Pre-K 4 Newsletter
Juan Diego Academy February 9, 2009
Dear Parents,
Dear Parents,
Hope you had a good weekend. Our field trip to the post office went very well and we had nice weather. Thank you for supporting this activity. Also, we want to thank the two classroom mothers Sra. Talavera and Sra. Canche who volunteered and went with us. The children had a good time looking for Lincoln’s statue and saying bye to the cars when we crossed the pedestrian bridge.
This week is quite busy because we have only 4 days of school, due to Friday being Conference day. Also, it is going to be Ash Wednesday on February 10th. This is the start of our Lenten season. Lent is a season for soul searching and repentance. We are invited to deepen our personal relationship with God.
In our class we will encourage children to think about the season and ways they can observe it for themselves. For e.g. Here at school, we plan to observe a quiet lunch time on Fridays. This is not a punishment but instead a way to sacrifice and show our love for Jesus Christ as we journey in our Religion studies towards his Crucifixion and Death on the cross.
Prayer: This week we are praying for all our Pre-k families, and for children who are terminally sick in hospitals. Kindly pray the same intentions at home. Please encourage children to pray for Mr. Paul who will be having open heart surgery tomorrow.
Almsgiving – This week kids can help parents to clean their house, or do some chore, take care of younger siblings, and earn a coin to put in the rice bowl.
Lenten service project: During the Lenten season we will be doing a service project for sick children at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tacoma. The children will be drawing pictures and sending get well wishes until Easter Sunday.
Fasting: This week we fast from watching our favorite T.V. program on Ash Wednesday and from candy. Each week we will keep you posted on our Lenten activities.
• Teachers will be conferencing with parents on Feb. 12th. The conferences will be teacher requested or parent requested.
• No school on February 12th, 15th and 16th for our winter break.
VALENTINE GRAMS STILL ON SALE. SEND A DOLLAR AND A VALENTINE GRAM WILL BE SENT TO ANYONE YOU LIKE IN THE SCHOOL.
• Children will need to create their valentine mailbox for the valentines they will be receiving on Thursday, February 11th from their classmates and teachers. As Mrs. Farias mentioned before, our Valentine’s party will be only the exchange cards and play some games.
• Show and Tell: only for this time will be on Thursday and the numbers are from 11-19.
Curriculum News: This week we introduce the themes of “Chinese New Year”,“Dental Hygiene” and read about the “Tooth Fairy” and “El Ratoncito Perez”
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• Chinese New Year: We are learning about how Chinese culture celebrates the New Year with parades, color red, the lucky number two, the dragon who is believed to keep away bad luck and the animal symbol for 2016, the monkey.
• We continue our exploration of different types of transportation. Reading-Aloud “Once Upon a Time in Dragon land/Había una vez en Dragonlandia.”
• Science: “Let’s find Out” Mi weekly Reader. We will read “Puedes sonreir como cocodrilo” (You can smile like a cocodrile). These stories are related to our dental hygiene theme.
• Religion: We will complete the lesson about “Jesus helps us”. In this lesson we will discuss how Jesus healed the sick and we will relate this to how parents take care of children when they are sick. Also, we will discuss the reason behind receiving ashes on our foreheads in the shape of the cross. The priest will say “Turn away from sin and stay faithful to the Gospel” as he places the ashes on a person’s forehead.
• Estrellita Phonics: Review all letter sounds to begin the lesson. The letters Mm and Pp are our focus. Children will learn new words that begin with these consonant sounds. Children will be tracing and writing the letter forms and learning songs related to the letter sounds.
We hope you have a wonderful long weekend. If you have any questions, please let us know.
Blessings,
Sra. Raquel L., Sra. Farías and Sra. Laura P.