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Letter from the Director
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Dear Redeemer Community,
While recently giving a tour, I asked a prospective parent how she found out about Redeemer. She replied that she asks "everyone" about their children's schools. She said she has found that people generally are fond of their preschools, but the parents who spoke about Redeemer were just a little different. In her words, "when people talk about Redeemer, their faces just light up, and that's why I want to send my daughter here."
That tour really had me thinking about the "light of Redeemer" and where it comes from. I believe it starts with our students and their genuine spirit and curiosity, our faculty and their passion and dedication to early childhood learning, and our parents who support and trust us to join them on their children's educational journey. Wrap that up in a hands-on interactive learning environment with a robust "specials" program that emphasizes the social, emotional and cognitive development of young children and we are off to a great start. That can't, however, be all. We all know that we are not perfect, but the care we all have for our children and our mission just might set us apart. That care sparks an energy and enthusiasm that ignites that "light".
Thank you all for the care you have for our students and school. You are the "light of Redeemer"!
Best,
Mary
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Specials Updates:
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Art with Mrs. Blair:
Over the winter weeks your artists travelled to the snowy Arctic and celebrated the wonders of winter. We learned about the Northern Lights from Danna Smith's book "Arctic White" and painted our own watercolor versions. The 3's even made their own "Northern Lights colors" (red + blue = purple!) with watercolor paint, froze them in popsicle forms and then designed their interpretations painting with their chilly popsicle paints. The Pre-K and Kindergarten studied polar bears and become comedians and with their "Polar Bear In A Snowstorm" masterpieces...could you find him in the glittering snow? (They thought this was pretty funny-they were excited to try to trick you!) Pre-1st has been persistently working on their hibernation multi-media pieces- creating texture, perspective, mixing colors, scissor work and imagination! They are almost finished and are very proud of their work as am I. Everyone explored 6 sided snowflakes and created an observational drawing of their own unique snowflakes-No Two are Alike! Most recently the Pre-K composed their own nature chalk rubbings on sticks they collected earlier in the year. They explored what happens when chalk gets wet-what beautiful deep colors and creamy texture-and created patterns on their natural "stick sculptures". They were beautifully simple. I hope you have enjoyed the creative expressions coming home from your artist as much as we have loved the process!
Chapel with Mother P.:
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. In the church, we have just begun the season of Lent, in preparation for the great feast of Easter (when we will bring back our "Alleluias"!). Wherever you are on your journey of faith, all are welcome to join us each Wednesday in chapel!
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.
Music with Mrs. Bednez:
After working hard on our Christmas pageant, we decided to do a lot of movement pieces this winter. We danced and skated to the Nutcracker and had lots of indoor snowball fights to the Freeze! The Redeemer students have an infectious love for music. With their genuine enthusiasm, they are such a joy to teach!
PE with Mrs. Craig:
The 3s and PreK classes have made big strides since the beginning of the school year! We have been building on low organization games to those that are a bit more complex, which has greatly expanded our range of activities. They love playing "Pacman", following lines on the gym floor while the Pacman chases after, trying to gobble up their pom poms. Parachute play and floor scooters are popular with this group too! Kindergarten and PreFirst have been working on ball skills. We have been practicing throwing and catching with balls of all sizes along with kicking and working with plastic paddles. We have been playing a bit of soccer and look forward to learning more about this sport as the weather improves.
Science with Mrs. Craig:
PreK classes have been enjoying our alphabetical explorations. Q is for Quicksand was a big hit! Our cornstarch and water "quicksand" made for an amazing sensory experience! The students loved exploring this non Newtonian fluid that had properties of both liquids and solids. Kindergarten is having fun building Simple Machines. Last week we made pulley toys, this week a lever seesaw, and we will finish up the unit with the wheel and axel by building magnetic cars. Pre-first began their Earth Science unit last week. We began our month long rock tumbling project and have explored the layers of the earth by making play dough models. We will soon be starting seeds in the classroom for spring planting our raised bed garden.
Spanish with Senora Poe:
¡Hola! ¿Cómo estás? Our Spanish students are becoming more familiar with basic conversation and gaining confidence each week. The children love practicing with puppets! 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, seasons and holidays. Last week we celebrated "Cien
días de escuela".
The Pre-first students are expanding their vocabulary by learning the Spanish alphabet, weather and new songs!
World Cultures with Mrs. Knott:
We have had such fun on our recent travels! After an exciting visit to Japan, we landed in France where we recreated the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Versaille and Sacre Couer out of legos and blocks. We created individual works of art in the style of Henri Matisse, painted our own French inspired Flags, and learned the French color words. Finally, we spent our Euros in the Marche Francais where we were able to sample some of the cuisine. We can't wait to see where our travels will take us next!
Values with Mrs. Smith:
"Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners no matter what fork you use." Emily Post
Manners are a way of life. Polite behavior will help every child socially. Saying "hello" when spoken to is something even the youngest child can do. Acquiring good manners takes lots of practice and reinforcement. We will continue to stress manners at the day school and we are glad you as parents are on board as well. Look for 25 Manners Every Kid Show Know in backpacks and don't forget to check each electronic newsletter under the quick links section to learn what we are currently discussing at school. Ask your children about what they have learned and our new Buddy Bench!
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Office Notes
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Car Pool Reminder
P
lease remember that car line ends at 9:00 sharp! If you arrive after 9:00, please pull into the parking lot and walk your child into school. It is important that the teachers staffing car line are finished by 9:00 so they can join their students to begin class for the day. We appreciate your efforts in getting your children to school on time.
SAVE THE DATE-
Line up your babysitters now for our Spring Auction and Social on Friday, April 13th! This event is the main fundraiser for Redeemer. All proceeds go directly to school. If you are interested in making a donation to this year's auction please click here for additional information.
UPCOMING CALENDAR EVENTS:
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Program Highlights:
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This month Redeemer celebrates...
The 100th Day of School 
The Winter Olympics 
Children's Yoga 
A Visit from an Author 
Go Bananas Puppet Show
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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 NEW STUDENT OLYMPIC VIDEO
Please visit our website
Interested in learning more about our
Please visit:
to learn more about
The Church of the Redeemer
RPDS WEEKLY VALUES:
Good Manners
The Buddy Bench
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Community News
YOUTH GROUP PLAY
THIS WEEKEND! Free & Fun for the whole family!
Redeemer Speaker Series
February, 28 7 pm
Author of Each Day, a veteran educator's guide to raising children,
Z. Vance Wilson
has served as headmaster of
St. Albans School in Washington, D.C. since 1999. A graduate of Yale University, where he majored in English and played basketball, he went on to earn degrees from Trinity College, Dublin, and the University of Virginia. The author of They Took Their Stand: The Integration of Southern Private Schools and an award-winning novel, The Quick and the Dead, his letters and essays point to the spiritual core of teaching and learning: What can educators and parents do to draw our children to their best selves?
Click
here to learn more about the Redeemer Speaker Series.
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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
mknott@redeemeronline.com
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