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Letter from the Director
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Dear Redeemer Community,
I think we can all agree that we have had our fair share of rain and unpleasant weather recently and the past few days of sunshine have been a welcome relief. Many of us have been occupied with the reality of leaky roofs, flooding basements, lack of electricity or fallen limbs. Our students; however, with very little effort, have managed to find the silver linings.
At Back to School night we thought about mindfulness and the ability to be present, and our young students have proven their expertise already. Not only have they embraced the rain and inclement weather, they continue to find in it both joy and wonder. From counting and observing the multitude of spider webs that are so present during a dewy, wet morning soaked in humidity to joyful falls into huge playground puddles after a deluge of rain, our students embrace whatever comes their way. I always love this time of year when we are back together, beginning something new, and have our students to remind us that life is full of joy and silver linings. It is good to be back!
Best regards,
Mary Knott
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Classroom Updates:
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Mrs. Barta's Pre-first:
Pre-first is off to a great start for the school year. We are adjusting
to the new schedule, routines, rules and expectations of Pre-first. Of
course, we love our school rules: Be Kind, Be Safe and Have Fun. The
students even decided that we should also create our own P-1 class
rules. I am confident that these children are ready to be the "Leaders"
of Redeemer. We have enjoyed the first few weeks getting to know one
another a little better through our "All About Me" unit. We have jumped
right into our language arts and math programs through reviewing
letters, sounds, writing and number sense. I am looking forward to a
wonderful year filled with fun, learning and exploration.
Mrs. Smith's & Mrs. Vandenberg's Kindergartens:
What a great group of kindergarteners we have! It seems like any anxieties about the "newness" of school have disappeared. We are having lots of fun learning all about our routines each day. We have begun our groups in language arts and math. In language arts, we are learning all about letters t, b, f, m, and n. We are starting with the lowercase letters and learning the sounds that they make. See if your child can tell you. In math, we are getting to know our numbers. We learned a new number game called "gotcha" - ask your child to tell you how to play. We are also being introduced to graphing. We have just finished our unit "All About Me" and have begun our "Five Senses" unit. Thank you for helping to make a very smooth carpool at dismissal. Together we will make your child's kindergarten year the best ever!
Mrs. Arrup & Mrs. Baker's Pre-k:
The Pre K is off to a great start! Last week we started the letter A and dove into apples. We painted apples, tasted apples, voted our favorite ways to eat apples and created a seasons of the apple tree. This week we bounced into the letter B with bears, bubbles, bouncing balls, a balance beam, batting balloons and much more! Each letter is introduced with a sound card and an introduction to writing the capital and lower case letter. Next week we are onto the letter C and with it arrives the chicks!!!
Mrs. Loeb & Mrs. Vahedi's Pre-k:
An enthusiastic "Hello" from Mrs. Loeb/Mrs. Vahedi's Pre-K!
We are steadily getting the routine and come in the classroom with smiles and curiosity. All of the children have had jobs and been 'on vacation'. They are eager to cook, lay out the placemats, napkins, and cups, and turn off the lights (the caboose). We are having fun being silly as well as learning the letters "A" and "B", counting the days of the month, painting apples, blowing bubbles and bouncing imaginary balls. Thank you to all who made it to the Wine and Cheese party - it was delightful! And we are very grateful to the parents who have signed up for Library - Your children LOVE it when you come in and read. This is a great class of children and we are so lucky!
Mrs. Schroeder & Miss Ball's 3s:
The 5 day 3s are off to a fabulous start! We are learning the rules of the school and putting them into practice. We hope you all hear "Be kind, be safe, have fun" at home! We have been playing name games to learn all our friends names and it's fun to watch their personalities emerge and the friendships develop.
We are starting the year off with learning the classroom routine and the expectations. Our focus for the month of September is on the color red, the shape of circle and our poem is Mary had a little lamb. We have dot painted circle placemats, made red ladybugs and stamped with apples. The class has stated specials classes of art, music, gym and values as well as chapel. The year is off to a great start and we look forward to
watching your kids develop.
Mrs. Hooper & Mrs. Grieve's 3s:
The 3 Day 3's are off to a TERRIFIC start! What a fabulous group we have this year. They have settled into their "Redeemer Routine" beautifully! Your children are such big "school kids" now as they are enjoying their "specials" ....Art, Chapel, Music, Gym and Values! In our classroom, September has been all about CIRCLES and the color RED, as you can tell by our many "red" and "round" art projects. The boys and girls are doing an amazing job exercising their small motor skills each day as they create with play dough, color fabulous pictures and cut, cut, cut with scissors ! Today , they even stitched a CIRCLE card with RED yarn! Rhyming and letter/name recognition is practiced daily and is already improving. Our September nursery rhyme is "Mary Had A Little Lamb" which we practice each day at snack time . Next week, the children will finish up the month easel painting red circles and making their own paper pizza with cheese and round red pepperonis. On Friday, they will be treated to a pizza party at snack time ( with the 5 day 3's).... it is sure to be a tasty and fun day! We enjoyed seeing so many of you at the Parent Wine and Cheese party last week. As always, feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns. Have a wonderful weekend with your sweet little ones!
Mrs. Astley & Mrs. Knott's 2s:
Welcome to the 2 Day 2's! We have had a such a happy start to the beginning of our school year. Mrs Knott and I have both enjoyed meeting you all and our students. We are focusing on the color red, emotions, and the shape of a circle this month. We are also learning how to share, taking turns, and learning our daily routine. The Two's have loved getting to know our classroom, playroom and playground. We are looking forward to a terrific year with the 2's!
Mrs. Wyatt & Mrs. Zuidema's 2s:
The Wyatt/Zuidema 2s are off to a great start. While we have had a few tears in the beginning of our days, the end of our days have been filled with smiles. We have enjoyed our time on the playground and in the play room. We have made projects with handprints, glue, and paint! This month we are learning about our feelings and emotions, apples, and the color red. We have no doubt that this year will be fantastic!
Lunch Bunch:
We are looking forward to a year of Lunch Bunch filled with activities, projects, games and play! The children are beginning to adapt to their schedule, rules and long day at school. We have been playing many games to help the children learn all about their new friends. The teachers are enjoying getting to know the new students and we have been devising activities that have the children work together in their small groups. We have put some focus on partnerships and teamwork for the begging of Lunch Bunch so that everyone can become comfortable with each other in both their small groups and as a whole. We have discussed what we are looking forward to in Lunch Bunch and the answers have ranged from items in their Lunch boxes to friends to special toys and games that they are excited to play. Thank you all for signing your children up for Lunch Bunch this year, we are looking forward to everything that this year will bring.
Mrs. Blair's Art:
Did you know that we met Mona Lisa in the art room? She has been so much fun to get to know and has taught us how to be ready to begin art class! We all read The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds and have been working on shape, color and line making dots dots dots in our own unique ways for our bulletin board. It will be a masterpiece to make Mona Lisa proud!
Mother P's Chapel:
Wednesday mornings at 11am continue to be a very special time: It's the only time during the week that our whole school gathers together, to sing, to pray and to be reminded of our most important values, such as kindness and compassion. We give thanks to God for the gift of the present moment ("This is the day! This is the day! That the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it!"). We bring in food to help feed our hungry neighbors. And we celebrate birthdays with special cross necklaces and a prayer. Wherever you are on your journey of faith, all are welcome to join us each Wednesday in chapel!
We are getting to know one another in gym class and practicing our locomotion skills: skipping, galloping, tip-toeing and more. We are focusing on safety: body awareness to avoid collisions, stopping when the whistle blows, and how to tag gently while playing simple games. The rainy weather has kept us inside a bit, but Kindergarten and Pre-First enjoyed scooting around indoors this week!
Library with our parents:
Our library program continues to be a favorite part of our student's week. We are very grateful to our parent volunteers who take time out of their day to read to our students or clean and organize the books. We want to extend a very special thank you to Matt Nuzzi for organizing our many volunteers.
Miss B's Music:
We are so excited about our wonderful music room! We have been exploring the different percussion instruments with Old MacDonalds band and rhythm sticking our way through a little jazz. The Kindergarten and Prefirst had their first experience playing Twinkle Little star with Boomwhackers! Lots of fun learning!
Mrs. Craig's Science:
We are off to a great start in Pre-K with our science alphabet. Last week A was for animal coverings! We explored fur, feathers and scales, and learned how ducks' feathers keep them warm and dry. This week our B was for building bridges: we built LEGO bridges to span a river and tested how strong our paper and block bridges were by seeing how many pennies they could hold.
Kindergarten is learning about our amazing bodies. This week we investigated the circulatory system and listened to our hearts at rest and after exercising.
Pre-First is enjoying our inventors and engineers unit. We have built Archimedes catapult, DaVinci's ornithopter and parachute, and this week the Eiffel Tower with spaghetti and marshmallows!
Hola! Amigos, Amigos, Uno, Dos Tres. The Kindergarten and Pre-first students are going to have a fun year in Spanish! We are learning about amigos (friends), counting to 10 and colors. This is a review for Pre-first but we will continue to build on the basics. A
diós
Teaching and learning about values takes place in the following ways:
- Explaining the meaning of the value in class
- Students reflecting on the value and what it means to them and their behavior
- Using the value to guide our actions
- Having school and home work together to promote positive values
Be safe
Have fun
Mrs. Knott's World Cultures:
A
fter applying for and receiving our passports, our travels have taken us to Italy. We learned about the four courses in an Italian meal - antipasto, primo, seconda, and dolce. Using fresh basil from the Redeemer garden, we made homemade pesto which we dipped in bread, followed by a scoop of vanilla gelato. Ciao!
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Office Notes
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Admissions at Redeemer
October 1, which marks the beginning of the PDS admissions season, is around the corner. If you know of someone who might be interested in applying and visiting the school, please have them contact the school office at 410-435-9510 or [email protected]. Siblings and Redeemer parishioners have admissions priority until December 1. Applications can be found on the school website or from Katie Poe beginning October 1. Our past and current parents are our best marketers, and we very much appreciate all you do to promote our school.
Please join us for Parent's Morning Out
Parent's Morning Out is a parent-run co-op/playgroup for children enrolled at Redeemer, their siblings who are 18 months and older, and Redeemer parishioners. It occurs every Friday while school is in session from 9-11:30 in the Church of Redeemer Nursery. Parents are asked to take turns volunteering every 4-6 weeks throughout the school year.
If you have any questions contact:
UPCOMING CALEN
DAR EVENTS:
SCHOOL DISMISSAL- Faculty Meeting
Wednesday, October 3rd - 10:00 am - Kindergarten & Pre-first Episcopal School Service with Good Shepherd and St. David's at Redeemer. Kindergarten and Pre-first parents are welcome to join us in the church.
Monday, October 8th- NO SCHOOL -Fall Break
Saturday, October 13th
10:30 am -1 pm- Fall Family Festival
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Program Highlights:
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Welcome Back Events
Our Back to School season kicked off with two events, the Back to School Play Date and the Wine & Cheese Parent Social. They were both fantastic opportunities to greet old friends and meet all of our new PDS families. We are especially grateful to Catherine Benson, Anne Mattia, Marigot Miller, and Courtney Stamp for their organization and hard work in ensuring their success. It was so wonderful to see the PDS families enjoying each other's company!
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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!
CLICK HERE TO VIEW OUR "BACK TO SCHOOL" STUDENT VIDEO
Please visit our website
Interested in learning more about our
Please visit:
to learn more about
The Church of the Redeemer
RPDS MONTHLY VALUES:
Redeemer Rules!
Be Kind
Be Safe
Have Fun
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Community News
Speaker Series at Redeemer
Every week this Fall, Redeemer will host an array of talented individuals in our community. Click
here for a full listing.
Sunday School at the Church of the Redeemer
We invite you to join us at Church of the Redeemer for our Sunday morning programming for children which runs from 9:45 until 10:30 when the children rejoin their families in church prior to communion. You can register online
HERE
. Questions?
We
Sing: 4th Sundays of the month at 10:00 a.m. Eucharist
if you have a child who is interested in the St. Gabriel Choir.
The Choir School of Baltimore
Children and youth in grades
3 -12.
We rehearse:
Tuesdays from 5:00 - 6:00 p.m. (optional but strongly encouraged)
Thursdays from 5:00 p.m. - 6:15 p.m. (required)
2nd Saturday of the month from 10:00 a.m. until noon
(followed by lunch and a social activity)
We sing: 2nd & 4th Sundays of the month at 10:00 a.m. Eucharist and on o
ther special occasions.
Employing the RSCM Voice for Life training, they learn good vocal skills, acquire fluency in reading and understanding the fundamentals of music, and develop lasting friendships. Choir School students are eligible to receive a free ½ hour piano lesson each week.
Please contact Bert Landman at
[email protected]
t
o schedule an interview for The Choir School.
Mental Health First Aid
For the last 9 months, The Church of the Redeemer has been promoting conversation and programs centered on issues of mental health. The tag line for our initiative is "Mental Health at Redeemer: Let's Talk About It, Let's Learn About It." As part of our efforts, I have offered Mental Health First Aid Workshops to the community. This is a 2 day class, 4 hours a day, that gives an overview of topics such as depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, panic disorder, addiction, and suicide. Mental Health First Aid is an internationally recognized program. There are two upcoming opportunities for you to enroll: Tuesday October 2 (11-3)/Wednesday October 3 (11-3) OR Friday October 12 (2-6)/Saturday October 13 (10-2). Each class will need a minimum of 6 and no more than 12. Both will meet in the dining room.
Please email me with questions or to enroll! You might be interested to know that almost 90 members of the parish have completed the workshop!
Blessings,
Caroline
cstewart@redeemerbaltimore.
org
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Contact Us
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Redeemer Parish Day School
5603 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21210
410-435-9510
Mary Knott, Director
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