Happy Mother’s Day!

I wish all of my students’ mothers a joyful Mother’s Day.  As I write this, I am reminded of my own two boys and how much I love and care for them.  Thanks to both of them for allowing me to be their mother.  Thank you for loving your children and giving them the greatest gift of all….the gift of faith and a Catholic education.  I am privileged to be your child’s teacher and am so delighted that you shared this exciting Kindergarten child with me this year!

This Week:

• we met a new puppet, Goofy Ghost

• we started Gg centers

• we had lots of fun experimenting with three-dimensional shapes

• we saw our caterpillars spin into chrysalis and now the waiting begins!

• we finished our study of shapes and will start a new math chapter

• we continued learning the Mysteries of the Rosary

• we prayed a decade of the rosary each day for morning prayer

• we finished our Science chapter and will start a new one

Looking Ahead:

• we will meet a new puppet at the end of this week

• we will read lots of new books in our Literacy Stations

• we will start learning about measuring things in math

• Msgr. Kosanke will be visiting us this week

• we will continue learning about the mysteries of the rosary

• Thursday, June 7 – KINDERGARTEN CELEBRATION – last day of school for Kinders; picnic at Beverly Park (more information to follow)

Calling all summer birthdays:  If your Kindergarten student wishes to celebrate his/her summer birthday in the Kindergarten classroom, please email me so we can set up a date.

SUMMER  REVIEW:

It is imperative that the Kindergarten students continue reinforcing their newly-acquired skills throughout the summer, therefore I have a few suggestions for each student.

1. Read daily.  Read to your child, have your child read to you, partner read…JUST READ!

2. Play daily games with letters, sounds, numbers, addition and subtraction.  This can be as simple as asking your child to give you the beginning, medial and ending sound of a word, have them count and sort the socks, ask them to add how many bananas and apples are in the bowl.

3. Write.  Simple writing activities may include:  making the grocery list, writing a letter to someone, drawing a picture and labeling the parts, writing a story about something that interests the child, reading a book and then writing down the beginning, middle and ending of it, keeping a vacation journal.

4. Purchase the Summer Review booklet offered by St. Regis School.

5. Use the computer to find interesting websites for learning games.   Mrs. Chubb’s website has some great websites as well as the ones I use in school – www.abcya.com, www.starfall.com, www.morestarfall.com, and www.pbskids.com

6. Please contact me if you desire individual help or tutoring.

Happy Mother’s Day

We had a wonderful St. Regis Mother’s Day on Friday.  Thank you to all the mothers, grandmothers, aunts and special friends who celebrated with us.  The Mass was beautiful and the May Crowning is such a glorious way to honor our heavenly mother, Mary.  Again, thank you for all you do to encourage your children with their prayers and love of God.

This Week:

• we will meet a new puppet

• we will start our new centers

• we will continue our math chapter on geometry

• we will continue learning about the Mysteries of the Rosary

• we will say a decade of the rosary each day

• we will continue our study of physical science

Looking Ahead:

• alternative uniforms start Monday, May 7; see below
• GIRLS:  knee length navy shorts or skort, polo shirts with St. Regis logo, socks and shoes (tennis socks are okay)
• BOYS:  knee length navy shorts, polo shirts with St. Regis logo, socks and shoes (tennis socks are okay)
• ALL SHIRTS MUST BE TUCKED IN FOR BOYS AND GIRLS
• May 9 – Coffee with Mrs. Ball , 9:00AM  Please come and learn about summer resources for students
• June 7 – Kindergarten Celebration and last day of school for Kindergarten (more information to follow)
• anyone who wishes to celebrate their SUMMER birthday during Kindergarten, needs to email Mrs. Hammaker for a time

If you wish to receive your PRAYER STATUE, remember, you need to be able to say the following prayers to Mrs. Hammaker:

• Sign of the Cross
• Our Father
• Hail Mary
• Prayer before Meals
• Glory Be

May – The Month of Our Mother, Mary

The Kindergarten children are learning to pray the powerful prayer of the rosary.  Each day of May, we will say one decade of the rosary.  Learning all the Mysteries of the rosary gives us many opportunities to discuss the many important parts of Jesus’ life.  The children are making their own booklet that has a picture for each of the mysteries.  We will also make our own rosaries.

The National Day of Prayer takes place this Thursday.  What a wonderful way to spend part of a morning – praying together.  The children each wrote their own prayerful intention that they will share with their prayer group.  Please join us on the recess field this Thursday at 10:00 AM.

This Week:

• we will continue our Kk centers

• we will learn more about shapes and geometry!

• we will meet a new puppet

• we will be VERY BUSY preparing for our Friday’s Mothers’ Day

• we will pray the rosary daily

• we will learn the Sorrowful Mysteries

Looking Ahead:

• Friday, May 4 – Mothers’ Day at St. Regis; meet at St. Regis Church for 8:30 AM Mass, followed by the May Crowning and a short musical program.  After the program, please join us in the classroom for some special treats.

Jesus Comes Back to His Friends!

This week, the Gospel tells us how Jesus returns to His friends.  When He returns after his Resurrection, Jesus talks to His apostles about peace.  They are given the great joy of spreading peace throughout the world with others.   The children and I have spent much time together learning about our job of speading Jesus’ peace through our actions, our words and our prayers.  Each day, I remind them of their important work for Jesus!

We are quickly approaching the month of May, Mary’s Month, as we call it in the world of Kindergarten.  During this time, we will learn how to pray the rosary and gain understanding of the mysteries of the rosary.  It is a beautiful way to honor Jesus’ mother and the children pray the rosary in such a loving way.

This Week:

• we met a new puppet, Looney Lion
• we finished our Bb centers and started our Ll centers
• we continued our subtraction work
• we are working on doing + and – problems together!
• we completed our Baptism stories – please come and see all of them hanging on the wall
• we continued reading about Jesus and His apostles in the New Testament
• we completed our science unit on sun and heat

Looking Ahead:

• this week we will make our “wish list” at the book fair; it will be sent home with the date for buying books
• May 3 – National Day of Prayer – please try to join us ….THIS is a fabulous opportunity to see the entire school doing what is the most important reason we are St. Regis….to pray and spread the word of Jesus.

• May 4 – Mothers’ Day at St. Regis – we will celebrate all the mothers with attendance at 8:30 Mass, followed by a musical program put on by the school children and culminating with classroom visits.

Don’t forget to check out the puppet, centers and word wall pages….I update them weekly and add new items.

Alleluia!  Jesus Has Risen  Alleluia!

The Lord has risen!  This week we have spent much time rejoicing in the Resurrection.   We will continue to read the stories about Jesus and happenings after Easter.  Faith is a virtue that we see presented in the story of Thomas and his questioning of Jesus being alive.   As a class, we read the story in the New Testament and discussed how faith and belief in things can sometimes be hard, but praying to God will strenghten that faith. 

This is Bb week in Kindergarten so we took the opportunity to explore the first sacrament of initiation – Baptism. The children and I learned about the four signs used in Baptism;  holy  water, white garment, chrism and candle.  It was very interesting that the children remembered when they saw the Easter candle during their church tour.  The Baptism candle is lit from the flame of the Easter candle. We then used these things and modeled how the priest welcomed the new baby (or adult) into the church.  This week, the children have a homework assignment to learn about their own Baptism and produce a poster about it.

CONGRATULATIONS to all our Second Graders who received their First Eucharist on Saturday and Sunday.  God Bless all of you!

This Week:

• we met a new puppet, B.B. Bunny

• we started Bb centers

• we continued our study of subtraction

• we learned about how the sun gives us heat and light

• we are in the process of doing a science experiment

• we learned about Baptism

Looking Ahead:

• April 20 -21 -  School Play, “Into the Woods,Jr.”  Friday -7PM and Saturday 1PM   PLEASE COME

• May 4 – Mothers’ Day at St. Regis; more information to follow ; 8:30AM Mass, musical and classroom visit

THIS and THAT:

• Summer birthdays – if your student has a summer birthday and wishes to celebrate this year in Kindergarten, please email me and we can set up a day
• PLEASE practice all the word wall words; your child will be held accountable for all of them when they start First Grade
• Addition and Subtraction are going very well for the children, please reinforce at home
• There is still time for the children to earn their prayer statue….the prayers are said daily in school, so they should know all of them by now
• the Baptism poster is very SPECIAL, please enjoy spending time with your child remembering there first sacrament

Holy Week

Today we start the holiest week of the year, thus its name, Holy Week.  On Palm Sunday, we remember how Jesus was welcomed into Jersualem.  Cheers and shouts of “Hosanna and Hurrah” came from the people’s voices.  As the week progresses we remember Holy Thursday when Jesus ate with His friends and instituted the first Mass.  We continue the week thinking about how Jesus prayed in the garden and then is scourged, crowned with thorns, given a heavy cross and finally, on Good Friday, died on that cross.  Mary, His mother and some of His friends stayed with Jesus until the end and then placed His body into a grave where Jesus lay all of Holy Saturday.  Easter Sunday is a time of great rejoicing…Alleluia….Jesus has risen from the dead.  He is ALIVE!

This week, the children in Mrs. Hammaker’s class made twelve special eggs called Resurrection Eggs.  Each numbered egg contained an object, a symbol of important events that took place on that first Holy Week.  I have asked each child to use these eggs throughout this week to share this wonderful story of Jesus. 

Please pray together as a St. Regis community during this Holy Week.  All services and times are listed in the church bulletin and on the parish website.

Looking Ahead:

• we will continue our study of subtraction in math
• we will start a new unit in science about heat and light
• we will meet some new puppets
• we will continue our great reading
• we will continue our study of weather and the seasons in language arts
• we will further study “describing” words; adjectives
• we will start our new chapter in religion
• we will learn about Baptism

Progress Reports:

Progress reports will be sent home this week for the Kindergarten students. 

I will be available for anyone who would like to conference with me.  Please email your request so we can set up a convenient time.

Have a wonderful, joyful and prayerful Easter! 

Fifth Week of Lent

As we enter the final week of school before Holy Week, the children and I will spend each day discussing and learning about the next week, Holy Week.  Throughout this week, we will continue all our Lenten prayers and devotions.  Our Lenten calendar is helping us to grow to be more like Jesus.  We have almost finished our Stations of the Cross book and will use it on Friday when we pray this special devotion.  We will continue to tell the story of the Holy Week by making Resurrection Eggs.  The children will also be making a beautiful “Resurrection Cross” for their family as a sign of the Risen Jesus.

This Week:

• we met Elie Enor, our new puppet
• we are enjoying our Ee centers
• we are starting our learning of subtraction concepts
• we are reading more and more each day
• we are working on our Stations of the Cross booklet

Looking Ahead:

• Thursday, March 29 – Easter Party
• Holy Thursday, April 5 – Mass of the Lord’s Supper – 7:30 pm, please join our St. Regis community
• Good Friday, April 6 – Stations of the Cross – 12:00 noon, please consider bringing your child to this devotion
• Good Friday, April 6 – Passion of the Lord – 3:00 pm, please consider coming to pray
• Holy Saturday, April 7 – Easter Egg Hunt – 1:00 pm
•                                              Easter Vigil – 9:00 pm
• Easter Sunday, April 8 – Masses are at 8:00am, 10:00am and 12:00 noon

Fourth Week of Lent

As we enter the fourth week of this holy season of Lent, the children and I continue to grow and change.  Our seeds are now sprouting leaves and this week we will plant them in a bigger container with more soil so they can continue their new growth.  Our Jelly Bean Project is going quite well.  Each time we try to become more like Jesus and model Him, we can receive a jelly bean.  The daily at-home Lenten calendar is reminder of how we need to remember Jesus each day and try to do our best.

This week, we will go over to the church for a church tour.  Mrs. Hundsrucker will show us around and explain the different components is the church.

This Week:

• continued Rr centers
• added doubles in math using dominoes
• did a bubble experiment
• learned about solids, liquids and gas
• continued our Stations of the Cross booklet
• started our Jelly Bean project
• did lots of St. Patrick Day projects!

Looking Ahead:

• Tuesday, March 20 – All School Mass; please join us if you can
• meet a new puppet (check out the Puppet Page!)
• start a new chapter in math and science
• continue learning about Lent

REMINDER:

Gym pants are still required over gym shorts until the alternative uniform comes into effect.

Third Week of Lent

The Kindergarten children continue to grow and change during this third week of Lent.  We all participated in the prayerful service of the Stations of the Cross.  Using our large pictures, the children held the picture of each station while our fifth grade friends read the prayers.  It was a solemn, prayerful meditation.  To further understand what Jesus did for all of us,  I am explaining the significance of each station, and then we discuss together what it means and end with a prayer.  The children are producing their own Stations of the Cross booklet as we study each station.

Our daily, at-home Lenten calendars are being used by many of the children.  This simple task is meant to keep the children thinking of changing and growing during Lent.  We are watching our seeds as they continue to grow and change during these forty days.

We will start our Jelly Bean Project sometime during this third week of Lent.  Each color of jelly bean represents some virtue.  As the children show examples with their behaviors of the virtues, they are given that specific color jelly bean.  This will continue until Easter.

This Week:

• we met a new puppet, Racing Raccoon
• we finished our Dd centers; they were dandy
• we started to add 2 to the numbers of 1-8
• we continued our Stations of the Cross booklet
• we learned that Jesus celebrated with His friends and people He met; we celebrate at Mass
• we are doing a great job with all our books at the Literacy Stations!

Looking Ahead:

• Friday, March 16 – no school for children
• Monday, April 2-9 – Easter Break
• Thursday, May 3 – National Day of Prayer;  please join us; this is so wonderful
• Friday, May 4 – Mothers’ Day at St. Regis
• Thursday, June 7 – LAST DAY OF SCHOOL for Kindergarten; Picnic at Beverly Park

Second Week of Lent

As we enter the second week of Lent, we will continue to focus on “changing and growing” to be more like Jesus.  The seeds we planted last week have not yet begun to sprout, but we are watering them and watching them daily to discover their change.  Our Lenten calendars are helping us model the way Jesus treated others by doing a specific task for someone daily.  This week, we will continue our daily Lenten calendars  and try to grow and change.  We will also start to discuss what Jesus did for us when he walked the journey to Calvary.  Each day we will study a different Station of the Cross.  Each child will make their own station to be put in a book.  We will attend the Stations of the Cross prayer service at church this week.

Please check our Lent page for all our activities this week.

• This Week:

• we met a new puppet, Ditto the Dog
• we will continue our math unit on addition
• we will start our Stations of the Cross
• we will continue our Lenten booklet
• we are learning about prayer
• we will continue our study of matter in science
• we will continue our Dd centers

Looking Ahead:

• Friday, March 16 – NO SCHOOL for students
• Tuesday, March 20 – All-School Mass at 8:30
• March 17-21 – Parish Mission