April 30th - May 4th

My "life with 3's" is now about my kids, not my "kids"....

Weekly Themes

• Ocean
• Moms

Don't forget.....

• Thursday, May 10th - T/Th Class -  Mother's Day Tea @ 11:00
• Friday, May 11th - MWF Class - Mother's Day Tea @ 11:15
• Saturday, May 12th - Last Chance Room Clean  - 7:30 am
• Friday, May 18th - End of the year PARTY at the Phoenix Zoo!!

Also as a reminder, this Thursday is my last day.  Mrs. Shanda Carrithers will be substitute teaching for the remainder of the school year.  If you have any questions about the end of the year activities, please forward any questions to either Shanda or Amy in the office. 

Thank you for a wonderful year.  We had a great time and I enjoyed getting to know your kiddo and your family!

Peace,
Kate

April 23rd - April 27th

Weekly Theme

• Ocean
• Rainbow Fish
• Seahorses
• Octopus
• Mermaids

Important Dates

• Wednesday, May 9th - Last Day of Stay n' Play
• Thursday, May 10th  - T/Th Mother's Day Tea
• Friday, May 11th      - MWF Mother's Day Tea
• Friday, May 18th  - Last Day Part @ the Zoo!!

April 16th - April 20th

Mother nature tried to spoil the party...but she didn't!  It was a little more chilly and windy than we would have liked, but it was still a great time!

A HUGE thank you to all the families that attended Saturday's Art Night and Garden Party Fundraiser.   The art work created by the students looked amazing.  SUMC families were generous with their donations for the raffle and SUMC staff and parent volunteers contributed hours of their time to put on the event.  

If you are one of the families that donated and/or came, thank you, thank you, thank you!  Most if not all of the amazing extras that our school has is because of the families that donate and also come to our fundraiser every year.  I was told repeatedly how awesome the event was and that it was the best ever!  That felt great to hear.  If the smiles on the kiddo's faces was proof, it was a success.  I loved seeing a student at the store today and her face still had the butterfly painted on it from last night!

April 2nd - April 6th

We have a short week! 

• Monday - Lady bugs  and create stepping stones for our Garden Fundraiser
• Tuesday - Stepping stones for Garden Fundraiser
• Wednesday - Egg Hunt at the Rail Road Park - meet at the playground at 9:30.  Bring 12 plastic eggs filled with treats - no chocolate or nuts please
• Thursday - Egg Hunt on SUMC Campus
• Friday - No School

Have a glorious Easter Weekend! 

Peace,
Mrs. Moss

March 26th - March 30th

Butterflies, Ladybugs and Bees Oh My....

 

We will continue to study the life cycle of the butterfly and then start our unit on ladybugs and bees.  Last Friday, we released 4000 ladybugs into our garden....watch out aphids!  My MWF friends had a great time playing with them and than sharing their observations with the class.  We will compare these with the observations we made about the earth worms last week and then compile this information into a Venn diagram.  Your kiddos are so smart!  By the way...no they won't completely grasp this concept, but it is a wonderful opportunity to expose them to some higher level learning.  I like to call it planting a mind bomb. 

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Next Wednesday, the MWF class, along with the other Wednesday classes  will have a breakfast picnic/egg hunt and the Rail Road Park (Scottsdale Rd. and Indian Bend). All parents and siblings are of course welcome!   We will meet at the playground area at 9:30 for play and pot luck snack.  Then at 10:15ish we will have a HUGE and WONDERFUL egg hunt! This is what you need to do/bring:

• 12 plastic filled eggs...taped shut - no chocolate please
•      If your younger children would  like to participate in the egg hunt, please bring 12 eggs for them as well. 
• Sign up for a snack - available on Monday, March 26th

Don't forget the sunblock! 

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Don't worry if you are in my Tuesday/Thursdays class...we will have a special day on Thursday and have our own egg hunt!  Please bring 12 plastic filled eggs (taped shut).  We will have our egg hunt somewhere on campus....

Also for both classes.....don't worry about your egg basket....we will make one in class! 

Please let me know if you have any questions.

-Kate

March 19th - March 23rd

Our wooly pockets have been installed!  They look amazing.  We will spend next week preparing and planting them.  The salad garden in the raised bed is coming along nicely.   We will celebrate the additions to our garden on Saturday, April 14th with our Garden Party.  We will have a silent auction to raise additional funds for our worm composter, market umbrellas for our outside tables and some additional garden curriculum.  If you have had an opportunity to obtain an item for the auction, please drop it off with Amy in the office.

Weekly Topics

• Worms
• Butterflies

March 12th-March 16th

Welcome back to school...welcome back to spring!

Did we have a winter?  If we did perhaps I hibernated through it.  Anyhow, out with the old and in with the new, right?  Hope everyone had a wonderful spring break. I am ready to see all my friends and head into the home stretch of another school year.  I can't believe it's already the middle of March...time flies, we must be having fun.

We will start our month long theme of spring, flowers, and bugs.  We will have an emphasis on bees and lady bugs since that is our class themes for our Garden Party scheduled for Saturday, April 14th. 

This week we will learn all about flowers and spend Thursday and Friday having some green shamrock fun.  Hope the leprechaun doesn't try and trick us! 

Helpful reminders.

Registration for next school year is still available
If your child is doing stay n' play, please apply sunscreen. 
If you child brings a drink to school to keep in their cubbie, please make sure it is in a no spill cup and that it is water only.

Thanks!  Have a great day and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow or Tuesday!

February 27th - March 2nd

Go, Dog. Go! Week !!

There are only 75 words in the book Go, Dog. Go!  Most pages can be deciphered by looking at the pictures.  It is a great way to encourage reading with your kiddo!  They think it is so awesome to "read" you a story for a change.

It is also a great opportunity to review colors and position words.  Besides, who can resist a dog on roller skates or driving a car! 

To celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday and Read Across America, on Friday, we will have an open rooms day with all our preschool friends!   We'll have fun crafts and of course eat green eggs and ham!

Spring Break is next week, March 5th - March 9th - No school.

Thanks to all families that have contributed to our woolly pockets garden fundraiser.  We are halfway to our goal! 

February 13th - February 17th

Valentine's Week! 

Valentine's celebrations will be:

• Monday 2/13 for MWF class
• Tuesday 2/14 for T/TH class

Your child may bring valentine's for their friends.  If you are bringing treats, please make sure they are nut free. 

We will spend the rest of the week talking about dental health.  We will learn about ways to keep our teeth healthy. 

Reminder....next Monday, February 20th there is no school in honor of President's Day. 

Thanks! 

February 6th-February 10th

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!  If you plan on cheering on your favorite team or just watch the commercials and eat great munchies....have a great time. 

Thanks to everyone who came to the Rodeo yesterday.  It was a beautiful day filled with flapjacks, real ponies and lots of smiles covered with birthday cake!  Your buckaroo worked so hard on their pony, I hope they enjoy playing with them at home.  There will be lots of discussions about Athena, Hercules, Patches & Cocoa...which horse did your cowpoke ride? 

Our rodeo them is almost over...but not quite.  This Friday, we have early release.  All classes will be released at 11:30 to allow for you to watch the Pony Express ride into town.  If you have not yet had the opportunity to watch this event, I highly recommend you take advantage this Friday.  It is Americana at it's finest!  I recommend you park in the Nordstrom's parking garage and then walk to the bronze Pony Express statue located just south of  Olive & Ivy restaurant.  You can't miss the crowd.  The riders make their appearance at high noon. 

Also...there is NO Stay n' Play this Friday.  Please make arrangements to have your child picked up by 11:30 this Friday. 

Our focus this month will be on mail, Valentine's Day,and dental heath that will lead us into a discussion on nutrition and gardening. 

We will have a Valentine's celebration on Mon 2/13 for MWF class and 2/14 for T/TH class.  If your child would like to bring in valentine's for their friends, they are welcome.  Please follow these guidelines:

• NO NUTS...please read labels
• no names on envelopes - just generic please
• treats don't have to be candy...but that  IS yummy! *

*after we pass out the treats, their bags will be stapled shut and you can pass them out to your child as you wish. 

January 30th - February 3rd

Happenin's on the Ranch this week.....

• finishing our stick ponies
• learning the parts of a horse
• cowboy clothes
• cowboy tools
• cowboy grub

Me and My Partner Rodeo is this coming Saturday, February 4th from 9:00 to 11:30.  Come rope a cow, dig for copper, and try fresh squeezed Arizona citrus.  A flap jack breakfast will also be served so bring your appetite...but mind your manners or you might get thrown in jail!  There is no cost for this event, however, we are asking for paper good donations for the school.  See the sign up in our classroom.


If you have not yet signed up for February co-op, please do so by Friday.

Thanks!

January 23rd - January 27th

It's Rodeo time!  We will spend time over the next two weeks sanding, assembling and decorating our very own stick ponies!  We will learn all about cowboys, horses and ranching. 

Parent Meeting is this Thursday.  We ask that one parent per family attend this important meeting.  We will go over class offerings for next year as well as roll out our fundraising campaign.  This is different in years past.   We ask you to join us for this very information meeting.  We will start at 6:30pm and keep it as short as possible.  Thank you in advance for your attendance.

Me and My Pardner Rodeo - Saturday, February 4th 9-12 am.  This is one of SUMC's  signature events and is designed for the non-cooping parent to have some fun with your little cowpoke at school.   Since this is Arizona's centennial, we have decided to have a birthday party for our beautiful state too!  Please see Kate with any questions.

Learn n' Burn is Rescheduled

Learn n' Burn scheduled for Friday, January 20th will be rescheduled for another night later this month or next month.

Our topic of discussion was to be preparing your child for Kindergarten.  Tracy Foster who is our Transitional Kindergarten teacher was going to give a brief overview of the basic skills that all children should show efficiency or mastery in prior to the start of Kindergarten. 

We apologize for the re-schedule.  As soon as we have another date, we will let you know!

Thank You!

January 9th-January 13th

Welcome to 2012!

We are starting our month long unit on Arizona and everything cowboys in preparation for our annual SUMC Rodeo scheduled for Saturday, February 4th.  (more info to follow)

Arizona's 5 C's

• cotton
• cattle
• citrus
• copper
• climate
• ...and cactus

Please take the time to complete the parent survey on what your schooling needs/wants are for the next school year.  We will be reviewing them to ensure our offerings are best meeting the needs of SUMC families.