January 08th, 2022

Dear Pre-Kindergarten Families,

Happy 2022!!  Welcome to the new year.   This week was met with a special visit from Father Robert and his dog Amica.  Father Robert came to say hello to the children and introduce them to his dog Amica, a beautiful black Lab.  Father Robert blessed our classrooms and chalked our doors.  This is An Epiphany tradition.  Our church celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany on the first Sunday of the year.  The Epiphany is traditionally celebrated on January 6th.  It is the feast that celebrates the arrival of the three Magi who had come to worship the Child Jesus shortly after his birth.  We celebrated as a school family at Mass this past Friday.  What a wonderful way to begin our new year!  Father asked for a blessing for all that enter our door, the students who learn here and the teachers who teach here.  

Some exciting things are happening in our school.  We worked very hard together to create a wonderful learning center-based classroom in Mrs. Mary’s class.  The new learning centers  allow children to learn in the most meaningful way: through hands-on play experiences, which is why they are a vital part of a high-quality classroom.  New centers include an invitation to build and play in the block area, a designated writing center with a chalkboard easel to promote vertical writing, an art center set up to support creative art experiences, a math center to explore numbers and counting, a new science center to support little learners being scientists, a vertical magnet wall, and finally, an updated library/abc center to support reading and all things abc.  The classroom has also added writing and literature opportunities to each center and is being labeled to add visual cues throughout.  Having printed labels is important to a preschool classroom as it can provide a precursor to reading.   The children have been very engaged in learning how to use their new centers and are enjoying their new classroom set up.  

We are also in the process of building a few Little Tikes cars for the children to play with outside. These will provide more play opportunities as well as gross motor play.

Last week, we began our new theme, Seasons Everywhere.  This theme will last for 3 weeks.  We will explore weather, how seasons change throughout the year, and how we adapt to the seasons changing in our environment, as well as how animals adapt to the change in seasons.  

We will also explore all things winter, such as ice and snow and snowflakes. We will be learning about hot and cold temperatures as well as using a thermometer. We will also be learning about how animals hibernate during the cold months.

In our social emotional curriculum, we will be learning about how we feel feelings in our bodies, strong feelings, naming our feelings and managing disappointment.

We will continue with our Heggerty Phonemic Awareness program and review letters with ABC Bootcamp.   In math, we are learning about ordinal positions, sets up to 10, and more/fewer.  

In religion, we will be learning about the two greatest commandments.  We will also learn about being kind to others as we learn about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Our school will be closed on Monday, January 17th to observe his holiday. 

The week of January 24th-28th will be a flex week.  We use this week to review and prepare for national Catholic Schools Week.  We will also be doing our second hands-on art/artist lesson.

We continue to feel blessed that you have chosen our school for your child’s catholic education.  If you have any questions or concerts, please feel free to contact us on playground, or email us at veronica.jasso@olmlancers.com or mary.kravec@olmlancers.com 

In an effort to keep up with healthy habits, we will continue to take temperatures and wash hands as well as toys.  Each classroom has an air purifier.   If your child is sick, please have them stay home.  

We will continue to work together as a pre-kindergarten program and adapt to accommodate the needs of each classroom.  Please check for the posting of this blog at olmlancers.com, Mrs. Veronica and Mrs. Mary’s Class monthly, with updates as needed.

Thank you,
Your Pre-Kindergarten Teachers,
Mrs. Mary and Mrs. Veronica