May 2013 Newsletter

 

 

Children are our Ministry

Director, Toni Watkins                                                                   Pastor, Fr. John Murphy

 

	May Dates to Remember May 10-          Mother’s Day Luncheon May 21-          Preschool Graduation May 27-          SHECC, SAS & SAES CLOSED-                       Memorial Day May 30-          Last Day of VPK May Community Dates to Remember May 24-          SAS- Early Dismissal May 27-          SHECC, SAS & SAES CLOSED-                      Memorial Day May 31-          High School Graduation   Up-Coming Dates to Remember June 4-           Last day of Public School June 5-           First Day of Summer Program June 7-           Last day of school- SAS June 14-         Father’s Day Luncheon		May the Lord Bless You and Keep You.   We welcome all of our families to join us for weekly mass on: Saturdays at 7:00 p.m. or Sundays at 8:00 a.m. or 10:30 a.m.
			ATTENTION VPK FAMILIES:   On Friday, May 10, 2013, St. Anthony Catholic School will have a Kindergarten Open House from 8:15-9:30.  All families are invited to join the Kindergarten class at morning assembly @ 8:15.  After morning assembly you will join the class to discover the innovative ways they find to make learning fun and exciting.  Miss Milan, Mrs. Guadarrama and the Kindergarten class look forward to meeting you.   Saint Anthony Catholic School 32902 Saint Anthony Way San Antonio, FL 33576 Phone: 352-588-3041, Fax: 3525883142 Email: rosiefortner@stanthonyschoolfl.org
	SUMMER FUN At Sacred Heart ECC, the learning never stops.  During the summer we just add ice cream, water, cooking, McDonalds, and a movie, as well as lots of other fun activities.  Look for more information from your child’s teacher.
			PRESCHOOL GRADUATION   Please join us at Sacred Heart Church on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 6:45 pm,  to celebrate the completion of VPK with our 2013 graduates and their families.  A reception will follow in the parish hall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

INFANTS

 

Hello everyone, its news time again. Our babies are moving right along. Everyone is making progress.  Nicholas likes belly time. He is smiling a lot and likes to roll his tongue over his two new teeth. He loves the big swing outside. Nick is a pleasure.  Zachary smiles a lot showing off his teeth and he really enjoys playing with his feet.  He likes the exer-saucer so he can look around at everyone. Carson is rolling over. She likes swinging and is really growing fast.  Eliza is smiling a lot and giggles aloud. She is always ready at mealtime and is growing so fast.

Thank you for the privilege of caring for your little gems. It is our pleasure.

Please remember that Sacred Heart Early Childhood Center will be closed on Monday, May 27 in honor of Memorial Day.

 

Ms. Nancy, Ms. Phyllis,

	2012-2013 REGISTRATION Registration for the 2013-2014 school year is under way.  All returning families will receive a new registration packet.  These packets will be due on June 1, 2013.   Please make sure that all lines are either filled in or marked N/A.  Ms. Toni and Ms. Debbie are both able to notarize your green form.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ONES

 

Welcome to our new friends, Nolen, Landon, Breanna and Ray. Our Big Kids, Annabelle and Adam have moved up to Ms. Linda’s class. We will visit with them on the playground.

During the month of May we will be learning about things that grow.  We will talk about plants and observe some growing outside , we will read books about growing things and we will talk about how we grow too.

As we celebrate Mother’s Day, we will be making a special surprise for all of our great moms. Our Mother’s Day Luncheon is on May 10 at 11:00 a.m.; please let us know if you can attend.

Later this month we will be exploring different shapes. We will look for these shapes in our classroom and on the playground. We will count how many squares, circles and rectangles we see and talk about their colors.

To finish out the month we will talk more about the colors Red, White and Blue and our Flag to celebrate Memorial Day.   We will finger paint with red, white and blue. Perhaps we will even mix some new colors as well.

Sacred Heart Early Childhood Center will be closed on Monday, May 27, 2013 in Honor of Memorial  Day.

A special welcome back to our beloved Ms. Courtney. She is back for the summer and is one quarter nurse!

Thank you for your continued snack wipes and juice donations.

Have a great month         !

Ms. Rita, Mrs. Pearl, Ms. Sandy, Ms. Courtney

 

 

 

 

 

TWOS

 

We started the month with many nice cool and breezy days. Now it is starting to get hot, so please remember your child’s sunscreen. Please put it on in the morning and we will reapply it in the afternoon. Please remember to fill out a sunscreen form if you have not done so.

This month we will talk about plants and things that grow. We will plant some plants and watch them grow.  We will also talk about what makes them grow and what makes us grow.

In honor of all our special moms, we will have a Mother’s Day Luncheon on May 10, at 11:00 a.m. please join us if you can.  We will read books and sing songs about mothers.  We will make a special gift for this most special person because she is special to us.

We will explore different kinds of shapes. We will start with the common ones such as circle and square then move on to hearts and others. We will use shapes in our art and play the shape sorting game as well as find shapes in our classroom and on the playground.

We will end the month by celebrating Memorial Day as we paint with Red, White and Blue. We will also eat some red, white and blue snacks and learn about flags.

Sacred Heart Early Childhood Center will be closed on Monday, May 27 in honor of Memorial Day.

Thank you to everyone for your donations of snacks and wipes.

Have a great Memorial Day.

Ms. Linda   Ms. Cindy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PRESCHOOL I

 

I am so proud of everyone’s growth and development. This month I will be working on assessments. If your child turned three before January 1, 2013, they will be assessed with “Creative Curriculum”.  Children with birthdays from January 1- May 31 will be assessed with “Ages and Stages”. We will continue to focus on cognitive development by using more complex patterns and classification.

We would like to welcome Ms. Kayla to our room she will assist Ms. Vicki in the mornings.

June 6^th we will have a pizza party to celebrate the end of the year. June 10^th we will start our summer program. A schedule will go home to let you know when we will have our special activities. Please do not forget to send extra clothes for your child. We will play with the water trough daily. Your child will also need sunscreen. You may pick up a sunscreen form in the front office.

Thank you for your donation of snacks and wipes last month.

Ms. Vicki, Ms. Ashlee, Ms. Kayla

 

 

 

 

 

PRESCHOOL II

Our themes for the month of May are FLOWERS, THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR, PICNICS and VACATIONS.  Some of the activities we will be working on are turning our class sandbox into a flower garden, making edible butterflies, counting how many ants come to our picnic and discussing our favorite vacation.

On Friday, May 10, we will have our annual Mother’s Day Luncheon.  We would love for all of our Mothers to come.  Our class eats at 11:00, so if you are able to, please come.  If you are not able to make it, maybe Grandma can stand in for you.

In observance of Memorial Day, SHECC will be closed on Monday, May 27.  If you are going out of town, please be safe.

It is hard to believe that in a few short months your children will be beginning VPK.  Later this month, I will be sending home the Creative Curriculum evaluations.  These evaluations will let you know what your child can do and I will give you suggestions on activities that will help your child with skills they need to work on.

In June, we will begin our summer schedule.  During the summer months, we will be doing special activities such as Show & Tell, Movie Days and Water Day.  Summer packets will be going home later this month.

We would like to Welcome Ms. Mary to our classroom, she will assist Ms. Liliana during the day.

Thank you to everyone that brought in snacks and other items needed for our class.  A special thanks to those that brought in items for farm week and Trent’s Dad for bringing his tractor.  I think this was their favorite thing this year.  Thanks again!

Ms. Liliana         Ms. Mary

 

 

 

 

VPK I

Welcome May! It is hard to believe our VPK school year is coming to a close.  We have many exciting activities planned for this month.

We will begin the month discussing May Day, Flowers, and Mother’s Day.   We will be painting with silk flowers and counting their leaves. We will also sort them by color, shape and size.  On Friday, May 10, we would like for all of our mothers and grandmothers to join us for our annual Mother’s Day Luncheon.  Watch for a sign-up sheet.

The week of May 13-17, we will begin our unit on Transportation, Travel and Safety.  We will talk about all the different places we have been (vacation photos welcome) and places we would like to visit.  We will be using different kinds of travel maps to plot and plan our trips.  This will lead us into a study of Vacations and Summer Safety.  We will read many stories about traveling and discuss ways to stay safe while in a car, on a boat and in the sun. We will also practice our phone number.

The end of the month we will focus on finishing our year with assessments and our VPK Graduation.  This ceremony is a very special event and we are planning to perform some wonderful songs.  Please plan to join us on Tuesday, May 21, at 6:45p.m.  Please arrive by 6:30p.m. so that we may begin on time.  Children should wear church clothes.  We are looking for some parent volunteers to help with setting up the church and hall. Please watch for a sign-up sheet.

Dates to remember:

Wednesday, May 1^st is May Day.  We will be celebrating this with a May procession over to the church.

Wednesday, May 29^th we will have a center wide, end of the school year, cookout.  This will be a covered dish event and we would like to invite everyone to join us.

Thursday, May 30^th is our last day for VPK.  We will have a water play day.  Children can come in their bathing suits with water shoes.  We will set up sprinklers and have fun with our friends.  Watch for more information.

Thank you for making this a special year.  Your children have grown and changed so much.  God bless each and every one of you.

Ms. Kathy          Ms. Katie          Ms. Becky

2012-2013 VPK Graduates

Ethan Aayah       Nathan Arnold     Tyler Bertold         Andrew Blommel      Sydney Byers

Brianna Camino    Kaylie Camino    Matthew Cloversettle       Tristen Coleman    Kristjan Cucinelli   Troy Dadez     Matteo D’Amore     Alana Davis    Saweyer Fleming     Jackson Foster     Tayla Furletti     Madison Gerlach     Elizabeth Grief     Anderson Harris    Patricia Heinemann   James Johnson       Daniella Limas     Hailey Martin     Parker J. Medlin    Johnathan Miller      Davin Moody       Gabriel Mussleman     Quincy Newlon      Rozalyn Perez     Delilah Plotkin   Truman Plotkin    Karielyz Ramos    Ian Roderick    Colton Sasser     Sophia Sotomayor   Caleb Schrader   Triston Scroggins

Brigham Smith     Morgan Spooner  Grace Stott

 

VPK II

Welcome May! What wonderful flowers you bring.   As we end our school year our theme this month is Our Bigger World and our essential question as we head out into a bigger world is “What do we share with others around us?” We will find out about some similarities everyone shares as well as some interesting differences.

We will begin our month by having a May Crowning. We honor Mary our Mother in Heaven as we honor our mothers here on Earth.  We will have a special Mother’s day Luncheon in May 10 at 11:15 am to celebrate moms everywhere. Mom, Grandma, Aunts and any other special “mom” in your child’s life are invited to join us.

We will discuss Transportation and Travel. We will learn about specific ways for people around the world to travel. We will explore our neighboring country of Mexico and fly away to exciting Africa.  What are some words we borrow from their language?  Do we have anything in common with children there?

We pack our bags and plan a Vacation! Where would we like to go? How will we get there? What should we take? These are a few of the questions we will ponder as we make our plans using maps and making an itinerary of what we would like to see and do. We would like to have pictures of vacations your family has been on to share and discuss with the class. Postcards are welcomed as well.

Safety is important while traveling and at home. We will talk about ways safe to stay in the car, in the sun, at the park and at “Big” school.  We will talk about Kindergarten and what we think it will be like. We will have some “guest speakers” (this year’s kindergarteners) come and tell us what it is like.

Our visits to the church will continue as we talk about Jesus and his love for us. We enjoy praying and singing with our friends at church.

Of course, we will also review our letters and numbers. Continue Reading nightly over the summer. Try reading stories about other places. Choose some non- fiction topics as well. Your child may enjoy reading about how sailboats work or how to take care of a real horse (of course then they may want one). Continue working with numbers by counting objects around your home such as doors, doorknobs, windows, cans in the cabinet, books on the shelf or pairs of shoes.

A very exciting month is ahead and a busy one as well. There are many important dates this month:

May1 May Crowning

May 10 Mother’s Day Luncheon 11:30 am

May 21 VPK GRADUATION

May 27 Memorial Day / SHECC CLOSED

May 27-30 Last week of VPK

May 29 End of the Year COOKOUT 10:30 am

May 30 Water Play Day/ Last Day of VPK

VPK GRADUATION: MAY 21 @ 6:45pm (sharp)

Our biggest night of the year! We need all the parents help for this event. Please sign up to help; we will have a sign- up sheet posted in the classrooms. This is such a wonderful night for our children. Please have your child arrive at the church by 6:45 pm. Dress is church attire.

MAY 29 End of the Year COOKOUT 10:30am

We have had such a wonderful school year together, we want to celebrate! We are asking every family to bring a covered dish to share. We will provide the Hot Dogs, Baked Beans, Chips and Tea. Please come join this family fun event.

May 30: Water Play Day

Your child will need to come in their bathing suit with water shoes, towel, sunscreen and a complete change of clothing for this day. The children always have such as good time playing in the water and sprinklers.

Sister Donna and I have enjoyed our time with your children this year very much. Each child is special and unique and we know that they will all do wonderful in Kindergarten. Thank you for a great year! Have a safe summer and wonderful year!

Ms. Cindie& Sr. Donna

 

SUMMER READING It is so important for children to read during the summer.  Children can read the newspaper, books about a place you will be visiting or would like to visit, magazines etc…   You can also make fun places to read like a tent in the living room, a hammock in the back yard or out by the pool.  Your local library has a list of books that are based on children’s reading levels.  Some libraries have summer reading programs.  Don’t lose three months of your child’s learning, read every day.

 

 

 

 

 

SCHOOL AGE

It is hard to believe that we only have 5 weeks of school left.  Where has the school year gone?

 

Congratulations to Chase Diez, Rachel Greene, Madison Shook and Romily Verge who will be embarking on a new adventure in middle school this fall.  We wish them lots of luck and success.  We hope to see them on holidays and/or after school.

 

Our summer program will begin on Wednesday, June 5th.  Summer permission slips and calendars will be out soon.  Please return all form to Mrs. Susie.  If you would like us to apply sunscreen to your child in the afternoons, please let us know.  With the summer packet, you will receive a medication authorization form.  This form must be signed in order for us to apply sunscreen.  Every child that goes swimming with us will be required to have one of these forms, as well as their own bottle of sunscreen. A teacher will apply fresh sunscreen to every child before we leave for the pool.  The aerosol sunscreen or the pump spray that says, “No rubbing is required” works best for the older children who may be uncomfortable with this procedure.  A face stick works best for the face.  We want everyone to be safe in the sun.

 

All children will need a SHECC T-Shirt for our bowling and skating fieldtrip.  These are available for $9.00.

 

During the summer months, we provide academic enrichment for all grade levels.  This is to ensure that your child stays on task for the next school year.  Children loose up to a month of learning when they do not keep their brain active during the summer.

 

We will be closed on Monday, May 27^th in observance of Memorial Day.

 

At the end of the summer, Ms. Shelby will be embarking on a new chapter in her life.   She will leave us to attend college at FSU.  We wish her lots of luck and success in her endeavor.

 

I hope everyone has a fun filled and relaxing summer.

 

Ms. Susie        Ms. Shelby         Ms. Laura         Ms. Debbie

 

 

 

 

Notes from Toni…

 

How could it be May?  Didn’t the school year just begin?  But then I look at the children and see their tremendous growth.  We are witnesses to every stage of development – our babies learning to crawl and walk, then run.  Soon they are on tricycles and climbing.  They begin to repeat stories that we read over and over and sing their favorite songs. Their drawings turn into something recognizable and they begin to write their name and copy words.  They become so independent and sure of themselves.   Our little VPK students become ready for kindergarten.  Every child is exceptional and wonderful to us.  How blessed we are to be able to experience this.

 

Speaking of VPK students B our Pre-K Graduation is May 21 at 6:45.  We begin with a ceremony in the church and follow with a reception in our parish hall.  This is such a special evening for these children and their families.  Our last day of VPK will be May 30.  Our full day program will continue through summer giving children that extended curriculum preparing them for kindergarten.

 

Have you decided which kindergarten your children are attending?  Please consider our sister school – St. Anthony Catholic School.  They have an excellent program and scholarships may be available.

 

Registration packets will be ready soon.  Children attending our three-year-old program will have first priority in placement for our VPK and wrap-around program.

There have been several changes in our forms this year.