April 11 - Jonathan
 

My email address is:
mharrigan@stpatrickssi.org

      




It is so hard to believe that it is already May. During this month, we will complete our study of plants and begin learning about insects. 

Also during this month, we will be paying special attention to the roles of our moms and other special women in our lives. We will also be honoring Our Blessed Mother, Mary, throughout the month.

We will complete our alphabet with the letters Y and Z and continue to practice all of the other letters. Each child will have the chance to write his or her name each week. All of the children are making great progress!

Number recognition will also continue to be a focus. The children have become so good at counting and recognizing their numbers.

We will continue to enjoy books by Eric Carle throughout the month.






Spring is officially here! The children amaze me at how much they know and how quickly they are learning! They have become so social and very eager to participate in new activities. 

During this month, we will be learning about new life in spring. We will focus on plants. Each child will have the opportunity to plant seeds and care for the new sprouts. We will learn the parts of a plant and how each part helps the plant to grow.

W, and X will be our next letters. I can't believe we have almost gotten through the whole alphabet! Please continue to work on letter recognition at home. The children have also been working on recognizing and tracing their names and tracing lines. In math, we will continue to work on counting and number recognition as we expand all the way to the number 10!

Our author this month is Eric Carle. As always, please send in any books by him that you would like to share with the class.







Another new month is here already. This school year has been flying by! The children have been making so much progress especially in the area of socialization. Friendships have been forming, and the children have really learned to share and take turns. It is so much fun to listen to their conversations and watch them engage with each other.

During the month of March, we will be learning about dinosaurs and conclude with celebrating Dino Day! 

The letters that we will be working on are R, S, T, and U. Remember that your child has opportunities every day to explore the letters of our alphabet. Start with the letters in his/her name and continue to look for letters in your environment on signs and labels.

In math, we will continue to work on sorting and will expand on this skill to include counting and graphing. The children will sort dinosaurs, shapes, blocks, and macaroni. We will even look for ways to sort ourselves!

Pre-writing skills will continue to be focused on in our classroom. In addition to activities that strengthen fine motor skills, we will be working on writing basic strokes that are necessary for forming letters such as circles and lines. The children will have the opportunity to trace their names. We will also practice cutting and tracing dotted lines.

Please remember that all children may not be ready or interested to participate in every activity. Children develop differently and in their own time. Playing continues to be the best way for them to learn at this age.









Another new month is upon us. February is a short month, and yet it is full of so many exciting things in Pre-K 3! We begin our new month with Catholic Schools Week. There is something fun planned for each day!

Monday, January 31-Crazy Hat Day, cereal donation day
Tuesday, February 1-Spirit Dress Down Day
Wednesday, February 2-Red, White, and Blue Dress Down Day
                                          Bring in spare change to fill our bucket.
Thursday, February 3-Silly Sock Day
Friday, February 4-Super Hero Dress Down Day

During our new month, we will also be celebrating Groundhog's Day and Valentine's Day. We will conclude our unit about the Arctic and begin our new unit on dinosaurs.  As with every unit, we will learn songs and listen to stories about dinosaurs. To keep with this new theme, our author of the month is Jane Yolen. She has written so many "How Do Dinosaurs...?" books. Please feel free to share any of these books that you may have at home.

We will be learning about the letters P, Q, and R, as well as reviewing the letters we have learned so far. The children will also continue to practice writing their names. We will keep counting and looking for patterns, shapes, and colors in our environment. We will also be sorting objects by size, color, and shape. As always, please reinforce these concepts at home and continue to work on the concepts previously taught.










Happy 2022! I hope that you enjoyed the magic and excitement that Christmas brings especially with little ones in your home! I would like to thank everyone for their thoughtfulness and generosity. I received so many wonderful gifts and am truly grateful for each one. 

In our new month, we will continue to learn about letters focusing on L, M, N, and O. In math, we will be looking for patterns and try to create some of our own. We will also continue to work on counting and number recognition. This month, we will begin to learn how to write our names. We will start by tracing and concentrating on the first letter of our names. The children really have been making so much progress!

We will also begin a unit on the Arctic. We will be exploring the weather, animals, and people of the Arctic. 

Our author this month is Jan Brett. Please feel free to send in any books you may have by this author to share with the class. Many of her books are winter-themed. 








           

The holiday season is upon us! We will be learning about Advent, the time in which we prepare our hearts and homes for Christmas! We will make our own Advent wreaths and stockings while learning about the true story of Christmas, the birth of Jesus.

Our class elf, Loopy, will be arriving! Maybe, he will bring us some treats from the North Pole!

Our new letters are J and K. We will also learn about the comparisons of objects and tell if things are long/tall or short, big or small, and heavy or light. As always, please reinforce these concepts at home.

We will not focus on a specific author this month. Instead, we will be reading a variety of Gingerbread Man (and Girl!) stories. We will compare them and talk about similarities and differences.





            

Another new month is beginning, and the learning continues in our classroom! We will be talking about what we are thankful for and listening to the story of the first Thanksgiving. We will also be busy learning Thanksgiving songs!

This month we will be learning about families and what it means to be part of a community. We will share what makes our families special and talk about the differences and similarities of families. We will also be learning about people that help our community. 

On Election Day, we will be voting for a favorite fruit. What fruit will be the most popular?

Our new letters are H and I. At home, please reinforce these letters and the ones taught previously. In math, we will be focusing on counting groups to five and recognizing numerals 1-5.

Our author this month is Mo Willems. If you have any of his books at home, please send them to school with your child to share with the class. 


                                                                              




Happy Fall! One month of school is already over. As the saying goes, "Time flies when you're having fun!" I am happy to say that all of the children seem to be having fun. Although some of the children are still adjusting, there are fewer tears than a few weeks ago! The children have been busy learning our daily routine. We have been learning how to clean up and walk in a line. Yes, that is a skill! They have enjoyed listening to stories, singing, painting, and playing in our classroom and outside. Young children learn best through playing, and our children have already learned so much!

This month, we will be learning about our new season, autumn. We will be paying close attention to the changes this new season brings and focusing on how the trees around us are changing. We have begun to learn about our alphabet. Each week, we will be learning a new letter. Activities that reinforce that letter will be available to the children. This month we will be learning the letters C, D, E, F, and G. In math, we will continue to learn about colors and shapes, and begin to talk about the position of objects such as over and under. Please reinforce these concepts at home in any way that works for you and your child. Every child is an individual and learns in his/her own unique way!

Our author this month is Anna Dewdney. She wrote the Llama, Llama series of stories such as Llama, Llama Red Pajama. If you have any of these books, please send them to school and we will share them with the class.

Please practice the Sign of the Cross with your child. We pray before snack and lunch to thank God for the abundant gifts he has given us.

Please remember to look at the calendar I send home each month for important dates and events. As always, feel free to ask me any questions you may have.