Archive for 'Pre-kindergarten'
Mrs. Porter – Pre KA
Posted on January 27, 2012, by Pamela Porter, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintThis is my FAVORITE time of the school year when everyone already knows one another, the little quirks have been ironed out, and the children already have a sense of what the expectations are in the classroom. So now we can spread our wings and FLY! We will be doing just that in the next few months. Now that we have the basic skills to use the many classroom tools we need to accomplish our lessons, the students will start rolling all their prior knowledge and lessons into making things happen for them academically.
We will continue our trek through the alphabet sounds, move on to number recognition 5-10, introduce the vowel sounds, and begin talking about the various letters in our alphabet that come together to make unexpected sounds. We will continue sorting by color, objects and begin to make 2 color patterns in Math. The students will have daily activities that will teach them to recognize their name in print. The Investigator Club is teaching us some good study skills ’investigate’ and look deeper into our world through the use of environmental sounds and clues, writing tools such as list, graphs, and picture cues when we need to find out something we do not already understand. The characters will lead us through many fun activities of investigation helping to build an awareness of the very basics of discovery and learning as we try new things.
Of course this is all at an introductory level, however, research shows that students who have learned the letter sounds initially, even before the name of the letter, and can easily ‘manipulate’ the letters in the alphabet, will be stronger emergent readers. With the help of the Open Court program and the Sadlier Investigator Club program, the students will be building a solid foundation of fundamentals to learning that will help them for many years to come. That is my goal here in our Language Arts for the remaining school year, to help my students learn to manipulate the alphabet in fun and exciting ways!
Please stay tuned to our weekly classroom newsletter for details of each week and the plans I have for our classroom. We are looking forward to the upcoming In-House Field trips that Mrs. Bowan has scheduled for us and appreciate your prompt response when we send requests for assistance from the home. These programs and visitors are used as extended lessons to our classroom activities and are an important element to our curriculum. Have a happy beginning to what is sure to be an AMAZING year for your preschooler!
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Mrs. Strunk – Pre-K B
Posted on January 27, 2012, by Kathy Strunk, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintHappy New Year! We pray God blesses all of our families with health and happiness this year.
PreK B will be working very hard this month.
RELIGION
We will talk about the Epiphany and how the three kings came to visit baby Jesus.
We will be getting ready to go to church with the rest of the St. Elizabeth School Community.
LANGUAGE ARTS
This month we will finish our Community Helper Unit. We have been discussing Community Helpers, what they do, and what kind of equipment they may use. Open Court Series is now introducing the letters and sounds.
Our next unit will be “Things That Go”.
MATH
Numerals are what we are working with this month. We will also be doing some measuring and weighing.
IMPORTANT DATES:
January 16, 2012 – Vacation Day
January 26, 2012 – Buck-a-Jean, Snack Sale
January 29, 2012 – Start of Catholic Schools Week – More information coming
Open House
February 2012
February will bring lots of love!
Religion
In February we will be talking about the season of Lent. We will be discussing Baptism and reading New Testament Stories. We will also have a Passion Play that all of the parents will be invited to before Easter. I will be giving more information about that in the parent letters.
Language Arts
We will begin a new unit in our Investigator Club called Splash and Dig and a new unit in Open Court called Let’s Go.
Math
We will work on numbers 1 – 15. We will also be discussing things that float or sink. We will also work on addition and subtraction.
Important Dates:
February 3, 2012 – Noon Dismissal
February 14, 2012 – Exchange Valentine’s Card – more information later!
February 20, 2012 – Vacation Day
February 22, 2012 – First Day of Lent
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Mrs. Porter – Pre KA
Posted on November 30, 2011, by Pamela Porter, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintI cannot believe we are already talking about Christmas and the New Year! Can someone please slow us all down? I actually look forward to the return from Christmas break with my class because they seem to truly grow up over the holidays, and when we all return, it is such a blessing because the class already knows one another, they understand the classroom rules and teacher expectations, and all the initial introductions of new classroom tools is behind us, so we are then ready to roll! But I need to slow down and remember that there is still time well spent getting through the first semester of basic skills!
In December we will spend what little time we have finishing up our lessons on the basic tools we need to complete our daily work. The last and biggest tool I will introduce are the scissor skills. The students will learn safety rules, proper mechanics of the scissor hold, and more challenging is the proper way to hold the paper being cut. It is a very difficult concept for a 3-4 year old to learn to ‘turn’ the paper as they are ‘driving’ the scissors around an object.
We will spend the first two weeks of January in review of the first semester concepts such as our letter sounds, counting, shapes, colors, two color patters, positional words, and of course, our pre-writing skills, to name a few. Once I fee confident the class is ready to move on, we will resume with the lessons already implemented and we will begin our new Sadlier curriculum, “The Investigator Club.” The students will become members of this club, meet the many different characters, and we will begin exploring the world around us to make the students more aware of the many life clues and lessons that are naturally presented in our world through nature, signs, exploring and investigating. I am anxious to get started on this program as it will be a lot of new learning methods for me too! This is also the same curriculum Mrs. Strunk uses in her older 4′s class, so I will be building the foundation and she will expand upon it next year, allowing the students to already be familiar with the characters and basic concepts for the next level of learning.
There is always so much more to say, but for now, may your holidays be blessed with the joys of little footsteps, high pitched squeals, contagious laughter, and lots and lots of hugs from your little ones. Merry Christmas to all!
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Mrs. Strunk – Pre K B
Posted on November 30, 2011, by Kathy Strunk, under Elementary School Notes, Pre-kindergarten.
PrintDecember 2011
HO HO HO! It is already December, and we are at the end of another year. This month the PreK B class will be doing many things. We will be practicing for the Christmas Program. We will be learning what Advent means and just having a merry good time.
RELIGION
We will be learning what Advent means and what the season of Christmas is all about. We will also be learning about Christmas traditions around the world.
LANGUAGE ARTS
During LA we will finish our unit on “All Kinds of Friends” and begin a new unit “Helping Hands”. The unit on “Helping Hands” is about community helpers. We would love for any parent to come and talk to the class about your job. Please send me an e-mail if you are available. In our Investigator Club we will begin a new unit: Healthy You.
We have been introduced to letters and sounds, Ss, Mm, Tt, Pp, Aa. We have also been introduced to high frequency words: my, and, the, and a.
MATH
We will be working with graphs and numerals. We will also be working with the Geo-boards.
IMPORTANT DATES
December 15, 2011 – Christmas Program – More information in the parent letter
December 15, 2011 – Buck-a-jean, Snack Sale
December 16, 2011 – Half Day – Make Gingerbread House more information in the parent letter
January 2012
Happy New Year! We pray God blesses all of our families with health, and happiness this year.
PreK B will be working very hard this month.
RELIGION
We will talk about the Epiphany and how the three kings came to visit baby Jesus.
We will be getting ready to go to church.
LANGUAGE ARTS
This month we will finish our Community Helper Unit. We have been discussing Community Helpers and what they do and what kind of equipment they may use. Open Court Series is now introducing the letters and sounds.
Our next unit will be “Things That Go”.
MATH
Numerals are what we are working with this month. We will also be doing some measuring and weighing.
IMPORTANT DATES:
January 16, 2012 – Vacation Day
January 26, 2012 – Buck-a-Jean, Snack Sale
January 29, 2012 – Start of Catholic Schools Week – Open House
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Mrs Porter- Pre KA
Posted on October 21, 2011, by Pamela Porter, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintHappy Fall everyone! We are really working hard to learn about the changing of the seasons and the fall colors. What a great way to put all the colors to good use in our daily activities and songs. The Fall is an exciting time for our littlest Saints because we can move many of our lessons outside to extend our classroom into the cooler weather and into nature as we explore the world around us.
The class is amazing me at how quickly they have caught on and are retaining the letter names and sounds! We have already managed to cover the letters of B,H,P,S, and O and they are really loving the jingles that go along with the letters. We only have a few more color songs to introduce, and the units on shapes and the 5 Senses were very successful. The students enjoyed our taste testing and fun activities as we explored the use of our 5 Senses too!
Thank You all for sending in your very first Community Service Show-n-tell projects. Our first one was a BIG success, and I appreciate my parents for taking the time to snap a few pictures and for encouraging our little ones to get out and do a good deed for someone in their neighborhood, a family member and the community. Please keep this project going, and feel free to be creative in your presentation of the projects each month. I hope to have 100% participation by the end of the school year, so keep up the great work! Our next Show-N-Tell will be Thursday, Oct. 27th.
For the remainder of the month and into November we will continue building our friendships and learning to be a good friend to others by using positive words and actions in our play and work. We will be introducing the appropriate use of scissors before the end of October. So please be sure to secure your household scissors, so we don’t have any unexpected curious accidents at home. I will send an email to let you know exactly when I plan to introduce these very important tools for our classroom. We will continue to practice using the glue sticks, markers, paint, shaving creme, pencils, and sand slates throughout the semester as we create many Halloween and Thanksgiving crafts. Remember, the craft is NOT the ultimate goal, it is the step-by-step process that is the lesson here. In creating crafts, and similar assignments, your child is learning to do many life skills such as:
Listen for a purpose, follow step-by-step directions, use classroom tools such as glue, scissors, tape, string, and other manipulatives that enhance the motor skills. The students are also learning to think for themselves to figure out what they need, ask for help or assistance from the teachers, use self discipline as they create the assignments, and have patience while using their creativity to finish an assignment they can proudly call their own. These are very basic skills that we as adults often take for granted, however, the preschool class is exactly where these basic skills are developed, and a solid foundation is forming.
As you can see and imagine, we are having a great time learning all of the basic life and developmental skills a 3 and 4 year old needs before entertaining the age of Kindergarten. Thank you for entrusting us with your child! We adore each and every one of our students!
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Mrs. Strunk – PKB
Posted on October 14, 2011, by Kathy Strunk, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintOctober/November Blurb
October did bring some cooler weather at last! We have many things going on in October.
LANGUAGE ARTS
In Our Investigator Club program we will finish meeting all of the characters, Chuck Wood, Manny Salamander and Bruno Buzzbee. The children will be asked if they would like to join the Investigator Club.
In our Open Court Program we will be discussing families. We will learn finger plays about families and read books about families and do activities about families. We are counting letters in words and will begin to count words in sentences.
We are talking about what is first and last in a row.
We will be sequencing story lines for what happens first, second. We discuss characters and where the action takes place.
MATH
We are working with shapes and sequencing numbers one to five. We are making graphs, too.
We do different activities to reinforce these concepts.
RELIGION
We are talking about the Garden of Eden. We will talk about Angels and Noah’s Ark. We do different activities with these stories. October is the month of the Rosary. We will be introduced to saying the Rosary. The class makes a big rosary together.
EVENTS IN OCTOBER
October 14, 2011 – Teddy Bear Day and Picnic
October 31, 2011 – Halloween Parade children will wear a costume
Trip through Heaven
More information will be sent home about these events.
During November we will be having lots of fun!
LANGUAGE ARTS
In the Investigator Club we will be investigating our “Under Construction Unit.”
In the Open Court Program we will begin our “All Kinds of Friends Unit.”
We will be learning about the Pilgrims and Indians.
MATH
We will be sequencing numbers 1 -10, one-to-one correspondence with numbers 1 – 10. We will continue to work with shapes. We will also do some simple equations.
RELIGION
We will be discussing different kinds of prayers: Praising, Thanking, Asking and Forgiving. We will also be reading Old Testament stories.
EVENTS for NOVEMBER
November 1, 2011 – All Saints Day
Children come dressed as their favorite Saint
November 4, 2011 – Parent Conferences
November 22, 2011 – Half Day – Noon Dismissal
Thanksgiving Feast
More information will be sent home about these events.
Happy Thanksgiving and may God bless each one of your families this Thanksgiving in an awesome way! Mrs. Strunk & Ms. Martinez
Check out out the city we made!
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Mrs. Porter – PKA
Posted on September 19, 2011, by Pamela Porter, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintOur newest little Saints have gotten off to a great start for a new school year. Many of our younger students have never been away from home or are coming from a daycare setting that is very different from our classroom environment here at St. Elizabeth! Nonetheless, they are settling right in and seem to be having a good time. We have enjoyed making new friends while working through and talking about our many feelings that come with changes in our little lives. We will continue learning about the many areas, learning centers, and tools we use in our classroom that will make the rest of our school days easier for completing our lessons to get the job done. The children are still learning our basic daily routine and class procedures as we go along, but they are doing a fine job with all the many changes in their lives!
We have jumped right into our lessons to learn about colors in our environment, and we’ll even learn some fun songs to go along with this lesson. We will continue making our way through the basic shapes as well, doing some hands-on activities that will give them a more concrete understanding of how shapes are used in many aspects of their daily lives. We will practice our counting 1-10 and talk about counting for accuracy as we touch the objects to find our how many. The children are learning that lines and circles are used to draw pictures, write letters, and numbers. They will be focusing on the many sounds in our environment and will come to understand that letters make sounds just like people, animals, and machines. We will spend quite a bit of time on these very basic concepts as a precursor to the many activities and lessons to come as the children grow and mature. We will continue to learn how to use the many tools in our classroom such as play dough, shaving creme, glue, scissors, writing tools, and of course, my very favorite, PAINT!
Please watch for the weekly classroom newsletter for specific topics being taught each week and for additional help needed from home as we continue to build a solid foundation for learning in our preschool class. Mrs. Burns and I have already found our hearts growing with lots of love and hugs from your precious children, and we are blessed every single day because of our students! We are very PROUD of all of them!
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Mrs. Strunk PKB
Posted on September 19, 2011, by Kathy Strunk, under Pre-kindergarten.
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PK B has been moving right along. The children had so many procedures to learn in many different areas. They are doing a fantastic job.
Language Arts
This month in our Open Court Program we have been working with the “I’m Special” Unit. The children have learned many finger plays and songs. They have listened to and discussed many books. At the end of September and in to October we will begin a new unit about “Families Everywhere”. The children will learn finger plays and songs about different types of families and will listen to and discuss books about families.
We are also using a new program The Investigator Club which creates a community of curious children who will explore, discover, and learn together. The first unit is “Let’s Investigate” and it is eight weeks of introducing the children to the characters and what it means to investigate.
Religion
We have been working on the sign of the cross and the prayers: Our Father, Hail Mary, and the Glory Be. We have learned about the Blessed Trinity. We are discussing how and why God made each of us special. We will also be learning the story of Creation.
Math
The children have been exploring the math center. We have also been working with shapes and numbers 1 – 5. We have been working with one-to-one correspondence.
We do the calendar every day. We have been singing the days of the week song and the months of the year.
We sing the weatherman song every day.
Social-Emotional Growth
We have been working on following classroom and playground rules, and becoming aware of our class schedules and routines.
The students are working with other children in groups, and sharing.
Actually, we have been having lots of fun because kids just want to have fun! Please refer to the parent letters for any news and upcoming events.
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Mrs. Porter-PK3
Posted on May 27, 2011, by Pamela Porter, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintIs it really so? When I read that it was time to write our last newsletter blurb, my heart felt sad to think that this year is already to an end. So much so that I even asked Mrs. Clem if I could just keep my class for another year! We have been through so much together, parents, students and teachers! I truly cannot believe just how much these 13 children have grown in the past 9 months, emotionally, physically, and developmentally. We can all feel confident that these students have been successfully introduced to all the basic 3-year-old skills and concepts and if you don’t believe me, just ask them a few questions; I know you will be amazed too! They never cease to amaze me! Can you believe that they know all their letter sounds, can write their names, and are even reading 3 letter words? They can tell you about opposites, same and different, sorting by color and shape, they can even name a noun, and a verb! Their knowledge of Jesus, Mary and the Bible stories has far surpassed what is expected of them! I am amazed at how much they can tell you about their religion!
Now that we are faced with last two weeks of school, we will finish up our year with review of our alphabet letter names and sounds, doing some pre-writing drills, brushing up on our public speaking skills through our performance for Young Authors Day, and focusing heavily on teamwork through partnerships and cooperative games. I want to thank each of you for all your help in learning their lines for the big Young Authors Day play, they have done such a good job on this and it is turning out to be so cute, that we will be using this same play as part of our end-of-year ceremony so don’t worry, you will get a chance to see your hard work in action.
Please mark your calendar for The BIG event on May 27 from 8:30-9:30 in the school cafeteria with a short reception immediately following in the St. Francis Hall. This will also be our last day of school; students will be dismissed for the summer break immediately following the ceremony at 9:30am.
Mendy and I wish to send a BIG hug and a heartfelt THANK YOU to each one of our students for sharing their days with us. I often tell them that not all mommies are as lucky as we are, to be able to go to work and play all day! Your children have wiggled their way into our hearts through their love for learning, sweet voices, kind words, and the millions of hugs, tears, and LOVE that they have shared with us the past 9 months. Our students have not only grown individually, but for the first time in their young lives they have learned what it means to be one in a group, they understand that we are no longer just 1, but rather we are a whole, a class, a family. You can ask any one of them and they can tell you, “It’s not all about me; it’s about ALL of us!” After our 9 months together, I believe that every single child understands the meaning of this and they show it daily by their actions and words. This class will forever hold a special place in our hearts, we have been blessed by them each and every day that they walk in that door, and in the end, we have been blessed from knowing them! Parents, we truly realize that you have many choices out there for your child’s schooling, and we are honored to be chosen to help build the foundation and bridge for your child’s first experience of “real school”. Mendy and I will take pride in seeing each of them receive their big certificate and walk across the stage, and know that they are very well prepared for heading down the big hall to the next stepping stone in their lives, the Pre K4 class!
Move over “big kids” ’cause here they come!
THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR GREATEST GIFT WITH US. THEY HAVE BLESSED OUR LIVES MORE THAN WORDS COULD EVER EXPLAIN! WE WILL MISS THE LITTLEST SAINTS OF 2011 but until we see you again in August, have a safe and exciting summer!
With love and lots of hugs,
Mrs. Porter and Mrs. Mendy
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Mrs. Strunk – PK4
Posted on May 23, 2011, by Melissa Guerrero, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintCongratulations! You are now kindergartners! Have a great summer!
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Mrs. Porter-PK3
Posted on April 18, 2011, by Pamela Porter, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintMrs. Porter and Mrs. Mendy have spring fever, and it’s contagious! We will be putting the icing on the cake this spring as we finish up our trek through the alphabet with our final letters, X,Y, and Z, yippee! We will polish up on our pre-writing skills and discover that letters pushed next to one another create words! The class has already begun reading 3 letter words as well as spelling them as they see the letters slide down the slide to be read. They have been sounding out words and adding new beginning letter sounds to create new ones too! Watch out as the class begins to discover rhyming as we attempt to rhyme everything! Through fun music we are learning about nouns, verbs, and opposites.
We have enjoyed watching the amazing process of metamorphosis, and discovering the new life process as we raised our very own butterflies from tiny little caterpillars! We were sad to see them go as we released them into our beautiful flower garden but we understand that it is better to allow God’s creatures to be free to spread their wings and fly rather than being stuck in a cage all their life. The children also enjoyed sharing their baby pictures with their friends as we learned about baptism and their own creation. We even planted a garden on our playground and are anxiously watching for new life to appear there too!
In Math, we will continue our lessons on opposites, and be introduced to sequencing pictures to tell a story as well as discovering the concept of same and different.
Finally, in Religion, we will complete the school year polishing our public speaking voices as we learn about the Passover, the Last Supper, the Stations of the Cross, and the Resurrection of Christ. The class has been working hard to learn their lines and role in their first live performance, our own 3 and 4-year-old basic version of the Passion Play on April 21st at 8:45am. We hope to see you all there!
The class has been busy in the art center putting together some really nice art work for you to bid on at the silent auction this month. We all had a hand (and foot) in creating several masterpieces, I think you are in for a real treat!
In May, we will turn all our focus on getting ready for stepping up to the next grade level to Mrs. Strunk’s class, as we put the finishing touches on all our lessons. The class will begin preparing for another performance for Young Authors Day of one of our favorite class stories! I can’t believe it is already time to say goodbye, it seems like we just met last week. The Littlest Saints class of 2011 is a true asset to the St. Elizabeth community, and we are all blessed to have your children in our lives! We thank you for sharing your most prized possession with us and for allowing Mendy and I the honor to help build your child’s foundation for school and for the love for learning! They are our butterflies so it is time to let them unfold their wings, and FLY!
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Mrs. Strunk – PK 4
Posted on April 18, 2011, by Kathy Strunk, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintIMPORTANT DATES FOR THE MONTHS of April and May
I am sending you a list of important dates for the next two months. Please keep these dates where you can refer to them. If anything changes with the dates and times I will inform you as soon as I know.
Costumes
Friday, April 15, 2011 – costumes are due for the Passion Play
Easter Eggs
Monday, April 18, 2011 – 12 plastic eggs filled with candy due (for Easter
Egg Hunt)
Passion Play Performance
Thursday, April 21, 2011 – Performance of the Passion Play in the cafeteria
at 1:45pm
Easter Egg Hunt
Tuesday, April 26, 2011 – Will be the Easter Egg Hunt and Easter Party.
PK 4 Picnic
May 26, 2011 – PRE-K has a picnic – parents are invited
End of the Year Program and Last Day of School
May 27, 2011 – End of the year program in the cafeteria at 9:30am
Last day of School for PK 3, PK4, and
Kindergarten
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Mrs. Porter PK 3
Posted on March 7, 2011, by Pamela Porter, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintWe have Spring Fever in the PK 3 classroom! We have almost made it through the entire alphabet for letter recognition and sounds and are fine tuning our motor skills, and basic skills. We have turned our sites toward focusing on self help skills, pushing toward independence and the “take care of you” stage in our classroom. The winter months have been great for helping with the motor skills of snapping, buttoning, zipping, and several children are even trying to tie their shoes! We are encouraging the students to open their own juice pouches, snack packages and asking for what they NEED as opposed to what they WANT.
We are also doing more Science and Nature lessons in our class which will incorporate our basic skills as well. The students enjoyed our study of reptiles and amphibians and we will continue with the study of birds and finish our school year with the ocean life.
It is fun to see the progress as most of the children are showing an interest toward the 4 year old skill of printing their names, drawing and labeling their pictures, and trying to stay within a boundary as they color their assignments. We are learning about the mechanics of a worksheet as they begin to realize that this is a written way of showing how much they know from our lessons. In doing the “seat work” activities, the young students are given directions in a whole group setting and then asked to return to their seats to carry out the directions and exercise. This is a very basic foundation that many of us take for granted as a natural occurrence; however, many students never realize they need to listen and remember the directions to be able to correctly finish an activity. In our 3 year old program, we are teaching the students the importance of this life skill and actually explaining the process and reasoning behind it. It will be a life skill they will use over and over again!
That brings me to the most important part of our semester: staying focused to complete a task, finishing a task, and following multi-step directions. We will continue working on these life skills throughout the remainder of the school year, giving our students a very basic but very important tool for LIFE! In addition to this, we will also be teaching our students the importance of sharing their lessons with their families at home. They are being taught that Mommy and Daddy are not here with us in our classroom everyday, and it is their “job” to go home and “tell and teach” their parents about their day. Hopefully this will carry with them for many years to come.
This semester we will also work on using a strong speaking voice in front of an audience which, if taught at an early age, will come naturally to them. So far, our students are doing an amazing job with this! They LOVE to stand in front of the class and tell stories!
In Religion, we will complete the study of The Miracles of Jesus and the Stories that Jesus told as we head into the Lenten Season and Easter season.
Unfortunately, there is just too much to tell you in one newsletter, so please bear with me as I send you my very long winded weekly newsletter messages about the specifics of our week.
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Mrs. Strunk PK 4
Posted on March 7, 2011, by Kathy Strunk, under Pre-kindergarten.
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FEBRUARY
We had some unexpected weather! It put Catholic Schools Week a week late, but every one had fun. The children really enjoyed the Sock Hop. Everyone had a great time dancing; but the best was the root beer float.
The children enjoy going to Mass with their 5th grade partners.
Valentine’s Day was also great. The children had a wonderful time exchanging valentines with their friends. They also learned about St. Valentine.
We finished our unit on “Things that Go.” The children pantomime their favorite thing that goes and the rest of us had to guess what it was. We will begin our unit on the “Senses”.
MARCH
Languages Arts
We will be working on the Five Senses. Learning songs, poems and reading books about our five senses.
Religion
We are learning the time line of Jesus’ life. We will be discussing Ash Wednesday and the Season of Lent. We will also begin working on our Passion play that we will put on for our parents in April. I will give you more information about this later.
Math
We are making sets or groups of numbers. We are counting by tens and we are counting on. Counting on is where you start counting from any number. If I picked number 23, then we would continue counting 24, 25 etc.
We are also discussing the . (period)
We are also discussing our “Treasure Book”. The children have published a book. They chose as their topic, “My Favorite Toy.” I will be giving you more information this month about it.
Mrs. Martinez and Mrs. Strunk want to thank all of the families for our lovely Valentine’s.
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Mrs. Porter – PK 3
Posted on January 18, 2011, by Pamela Porter, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintThe PK3 class has jumped head first into our lessons now that the New Year is here! We were so excited to get back into a routine with our friends after a much needed break for the holidays. We hope you enjoyed all your little homemade gifts all wrapped with lots of love and a ton of tape! The Christmas concert turned out much better than anticipated after so many practices, and boy, was I proud of them for their braveness in front of such a large audience. A special Thank You to all the parents for your patience with us as we made so many requests from home to assist in our classroom projects for the month of December. You are all such a close group of parents already, and I can’t wait to see what your group will accomplish by the time these children get to the 8th grade! We had 100% participation for our gingerbread house party, and the little ones were so excited to have you here with them, as a class they now call “friends”! St. Elizabeth is lucky to have such active, involved parents like you!
During the month of January, we will focus on moving forward down the track of the alphabet train. We have already covered 12 of the 26 letters with sounds and recognition in print. Please remember to review these often in the environment so the children can continue to build upon these lessons. We will finish size comparisons and descriptive words for sizing in Math and will move onto positional words, such as over, under, in, out, between, etc. Of course we will continue practicing our counting, sorting by shape and colors, as well as number recognition 1-10. We will resume our lessons in Religion on the Miracles of Jesus which will lead us right into the Lenten Season.
This semester will bring about BIG changes developmentally for all of our students. We will work on following multi-step directions, listening skills, verbal skills to enunciate words correctly, fine and gross motor skills, and social skills, all of which will be done daily in our everyday activities, and play. I love to tell the children when they have a birthday, “Magical things happen when you turn 4!” because they truly do! It’s the age that their little brains are starting to develop in ways that make the teacher look like she’s pretty spectacular. The term, “they’re like little sponges” becomes relevant here, and honestly, it has nothing to do with the teacher because it’s just turning on their little brains, and they are able to absorb so much information that it just seems magical! I just like to present LOTS of information and expose them to LOTS of different learning methods and information, and when their little brains are developed in that area, THEY do all the work from there. It truly is an amazing process that I absolutely LOVE to watch! I can’t wait to get started on all the really cool and exciting lessons we have planned for the second semester, and I thank YOU for allowing me to be a part of this process for your child!
Please watch the weekly notes closely to help reinforce the activities we are doing in the classroom as we continue to build the bridge between home and school for your child’s learning and growing success. Happy Winter everyone!
Mrs. Porter and Mrs. Mendy
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Mrs. Strunk – PK 4
Posted on January 18, 2011, by Kathy Strunk, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintHappy New Year! We pray God blesses all of our families with health,and happiness this year.
PK 4 will be working very hard this month.
RELIGION
We talked about the Epiphany and how the three kings came to visit baby Jesus. The children got to look at gold and smell incense and myrrh.
We will be talking about and getting ready to go to church. We will also practice the different things we do at church and how we stand, kneel, and sit during Mass.
LANGUAGE ARTS
This month we will finish our Community Helper Unit. We have been discussing Community Helpers and what they do and what kind of equipment they may use. Open Court Series is now introducing the letters and sounds. We have been introduced to letters/sounds Ss, Mm, Tt, Pp, Ll, and Aa. We are working on beginning sounds and rhyming words.
Our next unit will be “Things That Go”.
MATH
Numerals are what we are working with this month. We will also be doing some measuring.
IMPORTANT DATES:
January 14, 2011 – Half Day – Noon Dismissal
January 17 – Vacation Day
January 20, 2011 – Report Cards – PK 4 will get a Report Card
January 27, 2011 – Buck-a-Jean, Snack Sale
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Mrs. Porter- PK3
Posted on December 8, 2010, by Pamela Porter, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintI love this time of year with the little ones! Everything seems so magical, and Mendy and I are blessed to be a part of their lives right now. We have some fun activities planned for the Christmas Season where we will incorporate all of our basic skills while creating and learning about Jesus’ birth, the colors of Christmas, and the sounds of the season. We have already been working hard to learn our three Christmas songs for the big concert on December 16th. We will focus on performing for an audience and practice our strong singing voices as well as good manners while visiting the church. The focus this month will be about giving to make others feel happy and warm inside, by our random acts of kindness, and by creating things to give as gifts to others. In doing so, the children will learn that God gave us the ultimate gift of all by sending his son Jesus! We are also hoping that St. Nicholas will stop by our school to leave us some yummy treats in our shoe on Dec. 6th. Keep your fingers crossed that we’ve all made it to the nice list this year!
In Math, we will continue working on our counting skills as we count everything we can get our hands on! Two color patterns will also be on the list this month as we use our fine motor skills to string beads, and count small objects for accuracy.
We will spend much of our month reviewing the letter names and sounds that we have covered thus far in the classroom. These letters are: A,B,C,D,F,G,H,J,K,O and S. We will add letters L and M to the list by the first of the year!
As the weather gets colder we will talk about the seasons changing and the signs of winter in Science.
A special thank you to Mrs. Guerrero for scheduling the Creature Teacher in-house field trip. We are also excited about our invitation to join the kindergartners in making and decorating ginger bread houses during our Christmas Party on the last day of school before the Christmas break. We are looking forward to this exciting activity and wish to invite any available parents to come pitch in and lend a helping hand. I am certain we will be needing the extra help!
Please be on the lookout for more details from Sara Carrillo, our GLR with important messages and requests for our Christmas party. We will try to keep one foot on the ground as the big day approaches for Santa Clause and Jesus’ birthday!
Mendy and I send warm wishes to all of you for a very Merry Christmas! Enjoy the magic of the season with love and hugs,
Pam and Mendy
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Mrs. Strunk – PK 4
Posted on December 8, 2010, by Kathy Strunk, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintHO HO HO! It is already December and we are at the end of another year. This month the PK 4 class will be doing many things. We will be practicing for the Christmas Program. We will be learning what Advent means and just having a merry good time.
RELIGION
We will be learning what Advent means and what the season of Christmas is all about. We will also be learning about Christmas traditions around the world.
LANGUAGE ARTS
During LA we will finish our unit on “All Kinds of Friends” and begin a new unit “Helping Hands”. The unit on “Helping Hands” is about community helpers. We would love for any parents to come and talk to the class about your jobs. Please send me an e-mail if you are available.
MATH
We will be working with graphs and numerals.
We do have a Christmas party for the children and we also make Gingerbread Houses. I will be sending a list of things we will need to make the houses. The parents help their child make the house. We make the Gingerbread houses in the cafeteria and we will have the Christmas Party in the classroom. All parents are invited.
We make Christmas shirts for our Christmas Party. Please send a plain white T-shirt by December 6, 2010.
IMPORTANT DATES:
December 6, 2010 – T-shirt due
December 16, 2010 – Christmas Program – 7:00pm in the church
December 16, 2010 – Buck-a-jean
December 17, 2010 – Half Day – Christmas Party -Make Gingerbread House
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Mrs. Porter – PreK 3
Posted on October 28, 2010, by Pamela Porter, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintPre K3 is moving right along and can’t believe it’s almost time for Thanksgiving ! We have lots to be thankful for in the month of November and top of our list are our awesome parents!
Thank you all for pitching in with the Halloween carnival booth and making the new “Little House of Wacky Hair” a big success!
I’d also like to send a special thank you to “Carpenter Dixon” for taking time out of his busy schedule to share his amazing carpentry talents as our first community helper volunteer! Mr. Dixon, Ms Mendy’s husband, brought us a rectangle, triangle and then actually built a square in our classroom as the children watched in amazement. Every child took a turn at using the electric screwdriver and hammering nails. It was a ton of fun and I must say he will be a hard act to follow! I would also extend the invitation to all of our parents who would like to come to our classroom as a community helper and share with the class what it is you do to help others in our community. If you are interested in volunteering, please email me to schedule a date and time.
Thank you to all of our students who worked so hard to make sacrifices during our “Pennies for the Homeless” class project as part of the school wide “RESPECT LIFE” project. We learned that as God’s children, it is our Christian responsibility to help others in need, and in doing so, we raised $17.32 for someone less fortunate than ourselves. This was a valuable project, and I think the class really enjoyed the pride they had when each of them took their turn pouring in their little sack of coins. The class understands now that through teamwork we can all make a big difference in this world!
As you all know by now you will be receiving more detailed info in my weekly newsletters so here is just a quick overview of our upcoming lessons.
In November we will turn our learning toward our heritage, the first settlers, and expressing ways to be Thankful to those who have helped us and touched our lives in some way. We will begin our lessons on the term “saint” and even learn some very interesting stories about several Saints including St. Elizabeth. We will Be introduced to the letter names and sounds of D,F and S in isolation and as a diagraph when it comes in front of it’s good friend H. We will learn descriptive words for sizing and comparing sizes for example: small, medium, large etc. We also have some pretty fun thanksgiving projects planned that will put our basic skills to the test with gluing, coloring, cutting, etc.
And I’ve saved the best for last! In studying our heritage and learning that each family has its own heritage, we will have our first In-house field trip! I am excited to announce that a folklore musician will be coming this month to share her own music from her heritage! Please watch the weekly notes for more details on this special field trip!
We will be looking forward to having the Fire Clowns come and put on a special Fire Safety Act for us to wrap up our lessons from October during fire safety month. The date is not yet confirmed so we’ll send a note in the folders as soon as it is finalized.
Mrs. Mendy and I wish to extend a big THANK YOU to all of you for sharing your precious gifts with us. We are truly blessed to have these young children in our lives, and we cherish each one of them. May you have a very safe and blessed Thanksgiving.
Mrs. Porter
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Mrs. Strunk – PreK4
Posted on October 28, 2010, by Kathy Strunk, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintThe children had a wonderful time taking a Trip Through Heaven. Everyone got a Halo!
Religion
We will be discussing different Saints this month and what makes a person a saint.
We will also be reading some Old Testament Stories.
Language Arts
We will be beginning a new unit called “All Kinds of Friends”. We will be learning about what a friend is and how to be a friend. We will be learning songs and finger plays and reading stories about friends.
Math
We will be working with numbers 1 – 10. We will be sequencing them; one-to-one correspondence and counting.
We will be learning about Thanksgiving ! We will be doing activities with Pilgrims and Indians.
We will have a little Thanksgiving Feast on Tuesday, November 23, 2010. I will be sending more information in the parent letters.
Ms. Martinez and Mrs. Strunk wish all our PreK Families a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving.
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Mrs. Porter – PreK 3
Posted on September 29, 2010, by Pamela Porter, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintThe Littlest Saints
The newest little SAINTS have amazed me at how quickly they have all adjusted to their new school and routines. They even adjusted well in the beginning as we kept gathering more, and more friends as the days went on. Mrs. Mendy has been a true blessing to have and a wonderful help in keeping me sane! I want to share with you that I have heard over, and over again from parents about how important it has been for their own children to have experienced our preschool programs here at St. Elizabeth. MANY parents have stopped me to say they are so grateful that they had sent their own children through the pre-kindergarten programs and what a true difference it has made for their own son or daughter in their classes as they get older. I thought I’d share this with you just in case you were wondering if the sacrifices you make everyday to send your child to a Catholic school is worth it, the answer from MANY others is “YES!” and I hope to prove to you the same by the end of the school year! I wish to welcome all of you, both children and parents, and am proud to say that this class will be a great asset to the St. Elizabeth community!
Our first 6 weeks have been spent meeting new friends, getting familiar with the new school and for many, this is their first time away from mommy and daddy on a regular basis. The students are coming together as a whole group, and it is exciting to watch the little friendships forming as they learn to share and cooperate with their peers through play and activities. As a group we are learning about the basic tools used in a classroom to help make our learning fun and exciting. We are learning to use writing tools, paintbrushes, the SMART board and many classroom manipulatives to learn and explore the skills needed for pre kindergarten.
In October we will look forward to studying community helpers, become aware of fire safety month, and will use all our basic skills to create some exciting Halloween activities! The class will continue exploring the world around them and simply become aware of all the many things that God has given us. We will continue practicing our coloring skills, listening skills, and exploration of the colors, and shapes. We will begin our very basic lessons on the alphabet and learn that letters are used for writing and spelling, and numbers are used for counting. The class will discover that the letters all have a name and a sound and will begin a basic understanding that letters can be picked from the alphabet tree, rearranged and pushed together to create words for reading! (Yes, we have to get pretty basic here, folks!)
We will continue exploring through fun art, music, and physical activities that give them a love for school, coming to understand that learning is fun and exciting!
Parents, remember to watch for your weekly class newsletter for specific details of the week, and please use the information I send to reinforce these skills at home. As I mentioned at Open House, we are building a learning bridge between home and school that will lengthen over time with every grade level, so now is the time to work hard on building a solid foundation for each student.
Please keep you fingers crossed for some cooler weather so we can get outside more to broaden our exploration in nature! Thanks to each of you for sharing your most prized possession with me, I am blessed to have each of you in my life!
Happy Fall, Everyone!
Mrs. Porter
Art
Pre- Kinder and Kindergarten students in Mrs. Powell’s Art class talked about the different kinds of lines and the names that go along with them. They talked about zig zag, wavy, and straight lines. Mrs. Powell gave them a type of line and a direction and the students had to draw that line, and then switch to a new color to get ready for the next line. We will continue with using the concepts of lines for the first quarter. This will include shapes, pictures, nature-anywhere we find lines. Mrs. Powell has enjoyed your children and is excited about the many projects the Pre-Kinder and Kindergarten Artists will create!
Library
In Library with Mrs. Connelly, the students are learning the appropriate way to handle and use books with care. They are also enjoying the many books of the library and we will soon be making our very own library cards to be used back in our own classroom.
Computer
In computer with Mrs. Step, the students have been introduced to some alphabet games using the SMART board and each visit, they are using a computer with headphones to play and practice the game individually.
Spanish
In Mrs. B’s Spanish class the students are enjoying the songs as they learn to count in Espanol and dancing to the Chicken Dance! They are also working on their colors in Espanol just like we are in English!
Our Littlest Saints are growing up quickly!
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Mrs. Strunk – PK4
Posted on September 29, 2010, by Kathy Strunk, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintPK4 has been moving right along. The children had so many procedures to learn in many different areas. They are doing a fantastic job.
Language Arts
This month we have been working with the “I’m Special” Unit. The children have learned many finger-plays and songs. They have listened to and discussed many books. At the end of September and into October we will begin a new unit about “Families Everywhere”. The children will learn finger-plays and songs about different types of families and will listen to and discuss books about families.
Religion
We have been working on the sign of the cross and the prayers: Our Father, Hail Mary, and the Glory Be. We have read the Creation Story and done activities for this story. We will continue the Creation Story. October is the month of the rosary and we will be doing various activities to help us learn about the rosary. We will also continue to read Old Testament Stories.
Math
The children have been exploring the math center. We have also been working with shapes and numbers 1 – 5.
In October we will work on sorting objects. We will sort them by their attributes. We will also be working with patterns.
Social-Emotional Growth
We have been working on following classroom and playground rules, and becoming aware of our class schedules and routines.
Actually we have been having lots of fun because kids just want to have fun. Please refer to the parent letters for any news and upcoming events.
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Mrs. Strunk – PK 4
Posted on September 29, 2010, by Kathy Strunk, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintPK4 has been moving right along. The children had so many procedures to learn in many different areas. They are doing a fantastic job.
Language Arts
This month we have been working with the “I’m Special” Unit. The children have learned many finger-plays and songs. They have listened to and discussed many books. At the end of September and into October we will begin a new unit about “Families Everywhere”. The children will learn finger-plays and songs about different types of families and will listen to and discuss books about families.
Religion
We have been working on the sign of the cross and the prayers: Our Father, Hail Mary, and the Glory Be. We have read the Creation Story and done activities for this story. We will continue the Creation Story. October is the month of the rosary and we will be doing various activities to help us learn about the rosary. We will also continue to read Old Testament Stories.
Math
The children have been exploring the math center. We have also been working with shapes and numbers 1 – 5.
In October we will work on sorting objects. We will sort them by their attributes. We will also be working with patterns.
Social-Emotional Growth
We have been working on following classroom and playground rules, and becoming aware of our class schedules and routines.
Actually we have been having lots of fun because kids just want to have fun. Please refer to the parent letters for any news and upcoming events.
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Mrs. Strunk and Ms. Martinez – Pre-kindergarten
Posted on March 11, 2010, by Kathy Strunk, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintWhat I like about March is its kite weather!!
RELIGION
We will be practicing “The Passion Play” and reading New Testament stories. You should have been given your child’s character.
LANGUAGE ARTS
We are beginning a new unit “At the Farm”. We will learn new finger plays, songs and read books about farms. We are sounding out three letter words. We will be practicing writing letters on the white board. We will be making a book about baby animals and farm animals.
MATH
We will be weighing different objects. We will also be adding numbers 1 – 10. We will be subtracting numbers 1 -10. If I have one and I add one more it will make two; if I have two and I add one more it will be three etc. If I have ten and I take one away I will have nine, etc.
SCIENCE
We will be talking about plants.
SOCIAL STUDIES
We will learn about USA symbols.
IMPORTANT DATES
Spring Break March 15 to March 12, 2010
Passion Play – April 1, 2010
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Mrs. Connelly – Pre-k Computer
Posted on March 11, 2010, by Monica Connelly, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintComputer students in grades PK-3rd are having a fantastic year so far. I am constantly amazed at what St. E’s kids can do.
PK and Kindergarten students have mastered the proper use of the mouse. 1st grade students can log on and off the Internet typing program, Dance Mat Typing, and have progressed to levels 2 and 3. Students have improved their hand placement on the keyboards and exhibit proper computer posture. Please have your student practice keyboarding over the Spring Break.
2nd grade students are composing stories to match made-up zoo animals (switchzoo.com), and will then print their stories. 3rd grade students are learning Power Point. They will be working on a 7 slide Power Point show to be presented in May.
Thanks for your continued support of our Technology program here at St. Elizabeth.
Enjoy Spring Break!
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Mrs. Strunk and Ms. Martinez – Pre-kindergarten
Posted on December 10, 2009, by Kathy Strunk, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintPRE-K is all excited about the Holidays. We are doing many Activities this month in preparing for the Christmas Season.
Religion
We are learning what Advent means and that Christmas time is when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. We will be learning about Christmas Traditions around the world and our own Christmas Traditions. We are also working on the Christmas Program.
Math
We have been using a bar graph. We have graphed our favorite colors, eye color, and shapes. We continue to work with numbers 1 – 10, sequencing and one-to-one correspondence.
Language Arts
We are still working on our Unit “Helping Hands.” Learning what a community helper is.
Important Dates
- December 17, 2009 Christmas Program at 7:00pm
- December 16, 2009 Christmas Breakfast at 9:00am to 10:00am
Making Gingerbread Houses 10:00am
Noon Dismissal
Ms. Martinez and Mrs. Strunk want to wish you a very blessed Christmas and may the joy of Christmas be with you always.
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Mrs. Strunk and Ms. Martinez – Pre-Kindergarten
Posted on November 11, 2009, by Kathy Strunk, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintPre-K is already looking forward to all the activities we will be doing in the month of November.
Religion
November is Saints Month! We will learn about saints and what it means to be a saint.
Math
We will be working with numbers 1 – 10. We will also be working with more and less, first, last and in between.
Language Arts
We are finishing up our unit on ‘All Kinds of Friends” and we will begin another unit “Helping Hands”.
Science
The Food Pyramid is our focus and we will begin an experiment with water.
Social Studies
We will be learning about the first Thanksgiving. We will be reading about the Pilgrims and Indians. We will be doing arts and crafts on these subjects.
Thank you to our parents who helped make the carnival a big success. PREK won the pizza party!!!!!
We want to take this time to wish all our families a very happy blessed Thanksgiving!!!!!
REMINDERS:
November 13, 2009 Parent Conferences
November 24, 2009 Half Day (noon dismissal)
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Mrs. Strunk and Ms. Martinez – Pre-kindergarten
Posted on September 24, 2009, by Kathy Strunk, under Pre-kindergarten.
PrintWelcome new parents to Saint Elizabeth School.
PRE-K had a great time doing the Boosterthon Fun Run!! It was a great way of starting off the school year with Saints Pride.
During Religion time we are learning how to be friends of Jesus and that God made each and every one of us special. We have also learned about the creation story.
We have been having a great time during Language Arts. We have been reading books, singing songs and learning finger plays.
We have been working hard with shapes and counting one to five at Math class. We are also sorting objects.
In Social Studies we are learning about manners and when to use them. We have also practiced our class procedures, cafeteria procedures, how to line up procedures.
The primary colors are our focus in Science.
Exercise is what we do in PE besides play games.
The children have also been busy going to their specials. It seems everyone likes to go to their specials, Spanish, Library and Computers.
The best was Teddy Bear Day! We had a great time and the picnic was lovely.
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