Dear Kindergarten,

            We are heading into the final days of the school year, and I am amazed at how much we have already learned this year. We have counted to 100 by ones, fives, and tens. We have learned our alphabet from A-Z. We have written and illustrated our own sentences using sight words and words we can blend. I am especially proud that together we have read over 100 books! Our bookworm is so long and curvy. We have worked very hard this year, and we have accomplished so much!

            We have also enriched ourselves as Christians by learning about Jesus. In the Bible we have followed Jesus from His birth in Bethlehem, through His life in Jerusalem working miracles and spreading God’s love. We have read and discussed the days of Holy Week, Easter, and Jesus’ Ascension into heaven. We have attended Masses celebrated by Monsignor Larkin. We have learned about the many gifts God has given us. Wow, what a friend we have in Jesus!

             As we prepare to “step-up” to First Grade, we must put to use all that we have learned in Kindergarten. It is time to start thinking and using the tools we have attained to enhance our education. We must strive to answer questions about stories we have read, complete sentences sensibly, and use numbers to add, subtract, measure, and reason logically. You will be amazed what you can do!  

             So once again, congratulations! I am proud of you, and you should be proud of yourself too. Let us continue to work hard these last few weeks and see how much more we can learn!

                                                                                                             Sincerely,

                                                                                                            Mrs. Broetsky

Dear Kindergarten ,

   Happy New Year, it’s 2013! I’m very excited about this year because my lucky number is 13. I have a feeling it’s going to be a good one.

   In 2013 we will learn many new and interesting things. We will learn about polar animals, how they keep warm, what they eat, which ones are predators, and which ones are prey. We will explore their habitats and their geographic locations.

   In Social Studies we will learn about Martin Luther King Jr. and his contributions to the world. We will learn about other African Americans such as Rosa Parks and Ruby Bridges. Imagine, Ruby Bridges was only six years old when she stood up for equal rights. She was so brave!

   We will continue to explore numbers in math. Our focus will be on composing and decomposing numbers. Don’t worry, that’s just the fancy words our text book uses for adding and subtracting. We will also work on number order and counting by ones, tens, and fives.

   Our reading class has become very interesting. We recently began reading adventures with Tig, Ted, Doll, Ed, and Flit. Each week we read a new story about our characters. It’s so exciting to see what will happen next! To help us read our adventures, we will practice blending our letter sounds into words. We will also use those same words and our sight words to write sentences. Then we will illustrate our sentences to show we understand what we have written.

   January is a great month for our religion class too! January 4th was the feast day of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. She is the foundress of the Sisters of Charity whom founded our school. Sr. Rosemarie and Sr. Frances are members, and we know they are doing God’s special work in our school. Thank you Sr. Rosemarie and Sr. Frances! January is also Catholic School’s Week. There will be many activities to celebrate. Visitation School will host an Open House, Scholastics Book Sale, Honors Assembly, and Mass in our beautiful church, The Visitation. Report cards will also be distributed.

   As you can see, we have many new and interesting things to look forward to in 2013. I am so happy you will be a part of it. Now, let’s get busy!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Broetsky

   Hey Kindergarten, we're celebrating a birthday! On December 25th we will celebrate Jesus' birthday. I'm so excited!

    Just like when a new family member comes into our home, we need to prepare for Jesus to come into our heart. During the season of Advent, December 2 - December 24, we will do "good deeds". We will help with chores at home. We will be kind to neighbors. We will spread Jesus' love in our school. We will do this to show Jesus how much we love Him.

    At school we will work hard too. In reading we will practice blending letter sounds into words and sentences. We will blend and read new stories about Ted, Tig, Doll, and Ed. In math we will identify and write numbers 1-10. We will count and compare groups to see which group is greater, less than, or equal to. We will learn ordinals , so we can identify positions such as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th. We will work hard and do good in school to show Jesus we love Him and appreciate our Catholic education.

    So Kindergarten, we have an exciting Advent season ahead of us. Let's work hard to prepare our hearts and brains for the coming of Jesus. We want to be ready when He comes!

Merry Christmas!

Mrs. Broetsky