Sunday, May 1, 2016

Happy Month of May!

The month of May is devoted to our "Blessed Virgin Mary"!

The children may bring flowers to place around our statue of Mother Mother during this month. We have a Rosary for every child that has been blessed by Father Phil. The children will be introduced to the Rosary this week. We are so very blessed to have this month of May for our devotions to "Mother Mary"!

We will say and sign the "Hail Mary" prayer!

Thank you to our room Mother's, Anne Krepick & Shannon Danitz for starting the fruit and vegetables sign up page once again. The children love chopping and serving these yummy to their classmates. A true Practical Life skill and Grace and Courtesy experience for them. Also healthy eating habits!

Thank you to Shannon Danitz for supplying us with our caterpillars this year. They did not emerge by Friday so I asked Shannon if she would mind taking them home for the weekend. She was a bit worried about transporting them in their chrysalis stage; however she agreed! I am so excited to see what happened!

The children all know that when they change from the chrysalis to the butterfly it is not magic...but it is metamorphosis! Clara always makes sure to remind us of this transformation. Ms Lois tells us that the life cycle of the butterfly is a beautiful part of creation from God. The children  are working on their booklets of the "Life Cycle of the Butterfly". We are also making booklets of the "Parts of the Butterfly.

I know I always say what a busy week we have....let me tell you this one tops them all! We are making our Tea Party invitations to mail to you this week. Please send me an email letting me know which day of the week works best for you. Our Tea Party will be the 3rd and 4th week of May in the mornings during class. We can have 3 sets of parents a morning for Tea.

It is also Mother's Day next Sunday! So "Happy Mother's Day" to all our wonderful, loving and special mothers in the Good Shepherd Preschool! Thank you for all you do!!!

Have a wonderful week,
Ms Karen & Lois




Sunday, April 17, 2016


            Happy Good Shepherd Sunday                                                                        




      John 10:11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.












Last week we celebrated Zachary's 5th Birthday! Thank you to Zachary for the delicious pizza, chocolate milk, and cupcakes! Happy Birthday Zachary!

We had a special guest come into our room and read a story to the children. This was her sons favorite story when he was little. "Make Way for Ducklings" written by Robert McCloskey, read by Monica Scott. Thank you Monica!

We are continuing with our unit of the "Human Body." The children are working on the 23 page booklet  of the "Bones in a Child's Body." We are having a wonderful time learning together at circle naming all 23 bones. They have their own ideas of building their skeletons out of pasta and beans...they are very creative and unique.

Our caterpillars are getting fat and happy! I bet they are in their chrysalis stage by Monday. The painted lady butterfly should emerge from their chrysalis between 7 and 10 days. How exciting it will be for the children to experience the metamorphosis of the butterfly! Than you Lucas Danitz for this gift!

If there are any grandparents that would like to visit the preschool please send me an email. We can always find time to have you in the classroom. Email me at (kwitkowski@olfatima.org). We can schedule ahead of time if you live out of town.

In the season of Spring the trees start sprouting little buds and green leafs, flowers pop up from the earth, birds make nest's for their little babies. We'll be making our edible nest with edible little Robin eggs inside.

We'll be making chocolate bird nest's out of milk chocolate bars from Theo's Chocolate. Seventy percent of the chocolate at Theo's comes from Eastern Congo, a country in Africa. Everything made and sold at Theo's meet's the highest standards for organic Fair Trade and Fair for Life. A portion of proceeds from the ECI bars are donated to the Eastern Congo Initiative with the potential to positively impact more than 20,000 people living in Eastern Congo.

Continent~ Africa
Botany~ Cocoa Tree
Zoology~ Elephant

Tomorrow we are celebrating John Patterson's 5th Birthday! His birthday is today April 17th, Happy Birthday John!!!

Have a lovely week,
Ms Karen, and Lois










Sunday, April 3, 2016

Hoping everyone enjoyed a blessed and joyous Easter!

First things first we will unearth the "Alleluia" and sing it loudly!

A presentation of the  "Liturgy of Light Celebration" will be this week in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. The children will take delight and celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. They will be introduced to the Blessing of the Paschal Candle and procession with the Paschal Candle.

This week for sharing the children can bring something they enjoy at Easter. It could be a bunny,  a special gift they received at Easter,  a picture taken on Easter Sunday, something that reminds them of Easter.

We are continuing with our unit on the Human Body. We are studying the Skeletal System of a child.
They will do an art project making their own skeleton from pasta, also a booklet of the bones labeled to bring home and share with you.

The children are working on writing their names, forming the letters correctly, with first letter in their name uppercase the rest lowercase. I will send home the paper I've prepared with their name and numbers 1-10. You could make copies so they practice their handwriting at home. (This is not homework).

We'll be visiting Africa during the month of April.
Botany~ The Cocoa Tree
Zoology~ Giraffe & Elephant

Have a wonderful week,
Ms Karen & Ms Lois


Sunday, March 20, 2016

Palm Sunday...the last Sunday before Easter, and the beginning of Holy Week.

The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd
~ Begin with Palm Sunday
~ Presentation of The Cenacle
~ Good Friday

The word "Cenacle" comes from "cena" which means "to eat" or "dinner'. The Latin word Cenaculum was used in the Vulgate Bible for the "upper room" where the Last supper was held. Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with the twelve apostles. The Last Supper was celebrated in the "cenacle" or upper room of a house. Each year in the atrium, typically in the season of Lent, the children are presented the Cenacle.

In Catholic Relief Services this week~ Global Solidarity
Catholic Social teaching inspires and guides how we live and work in the world. In this principle, Global Solidarity, Jesus tells us to love our neighbors, even though they may be different than us. That means the neighbors who live next door and also those who live on the other side of the planet. Jesus reminds us that we are all part of God's great family.

Thank you to the children for their efforts in Almsgiving during this Lenten season. This last week of Lent we are collecting lip balm.

Human  Science~ We will finish our unit of the Digestive System,  and the organs in our body. When we return from Easter Break we'll begin our unit on the Skeletal System.

Geography~ The city of Jerusalem

Math~ practice numeral writing, hanging bead stair 0-9, hanging bead stair 11-19

Language~ Sound Boards, Mail Cards, Blue Blend board

Practical Life~ Dressing Frames, Silver Polishing, Plant Washing

Sensorial~ Rough and Smooth Boards, Thermic Tablets, Sound Cylinders

Thank You to Shannon Danitz for putting the St. Patrick's Day Party together. Also a big Thank You to Jennie Lounsberry for the yummy creative healthy snack, Kate Baker for the beautiful yummy shamrock cookies she baked, decorated, and placed in little baggies for all the children, Stefani Arya for the lovely green and gold bead necklaces and St. Patrick's Day stickers, and Doug Patterson for reading the stories and helping in the classroom all morning!

Thank you to Jennifer Robertson (Grayson's Grandma) for helping in the classroom on Wednesday!

Birthdays~ Aiden Lounsberry March 20th, Happy Birthday Aiden
March 28th, Heather Howe, Happy Birthday Heather

Have a wonderful week,
Ms Karen










Monday, March 14, 2016

March 13th is the fifth Sunday of Lent!

Caring for God's Creation, we remember God created every plant, every mountaintop, every animal- everything! And God said that these things are good.  We find God in these good things, and so we must take care of creation-both  for ourselves and for all of our human family.

For our Almsgiving~Lenten Service Project we are collecting band aids; however, I failed to put in last weeks blog "combs"! When they came to collect our Almsgiving we had one package of combs. This week it will be combs and band aids.

We are continuing to fill our second rice bowl with change! A huge (Thank You) to the parents for all you do!

Last week the children learned American sign language for the song "Jesus Loves Me". You will have to see them all together signing and singing.

We've been doing lots of color mixing with food coloring. This week we will do color mixing with paint. 

The children seem to love drawing portraits of themselves, which are truly a piece of art!

We will be doing more plant washing, table and chair washing, and dusting. Wood polishing, mirror polishing, and silver polishing involve many different steps for the child to follow. There are more than 15 steps to each task, including clean up, and putting the work back in it's home. 

Sound of the week "r" as in robot, reindeer, raccoon, rhinoceros, rabbit, ribbon, robin, rolling pin, etc. Everyone will bring their sharing on Thursday!

March 17th~ Happy St Patricks Day!!!
March 18th~ School is closed for Regional Curriculum Day

Have a wonderful week,
Ms Karen & Ms Lois










Tuesday, March 8, 2016

March 6th, was the 4th Sunday of Lent!

This week we are reading about Mayra she is 11 years old, and lives in Honduras. She was shy and didn't always like school. Then her teacher noticed Mayra wasn't always doing her homework. She didn't always understand her math and reading lessons. However her teacher invited Mayra to join a CRS-sponsored tutoring program. Now, Mayra is proud of her reading and math skills!

We also talked about the recipes from each country. We have watched a few videos of children at OLF making these meals with their friends and family. If you would like to do this with your child please send me the video and we can share it with our class!

We are learning about the Digestive System! The path the food takes as it travels through the body and what happens to the food they eat when it is inside of them.

Sound of the week "l" as in Lamb, Lion, and Llama.

I will introduce wood polishing, and plant washing in the practical life area this week.

Sensorial~ Rough and Smooth Boards

Math~ the 1,000 Bead Chain counting by tens

Langauge~ more pin punching, metal insets, and pencil sharpening (manual)

Have a wonderful week,
Ms Karen and Ms Lois

Sunday, February 28, 2016

February 28th, was the 3rd Sunday of Lent!
Last week read Hongkham's Story from the country of Laos. The children are absolutely enthralled in these stories. They are so excited to bring their money and put it in the rice bowl! They have been so happy and proud to bring the floss and toothpaste. 

Thank you to the seventh grade students that came into our classroom to gather our tooth paste and thank the children for their efforts in Almsgiving! 

This week we'll read Odette's Story from the country of Rwanda. this week we are collecting toothbrushes!

Last week we made a cell out of jello, apricots, and chopped dates. The cytoplasm was jello that is contained by the cell membrane which was the saran wrap. A dried apricot played the part of the nucleus (the brains of the cell) and the vacuoles were made of chopped dates (the storage tanks of the cell). When all said and done were eaten by the children.

This week we are working more on the organs in our body and their function. There is a little science project with each organ which we will be doing.

Sound of the week "o" as in ostrich, otter, olive, octagon, octopus, ox, optical lens, offering, October, officer, etc. 

Math~ introduction of the 100 Bead Chain w/number arrows. 

Language~ continue with metal insets, froebel pinning, writing tray with lid.

Geography~ the animals from 7 continents.

Science~ the human body

Sensorial~ thermic tablets, rough and smooth boards, sound cylinders.

Practical life~ introduce wood polishing, and silver polishing.

Have a wonderful week,
Ms Karen and Ms Lois