"Good friends are like snowflakes, all different and all beautiful"
e-RPDS                                                                                              2/24/2017
Letter from the Director
Dear Redeemer Community,

As many of you know, my oldest son Aden is in the midst of deciding where he will attend college. One morning this week an email to prospective parents from the University of Vermont was in my inbox. It was written from a current parent whose three children all followed in her footsteps to attend the University of Vermont. The letter was a little lengthy, illustrating the paths her children have taken and the multitude of opportunities each of them have experienced at UVM. Like many of us, I often skim emails likes this, especially at 6:45 in the morning when I should be fully engaged in getting my family out the door and off to school. I'm not sure why, but I felt compelled to continue reading. I was glad I did. The very end of the email told the story of her husband's death on 9/11 and the outpouring of kindness and offers of generosity that the UVM community showed towards her and her family when their children were just 2, 7, and 9, offers of kindness that still impact her family today.
 
I think I speak for all of us in saying that what moves us most is human kindness. Whether in something as notable as described above or as simple as a few kind words, a helping hand, or a warm smile, we are all impacted not just by how others treat us, but also by the kindness we ourselves show towards others.
 
Last week we celebrated "Friendship Week" at Redeemer. Our older students engaged with our younger ones, working on projects and helping one another. We hosted a group sing-along and snack and celebrated our community with a giant paper chain and beautiful rainbow fish whose loops and scales represent the members of our school. Groups of children created posters of kindness with titles like, "Friends Include", "Friends are Kind to Everyone", "Friends Help", "Friends Can Cheer People Up", "Friends Love", and "Friends Are Family". It is our mission at Redeemer to instill in our students lessons that will last a lifetime. We hope that not only will our students take the lessons learned last week , but from watching all of us too, and make them part of their everyday living well beyond their Redeemer years. 

Please be sure to check out our new student slideshow, "Friendship at RPDS, 2017". You can find the link under the Quicklinks section. 

Enjoy this gorgeous day!

Best,
Mary


Specials Updates:

Art with Karen Blair:
Over the winter weeks our artists travelled to the Arctic, discovering and designing Arctic Foxes (Pre-K), Penguins (Pre-1st) and Polar Bears (K). Kindergarten and Pre-1st also read the story "Arctic White" by Danna Smith, about The Northern Lights. Their amazing watercolor interpretations are hanging in the hallway..come on by to check them out! Pre-1st also studied the simplicity of winter trees and re-created their own using tape resist and watercolor. Pre-K is working on printmaking and mastered mono-printing and marbleized paper which is coming home this week. Everyone explored 6 sided snowflakes, especially the 3's who expertly glued gallons of glitter to them. They also created one of a kind textured nature collages using pine branches to paint and print their background and are currently exploring the differences between warm colors (red, yellow, orange)and cool colors, (blue, green, purple). They composed gorgeous "warm" watercolor "sunsets" today and are hoping you may show them the real deal one warm evening!
Chapel with Mother P.: 
Wednesday morning at 11am is a special time of the week. The hallway outside our church sanctuary begins filling with excited voices, sweet faces and precious little hands holding cans and boxes of food: all my chapel friends lining up for Chapel! We walk into church singing "Jesus Loves Me" led by our Pre-1st students holding hands with our 2-year-olds. I light candles with the help of my acolytes; then we do our chapel stretches and hugs ("God loves you sooooo much!"), send our light and love all around, and sing somemore. Next is "storytime" when I highlight our value of the week with the help of chapel friends chosen to help act out a short Bible story. We end Chapel praying aloud some simple prayers and giving out special birthday crosses before blowing out the candles and going in God's peace. Here is one of our simple prayers, our school prayer: 
Thank you God for all I have.
Keep and bless all those I love.
Help me always God to do.
Just as you would wish me to. Amen.
See you in Chapel! All are welcome!

Library with our Parent Volunteers:
This semester our 3 year old classes have started attending library. They, along with the pre-k, kindergarten and pre-first students, all really look forward to this time spent with our wonderful parent volunteers. Time spent relaxing and listening to favorite stories is such a treat for all of us. We are so grateful to have this special spot and special time at Redeemer. 

Music with Annette Bednez:
The Pre K and K just finished a unit of Peter and the Wolf. They learned in this unit to recognize various woodwind, brass and string instruments as well as some very large percussion. They also worked on recognizing what they looked like and how  they are actually played. Next week, we will begin to explore The Carnival of the Animals !Do you know what instrument is used to make a roaring sound?! The 4's are exploring different rhythm instruments and using them to enhance storytelling like The Three Little Pigs. Very cool! The 3's and 2's are continually blowing me away with their enthusiasm of music and their ability to sing quite well. I love it! They are so much fun!


PE with Wendy Craig:
We celebrated "Friendship Week" in gym class with partner games: playing catch with a partner, partner tag, wheelbarrow races, and relays. The threes classes enjoyed a "mix it up" class with students from both classes together in gym. It was fun to play games with different friends! We have been loving this warm weather as it allows us to play outside with plenty of room to run!
Spanish with Katie Poe:
¡Hola! ¿Cómo estás? Our Spanish students are becoming more familiar with basic conversation and gaining confidence each week. Each morning, say to your child "Buenos dias, ¿Cómo estás? and hopefully they will respond. We have introduced the calendar; learning days of the week, months, weather, seasons and holidays. Last Monday, we celebrated Friendship Week with all of our kindergarten and pre-first amigos together. I was really proud when they sang their amigo song to the younger students at our Friendship Week sing along.  Thank you for sending in family pictures. The students light up when they describe who/what is in each picture .  Over the next few weeks we will continue learning about sus familias  and introduce body parts and clothing. 

 
Science with Wendy Craig:
The Pre-K classes continue work on their science alphabet. This week we explored different types of rocks, and next week S is for slime! The Kindergarten class finished their weather unit this week by making tornadoes in a bottle. To complement their class unit on dinosaurs, we will be making dinosaur bones, build a dinosaur skeleton, and learn about dinosaur defenses over the next couple weeks. The Pre-First class has been enjoying Earth Science by making play-dough layers of the earth models and learning about rocks, crystals and landforms. With spring approaching, we will be starting some seedlings indoors for our raised bed garden. One of the best things about being a specials teacher is being able to get to know and enjoy your children in my classes year after year. It is a delight to see them grow at Redeemer! 
Spanish with Katie Poe: coming on Thursday- you should have my pictures. 

World Cultures with Mary Knott:
Our world travelers have just boarded the plane after a fun-filled visit to China. Not only did they learn a little about the geography, flag, and culture, they wrote their names in Chinese characters, played a traditional Chinese board game called Pong Hau K'i, celebrated Chinese New Year and sampled Dim Sum. They look forward to spending their Spring Break in the Bahamas!

Values with Judi Smith:
Being kind, nice and fair is something most of us do naturally. It is important to remember that the kids are watching our every move. They are learning important lessons about how the world works by what they see. By learning explicit values each week, they enjoy "reporting " on how they and others have applied it. Manners is up next...
Look for 25 manners your kid should know by the age of 9.
 




Office Notes


UPCOMING CALENDAR EVENTS:

Friday, March 3rd 11:45 All School Dismissal- Faculty Meeting

Thursday, March 9th 9 am - 3s Sneak Peek
 
Friday, March 10th 11:45All School Dismissal- Spring Break Begins

Tuesday, March 21 - School Resumes

Friday, March 31 7 pm- Spring Auction & Social!




On Friday March 31st, 2017, the Parent Council will host our Annual Auction and Social!   Parents, faculty and friends will come together for a night of music, food, drinks, raffling of prizes and silent auction.  This event is the main fundraiser for Redeemer and an incredibly fun evening.  You want to book your babysitter NOW!


Click here if you would like to make a donation.

  
Program Highlights:
Friendship Week

All of the Day School students spent last week celebrating friendship week. We gathered for a sing-along and special snack, worked in groups to create posters and a giant paper chain to represent the Redeemer community, and created special scales for our "Friendship Fish." The week was carefully planned by teachers to not just incorporate the important lessons of frienship but to give our classes the opportunity to collaborate, work together and form new friendships!


Dental Hygienist Visits Redeemer
For the second year in a row, Redeemer students were treated to an informative and educational visit from Debra Struck from Joppa Green Pediatric Dentistry. She talked about good dental hygiene and the importance of a proper diet. Each child left the session with a new toothbrush and some great techniques for using it!


Professional Development at PDS
At Redeemer we consider high quality professional development to be crucial to our mission as lifelong learners. Last Friday, the faculty spent the morning learning more about the impact that ADHD, anxiety and speech development have in the behavior and performance of preschool-aged children. We are incredibly grateful to parent Matt Mychailyszyn, a licensed psychologist, and his colleague, Rebecca Gorman, a speech and language pathologist, for leading us in the training. The faculty found it to be incredibly engaging, informative and applicable to our day to day interactions with our students. 
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PLEASE CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT OUR NEW STUDENT VIDEO!

Friendship Week RPDS 2017




Please visit our website


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



Please visit:

http://www.redeemerbaltimore.or g/
 
to learn more about 
The Church of the Redeemer

RPDS WEEKLY VALUE
Friendship



Community News

Play & Grow Summer Camp at Redeemer

Registration as opened for Play & Grow Summer Camp! 

Click here to register.



Jazz Mass at 
Church of the Redeemer

Come celebrate with us at our annual Jazz Mass, this Sunday, February 26, at the 10:00 a.m. service at Church of the Redeemer. Our music will be led by four of our choirs, a Jazz Combo, and soloist. This is a fun service for adults and children! Invite your friends to come with you. All are welcome.




Parent's Morning Out

If you are interested, please click here for more information or contact:

Margee Sullivan
margeesullivan@gmail.com 

or

Susan King
susanking118@hotmail.com



RYG performs Seussical, Jr.

"Oh, the thinks you can think" when Dr. Seuss' best-loved characters collide and cavort in an unforgettable musical caper!  Horton the Elephant, the Cat in the Hat and all of your favorite Dr. Seuss characters will spring to life onstage in Seussical JR., a fantastical musical extravaganza performed by RYG.

Please join us in the Parish Hall for any of the following performances:

Friday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 4 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 5 at 12:30 p.m.

Speaker Series at 
Brown Memorial School

Topics include: 
  • healthy Sleep habits
  • outdoor play
  • healthy eating
Please click here for more information!

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

Mary Knott, Director
mknott@redeemeronline.com