Dear Kindergarten Families,    Happy New Year!

It is going to be a great year here at Sacred Heart School.  I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and a wonderful time with family and friends.    I am looking forward to see all my kinder friends and to hear about their special times at Christmas and their New Year celebrations. Mrs. Touchette and I want to add a special thank you for all your Christmas greetings, hugs, cards, and gifts. We feel very blessed.

For the next few weeks, we will use our previous rest time at 12:30 for sharing Christmas stories and/or gifts. I will start in number order, two children per day, please have your child bring in something that can fit into their backpack.

*This Friday is a 2:45 dismissal.
Our academic week:
Religion–We will remember the true meaning of Christmas, thankful for the birth of Jesus, work in our religion book, and attend Mass on Friday with our fifth grade buddies.
Language Arts – every word has a vowel or vowels,  a review of the word families ‘at and an’, sight words, and spelling. More printing practice and emphasis on writing words and simple sentences will be instructed in daily papers and journals. Reading practice in small groups and writing center activities.
Chapter 4, numbers 6 through 12 will continue this week. Math vocabulary: digit, dozen, number pattern, along with words that compare, equal, more than, and less than. Small group work in math working with number formation and simple story problems.
Adaptation, hibernation, and migration will be the focus for science studies. Hopefully rain does not prevent us from scheduling a field trip to Goleta to observe the Monarchs as they ‘winter over’ in the eucalyptus groves of the Coronado Preserve. Stay tuned for more information.

Looking ahead:

March 2 is the School Fair; we will be working on our land form project for the next two months. This is an exciting project and all students will be actively involved in the construction and painting, along with making clay plants and animals that reside in each habitat and geographical area. This will transform into an educational project illustrating God’s beautiful creation of Earth.

Social Studies will support our geography project by learning about people and places, and how we care for our Earth.

God Bless your families —Enjoy the first week of 2011.

Carol Brown