Week of January 27, 2020

Although this was a short week, it was packed full of learning fun!  Marshmallow Math was quite a hit with our little mathematicians!  Who knew number 5 could be so delicious to learn about?!?

We also worked on our fine motor skills with our white play dough creations.  What incredible imaginations we have in PreK-3!

We LOVED the book  Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow and had so much fun acting it out with all of our friends that we did it over and over and over again!  Be sure to ask your little monkey to tell you all about it, they may even want to act it out for you!

This week we will be learning about letter Mm, reviewing our shapes and learning about the most famous Weather Reporter in our country (hint, hint... SHADOWS will be our Weather Theme focus... stay tuned to find out whether or not we will have an early Spring!)

Just when you thought things couldn't get more exciting....We will be continuing to work on our  SCISSORS skills this week!!!  Mrs. Matthews and I were SO IMPRESSED with how well everyone did with our first scissors attempts on Friday!  (You may want to hide any you may have around the house for a while as your little ones will surely want to practice their newly acquired skills!)

Valentine's Day:  A notice went home through the children's backpacks on Friday but here's a little recap:  We will celebrate Valentine's Day on Friday, February 14th in our classroom.  We will be exchanging Valentine's Day Cards.  Please send in one card per child with only your own child's name on each as the from whom the card is and not the name for whom it is intended.  This will make distribution much easier as the children are only just beginning to recognize each other's names.  We have 9 children in our class.  The children can either make their own little cards or they may be purchased.  That is entirely up to you.  Please do not send in Valentines with food or candy as we have children with allergies in our school.  Your children may begin to bring in their cards whenever they are ready through our party day on the 14th.  This little homework idea is completely optional: you may want to take this opportunity to have your child write their first initial (or full name if they are able to) on each of their cards and then finish the rest of their name for him/her.

Catholic Schools Week Tag Day:
Monday, January 27th:  Celebrate our Community:  Wear Blue Tag Day,  $1 donations are being collected to benefit the Family of Detective Joseph Seals of the Jersey City Police Department.

PreK-3 Artwork on Loan:  Our adorable hedgehogs are now on display at the Roxbury Public Library in the Children's Section through the month of January.  We worked with the PreK-4 Class to mount a fabulous display featuring one of our January themes - Hibernation.  Be sure to stop over and check it out!  Look for your child's initials on the bottom of their craft.

PreK Parent/Teacher Conferences:   I've really enjoyed meeting with you over the past few days to discuss one of my favorite topics - your children!  And I'm looking forward to discussing the rest of our children's progress with our remaining families on Monday.  Please come directly to The Learning Center and ring the PreK-3 doorbell.  We will be conferencing in our classroom.  Each conference will be approximately 15-20 minutes.

This Week's Focus will be on:

Letter of the Week: Mm
Number of the Month: 5
Colors of the Month:  Black and White
Shape of the Month:  Diamond (rhombus)
January Themes:  Counting 0-5, Sorting, AB Patterns, Feelings, Winter, Weather, Hibernation,                       Name Recognition, Name Writing, Scissor Skills, Calendar, Groundhog Day, Shadows
Religion:  Sign of the Cross, Simple Prayers, Grace before meals,  My Name Is Special,
                                             Praying for someone other than ourselves

Show & Tell:  Friday, Jan 31st   Please bring in something that begins with the Mm sound, is black or white or is diamond shaped to show and tell our friends about.

Dates to Remember:
January 17th- January 27th: PreK-3 Parent/Teacher Conferences
January 26th-31st: Catholic Schools Week (please check school website for a breakdown of the daily themes)
January 26th: STS Open House 12:30-2pm
February 17th: NO SCHOOL - Presidents' Day


Hope you have a Marvelous week,
Paula Dobres

Week of January 20, 2020

Our little scientists were so busy experimenting, making predictions, observations and comparisons this week!  It was so much fun to watch them participate in the scientific process!  I hope they came home and impressed you with some of their new vocabulary and knowledge!  

It was so hard to decide which photos to publish this week so I'm including a few more than usual.  Hope you enjoy seeing your little one in action.  Wind, Wind Races, Kite Flying, Snow, Ice, Melting, Snowflakes, Lions, Lamps, Legos, Marshmallow Snowflake Engineering, Shaving Cream "Snow", Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Peace Signs were just a few of our highlights!  What a busy and fun-filled week!

This week we will be reviewing all the letters we have learned so far as well as finishing up letter Ll.  We will be working on counting objects through 5 as well as writing number 5 (it's a tricky one for little hands!)  We will be continuing our study of weather with a focus on clouds as well as continuing to learn our names in print as well as recognizing those of our classmates. And yes, the SCISSORS are coming out this week!! 

Catholic Schools Week Tag Day:  
Monday, January 27th:  Celebrate our Community:  Wear Blue Tag Day,  $1 donations are being collected to benefit the Family of Detective Joseph Seals of the Jersey City Police Department.

PreK-3 Artwork on Loan:  Our adorable hedgehogs are now on display at the Roxbury Public Library in the Children's Section through the month of January.  We worked with the PreK-4 Class to mount a fabulous display featuring one of our January themes - Hibernation.  Be sure to stop over and check it out!  Look for your child's initials on the bottom of their craft.

PreK Parent/Teacher Conferences:   I'm looking forward to discussing your child's progress with you in the upcoming days.  Please come directly to The Learning Center and ring the PreK-3 doorbell.  We will be conferencing in our classroom.  Each conference will be approximately 15-20 minutes. 

This Week's Focus will be on:

Letter of the Week: Review of Aa-Ll
Number of the Month: 5
Colors of the Month:  Black and White
Shape of the Month:  Diamond (rhombus)
January Themes:  Counting 0-5, Sorting, AB Patterns, Feelings, Winter, Weather, Hibernation,                                          Name Recognition, Name Writing, Scissor Skills, Calendar
Religion:  Sign of the Cross, Simple Prayers, Grace before meals,  My Name Is Special,
Praying for someone other than ourselves

Show & Tell:  Friday, Jan 24th  FREE CHOICE WEEK Please bring in anything you'd like to show and tell our PreK-3 friends about.  (We are practicing asking questions or making comments about each other's Show and Tells as well as presenting our own.) 

Dates to Remember:
January 20th: NO SCHOOL - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day
January 17th- January 27th: PreK-3 Parent/Teacher Conferences
January 26th-31st: Catholic Schools Week
January 26th: STS Open House 12:30-2pm
February 17th: NO SCHOOL - Presidents' Day


Have a wonderful week,
Paula Dobres

Week of January 13, 2020

As if right on cue, Mother Nature really delivered in kicking off our Weather STEAM Unit!  This week we observed almost every type of weather that we will be studying!  Although the weather outside was quite unpredictable, PreK-3 was sunny and delightful all week long!  (Please refer to the photos above!)   We also began learning about Wind as well and will continue to this week with some fun Windy Experiments that will be sure to "blow everyone away!!"

Letter Kk was lots of fun to learn about.  Kicking, Karate, Kangaroos, Kings and Kites were a few of our highlights!  Letter Ll will be equally exciting this week!  We will also be doing some marshmallow math and science as well as learning all about snow.  It's going to be a fun and busy week!

The Little Gym:  Sign up forms went home this week.  If you are interested in having your child participate in this after school gym time offered right here at St Therese, please return your forms to school as soon as possible.

PreK-3 Artwork on Loan:  Our adorable hedgehogs are now on display at the Roxbury Public Library in the Children's Section through the month of January.  We worked with the PreK-4 Class to mount a fabulous display featuring one of our January themes - Hibernation.  Be sure to stop over and check it out!  Look for your child's initials on the bottom of their craft.

PreK Parent/Teacher Conferences:   I'm looking forward to discussing your child's progress with you.  Everyone should have received a conference time through your child's folder.  Please sign and return the bottom portion of the slip.  If you need to reschedule, please reach out to me as soon as possible so we can come up with a new time.

This Week's Focus will be on:
Letter of the Week: Ll
Number of the Month: 5
Colors of the Month:  Black and White
Shape of the Month:  Diamond (rhombus)
January Themes:  Counting 0-5, Sorting, AB Patterns, Feelings, Winter, Weather, Hibernation,                                          Name Recognition, Name Writing, Scissor Skills
Religion:  Sign of the Cross, Simple Prayers, Grace before meals,  My Name Is Special

Show & Tell:  Friday, Jan 17th  FREE CHOICE WEEK Please bring in anything you'd like to show and tell our PreK-3 friends about.  (I am so proud of how far all of the children's public speaking skills have developed!  It is so evident as they present their Show and Tell items.  Thank you for helping with the selection process at home and no worries if you forget.  We all forget every now and then.)

Dates to Remember:
January 20th: NO SCHOOL - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day
January 17th- January 27th: PreK-3 Parent/Teacher Conferences
January 26th-31st: Catholic Schools Week
January 26th: STS Open House 12:30-2pm
February 17th: NO SCHOOL - Presidents' Day


Have a Lovely Week,
Paula Dobres

Week of January 6, 2020

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and restful break.

We would like to welcome a new student to our PreK-3 Family, Savannah!!  We are all so excited to have her and her sweet family join our incredible school!!

We hit the ground running on Friday with a fun kick off to our new STEAM Unit on Weather.  Our little meteorologists were so excited to dress our Weather Bear for the rainy weather and to learn our new Weather Song.  (Expect to hear some new tunes this month!)

We are also learning to recite The Pledge of Allegiance.  Don't be surprised to be expected to say it along with your little Patriot any time they see the Flag!

We pretended to be hedgehogs and had so much fun hibernating for the Winter before completing an adorable hedgehog craft (now on display... please see below.)  Be sure to ask your little hibernator all about it!  The photos above should spark some fun memories for them!! 

We will focus on letter Kk this week with some fun crafts as well as continue to work on our Weather Unit with a focus on Sunny as well as Windy weather.  We are working on a BIG project which will take us a few weeks to complete so if the folders seem a little lighter on crafts in the upcoming weeks, its because we are holding onto things for a BIG SURPRISE!

PreK-3 Artwork on Loan:  Our adorable hedgehogs are now on display at the Roxbury Public Library in the Children's Section through the month of January.  We worked with the PreK-4 Class to mount a fabulous display featuring one of our January themes - Hibernation.  Be sure to stop over and check it out!  Look for your child's initials on the bottom of their craft.

PreK Parent/Teacher Conferences:   I'm looking forward to discussing your child's progress with you.  Everyone should have received a conference time through your child's folder.  Please sign and return the bottom portion of the slip.  If you need to reschedule, please reach out to me as soon as possible so we can come up with a new time.

Optional Tag Day:  STS will be having a school-wide Super Hero Tag Day on Friday.  Your child is welcomed to participate by wearing superhero attire if they wish to.

This Week's Focus will be on:
Letter of the Week: Kk
Number of the Month: 5
Colors of the Month:  Black and White
Shape of the Month:  Diamond (rhombus)
January Themes:  Counting 0-5, Sorting, AB Patterns, Feelings, Winter, Weather, Hibernation,                                          Name Recognition, Name Writing, Scissor Skills
Religion:  Sign of the Cross, Simple Prayers, Grace before meals,  A Visit From My Family

Show & Tell:  Friday, Jan 10th  Please bring something in to show and tell our PreK-3 friends about that either begins with the letter Kk sound, is diamond shaped or is black and/or white in color.   

Dates to Remember:
January 10th:  STS Tag Day - Super Hero Theme
January 20th: NO SCHOOL - Martin Luther King Jr. Day
January 17th- January 27th: PreK-3 Parent/Teacher Conferences
January 26th-31st: Catholic Schools Week
January 26th: STS Open House 12:30-2pm
February 17th: NO SCHOOL - Presidents' Day


Have a great week,
Paula Dobres