this morning. All are welcome tomorrow morning as well. The chicks will be picked up and returned to University of Delaware after school. We now have ten chicks. We have two eggs that have not shown any movement nor have cracks. We are waiting on one egg that has a large hole in it since yesterday. We can hear him and see the egg moving, but he is struggling to hatch. Today we placed the chicks on the rug and allowed the children to pet them. (two chicks at a time) We made a "farm gate" to keep the chicks on the rug so they could not escape. The children sat very close with the knees touching to form the gate. One of the chicks definitely enjoyed the back rubs and kept walking over to the children. And we had one run all over the rug. A few were cautious and just slowly walked around. 
                              

We made Owl Cupcakes for the Letter O. Thank Liam B. and Nana for the outstanding treat!
                              

We planted zinnia seeds this morning in peat pots. We will water them and observe their growth over the next few days. We also traced and cut to create flowers today. 

Reminders:
*** Tomorrow is Chick-Fil-A for those who ordered. There is no hot lunch available.
*** Friday we will attend the 9:30 Mass with the school and sit with our seventh grade buddies.

Friday: Today we had to say goodbye to our ten little chicks. Every child was brave enough to hold one this morning. In small groups, the children came over to the tub. First, we touched the chicks with one finger and then we held them in two hands. After Mass, the children sat in a circle and we place the chicks on the rug. The chicks ran around and the children said their goodbyes.
                                                     

I forgot to mention that we won the Music award at the Spirit Rally for Trimester 2!!! Yeah!!!

Just a reminder about sweatshirts and sweatpants. While the sweatshirts are not required duing Spring Dress Code, it would be a good idea to keep one in the schoolbag. It is chilly in the mornings and in some parts of the buildings. We cannot change the children's pants during the day. This time of year is difficult because it is cold at drop off and warm at dismissal. We cannot allow children to change into shorts throughout the day.

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March 26, 2018
This week we will continue with Easter and the Letter E. We have a very busy week ahead of us. We have several E activities, such as Cooking, that we missed due to the snow. On Tuesday, we will enjoy our Easter Egg Hunt. On Thursday, we will have our Journey to Easter retreat.

Reminders for the Week:
*** Please return the report card envelope tomorrow, if you have not already
      done so.
*** On Friday, I mentioned that we were keeping the rest towels since we only
      used them one day. We will send them home on Wednesday. 
*** Tuesday we will enjoy breakfast and have our Egg Hunt approximately at
      8:30 on the playground. Thank you to everyone for the wonderful donations
      for our breakfast and Egg Hunt.
*** There is no Hot Lunch on Wednesday. Chick-Fil-A Lunch for those who
      ordered.
*** Thursday is a half day. Dismissal is 11:35.

Monday:
Today was Bunny Day with two fun crafts! We decorated Bunny headbands to wear tomorrow and a Bunny Bag to collect our eggs in during the Easter Egg Hunt. We also completed our color wheels. Today we mixed primary colors to create the secondary colors needed to complete our wheel. They thought they were making magic happen as the colors appeared. "I see green! I see green!" "It's turning orange!"  

We finally enjoyed our E cooking activity. We made Mrs. Elliott's and Mrs. K's Excellent English Muffin Pizzas!
                                 
Tuesday: Thank you to everyone for their help with today's activities! The breakfast was wonderful and the children enjoyed themselves. The Easter Egg Hunt was a success as well. It was a great day EC4A! We couldn't have dome it without your help. I have added pictures from today under the Photo Tab.

Our Clifford magazine today was about ducklings. After we completed the magazine, we shared the news that we will have chick eggs when we return from Easter break in our classroom. They are so excited!!!! We discussed briefly what will happen and where the incubator will be located.

*** Tomorrow is Chick-Fil-A lunch for those who ordered. If you did not order, please send in a lunch as there is no Hot Lunch available tomorrow.

*** Thank you for the Easter basket gift from the class. It was very generous and sweet of all of you.

Wednesday: We reviewed rhyming words this morning. After reading the book, Frog on a Log, we matched pictures of rhyming words together on the Smart Board. Then we played a game, sort if like a scavenger hunt. Each child was paired with a partner and given a picture card. The partners then walked around the room searching for the picture with the match. Cards were taped around the classroom. 

Congratulations to Liam H., our Peacemaker for Trimester 2! Great job!

*** 11:35 dismissal tomorrow.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed Easter. Enjoy the time with your family and be safe if you are traveling. We return to school on April 9th. Take some time over break to practice with your child: letter recognition and letter sounds, recognition of numbers 0 through 20, counting, and writing first names emphasizing the letters that are tall/ small.

Happy Birthday, Brandon! Happy Birthday, Erin! They both have birthdays over break, but we celebrated their birthdays on Wednesday and Thursday. Thank you for the yummy treats and allowing us to celebrate with you.

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March 19, 2018
E week brings Easter fun. We will focus on Easter this week and next week. We will have fun with bunnies, eggs, and jelly beans. We will also learn about the Easter celebration in the Church, as much as four year olds can understand. We will attend the Living Stations on Friday. This a beautiful tradition here and the eighth grade class acts out the Stations of the Cross. We will attend the performance for the school on Friday afternoon.

Monday: This morning we began our guessing jar. We introduced the activity last week, but it officially began today. In the jar, are plastic bear manipulatives. The maximum amount of bears is twenty. Each day, I will add or subtract bears from the jar. Upon morning arrival, the students write their name and the number of their guess on a piece of paper and place it in the voting box. During circle, we count the bears and see who had the closest guess.

 We read The Story of Easter by Patricia A. Pingry. Our Religion handout was also about Easter. We created a surprise for our parents during Shelf Work. It was nice to enjoy recess outside today. Today might be the only day for outdoor recess this week......

*** Chick-Fil-A orders are due tomorrow for lunch on Wednesday, March 28th.
*** Progress Reports are in the folders today. You may keep the copy of the
       report. Please sign the envelope and return it to school tomorrow.
*** Donations for the Easter baskets are due this Friday. Thank you to everyone
       for your support of this service project.

Tuesday: We learned about primary and secondary colors. We read the book Mouse Paint and discovered how red, blue, and yellow mix together to form orange, green, and purple. Then each table worked together to mix secondary colors. Each table was provided three cups of water and food coloring. Each child either added food coloring or stirred the water. We began painting our own color wheels on paper plates. We painted primary colors today.

After lunch, we wrote Easter cards to our parents. We cannot wait for you to receive them next week. I was so impressed at how their handwriting has improved in the last month since we wrote our Valentine's cards. We were almost finished, writing the last two words, when Mr. Hart came over the loud speaker to announce we were dismissing early. It was difficult for the children to contain their excitement and focus after that, but we finished our cards!

We have been assessing to see if the children can count to 100 again this week. I hope to have everyone count before Easter break. A few more reached the 100 Club! Most children have improved their counting by 10 to 20 numbers!

Wednesday: Happy Snow Day! Stay safe!

Thursday: Happy Snow Day! We will have our E ccoking next week. A letter of the week was not planned for next week, so we will continue with E due to the two missed days. Donations for the Easter baskets are due tomorrow. I realize that some of you may not have been able to go shopping due to the weather. Please send in the items on Monday. That is the last day I can accept donations as I have to assemble the baskets on Monday.

Friday: It was wonderful to see all of my friends again! I do love snow days, but we all missed each other. Everyone came back ready to work and have fun. Therefore, we accomplished a lot today. I focused on our Easter projects and told them we will save the letter E and cooking for next week. We decorated a mosaic foam cross. We also talked about the fact that Jesus was buried in a tomb. We followed glued together a paper tomb. The stone is attached with a brad so the stone can be moved away from the opening of the tomb. Right now, they are displayed in our classroom with the stone covering the opening. When we return from Easter, the stone will be rolled away.

We attended the eighth grade presentation of the Living Stations this afternoon. It began at 1:00, so we did not have rest time today. I prepared them for what they would see during the Stations. I read them A Child's Story of Easter. I explained that some men did not like Jesus and they treated Him badly. Those men did not believe that Jesus was God's Son and put Him on a cross and left Him to die. I told them it is a sad story, but it has a wonderful ending because Jesus rose from the dead. When we returned to the classroom, I asked if they had any questions. Their only concern was why the soldiers were hammering the cross. I glossed over that part and said the soldiers were just hammering the cross. I didn't feel they were ready to hear how Jesus was nailed to the cross. The eighth grade did a beautiful job and will present it again tonight for the parish.

*** We kept the rest towels. We only used them on Monday so they are clean.
      We only need them for three days next week, since Thursday is a half day.
*** Lenten Offering Folders are due next week. You may keep the quarters and
      send in cash or a check.
*** Please return all Lenten Good Deed papers, regardless of how many deeds
      your child completed. I am displaying the sheets in the classroom and we
      are proud of what they accomplished.
*** Due to the timing of the trimester ending, I assessed letters and numbers
      at the end of February and beginning of March. Those sheets are being sent
      home.
*** Tuesday, March 27th, is our Easter Celebration. A letter went home today
       explaining the morning activities. 
*** Wednesday, March 28th, is Chick-Fil-A day. There is no Hot Lunch. If you
      did not order, please pack lunch.
*** Thursday, March 29th, is a half day with 11:35 dismissal. If your child is
      attending Eagles Club, please pack a lunch.

Have a great weekend!

*********************************************************
March 12, 2018
This week we will focus on St. Patrick's Day and Ireland. We will focus on the letter I as well. We will learn about rainbows and begin to discuss the color wheel (primary and secondary colors). We are continuing with rhyming words. 

Reminders for the week:
*** Empty egg carton is due Monday.
*** Monday begins warm weather uniform. This always occurs after Daylight
      Savings Time. The temperature in both buildings vary from room to room. 
      It is a good idea for your child to have his or her sweatshirt daily.
*** Friday is Tag Day (St. Patrick's theme) and pretzel order day. 
*** Friday we will attend the 8:00 a.m. Mass. During Lent, each class takes
      turns attending morning Mass with the parish. The four year old classes
      are going this Friday. Families are welcome to attend and sit with us. We will
      sit on the left side of Church (the opposite of where we usually sit during
      school Masses).

Monday: Thank you to those families who sent in items to decorate our class Leprechaun trap. The children had a great time decorating our trap. We finally were able to read Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. While we were reading the book, Mrs. K was busy making our green eggs and ham snack. We had 21 students in school today and 17 ate and LOVED the green eggs. All the students loved the ham! We also enjoyed Goldfish crackers. The students followed along and we sounded out together on the Smart Board the sentence "I do(not) like green eggs and ham." They copied the letters from the Smart Board and wrote them on paper. 
                  
             
                                     

*** We have one last open cooking spot for the letter E on Thursday, March 22nd. Please let me know if you are interested.

Tuesday: We learned about rainbows today. We looked at pictures of real rainbows on the Smart Board. We discussed the order of the colors and colored a rainbow in the correct order. The rainbow was part of a St. Patrick's Day project we completed during Shelf Work time. We also began painting rainbows at the easel. We played a rhyming word match game with a partner. A few children will play on Thursday that did not get a chance today.

We hope we have chosen a great spot for our Leprechaun Trap! We placed it under the sensory table which is right under the window. Once we chose our spot we placed gold coins inside the box. 
  

We listened and danced to Irish Music in Library.
  

Wednesday: We began our morning with a classroom prayer service. We prayed for kindess and respect in our class. Lately, some of our friends have not been treating each other with kindness. I have noticed a lot of pushing and unkind words. We talked about making good choices and being a friend to everyone. We said that Jesus always wants us to treat each other with kindness. We decorated a paper prayer chain. Then we sat in a circle and listen to a song about how to treat one another and "Jesus Loves Me". While sitting in a circle, each child help an LED candle. Then we all held hands are promised to always be a good friend to everyone. We will have another prayer service during our Journey to Easter Retreat.
                        

Daylight Savings Time may have a lot to do with some of our friends having a difficult time being kind. We have also had a few melt downs. There have been many tears and lost patience this week. We had a slightly longer rest time today to allow our friends to catch up on some much needed sleep.

After lunch, we noticed that our Leprechaun Trap was closed! It wasn't closed all the way so the Leprchaun escaped. But after investigating the trap, we realized two gold necklaces were missing and the gold coins were pushed into a pile. Those Leprechauns are tricky!!!

Thursday: Today was all about Shamrocks! We learned today that St. Patrick used a shamrock to teach people in Ireland about the Holy Trinity. We learned that the Holy Trinity represents God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. We created our own shamrocks by cutting three hearts and a stem and gluing them together. 

Even our snack was a shamrock! Our cooking activity was Irish Shamrock Pops. Thank you Erin, they were incredible!   
                               

Happy Birthday, Cara! Thank you for the delicious Troll cupcakes.

*** Tomorrow is Tag Day. Your child may wear St. Patrick's shirts and accessories and the colors of green, orange, and white. It is pretzel day for those who ordered. 
*** We are attending the 8:00 Mass. We will leave the classroom at 7:45 to go to Church. Anyone who would like to attend Mass with us may do so. You may wait in the hallway in our building and walk over with us or meet us in Church.

Friday: Thank you to all the moms, dads, grandmothers, and even a big sister (who got up early on her day off of school!) who attended Mass with us the morning. It was a nice, prayerful way to start our day. We are glad that you were able to join us.

After our peaceful morning, the day was busy!!! We returned to class and enjoyed our pretzels. We had a great time in Computer class. Many children have completed the preschool games on Teach Your Monster to Read. Next week, they will try the Kindergarten level. Some children prefer Starfall games over Teach Your Monster to Read so that is a reason they have not completed all the levels yet. Some have difficulty navigating the mouse.

We returned from Computers to find a big mess in our classroom. Toys were on the floor, food on the table, ripped tissues everywhere...... AND items from our cubbies were taken and placed all over the room. Maybe the Leprechauns felt bad because they left a gold coin in our cubbies and a bag of Lucky Charms were in the trap waiting for us. It took awhile to clean the mess! 

We experimented with Skittles and warm water. Each child placed a Skittle along the edge of the plate. Then we poured warm water in the middle and filled the bottom of the plate. The colors of the rainbow spread from the Skittle to the center of the plate. Pretty cool!
                            
**********************************************************************
March 5, 2018
This week will are reading and rhyming with Dr. Seuss. It will be a fun and silly week. We will focus on the letter R as well. We have One Fish, Two Fish fish and water in the sensory table this week. We are painting water in a fish bowl at the easel using pom poms and clothespins. We are practicing rhyming words.

Thank you for practicing with your child to make the Sign of the Cross. I assessed this morning for our progress report and many of our friends are doing it correctly now. And thank you for returning the book cover for our bulletin board. They look great! 

Reminders for the Week:
*** Wednesday is Wacky Wednesday. Children are permitted to dress down in a wacky style. Refer to last Thursday's post for ideas. We also will have Green Eggs and Ham for snack. We will also have One Fish Two Fish (Raindow Goldfish) with our eggs. It seems we may be in for Wacky Weather as well!
*** Continue to work on Lenten Good Deeds Paper.
*** Each child needs an empty egg carton by Monday, March 12th.
*** Thursday is Fox in Socks silly sock day. Your child may wear silly socks to school.
*** Monday, March 12th, we will create a class Leprechaun Trap together in school. If anyone would like to bring in something to add to our trap please send it in this week. We need shiny and green items, Shamrocks, gold coins, anything you think might attract a Leprechaun so we can catch one.
*** I will send out a Sign Up Genius for the Easter basket donations tonight.

Monday: Today we read The Cat in the Hat. My friends were shocked that the mother left the two children home alone and that the door was unlocked, which allowed the Cat to walk right in. The book was written in 1957 and things have definitely changed. We painted a red and white striped hat to add to our Read Across America bulletin board. We also made Thing One and Thing Two hats to wear tomorrow (once they have dried). We folded blue strips of paper accordion style to be the blue hair. Each child added a number to each hat (Thing 1, Thing 2, Thing 3, all the way up to Thing 24). When we line up tomorrow, we will line up in number order.

Tuesday: We had lots of fun with the book, Ten Apples Up on Top. After reading the book, we tried putting ten apples (beanbags) on top of our heads. The children really had to stand still as I added the beanbags one by one on top of their heads. Some dropped their beanbag right away, but some were able to hold eight beanbags up on top. While we didn't make it to ten, most held about four or five. Then we added apples on top of a dog's head on the Smart Board. The children were shown a number to identify and then they had to slide the correct number of apples on top. Later, we cut out apples numbered one through ten. We glued them on top of a picture of our own heads in the correct number order. 

We also read Wacky Wednesday. The children are very excited to have Wacky Wednesday tomorrow. If we have a delay, we will still have Wacky Wednesday tomorrow. If school is cancelled, we will have Wacky Thursday instead. I have to prepare the room for Wacky Wednesday before I leave today so we will continue as planned whenever we return to school. My friends will have to be good detectives to find the changes I will make in our room. While I read the book, the children had to find all the wacky things in the book. We hope to have Green Eggs, Ham, and One Fish , Two Fish Goldfish for snack tomorrow. If we have a two hour delay and miss our snack time, we will postpone this snack. 
  
                         
Wednesday: I hope everyone is safe at home and enjoying the wacky snow day. Tomorrow will be Wacky Thursday so send you child to school wearing his or her wacky attire. Thursday is cooking for the Letter R also. Therfore, we will have our green eggs and ham on Monday, March 12th. 

*** Please return your child's Walk-a-thon permission slip and t-shirt order form by Friday, March 9th. There is no cost for the t-shirt. They are provided through the generosity of our sponsors. Students are encouraged to decorate their special walk-a-thon shirt and wear them proudly during the walk-a-thon. Students may color the shirt with markers or tye dye them. Inforation regarding donations will follow soon. A tentative schedule for the day was included in the email under Volunteer Duties. Scroll through the duties and it is near the end.

*** Special Person Lunch Reservation forms are also due March 9th. Each student may have two lunch guests on the assigned day. Days are scheduled according to last names. Guests bring lunch for themselves and the child. It is fun for the children to have guests and a special lunch brought to school. Tables are assigned and you may go directly to the hall. The children will be walked to the hall to meet you at the tables. There is no hot lunch available that week and the children who are not attending Special Persons Lunch will eat in the classroom. After eating, you are welcome to take a tour of the school. Guests bring the children back to the classroom when they are finished touring the school. 

Thursday: Due to the two hour delay, we will not have morning snack. Letter R Cooking will take place on Friday.

Our classroom was very wacky when we arrived. The children had fun locating all the wacky changes. Our calendar said October and there was a Santa Claus decoration. Our jobs were mixed up and moved around. The Plant Caretaker had to water the plant in the kitchen area. Some seats were moved to wacky places, like the sensory table and kitchen table. Just like the book, there was a shoe on the wall. Their wacky outfits were fantastic! 
  

*** Thank you for your quick and generous response to our Easter Basket donations. This a yearly tradition every Lent in our school. If you could please send the donations to school anytime after March 15th until March 23rd. We have an Open House on March 14th and I do not have anywhere to store the donations. I want our room to look clean and tidy for the prospective families that will be touring the building. 

I have had problems adding pictures to the site ever since the website was down two weeks ago. I have so many more to share. I was able to add two today and then it stopped working. I am hoping the office can fix the issue soon. 

Friday: We read There's a Wocket in My Pocket today and then drew something that would be silly to find in our pockets, such as a dog or an apple. We then sounded out the words and wrote them on our papers. Their sound recognition is really improving and the ability to recall how to write the letters. Thank you to Andrew for our R Cooking recipe today. The Rainbow Weather Snacks were really, really good!
                                      

Today we voted on our Lunch Choice for the day of the Walk-a-Thon. Four children voted for pizza, four voted for subs, and fourteen voted for Chick-Fil-A. I emailed our votes to Ms. Luce who will forward them to the Walk-a-Thon committee to be tallied with the rest of the school. We should hear next week which lunch is the winner for the day.

*** Just a reminder, hot dogs or any other meat, is not offered for Hot Lunch during Lent. 


*********************************************************
February 26, 2018
We spend the week reading the fabulous books of Eric Carle. While enjoying his books, we will enjoy Science topics as well. In Religion, we continue to discuss Lent. Today you will receive a Lenten Good Deed project for your child to complete at home. Please practice at home with your child how to make the Sign of the Cross. I have noticed that some of the children are still doing it incorrectly. It is difficult during prayer time for me to reach all the children and assist them, so extra one on one practice at home would be great. 

*** Remember that all children will need an empty paper towel roll for a project on Tuesday. Please write your child's name on the inside of the roll.

*** Please send in an empty egg carton (dozen) by March 12th. Write your child's name on the side of the carton.

Monday: Our first Eric Carle book was The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Using story props, we played a game where the children had to retell the story in the correct order. We discussed the life cycle of a caterpillar. Then we cut out a caterpillar to sequence what the caterpillar ate in the story. Each part of the caterpillar had a food that the caterpillar ate in the book. These are displayed inside our classroom. We also created a butterfly by coloring a coffee filter with markers. After coloring, we sprayed the filter with water to allow the colors to blend. These will dry overnight and then we will assemble our butterflies tomorrow.

This morning during snack we had a schoolwide Code Red Drill. During Code Red, we sit inside our cubbies and the children move their belongings to the floor so they have room to sit. We turn off the lights and close the blinds. I told them that we are to sit very quietly so I could hear any instructions that were given. Since it was a drill (and I didn't want them to become frightened), I talked to them the whole time. I explained that sometimes there might be an emergency such as bad weather which would require a Code Red. I never used the word intruder. I also explained that sometimes we might have to leave the building or follow instructions that might seem silly, but their job is to listen and follow the instructions. Again using weather as an example, I explained that if I heard thunder while we were on the playground, I might ask them to quickly run into the Gerres building. 

*** We are in need of two more parents to help in Gym Class this week. An email with the Sign Up Genius was sent from the office. Please consider helping Mrs. Schock this week with our jumping rope unit.

Tuesday: Today we read Pancakes, Pancakes! by Eric Carle. The boy in the story wants a pancake for breakfast. The family lives on a farm and therefore grows all the ingredients needed for a pancake. The boys heads to barn to milk a cow, churns his own butter, gathers an egg from the hen house, and cuts down wheat to make flour. The children's reactions were priceless! It would have been much faster to grab a box of Bisquick! We then created a pan and pancake from the story by painting a paper plate and paper towel roll. We also read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?. We will color a Brown Bear inspired color and letter book this week.

Wednesday: We were very busy this morning reading The Very Busy Spider. Just like a spider, we laced our webs on a paper plate using yarn. We threaded the yarn through holes on the plate. When the children returned from Art class, they were shocked to see spiders appeared on their webs. I hung the webs on the bulletin board and added a spider picture while they were in Art. We also completed a page in our Brown Bear books.

Thursday: Thank you to all the parents who volunteered to assist in Gym Class today with the jump rope unit. I know Mrs. Schock appreciated the extra help. Our Eric Carle book of the day was The Tiny Seed. We painted flowers with the help of bubble wrap. More specifically, we pressed paper onto painted bubble wrap. I taped bubble wrap onto the table and painted it. Then the children pressed the parts of the flower onto the bubble wrap. They loved it! And heads up... some children told me they were going to look for bubble wrap at home to do this activity at home.
                  

Thank you to Grace for providing our U cooking activity. Our Under the Sea snack was unique and made us wish it was summer so we could be under the sea!
                                                                              
*** Next week, we will enjoy books by Dr. Seuss. Wednesday, March 7th, will be Wacky Wednesday. Start planning your child's wacky outfit to wear to school now! Your child can wear pajamas, a Halloween costume, a Santa hat, mismatched clothes, and wacky hairstyles. Dress as crazy as possible. I will read the book Wacky Wednesday on Tuesday afternoon so the children know what to expect on Wacky Wednesday.

Friday: Our last Eric carle book was A Home for Hermit Crab. We watched a YouTube video to learn five facts about hermit crabs. While they enjoyed learning about the hermit crab, they preferred the video I showed them yesterday about spiders. A found a time lapse video of a spider making a web. It was fascinating to watch, however, seeing the gigantic spider on the Smart Boardmade many of my friends scream EWWWWW!. So naturally, all the boys requested the spider video again. We made a hermit crab using our handprint for the crab and a paper plate for the shell. We used toothbrushes to paint the shell.
                

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February 20, 2018
I hope you all enjoyed the long weekend. I know the children are very excited about our upcoming field trip on Thursday. A letter regarding the trip will be in the folders today. This week we will focus on the letter N and will enjoy books from Laura Numeroff's If You Give a Mouse a Cookie series. We also will begin learning the correct way to write numbers. Our kitchen area has become a Vet office. The block area also has a wooden Vet office and animals. 

Tuesday: We began our day listening to the book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Using story props, we sequenced the story. Each child had a piece of the story and we put the props in order. During Shelf Work, we painted paper plates which will become the mouse once they are dry and we add the facial features tomorrow. They loved using the water color paints a few weeks ago so I brought them out again. This time we are painting a stained glass window with a cross in the center to decorate our classroom for Lent.

*** You do not have to send in a morning snack tomorrow. We have some food leftover from our 100 Day Munchie Mix. I will make a mix and serve that for snack tomorrow. Please send in a water bottle for snack.

Wednesday: Today we continued with sequencing skills. We read If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff. Then we put in order the steps to make a pancake. The students cut out the picture cards and glued them in the correct order. We completed this activity as a group. 

*** Tomorrow is our field trip to the Delaware Children's Museum. Please remember to pack a bagged lunch.

*** Each child will need one empty paper towel roll for a project by Tuesday, February 27th. Please write your child's name on the inside of the roll.

*** Each child will need one empty egg carton (dozen size please and cardboard if possible) by Monday, March 12th.

Thursday: Thank you to everyone who volunteered to chaperone today. Without your help, our day could not have been a success! 
                              

Before our trip we had our N Cooking activity. Thank you to Liam for bringing his Nana to help us create Nana's Nests. They were so nice! We also had some pretzels to make sure our bellies were full before the trip.
                                  

When we returned from our trip, we had quiet time rather than rest time. I turned on an episode of Paw Patrol and we relaxed on the rug. Some chose to lay on their rest towels or use them as pillows. Those children who did not need to rest were allowed to play quietly in the block area or with manipulatives at the tables. Some children chose to color. Later, we finished our stained glass window water color paintings. We had a very busy day! I am sure many of my friends will go to bed early tonight.

*** Friday is a half day. Dismissal is 11:35 a.m.

Friday: We practiced our Math skills while reading the M&M Math book. Following along in the book, students sorted by color, counted candies, arranged the candy into shapes, added and subtracted the M&M's. Of course, subtracting (eating) the M&M's was the best part! We read If You Give a Cat a Cupcake and created a cupcake art. We made icing by painting with a shaving cream and glue mixture. We changed the color of the icing by adding food coloring and added sequins as sprinkles. In the story, the cat gets a little carried way when he adds sprinkles to his cupcake. When you see our cupcakes in the classroom, you will see that some of our friends followed in the cat's footsteps. 

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February 12, 2018
We have many exciting activities planned for this week. This week we celebrate Mardi Gras, the 100th Day of School, Valentine's Day, Ash Wednesday, and Presidents Day. We also will focus on the letter X and the number 100. We will be looking to see who can count to the number 100 this week. Many children were so close in January. 

A few reminders about lunch:
*** Please be sure to pack a drink in the lunch box. Many students are using
      only one water bottle for both snack and lunch. This is fine as long as it is in
      the lunch box. Many are keeping it in the school bag and therefore do not 
      have a drink at lunch.
*** Mrs. K has to order lunch by 8:00 each morning. The younger grades
      preorder lunch. They do not have the opportunity to choose lunch when we
      go to the hall. (The older grades do this) Please write all orders on the sheet
      in the folder.

Monday: We celebrated Mardi Gras a day early due to the 100th Day of School occurring tomorrow. We decorated masks and enjoyed a King Cake at snack. Erin found Baby Jesus and therefore was crowned Leader of the Parade! After lunch we listened to "Oh When the Saints Go Marching In" and marched around the room with bells.

*** Tuesday is the 100th Day of School. As I mentioned last Friday, students may dress down tomorrow. They may wear clothing that has numbers on it. If your does not have clothing with numbers on it, please tape your child's favorite number to his or her shirt. We made crowns to wear tomorrow. 

*** Thank you for your quick response for donations for our 100th Day Munchie Mix. I really appreciate your help with this activity. If you did not send your item in today, please do not forget to send it in tomorrow. We will eat some of the mix during snack time.

Tuesday: Happy 100th Day of School! Today was a great day. There was lots of excitement as they entered our classroom this morning. The children did their morning 100 exercise song with great energy today. We started with a Number Scavenger Hunt where they had to locate and color numbered gumballs. We then counted out the 100 pieces of food to create our 100 Munchie Mix. I think they enjoyed making the mix more than eating it. After lunch, we created self portraits of what we would look like at age 100. After sharing our 100 items that we brought from home one last time, each child received a certificate to recognize this great acheivement of reaching 100 days. 

*** Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. We will attend the 8:00 Mass. I explained to the children in very simple terms why we would be receiving ashes tomorrow. I told them that the ashes would be put on our foreheads in the shape of a cross to remind us of Jesus and that Lent is beginning.
*** We will celebrate Valentine's Day with a special snack after Mass.

Wednesday: We attended the 8:00 Mass for Ash Wednesday. The children were excellent when receiving their ashes. Mass was very crowded and they were very patient while waiting for everyone to receive ashes and then Communion. Thank you to Mrs. Brady for setting the tables for our Valentine snack while we were at Church. They were hungry and enjoyed the special treats. Thank you to all who donated an item for the snack. We had Spanish class, but missed Art due to Mass. After lunch, we completed a candy heart graph. Usually we graph together as a class. This time we gave the children their own cup of candy hearts and they completed their graphs individually. It was great to see them work hard and focus on the task. 

I hope they all enjoyed opening their Valentines when they returned home. I was amazed again watching them this week read their friends names and mail their cards. Thank you for taking the time to address the cards. It made the mailing experience a true learning activity. A few friends were not confident enough to read the names aloud on their envelopes/ bags to me. But once I read the name to them, they found the correct mailbox on their own and placed the card inside.

I am sorry for all the confusion with school pictures tomorrow. It was my original understanding that only the students who were purchasing photos would be photographed and allowed to dress down. As you saw from all the emails that plan changed. All students may dress down tomorrow and a class group photo will be taken. This photo will eventually be available for purchase. We do have Gym tomorrow, so please be sure your child is wearing sneakers so he or she can participate.

I told the children that I will be late Thursday morning. I have to take my daughter to an appointment and will come in afterwards. I will miss photos and cooking, but should return when they are finished with Gym class. Miss Marilyn will help out in my absence. I have several pictures from the 100th Day of School and today that I will hopefully upload tomorrow. Did you see this week's email with the Weekly Bulletin Board? Some of our students were featured with their third grade Reading Buddy.

Thursday: The children had to be quite flexible and understanding this morning due to several schedule changes. They were great! Our schedule changed due to pictures and Cooking was moved to after Gym. Mrs. K and Mr. Hart left for a funeral about 10:00 so Mrs. Wolff, the fifth grade para professional, came over to help Miss Marilyn until I came to school at 10:20. We were scheduled for the field at recess, which was very muddy. Tha black top was very crowded so we had indoor recess. I explained to them why were having indoor recess on a warm day and they did not mind at all. They were excited to play in our Center areas since they didn't have a chance to do so in the morning.  

Thank you to Taylor and her grandmother for providing our X Cookies today. They wer eXcellent!   
                                  

*** Friday is Tag Day and the theme is Valentine's Day. Pretzel Day for those who ordered.
*** Field Trip money and permission slips are due tomorrow. 
 
       
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February 5, 2018
I am excited to see all my friends tomorrow morning. I missed their smiling faces and would much rather have been in school than sick at home. I hope all of our students are returning and well. As you know, we ranged from six to nine students absent each day last week. I have been (and will continue until we are all well) trying to keep the germs in our room to a minimum. During the day, the tables are wiped several times. After playing with toys or manipulatives, we use hand sanitizer or wash our hands. Even though I clean the toys after school, I have been alternating the blocks as an extra precaution. There are many shared spaces and equipment so it is impossible to escape the germs. With Eagles Club sharing our room, I have been going back after 6:00 and Lysoling (can I make that a verb haha) everything in our room. Please help us in this endeavor by keeping your child home if he or she is sick.

The 100th Day of School is approaching. On February 13th, we will celebrate this achievement. Please count with your child 100 items of his or her choice and send them into school in a zip lock bag labeled with your child's name. We will be using these bags all week to compare and weigh 100 items. We will NOT open the bags and the items will be returned. Suggestions: cereal, pennies, Legos, Q-tips, pasta, hair accessories. You may send these in any time before the 100th Day.

On Friday, we will be making Valentine cards for the children at AI duPont Children's Hospital. If anyone is interested in making cards at home or an older sibling would like to make a card also, we would appreciate it. We will be writing our first names only on the cards, EC4A, and St. John the Beloved School. Coloring a Valentine picture with a message is perfect.

This week we will focus on the letter V and Valentine's Day. We will be working on a few surprises as well. On Wednesday, we will be discussing mail carriers and on Thursday we will decorate our Valentine mailboxes. We will have an Ice Cream Shop in our Sensory Table. We also are working on completing interlocking puzzles. In Math, we will use a balance scale to compare items and our 100 items.

Monday: I am happy to report that we only have two friends absent today! We are constantly reminding the students to cough into their sleeves to stop the spread of germs, but we are getting a little better at remembering. Everyone was so happy to be together again. They really miss each other when they are absent. We began our day by decorating paper hearts by giving them a pattern border. The children chose paper, ripped it into small squares, and glued the squares into a pattern. These hearts will become God's Compliment Hearts. Just like the candy conversation hearts, words (or compliments for our friends) will be added to ours. Our Religion bulletin board inside the classroom will feature these hearts. 

Thank you for the soda can tabs for the Ronald McDonald House. We have quite a collection so far! We will be collecting until the end of the school year.

*** Please remember that your child should be walking into the building and classroom by his or her self in the morning. 

Tuesday: We learned how to use a balance scale to measure and compare items. After my demonstration during circle time, the children went back to the tables. Each table worked cooperatively with a scale and a basket of items to measure and compare. First, they guessed which items was heavier and then measured to see the results. Next, they tried to balance the scale by adding items to each side. At Shelf Work, they measured the 100 item bags to see which bag weighed more. Keep sending in the 100 bags, we will measure all week. We created a Valentine candy heart gumball machine to decorate our classroom and a surprise for our parents.

Wednesday: Due to the 2 hour delay, we will not have our morning snack. We will leave our building at 9:50 to go to Spanish class. If you arrive after 9:50, please go directly to the main building. Ask Mrs. B where the Spanish classroom is and she will direct you. Please send your child's backpack to Spanish class as well so Mrs. K can check the folder.

Thank you Cara for the yummy Eagles cupcakes at lunch today. What a wonderful treat!

Thursday: During lunch today, we were able to watch the Eagles parade in the hall on a big screen. The children were very excited about that. Thank you Addison for our V Cooking activity. The Valentine Cookies were Very yummy!
                             

Tomorrow is a special Tag Day for the Penna Strong Foundation. This is in addition to our monthly Tag Days, which you paid for in the beginning of the school year. Please send in $1.00 to participate and all proceeds will be donated to the Foundation. The theme is School Spirit and you can show spirit of any school of your choice.

Friday: Thank you for your support of our special Tag Day for the Penna Strong Foundation. Each child was given a bag with a magnet, bracelet, and lanyard. We proudly wore our lanyards all day.
                         
Our day began with ABC Yoga. We did poses for the letters Q through V. We were busy making cards for the children at AI duPont Hospital and decorating our mailboxes for our Valentine cards. A few children were able to mail their cards today. It was awesome to see them read the names of their classmates. 
The children have homework this weekend. I asked them to read their Mitten Color Book to their families. We worked on this color book all week. This is the point of the year when the children become interested in learning to read. We work with letters everyday so it is the next step. They read each other names and practice reading our question of the day. Books like this that are repetitive give them confidence in their skills. Even if they are not reading, they can follow along and then look at the color of the mitten as a clue. If your child is not showing an interest in reading, do not worry. It is develpomentally appropriate for children to learn to read from the age of four to seven. Many are interested at the age of five, but really learn this skill in first grade.

Next week is going to be a busy one! We will celebrate the 100th Day of School,  celebrate Valentine's Day, go to Mass on Ash Wednesday and begin the season of Lent, and have Tag Day on Friday. We have a special snack everyday next week. (Friday, however, is the pre-ordered Tag Day pretzels.)

*** On Tuesday, February 13th, students may dress down for the 100th Day of School. Students may wear clothing with numbers on it. They can wear a jersey, SJB 60th anniversary shirts, or any clothing displaying a number. If your child does not have something with a number on it, you can tape his or her favorite number on a shirt.

Have a great weekend!
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January 29, 2018
Catholic Schools Week is here! This is always a fun and exciting week for the students. Each day there are special events so be sure to check the schedule. We will not have a Letter of the Week this week. We have completed 14 Letters of the Week, so this is a good time for a review. 

*** Re-registration for next school year is due this Wednesday.
*** A large cereal box is due this Wednesday. If anyone has extras, I would be
      happy to have them. The large Entenmenn's Little Bite boxes and Goldfish
      boxes (three bags inside) work well too!

Monday: Students may wear school colors today in place of the uniform. We will have a Dance Party in the hall at 10:00 with the three year old classes. There is Chick-Fil-A lunch for those who ordered. No Hot Lunch is available.

We created SJB school color pattern crosses for our Catholic Schools Week display in our classroom. We also talked our school letters, SJB, and pin pushed the letters just as we do the Letter of the Week. We had a great time at our Dance Party. We enjoyed our lunch in the classroom.              Lunch time!
              
                       Dance Party Pictures in Photo Tab

Tuesday: Please send in two books for our Buddy Reading this afternoon.

We worked on our Tally Marks again. Just like last week, each child counted objects and recorded the tallies on a small, personal, white board. Due to a Luncheon in the Library, Mrs. Tobin and Mrs. Oldiges came to our room for Library. They read The Little Engine That Could and brought a little blue wagon with them. Just like the Little Engine carried toys, their wagon carried books for all the good boys and girls in EC4A. Each child was allowed to choose a book to take home and keep.

Buddy Reading was a treat! The students loved chatting with the big kids. And even though each child brought their favorite books into school (books I am sure you have read at home dozens of times!), they were so attentive. Grace and Stella LOVED having their older siblings visit our class!
                

Wednesday: Students will receive a special treat at Lunch! We will have Game day in our class. I have an Alphabet Game and Alphabet Bingo ready for tomorrow.

We had a great Game Day! The children loved both games, but Bingo was defintiely the favorite. They were cheering so much and jumping out of their seats when their letter was called. It was quite exciting! There are a few pictures on the Photo Tab. Our Alphabet Game, "Write that letter!" allowed them to write on the white boards. I gave them clues and they had to write the letter. They had to hold up their board immediately so it was a race to be the fastest. Some clues were sounds (write the letter that ball begins with) and others described the letter (two bigs lines connected in the middle with a little line). The ice cream dixie cups were a nice treat at lunch.

Thursday: Today is Super Bowl Spirit Day. Students may wear Eagles, Eagles colors, or favorite team clothes.

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January 22, 2018
This week we continue with our theme of Winter and focus on the letter W. In the sensory table this week, we are extending our ice experiments. We will freeze water in bowls to represent our icy, snowy sidewalks. Then the children will salt the ice. Using droppers, they will add colored water so they can easily see the cracks that the salt creates in the ice. In Math, we will be learning about tally marks and last week we began assessing counting. Each child will take a turn counting as high as he or she can, hoping to reach 100. Those who went last week ranged from 29 to 80. We are approaching the 100th Day of School. Last Friday was the 83rd day of school. A few times a week during Morning Circle we do 100 exercises and count to 100.

Reminders for the week:
*** Scholastic Book orders are due January 22nd.
*** Chick-Fil-A orders are due January 23rd. 
*** January 26th is now a full day of school.
*** A LARGE cereal box (or similar style) is due January 29th.
*** Decorated Heart is due January 30th. (letter and heart will be sent home
       January 22nd)
*** We are collecting soda can tabs for the sixth grade service project. See
       last Friday's post for explanation. We have a jar on our prayer table and
       the children can put their tabs in the jar during arrival time.

Monday: GO EAGLES!!! The children were so excited to tell me about the game and where they watched it. Today we discussed igloos and watched a video on how igloos are made and how they keep people warm. We created our own igloos by cutting paper and building the cut ice blocks inside an igloo shape. We were happy to see Mrs. Wagner and finally have Music class again! We have not had Music since before Christmas due to early snow dismissal and two Mondays off school.

Tuesday: Today we made frost inside our classroom on an empty bread crumb can. We stirred ice cubes and salt together. The children couldn't believe it worked and then had fun using craft sticks to scrape off the frost. At the easels last week, we painted snowmen. Today half of the class decorated them by adding craft sticks, buttons, wiggle eyes, and paper to complete their snowmen. The rest of the children will get a chance to do this later in the week.

*** We are in need of more Lysol or Clorox sanitizing wipes. If each child could send in a container of wipes, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Wednesday: In Math, we learned how to count and make Tally Marks. Each child had a white erase board to use. Then we passed out cups of manipulatives for the students to count and write the tally on the board. This was tricky for some to remember the slanted line for five, but everyone aced the one to one correspondence when counting (one line for each item). We watched a You Tube video on Artic Animals today. The video introduced ten animals and some were very familar (polar bear) and some were not (ermine). The video shared how the animals survive in the cold weather and some basic facts. Mrs. K and I even learned that sea otters will sleep on their backs and hold hands so they can stay together. The children thought that was adorable! Ask your child to tell you one fact from the video and his or her favorite arctic animal.

*** If you would like to practice letter and sound recognition with your child, there is a song that is one of our favorites. On the Smart Board, we turn on You Tube and watch Patty Shukla's Phonic Song. We watch the verson that demonstrates the sign language for each word. Your child will recognize it.

Thursday: Today was all about birds and making sure they can find food in the winter. We created two bird feeders during Shelf Work. One was a bird feeder craft and we discussed the reasons for having a feeder outside. The other was an actual bird feeder, which we hung on the trees next to our building by the playground. We strung Cheerios onto a pipe cleaner at our Independent Table. We are beginning to introduce "All By Myself" tables where students are given instructions to the project and they complete the project independently. As they work, I observe their ability to follow directions, ask for help if needed, and work without distracting others or being distracted if Mrs. K and I are not sitting right next to them. Another skill we are working on is asking appropriate questions. To prepare them for Kindergarten, they need to learn to be more independent in some areas and voice their needs. This class is not shy about talking or telling us that they need something, but we are teaching them how to ask for help. When a child says "My shoe is untied" our first instinct is to jump in and tie it for them. Now when I hear that I say "Thank you for telling me", which makes them laugh. Some understand and rephrase it as a question. Some look at me confused until I ask "Is there something you want to ask me?" And of course, we are adding manners in there as well. "Can you please tie my shoe?"

Thank you to Juliana for the W cooking of Wavy Wizard Wands with Watermelon Whales. They were wonderful!
         

Friday: Our friends are loving Yoga. Today we did Yoga poses for I through P from our Yoga ABC book. In Computer Class, they children have been working on Teach Your Monster to Read. I explained this a few weeks ago and in just three weeks we have seen great improvement. The tricky part at first was maneuvering the mouse since they are more comfortable with touch screens. Now that they have learned how to "get around" in the game, we can see their letter sound recognition. They are doing a great job! 

We discussed winter animals and how their bodies are made for the cold weather. Polar bears have two layers of thick fur, for example. We glued three winter animals and added their protection to them. We added cotton balls to polar bears, feathers to a bird, and foan sheets to a seal.

*** Next week is Catholic Schools Week. Be sure to check the schedule on my Main page as our building does a few different activities than the older grades.

*** Monday is School Color Dress Down Day for the four year old classes. Your child may wear any black and gold/ yellow clothes in place of the uniform. We also have a Dance Party at 10:00 and Chick Fil A lunch for those who ordered.

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January 16, 2018
We begin today a two week theme of Winter. And we definitely have had Winter weather lately! This week, we will discuss winter weather, especially snow, and next week we will learn about winter animals. We will focus on the letter Q this week as well. 

Our next field trip is February 22. We will visiting the Delaware Children's Museum. Permission Slips are going home today in the folders. If you are interested in being a chaperone, please send a note to me in the folder this week. Preference will be given to those who did not attend the Coleman's Tree Farm trip. I will inform you next Monday of our chaperones. Thank you!

Tuesday: We read The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. We recalled the many snowy activities Peter did during the day. We then drew our favorite things to do in the snow. At the Science table, we observed ice. Each day we will have two cups. One will have three ice cubes. The other will have three ice cubes and something else (today was cold water). We will observe the ice to see which one will melt first.

It was nice to be outside today for recess. I apologize that some of our friends have muddy shoes. I didn't realize that the area closer to the trees was not as dry as the rest of the field.

The school office has asked me to remind you to return your re-registration as soon as possible. It is due January 31st. If you are not returning to SJB next year, please let me know and I will tell the office. 

Wednesday: Today we read There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow by Lucille Colandro. We also watched a Scholastic video about freezing water and how snow is made. In preparation of Catholic Schools Week, the office asked us to draw why we love our Catholic School. We discussed that our school is special becase we pray everyday and can attend Church with our classmates. Each child then drew their favorite activity at our school. Ask your child what he or she drew. 

*** Please attach payment to the field trip permission slip when you return it.
*** Please send napkins in the lunch box for snack and lunch. We use the
      napkins as placemats.

Thursday: We had fun creating a few messy, snowy projects. We glued glittery, q-tip snowflakes onto constuction paper. Then we made melted snowmen by spooning a combination of shaving cream and glue onto our papers. We added hats, scaves, and carrot noses to our melted snowmen. Tomorrow, we will use our imaginations to determine how our snowmen melted. Too much hot chocolate? For our ice experiment today, we placed salt on top of the ice cubes. The children took turns going to the Science Table and adding salt to the one cup. As we predicted, table salt had the same effect on ice as rock salt does on snow and ice. For cooking, we made Quick Edible Q-tips. They were quite nice!

                
As you can see, we already have dressed Mr. Potato Head. This class is on a roll!

*** Tomorrow is Tag Day and Pretzel Day for those who have ordered. The
       theme is Pajama Day. Please do not send slippers.
*** If you are interested in being a chaperone for the field trip to the Delaware
      Children's Museum, please send in a note tomorrow. I will then choose the
      chaperones and tell you if you were chosen on Monday.

Friday: We definitely enjoyed Pajama Day today! Everyone was comfy and cozy. We began our day doing Yoga. I read the first few pages of ABC Yoga by Christiane Engel. Each letter was an animal pose: A was an armadillo, B was a butterfly, C was a crocodile, D was a dog, E was an elephant, F was a fox, G was a grasshopper, and H was a hippo. They loved it! It was a great way to practice our letter sounds and get some exercise. We will do Yoga Friday for the next few weeks.

We talked about the Life Cycle of a snowman. We build the snowman, we enjoy the snowman, and it eventually melts away. The children then cut sequence cards and glued them in the correct order. For our ice experiment today, we added cottonballs to one cup of ice. The cup with only ice cubes melted first, The cup with the ice cubes wrapped in cotton balls took longer to melt.

Every year, Mrs. Grimes collects soda can tabs for the Ronald McDonald House and delivers them at the end of the school year. We are going to help her and the sixth grade with this endeavor. Please send in any can tabs you have and we will keep a jar in our classroom. As we collect them, we will measure, weigh, and count them as well. As the jar fills, we will deliver them to her classroom. A letter explaining the program is in the folders today.

*** Remember that next Friday, January 26th, is now a full day of school.



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January 8, 2018
Thank you for your quick response to today's early dismissal. Everyone was picked up on time and dismissal went smoothly. Even though we dismissed early, we were able to accomplish everything I had planned for today. We completed our symmetry mittens. Even after the snow days, they all remembered what symmetry meant. We concluded our theme of Happy New Year by decorating the numbers 2018. We discussed the year and identified the numbers. The children added to glue to the numbers and added colorful sand. Since there was no lunch today, we were able to complete our afternoon Group Work activity in the morning. We completed the J pages of our Handwriting Without Tears book. We can now move on to the Letter of the Week, Kk, tomorrow as planned. Sadly, we missed Music Class today since Music is after lunch on Mondays.

Tuesday: Due to the two hour delay, we will not have morning snack. Typically, we finish eating snack around 9:00 everyday. We will go to Library at 9:55 as usual and then head to Lunch at 10:40.

Even though we had a late start, we accomplished everything I had planned for today. This class is amazing! We had indoor recess so the children were able to play and complete their Shelf Work activities. We learned about penquins in Library and our Clifford magazines. We had morning circle at the end of the day so we could learn all about the letter K and practice writing K's on the Smart Board.

Wednesday: We finally voted today on our Mrs. Potato Head reward! We had a tough time in December getting those last three pieces, but January has been a different story. When we returned on January 2nd, we earned two pieces! And then last Wednesday, we earned the last piece. We began Mr. Potato Head that same day and earned two pieces right away. With the snow days, voting was pushed back. Tomorrow, Thursday, will be Show and Snuggles! Great job!
         

Thursday: Today we learned about the Three Wisemen who brought gifts to Baby Jesus. We created a three Kings artwork to go along with our discussion. We also learned about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We read that he was a hero. Heroes, we learned, are hardworking, brave, peaceful, and they never give up. We reflected on the heroes in our lives. The children drew someone they considered to be a hero. Ask your child who he or she drew! Thanks Luke for the colorful and delicious K cooking activity, Kite cookies, and Kool Aid taste testing.
                              

The St. Clare's Van visited our school today. The van is a mobile doctor's office. We were given a tour of the van. The donations of mittens, hats, socks, and pajamas, on the Advent tree, were given to this organization. It was a nice follow up activity for our children to see how the organization helps others.
There are two pictures under the Photo Tab.

*** An email from the office was sent home today stating that the children may wear their favorite football jersey or team shirt. If your child does not have a jersey, he or she may wear a shirt of the team's color. Regular uniform sweatpants should be worn tomorrow.

Friday: We began our day with another cooking activity. We had our J cooking today that we missed last week due to the snow day. Thank you to Jenna and her family for being so flexible! I think we rescheduled four times. Jenna's Joyful Hibernating Bears were Just Right!
                             
We were very excited to have Computer class. We have not had Computers since before Christmas. The children began a new game in class which practices their letters and sounds. They did a great job learning how to navigate the program. The children sign in under their personal account and it will track their progress. They need to master each level before they can move on. 

We have been working with tangram shape puzzles at the Math table during Shelf Work. Today our Kings and Queens took it a step further. Using shape cut outs, they planned, designed, and created a castle. They have been handling indoor recess well this week. Even though it was warm yesterday, the field was too wet and muddy for us. After all the snow days, the indoor recess gave them an opportunity to play with their friends that they missed so much. They really have been playing nicely together. 

*** No school on Monday, January 15th. Enjoy the long weekend!

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January 1, 2018
Happy New Year and welcome back! We are very excited to see everyone tomorrow. It will be an exciting morning as the children greet their friends and find their new seats at the tables. We only missed six days of school, but returning to school may be an adjustment for some of the children. Getting back into the routine may be tough for a few, so don't be discouraged if there are tears or unusual behaviors.

We will focus on the letter J and our theme will be Happy New Year. We will focus on the season of Winter later in the month and have a two week theme of Winter. But we have added cold weather fun to our center areas. In our sensory table, we are building snowmen by using tweezers to pick up snowballs (white pom poms) and dropping them into a water bottle decorated like a snowman. In our housekeeping area, we have a hot chocolate station with marshmallows (pom poms) in tea cups and a cash register. We will be also building snowmen with play dough and accessories such as craft sticks and buttons. At the writing table, we are tracing our last names. We are not expecting the students to write their last names yet. We are tracing and recognizing letters at this point.

On Wednesday, we will be learning about symmetry. The class will recognize items that match. To help the students understand this concept, we will have Silly Sock Day on Wednesday. Your child may wear any colorful socks to school.

Tuesday: 2018 is off to a fantastic start! We had a great day. We earned two Mrs. Potato Head pieces before lunch! One was earned for a perfect circle time and one for Library. We began our day learning about the letter J and reading Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner. During Shelf Work, we traced and cut to create a snowman. After lunch, we assembled the snowmen as a whole group. This is the one area we need to work on: listening carefully to directions during whole group instruction. Some of our friends can be chatty or don't listen to the instructions. They are four so this is normal, but I am looking ahead to kindergarten. The project is simple, so it was a great one for following directions. We glued one step at a time, but some friends were chatting or rushing ahead and missed steps. The snowmen will be hanging in the hallway. 

*** Please remember to send in hats and gloves everyday. Feel free to leave a 
      set in the backpack. I don't expect to have outdoor recess anytime soon,
      but it is a long walk to the hall for lunch.
*** Remember tomorrow is Silly Sock Day. Please be sure they match so the 
      concept of symmetry is understood.

Wednesday: Silly Sock Day was a super, silly, symmetrical success! Tomorrow, we will demonstrate what we learned by decorating paper mittens. Yesterday, we discussed the new year. We talked about the tradition of New Year's Resolutions and created a few for our class. The children made suggestions and I generalized them. 
   Our resolutions are:
      1.  Always use kind and appropriate words in school. (There has been some
           of potty talk happening.)
      2.  Always share and be a good friend.  (This made me happy to hear.)
   I suggested our next two focus on how they can prepare for Kindergarten.
      3.  Always listen and follow directions.
      4.  Always try your best.

Thursday: Happy Snow Day! I guess many of my friends wore their pajamas inside out last night! Yesterday we read The Night Before the Snow Day by Natasha Wing. This author has a series of books inspired by Twas the Night Before Christmas and we have read several so far. This particular one had us looking forward to the snowy weather. We all agreed we love school, but love snow days just as much.

Friday: Happy Four Day Weekend! I hope everyone is warm and safe. Next week, we will continue with the letter J on Monday. On Wednesday, we had the opportunity to practice the sound of J so I feel that we can move on to the letter K on Tuesday. On Monday, we will review writing J and words that begin with J. J and K are sounds that are fairly easy for the children to recognize. However, K is a bit difficult for the children to write. K has three straight lines, but they tend to struggle with where to place the slanted lines.



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December 18, 2017
As we enter the third week of Advent, we begin our theme of Merry Christmas and focus on the letter M. Our center areas have stayed the same as last week since we are continuing to discuss Christmas. We have several art activities planned and will be practicing the songs we will be performing Friday morning.

Reminders for the week:
*** Monday is our day to decorate the Advent Tree with gloves, hats, or
      pajamas.
*** Wednesday is Lessons, Carols, and Peacemaker Awards in Church. 
      Each trimester, the classes choose one student to receive the Peacemaker
      Award for the homeroom. This trimester all A homerooms were asked to
      choose a girl. Peacemaker Awards are a surprise. Letters are mailed from
      the main office to inform the families of the winners so they can attend.
*** On Wednesday, Mr. Hart will visit our class to read to us.
*** There is no hot lunch on Thursday.
*** Thursday is Tag Day and Pretzels (for those who ordered). The theme is
       Christmas and students may wear red, green, silver, gold, and white.
*** Friday is our classroom Christmas Celebration. Students may wear pajamas
      and bring a small stuffed animal to school.
*** Friday is a half day with 11:35 dismissal.

Birthday ribbons: During the month of your child's birthday, a ribbon with his or her name on it is hung on the school birthday bulletin board. At the end of the month, we receive the ribbons and send them home to you. You may then turn the ribbon back into school for a dress down pass. Your child may bring the ribbon in on the day he or she dresses down, I will hole punch it and return it to you. I apologize for not explaining this earlier to our new families. I realized the other day we have only had one student take advantage of the dress down pass. I don't remember if I mentioned it before or if our families who were at SJB last year remembered, so I wanted to remind everyone.

                             

Monday: Thank you for all the donations for the Advent Tree. The children were very proud of themselves when they saw how full the tree was. They understood that they would be given to children in need. We read The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie dePaola. We cut out red petals and green leaves to create our own poinsettia. It is amazing to see how their cutting skills have improved. Happy Birthday to Blanca! Thank you for the princess cupcakes.
                                        
You may remember in the beginning of the year, we had Miss Lara come in a few days a week. She would come in during center time as an extra helper. She stopped visiting us in October due to increasing demands in the Religious Education office where she works the rest of the day. Last week, we welcomed Miss Marilyn in this position. Miss Marilyn works with the four year olds in Eagles Club, so many of our friends already were comfortable with her. The schedule is a bit tricky as she is being shared with four classes (threes and fours). On Mondays, she will be with us for 30 minutes during Shelf Work. On Tuesdays, she will spend 15 minutes with us during Shelf Work. On Thursdays, she will be with us for an hour during Cooking and until we go to Gym. And on Fridays, she will spend 30 minutes with us during Shelf Work. We are grateful for the extra help.

Tuesday: Today was all about patterns and candy canes.  On the Smart Board, I drew candy canes and the children colored them according to a pattern. During Shelf Work, everyone created two candy canes with a red white pattern. One made of paper and one using beads and a pipe cleaner. (Two students need to finish cutting, so theirs will come home tomorrow.) Today the children brought home their Christmas presents for their parents. They are so excited to share them with you! If your child is in Eagles and you didn't stop by our room to get your present, don't forget to stop by tomorrow and take it off the table. Tomorrow we go to Church for Lessons, Carols, and Peacemaker Awards. Mr. Hart is also visiting our class first thing in the morning to be our Guest Reader.

Wednesday: Our day began with a special Guest Reader. Mr. Hart is visiting the classes in our building and staring the story, Room For a Little One. We then had a shortened Art class to be sure we had enough time for snack before we went to Church. Due to Church, we did not have Spanish. We did however visit Ms. Koval and surprises her by singing Feliz Navidad. It was our Advent Good Deed of the day, but we had been practicing so we were prepared. Our good deed yeaterday was to bring candy canes to one of the classes in Art and wish them Merry Christmas. We could not find an appropriate time yesterday so we surprised a 6th grade class today. 

Congratulations to Madelyn, EC4A Peacemaker for the first trimester! Well done!

Tomorrow is Tag Day. Students may wear Christmas colors and Santa hats and accessories such as reindeer headbands or necklaces. We do have Gym so please be sure your child is wearing sneakers. It is also pretzel day for those who ordered. Since we are cooking tomorrow, we may decide to have the pretzels as an afternoon snack.

 

Thursday: Everyone looked so festive in their Christmas colors today! We made Reindeer Food today. Don't forget to use it on Christmas Eve. We read a book from one of our favorite series, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell, by Lucille Colandro. This class LOVES these books. They cannot stop laughing. We then sequenced the items in order of how she swallowed them. They had to glue the six pictures in order. In cooking today, we made Melted Snowman Cupcakes. Thanks, Stella! They were marvelous!
                               

Tomorrow is our Classroom Christmas Celebration. Thank you to everyone who donated an item for this event and to our Homeroom Moms for organizing it. Children may wear pajamas to school and bring a small stuffed animal. We will begin by singing to our parents, so don't be late! Then we will enjoy breakfast. Parents who are attending do not have to sign in at the office tomorrow. Since this is an extended drop off and the whole class is attending, it is not necessary. Upon arrival, instruct your child to sit on the rug so they are not in the way of parents setting the table for breakfast. See you tomorrow!

Friday is 11:35 dismissal. Eagles Club must pack a lunch. You do not need to pack a morning snack.

Friday: What a fabulous way to end school for the Christmas holiday! The children had a great day! Thank you for all your help in making this the perfect day and a great memory for them. I will send thank you notes when we return, but I wanted to make sure I didn't leave for break without saying thank you for the generous gifts. You are all so kind and thoughtful. Mrs. K and I love each and every day with them. They bring joy to our hearts.

            Have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year!
                                  See you on January 2, 2018!

                           

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December 11, 2017
It is the second week of Advent. Please have your child add another flame to a purple candle on his or her Advent wreath. Today we began the letter B and our theme of Baby Jesus. We have added new centers which the children were very excited about this morning. Our sensory table is now a workshop for our little elves to wrap presents (wooden blocks). We have a tool bench in our room now just like Joseph, who was a carpenter. We have a Christmas tree to decorate in the kitchen area. During our Math tray work, we are practicing patterns and stamping the correct number of objects. And we are creating a few surprises for our parents this week as well.

Our schedule this week is a bit tricky. We have a few afternoon activities during rest time. We will attempt to rest earlier and hope for the best. :)

Monday: This morning we attended Secret Santa Shop. This year there was a mini shop set up in the Art Room for the three and four year old classes, which was very convenient. We were able to eat snack and send one table at a time to shop.  Each student was paired with a seventh grader to help them shop. Our Advent Good Deed today was to say an Our Father for our Families.

Tuesday is our day to celebrate the end of the first trimester and report cards. For parents who are new or unaware, this is how SJB celebrates this milestone. Students in fourth through eighth grades who earn first honors are treated to a special breakfast and those who earn second honors are treated to a pizza lunch. That is the reason we do not have hot lunch tomorrow to allow them to use the hall. The younger grades have a Spirit Rally in the hall in the afternoon to reward their hard work. Some classess will receive a Spirit Award which will be presented by Mr. Hart. Then we have a special activity. This trimester it is a Dance Party. 

*** NO HOT LUNCH Tuesday. We will eat in the classroom.
*** We still need a few report card envelopes to be signed and returned.

Tuesday: We discuss the night when Jesus was born. We talked about the angels who announced the birth of Jesus and the star which led the shedpherds to Jesus. We created angels by tracing and cutting. We glued them together and will add them to our Nativity bulletin board. This activity involved listening carefully to directions. We also did some journal writing today. We brainstormed ideas of gifts for Baby Jesus. We imagined we were one of the Wise Men and each child drew a gift he or she would give Baby Jesus. We then "spelled" the word. Some children are ready for the challenge of sounding out words. They are able to hear the consonants in words. Most of the class is recognizing beginning sounds. Those who are still learning sounds practiced writing the letters in the word. Each child's pace with recognizing sounds will depend on age (close to turning five or already five years old) and interest. No matter what stage your child is in, they are working on necessary skills and therefore successful in this journal writing activity. Our Advent Good Deed was to make an ornament for our Librarians.

The Spirit Rally was exciting! We were so proud to receive the Spanish Award from Miss. Koval.
       
Wednesday: Our Advent Good Deed was to make a thank you card for our school nurse, Mrs. Krasucki. She always takes such great care of us. Again, we rested earlier so we could attend the Christmas Concert in the afternoon. Kindergarten through third grade, Choir, and band members perform in the concert every year. They performed the concert for the whole school today and tonight they will perform for their families. It was nice for our class to get a sneak peek at what they will be doing next year.

*** Please be sure your child has his or her navy or black sweatshirt everyday. This is part of the winter uniform. 
*** Please remember to send napkins in the lunch box. We use one as a placemat for snack and one as a placemat for lunch, as well as one to wipe hands, if lunch is a bit messy.

Thursday is a normal day for us. Back to our regular routine and Firday is a half day for all.

Thursday: I will update my page after 4:30. I apologize for the delay. I had a meeting during rest and afterschool on Thursdays I assist with Discover Your Palette afterschool club. Tomorrow is a half day for everyone (NO EAGLES CLUB). I will explain dismissal procedures since many of our friends do not usually leave at regular dismissal. If someone other than a parent is picking up, I need a handwritten note in the folder tomorrow. I will need to check ID's so tell the person to have it ready and in his or her hand.

Today we were finishing up our surprises for our families for Christmas. These will be sent home early next week. I don't want to wait until Friday in case a child is sick. I don't want them to be disappointed that they do not have their gifts for you. In our Pictionary books each week we draw pictures that begin with the letter of the week. I demonstrate on the Smart Board how to draw some pictures. They must do three pictures of my choosing. Then they do two pictures of their own choosing. This week we tried something new. After we drew pictures that began with B, we wrote two words. I had everyone draw a ball and a blue spot. As I wrote on the Smart Board, they copied the words BALL and blue, which we sounded out together. It was great to see how far they have come and how eager they were to try. For many of them, they entered our class not knowing how to write their name or it wasn't quite as legible as it is now. At this point of the year they have the better control and proper pencil grip for these tasks. Thank you to Madelyn for our cooking activity today, Bears on the Beach. It was the best! 
                                    

I ask that everyone has patience tomorrow with dismissal. It is rare that the whole school dismisses at the same time. Please remind family members who are picking up for the first time that no car may drive from its spot without the direction of a teacher. It goes very smoothly if we all follow the teacher's lead and there is an order to how each row is dismissed. When exiting the school, if you drive to the right toward Limestone Road, you must park in the back lot. If you turn left, toward Duncan Road, you park in the front. Regardless of where you park, you must exit your car and pick up your child from the playground area. Children will stay with me until an adult comes to pick them up.

Adults stand back by the Gerres Building. Each class from our building walks along the sidewalk to the edge of the playground. As you see your child's class you walk forward. When you see me reach the edge with our class, please walk over to us. I will dismiss each child one at a time as they are in line. Please do not grab them from line or wave to them to come over. I need to see who the children are leaving with. Please stand back while they other classes are dismissing. This will help the classes dismiss faster. It is hard to locate the parents when there is a crowd in front of us.

Since we do not have Rest, I most likely will not be able to check my email tomorrow. If someone other than a parent is picking up, please send a note in the folder tomorrow. To make the process go smoother, please tell them to have their ID's with them. 
 

Friday: Our discussion today was about where Jesus was born and we created a Nativity craft to go along with our discussion. We used craft sticks to represent the wood of the stable. We added crinkled paper to represent the hay. These will be sent home Monday as they will need the weekend to dry. Happy Birthday, Liam H! Thank you for the brownies.

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December 4, 2017
Advent is here! Lots of exciting things will be happening in EC4A over the next three weeks as we prepare for Christmas. Today we began our Advent Good Deed Tree. There are good deeds written on the fifteen circles, one for each day of school until Christmas break. As we complete one, it is covered with a green circle. Today's chosen deed is "to help your parents with a chore". Sometime tonight allow your child to help you with a chore. 
                

This week we will have fun with Gingerbread Stories and the letter G. Using several Gingerbread stories I will introduce the children to different literary concepts (on the preschool level, of course). We will discuss the Who, What, Where, and How of the stories as we compare and contrast each book. Each of the stories has a different main character (Who) as well as setting (Where). On Friday, we will end Gingerbread Week by decorating Gingerbread Man shaped cookies.

Reminders for the Week:
*** Chick-Fil-A orders are due tomorrow.
*** Send in one slipper to be put in the hallway for St. Nick Day on 
       Wednesday. Maybe St. Nicholas will visit us and leave a treat in 
       our slippers.
*** Send in a SMALL stuffed animal on Thursday for our Snuggles, Show, and a 
      Snack afternoon.
*** Friday we are attending the 8:00 Mass.
*** Monday, December 11th, is Santa Secret Shop. 

Monday: Today we read Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett. At the end, the Gingerbread Baby was saved by Matti. Matti baked and decorated a Gingerbread House for the Baby to live in. We decorated our own houses today. Some students really enjoyed decorating the paper house. This required the students to cut small shapes. I told them they could just cut around the trees and candy canes. Some really wanted to try to cut on the lines and did a great job. Last Friday, we sent home your child's Advent wreath with flames to glue on each Sunday during Advent. If your child did not glue a flame to one purple candle, please do so tonight for the first week of Advent. If your child was absent or late last Thursday, they did not make an Advent wreath. And thank you for sending in the Christmas stocking project on time. They look fabulous!!! I will send a picture of our bulletin board when it is completed. Happy Birthday, Sean! We enjoyed the yummy cupcakes.

Tuesday: Today we read Gingerbread Kid Goes to School by Joan Holub and we decorated a Gingerbread Kid. We also decorated a paper Christmas light bulb by adding glitter. Our Advent Good Deed of the day is to "Read a book with your family tonight". Enjoy some snuggle time with your child tonight! 

*** Remember to send in one slipper or shoe to school tomorrow for the feast of St. Nicholas. During rest time, the children will leave their shoe in the hallway in hopes that St. Nick will visit and place a treat in the slippers.

*** Thank you for responding so quickly to the December Donations and Volunteers Sign Up Genius! I truly appreciate your generosity during this busy time of year. The children will love decorating Gingerbread cookies on Friday!

Wednesday: Today our Gingerbread Story was Ninjabread Man by C.J. Leigh, a different twist on the classic story. Our Advent Good Deed of the day was a kind deed for Ms. Luce, our Computer teacher. The children voted to make a card for her. Each child colored a Christmas sheet (they could choose different pictures) for her. We will deliver those tomorrow.

*** Thursday is our Snuggles, Show, and a Snack afternoon. Please remember
      to send in a SMALL stuffed animal inside the school bag tomorrow for this
      special reward afternoon.

So much excitement after nap today! We went into the hallway and found that our shoes were filled with surprises! And... a pesent was left for the classroom! I guess Santa Claus heard me talking about how I would love new toys for the kitchen area because we received new food! The children cannot wait for center time tomorrow. More pictures under the Photos tab to the left.
           

Thursday: Our cooking activity was perfect for G and the season. We made Grinch Kabobs. Thanks, Cara. They were great! Our Advent Good Deed of the Day was to visit Mrs. B and Mrs. Thompson in the front office and wish them Merry Christmas. We also gave them each a holiday note pad. Our Snuggles, Show, and a Snack was lots of fun. They chose to watch Paw Patrol and we enjoyed Goldfish, pretzels, and Oreos. At rest time, they were allowed to keep their stuffed friends with them. 

*** Tomorrow we will attend the 8:00 Mass. We will leave the classroom
      at 7:45 for Church. If your child is late, please bring them to Church.
                     

Friday: What a busy day! First we attended Mass for the Immaculate Conception Holy Day. Their behavior was excellent! We finally earned a piece to Mrs. Potato Head. It's been a tough week for group behavior, but any change to our routine usually upsets the balance in our preschool world.

When we returned to our class after Mass the craziest thing occured! The Gingerbread Baby had taken our Gingerbread Man Cookies! He left a note behind on the table sending us on a scavenger hunt through the school to find them. We raced to keep up with him, but he's too fast! He gave us riddles for us to figure out where he went next. We went to the faculty room, the bathroom, the Spanish room, the main office, and finally we found the cookies in the Library. We then decorated the cookies and they were delicious! Thank you to Logan for the yummy cookies and Madelyn and Andrew for the decorating supplies. 

Our Advent Good Deed of the day was to visit Sr. JoAnn and sing Jingle Bells. We brought our bells with us and surprised her in the Library.
                             

Reminders for next week:
*** Please sign and return the report card envelopes.
*** Monday is Santa Shop. Remember to send in your envelope so your child
      can shop. Our Shopping will take place in the Art Room.
*** Monday is also Chick- Fil-A Lunch for those who ordered. There is no
      hot lunch and we will be eating in the classroom.
*** Tuesday we will eat in the classroom and there is no hot lunch. It is the 
       Honors Luncheon for grade 4 through 8.
*** The Spirit Rally is in the afternoon at 1:30 until 2:15. We will rest earlier
      that day since the majority of the class still sleeps. 
*** Friday is an 11:35 dismissal. There is no Eagles Club that day so that
      all employees can attend the Staff Christmas Luncheon.

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November 27, 2017
Welcome back! We will learn about the letter C and Creation this week. We will decorate a Creation mobile with picture cards. Each day we will add cards to our mobile. Our cards will be painted, colored, and glued. It is a very busy project!
In the folders today, is a Christmas Stocking project to be completed at home. These are due next Monday, but feel free to send in whenever they are completed.

Monday: Today we read about Creation from a Children's Bible. We painted with watercolor paint a raindrop card for the waters of the ocean. We also colored a sun and moon card which we will add glitter tomorrow. Happy Birthday, Luke! Thank you for the munchkins.

Tuesday: We learned about living and nonliving things today. We played a card game and a Smart Board game where we had to sort pictures into living and nonliving. For our Creation mobile, we added glitter to our moon and we made a tree using tissue paper. 

*** Tickets to Breakfast with Santa are in the folders today.
*** Information about Santa Shop, December 11, are in the folders today.
*** Please practice with your child  recognizing his or her last name. For
      morning check in during December, students will find their last name and  
      slide it into the tree. This will help the students in Computer Class as well.

Wednesday: Our first members of the zipper club were added to the poster. While most of the class is close to this achievement, these first members are consistent with their zipper skills (fleeces, fall jackets, heavy winter coats) These students also can put their coat on by themselves without laying it on the floor and flipping the coat over their head. They also do not require the teacher to start the zipper for them. When your child becomes a member of the zipper club, his or her name is added to the poster and will find two lollipops inside his or her backpack.

Thursday:We are busy with our Creation mobiles. Add added feathers to our bird pictures and sequin scales to our fish. We also colored a people card and a zebra card. We learned that God created creatures both big and small for the air, land, and waters. You may have noticed the extra Religion pages in the folders. Usually we complete our page on Mondays, but the text had great pages regarding Creation so we added a few extra lessons from the text this week. Thank you Brandon for the Chocolate spiders for our cooking activity today. They were really cool! 

And as you can see from the picture below......... We are voting tomorrow!!!!! Great job dressing another Mr. Potato Head and earning those rewards.

                 

Friday:We read the story It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw today. Then we spilled milk (painted diluted with water) onto blue construction paper. When they dried, we began deciding what our spills looked like and attempting to spell those words. A few friends need to spell on Monday. 

  The results of our Mr. Potato Head reward voting from this morning. They chose to bring a stuffed animal to school to snuggle with while watching a show and eating a snack. We will enjoy Snuggles, Show, and a Snack on Thursday, December 7th, after lunch. Students may bring a small stuffed animal (one that is small enough to fit inside the schoolbag) to school on Thursday.

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November 20, 2017
We continue with our theme of Thanksgiving and the Letter T this week. Mrs. K and I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday this week. Enjoy the time with your family and to those of you who are traveling, have a safe trip.

Reminders for the week:
*** Tuesday- there is no hot lunch. We will eat lunch in the classroom so that
      Kindergarten may have their Thanksgiving feast in the hall.
*** We will attend the 9:30 Mass on Tuesday.
*** Wednesday is our Thanksgiving Celebration in our classroom. Thank you to 
      everyone who volunteered to help or donate something for the party.
*** Dismissal on Wednesday is 11:35. If your child is staying for Eagles Club,
      there was a School email about ordering pizza for lunch. 
*** No school on Thursday or Friday. Happy Thanksgiving!

Monday: Today we introduced My Plate and discussed healthy eating. My Plate  replaced the food pyramid in 2011. It is a good visual reminder to have as many of the five major food groups on your plate with every meal. (Fruits, Vegetables, Grains, Protein, and Dairy) We played a game where we sorted pictures of foods into the appropriate food group.

Tuesday: What a beautiful Thanksgiving Mass today! The class was well behaved and we enjoyed listening to the choir and band play. At the end, a bench was donated and blessed by the friends of Eleanor Hughes. She was a former third grade teacher at SJB who passed away last year. My daughter, April, was her last class here when she retired. Tomorrow is our Thanksgiving celebration. You do not have to send in a morning snack. We will be having Goldfish for snack in between Art and Spanish classes. After Spanish, we will have our celebration. If your child is staying for Eagles, please send in an afternoon snack. Dismissal is 11:35 tomorrow.

We had a fire drill this morning, so when Code Yellow was announced we assumed it was another drill. The children were at Rest time so they were mostly unaware of the situation. I had heard that Kirkwood Highway was closed at one point so I told the children not to be alarmed if they did not see their parents at dismissal. I simply said there was alot of traffic on Kirkwood Highway so we want to get to our cars and get home quickly before the roads become more conjested. I told them we were not playing on the playground at dismissal and that they were to go right to their cars. Mr. Hart also announced that we need to exit the building quickly and go directly to our cars. The class did great, but I am sure that they were aware something was going on.

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November 13, 2017
Our theme for the next two weeks is Thanksgiving and the letter T. We will have activities centered around turkeys, being thankful, and the first Thanksgiving. We are continuing to work with numbers and counting objects up to 10. On Wednesday, we will be taking a trip on the Mayflower! Please send your child to school with an item they would pack for the trip. Remember to pack an item that would be considered a neccessity. Please be sure your child's name is on the item.

Reminders for the week:
*** Wednesday is our Book Fair at Barnes and Noble at the Christiana Mall.
       Everyone looks forward to this event every year. After shopping, be sure to 
       have dinner at Chick-Fil-A! They are supporting us as well.
*** Friday's dismissal is 11:35. If your child attends Eagles Club, be sure to 
      pack lunch as there is no hot lunch.
*** Saturday is our 60th Anniversary celebration. Please attend the 5:00 Mass 
       and then tour the school.

Monday: We introuduced our new theme by discussing how our families celebrate Thanksgiving. We talked about the foods we eat and where we celebrate. We began a turkey art project, which we will glue together tomorrow. We painted a paper plate and bowl with brown paint. Then we traced and cut out six feathers for our turkeys. We voted for our reward for adding all the pieces to Mrs. Potato Head. Our choices were Show and snuggles with a stuffed animal, Extra recess time, and a Dance Party with glow sticks. Below are the results. Our special reward will take place this Friday.
                          

Tuesday: We read two books at Circle about being thankful. Then we brainstormed things that we are thankful for. We discussed being thankful for things we cannot live without such as family, food, shelter, etc. We decorated our Thankful Turkey bulletin board. Each child cut out a feather and then we wrote one thing for which they were thankful and added the feathers to the turkey. Later we completed our turkey art project. A lot of glue was needed to assemble these turkeys, but it was worth it. They are adorable!

*** Tomorrow we are taking our trip on the Mayflower. Remember to send in an item with your child (see above). Please tape your child's name on the item. We will send them home on Friday.

Wednesday: We had a fun time pretending we were Pilgrims this morning. The circle time rug was the Mayflower and we talked about how difficult the journey might have been. The weather was stormy and many Pilgrims became ill, so being on a ship for about two months did not sound like an adventure to our class. We packed all of our items in a trunk (plastic tub). The items the students brought in were great! They were appropriate for the time period and useful items. Each child placed their item in the trunk and shared why they chose that item. This prompted many discussions on how life was much different than life today. If anyone forgot an item today, he or she may bring one in to share tomorrow. These will be sent home Friday when we finish our lesson on Pilgrims.
I hope everyone enjoys the Book Fair tonight. I am scheduled to volunteer at the wrapping station at 7:00 so I might miss many of you. 
                             

Thursday: Today we continued with our discussion of Pilgrim life. We read about the chores Pilgrim children had. We discussed how the Pilgrim had to learn how to grow new crops and hunt when they came to America with the help of Squanto. We decorated a cornucopia. We listened to a story and created Pilgrim Memory Beads which are in the folders today. Thank you Liam B. for the Tasty Turkey Cupcakes for cooking today. They were terrific!

*** Friday is 11:35 dismissal. If your child is in Eagles Club, remember to send
      in a lunch.
                             
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November 6, 2017
This week we will focus on the letter L and will learn about Leaves. We have two projects that will need some assistance. This week we will read Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. Your child will receive on Monday a bag to collect leaves (not too crunchy), acorns, or twigs to bring into school for an art project related to the book. Please help your child collect these by Thursday. On Friday, we will go on a Nature Walk/ Scavenger Hunt around the school buildings. We would like a few parents to walk with us. Each group will have a clipboard with a checklist of items to locate. The Nature Walk will be from 10:15 to 10:45. If you are available to walk with us, please let me know. After the walk, you are welcome to stay while we eat lunch in the classroom, if you have the time. We have our Chick-Fil-A lunch and could use the extra hands to help pass out the food.

*** Winter Uniform is in effect as of November 6th.
*** Picture Retake is Thursday, November 9th.
*** Tag Day (theme is Sports), Pretzel Day (for those who ordered), and Chick-       Fil-A lunch (for those who ordered) will be Friday, November 10th.

Monday: We were very Lucky that the rain stayed away and we could enjoy outdoor recess today. We began our discussion of leaves by reading Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert. We made leaf rubbings with crayons and plastic leaf cards. We learned the three major parts of a leaf: the stem, the blade, and the veins. The rubbings allowed us to see the veins up close. In the sensory table, the children are collecting leaves (pom poms) with clothes pins and sorting them by color. 

Tuesday: The students were very excited to try a new kind of art today. We painted a leaf shape with glue and then sprinkled colored sand over the glue. Students chose sand in a fall color and then pinched a small amount of sand between their fingers. They were so careful and focused! These will be displayed outside our classroom. We created a Favorite Fall Leaf Color graph on the Smart Board. The children had to drag their names into the circle of their choice. The children are improving with their skills on the Smart Board. They prefer to use my pointer, rather than their fingers for touch screen responses, but they have increased their control. They are able to click on their responses and slide items into a shape when we play games. Every Monday, they use the Smart Board pen to write the letter of the week. It took some time for the children to adapt to these skills as they are more comfortable with an iPad.

*** Winter uniform is in effect. Please be sure your child's name is written on his or her sweatshirt and fleece pullover. If it gets too warm in our room (especially in gym class) or a cooking project is a bit messy, we may ask the children to remove their sweatshirts.

Wednesday: Wednesdays are a challenge sometimes since we do not follow our regular schedule and there is the excitement of two specials in one day. The Wednesday after time change... was a bit rough today. The children were having a hard time today listening and being good friends. Some just seemed exhausted! So we had indoor recess after lunch. We played inside and I put on a show from PBS Kids for those who just wanted to chill on the carpet. I tried to explain they were not in trouble, they just needed a break. The rest of the day was great!

Thursday: We began our Leaf Man creations today. Thank you for collecting the leaves and other nature items. We had some very creative ideas flowing for this art project. We will continue with these tomorrow. We also used tracers for the first time in class today. We are creating a corn stalk to add to our hallway bulletin board. Each child held the corn shape tracer and then traced the shape onto yellow and green construction paper. They did a fantastic job! We cut out the shapes and tomorrow we will glue them together and add tissue paper kernels. Thank you to Logan for the Ladybug cooking activity. They looked lovely!
                            

*** Tomorrow is Tag Day and the theme is Sports. They may wear hats also.
*** Tomorrow is Pretzel Day for those who ordered. 
*** Tomorrow is Chick-Fil-A lunch for those who ordered.

*** Many of you ordered both the pretzels and lunch, so you don't have to send in a lunch box. However, please send in a drink for snack time.

*** We are keeping an eye on the weather for tomorrow. It is forcasted to be chilly, but we are super excited for our Nature Walk. And we have several volunteers who are able to help out since they do not have work due to Veteran's Day. Please send in hats and gloves for your child to wear. We are approaching winter weather. The office will alert the teachers when outdoor lunch recess is cancelled due to low temperatures. We try our best to allow them to be outdoors for recess, so please be sure your child always has appropriate outerwear. During winter when outdoor recess is permitted, I may shorten the length of recess to allow them some time outside and then playtime inside.

Friday: What an exciting day! Tag Day is always exciting. They love checking out each other's clothes and we get to dance to our "Colors Song". Every morning we dance and move during circle time. The color song is one of our favorites, but when we wear our uniforms there are some colors that are not represented. During the song, the colors are called and if you are wearing that color you get up and dance. Our Nature Walk was a success. We prayed at circle time that it would not be too windy, and God answered. Each group had a clip board with a Scavenger Hunt checklist. Thank you to Mrs. K for making our special binoculars. Thank you to all our Moms who volunteered to walk with us and then stay and serve our Chick-Fil-A lunch.
                   We did it! Reward voting on Monday!

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October 30, 2017
We have a busy week ahead of us. This week, we celebrate Halloween and will focus on the Letter S. Our theme for the week is Saints and Scarecrows. We will attend Mass for All Saints Day on Wednesday. On Thursday, we have the Prevent Child Abuse presentation.

The Saint Projects are due on Monday. Each day, a few students will share their fact about their chosen saint. Here is the schedule for presentations.
           Monday- Addison, Andrew, Anthony, Blanca
           Tuesday- Brady, Brandon, Cara, Charley, Erin
           Wednesday- Grace, Jenna, Juliana, Liam B., Liam H.
           Thursday- Logan, Luke, Madelyn, Madison, Sean
           Friday- Stani, Stella, Stevie, Taylor, Xander

Halloween reminders- Students wear Halloween costumes to school with uniform underneath, if possible. The parade will take place at 8:30 in the back parking lot for the 3 and 4 year old classes. We will then pose for group photos and then we will parade throughout the school. Please drop off any food donations for the party at arrival time. If your child's costume will not fit inside the school bag, please send an additional bag to carry the costume home.

Monday: Today we read about St. Francis and discussed the Franciscan values our school follows. We decorated scarecrows. We will add pictures of our faces to the scarecrows before we add them to our bulletin board. We had our pretzel make up day today and enjoyed our pretzels at snack time.

Tuesday: Happy Halloween! Thank you for your donations and assistance with our party today. We appreciate everything you do for our class. The tables looked lovely and the food was delicious. After lunch we played Halloween Bingo with a partner, Pass the Pumpkin, and danced to Halloween music. We had rest time as usual. We hope everyone has a wonderful time tonight!

 

We will attend the 8:00 Mass Wednesday morning with our 7th grade buddies. Please send in the Chick-Fil-A order tomorrow, if you wish to place an order. On days when we cannot eat in the hall, Student Council offers this special lunch. There will not be hot lunch from Aramark since we cannot use the hall and will be eating in the classroom.

Wednesday: We are so proud of our class! We were so well behaved at Mass this morning. A parishoner even commented to Mrs. K at the end of Mass how good we were. Due to Mass, we did not have Art class. Ask your child about Spanish class. They had a special party in class. Tomorrow we have the Prevent Child Abuse presentation in our classroom.
         
                                     All Saints Day bulletin board

Thursday: Mrs. Twilley visited our class for the Prevent Child Abuse Presentation. Many of the children recognized her from Safety Town. We continued with our scarecrow art projects and practiced the letter S. Thanks Grace for the S'mores Cups for our cooking activity! In Gym, we had a dance party, which is one of the children's favorite gym actvities.  
                                     
      
*** We found a black school sweatshirt in the classroom without a name on it. If this belongs to your child, please let me know.

*** We could use donations of wipes for cleaning hands in the classroom.
Thank you!

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October 23, 2017
Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to meet for conferences last week. I apologize for running behind schedule. It was a great opportunity to discuss your child and his or her progress. Parents and teachers are a team with one goal: your child. Your child's happiness and success is the priority, so please contact me if any questions or issues should arise.

This week we will introduce the letter H and our new theme, Halloween. We have several art projects planned featuring monsters, candy corn, and ghosts. We also will review the numbers 0 through 10. We have been playing number games during Shelf Work. Last week, we added the appropriate number of seeds (buttons) to pumpkin cut outs based on the number written on the pumpkin. This week, we are adding spiders to a web. Each web has a number written on it so your child knows how many spider counters to add.

Monday: Two important letters are in your child's folder today. One has information regarding Halloween activities for our class. The other is a Saint project that is to be completed at home for next week's theme. We read Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley. This book always makes my classes laugh! We painted paper plates to become the monster's face when we glue the silly parts tomorrow. Happy birthday to Andrew! Thank you for the yummy brownies.

             SCHOOL PICTURES ARE IN THE FOLDERS TODAY!!!!! 

Mr. Potato Head picnic update: We will have chocolate chip cookies and goldfish at our picnic. I'm not sure which day will be our picnic. We have birthdays on Monday and Wednesday. Tuesday is forcasted to be rainy and cooking on Thursday. It looks like Friday is the day unless another opportunity arises.

Tuesday: This morning we made cards for our parish priests for Priesthood Sunday, which is October 29th. Each child colored a picture of a chalice, bread, and grapes. We discussed the job of a priest. Then each child wrote "Thank you" on the card. I wrote each letter on the Smart Board one at a time and each child copied my example. They did a great job! I told them they were doing kindergarten work. (They felt very proud of that) We practiced our rhyming words and played a partner game. Each child had a picture and had to find the child with the matching rhyming word. Going up to a friend and asking to see the card was nudging some children to come out of his or her comfort zone. It was great to see them working together and trying a new task.

*** Recess: For safety reasons, we had indoor recess today. The rain had stopped, however, the field, playground, and black top was soaked. We didn't want the children to get hurt. They enjoyed playing inside and coloring Halloween pictures with markers.

Wednesday: This morning we acted out the story, Ten Timid Ghosts, by Jennifer O'Connell. Students stood in the front of the Smart Board as I read the story holding the numbers 0 through 10. As ghosts leave the haunted house in the story, the numbers decrease as each ghost is subtracted. Students took turns making their numbered ghost disappear until no students/ ghosts were standing.      
                    Here is our Go Away, Big Green Monster art display.
                             

I have reserved the picnic tables for our Mr. Potato Head picnic on Friday morning. There are picnic tables on the left side of the main building, near the Vianney House. The older classes use the tables for snack time and outdoor learning activities. They are very kind to allow us to have our picnic there. You do not have to send a snack on Friday, unless your child will not eat Goldfish and chocolate chip cookies.

Thursday: We painted candy corn shapes with pom poms held by clothes pins today. They thought it was very cool to paint in a different way. We also used stamps today, which they LOVED! Each student had to stamp the appropriate number of Halloween symbols according to the number. These are in the folders, but the candy corn will decorate our classroom. Thank you Sean for the Hershey Kiss Halloween Hat for our H cooking activity!
                                

Friday: We finally enjoyed our picnic! They had a great time and one student commented that it was "The best picnic ever!!!". They worked hard to learn the rules of the classroom and our expectations. It had a positive affect because.... we earned two pieces to Mrs. Potato Head today! Even Ms. Luce commented in Computer class that she could see the growth of our class. We missed class the past two weeks due to the field trip and our conferences. She was impressed at how well behaved we were and how kind we were to each other. I wonder what our next reward we be? 

We read the book, The Ghost Dinner, by Jacques Duquennoy. In the book, the ghosts change color based on the food they eat for dinner. (They turned orange after eating pumpkin soup.) We colored coffee filters (ghosts) with markers and then sprayed them with water. They will dry over the weekend and on Monday we will decide what food they ate to make the ghosts turn colors. We also completed a comprehension paper based on the story.

*** We are working on becoming members of our Zipper Club. To be added to our poster, the child must be able to put on a coat by his or her self (without putting the coat on the floor and flipping it) and zip the coat. Please practice putting on coats, fixing the sleeves when they are inside out, and zipping.

*** Next week, we will discuss Saints and Scarecrows. Please send in your child's saint project on Monday. The projects that have come in already are amazing! 
                                 Have a great weekend!!!!!
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October 16, 2017
Parent and Teacher Conferences will take place this week. Everyone signed up for a time slot on the Sign Up Genius. You should receive an email reminding you of your time. Due to Eagles Club using our classroom this week, I will have to meet with some of you in different locations on Thursday. If your time is between 1:00 and 2:30, I will meet with you in the Conference Room across from the Library in the main building. At 2:30, I will move to Mrs. Cuocolo's classroom. Her room is in our building at the end of the hallway. I will use Mrs. Cuocolo's room from 2:30 until 4:15. From 5:30 until 7:45, I will be in our classroom. On Friday, all conferences will be in our classroom.

This week we continue with our theme of Pumpkins and the Letter Pp. Last week, we focused on the parts of a pumpkin. This week, we will focus on how a pumpkin grows. We will not have cooking this week since we enjoyed cooking last week for the Letter P. Thursday we have 11:35 dismissal and Friday there is no school due to conferences.

**** Scholastic Book Orders are due Wednesday. If you choose to order books for your child, please order online or send in the order by then.

Monday: We read Growing Pumpkins by Melvin Berger and learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin. We completed our October page for our binder. We began to create our own mini books about growing pumpkins. We can't wait to bring them home and read them to you once they are all completed.

Tuesday: We worked on the concept of same and different. Using the children as visuals, we talked about their clothing. Two children with the same yellow shirts stood together and two children with the same black sweatshirts stood in another group. Then we discussed how those groups were different. (sweatpants/shorts, short sleeves/long sleeves) We then completed a paper where the children had to find the different pumpkins and marked them with an X. They also had to color the pumpkins that were the same. We continued with our mini books about growing pumpkins.

Wednesday: Yay! As you can see, Mr. Potato Head is complete! It was a rough start to the day. When I returned to Art Class to pick up my friends, I learned that several students were throwing crayons in class. What really upset me is that three times they were asked to stop the behavior, yet chose to continue. When we returned to class we discussed the behavior and how it affected the whole group. We could not earn a piece for Mr. Potatao Head since it is a group effort and the group was not at their best. We really have been trying all week to earn that last piece and I think the talk helped because Spanish class was fabulous! They did a fantastic job of listening and remembering the rules. And now Mr. Potato Head is complete! After rest we voted on the Smart Board for our reward. Ten students voted for a Picnic with a special treat brought in by Mrs. Elliott, nine students voted for Snuggles and a Show (bringing in a stuffed animal and a watching a show), and five students voted for a Dance Party. It was time for dismissal, so tomorrow we will decide on a treat and we will have snack outside possibly Monday. Now, it's Mrs. Potato Head's turn!
                                     
As you know, we were in lock down for a time this afternoon. We were resting when Mr. Hart calmly announced that we were to stay inside the building. Most of the class was asleep. A few heard the announcement, but since it was nap time we didn't press the issue any further. At dismissal, I just told the children that no one could play on the playground today.

Dismissal tomorrow is 11:35. If your child is staying for Eagles Club, remember there is no hot lunch. There is no school on Friday. I am looking forward to meeting with everyone and sharing some of your child's work. Our first progress report will be distributed in December when the trimester ends.  

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October 10, 2017
We will begin a two week unit on Pumpkins and the Letter P. Thank you for the donations of pumpkins and gourds; they will really enhance our lessons. The gourds and mini pumpkins are on our Science table for investigating. There is a pumpkin in our Sensory table that we are hammering nails (golf tees) into and removing with pliers to practice our fine motor skills. We will cut open a pumpkin to see what is inside. We have fake pumpkins, fake leaves, and plastic wheel barrows in our housekeeping area. And of course, Friday is finally our field trip to Coleman's Tree Farm.

*** Friday is Tag Day, however, we will be on our field trip. Our class will have Tag Day on Thursday, October 12 instead. The theme is Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness. Pretzels will still be delivered on Friday. We will eat them when we return from the trip, or send them home depending on how hungry the students are.

Tuesday: We read Pumpkin Patch Parable by Liz Curtis Higgs. Students stuffed a brown paper bag and then painted it to resemble a pumpkin. We also learned the rhyme/ poem, "5 Little Pumpkins". Mill Creek Fire Company visited us today after lunch for a fire safety discussion and fire engine demonstration. I told the class that I would upload some pictures tonight or tomorrow to the photo tab. A note regarding Friday's field trip is in the folders today. Lunches must be in disposible containers so the children do not have to carry around containers or lunch boxes all day.

Wednesday: Today we learned the parts of a pumpkin; stem, skin, pulp, strand, and seed. I cut open a pumpkin and those who were brave chose to touch the pulp and strands. (I wore gloves! Too slimy for me too!) Everyone took a turn scooping out seeds with a spoon. Later, we played "Where's the Pumpkin?". We are working on using our asking words and descriptive words and this game focused on descriptive words. Our words are very important when communicating. I hid a small pumpkin and they could not point when they found it. The students had to tell where the pumpkin was (on top of the shelf, next to the bulletin board). 

*** Tomorrow is our Tag Day. This is rescheduled from Friday due to our Field Trip. Wear pink!

Thursday: Thank you to Taylor for the yummy Plain and Pumpkin Pancakes for our cooking activity today. They were perfect! We completed a paper model of a pumpkin. We glued the pulp (yellow paper) to our skin (orange paper pumpkin). We added a stem (green paper), strands (yellow yarn), and seeds (real seeds from the pumpkin we cut open yesterday). These will be displayed on the hallway once all the glue dries.

*** Coleman's Tree Farm trip is tomorrow. Children arrive at regular time. Chaperones arrive at 8:15. Lunches must be in disposable bag. Children wear uniforms with sneakers or rain boots. We will leave the farm at 12:30 to return to school about 1:30.                                             The larger pancake is a pumpkin pancake.

Friday: We had a fabulous time at Coleman's! The children really enjoyed themselves, especially the bus ride! Thank you to all chaperones, you truly helped to make the trip successful. When we returned to school in the afternoon, we had a Pretzel Picnic on the Pretty rug. We watched a Curious George show on the Smart Board and relaxed instead of having our usual rest time. I have many pictures to upload and will send a few of your child to you if you were not on the trip. We added another piece to Mr. Potato Head since our behavior on the trip was excellent. One arm left to go until we earn a reward!!!                        
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October 2, 2017
It's October, so we have changed our seats at the tables. Very exciting as the children get a chance to socialize with other classmates. This week, we focus on the letter F and Fire Prevention. Another busy week ahead for EC4A! Tuesday is our Vision screening. Please return consent form. Wednesday will be special and prayerful. We will attend our first school Mass. We sit with the seventh graders and each child will have a buddy to keep him or her quiet and reverent. In the afternoon, Deacon Fontana will visit our class to bless our class pet, Nemo, before he blesses the animals for the whole school outside. On Thursday, we will cook and finish our fire prevention theme with a game. There is no school on Friday, October 6th, or Monday, October 9th.

*** Donations needed! Next week, we will begin a two week unit on pumpkins.
       We need 2 to 3 pumpkins, small pumpkins and gourds for our Science  
       table, and cheap fake pumkins and leaves for our dramatic play area.
       If you are able to donate, please ley me know. Thank you!!!!!!

Monday: We began our Fire Prevention theme by reading, Firehouse Dog, by Amy and Richard Hutchings. This book introduces the life of a firefighter through the eyes of a Dalmatian named Hooper. We then created our own firehouse dogs which will hang outside our classroom. We added several fire prevention toys to our centers for the week. In the sensory table, the children are washing a fire engine and enjoying soapy water play. We are painting fire engines at the easels. And we have two fire stations and emergency vehicles in the block area.
Happy Birthday, Taylor! Thank you for the cupcakes.

*** An email was sent today regarding the Blessing of Animals on Wednesday         at 2:00. If your child is participating, please come to our building and wait 
      outside. We will bring them out when Deacon Fontana is finished blessing 
      Nemo about 1:50.

Tuesday: We read about the different types of fire engines today such as pumper trucks, ladder trucks, tiller trucks, searchlight trucks, and off road trucks. We also learned that there are special fire boats and helicopters to reach forest fires. We created fire engines by painting the paper towel rolls and toilet paper rolls. (Thank you for sending those in!) We had our Vision Screening today. Our Clifford magazine was about fire fighters.

During the month of October, the older grades are saying a decade of the rosary before dismissal each day. We are saying one Hail Mary every morning. I have added a prayer intention rosary to our prayer table bulletin board. Beginning tomorrow, each day, two students will be asked to name two people they would like us to remember when we pray the Hail Mary. I will write their names on the rosary beads.
                                

Wednesday: Our class definitely loves routine and this week has been a challenge for them. We have had some schedule changes and it definitely has affected them. Our snack time had to be shifted Tuesday and Wednesday and nap time today was earlier. We missed Art and Spanish due to Mass today. They are learning that sometimes we have to be flexible. While we did not earn a piece to Mr. Potato Head on Monday or Tuesday, we earned one today! They were excellent in Church. Everyone was quiet and respectful. A few reminders from our seventh grade Church buddies to be quiet were needed. Overall, Mrs. K and I were impressed because Mass was a bit longer today. Student Council officers were inducted and Sister Joann was honored. Great job!

Deacon Fontana visited our class after nap to bless Nemo. He did a beautiful presentation on St. Francis and that we should respect all of God's creatures, big and small. The pictures are under the Photos tab on my page.  


Thursday: Today we made Brady's "Frosty the Snowman" for our Letter F cooking. We played a Fire Safety game with flashcards that we colored and cut out. Those will be sent home in a zip lock bag.  
                                
                   
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September 25, 2017
We have a busy week ahead! This will be our first Letter of the Week and Cooking activity. We will focus on A. We also will begin our new theme of Apples where we will learn the parts of an apple, the life cycle, do some apple taste testing, and apple art. Tuesday is Independence Day and we have School Pictures on Wednesday. Friday is an early dismissal day (11:35).

Monday: In class, we will cut open an apple and name the parts of an apple. We will discuss helping others in Religion. We will do several activities to introduce the letter A. Tomorrow is Independence Day. Please allow your child to enter our building by him or her self and walk to our classroom. Mrs. K will be by our door awaiting their arrival. We had our first fire drill today. The children did great lining up and exiting the building quickly. We reminded them that during a fire drill there is no talking in case the teachers need to give directions.

*** Volunteer Covenants were sent home in the folders if only one parent signed the form. Both signatures are required. Thank you!

Tuesday: Today we learned that an apple begins as a pink and white flower on a tree. We also learned that apples are green first, then can change to red or yellow. We practiced our sequencing skills by putting the life cycle of an apple in order. The children had to color the pictures based on what we discussed in class and following the directions during the activity. The first picture was a pink flower, next was the green fruitlet, next was a small, growing green apple, and finally an apple that could be colored green, red, or yellow. Our Clifford Magazine was also about apples. Both of these activities are in the folder today. We also created an apple by gluing tissue paper squares to an apple drawing, which I will keep to decorate our classroom. Happy Birthday, Juliana! Thank you for the Munchkins.

*** - Wednesday is Picture Day! Please remember to send in the form or                    purchase online. Students may wear uniform or dressy clothes/ Sunday              best. We are scheduled for 8:00.
       - Please place a note in the folder if you are not purchasing the Kid Stuff              book. Several books were in the schoolbags, but we weren't sure if the              books were being returned or if you did not have a chance to check them          out.

Wednesday: School pictures were at 8:00 a.m.. I'm glad they were not after lunch because we were about to melt on the playground today! We cannot wait to see how our pictures turned out. We did not have Art class because our pictures were scheduled during that Special. We did have Spanish and are working on a special color book. Has your child told you about Mr. Potato Head? On Monday, I introduced Mr. Potato Head as our classroom incentive visual. While our Good Deed Tree focuses on individual goals, Mr. Potato Head is a group effort. When the whole class is on task, we earn a piece to add to Mr. Potato Head. In Spanish, our behavior was so good that we earned his eyes. When Mr. Potato Head is completely assembled we will vote on our classroom reward such as extra recess time, a special snack, or watching a fun show during snack.

                                 There's Nemo by his side!

Thursday: What an exciting day! We had our first cooking experience and it was a huge success. We enjoyed Addison's Alligator Pie. Be sure to ask your child about the recipe. All of our cooking recipes will be shared in our special class book which you will receive at the end of the year. We got our hearts racing in Gym Class with a dance party. 

*** Remember, tomorrow is a half day. Dismissal is 11:35. If your child attends        Eagles Club, you must pack a lunch and afternoon snack. There is no hot            lunch on half days.

                              Addison's Alligator Pie

Friday: A week was AMAZING! Today we brainstormed foods that have apples as an ingredient such as apple sauce and apple pie. Our craft today was an apple pie which involved cutting. Ms. Richards was our substitute teacher in Computer Class. At the end of our morning, we had a taste test. We tried apple cider and apple slices. While eating the red, green, and yellow slices, we completed a questionaire. We colored smiley faces, frown faces, and okay faces to document our opinions of the different color apples slices. Many were surprised at the taste of the green. And I heard many "mmmm's" when they tried the yellow apples. These will be sent home on Monday as Mrs. K already had our folders packed up.

*** Reminders for next week:                                                                                 - Everyone needs an empty paper towel roll and an empty toilet paper                 roll for Monday. Thank you to those who already sent them in.
        - Vision screening on Tuesday.
        - We will attend Mass on Wednesday with the seventh graders.
        - No school on Friday, October 6th and Monday, October 9th.

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September 18, 2017
This week our theme will be All ABout Me. We will focus on the fact that we are all special and unique. Please remember to send in the All ABout Me paper bags so your child can present on his or her designated day. I told the children that if an item was too big for the bag, a picture of the item can be placed in the bag.
I will continue to assess shape and uppercase letter recognition this week.

Reminders for the week:
- Back to School night is Tuesday at 6:30.
- Field Trip money is due Friday.
- Friday is Tag Day and Pretzel Day for those who submitted their money. 
   The Tag Day theme is Red, White, and Blue. Students may dress out of  
   uniform in these colors.

Monday: To introduce our new theme, we read Designed By God So I Must Be Special. We created self portraits by coloring a child cutout and gluing various items to the cutout such as buttons and pom poms.In Math, we are practicing patterns. Later this week, we will create our own two color patterns. We also celebrated Mrs. K's birthday, which was last Wednesday.

Tuesday: We decorated Prayer Rocks today. We used the rocks to demonstrate how we are all unique, but the same also. The rocks are differents sizes, colors, and shapes just like us. Then each child chose a rock and Mrs. K wrote his or her name on the rock. Each child decorated the rock by painting unique fingerprints. These will be displayed on our Prayer Table all year. 

*** Tonight is Back to School Night in our classroom at 6:30. Children do not attend. There will be papers at your child's spot at the table when you arrive. If you are not able to attend, these will be sent home tomorrow. The Power Point presentation from tonight is on my page under the Back to School Night tab for those not in attendance and for all to review whenever necessary.

Wednesday: Our morning lesson centered around the book, I Like Me!, by Nancy Carlson. We discussed that when you look in the mirror you should like and be proud of that image looking back at you. We made "I Like Me!" red constuction paper mirrors during group time. We have Gym tomorrow, so please remember to send your child in his or her uniform shirt that has his or her name written on it. 

*** Thank you to all who attended Back to School night last night. Please return the signed papers (Volunteer Covenant, Acceptable Use Policy, and Mrs. Elliott's Back to School Night page) by Friday, if you did not fill them out last night.

Thursday: We read Only One You by Linda Kranz. The characters are fish, but the book gives advice on how to be the best you. We painted fish shaped like the fish in the book and some children chose to add tissue paper. Every fish is unique, just like us! Once dry, I will cut these out to display in the hallway.

*** Tomorrow is Tag Day. Red, white, and blue theme. Pretzels will be provided at snack time for those who ordered.
*** The Sign Up Genius for conference times will be emailed by the school tomorrow.

Friday: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" was the question today. We read When I Grow Up by Al Yankovic where Billy wants to be everything from a chef to a tarantula shaver! Today we had our last group for All About Me bags. Everyone did a fabulous job presenting all week!!! Each child sat on the bench in fron of the Smartboard and shared his or her items. Many shared stories or information about the items. And of course, everyone enjoyed listening. 

*** Reminders for next week:
           - Tuesday, 9/26 is Independence Day.
           - Wednesday, 9/27 is Picture Day. Students may wear uniform
              or dressy clothes.
           - Friday, 9/29 is a half day. Dismissal is 11:35. We will not have lunch 
             with the class, but you will need to send a lunch if your child is                          attending Eagles Club.
           - Family Fun Night is Saturday. 9/30. Registration has been extended to 
              Monday, 9/25.

Enjoy the summer weather this weekend!!!!!!
             
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September 11, 2017
Our theme this week is Welcome to SJB. We will continue to reinforce classroom expectations and procedures. We will also discuss how to be a kind, caring member of our class. During our daily activities, I will assess fine motor skills, color and shape recognition, and uppercase letter recognition. I want to determine where the students are so I can plan future activities. Please continue to send your child's star nametag as we will be going to our specials this week.

Monday: We read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff and drew items we would bring to school. In Religion, our theme is I Belong and we learned that we are all special members of our class. Today your child brought home a brown paper bag with directions attached for an activity next week. Please keep those at home or in the school bag until your child's assigned day to present. We had our first Music class of the year with Mrs. Wagner. We celebrated Brady's birthday, which was September 5th, with Munchkins at lunch time.

Tuesday: Today we read The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister and talked out sharing with our friends at school. We created a beautiful friendship flower, which is outside our room in the hallway. We discussed how we are all a special part of the class and are all important pieces of a whole group. We attended Library today. We do not check out books in the Four Year Old Class. Your child brought home his or her Clifford magazine today. Sometime this week go online and complete the fun activities. The website is on the magazine and our Classroom password is ECP4A. If you choose to do the activities, please don't go ahead to other lessons. Mrs. K will be away at a conference for the rest of the week. We welcome Mrs. Hutton as her substitute. We kept the star nametags in the cubbies to be sure we had them available.

Wednesday: Today we had Art Class with Mrs. Taylor and Spanish Class with Miss Koval. We were busy with our special classes and in our classroom as well. Almost the entire class napped! (I think the weather may have also been a factor.) Please remember to send appropriate outerwear, especially a coat with a hood. We travel to the hall everyday for lunch and it was steadily raining when we walked to lunch today. Also, please be sure that your child has a drink for lunch inside his or her lunch box. Mrs. K and I were very concerned that many of our friends were not bringing a drink to lunch. We then realized that several are pulling a water bottle our of their backbacks during snack in the classroom. I'm not sure if those water bottles are also intended for lunch time. With 24 students, it is difficult to check every backback to see if there is a water bottle to bring to lunch with us. And four year olds are not ready for the responsibility of remembering to grab the drink. Be sure to mark the lunch paper in the folder if you want your child to purchase milk at lunch. Thank you for your assistance with this. We want to keep them hydrated. We celebrated Logan's birthday today with cupcakes.

***On Thursday, we have Gym Class. Mrs. Shock asked that the girls have their hair pulled back. To help her learn everyone's names, please write your child's name on the front of a shirt/ sweatshirt that your child will wear to gym. You don't have to write the name on all of the uniform shirts, just one that you make sure is worn on gym days.

Thursday:Our story today was Curious George Goes to School. We compared how George helped in school to the ways we can help in our school. Look for the Curious George paper in the folder to see your child's response. We attended our first Gym Class and were very active running, skipping, and hopping. Thank you for ensuring your child has a drink in the lunchbox. That eliminated alot of the confusion! An email was sent from the school office earlier in the week regarding the Acceptable Use Policy. You completed this form electronically, however, the diocese prefers a signed paper copy to be on file. This also pretains to the Volunteer Covenant. Please download these two forms from this website under FORMS and return as soon as possible.

Friday: We survived our first full week of school! Already I am noticing progress. We are still working on following directions, but the children have definitely adjusted to our routine. Today we read one of my favorite books, The Day the Crayons Quit. They loved reading this book and for some reason the peach page is their favorite. Ask your child about the book. We created a crayon bulletin board. We can't wait for you to see it next week! To end Welcome to SJB week, we drew our favorite thing about our class and why SJB is fun. These also are displayed in the room.

*** Picture Day forms were in the folders today. Please return as soon as possible. Picture Day is Wednesday, September 27th.

*** Back to School Night is Tuesday, September 19th, at 6:30. Please come directly to the classroom.  
                                                                                                                    
  Have a great weekend!


 
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September 8, 2017
AND THE WINNER IS.......... Nemo!!!! We voted on the name of our fish. We created a bar graph using our names to vote. We also celebrated Stanislav's birthday, which is Saturday. We enjoyed yummy cupcakes at lunch time. We went to Computer class with Ms. Luce. In honor of the Blessed Mother's birthday today, we colored birthday flowers to decorate our bulletin board. The diocesan theme this year is "To Jesus Through Mary". Our special Mary bulletin board will be decorated each month.

September 7, 2017
Wow! What a fabulous beginning to our year together! We took alot of time explaining our classroom expectations and classroom jobs. They had many questions, which showed how excited they were. In the morning we did not have gym class due to Mrs. Schock attending Mass. Mrs. K and I took them to gym and talked about all the fun activities they would do in gym class. We read Pete the Cat by Eric Litwin and colored a special Pete the Cat picture which is in your child's folder. Ask your child if they remember Pete's song that we sang.We had a short nap due to taking time to demonstrate our nap time routine with the class. Looking forward to another great day together tomorrow!