Mrs. Barabara Graham

PreK-2
stbrendanschoolbronx@gmail.com
(when sending emails please include child's name and grade in subject line)

Mrs. Barbara Graham
Email : bgraham@stbrendanschoolbronx.org

Hi Everyone,

St. Brendan School will be participating in "Catholic School Week" starting next week.  Pre-k invites you to participate in some of the activities, if you like.

Monday, January 31st - Sports Day - wear your favorite team attire.
Thursday, February 3rd - Crazy hat and sock day.
Friday, February 4th - Favorite character day

January 2022

Books we have been reading this month:
Best in Snow by April Pulley Sayre
Birds by Kevin Henkes
Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! by Bob Barner
Red is a Dragon: A Book of Colors by Roseanne Greenfeild Thong
Step Gently Out by Helen Frost
My Little Cities: New York by Jennifer Adams
Wait by Antoinette Portis
 

School closed on January 17th, 2022 for Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Hi Everyone,
As you all know, we are going remote this coming week.  I sent out an email inviting all of you to join a few Zoom meetings (9am, 11:30am and 1:30pm daily).  If you did not receive this email, please let me know.
In addition to the Zoom meetings I have posted a number of activities throughout this week on Seesaw.  Please log on to Seesaw with the codes for your children which I gave you in November.

Seesaw Activities:
Farm Color Sort
Shapes - Math
Counting Winter Things
Letter C Practice 
Road Trip with Number 3
Letter D Practice
Weather Words
Mr. Potato Head 5 Senses
Road Trip with Number 4
What Food do I Eat at home?
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
Draw the weather today
3 Billy Goats Gruff Yoga
Eat A Rainbow Color Sort

 

Happy New Year!

Hi Everyone,

We will continue to focus on "Our Enivronment" this month.  In addition, our focus will be on the numbers 1 through 5.  We will also match a wide variety of shapes with different sizes and orientations.

Family Engagement:
We are working on their alphabet books and will work on the letters "F", "G", "H" and "I".  If you see any small pictures in phamphlets or supermarket handouts please send them in to school with your child, we will use them. 
We will look at the extra clothes you sent into school to make sure they are warm enough for the coming change in weather.  Please make sure your child's name is on everything.  Thank you.

Vocabulary:
describe, detective, idea, materials, predict, record, research, share, suspect, think, thoughts, tools

December 2021
Seesaw Holiday Break
I Spy - Christmas 
Christmas Library
Christmas Sorting 
Colors of Christmas 
Number Identification 
Snowmen at Christmas - Book Review 

Important Dates:
Friday, December 17th is Red and Green Dress day.  
 Thursday, December 23rd through January 2nd School Closed for Christmas Recess.
Class resumes Monday, January 3rd 2022

Seesaw Activities: (optional)
Letter B Practice
Road Trip with Number 2

During these next several months, we will be studing "Our Environment" with the children.  What can we discover about our environment?  Your children will have the opportunity to notice and discuss the environment around them, What do we see?  Where are our eyes on our bodies?  What is in our classroom that is not outside our classroom?  

Seesaw Activities: (optional)
Letter A Practice
Number Formation: Road Trip with Number 1-10
Shape Identification 
Sort by Color

Key Vocabulary:
binoculars, blind, bright, clouds, dark, eyes, eyesight, glasses, goggles, light, look, moon, magnify, neighborhood, notice, observe, see, shade, sight, spot, spy, sun, vision
Books:
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.
I Went Walking by Sue Williams
Who's Tail is This? 
I Went Walking by Sue Williams 
Row Row Row Your Boat by Jane Cabrera

November 2021

Hi Everyone,

Monday, November 22nd
We will be sending home your child's report card.
We will be sending home a paper that has a pass code for your child to log onto a website called Seesaw.  This website has fun learning activities to be done at home.  

Seesaw Activities:
Shape Turkey
Shapes and Colors
Turkey Feather Counting

We will be working on the letter "d" when we start next week.  Thanksgiving in fast approaching and we are discussing "What are we thankful for?" in life.  FYI it is usually mom and dad and grandma and grandpa.  

Your children are doing very well adjusting to being in school and seem to enjoy playing and learning with the other children in class.  

At this time, we all know the weather is going to be changing for the colder.  Please talk with Mrs. Ramirez about what is needed in school in case we need it, mainly exchanging to warmer extra clothes.

Important Dates
Thursday, November 25th - Thanksgiving break begins
Tuesday, November 30th - Return to school

Thank you to the families who have already brought into school a family photo to hang on our family tree in school.  They love telling other children about their photo.

We are creating individual alphabet books with your children.  We are up to the letter "C" and will continue to work on this week.  As a Family Engagement piece, we will be needing the little pictures with the name of the item for the letter "D".  Thank you to all the parents who brought in the letter "c" cut outs.  I use the grocery store pamphlet.  

Hi Everyone,

Important Dates and Informatiom:

Last week we sent home forms to be filled out and completed.  Please fill them out and bring them back to us by Thursday, October 28th.  Put them in their backpacks for your conviences.

Friday, October 29, 2021 - Black and Orange Day!  We are not allowed to wear Halloween costumes however, your child may wear Halloween colors to school!

     Thank you to everyone who brought into school leaves and other nature items that the children can examine with magnifying glasses and feel first hand.  We made many leaf people.  While creating these masterpieces we asked many queations, such as:  "How many eyes should the leaf have? How many legs? How many arms?  Is the leaf happy or sad?"  While doing this we were also asking other questions like: "How many eyes, legs and arms do you have? and How do you feel?"  It was a great deal of fun.  This week coming up, we will continue to focus on self awareness.  

These coming weeks we will be focusing on knowing ourselves and family and develop a sense of belonging.  In addition, we are requesting parents and students bring into school leaves from outside.  We will be discussing the change of season.  Why do leaves fall off the trees?  What color are the leaves?  What do leaves feel like?  

We are also working on Halloween art which the children really enjoy it.

Hi everyone, 

It's hard to believe we have completed our first months of 3K.  Everyone is doing great.  Our focus question for the first three months is "What is our community?"   We have started with Our Classroom.   
This means your children:
- have explored our classroom and learned where materials belong.
- have started learning and helped develop our classroom routines, rules, toileting and hand washing.  
- have started following arrival routines by using step-by-step directions, such as, put belongings away, turn their picture around at check-in and wash hands.
- have participated in morning songs with hand movements. 
- have started getting used to transitions from one activity to another.
- have started to learn each other's names.

Requests:

Please send in two (2) folders with your child's name on it.  

Please label all of your child's things (jackets, hats, book bags, backpack, folders, gloves, extra clothes.)

Please send a family picture or two into school to hang on our family tree, if you have not done so already. (this will be returned at the end of the year)

Important Dates:
October 11th - school closed - Columbus Day

Books:
Safe and Sound by Jean Rousseau
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
Mouse's first day of school by Lauren Thompson

Vocabulary:
build, centers, children, classroom, explore, friends, invite, materials, play, schedule, share, students, timer, taking turns, teacher and work.



SEPTEMBER 2021

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to 3K.  It is going to be a very exciting and educational school year.  Please join one of our orientation Zoom sessions.