November 26-30, 2018

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Last week, the Early Childhood Division celebrated together - Charlie Brown style!

We began our celebration by going to the Kindergarten classroom to watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. We told the children to pay close attention to what was happening and we would talk about it at the end.

In the movie, they had a great feast of friendship with the food they could find: bread, pretzels, popcorn, and jellybeans. We discussed that even though Charlie Brown wasn't able to provide a traditional Thanksgiving meal, he wanted to celebrate with his friends with what he had.

Now it was going to be our turn to celebrate with our friends - Charlie Brown style! We dressed up like the friends who shared the first Thanksgiving - the Pilgrims and Native Americans.

All of the EC students traveled to the Pre-K and Nursery classrooms to share our feast.

The boys and girls prayed together to thank God for their friends and their food and enjoyed a delicious feast together.

As the boys and girls said, "This is the best day ever!"

Now we are busy getting ready for our big debut in the HCA Christmas show! The Pre-K students will play the role of the angels and have been practicing so hard to learn their songs. All children need to wear a white turtleneck, nice pants/skirt, and dress shoes. We have the angel costumes for the children to wear over their clothes. 

There will be two performances of the Christmas show: 

• Monday, December 17, at 6:30 pm, for parents, family, and friends.
• Tuesday, December 18, at 10:00 am as part of our Grandparents' Day celebration.

More details will be sent home soon!

Reminders:

• Scholastic Book Club orders are due on Tuesday, December 4.
• Show and Tell will be on Thursday, December 6, and will be something that begins with /n/.
• Save the date for the Family Christmas Liturgy on Sunday, December 9, at 10:00 am. 
• Next Friday, December 7, will be Pajama Day at HCA. For $1.00, your child may wear his/her pajamas to school. All of the money collected will go to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Have a great weekend!

November 12-16, 2018

Last Friday's Weekly Reader taught us about veterans. We learned that veterans are people who have served our country and helped to protect us and keep us safe. 

We then gathered together with our friends in Nursery and Kindergarten to make cards thanking our veterans and members of the armed forces for their service.  Through Operation Gratitude the cards will be mailed to veterans and troops serving around the world. Our hope is that we might even receive a letter back from some of them!

Show and Tell continues to be a Pre-K class favorite! It is amazing to see the students' confidence grow each week as they describe their clues for their classmates. Their public speaking skills are developing more and more and they love sharing their items with their friends.

Charity, Blaine, Nora, and Marcus found the Pp
Sandpaper Letters and shared that Pp says /p/.

Lily shared her picture and Kellan shared his police car.

Foster shared a pot and Jordyn shared Play-Doh.

Mira shared a pig and Vincent shared a pencil.

Scarlett shared a pear and Cory shared a penny.

Austin shared a pillow and Braela shared a puppy.

Our next Show and Tell will be on Wednesday, November 28. The topic will be something that starts with /b/.

What a surprise snowfall we had yesterday! The boys and girls cheered as the looked out the windows and saw the snow falling. So, of course, we had to take them outside for a few minutes to catch some snowflakes!

Teachers and students had so much fun!

Reminders:

• Wednesday, November 21, is a half day of school with dismissal at 12:00 noon. We will have a Thanksgiving Prayer Service at 9:00 am and will be honoring our third grade teacher, Miss Hoffman, for 20 years of service to HCA. Please join us if you are able!
• There will be NO SCHOOL on Thursday, November 22, or Friday, November 23, for the Thanksgiving holiday.
• Please remember to send in a seasonal change of clothes for your child if you have not already done so.

Have a great weekend!

Hope you and your families have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

November 5-9, 2018

The Pre-K students have been working hard with Mrs. Mossor in their Physical Education classes. The students are encouraged to follow multi-step directions while working on activities to strengthen their hand-eye coordination, balance, and gross motor skills.

This week in Religion, our lesson was "God Made My Helpers." We talked about community helpers like doctors, police officers, and firefighters, and also people who help us in our everyday lives like our families, friends, and teachers. The boys and girls learned that Jesus was a helper and they had some great ideas about how they can be helpers, too! They even made cards to share with a special helper in their lives!

For Community Time this week, we attended the intramural volleyball play-off and championship for the middle school. We cheered on the three teams: Mickey Mice, The Good Team, and THE Hurricane. Then, the boys and girls cheered as the faculty and staff played the 8th graders!

Some reminders:

• Show and Tell on Wednesday, November 14, will be something that begins with /p/.
• Parent/Teacher conferences will be held on Thursday, November 15, and Friday, November 16. Please be on time for your scheduled conference and please be considerate of the 15 minute periods allotted for each family.
• Each year, the HCA family reaches out to those in our community who may be struggling by delivering baskets of food for the Thanksgiving holiday. The Pre-K students have been asked to bring in 2 large boxes/bags of stuffing and 3 cans of gravy. You may send these items in with your child in the morning and we will bring all the items to the cafeteria. All donations should be in by Friday, November 16. Thank you in advance for your help and generosity!
• Please remember to send in a seasonal change of clothes for your child. I will return the summer clothes once these arrive. 
• For rest time, some of the items being sent in are too large for the children's cubbies. The boys and girls are unable to fold them independently and often have difficulty carrying them upstairs. A large beach towel works best for rest time.

Upcoming Important Dates:

• Wednesday, November 21, 2018 - Thanksgiving Prayer Service, dismissal 12:00 noon
• Sunday, December 9, 2018 - Family Christmas Liturgy
• Monday, December 17, 2018 - Christmas Show 6:30 pm
• Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - Grandparents' Day
• Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - Last day of school before Christmas break
• December 20, 2019 through January 2, 2019 - Christmas break (classes resume January 3, 2019).

Have a great weekend!

October 29 - November 2, 2018

This month has been full of excitement making arts and crafts projects for Halloween!

We completed another directed drawing activity. This month, we drew Frankenbuddies! Take a look at our amazing artistic creations!

We turned ourselves into mummies.

We built monsters from a variety of shapes.

We even learned how to dance the "Monster Mash!"

For Community Time on Monday, we played Halloween Bingo with our friends in Nursery, Kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade!

The Halloween Mission Party was so much fun!

We are so glad so many of you were able to join us for such a fun day!

Some reminders for next week:

• Show and tell will be on Monday, November 5. The topic will be "something that starts with /r/.
• There is NO SCHOOL on Tuesday, November 6, due to Election Day and a teacher in-service.
• Parent/Teacher conferences will be on Thursday, November 15, and Friday, November 16 (NO SCHOOL for students on 11/16). Please sign up for a 15 minute time slot here if you have not already done so. 
• Scholastic Reading Club catalogs will be sent home today. The due date will be Thursday, November 8, so we can hopefully ensure delivery before Thanksgiving.
• Wednesday, November 21, will be a half-day with dismissal at 12:00 noon. There will be NO SCHOOL on Thursday, November 22, and Friday, November 23, for Thanksgiving break.

Have a great weekend!