"These are the original iPads!"

Quinn Clark, Redeemer kindergarten student, commenting on the small slate chalkboards our students often use for recording.

e-RPDS                                                                                             01/15/2016
Letter from the Director
Dear Redeemer Community,

Last week while giving a tour, a father was struck by something he saw taped to the window near the math center in our Pre-first classroom. Laughing he said, "Someone should send that to the guys on Wall Street."



As our Redeemer parents know, all of us at Redeemer are spending the month of January stressing the importance of good manners. One of the greatest joys of working with preschoolers is witnessing the unpredictability of their interpretations and translations. We never know what they will say or do next. We can, however, always be assured that they will entertain us.

"Rules of the Bank" - words to live by!

Best regards,
Mary
Classroom Updates:

Hanna 2s:
Happy New Year! Mrs. Doherty and I are so happy to have our little ones back from the long break. Nobody missed a step the very first drop-off. The children were excited to tell us about Santa and to get right back into the groove of things at school. The children are learning about winter weather and the appropriate clothing for the cold. They have been practicing putting on their own coat by flipping it over their head. We've also been singing, "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes", and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" a lot. The Twos are very proud of their singing ability and clap excitedly after each and every song. We will continue to learn about the cold next week with a fun ice project, and we will focus on the colors blue and white, and stars, with a Twos version of Starry Night. Mrs. Doherty and I are looking forward to meeting with you during our parent-teacher conferences later this month.

Wyatt 2s: 
It feels as though winter has finally made an appearance with the new year, just in time for our unit on winter weather and what to wear. During Circle Time we are talking about the difference in the clothing we wear to the beach and the clothing we wear to build a snowman. Most of us agree that flip flops are not good footwear for cold weather! We talked about how polar bears don't need to wear coats to keep them warm because they have a layer of blubber. We even experimented with a blubber glove to see how it kept our hands warm in ice water. During arrival time, we watched an ice snowman melt in our warm classroom. It was fun to find his eyes, nose, and buttons as he slowly melted. We have also learned some new snowflake songs. This month our shape is a star, and our colors are blue and white. Some of our projects have included puffy paint stars and white melted snowmen on blue paper. With all of this talk about winter weather, please be sure to send hats and mittens to school every day. Playground time has been very chilly! As always, thank you for sharing your children with us.

Hooper 3s:
January in the 3 Day 3's is all about rectangles, winter, polar animals and the color blue.  Our nursery rhyme for the month is "Little Boy Blue."  We are talking and reading about winter and wishing for a few "flakes to fall" as we painted a "snowy day", a pair of mittens, a polar bear and a new snowflake place mat for snack.  We will continue with rectangle stitch cards, penguins and snowmen to name a few of our winter projects!  The scissor table is becoming  a morning favorite as children work on their scissor skills while cutting out squares, rectangles and triangles....such good practice to build their hand strength.  The children are sitting quietly at circle time and are able to answer many  content questions about the stories we read.  Letter recognition improves daily and your little ones really seem to be enjoying their success!  Today was our first library day.  We ask our "readers" to arrive around 11:15 with favorite books from home....plan to read for about 15 minutes!  Thank you, Thank you the children LOVE to have their parents participate at school.  We have 6 parents who have not yet signed up to read. I will send an email with open dates to those parents. Let us know if a date works for you, and if not, no worries!  We look forward to seeing you all at the Adult Social on January 29th...it is always a fun and wonderful evening! Stay warm, read to your children and enjoy their company and conversation!

Libby 3s: 
The 5 day 3s are working on a new poem, new shape and new color! We are learning Little Boy Blue, the color blue, rectangles, as well as working on patterns. We have been working on science experiments with ice freezing and melting, and making predictions. Our class loves outside time so please make sure we have hats and mittens. Please feel free to leave spare ones in the cubbies, sneakers are still best for the playground.

Faint Pre-k:
Faint Pre-k is not letting the cold slow us down as we march our way through letter M with marbles, magnets, magnifying glasses, monsters, matching games and marshmallow math. Also, it is the time of year we start getting a bit more precise with letter formation (start at the top) and cutting skills. Baby dolls, who have been ignored so far this year, are now popular at play time. Clean-up time gets interesting with the children working together to figure out how to stack 100 blocks in 10 stacks of ten according to size- love seeing how their minds work and how they communicate. There is such joy/competition in putting on the last block! 
Thanks for sending in appropriate winter clothes as we do try to get out for at least a few minutes so the children can use those big muscles.

Loeb Pre-k:
Whoa! Cold air has arrived - it is Winter!  An apt time to remind all to send in mittens (unless they can manage gloves by themselves) hats and boots if it is muddy or too cold.  It IS time consuming to make sure they have all of those items but necessary as we go outside if at all possible! Last week was lemon, lion, and look. This week is marble painting, manners (a yearlong process!)  monsters (they made really funny ones), magnets and macaroni and cheese.  We can't wait to make snowmen, but really cold weather has been slow to arrive. We're sure it will come. We continue to work on number recognition, one to one correspondence (how many place mats do we need to put out; how many napkins?) the importance of money, and sound association.  We also experimented with static electricity. Rubbing a balloon on our heads and sticking it to the wall has been a big hit!We hope to see you on the 29th of January. The Winter Social is always fun!As ever, if you have any questions or concerns, please call or email Eileen. 

Kindergarten:

Pre-first:
The Pre-first children have jumped right back into the routine after the
holiday break. Each child has set and written new goals/resolutions for the new year! It was fun seeing the variety of goals throughout the class.
This week, we read the book, The Missing Mitten Mystery by Steven
Kellogg. We have been focusing on comprehension skills, classification and the differences between real and fantasy. We continue working on blending, reading, segmenting and spelling words through reading and writing. In Math, we are learning about money, symmetry, place value and problem solving.
Next week, we will continue our winter unit with a concentration on
polar bears and hibernation.

Lunch Bunch: 
Lunch Bunch is excited for all that winter has to offer. We have planned art, activities and music for the cold weather. We have also just switched our color groups for the 3rd time. The children are becoming experts at learning their colors and groups very quickly! During the winter we love to go outside and will do so unless we have extreme weather conditions.  Please remember to pack mittens, hats, scarves, extra sweaters or whatever is needed too stay warm in cold weather. Thank you for sending your children we are having a blast already in 2016!
 
 
Office Notes
Fr
Enrollment Contracts
Enrollment contracts were mailed on Monday. If you did not receive a contract, please contact the office. Contracts and the non-refundable enrollment fees are due on February 11. If you will not be utilizing the space that was reserved for your child, please let us know as we maintain an active waiting list with families who are eager to know about availability. We have If you have any questions, please contact Mary Knott or Katie Poe.

Parking Reminder
Please do not park in parking spots that are reserved for Church or School staff, even if you are only running into school for a few minutes. The spots are clearly marked to ensure there is no confusion with this. Please pass this message along to nannies, babysitters and grandparents. Thank you for your cooperation with this.

Winter is here!
Please be sure your children are dressed appropriately for the weather. We like to go outside. One cold and uncomfortable child can impact the entire class. Hats, mittens, winter coats and warm pants or leggings are a must. We appreciate your cooperation with this. 

Chapel Food Reminder
We are so grateful for the wonderful food donations our PDS families provide for Cares Food Pantry. Please remember that because we are a nut-free school we can not accept any nut products. We appreciate you joining us in keeping our students safe.

UPCOMING CALENDAR EVENTS:

Monday, January 18- NO SCHOOL- MLK

Tuesday, January 26- 2 Day 2s Conferences- school in session for the 2s

Friday, January 29- 7-10:30 Winter Social & Auction!  

We have over 60 parents and teachers already signed up for this incredible event! We hope to see everyone there!  You don't want to miss out on:
 
*Catering by Corner Pantry
*Parties with your child's teacher
*Gift certificates to the hottest restaurants and hotels 
*Children's birthday parties
*Beach vacation
*Custom art work from each class
*Meeting new friends
 
Click  here to RSVP! 

Program Highlights:

 


 

Chapel Shout Outs

 

As you all know, our Values program is one of our greatest assets in the Day School. Each week all of us at Redeemer focus on a word or theme that promotes strong social and emotional development in our students. In chapel we will begin acknowledging a handful of students who are working especially hard on our weekly value, reinforcing their good example and leadership. This week we were excited to recognize students who have been working to greet others and make eye contact. Thank you to kindergarten teacher, Tracy Pohlhaus, for coming up with this excellent idea! 


 

Congratulations to Finley Noel, Lana Miller, Finn Earle, Oliver Diaz, Jeremiah Durham and Madison Sevier for doing such an excellent job greeting others! 


 

Please be sure to check each electronic newsletter under our values update to see which students have been acknowledged for working extra hard at implementing our weekly value into their day at school.
  

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In preschool we recognize the privilege, responsibility and joy of educating our youngest students. Alongside their parents, we work diligently at building the foundation for their ongoing and lifelong learning. Be sure to click on the link below found in every issue to see our wonderful students in action. Enjoy!




Please visit our website


Interested in learning more about our 
Kindergarten 
and 
Pre-first?

Please visit:
to learn more about 
The Church of the Redeemer

RPDS WEEKLY VALUE:

Making Good Choices and
Greeting One Another

Community News



Contact Us
Redeemer Parish Day School
5603 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21210
410-435-9510

Mary Knott, Director