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Letter from the Director
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Dear Redeemer Community,
It is the time of year when we begin to focus on all we have and everything for which we give thanks. I know most of us think about it often and far more frequently than just during the month of November, but it seems timely to share a story that highlights one the greatest gifts of which to be thankful - and that is the gift of friendship.
A few weeks ago we learned that one of our pre-k students would be moving. Our weekly chapel service fell on his last day so Mother P. sent him off with a special blessing. While he grinned from ear to ear, the thought of him leaving left one of his little friends in a puddle of tears. After her teachers comforted and consoled her, they brought her to me for a little extra TLC. After drying her tears, together we decided that all would be right in the world if she could keep a picture of the two of them in her cubby. They decided the monkey bars would be the perfect place for our photo shoot.
Together they gathered their strength, and began climbing to the end, rung by rung. He made it first. "Hold on tight. I'll be right there," she hollered. And he did. He held on with all his might, waiting for a friend. What a gift - two friends just being together!
May you and your families and friends enjoy many blessings together this holiday season!
Best regards,
Mary
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Classroom Updates:
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Pre-first is learning all about the First Thanksgiving and the history behind it all. We have read many books related to this and the children are writing and illustrating their own version of the First Thanksgiving. I love seeing the amazement in the children's eyes when we talk about how life was almost 400 years ago! In phonics, we have wrapped up our unit on digraphs and moved on to the "bonus letter" spelling rule - ff, ll, ss and sometimes zz. We will also be learning some glued sounds which are multiple letters "glued" together that make one sound such as -all in ball, -am in ham and -an in fan. In Math, we have been learning about time, odd and even numbers and comparing numbers to find out which is greater than, less than or equal to another number. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me last week. You all have wonderful children and I was happy to share all their amazing progress and accomplishments. Have a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends.
Mrs. Smith's & Mrs. Vandenberg's Kindergartens
Kindergarten has been working together to create projects which reflect the story of the first Thanksgiving. In retelling the story of the first feast, we have been discussing the importance of helping one another and gratitude. When creating our own Thanksgiving feasts, let's include our children in the cooking, cleaning, or preparing the table. This is a wonderful opportunity for the whole family to be involved in the process of creating something meaningful for friends and family. We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and cherish your time together. We can't wait to hear about the adventures that our students have with the ones that they love!
Mrs. Arrup & Mrs. Baker's Pre-k
First, I would like to thank you all for taking the time to attend the conferences. We are in full swing for fall and have been exploring Redeemer's campus to collect leaves. We used them to categorize, graph, sort, estimate and tally. As Thanksgiving approaches, we have been discussing things we are thankful for: family, cats and dinosaurs were just a few. We are grateful to have the opportunity to work with your sweet children on a daily basis and wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!
Mrs. Loeb & Mrs. Vahedi's Pre-k
Grilled cheese, hotcakes, Happy Halloween and busy hands; we have been working on all our fine motor skills, trying new foods, and practicing our alphabet. Our previous two letters have been especially poignant: saying 'Good-bye' to Kyle, and 'Hello' to our new friend Toby! And now we are heading to Thanksgiving, aptly named because we can give thanks that our class has been so welcoming to Toby! So, thank you for friends who hold your hand when you don't know where you're going, help you count the pumps of the soap, or the cranks of the paper towel disperser, and find your placemat for you when you are a bit overwhelmed. Thank you for wonderful parents who listen and care and check to make sure all is well. We hope you all have a wonderful holiday filled with good food, loving friends and family and lots of laughter!
Mrs. Schroeder & Miss Ball's 3s
Th
e 5 day 3s have been busy kids. They have been working on a new shape, square, new color of yellow and new poem. They have mastered Peter Pumpkin Eater and moved on to Hickory Dickory Dock.
We are getting all ready for Thanksgiving by practicing our songs, making holiday wreaths and cards. We are talking about how different things look in the fall and how the weather changes.
We are continuing to work on patterns. We have been making them out of people, shapes, and colors. They are really doing well with this skill. We are also continuing to work on our scissor skills.
We are emphasizing to work on being a good friend, doing nice things and filling our values bucket. Filling our bucket helps to fill our hearts. We look forward to seeing everyone at the Thanksgiving performance and have a fabulous break.
Mrs. Hooper & Mrs. Grieves's 3s
We have had some nice Fall weather so the 3 Day 3's have exercised their large motor skills; climbing and running on the playground, riding bikes and "creating" in the sandbox. Be sure to send your kiddies in warm clothes, hats and MITTENS, for our continued outdoor fun! YELLOW SQUARES are November's color and shape and Hickory Dickory Dock is our nursery rhyme for the month. We have made square collage placemats, painted squirrels with acorns and stitched yellow square cards! The children's small motor skills are certainly improving as they enthusiastically cut out shapes with scissors , create with play dough and draw many colorful pictures at the morning tables! This week, we finished the letter "J" for jump, jellybean, jaguar and our classmate "Jack". Each day we review the alphabet and we ALL enjoy thinking of new words and names that start with the letters we've covered. As the children prepare for the all school Thanksgiving service next Tuesday, we are practicing the many special songs and discussing all that we are Thankful for.....friends, sisters, brothers, mommies, daddies and our 3 Day 3's class to name a few! Thanksgiving corn with its square kernels and a colorful Turkey with its square feathers have helped the children learn that squares have 4 equal sides. Have fun playing shape , color and capital letter "I SPY" with your little ones to help reinforce what they're learning! Looking forward to seeing you all at the service next week and we wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving full of food, fun and family.....ENJOY!!!!
Mrs. Astley & Mrs. Knott's 2s
Turkeys, Fall, Squares! Oh My! What a busy November the 2s have had. This month the 2 Day 2s have been focused on learning the color brown, the square shape, Fall and Thanksgiving. We have been working on following directions, and our listening skills. Both of these skills have been important to our daily routine and getting familiar with Circle Time. We continue to read and sing and these 2s especially love the book Run Turkey Run! We have had lots of fun projects with Turkeys, Acorns, and Leaves. The Thanksgiving Feast will be such a special time as the entire school will be together as one. Please continue to dress your children in layers and send in a warm coat, hat and mittens when possible. The weather is changing and we go outside whenever we can. Also if you haven't changed out your spare set of clothes for Fall/Winter ones, please do so. It's such a joy to come to school and be with your children and watch them grow and learn weekly. Thank you for all you do and your continued support!
Mrs. Wyatt & Mrs. Zuidema's 2s
With November in full swing, the Wyatt/Zuidema Twos have turkeys everywhere! We made tail feathers for the turkey in our classroom. We made doily turkeys for our cubbies. We made handprint turkeys for our placemats. Without a doubt, we will find more ways to celebrate Thanksgiving! During circle time, we have been reading books about fall, counting 5 golden autumn leaves in our finger play, and searching for a mouse hiding under colorful fall leaves. Our pattern has been squirrels and acorns. While you are out and about, ask your children to find squares and the color brown, our shape and color of the month. During outside time, we have taken field trips over to the big playground to check out the new musical garden. We have loved creating beautiful music on the variety of instruments with our friends. Next week is the Thanksgiving Program. We hope to see all of our twos that morning. As always, we thank you for sharing your children with us.
Lunch Bunch has been feeling grateful! We have discussed what it means
to be thankful and talking about all the things that we are lucky to
have in our lives. We have many fall inspired activities planned for the
month of November, such as making leaf prints, turkey puppets and making
apple pies.
We plan on exploring the lovely change in season outside frequently so
please remember to send plenty of layers in for your child. We are also
planning on talking about table manners this month. These include but
are not limited to: Sitting while eating, talking quietly, eating in a
timely manner and picking up food from the floor. If you ever have any
questions about Lunch Bunch or available spots please let us know, we
are always happy to hear from you. Thank you!
Gourds, Pumpkins and squash have been spilling over in the art room! They were the subject of our Observational Drawing Masterpieces. Every age was able to "paint what you see" and use their "artist's eyes" to notice and identify special details like texture, line and color.I hope you didn't miss our "Monsters on Parade!" that lined the hallway? They were made by Kindergarten and Pre-First using only our imaginations and lots of creativity. Our scissor skills were put to the test because we had to cut every single detail out (as opposed to drawing in the details) which took a lot of time and patience. Bravo artists! Our youngest artists learned that "Elephants CAN Paint" by reading the wonderful book and painting the way the elephants do. We also created textured prints and explored Fall Leaves using watercolor, paint and of course-glitter!!
One of the great things about teaching at Redeemer is the professional development opportunities available to us. This summer I completed a twelve hour children's yoga teacher training at the University of Maryland. I am so excited to incorporate what I've learned into our gym classes: mindfulness, breathing, self-awareness and more! Kindergarten and pre-first have enjoyed a few classes on our new yoga mats, and I look forward to introducing it to the younger classes in the weeks to come!
Music with Mrs. Bednez
Jumping right into the holiday season in Music! The children are preparing for the upcoming Thanksgiving service as well as their precious Christmas pageant. As well the threes are exploring the different sounds of the drum and tambourine, the fours the maracas and the claves, and the K and Prefirst the boomwhackers. We just recently played Twinkle little star with them! Fun!
Hope to see you all at our events!!
Pre-K: We got to my favorite letter of the year this week: I for ice cream! The students had fun combining the ingredients, shaking and chilling them in bags of ice and salt, and taste testing our sweet concoction!
Kindergarten- We finished up our potions unit last week with an acid and base testing experiment. The students were thrilled to see the amazing color changes before their eyes when they dripped purple cabbage juice into common household products. Vinegar turned bright pink, baking soda turned blue, and clothes detergent turned a lovely shade of green! We look forward to some holiday and winter themed experiments in our next unit.
Pre-first continues with our chemistry unit. We had had fun exploring states of matter by melting and molding crayons and melting icy monster hands with salt and warm water. We learned about mixtures and solutions and will experiment with chemical reactions next week by making a super bouncy ball and doing a color changing activity.
Spanish with Senora Poe
The kindergarten classes continue to work on our color and counting Spanish book. In pre-first, the children are learning to say "I am thankful for" or "Doy graias por.......".
The holidays are coming up and we are excited to learn new
vocabulary
and song in spansih. Ask you child to sing the "Pavo" song (turkey)
Al pavo pavito pavo
Al pavo pavito sí,
GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLE
Values with Mrs. Smith
Respect can be accomplished through everyday interactions with others who model respectful behavior. Displaying good manners at home by using "please"and "thank you" appropriately, demonstrate that mutual respect should be a TWO-WAY STREET. Some good books to use at home include: Miss Spider's Tea Party, Arthur's Eyes, and Quiet, Wyatt!
World Cultures with Mrs. Knott
Our kindergarten and pre-first cartographers learned about maps and how map keys, or legends, can be useful in navigation. In pairs, they created their own countries, incorporating common symbols as well as elements they chose on their own. It was fascinating to see such great variety in their finished products.
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Office Notes
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RE-ENROLLMENT FORMS & SIBLING APPLICATIONS
Re-enrollment forms and new sibling applications for the 2019-2020 school year are due on December 1. If we do not have a form for your child, we cannot guarantee placement in our program. Please note that no money is due with your re-enrollment forms. All contacts, which serve as a formal commitment, will be mailed in January and will be due in mid-February. If for any reason your child will not return to the Day School, please notify the school office as we have many new families interested in enrolling their children. If you have any questions regarding any of our programs or the application or re-enrollment process, please contact Mary Knott.
EMERGENCY PLAN AND PREPAREDNESS
Because the safety and well-being of our community is among our highest priorities, it is important to know we have a very thorough emergency disaster and preparedness plan, and we regularly practice safety drills with our students. Additionally, we take courses to ensure we are informed and current with best practices related to safety, security, health and first aid.
In the event of an emergency or potential threat, information and instructions for parents will be posted on the school website. Depending on the nature of the threat, a phone chain may also go into effect. If the Director gives permission for students to leave Redeemer in an emergency, students may only leave with a parent, guardian or driver who has been previously designated.
We appreciate your cooperation and commitment to ensuring a safe school environment.
Thanksgiving Project
As part of our continued outreach, the Parish Day School children are asked to bring a special food item, as indicated below, to our Thanksgiving service on Tuesday, November 2oth at 9:15 am. The food collected will be distributed to the Govans' CARES Food Pantry. The meaning of the donation will be discussed in light of the Thanksgiving holiday. If you are unable to donate the assigned item, any non-perishable, canned or boxed food will be gratefully accepted.
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2s
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Boxed Biscuit/Muffin/Pie/Corn Bread Mix
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Hooper 3/3s
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Canned/Jar Gravy and/or Cream of Mushroom Soup
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Canned Pumpkin
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Loeb Pre-k
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Instant Mashed Potato
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Arrup Pre-k
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Box/Bag Stuffing Mix
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Kindergarten
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Canned Vegetable- green beans, corn, sweet potato,
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Pre-first
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Canned Cranberry Sauce
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UPCOMING CALENDAR EVENTS:
Tuesday, November 20th 9:15 am- Thanksgiving Service followed by refreshments in Hale. Break begins after the service. Click
here for additional information on the Thanksgiving Project.
Monday, November 26th- School Resumes
Saturday, December 1st- 8:30 - 10:00 am - Kids Love to Give Baking Project. Click
here for additional information.
Wednesday, December 19th 9:00 am - Christmas Program. Break begins after the service.
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Program Highlights:
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Boots for Baltimore
We have concluded our drive to collect coins and spare change to purchase boots for homeless men and women. We are so grateful to our students and their families for supporting this wonderful cause. We are especially grateful to Chrissy Levering and Robbi and Christy Thompson for organizing our efforts. Our collection canisters were heavy and full, and we look forward to learning the final count of our collection!
PDS Buddy Bench
Be sure to look out for our playground Buddy Bench. Mrs. Blair and our Redeemer artists painted and decorated this special bench so students looking for playmates have a place to meet outside, promoting kindness and inclusiveness. Team Marvel, aka Pre-first, swooped into chapel to demonstrate how to use it. Be sure to ask your children all about it!
Musical Garden
The Redeemer students and faculty are so grateful for this much anticipated playground addition. The playground has been filled with the beautiful sounds of our students' musical creativity. The garden was made possible by the amazing fund raising efforts of our Parent Council over the past couple of years. Thank you, Redeemer parents!
Off the Shelf
Thank you to the many families who donated books to benefit Margaret Brent Elementary and Middle School. Along with the Church of the Redeemer and the Bolton Street Synagogue, we are helping to establish the beginning of a new school library. Please note that we are extending our drive through Tuesday, November 20. We are especially grateful to parent, Magi Berger, for organizing our efforts.
PDS Sunday
This past Sunday we celebrated the wonderful partnership of the Church of Redeemer and the Parish Day School. The church staff put together a beautiful service that brought together parishioners, faculty, and past and current families. This relationship is integral to our mission, and we are grateful for the incredible support the Church gives our school community.
Thanksgiving Feast
Classes gathered today to celebrate our gifts and the upcoming holiday with a Thanksgiving Feast. After talking and learning more about the first Thanksgiving and reflecting on the many things for which we are thankful, our feast was the perfect culmination of all we have learned. Gobble! Gobble!
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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. Be sure to click on the link below found in every issue to see our wonderful students in action. Enjoy!
Please visit our website
Interested in learning more about our
Please visit:
to learn more about
The Church of the Redeemer
RPDS WEEKLY VALUEs:
RESPECT
GRATITUDE
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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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