Dear Pre-K Families,
Welcome back!  I hope you all enjoyed your time off with your families.  It was so nice to be back together in the classroom today.  We jumped right in with a little review of our current theme, Nature All Around Us.  We also continued to work on the letter Uu.  This week, we are in week 3 of our theme and our focus is on the weather.  Tuesday, we will introduce the letter V v and continue with V v for the rest of the week.  We will be reading stories that are about weather this week.  We will be doing a story extension on Ezra Jack Keats'  The Snowy Day, and a large group activity about the weather forecast.  Wednesday, we will have our weekly visit with our 5th grade reading buddies and Thursday we will visit Mrs. Poole in the library.   We are also preparing for Grandparent's Day, which will be on Friday, May 3rd.  If you have a grandparent or grandparents that would like to attend, please fill out the RSVP sheet that was in your family envelope so we can account for them attending.  We will start with Mass on Friday at 8:15am and will also be celebrating the May Crowning of Mother Mary.  Please have your child wear their OLM T shirt if they attend on Friday.  Please also have them arrive to school early so they are able to use the bathroom before Mass.  We will line up and leave by 8:05.  Your child may wish to sit with their grandparent during Mass, and that is okay, please just let us know.  After Mass, students, with their grandparents, may go to the front of the school and take a picture in front of the statue of Mother Mary, and then go to the auditorium for breakfast.  There will be time for them to visit the classroom and we will have a small token gift for them.  Many grandparents choose to take their grandchild home with them, or they can bring them back to class when it is finished.  Please remember that if a child is signed in with us, they must be signed out by an authorized pick-up person before leaving the school. 

On Saturday, our 1st graders will be celebrating Mass at St. Patrick's Church as they make their 1st Holy Communion.  Our school will also celebrate a Mass for them on Monday morning, May 6th.  We will again leave the classroom by 8:05 to walk to the auditorium.  

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me at [email protected].

Thank you,
Mrs. Veronica

Dear Pre-K families,

This week as we celebrate Holy Week, we have many activities going on to conclude our season of Lent.  We have been learning about the Stations of the Cross.  We will pray them on Wednesday morning after our reading buddies visit.  We will post them around the backyard and carry our wood crosses that the children nailed and painted.  These crosses will come home this week.  Please remember to take special care of them as Father Thomas blessed them at our last Mass.  You may add a picture hanger to the back if you would like to hang it up.  

This past Sunday, we celebrated Palm Sunday.  This is when Jesus rides through the town of Jerusalem on a donkey and the people threw down their coats and waved palm branches at him to honor and praise him.  We made our own palm branches out of cut outs from tracing the children's hands.  We watched a video about Palm Sunday and did a reenactment where one child pretended to walk through the crowd as Jesus and the other children waived their palm branches toward him.  

We also have been making a book about Lent.  It includes some special days and traditions about Lent.  

On Thursday morning,  we will attend the live Stations of the Cross in the school auditorium.  The 8th graders and 1st graders will reenact the Stations of the Cross during the Holy Thursday prayer service.  After the prayer service, we will come back and color Easter eggs and prepare for our special snack.  If your family would like to sign up for something, please see the sign up posted in the classroom.  Also, if your family would like to bring a small treat to share with the children for their Easter basket, a small wrapped candy or plastic filled egg would be okay.  There are 25 children in the class.  The children painted and decorated an Easter basket which is attached to their treat bag. The basket may be removed  from the bag and used as an Easter decoration keepsake if you choose.  Please remember that Thursday is a minimum day for the entire school.  The school will close promptly at 12:30, and there will not be any afternoon child care.  There is no school on Good Friday and school will be closed next week for spring break.  

This week is week 2 of our theme Nature All Around Us.  Last week the children planted beans in a plastic bag.  They have been growing in our window by the art center.  Please feel free to see how much they have grown.  Watch for them coming home on Thursday.  You and your child can plant them in the dirt and continue to watch the seeds grow at home.  This week our letter is Uu.  We will be talking about What's in the Sky.  We will do a story extension on a book written by Eric Carl called Little Cloud.  Our clouds will be hung up in our "sky" over our "Farmers Market" in our dramatic play area.  Please check it out, the children have been having a good time playing there.  Also please visit our writing center's Lent theme display.  The children have been writing words about Lent that are written on prayer rocks. 
 
We hope that your family has a wonderful week off together.

Thank you,
Mrs. Veronica 

Dear Pre-K Families,

This week, we are starting our new theme, Nature All Around Us.  Week 1 will focus on, How Do Plants Grow?  The Big Idea is: I can plant a seed and watch it grow. Mrs. Hermosillo will be planting beans with the children.  please check them out in our window.. Our letter for the week will be letter Tt. We will continue to learn about Lent, the Stations of the Cross and Palm Sunday.  On Friday, we attended Mass, and Father Thomas blessed the wood crosses that the children made.  We will carry them as we pray the Stations of the Cross next Wednesday morning.  If your child attends school on Thursday, April 18th, we will attend Holy Thursday Prayer Service at 8:15am in the school auditorium.  Please plan to have your child at school  before 8:00am that day so we can have them use the restroom before we head down.  We will also have a small Easter snack that day.  A sign up sheet will be posted.  The entire school will close promptly at 12:30 that day. There will not be any school on Friday, April 19th. When we come back, we will celebrate Grandparent's day.  If you have grandparents that will be attending, please make sure to fill out the form so they can accommodate them for breakfast. 

See's candy orders can be picked up in room 9 beginning Wednesday.

Thank you,
​Mrs. Veronica

Dear Pre-K families,

We are in week 4 of our theme Growing up Healthy.  The children have been exploring the concept of everyday foods vs sometimes foods as we have been learning about eating well.  This week we will be talking about being safe.  We will discuss being safe in our environments and talk about rules that keep us safe.  This is a review week for letters Aa - Ss.  We will continue to learn about Lent and learn the Stations of the Cross as we prepare for Easter.  Last week, we finished sanding and nailing our wood crosses.  This week, we will paint them and at Mass on Friday, we will have the priest bless them.  During Holy Week, we will carry our crosses as we pray the Stations of the Cross in the back play yard.  

This week, on Thursday, we will go down to the Auditorium to watch the 8th graders perform their 8th grade show.  That morning is also spring picture day will the live bunnies.  If you would like your child to take pictures, please see one of the teachers for the picture packet.  Only children with completed picture packets will go down to take pictures.  

On Saturday, our school will be participating in Relay for Life which will take place at Merced College.  We will have  booth and will host Kid's Camp.  We will continue to collect money to support this event.  If your child would like to contribute, we are collecting pennies and dimes.  All other monetary contributions are also accepted and appreciated.  On Friday, we will wear purple and after Mass we will have our own mini Relay for Life event at our school.  We will also have a Bark for Life if  you would like to enter your family dog to participate.  

Thank you, 
Mrs. Veronica