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Letter from the Director
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Dear Redeemer Community,
My seventeen year old son Aden will be eighteen in just a matter of days, an adult in the world's eyes, even if he still feels like my little boy. Sometimes it seems like I blinked and he grew from a tiny little tot who dressed up as Superman and Bob the Builder into a man who towers over me and can grow a full-sized beard. At three he knew the words from Thomas the Train Engine by heart, could name any construction truck in his path and never saw a cupcake, candy or sweet he didn't like. Now he can calculate well beyond my capabilities, is reconstructing an old non-working postal Jeep into a fully functioning art car, and will officially be off on his own next fall.
He is in the process of hearing back from colleges, looking forward to enrolling in an engineering program, paving the path to his future. Some might say he began to formulate these plans through his high school coursework and extra-curricular activities. That all might be true, but I know it began long before that when he would spend hours building towers out of blocks, creating anything and everything from whatever was lying around and laying down endless train routes with his Thomas tracks. This is yet another reminder to me of how much our early years impact who and what we become, a reminder that much of what happens in the preschool years influences us later in life. That is why at Redeemer we love to paint with few rules, sing at the top of our lungs, and construct endlessly and sometimes aimlessly. We turn everyday objects into anything other than what they are meant to be,
dance when the mood strikes us, and explore the outdoors with abandon. That is why we place such importance on divergent and creative thinking, on exploration and interactive learning, and most significantly, the value of being a good person. At the end of the day, what really matters as adults is that we are able to work and play productively with others.
Please be sure to view our new student slideshow under the Quick Links section to see how our students are embracing all that is preschool. Have a fantastic weekend and enjoy your little ones!
Best,
Mary
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Classroom Updates:
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Mrs. Arrup & Mrs. Yanega's 2s
First, I would like to thank the 2's parents for the delicious lunch you provided for the professional development day. It was so nice seeing everyone at the two's conferences. It is always a great opportunity to touch base and share information about your wonderful children. It is hard to believe we are halfway through the year! We will continue working on winter themed projects which include the color blue, white and stars. Maybe our winter projects will bring some snow! During our circle time, we will listen to stories, work on patterning with snowmen and snowflakes and sing our snowflake songs. It is always a fun day in the Twos!
Mrs. Wyatt & Mrs. Zuidema's 2s
First and foremost, we send out a big thank you to all of the twos' parents for the delicious chili lunch at our last faculty meeting. It was perfect on a cold winter Friday. Thank you, thank you. As, we have continued with our January themes, we have been talking about what to wear in the winter. We made winter hats with big pom-poms and cotton brims. We ice painted mittens and talked about how arctic animals stay warm with a layer of blubber. We made our own blubber glove to feel how it works. You may see some ice skates hanging above our cubbies. Not only did we make them, we also skated down the hall on wax paper. Our new favorite stories during Circle Time are the ones we make up from our story sack. We are learning to use our imaginations, and the picture cards help us to remember the story we have created. January has been lots of fun. As always, thank you for sharing your beautiful children with us.
Mrs. Hooper & Mrs. Grieves' 3s
We have had another busy two weeks in the 3 Day 3's! We built a Snowman and the children did a good job picking out the "largest snowball" for the bottom and the "smallest snowball" for the top. It was such fun to see each Snowman's personality emerge as the children drew on the eyes, mouth, carrot nose and stick arms...great job! We ALL had fun making furry Polar Bears by mixing glue, shaving cream and shredded tissues.... be sure to enjoy the poem on the back of your child's Artic friend! We continue with shape, color, number and letter recognition using our calendar, magnetic letters and whiteboard...we have started talking about opposites too! During story time the children are so attentive; they really enjoy the wonderful winter stories we have been reading and are always able to answer questions at the end! Please encourage your child to "pitch in" at clean up time...many struggle with this and we need everyone's participation! We are looking forward to "Donuts at the Day School" next Friday, February 3rd and our Valentine party is Friday, February 10th. Details about the party are in this weeks Friday Folder....Thank you to our party Mom's! As always, feel free to contact us with any questions. We are truly enjoying your "little ones" , what a GREAT GROUP!
Mrs. Schroeder & Miss Ball's 3s
The 5 day 3s are learning a lot about weather with this ever changing weather we are having. We will be making thermometers and weather spinners. They will be getting a lot of use changing! We are talking about animals in the winter and hibernation and migration. They have colored bears and put them in a den. We will see them in the spring.
We are still working on blue and rectangles and Hickory Dickory dock. We have been enjoying outside time and indoor creative play. They often play haircut and eye surgery! Bless those imaginations!
Mrs. Faint & Mrs. Baker's Pre-k
We are working hard as we continue through the alphabet, focusing on beginning sounds as well as rhyming words. We also spend more time on writing skills, using the big white board, little chalkboards, and paper. For letter O, we have looked at octopuses, ostriches, opposites, odd numbers and oranges. Next week, we move on to pirates, penguins, purple and pajamas while we prepare to welcome dads or other special guests to get a glimpse into our world. Free time favorites lately are dropping marbles through tubes and building towers with those tubes. Little plastic dinosaurs and tracing stencils remain popular. We do our best to wash hands and keep toys out of mouths and appreciate you keeping sick little ones at home at this germy time of year. Maybe the sun will come out so we can get to the playground and let the children work those large muscles- just as important as their small muscles!
Mrs. Loeb & Miss Sciuto's Pre-k
We loved getting a glimpse of dry weather and sun! We're sure you are as tired of the rain as we are, although we try VERY HARD to get out every day! We are learning about owls (they are nocturnal) and playing games about opposites! We made oatmeal cookies and had oranges (thank you to Grace's Mom). We tore up paper for our owls and had a great fine motor workout! It was really hard for some. "O" is a tricky letter and has many sounds. We are just concentrating on the "ahh" sound right now, with a bow to the long "O" sound in Oreos, oatmeal and ocean! We are practicing being aware of someone talking and not interrupting; a very important skill and one that is hard to learn when you have something IMPORTANT to say! Charlotte has been our line leader and Harriet, Chelsea and Brinley have been helping with snack. Lane was our two-day cook because our oatmeal cookies had to chill. They were delicious! Maggie was our very accurate weather girl and Amelia M. was our calendar person. So much fun!
Mrs. Smith & Mrs. Vandenberg's Kindergartens
Hello parents! Even though it doesn't quite feel like it, winter has arrived and we have started exploring the polar regions of the earth. We are becoming experts on an arctic animal and the kindergarteners have really enjoyed sharing their knowledge of their special animal. In the coming weeks, we will learn all about penguins and will each be creating our own penguin habitat. We will continue these themes through stories and writing in language art and through math activities. We will be sending a zip lock bag of sight words home with your child in the coming days. Please have fun practicing these words or playing games with them. See if you can hide some of the words around a room and have your child find them and read them to you. Happy reading!!
Mrs. Barta's Pre-first
The Pre-first children have been busy comparing and contrasting different versions of the story, The Mitten. We have been learning about a variety of story elements such as, main characters, plot, setting and sequence of events. We have tried to correlate these concepts into our own creative writing pieces. As you read with your child, please continue to point out these important aspects of stories. We incorporated some math activities by collecting data, taking polls, tally marks and graphing. We also continue to work on greater than and
less than as well as number stories. This week, we have learned a lot of facts about polar bears and their habitats. We have been writing a class book using our new knowledge about polar bears. We even made blubber to experience how blubber protects polar bears from the cold. We put one hand in ice water and the other hand in a "blubber glove."
Wow, what a fun experiment!
Lunch Bunch
Lunch Bunch is gearing up for February. We have been working on friendships and will refocus on this next month. We encourage the children to play with everyone. Our policy is "You can not say you can not play." The children are told that they can be alone if they need to but they can not be alone with other people. Everyone is allowed to play. We are also begging to talk about table manners. Some of the table manners we are focusing on are not getting up from the table while eating, sitting nicely in a chair, talking with the people at your table, asking to be excused and helping to clean up. As well as many others! We are planning on many projects including numerous Valentines activities, Groundhogs day and more winter fun! Thank you so much for sending your children to Lunch Bunch we have been having a blast!
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Office Notes
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Student contracts and enrollment deposits for the 2017-2018 school year are due on February 10. If you do not plan to re-enroll your child and have received a contract, please notify the office. We maintain an active waiting list of families who are eager to hear about enrollment opportunities. If you have any questions, please contact Mary Knott or Katie Poe.
Winter is here!
Please be sure your children are dressed appropriately for the weather. We like to go outside. One cold and uncomfortable child can impact the entire class. Hats, mittens, winter coats and warm pants or leggings are a must. If your child comes to school in boots, please make sure sneakers are in your child's backpack. We appreciate your cooperation with this.
UPCOMING CALENDAR EVENTS:
Friday, February 3rd- 9:00 am Donuts at the Dayschool! Click here for more information.
Thursday, February 9th- 9:00am Pre-k Sneak Peek for the 3s parents
Friday, February 17th- NO SCHOOL -Professional Day
Monday, February 20th- NO SCHOOL- Presidents' Day
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Program Highlights:
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Girls Night Out: Bingo Bonanza
What fun we all had at Girls Night Out Bingo Bonanza! There was hooting, hollering and a whole lot of winning. Most of all, we enjoyed one another's company. We are very grateful to Natalie Bissonnette, Mandy Saleh, and all the moms and teachers who attended the evening to support our school.
PDS Celebrates Mr. Chuan
The PDS community, led by Mother P., celebrated and honored Mr. Chuan and a very special birthday at Wednesday chapel. The students were able to list countless ways that Mr. Chuan helps all of us and our school. Not only was he presented with beautiful birthday cards created by our students and teachers, he even received a very special birthday cross. Happy 60th, Mr. Chuan!
Japanese in Pre-k
In January the students in Mrs. Faint and Mrs. Baker's Pre-k class welcomed new a new friend, Taku Morimara, to their classroom. Taku and his family recently relocated to Baltimore from Japan. The students were treated to a special library where they listened to "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" in both English and Japanese. Not only did they get to learn a little about Japanese characters, Taku's mom taught them how to say several Japanese words from the book. The students were surprised to learn that a few of the words are pronounced exactly the same in Japanese as they are in English!
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Community News
Parent's Morning Out
We are looking for 2 parent coordinators to bring back a longtime Redeemer tradition:
Parent's Morning Out
Parent's Morning Out, a co-op/playgroup for children in Redeemer's preschool program, their siblings who are at least 18 months old that are not currently enrolled, and Redeemer parishioners. This is a drop-off program to give children a chance to socialize and play with other children in a relaxed and safe atmosphere. Parent's Morning Out is entirely parent-run, which makes it a great place to get to know other Redeemer parents.
When: Every Friday (while school is in session), 9:00am - 11:30 am, beginning March 3.
Where: Church of the Redeemer Nursery
Cost: Free
Requirements: Volunteer throughout the year (approximately 1 - 2 times per month). Children who participate in the program must be walking well and able to separate from their parents. We've found that the best age is about 18 - 40 months, though we will make exceptions.
If you are interested, please contact Mary Knott or Katie Poe.
Speaker Series at
Brown Memorial School
Topics include:
- healthy Sleep habits
- outdoor play
- healthy eating
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Contact Us
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Redeemer Parish Day School
5603 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21210
410-435-9510
Mary Knott, Director
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