Christmas Program

Dear Parents,
Please look at the important note sent home in your child's backpack today concerning the Christmas program about what they are to wear to school tomorrow and arrival time tomorrow night. They do not have to wear their gym uniform tomorrow.
Respectfully,
Mrs. Catton

Chores for change and cooking

Please remember to give your child an opportunity to earn change for chores for our Advent service project. Giving up something you enjoy and bringing in is a great way to make that connection of sacrafice and service.  I will be asking anyone who brings in ice cream money tomorrow if they would like to give their .50 to our service project. Father Douglas and Sister Doraley came to visit us in our classroom and we explained how we are earning money to share with them so they can buy school uniforms for the children in our twinning parish. Even though we don't speak the same language, their smiles were universal! We know how much they appreciated our efforts.

I am looking for the following donations for our cooking lesson next week.

6 green apples
an apple corer
a tub of the brown sugar waffers
a large bag of purple grapes
a box of Post Alpha- Bits
paper plates

Please let me know ASAP if you can donate any of these items. I will need them by Monday,
Respectfully.
Mrs. Catton

Advent Service Project

Dear Parents,
I will be discussing with the children today our Advent school wide service project Mrs. Parsons has designated this year. We will be collecting funds to purchase school uniforms and shoes for the students of our twinning parish in Honduras. I am asking them to earn change by helping out around home. When they bring in their change they will get to tell me and their peers what they did to earn their money and by doing so they are making the connection of service to others. They will also get to write their name on an ornament to put on the school Christmas tree at the entrance of the school. Each child brought home an Advent calendar with simple activities you can have your child do each day during the next few weeks to help them prepare for the birth of baby Jesus. November homework calendars and Book- It are due tomorrow. A copy of the  December/January goals to practice at home, December homework calendar, and December Book-It will be in Friday folders this week.
Respectfully,
Mrs. Catton

Newest Popcorn Words

Dear Parents,
The following are the popcorn (sight words) I introduced to the children last week.

in, my, a, up, be, on, am, like, this, had

You can help your child memorize these words by calling attention to them as you speak them and read them. Make flash cards and play a game with them. You may even hear your child say " That is one of our popcorn words!"

Respectfully,
Mrs. Catton

Spirit Week

Wow, what a great week in kindergarten. They participation in dressing up has been terrific. Being the mother of three children who participated while at Holy Spirit, I need to say thank you to you parents because I know if adds to your already busy schedule getting outfits ready for each day. Your children loved it though and they were so excited. Despite all of the "extras" this week we have been very busy learning. Our shared reading this week was Rosie's Walk. Please ask your child to retell you the story of Rosie and the fox and their adventures. We also reviewed Cookie's Week and a homework sheet is coming home in Friday folders today. We visited the SmartBoard for interactive learning, made "wagons" during cooking, reading, writing, religion, math, social studies (we got to walk on a GIANT map), and much, much, more. Probably most importantly we made a predictable chart where the children told me what they were thankful for and it was you- their families. :)  A very important homework watcher was sent home earlier in the week about our first field trip on Wednesday, December 21st. Put it on your calendar and plan on joining your child for this tradition here at Holy Spirit. More information will be coming.
Enjoy your weekend,
Mrs. Catton

Family

We have finished our unit of study of school and tomorrow I will be introducing our next unit of study- The Family. The key knowledge point that I want each student to learn from this next unit is that while all families may not look alike they each have responsibilities that are similar. Each family is unique and special and families love each other. We will be talking about  how we have our home family, school family, parish and community families. We will be reading books, doing activities, and sharing about our families. I am asking each child to bring in a family picture. They will share their picture with the class during religion time so I encourage you to have your child practice talking about their picture at home before they bring it in. These will be returned when we complete this unit. We had an opportunity to share today in a community circle how sometimes families celebrate together when great things happen in the family and how sometimes when things don't go so great everyone in the family feels the consequences of that. A few of the kids in the class had a rough day listening and following directions all morning and it spilled over into recess and our special for the day so we had to cancel book buddies :(.  We had a community circle instead where we discussed how our actions not only affect us but others like those in our school family.  It was a good learning experience for all of us and I am confident that tomorrow will be a better day. :)
Respectfully,
Mrs. Catton

Popcorn Words

I introduced the first set of popcorn words (sight words) to the children today. I would suggest that you make flash cards and acknowledge these words when you read them and write them with your child. They are as follows: I, it, at, go, we, to, is, the, and, me. The children have already noticed that I have used these words numerous times on morning message, the agenda, and many of the writings done so far this year. Popcorn (sight) words are high frequency words that your child should just recognize and not have to sound out.
October calendars and Book-It are due on Monday. We discussed the Halloween party today and the children understand that I want them to wear their school clothes for the day under their costume so hopefully that will help you as they are getting ready for school Monday morning. The children enjoyed Honors Day today where we celebrated our good work for the first quarter. I gave each child something that they need to work on for the second quarter in regards to work and social skills as a goal.
Respectfully,
Mrs. Catton