"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 
What are you doing for others?" 
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
e-RPDS                                                                                             1/12/2018
Letter from the Director
Dear Redeemer Community,

On Monday we will honor and celebrate the great Martin Luther King, Jr., a hero who leaves behind many great legacies, not least among them, the desire to help others and build community.
 
I recently heard a story about a safari guide from Tanzania named Wilson. Wilson is a man who cannot read or write, but someone who felt compelled to put the majority of his pay checks towards building and founding a school (St. Wilson's!) for students ages five through eight. His school was comprised of one room made from rudimentary materials, wooden benches he made himself, 23 students and two volunteer teachers from the village. They did not have paper, pencils or books. Their schooling consisted of counting, reciting rhyming words, and a desire to learn. Wilson had next to nothing financially, but somehow he managed to sacrifice his income for the benefit of the children he served.
 
What Wilson did not know when he founded his school was that one day while on safari he would meet an entrepreneur from Nebraska and discover this gentleman was far more interested in his one room school than he was in the safari. That chance encounter led to the development of an organization called Opportunity Education whose mission is dedicated to making quality education accessible to children in developing nations by providing classroom resources and materials. They currently serve students in over 1,700 schools in 11 developing countries. It all begin with Wilson.
 
Wilson's school was small, but it was certainly not insignificant. Through his good heart and service to others, hundreds of thousands of children would one day be impacted. As educators and parents of preschool aged students, it is important that we plant this seed, this desire to help others, early. While we have our wonderful outreach and community engagement programs at Redeemer, it can also be as simple as teaching our children to do chores at home, assist their grandparents and neighbors, or help out a friend. Simple beginnings can lead to great things. Think about Wilson.

Best regards,
Mary Knott

Classroom Updates:


Mrs. Barta's Pre-first:
Welcome back! The Pre-first has jumped right back into our daily  routine. We have been busy talking about resolutions and what they  really mean. The students have worked hard to create some of their own  promises and goals for the new year. In Math, money has been  introduced. The children are very excited to be counting money and  exchanging smaller coins for larger valued coins. This is a difficult 
concept and we will continue to work on it throughout the year. We have  set up "The Pre-first Bank" at the math center which is a great way for  the children to have a hands-on opportunity to explore with different 
coins. Ask your child to help you the next time you need to pay for  something with change.
This week, we have discussed who Martin Luther King, Jr was and why he  was so important. We have had some great class discussions about being 
kind and fair to all people. Next week, we will beginour study of  polar bears and hibernation. Happy New Year!

Mrs. Smith's & Mrs. Vandenberg's Kindergartens:
We are so excited to be starting the new year with your kindergarteners. We have so many things that we will be learning in 2018! We will be starting our "Star of the Week". When it's your child's turn to be the "Star of the Week", they will decorate and fill out a poster that will be sent home. Parents get to come in one morning and share the poster with the class and bring in a special snack. A paper will be going home to explain all of the details.  Please send in boots for the snow and mud, and warm clothes for playing outside. Our homework assignment for the long weekend is to have your child practice zipping their coat and practice putting on their boots. With the colder weather, we are looking forward to learning about how animals and people adapt to the winter weather. We hope that you have a wonderful weekend together!

Mrs. Faint & Mrs. Baker's Pre-k:
We continue to tackle the alphabet about a week at a time in spite of all our delays! Plus we are trying to make some winter decorations for our room and hallway, so we have been busy when we are at school! M has included mittens, magnets, monsters and marshmallow math. Next week for letter N we will work quite a bit recognizing, counting and writing numbers. We expose the class to numbers up to 100 and hope that by the end of the year everyone has conquered 1-10 as well as those tricky teens.  This is an enthusiastic class who enjoys rhyming, opposites and guessing games where the answer needs to start with our letter of the week. These are great activities for home or in the car and help develop vocabulary.  Thanks for sending appropriate clothes for outside play on cold days!

Mrs. Loeb & Mrs. Vahedi's Pre-k:
Happy New Year from Mrs. Loeb and Mrs. Vahedi's pre-k class! We hope you had a lovely holiday full of love, laughter, and family time.  Thankfully the weather has gotten a bit better and we have spent more time outside. Note: we almost ALWAYS go out, so please make sure hats, gloves, and mittens are in backpacks!
We just finished "M" and have had a great time making monsters, reading and acting out "The Mitten", and marching with musical instruments. Our cooks have made Lemon cake and Macaroni and Cheese. We continue to work on number recognition and handwriting - those diagonal strokes are getting a workout this month and they are hard! Please check out the "monster math" in the hallway if you get a chance. It was fun counting all the eyes, teeth, and feet of those crazy little monsters!  Hope to see all our moms at "Bingo Bonanza" next week.  It's always so much fun!

Mrs. Hooper & Mrs. Faint's 3s:
January in the 3 Day 3's is all about rectangles, winter, polar animals and the color blue.  Our nursery rhyme for the month is "Jack Be Nimble."  The children have really enjoyed our indoor activity of jumping over our lighted candlesticks (battery operated) just like "Jack."  We are talking and reading about winter and wishing for a few " flakes to fall" as we painted a snowflake placemat and blue rectangle snowflakes as well!  This week the children painted a pair of matching mittens  and (with a couple of warmer days) they designed  a melted rectangle snowman...each one is unique with such personality!  We will continue this month with more rhyming to go along with our creative Artic Animals.  Your children have become such good friends with one another.  It is wonderful to watch them converse and interact; remembering that "creative play" is one of the most important aspects of school for 3-4 year olds!  Library has begun....we ask our readers to arrive around 11:15 with a few favorite books from home. Plan to read for about 15 minutes. Thank You, Thank you the children LOVE having their parents participate at school.  Matt Nuzzi sent a Sign Up Genius if you haven't had a chance to sign up for a Friday reading date yet!  We look forward to seeing our "Moms" on the 18th for Redeemer Ladies Bingo Night...its always a fun evening with lots of laughs!  Stay warm , read to your children and enjoy their company and conversation!

Miss Ball & Mrs. Schroeder's 3s:
The 5 Day 3s have been busy weathering the winter. We are talking about hibernation, signs of winter animals and why we sometimes get snow and not rain. We have also started talking about our new poem Jack Be Nimble, and are now working on introducing letters in the second half of the alphabet as well as reviewing previous letters. Our shape of the month is rectangle, and we have been examining what makes a it different from a square. A fun game to play with your kids is to hunt for different shapes and colors.   
We
have also begun our unit on Mo Willems which the children are loving! We have started with Elephant and Piggy Books. We are discussing elements of literature such as moral, story structure, characters and plot. We will continue to discuss friendship, and how Elephant and Piggy manage to be such good friends. We will also read other Mo Willems series and act out some of the stories. If you own one and would like, please read a Mo Willems book at home with your child. If your child would like to bring in one of their Mo Willems books from home to share with the class we would love to read it! 
Our class is so excited for the start of library, thank you to all who have signed up to read! The children are so excited to have their parents as guest readers. If you  are unable to read at library time, but would still like to read please let us know. We are happy to make time for you to visit our room. If you get a chance, please check your childs cubby to make sure that they have a full pair of weathe
r appropriate clothing, and have a supply of chapel food. Thank you!

Mrs. Arrup & Mrs. Yanega's 2s:
We are so excited to have your children back after the long winter break!  Winter has definitely made an appearance with the frigid weather, just in time for our winter weather unit.  We are celebrating the cold weather by painting a winter scene, decorating hats and designing ice skates.  We even got to "ice skate" down to Mrs. Knott and Mrs. Poe's offices!  During circle time we will be singing songs about snowflakes, look at snowflake and work on identifying our colors by finding the snowball behind the mitten.  Please continue to make sure you send in hats and gloves each day because we do our best to get out on the playground each day.

Mrs. Wyatt & Mrs. Zuidema's 2s:
Welcome back, and happy new year! We hope everyone enjoyed a fantastic holiday. January's frigid start was a perfect way to begin our units on Winter and Dressing for the Weather. During Circle Time, we have been playing a "What's Missing?" game with snowmen and singing and dancing to a snowman song. We have also been talking about which clothes are appropriate to wear while building a snowman and which are better suited for building a sandcastle. We painted ice skates and then "skated" down the hallway on wax paper. It was slippery fun. After the long weekend, we will move into our unit on pets. Please look for an email about Circle Time activities with pictures of pets. As always, thank you for sharing your children with us.

Lunch Bunch: 
Lunch Bunch is excited that  the weather had started to warm back up again. They have been missing the playground fun.  We are working on many different winter projects and games. We are free painting with different types of paints, using crayon resist and painting with q tips. We are also doing many cool science experiments, including will it freeze, turning salt to glue and floating color skittles.  We have been playing races with balloons, making truck race tracks, cup bowling, bean bag skew ball just to name a few.  We will continue to do more winter themed games and art.  Please remember that lunch bunch goes outside daily as weather permits so remember to put gloves and hats in backpacks. 

Office Notes
Contracts/Enrollment Deposits: 
Student contracts for the 2018-2019 School Year went out in the mail today. Signed contracts and  enrollment deposits are due on February 9th. 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.

Girls Night Out-Bingo Bonanza- Thursday, January 18th at 6:30! It is not too late to RSVP! Donations for class baskets can be dropped off in Katie Poe's office.


SAVE THE DATE- Line up your babysitters now for our annual Spring Auction and Social on Friday, April 13th! Additional information can be found in your child's Friday Folder. 


UPCOMING CALENDAR EVENTS:
 
Monday, January 15th - No School -MLK

Thursday, January 18th 6:30 - Girls Night Out- Bingo Bonanza

Tuesday, January 23   2 Day 2s Conferences- school in session for the 2s!

Friday, February 2nd 9:00 am-  Donuts at the Day School


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In preschool we recognize the privilege, responsibility and joy of educating our youngest students. Alongside their parents, we work diligently at building the foundation for their ongoing and lifelong learning. Enjoy this newsletter!

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Interested in learning more about our 
Kindergarten 
and 
Pre-first?

Please visit:
to learn more about 
The Church of the Redeemer

RPDS 
JANUARY VALUES:

Staying Healthy/Keeping Our Germs to Ourselves

Cooperation

Good Manners
Community News

Join Civic Works, The 6th Branch, and Rebuild Johnston Square for a day of service honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Let us work together to bring to life Dr. King's vision of a beloved community.  Civic Works will be working on different community lot projects throughout east Baltimore from Oliver to Biddle Street, cleaning up debris, planting, preparing garden beds, and more. We will also work with the 6th Branch in doing a neighborhood-wide cleanup!  This year we will have an indoor art option available for children, families, and seniors.  Wear warm clothes and come ready for a productive day!
 
Monday, January 15th, 2017 
(Rain or Shine)

8:30-9:00 am: 
Continental Breakfast
9:00am - 12:00pm: 
Service

Meet at the Food Hub for kickoff:
1801 E Oliver St.
Baltimore, MD 21213

Group members are required to register individually.
Contact volunteer@civicworks.com with questions

Details for MLK Jr. Day of Service:
 
Participants should register online individually to sign waiver form, prior to service day:


Contact Us
Redeemer Parish Day School
5603 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21210
410-435-9510

Mary Knott, Director
mknott@redeemeronline.com