WELCOME!!  We're off to a great start of a new school year!  We started our first day of the 2012-2013 school year off with a special school blessing from Fr. Paul and Fr. Ed.  It was so wonderful to see all of the children's bright and shining faces! 

We headed into school and put our things away and started off the day!  Prayer and pledge come first, and then we went on to 'business' stuff...attendance and lunch count.  The children to were thrilled to learn of their jobs for the week! 

We did calendar and weather and then listened to a story about Liturgy.  We talked about good behavior in church and being a good listener for Fr. Paul and Fr. Ed and learning about God.  We were then off to Mass and got to sit with 5th grade buddies!  The Kindergarteners did an excellent job at Mass and I was very proud of a couple of them who were brave enough to answer some of Fr. Ed's questions during the homily.  =) 

Snack was next after Mass ended and I treated the children to yummy watermelon!  They enjoyed it down in the lunchroom (Social Hall).  We then returned to our classrooms and worked on a school time coloring page that we will finish cutting and glueing later this week. 

We ended the morning with some much needed and deserved playtime!  The children really enjoyed the toys and things around the room.  BIG thanks to the Pliss family for the donation of a large kitchenette set for our house area. 

Lunch was PIZZA!!!  The kids loved it and did a great job at lunchtime.  They then headed outside (thankfully the rain had subsided) and had recess with Preschool through 4th grade.

The afternoon went by quickly!  We started with a quick drink of water after our hard playing outside and then laid down on our mats for some rest time. 

After rest, we listened to 'The Kissing Hand' by Audrey Penn.  The children really enjoyed the story and said that "Chester is so cute!!"  We were then able to do a handprint activity and poem to go along with the story before heading to Music with Ms. Betzold.  Ms. Betzold reported that they did super well in Music and was all smiles when I came to pick them up!

We ended the day with a light snack of pretzels (if they wanted) and some water and playtime.  We don't usually have snack in the afternoon, but some were asking for it, so I was certainly happy to let them sit and nibble on something before playtime. 

All in all, a very very good start to the year!  The morning did find some "I miss preschool" as they walked into our room and not they're old room at preschool from last year...which isn't uncommon.  I was SO happy to hear, however, later that day some of the children saying "I like Kindergarten BETTER than preschool!"  That certainly made my day! 

I look forward to many many more days with the children and families and lots and lots of fun and learning throughout the year! 

That's all for now...stop by again later in the week for more tidbits for the month of September!
Thanks for stopping by!
~Mrs. Westlund  =)