Friday, May 25, 2018

May 21st - May24th

Giraffes

A Leopard at the watering hole


Have you heard your child talk about the elephants at the watering hole?  Or the Giraffes?  Maybe even the Lions or Leopards that we have seen running through Africa.





Taking a long drink!


For the last week and a half, we have begun our day visiting Naledi, Nkorho, Olifants River and Tembe in Africa. 

We visit these places using Africam.com.  Africam is a LIVE 24X7 virtual African Safari.  We can view animals in their Natural habitats. 




We all look forward to it everyday! These pictures are some of the animals we have seen.  We also have seen groups of warthogs running and playing or birds flying around or just sitting in their nests. 

If you can, take a look at it with your child!

 
Elephant



Image result for sunshine clip artLET THE SUN SHINE!!!!!!
 
We love to be outside in our beautiful play yard.  You can find us running, jumping, climbing and playing with our friends!
 
 
 
 
 
 
The opportunity to play and explore is just as important as what we learn in the classroom!
 
 
With just a few more schools days left, we are still continuing to learn new things!  With Mrs. Zwilling this week, we talked about what gets energy from the sun.  We explored our yard to thing of some things that may need sunshine.  Some ideas were : us, trees, the garden, birds, and squirrels. 
 
 
We also talked about how the sun made us feel: hot, sweaty, thirsty to name few.  We took several items (tennis ball, a piece, of chocolate, an ice cube, butter, legos and some beads) and placed them in a muffin tin.  The tin was placed in the hot sun for a bit.  While it was in the sun, we predicted what may melt and what may not.  After some time, we checked in on our items.  The Sun had melted the butter, the iced cube and the chocolate. 
 
 
We will be having a pizza lunch on the last day of school.  (Wednesday, June 6th)  please return your form ASAP.  If you are a half day student and will be staying for lunch please let me know that as well. Pick up will be 12:30 that day for half dayers that are leaving.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 Just a reminder, HCA will be closed Friday, May 25th and Monday, May 28th in observance of the Memorial Day holiday.

Have a wonderful weekend!
 
Mrs. Devenney


Friday, May 18, 2018

Week of May 14th-18th

Happy Friday!

The N2 & N3 girls ended last week with a Princess Party!  Thank you to the Kellich Family for purchasing and sharing this auction item.  The girls made pizzas, did a craft, got their nails painted and had a dance party!  I hope they had as much fun as the teachers did;-)
 


Every Tuesday and Thursday Mrs. Clay teaches Music class to Nursery 2.  We love music and can often be "caught" singing songs out side of music class!!  This week Mrs. Clay brought us in a drum.  It was so much fun!


Image result for music clipartMusic is important in a child's life, here are some reasons why:

-Music can help to increase a child's attention span.

-Music helps to develop listening skills.  Children begin to notice differences like loud, quiet, fast or slow.

-Music aides in the development of language and math skills.
For example, Music is made up of pattern and sequence which later transfers to math skills.

-Music encourages movement!  Tap those fingers to the beat or dancing. 

-Music is fun!!!  And we LOVE it with Mrs. Clay!!

In the Innovation Lab this week, we continued  coding.  We have really enjoyed getting "fuzzy" to his final destination and of course collecting the stars! 


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If your child has a summer birthday that they would like to celebrate at school, please let me know so that we can pick a date for an "unbirthday" celebration.

 
  
 
 Just a reminder, HCA will be closed Friday, May 25th and Monday, May 28th in observance of the Memorial Day holiday.

Have a wonderful weekend!
 
Mrs. Devenney


Friday, May 11, 2018

May 7th- May 11th


Happy Friday!   We are so happy that Mr. Sun has decided to bring the warm weather!  We love to run and play outside in the yard and on the playground.  Having the ability to run and play in an unstructured environment helps us to grow as much as being in a structured environment.  Free play allows creativity and use of the imagination.







  In the Innovation Lab this week, we practiced coding.  The children used a program on the iPad where there is a small creature, named "fuzzy", the children had to program the path in which Fuzzy takes to collect stars.  The program allows the children to test out their choices to make sure Fuzzy takes the correct path. 
STEAM for twos and threes! So cool!
 
 
 
A very special part of our week was attending First Holy Communion.  We our so proud of our second grade friends for the beautiful job they did at mass.  May God continue to bless Emily, Quinn, and Jude as they received Communion for the first time. 
 
 
 
 
On Friday, May 11th we welcomed many alumni back to HCA.  They were kind enough to read/ or chat with all our students.  A very special THANK YOU to Maryann Pantano Davis HCA class of 1968 as well as grandmother to Kylie!!!  Mrs. Davis was kind enough to read a few stories to our N2 & N3 students.  She even brought us a special treat!
 





Image result for birthday clip art
 
If your child has a summer birthday that they would like to celebrate at school, please let me know so that we can pick a date for an "unbirthday" celebration.
 
See the source image

Mrs. Festa and I would like to wish a very Happy Mother's Day to all the moms and grandmas!  Enjoy your day!
 
 
 
Have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. Devenney

Friday, May 4, 2018

How does a garden grow?


Image result for garden clip art


We spent this week talking about how a garden grows.  We read books about planting flowers and vegetables.  Our friends in fourth grade are in charge of the HCA Organic Garden and allowed us to observe the seedlings they had planted in their classroom.  On Tuesday, the seedling were ready to be taken outside and planted.  We can not wait to watch the HCA garden grow (and eat a tomato or two for snack!)!
 


Transferred outside to grow! 
 

Growing seedlings

 
 

Image result for sunshine clip art
 
Sunshine!!  We were so excited to get out and play this week!   We took a few walks too; we found bunnies, squirrels, birds and a dog named Pete (Mrs. McGurk's dog:).

 
 
Please make sure your child has sneakers everyday!
 
 


Watching Mr. Squirrel eat.

Out for a stroll.

 See the source image

 
 
In celebration of Arbor Day, we sat outside  in the warm sunshine with our friends from N3, PreK and K.  Mrs. DeBardino read us The Big Tree by Bruce Hiscock.  We also found a large nest in a tree!


 
 
 
We continue to be hard workers in Nursery 2!  Every day we use scissors and color to strengthen our pincer grip.  This will help us when we begin writing.
 







 
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IT'S A GIRL!!!! 
 
Congratulations to Kylie and the Connor family on the birth of baby Claire Elizabeth! 
 
 
 

 

 
Have a great weekend and don't forget sneakers next week!!
 
Mrs. Devenney


Happy Summer!

  I Did Nothing Today Author Unknown When children come home at the end of the day,  The question they're asked as they run out to play ...