Mardi Gras Preschool Style

Our class has been hard at work preparing for Lent. Last week we met with our Teamwork Tuesday buddies to write down our Lenten Promises. Mrs. Hernandez' class brought those promises to the altar today at Mass. Next week we will be recycling the promises into new paper with wildflower seeds embedded. We will plant our promises in the hopes that flowers will sprout as Easter approaches.

We also decorated floats for our Mardi Gras Parade. Our class was by far the best dressed in the parade. Enjoy the video of our pictures and the marching band.

Workout Wednesday

I'll be honest... I thought the random interruptions throughout the day would be chaos. The kids LOVED it. We danced during yoga, during Religion, during Art, and with our Teamwork Tuesday buddies. The only time we couldn't dance was when we were on the stairs headed to the Computer Lab. A few exclaimed at the end of the day "This day was so fun!". It was fun indeed.

Exercise Day link

Up next... dress as your favorite Bible character, book character, or teacher.

Twin Day

We loved sharing our day with the bears yesterday. During play time we found them in the most adorable places. It was so sweet to see the children pull up extras chairs so their bears could join them. Some even fit in our toys.

 

Today is Twin Day. Once we figured out what it meant to be a 'twin' the kiddos had lots of fun finding ways to be twins.

Some came to school dressed alike. Others decided to accessorize once at school. We even found twin lunches.

                 

Pink and tutus, the perfect twin day outfit

The birthday girl and her adoring fans (twins). Who doesn't love a princess sash?!

Twin Uncrustables

Twin GoGurt

Up next a movie and nachos with Mrs. Seibal's class. Should be tons of fun.

It is our hope that the students really enjoy Catholic Schools Week. While the mini celebrations are not at the heart of why families choose a Catholic education for their children, we want to celebrate in a way the children can understand. We are blessed to be able to learn about the seasons of the liturgical year. We are blessed to be able to pray before meals. We are blessed to teach the children that their words alone can be a prayer to God their heavenly father and that their voices will be heard. We are blessed that so many families make sacrifices to make St. Monica Catholic School your school family.

Happy Catholic Schools Week

(Tomorrow wear exercise clothes to school. I'm hoping someone sports leg warmers and sweat bands. At random times during the day music will be played over the intercom and the entire school will get to hop and and dance)

We have been learning a few sight words this week. We are using this great video from Preschool Prep Sight Words. We have only covered the first words, but their progress has been amazing. You might want to watch at home too. Another great way to reinforce our school day is to utilize Compass Learning from home. If you have lost your child's username and login we would be happy to send it home again. Many children are taking advantage of the program and getting in extra practice at home. 

Kick Off to Catholic Schools Week

Today is PJ Day at SMS. We all brought a bear to school and had special visitors (friends from 4th grade) read bedtime stories to us. What a treat, especially since so many brothers and sisters were in Mr. L's class. We have lots of fun things planned this week. Hopefully I am able to take pictures, import, and post them all in a reasonably timely manner. Wish me luck!

Open House

This coming Sunday, January 25th, from 2:00-4:00 we will be hosting an Open House. Please help spread the word about our amazing Preschool Program at St. Monica. We have made a little video highlighting a day in Preschool. Feel free to share the video with neighbors and friends who might be looking for a new school home.

A Day in PreK4

We Are Santa's Elves

We are Santa's elves

Filling Santa's shelves

With a toy

For each girl and boy

Oh we are Santa's elves

We work hard all day,

But our work is play,

Dolls we try out

See if they cry out

We are Santa's elves

We Are Santa's Elves

Last year a parent offered me two bags of unused Build A Bear stuffing. I had no idea what to do with it, but like any good teacher, I took the bags gladly. We brought it out a few weeks ago and have been using it for many crafts. We set up a stuffing station on our back counter and the children stuffed their gingerbread men and gingerbread houses. We also used it for fur on our Nativity sheep. Watching the kiddos sew, stuff, and decorate I couldn't help being reminded of the elf song from Rudolph. Crafts are a big part or our preschool experience. The children are given the opportunity to make decisions for themselves about which craft they want to create. They explore many textures, practice fine motor skills with cutting and mostly use their imagination. Not all classes embrace the fun of crafts, but this class is full of imagination. Our creation station is always full at play time. The children use more colored glue, glitter, and tape than any class in the past - and we couldn't be happier about it. 

 

   

Stone Soup

It seems that this time of year we move from one event to another. I have the best intentions to fill the days with memories for my girls but sometimes I am so busy making memories I forget to enjoy the making part. When I take the time to stop I sometimes notice things I once overlooked. In the hustle and bustle of trying to capture every one's fancy Christmas outfits today I found pictures from our Stone Soup activity before Thanksgiving.

We have just over one more week before our Christmas break. The children have learned so much already this year. Next week we will work on finishing up a few Christmas crafts (that we will lovingly wrap as gifts). Good Luck opening them, we LOVE glue and tape :)

We will also work on finishing up our assessments for our first Progress Reports. We will send our Progress Reports home in January in conjunction with the end of the first semester of school.  Our first Progress Report will serve as a benchmark for the students. We will send reports home again in March and in May. Our goal is to show growth throughout the year. Regardless of how many uppercase letters the children recognize in December we will strive for marked improvement. The Progress Reports are a work in progress. This year Kindergarten transitioned to a new standards based Report Card. The PreK 4 and PreS 3 classes are working to create reports that better mirror the language of the Kindergarten Report Cards. The report we use in December may change a bit through the year, bear with us as we work to make our reporting process more beneficial to families.

We will send out more information regarding Progress Reports in January.