Weather

This week we are learning about weather.  Our shared reading is the book What's the Weather Like Today.I love doing a   unit on weather during the month of March because we will experience all types of weather this month. Today I did a Circle Map with the children to check their prior knowledge of weather and where they have learned about weather. I was very pleased with how well they did answering my questions. Today we made a tornado in science. Please ask your child to tell you about it! Our guest readers last Friday were Joe Fought and Emily Shea and today Aiden O'Brien read. I would love to have everyone in the class be a guest reader by the end of the school year. Practice a book at home and have them bring it in and I will read with them. When I feel they are ready to read in front of the class they will be a guest reader. PLEASE send in a snack for your child daily.
Mrs. Catton

Dr. Suess' Birthday

What a great day to be in kindergarten at Holy Spirit School! Today we celebrated Dr. Suess' birthday with Miss Hill's class and Mrs. Flynn's Preschool Class. Each teacher chose their Dr. Seuss book and planned an activity. We divided the three classes up and put them in three groups to visit the rooms. Ask your child what Dr. Seuss story they heard in each classroom and to describe the activity in each room. Also, ask your child to describe what the author and illustrator of Dr. Seuss books really looks like and what his real name is. Hint- Theodore Seuss Geisel. We had a great time enjoying these wonderful children books together with all of the "Early Childhood" teachers and students. 
Respectfully,
Mrs. Catton

New in Room 23

I hope that you heard last night about our new class pet- Hermie the Hermit Crab. The children are excited to say the least and I know they will take good care of him. Nathan even went home and did some research to about hermit crabs and wrote about it which we shared during morning carpet time. I am so excited about the writing that the children are doing. Yesterday some of the children were writing prayers to put into the prayer box. Please if you have someone you would like us to pray for write it down and send it in with your child. We check the prayer box every morning. Our jug from the challenge is already half full. The children love to tell us what they did to earn their money to share and I love to hear them tell us how good they feel inside. Ella Quiesser was our guest reader last week. A few students have brought in a book to share and we are still practicing but they will be reading for us very soon.
Respectfully,
Mrs. Catton

Charity Challenge

After Mass today we presented each grade level their Faith In Action jug to collect funds for their charity of choice. Together with Miss Hill we have decided that our charity will be the St. Elizabeth/Coleman Pregnancy Adoption Services. Please give your child the opportunity to earn change to bring into school reinforcing service to others and sacrifice. Spring pictures are tomorrow so your child will not have to wear their gym uniform but they will need to bring their gym shoes to change in to if they are not wearing them in their picture.
Respectfully,
Mrs. Catton

Prayer Box

Dear Parents,
We now have a prayer box in the classroom. I have told the children that they can write down a prayer for someone that they would like us to pray for every morning as part of our morning routine. This would be a great opportunity for you to see how their kindergarten writing is developing. We are writing everyday in school and hopefully you are seeing your child writing at home. I encourage you to remind them to stretch out the word listening for the sounds as they are writing. Also, encourage them to use their popcorn words. Thank you Miss Hurst for the donation of the mailbox.
Respectfully,
Mrs. Catton

WOW!

It sure was a busy morning in kindergarten. Our 100's Day stations were a blast. We counted, moved, read, wrote, drew,ate, built and just had a great time! I would really like to give a special thank you to Mrs. Schene, Mrs. Welty, and Mrs. Emmert for their help today. Stations are such fun and a great learning opportunity when they are monitored. If you would ever like to come in and help at stations it would be welcomed and I know you would enjoy it. It gives you a great opportunity to see what is going on in your child's classroom as well as connecting with their classmates. Your child would love it too! Please let me know if you would like to volunteer. Thank you for helping your child prepare for 100's Day and Catholic Schools Week. Sad to say that we didn't make it to 100 canned foods but we got close with 65 so thank you for sharing.
Respectfully,
Mrs. Catton

Next Week is a busy one in kindergarten

Please read the school newsletter for information on Catholic Schools Week. We will be actively participating and having all sorts of fun. It is also the 100's day of kindergarten on Thursday, Feb 2nd. I would like to incorporate the two very special events. Part of our Catholic faith is service to others and I know that Mrs. Parsons was contacted by a past student who is in need of medical supplies. I was going to have you help your child count out 100 items to bring into school to share at a community circle on Thursday. If you would like to count out band aids, Q-Tips, cough drops, cottons balls, etc. that would be awesome and we will forward those to her to use with her service to the community. If you don't want to count out those type of items, please help them count out 100 of something else to share.  Ideas- M&M's, pennies, rubber bands, straws, etc. As you are counting the items out with them model count by ones, twos, fives and tens. Also, please send in a canned food items as we are working with Miss Hill's class to see if we can collect 100 cans by Thursday. These will be donated to a food bank. You may start bringing in canned foods on Monday.  I am in need of a three volunteers on Thursday for stations from 8:15-10:00 if you would like to help out just let me know.
Respectfully,
Mrs. Catton