KINDERGARTEN TIMES 11/02/09

WOW! What a busy Spirit Week we had. The Kindergarten class demonstarted great school spirit all week. Thank you all for your participation. You now will appreciate wearing a school uniform much more. It makes life easier in the morning. Spirit week is fun and also helps reinforce our school community ties.

A quick, friendly reminder about our uniform policy. Good grooming and appropriate dress is expected of all students. The standards are conservative. Fingernail polish is not permitted and the only jewelry is simple post earrings or a thin chain with a cross or other religious symbol. All uniform items must be purchased at Merry Mart or the school used uniform sale. It is best to get into the right habit now. Thank you!

Our STAR this week is CONNOR GORMAN! YEAH, Connor. We hope you enjoy your special week.

THANK YOU to all the parent volunteers for Fun Friday on Halloween and for the Walk-A-Thon. We could not have done it without you. Great job during a busy week. It is always nice having many parents here to join in the festivities. Children love to see their parents at school getting involved. Remember to get in your Walk-A-Thon pledges on time. Our children did a great job and probably slept very well on Thurs. night. One little one could not wait and had to take a nap in class....too cute for words.

We also had a fire truck visit on Friday. During the week we talked about fire safety and not to play with matches. Ask your child the rules and to show you stop, drop and roll...important lessons to learn.

Some of you may not want to hear this, but some studies show that a child needs to hear something about 1,000 times before they really learn it. Repetition is important. Hang in there, parents!

The week ended with our Halloween parade. Our children looked adorable in their costumes. 'Pinkalicious' won first prize in the staff costume contest. It took her at least 1 hour to get the paint off. I read the story to our children on Thursday and we ate pink cupcakes to set the tone. Even teachers need to have fun on Halloween. Mrs. Vierra was a very cute pumpkin in her handmade costume and Mrs. Volta was a neat baseball player. Such a great team!

We did take a group photo and hope to get each of you a copy. Thanks to Mrs. Cervantes a former 'K' mom. She is always willing to help us.

I read several of my favorite Halloween books which I highly recommend. 'Alice & Greta' and 'The Witch Had an Itch'. The theme is good witch vs bad. Remember the Brewmerang Theory:

"Whatever you chant, whatever you brew

sooner or later comes back to you."

We also watched the Davey Halloween Who Done It. The lesson is even when wearing a costume God know who you are. Even with all the Halloween hoopla, we try very hard to reinforce our Catholic values. In religion we talked about let your candle light shine for Jesus and All Saints Day.

In science we did weights and measurement with pumpkins. In math we are learning about a picture graph. For language arts we read 'Warthogs in the Kitchen' and 'The Crayon Box That Talked'. You should ask your child about them. We created a great Halloween picture book. Also, when we send home the thin, theme books please review them, especially the story at the back. Your child should be able to read it. Thanks! Our letter this week is 'D'. Great job with our 'Take Home Readers'. Keep it up!

REMINDERS:

• Parent conferences this week, 12:30 dismissals. Please be on time because our time is limited

• Open House on 11/15, refer a family and earn volunteer hours

• Morgan Folmer is still missing her new sweatshirt with her name on it

• We still have an unclaimed book order that belongs to one of you

• You should have received your Sally Foster order

Enjoy the month of November. We are always practicing gratitude. We have so many blessings. Treasure life. Take care. We continue to stay very healthy.

Fondly, Mrs. Stein