Neighborhoods

This week we learned about our neighborhoods.  We learned where our neighborhood is located...city or country and who lives in the neighborhood.  We read an emergent reader about Community Helpers.  At the end, the children had to draw a community helper that had helped them.

The picture shows some of the neighborhoods the kids made out of blocks at centers this week.

We sang a song by Dr. Jean entitled World Family.  Our world family is our school, St. Paul, our city, Westerville, our State, Ohio, our Country United States, our Continent, North America, our planet, Earth.

We watched two Brain pop Jr. videos one entitled Maps and the other Community Helpers.  After watching the Maps video, I had the children draw a map of their bedrooms from a "bird's eye view."

Looking forward to learning about our 5 senses next week.

Walk-a-thon Friday

We had a beautiful day for the Walk-a-Thon.

Our popsicle treat for snack from PAC.

Fantastic Faith September 26

September 26

Dear Parents,
Sunday is the Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time. The children listened to simplified
versions of the same readings you will: Ezekiel 18:25-28 and Matthew 20:28-32.

Symbol: Question mark

To reinforce at home:
The readings today talk again about how God is fair to us. The question mark
we used as a symbol represents the difficulty we sometimes have figuring out the right
thing to do. The Gospel reading in Matthew showed us the difficulty sometimes in deciding
what is right and what is wrong. Jesus was using this parable in talking to the
high priests to show them that regular people who listened and believed in Him and changed their behavior would have an easier time getting into heaven than they would. The most important thing they needed to do was LOVE.  Sometimes we are like the
high priest and get so wrapped up in the details of our church that we forget the very
simple message that Jesus brought us: LOVE.  God asks us to love one another.  That's number one!

Activities to do at home:
*Show your faith in God! Say a prayer together to ask God to help keep his love
in the very front of your mind as you go about your day.
*Love others! Think of someone who you think has not been fair to you. Make
an effort to set things straight between you.
*Help your child surprise you! Think up a few small chores that you would love
to have done. Make a list (of words or pictures) and share it with your child. Ask them
to surprise you this week by doing one. Be very aware so that you recognize when the
effort is made. Reward your child with a big hug!


http://kvanatta.wix.com/catholicchildrensliturgy Copyright 2014 Kay Vanatta

http://www.pflaumweeklies.com/new_page/teaching_guides/english/promise4.pdf

Looking Ahead sept. 29-Oct. 3

Click to see looking ahead Sept. 29-Oct. 3

October Sharing

Click here to see the October Sharing Calendar
Please note that this month your child needs to show three objects or pictures that tell about 3 of his/her talents.

Friends

This week we talked about friendship and how nice it feels to not only have a good friend but to be a good friend.  Friendship in kindergarten moves from playing side by side to playing with others. The children move from being largely self-centered to a world where sharing and compromise is expected. It is a joy to watch each child grow in his/her ability to be a friend.  We discussed what a friend "looks" like and what it might mean to be bullied.  We watched a Brain Pop Jr. video on Bullying. Bullying Video  It is a free video. - Annie and Moby described what bullying is, and why someone might do it. It told of some of the different forms that bullying can take, and some tricks that might help your child protect him/herself from it. We also discussed that Jesus is a friend that is with us always. 

I had the kids conduct a small survey of their new friends - their table partners.  In the pictures below you can see the survey and the kids asking each other questions.

 

 


I read or we listened to the following:

Rainbow Fish - The most beautiful fish in the ocean is asked to share one of his shining scales with a little blue fish, and to which he refuses. All the other fish in the sea leave him alone, and he wondered why. He goes to the wise octopus for advice, and she tells him to give away his scales. Rainbow Fish reluctantly does so, except for one. In the end, he is less beautiful then he was before, but he has new friends and is now the happiest fish in the sea.

The children made their own rainbow fish to remind them to share.
Ethan's is on top.  Elizabeth's is in the middle.  Cooper's is on the bottom.

Just Me and My Friend -       One day, a boy asked his mom if he could have a friend over because he didn't want to play alone. They climbed trees, played baseball and rode bikes, but his friend was not very nice to him. At the end of the day, he was happy just to be alone.

Ira Sleeps Over -Ira is thrilled to spend the night at Reggie’s, until his sister raises the question of whether he should take his teddy bear.What would Reggie think? Of course Ira’s big enough to sleep without his beloved bear . . . isn’t he?”

Chester Raccoon and the Big Bad Bully -Chester Raccoon must learn to deal with another common problem of childhood: a bully at school.Chester, Ronny, and Cassy follow the spirit of Mrs. Raccoon's story when they next encounter the Bully. Approaching him as a group, they invite him to play, proving that the best way to get rid of an enemy is to make him or her a friend. 

Llama Llama and the Bully Goat - Following their teacher's lead, Llama Llama speaks to Gilroy Goat and tells him he should not act like a bully on the playground.


 

Looking Ahead to September 22-26

Click here to view looking Ahead to the Week of Sept. 22-26

Fantastic Faith 9-14

Feast of the Holy Cross - September 9-14-14

Today your children heard a simplified version of the same readings that you
heard: Numbers 21:4b-9, John 3:13-17

To reinforce at home:
Today’s readings emphasize believing in Jesus. They talk about listening to
God and following God’s instructions even when we don’t understand.
When we heard the gospel reading from John, the first reading from Numbers is
mentioned. We talked about how Jesus used the Old Testament readings to help
teach others about how he was going to save the world.

Activities to do at home:
*Read Scripture. Find some other examples in the Gospels where Jesus uses
the Old Testament to help teach others.
*Make a large cross out of cardboard together and decorate it to remind yourselves
to follow Jesus.

excerpt from:  http://catholicchildrensliturgy.blogspot.com/  Copyright 2014 Kay Vanatta

Looking Ahead to the week of September 15th

click here to view looking ahead to Sept.15th

Fantastic Faith 9-21

September 21, 2014  - Twenty-fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time A
Symbol: Coins

Dear Parents,

The children listened to simplified versions of two of the same readings you will this weekend.  Isaiah 55:6-9 and Matthew 20:1-16a

To Reinforce at home:

God is always near us.  Sometimes we get so busy that we forget about God.  Then God seems very far away.  Isaiah reminds us that God is waiting for us.  All we have to do is call and God is right there.

The parable that we heard today was about a man who owned a vineyard.  He needed help with the harvest and hired helpers at different times of the day.  The tricky part of this parable comes in when the owner paid all the helpers the same amount of money.  Most of us generally believe that this is unfair - and in human terms, it may be.  But the owner did in fact pay each worker exactly what he agreed to pay them.  God is like that with us.  He promises all of us eternal life when we do what he asks whether we begin when we are very young or when we are very old.  God is very generous with us.

Activities to do at home:

• Be generous!  Buy an extra item this week and donate it to your local food pantry.
• Together with your child, learn about a country you hear about on the news.  Make up a prayer for the children who live there.

http://kvanatta.wix.com/catholicchildrensliturgy Copyright 2014 Kay Vanatta

http://www.pflaumweeklies.com/new_page/teaching_guides/english/promise4.pdf

All About ME!

We began out All ABout Me unit last week.  After discussing bus safety, we sang the Wheels on the Bus song.  On Friday we changed the song to use the beginning letter of our name.  My name begins with a K so we sang...The wheels on the bus go Kumpity kump.  Here are a few examples from the kids.

-.


This week I read the following stories Ruby the Copycat  by Peggy Rathman, Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, I wish I had Duck Feet by Theodore LeSieg, and I like Myself by Karen Beaumont.

In all but the last book the characters were wishing they could be someone else.  So we discussed that God made us and loves us just the way we are.  So the last book I like Myself was a great way to finish the week.  The kids did drew what animal part they wished they could have and finally drew what part of themselves the liked best.  Those papers were sent home on Friday.

Each child made a self portrait during center time this week.  We also made graphs of our hair color, eye color, favorite fruit, and how we get to school.

Looking forward to our Family theme next week.

Fantastic Faith 9-7

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time A - September 7, 2014
Symbol: Person with heart


Dear Parents,

 Today we celebrated the Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time. The children listened to

simplified versions of two of the same readings you will hear this upcoming weekend:

Ezekiel 33:7-9 and Matthew 18:15-17.


To reinforce at home: 

 Today we discovered that Jesus wants us to help one another to obey

Him and do the right thing. We are only responsible for our own actions, but

in the reading from Ezekiel, God asked Ezekiel (and, therefore, US) to be a watchman

for each other. He says that it is our job to help each other follow God’s laws. Jesus

tells us exactly how to handle a situation where we know that someone has sinned.

He reminds us to go to that person in private first.

Activities to do at home:

**Think it through together! Together with your child, think of some things that

you know have gone wrong between you, some examples of times when you may

have sinned against one another. Talk about ways that the situations were handled

and think up some better ways for next time.

 **Pray about it! With your child, think of some people you know who have done

things that have hurt you. Ask God to help these people learn more about him.

**Have a family celebration this week! God wants us all to be happy together

with him. Celebrate together the love that God shares with us.

excerpt from:  http://catholicchildrensliturgy.blogspot.com/  Copyright 2014 Kay Vanatta

Click here to look ahead to Sept. 8