January 25 - 29

 

This week we have been talking about kindness and things that make us feel good. 

Things the class said:

Mrs. Devenney & Ms. Webb - the bulletin board pictured above! 

Amelia - sleeping in my bed with my kitties

Otis - playing with my friends

Johnny - playing with my dolls

Gavin - playing with my toys

Hali - playing with my puppy

Vienna - playing games with Gianna and Michael

AJ- playing outside

Dmitri- playing with my Mom & Dad

Connor - playing with Mommy, Daddy, my sister and my doggy

Max - reading books with my Mommy

Derek - going to Aunt Jamie's

Teigen - playing with my Mommy & Daddy

  Our picture day was a huge success!!!

Otis is working with the Insta Learn Board matching the letters of the alphabet.

Amelia is working on identifying initial sounds.

Hali is using snowmen and counters to identify quantities for 0-5.

Dmitri is working on identifying quantities up to 10.

               Connor is using snowmen and counters to identify quantities for 0-5.

Connor is also working with the knobless cylinders.

Johnny is working on identifying words with the beginning sounds S, M, A and T.

Derek is working on identifying the beginning sounds B, F, O and G.

Otis has mastered this Insta Learn Board!!!

 are due by February 5th!

REMINDERS:

• EC report cards will be emailed home next week. There are no mandatory conferences at this time, but please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

• Student Council is selling Candy Grams! The cost is $1.00 per candy gram and the deadline to purchase is Wednesday, February 10th.  Delivery date is Thursday February 11th. Please see the email from Mrs. Richards for more information.

• There is no school on Friday, February 12th (faculty inservice) and Monday, February 15th (Presidents’ Day).

• Enrollment contracts for the 2021-2022 academic year are due on Friday, February 26th.

• February is Black History Month when we will be celebrating Black history and culture. If you or someone you know would be willing to share with a class, a division, or multiple groups to enhance our celebration in any way, please email jmyers@holychildacademy.com and we will make it as easy as possible. Looking ahead: March is Women’s Month, April is Arab American Heritage Month, and May is Asian and Pacific Islanders Heritage Month. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

January 19 - 22

 Our community celebrated the birthday of Corneila Connelly.  We had a birthday party where we sang and received a special gift.  We continue to remember Corneila's words, "actions not words".

We loved using our special Corneila legos!

We celebrated another very special birthday on Tuesday - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

It was the Lower School's turn to be in the MPR so we celebrated from our classroom on ZOOM.

We learned and talked about how we can make the world a better place like Dr. King. 

Some thoughts:

Wear our masks to protect others.

Hug someone when they are sad.

Love each other.

Try new things - like food.

Play with everyone!

Thank you to Dmitri and family for giving our classroom this very special book!  All Are Welcome reminds us that HCA is a school where children have a space, a place, and are loved and appreciated just like the school in the book.

As a school community, we worked on a project to honor Dr. King, each class colored a section and picked meaningful words to write onto it.

Here is the finished project.

Our letter of the week is Bb.

In science we made our own Bubbles!!!

We used baking soda, food coloring and vinegar to make our bubbles.

The children were quite excited to see the bubbles created by the chemical reaction.

Play dough is an open ended toy that provides endless opportunity of play.  Play dough provides many benefits and I wanted to share one, fine motor.  Fine motor skills refer to the ability of using our hands and fingers skillfully.  These skills are used while writing, eating, playing with toys, and dressing to name a few.  Our hand muscles are strengthened through the resistance provided when your child manipulates play dough. A child strengthens their hand muscles when they squeeze, roll, poke, squish, flatten, pull apart, or use cookie cutters when using play dough. 

We used play dough to make the letter Bb!

A great way to practice letters and their sounds is having your child find things that begin with a certain letter in their environment.  We had a Bb seek and find where we identified pictures of objects that begin with the letter Bb and circled them.  

Have a great weekend!

• Save the date: January 27th - School Picture day (Individual photos only) -Please refer to Mrs. Richards' email for more information.

• February is Black history Month, and March is Women’s Month. Please email jmyers@holychildacademy.com if you have any ideas. 

• EC report cards will be sent home the week of February 1, 2021. 

• Look forward, There is no school on Friday, February 12 and Monday, February 16.

Happy New Year!

Welcome back!  I hope that everyone enjoyed their holidays:-)  

💚 I want to thank everyone again for your kindness and generosity.  💚

 

As we begin the second half of the school year, we will continue to practice skills that we have learned as well as develop new skills that will enable the children to be successful in Pre-K. Some of the skills we will focus on include:

• Following group directions

• Understanding and following more than one step directions

• Asking and answering questions and sharing in conversations with adults and peers 

• Using pronouns correctly (i.e.: I, we, his/hers, he/she, etc.)

• Sustaining attention to a task

• Caring for physical needs

• Working/playing independently

Fostering the children’s independence will be a key focus. They are growing and developing daily and are preparing to enter the world of Pre-K where they will be expected to complete routine tasks completely on their own. We will continue to work on mastering these skills every day. Below are some ways that you can foster independence at home.

• Set Predictable Routines
• Routine helps children to know what comes nest. Do not confuse routine with a schedule.
• A routine is any series of events that occur throughout a child's day. (ie brushing teeth. It a routine with multiple steps)
• Allowing your child to help prep these routines will encourage and allow them to take ownership over time.
• example: let them put the toothpaste on the toothbrush or have them back their own snack
• Let Your Child Choose
• allow them to choose what to wear, what to eat, who to call, what to play
• this DOES NOT mean they have full reign. Give three choices and allow them to pick.
• Praise the choice.
• Let Your Child Help
• Kids love to help! Giving a child an opportunity to help you fosters their confidence.
• example: let your child help you cook. Allow them to mix, pour or help throw away the garbage.
• These opportunities also allow for a back and forth conversation while achieving a goal.
• Chores
• Yes, they can have chores! These will look different than chores given to older children.
• Giving chores is a way to build a sense of responsibility and self- reliance, develops executive function and teaches teamwork.
• example: putting clothes in the laundry basket, cleaning up toys, unpacking a schoolbag at the end of the day, clearing plate after dinner.
• Let Your Child Problem Solve
• Allow your child to try things that are hard and solve (small) problems.
• Present challenges that are difficult but within the realm of their ability.
• Offer helpful hints along the way.
• Encourage an attempt before asking for help
• Nurture Free Play
• Independent and unstructured play is important for creativity, problem solving and autonomy.
• Allow them a variety of toys for building and creativity.

As a parent, I know that sometimes it is just easier to do it yourself however, I encourage you to allow your child the opportunities to try and be successful.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Reminders:

-There is no school on Monday, January 18th for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  

-Save the date: January 27th - School Picture day (Individual photos only)

-January in Native Month where we celebrate Native People’s history and culture.  If you or someone you know would be willing to share with a class, a division, or multiple groups either in person, via zoom, or through a pre recorded clip, please email jmyers@holychildacademy.com , and we will make it as easy as possible. 

-Looking forward, February is Black history Month, and March is Women’s Month. Please email jmyers@holychildacademy.com if you have any ideas.

-EC report cards will be sent home the week of February 1, 2021. 

December 7 - December 11

 Happy St. Nicholas' Day

On Monday, we celebrated the feast of St. Nicholas.  We read a story about St. Nick and placed our shoes in the hallway in hopes to receive a visit.  Much to our delight, we heard bells and found goodies in our shoes.  We are trying to be kind like St. Nick as we prepare for Christmas.

All lined up and ready to be filled!

So excited to find treats in our shoes.

Please check school bags for candy cane and St. Nicholas story card.

 

I is for Iguana 

Our letter last week was the letter Ii.  We worked on identifying upper and lower case letter Ii as well as the sound that Ii makes.  

P is for Parrot

Our letter this week was the letter Pp.  We worked on identifying upper and lower case letter Pp as well as the sound that Pp makes.  

Please continue to review the following sounds with your children S,M,A, T, C, R, I, and P.  When traveling in the car a fun and easy review is to find letters in our environment; being able to identify the letter name is just as important as the sound.

We continue to work on name recognition and spelling our first names.  

• Friday, December 18 is a half day. Dismissal is at 12:00 noon - there will be no lunch and no HCA Plus. 

• Christmas break will be from December 21 through January 4. Classes will resume on Tuesday, January 5, 2021. It will be day 6 on January 5. 

• Looking ahead: school picture day will be on Wednesday, January 27.

November 9-13

Play allows children to develop their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive and emotional strength.  Play promotes healthy brain development.  

Indoors or out, play allows children to engage and interact with their environment.

Through play, children are able to discover their own interests, abilities and limitations. They explore, investigate, imagine and create.

Play helps to develop many skills: memory building, build vocabulary, learn new skills like climbing the monkey bars, and most importantly, how to interact with adults and peers.

Here are some ideas to encourage play at home:

Offer open ended toys

Set screen limits

Let your child get bored

Offer imaginary toys

Let your child lead the play

Play a board game

 Our shields are in and we could not be more excited to wear them!

Smiles for days!!!!  And chatter too:-)

Around the classroom

                                            

• Parents, please fill out Pick Up patrol every morning, even if your child will not be attending school that day.

• Students may not bring candy to school for snack or lunch.

• Order forms are due on Monday, November 9, for the HCA Linvilla Thanksgiving Pie Fundraiser. Help support our school and help the EC students win a pajama day! More information can be found here.

• The new HCA spirit wear shop is open. Shop now for 20% off until November 15th

https://teamlocker.squadlocker.com/#/lockers/holy-child-academy-spirit-store?_k=zpayjw

• November is All Religions month at HCA. If you or someone you know would be willing to share with a class, a division, or multiple groups either in person, via zoom, or through a pre- recorded clip, please email jmyers@holychildacademy.com and we will make it as easy as possible. 

• Looking forward, December is All Families month, and January is Native Heritage month. Please email jmyers@holychildacademy.com if you have any ideas.

• Scholastic book orders are due November 13th.  Thank you to all who have purchased books for our classroom!! Our online code is RJ26P.

  
  

  
  

  • On Tuesday, November 24, we will be having a Thanksgiving Prayer Service at 10:00 am. A link to view the live stream will be sent home. Dismissal on that day will be at 12:00 noon. There will be no lunch and no HCA Plus.
  • School will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday November 25th-27th.