January 30 & February 1

Dear Parents,

It was great to see many of you at our CSW (Catholic School Week) Open House!  Just a few notes about the week ahead...

Thank you for signing up for parent teacher conferences.  If you haven't yet done that, the sign up will be sitting out in our classroom for you to do that.  Please let me know if you need a different date/time than those listed.

The February snack volunteer list will be going home on Tuesday. It is for the first half of the month only.  We'll work out the remainder of the year when we meet for conferences.  

During CSW, each classroom is collecting food donations.  We will have a bag in our room this.  Feel free to send in food Tuesday and/or Thursday.  On Tuesday, each class will be wearing a class color.  The color for 3K is blue.  On Thursday, each class will be dressing nicely.  (We will avoid painting on Thursday.)  

FYI-We will not be going outside to play this week.

Each quarter our 3K students get new 6th grade buddies.  We got new buddies last week.  Both the 6th grade as well as our 3K children thoroughly enjoy our buddy times together. We typically read a story together and then work on a corresponding project after.  If there is extra time remaining, the 6th grade buddies read individually to their 3K buddies.

Here is the original CSW schedule previously sent:

• Monday, January 29 - Theme: Community Pride
• Students wear Wrightstown Tiger apparel (or blue & white)
• Food Drive Kickoff (Feel free to send in food donations on Tuesday & Thursday.  St. Clare will collect food all week.)
• Tuesday, January 30 - Theme: Our Students are Great
• Each class wears a particular color (3K wears blue)
• Afternoon Trivia
• Wednesday, January 31 - Theme: National Pride
• Students wear red, white & blue
• Grandparent Bingo:  Since this is a Wednesday, 3K does not participate as a group.  However, 3K children and grandparents (or special person) are welcome to come if you'd like!  If this is something your family will participate in, please call the office to let them know.
• Thursday, February 1 - Theme: Vocations within the Catholic Church
• Students Dress Up Nicely
• Fr. Daniel Schuster, vocations director for the Diocese of Green Bay will be at St. Clare to meet with all of the children.  He does fun, engaging age-appropriate discussions and activities with students.  3K, 4K & 5K will meet with Fr. Schuster as one group.
• Friday, February 2 - Theme: Family Day
• Students wear St. Clare apparel or school colors (blue, green & white).
• There will be a Mass at 10:15 followed by bowling at Ashwaubenon Lanes.  A pizza lunch is served while bowling.  Again, since this is a Friday, 3K does not participate as a group.  However, if this is something your family wishes to participate in, you are more than welcome to do so!  It is important that you contact the office to sign up. 
• There is a parent social in the evening!  Line up a babysitter and meet other school families.  Should be a fun evening. :)

Catholic Schools Week Open House & Conference Sign Up

Hello Parents,

I just wanted to send a reminder about Sunday's special Catholic Schools Week Mass, all school open house & Scholastic book fair.  Hope to see you there!  

Important:  Registration packets for the 2018-2019 school year will be available on Sunday.  

Also, in February, 3K and 4K have parent teacher conferences. I'm letting you know now because I will have the sign up available at the open house.  Tues., Feb. 13 & 15 will be our main dates for this, but if these dates do not work out for you we can work something else out.

10:00 - Catholic Schools Week Mass at Wrightstown Church
11:00 - 12:30 Open House & Scholastic Book Fair

January 23 & 25

Dear Parents,

If you could please help us out during drop off time by reminding your child to utilize the little bins on the floor for hats and mittens that would be great.  Doing so will help us out at dismissal time. 

We are moving on to the letter N this week.  We will introduce the children to the story of Noah's Ark.  The children will assist me in special ways when I read the story.  We will also learn a song about Noah.  Noah's Ark is always an engaging Old Testament Bible story for children!



We will also learn a little about narwhals.  Each student will create an adorable narwhal of his/her own.  

Sometimes, when we cannot go outside we play gym games in the cafeteria.  This week we will play "The Name Game."  The kids sure do seem to enjoy these types of activities!

Again, here are the details for our upcoming Catholic Schools Week...

Looking Ahead:  Catholic Schools Week

• Sunday, January 28 - Catholic Schools Week Kickoff
• 10 am Mass
• Open House following Mass until 12:30
• Scholastic Book Fair 
• Monday, January 29 - Theme: Community Pride
• Students wear Wrightstown Tiger apparel (or blue & white)
• Food Drive Kickoff (Feel free to send in food donations on Tuesday & Thursday.  St. Clare will collect food all week.)
• Tuesday, January 30 - Theme: Our Students are Great
• Each class wears a particular color (3K wears blue)
• Afternoon Trivia
• Wednesday, January 31 - Theme: National Pride
• Students wear red, white & blue
• Grandparent Bingo:  Since this is a Wednesday, 3K does not participate as a group.  However, 3K children and grandparents (or special person) are welcome to come if you'd like!  If this is something your family will participate in, please call the office to let them know.
• Thursday, February 1 - Theme: Vocations within the Catholic Church
• Students Dress Up Nicely
• Fr. Daniel Schuster, vocations director for the Diocese of Green Bay will be at St. Clare to meet with all of the children.  He does fun, engaging age-appropriate discussions and activities with students.  3K, 4K & 5K will meet with Fr. Schuster as one group.
• Friday, February 2 - Theme: Family Day
• Students wear St. Clare apparel or school colors (blue, green & white).
• There will be a Mass at 10:15 followed by bowling at Ashwaubenon Lanes.  A pizza lunch is served while bowling.  Again, since this is a Friday, 3K does not participate as a group.  However, if this is something your family wishes to participate in, you are more than welcome to do so!  It is important that you contact the office to sign up. 
• There is a parent social in the evening!  Line up a babysitter and meet other school families.  Should be a fun evening. :)

January 16 & 18

Hello Parents,

Water bottles were sent home to be washed.  Please return them to school for class on Tuesday.  

We're hopeful that the weather will cooperate on Thursday so that Miss Mary and I can take the children outside to play in the snow.  The temperature looks to be about 30 degrees for that day.  Please send snow pants, boots, hats & mittens.  Hopefully it will work out!  If we do go out, you can pick up your children from the playground on that day.

This week we are moving on to the letter M.  The photo here is from last week when we learned about the letter L.  One of our activities was to count ladybugs and place the correct number of ladybugs on the corresponding leaf with that number written on it. 

I have added more details to our upcoming Catholic Schools Week.  Please read through the information as a few things do pertain to 3K.  Also, given that a number of 3K families will likely continue education at St. Clare in the coming years, I thought it might be nice for those families to get a sneak peek at what Catholic Schools Week is typically like.  It is an exciting week for Catholic school students (and teachers) nationwide! 

Looking Ahead:  Catholic Schools Week

• Sunday, January 28 - Catholic Schools Week Kickoff
• 10 am Mass
• Open House following Mass until 12:30
• Scholastic Book Fair 
• Monday, January 29 - Theme: Community Pride
• Students wear Wrightstown Tiger apparel (or blue & white)
• Food Drive Kickoff (Feel free to send in food donations on Tuesday & Thursday.  St. Clare will collect food all week.)
• Tuesday, January 30 - Theme: Our Students are Great
• Each class wears a particular color (3K wears blue)
• Afternoon Trivia
• Wednesday, January 31 - Theme: National Pride
• Students wear red, white & blue
• Grandparent Bingo:  Since this is a Wednesday, 3K does not participate as a group.  However, 3K children and grandparents (or special person) are welcome to come if you'd like!  If this is something your family will participate in, please call the office to let them know.
• Thursday, February 1 - Theme: Vocations within the Catholic Church
• Students Dress Up Nicely
• Fr. Daniel Schuster, vocations director for the Diocese of Green Bay will be at St. Clare to meet with all of the children.  He does fun, engaging age-appropriate discussions and activities with students.  3K, 4K & 5K will meet with Fr. Schuster as one group.
• Friday, February 2 - Theme: Family Day
• Students wear St. Clare apparel or school colors (blue, green & white).
• There will be a Mass at 10:15 followed by bowling at Ashwaubenon Lanes.  A pizza lunch is served while bowling.  Again, since this is a Friday, 3K does not participate as a group.  However, if this is something your family wishes to participate in, you are more than welcome to do so!  It is important that you contact the office to sign up. 
• There is a parent social in the evening!  Line up a babysitter and meet other school families.  Should be a fun evening. :)

January 9 & 11

Dear Parents, 

St. Clare's New Catholic Religious
Education Series (for 3K and 4K)

On THURSDAY we will plan to go outside to play.  Please send snow pants and boots.  Even though the temperatures may not be really cold on Thursday it will surely be wet outside. (If it ends up being rainy or a mixed precipitation we will not go outside.)

Recently, our school purchased a new Catholic religion program specifically for the Early Childhood years.  Both 3K and 4K will begin utilizing this new series called "Allelu! Growing & Celebrating With Jesus."  This program is a part of Our Sunday Visitor Publishing.  It incorporates songs, stories, magnetic story figures, and other activities.  In addition, each child receives a placemat/activity sheet for use in the home.  The placemat is intended to offer prompts for discussions around the family dinner table.  These papers stay at home.

Feel free to place any January book orders online.  Because we have a small class, there will not be a February book order.  The next one will be in March.  

If you have a water bottle at home, please send them back to school for use in the classroom when you get a chance.  

This week we are moving on to the letter L.  Among other letter L and seasonal activities, we will play a game in the cafeteria called "Leaping Lizards!"  The kids certainly enjoy large motor activities.

Looking Ahead:

• Thursday, January 11 - All School Photo
• This includes 3K

• Saturday, January 13 - Feasting For Funds
• Buffalo Wild Wings on Oneida
• 11am-1pm
• Must mention "St. Clare" 

• Sunday, January 28 - Catholic Schools Week Begins
• 10am Mass
• Open House following Mass
• Scholastic Book Fair during Open House

• Wednesday, January 31 - Grandparent Bingo
• Since this is a Wednesday, 3K does not participate as a group.  However, 3K children and grandparents (or special person) are welcome to come if you'd like!  If this is something your family will participate in, please call the office to let them know.

• Friday, February 2 - "Family Day" (during the school day)
• There will be a Mass followed by bowling at Ashwaubenon Lanes.  A pizza lunch is served while bowling.  
• Again, since this is a Friday, 3K does not participate as a group.  However, if this is something your family wishes to participate in, you are more than welcome to do so!  It is important that you contact the office to sign up. 

January 2 & 4

Happy New Year!  I hope the Christmas season has been joyous for you and your families.  May the turning of the calendar be a time of renewal and wellness for all of us.  Peace and blessings to you all.

Heading back to school in January can be feel daunting after a long break.  Not to worry...when working with young children we learn to expect the unexpected.  In some ways, coming back in January has some similarities to the first days of school.  :)

There will be a book order coming home with your child.  The information for ordering is on the back of the book order.  Simply place your order online.  I receive a notification when an order has been placed.  Also coming home will be the January snack volunteer list.  (The volunteer for January 2 is also listed on the December sheet.)

If you think of it, please send the water bottles back to school.  If you forget please do not worry.  We always have paper cups handy.

This week we are moving on to the letter K.  Here are some activities that we often do pertaining to the letter of the week:

• We practice recognizing the letter
• We look at pictures that begin with the letter and practice saying the sound.  
• We read books that incorporate the letter.  For example this week we will read a story about a kangaroo.  
• We do various art projects both related to the letter of the week as well as the current season/theme.
• Sometimes we go into the cafeteria for large motor activities.  This week we will play a game called "Kangaroo Kickball."
• During our religion minilessons we incorporate virtues and social skills that are good for 3K students to practice.  This week we will talk about kindness.  

Looking Ahead:

• Tuesday, January 9 - Home & School meeting at 6:30.  
• Your attendance is welcome.

• Thursday, January 11 - All School Photo
• This includes 3K

• Week of January 28 - Catholic Schools Week
• Sunday, January 28 - Kickoff
• 10am Mass
• Open House following Mass
• Scholastic Book Fair will be going on during the Open House
• Wednesday, January 31 - Grandparent Bingo 
• Since this is a Wednesday, 3K does not participate as a group.  However, 3K children and grandparents (or special person) are welcome to come if you'd like.  If this is something your family will participate in, please call the office to let them know.
• Friday, February 2 - "Family Day"  (during the school day)
• There will be a Mass followed by bowling at Ashwaubenon Lanes.  A pizza lunch is served while bowling.  
• Again, since this is a Friday, 3K does not participate as a group.  However, if this is something your family wishes to participate in it is important that you contact the office to sign up.