September 26, 2014

Dear Redeemer Community,

The beginning of the school year is marked by a quality of freshness – perfectly polished floors, glistening crayons, glue bottles that flow freely, neatly stacked papers, stuffed animals and baby dolls straight from the box. It feels refreshing and revitalized – something we should preserve or freeze in time. On the surface, it seems so.

In the blink of an eye those perfect materials transform – the floors lose their luster, the crayons become worn and turned into nubs by the child who wishes the world were blue, glue bottles become clogged, the perfectly stacked papers are in disarray – returned to the pile in an enthusiastic rush, and the stuffed animals and baby dolls begin to show signs of loving wear.

While the beginning of the school year brings about a rush of enthusiasm and excitement about what is ahead, it is a few weeks into school that reveals a more genuine story. The story where that unique relationship between teachers and students has begun to form, where the signs of learning, sense of comfort and the character of a class are revealed. While the beginning of the year is always something to be relished, in many senses it is best preserved as a fleeting memory, because ultimately it is the well-loved classroom that tells the true story. It is the story of the individuals that comprise the class. They start to become a class.

Best,

Mary Knott

Hanna 2s: 

Longacker 2s: 

We are having a lot of fun in our class the past 2 weeks as we explore the color red and EVERYTHING a 2 or 3 year would ever want to know about APPLES. We have examined apples, held them, smelled them when they’re cut in half, tasted them, created apple prints on paper and t-shirts,taken a survey on who likes red apples versus green apples and read a number of books about them. More importantly, everyone seems happy to come to school, transitioning very comfortably to spending the morning with Lisa and me.

Hooper 3s: 

In the 3 Day  3’s, September was full of CIRCLES and the color RED! We finished the month today with a handcrafted cheese and pepperoni pizza followed by a delivered pizza at snacktime…delicious fun was had by all! Orange and triangles will be the color and shape for the month of October and “Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater” will be our new nursery rhyme. The children are working hard on a name recognition, following directions, rhyming words and cleaning up as a group…..we have a wonderful and happy group!!

The 5 days 3s have been busy learning about circles, the color red, “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and apples. We are enjoying going to specials and  making some new friends. Today we had a pizza party with the 3 day 3s to celebrate all of our studying of circles and red!

Faint 4s: 

The Loeb 4’s have started the letter “C” and are coloring, painting with corn, cutting out a circle caterpillar (hello Eric Carle), and counting. Our weather has vacillated between sunny and cool and cloudy and cool. Great C words. And wonderful weather to play outside in!  The eggs have come from Quiver Farm and we are excitedly awaiting the baby chicks. We continue to change our jobs every Monday,  so be sure to ask your children if they have a job or are on vacation. Next week we will start the letter “D”. Watch out for Dinosaurs!

P-1 has settled into our routine well.  We have been busyworking on handwriting, story telling, phonics skills, reading skills, math skills, role playing, problem solving and interacting in a group setting.  The boys have enjoyed our Map Unit and have learned about different types of maps, what maps are used for and the symbols found on maps.  We created our own birds eye view maps of the school playground as well as our own treasure maps.

Lunch Bunch:

Lunch bunch has been yarn painting, finger painting, making our own cameras and drawling many pictures! We are enjoying making new friends as well as playing with our old friends.

I