Happy Halloween!

 Another great week in Kindergarten down! This week we had a great time learning about the different ways people and animals communicate! Our read alouds this week were Amelia's Show-and-Tell Fiesta/Amelia y la fiesta de "muestra y cuenta", Mice Squeak, We Speak, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat!, Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake (our star student Ellie's favorite book!), and Even Monsters Need Haircuts. 

In ELA this week we focused on communication! We spoke about different languages, read a bi-lingual book, and made a lot of animal noises as well! We continued working through our phonics program reviewing the sounds & letters of b, t, f, m, n, i & u. We introduced another vowel 'o' and the letter c! Our letter of the week was 'Pp'! We met our next letter person Ms. P with Pointy Patches! We finished the sentence "My pointy patches have ... on them." in our letter journals, along with the Ms. P puppet! This was our most difficult puppet yet, but they turned out the best! We took our Chapter 2 test in Math this week. They all did awesome, they are pattern experts! This week was "Bat Week!" in science! We read There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat, colored an "All About Bats" book, labeled the different parts of the bat, and made Bat hats. In Religion we learned about St. Francis of Assisi and enjoyed watching the 1st grade Saints Presentation. In gym, Mrs. Marchese turned the gym into the best haunted house! They greeted each other in Spanish, chose new books in Library, and created a Five Little Pumpkins background in Art!

In the word work center the students tossed letter bean bags and put together an alphabet puzzle. In the discovery center, the students created a sleeping bat in a cave and in the art center the students made shape bats! They loved playing Colors & Shapes bingo in the math center! They also read a book or played on the iPad in the free center :). 

Big thanks to our homeroom moms, Mrs. Imbesi and Mrs. Groseclose, for helping us put together our Halloween Celebration! Thank you to all who sent items in to help us make it special! We had a blast!

Next Week:

• Monday: Halloween-a-thon! All students are to wear their gym uniforms to school and all face paint must be applied at home. We suggest that the children do not bring any props in that may go with their costume. We do not want them to lose anything right before trick-or-treating! We will help the students change into their costumes by 1:00. We will then be called out by grade to go out the front doors by the main office and we will parade out the bus loop toward Aberdeen. We will parade along the sidewalk on the outside of the recess yard fence and all parents can be positioned inside the recess yard. We then will make our way into the parish center for a dance party! After the party is over, our class will walk back to school. If you would like to take your child home early, they must be signed out at the front desk! We will be all packed up before we go to the party. 
• Tuesday: All Saints Day - No School 
• Thursday: Gym & Library Day! 
• Friday: 1st - 8th grade Conferences - No School Kindergarten Conferences will be in January. 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Best,

Miss Ryan & Mrs. Lowe

Week of October 17th - 21st!

 Happy Friday!

We had another great week in Kindergarten! This week we had a great time reading, writing, and walking with our buddies during the JDRF Walk! We read Listen, Listen, My Five Senses, Can I Play Too? (our star student Grace's favorite book!), Scaredy-Cat Splat!, The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin, We're Off to Find the Witch's House, and Doug the Pug and the Kindness Crew! 

In ELA this week we began Unit 2. We learned all about our five senses: touch, sight, taste, smell, and sound! We continued working through our FUNdations phonics program. This week we reviewed the sounds & letters of b, t, f, m, & n. We also introduced our first two vowels u & i! The students are having so much fun practicing the sounds and writing the letters with the help of Mama Echo & Baby Echo! Our letter of the week was 'Cc'! We met our next letter person Mr. C with a Colossal Cap! We finished the sentence "My colossal cap covers my ..." in our letter journals, along with the Mr. C puppet! In math we are currently finishing up Chapter 2 by learning all about patterns. This week was "Spider Week!" in science! We watched a video about how important spiders are to our environment, read stories with spider characters, labeled a spider, and did a "Itsy Bitsy Spider" story sequence! In Religion we learned about Saint Rose of Lima and God's gift of animals. The students had so much fun knocking down pins with balls in Gym, singing the colors in Spanish, coloring scarecrows in Library, and making pizzas in Art! 

Centers are still a hit too! In the Word Work center the students used play dough to write letters. In the discovery center the students made predictions and recorded results of an experiment with Mrs. Lowe! They made predictions if a pumpkin candy would sink or float in milk, vinegar, oil, and water. In the art center they created spiders behind a web! In the math center, we created patterns on a string! They also read a book or played on the iPad in the free center :). 

Next Week!

• Monday: Class Pictures! We will be taking our class pictures outside. This was rescheduled due to the rain on picture day. Please send your child in full winter uniform and school shoes.
• Thursday: Gym & Library Day! 
• This week we are celebrating Beau & Norah's birthdays! Our October birthday celebration will be on Thursday, Oct 27th. 
• Friday: Our Halloween Celebration! We will be having our halloween party on Friday afternoon. Thank you to our homeroom moms, Mrs. Groseclose and Mrs. Imbesi, for helping organize! 
• Please remember to pack your child two snacks! One for the morning (or they may buy a pretzel) and one for the afternoon. Please also remind them not to eat both please. 
• If there is a dismissal change other than your child's usual dismissal, please email both Mrs. Lowe and myself or Susan Hodges. 

Looking Ahead

• Monday, Oct 31st: Halloween-a-thon! More information to come regarding costumes, etc.
• Tuesday, Nov 1st: All Saint's Day (No school)
• Friday, Nov 4th: 1st-8th Grade Conferences (No school) Kindergarten conferences will be in January. 

We hope you all have a great weekend!

Best,

Miss Ryan & Mrs. Lowe

Happy Friday!

 We had an awesome week in Kindergarten!

This week was a busy but fun week! We had an awesome time at Picture Day and sitting with our 6th grade buddies for Monthly School Mass!

In ELA this week we took our Unit 1 test! They all did so well at listening, following directions, and looking at their own paper. We are so impressed with how they did as well! I will be sending home those assessments to be signed next week. We also began using our new phonics program FUNdations! Right now we are focusing on letter-keyword-sound and writing letters. We use our helpers "Mama Echo" and "Baby Echo" to help us repeat! I will be sending home an information sheet on FUNdations & at home practice. Our letter of the week was 'Tt'! We met our next letter person Ms. T who has tall teeth! We finished the sentence "I brush my Tall Teeth with ..." in our letter journals, along with the Ms. T puppet. In math we continued our work in shapes by cutting out pictures in magazines and drawing on shaving cream on our desks! In science we learned all about pumpkins, their life cycle, and did a pumpkin volcano experiment outside! In Religion we spoke about taking care of God's gift of the land and created intention links for our school rosary. The students really enjoyed singing in Spanish, playing soccer in Gym, and reading It's Pumpkin Time & making pumpkins in Art!

We had a busy week in centers too! In the Word Work center the students filled in missing letters on an alphabet pumpkin vine and built sight words using letter pumpkins! In the discovery center, the students created a pumpkin with felt, yarn, and pumpkin seeds! They also filled in pre-made sentences about their pumpkins. In the math center we did pumpkin puzzles & an interactive counting seed game on the SmartBoard! They also read a book or played on the iPads in free center :). 

Next Week:

• Monday: Dress Down Day! If your child would like to participate in the dress down day, please send in $1. All proceeds go toward supporting the 7th grade's service project Ryan's Case for Smiles! 
• Tuesday: Popsicle Sale! 7th grade is also selling popsicles for $1 on Tuesday and Thursday next week during recess, to support the cause as well. 
• Thursday: Gym & Library day! Please be sure to send your child in with their library book. They will not be able to check another book out until the previous one is returned. Also, Home & School's Speaker Series at 7PM!
• Friday: JDRF Walk with the Principal! This walk supports juvenile diabetes and we will walk once or twice around the block with the school. Please send your child in wearing their gym uniform. 

We hope you have a wonderful weekend! :) Go Phillies!!

Best,

Miss Ryan & Mrs. Lowe

Happy October!

We cannot believe it is already October and we have finished our 4th week in Kindergarten! We had so much fun this week with our specials, field trip, and our Dress Down Phillies day! This week we read Hello Fall, The Handiest Tools in the World, The Little Red Hen, and Leaves. 

In ELA this week we talked about helping, both at home and in the classroom!  We continued reviewing, spelling, and writing our sight words "I" "like" "the" "and", and including our new sight word "see"! We identified the beginning sounds in words and counted the number of words in oral sentences. Our letter of the week was 'Aa'! We met our next letter person Ms. A who says Achoo! The kids loved listening to Ms. A's song and story and talking about words that begin with the letter 'a'. We wrote about things that make us say "Achoo!" in our Letter Journals! The kids also made the Ms. A puppet! In math we began Chapter 2, learning about 2D and 3D shapes. In Religion we learned about the rosary and prayed a decade of the rosary! The students really enjoyed doing a "purple and yellow" activity in Spanish. They played soccer in Gym, and made shape scarecrows in Art!

Our centers have turned into our favorite part of the day! In the Word Work center the students traced capital and lowercase letters with dry erase boards. The Art center created popsicle stick scarecrows with Mrs. Lowe! Students used play dough to make 2D and 3D shapes and played on the iPads or read a book in the Free center! 

We had an amazing time at the Sugartown Strawberries Pumpkin Patch! We were so glad many of you could join us in picking pumpkins & riding on the hayride :) 

Next week:

• Monday: NO SCHOOL
• Tuesday: Winter Uniform Begins. Please send your child in wearing their winter uniform! 
• Thursday: School Pictures, Gym Day, and Library Day! A very busy day! Please send your child into school wearing their winter uniform with school shoes (we will first take our class pictures). Please pack their gym uniform & sneakers in their backpacks (we will change into our gym clothes after pictures). 
• Friday: School Mass at 9AM! We will be sitting with our 6th grade buddies. All are welcome to join us :)!

We hope you have a wonderful long weekend!

Best,

Miss Ryan and Mrs. Lowe