Happy Thanksgiving!

Before I forget... Thanks to all that helped to support CMH and RMH! Wait until you see the photos.  It was overwhelming. 
We need to remember daily how blessed we all are.  Times are tough and sometimes health gets shaky, but we have so much to be thankful for.  Perhaps you can say a daily prayer of thanks at dinner. Our snack prayer is:

"We fold our hands and softly say, thank you for our food today."  The children know and understand this prayer. 

I do hope that you are reading to your child or even singing or telling stories.  Children do so much better in school when they have these listening activities at home as well.  If your child does not yet have a library card, try to get there over Thanksgiving to have them get their very own card.  If a child can write their name, they can have a card.  They can go and "shop around" their own book choices.  It is very exciting to a small child.  I am sure most have read 10 books by now. If you have, please return that USA book pledge by Dec. 17 so we can submit them as a class and Scholastic can donate books to less privileged children.

God Bless you all during this, our first family holiday of the year. 

Mrs. Tanya  

As Thanksgiving approaches

Let us remember what we are thankful for.  We are talking all about Thanksgiving.  We are talking like pilgrams and learning about the Native Americans that lived in Plymouth.  In all of that, we are also talking about family and how blessed we are for having families.  We talk about how some people are without that very important thing.  We thank God for our family and for our food, our homes, school, friends etc.  Please remind them of those things not just this time of year, but all year round.

Don't forget next Tuesday is our Family luncheon.  Please sign up for a dish if you have done so.  We will start lunch at noon. There is no edp that day, so if you are unable to come for the lunch make arrangements to pick your child up by 1pm.

Finally, don't forget to order your tickets for the TANGLED event on Nov. 28th.  You can see any showtime that day.

GOD BLESS!

November News

This week we have a shadow day for incoming prek and kindergarten students.  If you know anyone, PLEASE send them our way.  We would love to have some new friends this year or for them to sign up for next year! If they can't come this week on the 11th, next week on the 17th is yet another day to bring a friend.

We are so busy lately.  I apologize for not sending a blog last week.  We have been working on Ee, Ff, in and out.  The students worked together as a whole group to create a classroom book on the SMARTboard!  They came up with the title, the characters and the story line.   This will be printed and each child will have a chance to take it home to share.  PLEASE keep it one night then return it.  I encourage you to fold some paper and staple it together and leave a few on a table with a pencil.  The children LOVE to write stories and this is something they can do with little to no help from an adult.  Don't ask them "what is this? or what does it say?" Instead, say to them "Can you read your story to me?"  This will give their work great value.

We are working on families over this week and next.  Please send a family photo by THURSDAY Nov. 11.  This will be displayed, so if it precious, please make a copy.  Don't forget Mrs. A's art scavenger hunt.  It is so much more fun than just going to the store to buy something.  Also, a big thanks to all who have or continue to donate during this giving season.  We all know times are very hard.  It is even harder for families with very ill children who are stuck "living" in hospitals for weeks and months.  Our last day for collecting is Nov. 12.

Finally, your time slot for parent teacher report cards was sent home.  Please return signed and if you are unable to make it, we will schedule another day after Thanksgiving if you would like.

God Bless!
Tanya :)

adding the yummy ingredients

Making slime swamps to eat

The Whole Gang

Our scavenger hunt

November already???

There has been a lot going on as usual!  We are working on La Tortuga, the color yellow, circles and the letters Ee and Ff.  We will also shift in to talking about fall, the cycle of a tree and start to change our classroom tree to depict fall.  We are also super excited because we will be attending All Saints Mass on Monday.  This will be preschool's first mass of the school year. 

We made giant christmas tree ornaments for the HIP.  You will see them hanging up starting mid November.  We will let you know our spot when we find out.  They did a great and creative job.

Friend of the week has been a great success.  The kids are doing a great job coming up with thing that represent what they love.  Remember to use the one gallon ziplock that I sent home along with 3 things that can fit into it.  Photos, drawings, small toys etc are all acceptable.

Also, just a heads up that our family Thanksgiving potluck is at noon on the 23.  Parent Teacher conferences  are on the 24th.  There is no school the 24-26th. 

Have a great weekend.  Stay warm and safe out there on the candy trails~!

This Week

We are off to a very energetic week! We continue to talk about pumpkins and gourds.  We are even going to carve our own class pumpkin! I hope your child came home and told you about our scarecrow "Skippy John Applesee".  He will stay with us through Thanksgiving.  We continue to work on A-D in class.  We are just about with our unit on The Three Bears.  Our next unit is La Tortuga, an instant favorite.

Next week is going to be very exciting.  We have ambulance and fire trucks coming for a hands on experience to round up fire safety month.  We will be visiting our friends at Central Baptist on Thursday too.  Friday is our in school party.  We will not be wearing costumes, but halloween colors/shirts are welcome.  More information to come on all those things.

Finally, I would like to say that I have had some time off here and there for some medical testing.  Mr. Tom, Ms. Kim and I have been as consistant as possible with keeping the classroom working the same as if I were still in the room.  I felt I needed to mention this briefly in case your child mentioned it at home.  I appreciate your understanding.  Your child is my number one concern at The Academy!

God Bless and Enjoy the day.

Here a pumpkin, There a pumpkin...

I know the weather is totally confusing all of us, but it is OCTOBER!!! WOW!
We are talking a lot about pumpkins and gourds over the next 2 weeks.  Our math and science centers will revolve around pumpkins, leaves, pinecones, acorns and other fall type items. We continue to work on Big, Medium and Small as a major concept.  Again, have them organize your cereal or cans by height.  That is a great way to practice that concept.  We are working on the color blue and the letters Cc and Dd.  Again, in preschool, it is about letter recognition, not sounding out or spelling.  Some will naturally pick that up and that is a bonus. 

You may be wondering about our Religion.  Well, we pray daily and work on the correct way to pray.  We have also been focusing on the idea that they are special and that God created them to be special people with special talents.  We will continue with that theme through mid November.  We will shift at that point outwards to other people, needs etc. 

One last note is regarding Our special friend of the week this week: Mateo! Mateo loves to explore the room.  His favorite centers are science table and the knights and castles.  He loves to tell us all about the fun stuff he does with his family. 

As always, my door is open.  If you have a question, email me at teacherluck-academy@yahoo.com.

Great kids stuff to check out

These vendors were at the fair and were great for kids:
Hazel Brown Designs
http://www.hazelbrowndesigns.com/

Puddle Jumpers Photography
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=lf#!/pages/Naperville-IL/puddle-jumpers-photography/118771294815776?ref=ts

Babies N Beds
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=lf#!/babiesnbeds?ref=ts

Stacey M Designs
http://www.staceymdesign.com/

The other vendors were super too.  We appreciate all that stopped by.  This was a fundraiser for the school.  If you didn't get a chance buy, check out their websites and tell them you heard about them from us!