Weekly Blogs
3-22-24
Parents,
We had a wonderful week in preschool! We jumped right into our Spring/Easter unit and created many beautiful crafts that have brightened up our classroom. On Monday, we read the bible story, The Wind that Obeyed, and then created Spring windsocks. In addition, we created beautiful rainbows, kites and cute bunnies!
This week, we also focused on the blended sound “Ch.” I was so impressed with how many “Ch” words the children were able to come up with. Along with categorizing “Ch” words, we also made adorable Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom trees! The children really enjoyed listening to the story and making their own coconut trees with the letters in their names.
The highlight of our week was making Easter baskets for children in need. Our buddies were such great role-models and helped the preschool students make each basket extra special. Thank you all for your very generous donations to this service project. I know these sweet baskets will make many little girls and boys very happy.
Next week, our main focus will be Easter and our fun Easter party! The children are so excited about the party! Regarding our Easter party, our wonderful room parents have many exciting activities planned including an Easter egg hunt! If every child can bring an Easter tote, basket, or bag, that would be very helpful!
I know many families will be starting their spring break trips early, if your child will be out next week, just let me know and I’ll be sure to make Mary aware. Please make note that Thursday is our last day before spring break with dismissal at 11 by the gym doors. We figured the gym doors would make the pick-up process much smoother. Thank you for your help with this.
I hope that everyone has a great weekend!
Mrs. Oetking
3-15-24
Parents,
We had the best week in preschool! Wacky Wednesday was full of giggles and silliness! The children were very surprised when they walked into school and the classroom was completely backwards! It was so fun to change up the routine and use our imaginations to create wacky activities. We loved reading the story, Wacky Wednesday, and then made our own Wacky Wednesday book that we read to one another. We sure came up with some very silly pictures and descriptions. It was such a fun day!
The other big excitement of our week was Lenny the Leprechaun playing tricks on us! Each day, we went on a hunt for Lenny. We made many traps trying to catch him, although we never caught him, he left us many special treasures that the students were thrilled with! We created many crafts to make our room enticing for Lenny. We made shamrocks, rainbows, and pots of gold. Many children wrote letters to Lenny and are hoping that next year they will be able to catch him!
In addition to Wacky Wednesday and Leprechaun fun, we celebrated finishing the alphabet! I’m so proud of all the students and how hard we worked to learn all of our letters and sounds this school year. We will use our knowledge of letter sounds and start focusing on blended sounds and simple sight words. We will also really start focusing on writing our numbers correctly and solving simple math problems.
Next week, we will jump into the season of Spring and start our Easter unit. We will focus on the blended sound “ch” and make Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom Trees!
I hope that everyone has a great weekend!
Mrs. Oetking
3-8-24
Parents,
What a fun week we had in preschool! As always, the children did such a wonderful job at mass this past Wednesday. They absolutely love sitting with their older buddies, and it’s so sweet to watch the interaction between them. Thank you again for your help with this.
We were busy this week learning all about the letter Y, making cute Yak’s and drawing yo-yo’s in our journals. All the kids are so excited that we will complete the alphabet next week! We have worked so hard to learn all of the letters and the sounds that they make. Over spring break, I will send home a letter packet for the children to work on to help reinforce what we learned at school in the home environment.
This week, we also explored many Dr. Seuss books and focused on rhyming words, patterns and number recognition. We made adorable striped hats, green eggs, colorful fish and played many fun rhyming games. Next Wednesday, we will ready the story, Wacky Wednesday, and we encourage the kids to come to school in wacky clothing! It’s always such a silly day!
In addition to Wacky Wednesday, next week we will be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, and most importantly getting many silly visits from Lenny the Leprechaun. I’m sure you will hear all about the pranks Lenny pulls on us!
At the end of next week, we will go on an alphabet hunt around the school and journal about our favorite letter. We are excited to start learning about blended sounds now that we completed the alphabet.
I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. Oetking
2-28-24
Parents,
I hope everyone is having a great week. We sure loved the warmer temps this week (minus today!), and had a blast on our ABC nature hunt. I’m sending my email today since I will be out for professional development the next two days. Just a friendly reminder that tomorrow is a half day of school with dismissal at 11 by Grace Hall doors, unless you have older siblings at SNS. In that case, your child will be dismissed at the gym doors at 11:30. There is also no school on Friday. Thank you for your help with this.
We had a wonderful short week in preschool. We continued to explore the ocean and various ocean animals. Today, we read the bible story, Jonah and the Whale, and made our very own torn paper whale. All the students have commented how they love our ocean display in the hallway. Even our centers revolved around ocean animals and the students used their imaginations to make an aquarium for the sea animals with magna tiles. We love bringing learning to the next level.
It’s hard to believe that March is right around the corner. Next week, we will jump into a variety of books that Dr. Seuss wrote. We will focus on rhyming words, patterns and letter/number recognition. We will also learn about the letter Y and make Yak’s and practice sewing with yarn! We are so close to the end of the alphabet and can’t wait to start learning blended sounds.
Please remember that next Wednesday, we will be attending mass with our buddies. As always, if you are attending mass please have your child dropped off between 7:45-8. If you can’t make mass, please drop off your child at the front of school at 9:15.
I hope everyone has a great rest of the week and weekend!
Mrs. Oetking
2-23-24
Parents,
We sure enjoyed the beautiful weather this week! We took every opportunity we had to learn and play outside. The highlight of our week was our fun field trip to Risus Orthodontics. The whole staff at Risus was so warm and welcoming to our sweet preschool crew. They set up various stations for us to learn how to brush our teeth, categorize healthy foods and even explore teeth fossils of various animals. Every child came back with so much knowledge about taking care of our teeth.
In addition to learning about teeth, we learned all about the letter W, weather and the ocean! We painted a beautiful ocean and put many adorable sea creatures and beautiful mermaids on our ocean. We explored sea creatures and categorized animals that live both on land and in water.
Next week, we will continue our ocean unit, learn about the letter X and read the bible story about Joseph and his brothers. We will make coats for our favorite stuffed animals and talk about the importance of sharing and being kind to others.
Next Thursday, is a half day of school with dismissal at 11 by Grace Hall doors. If your child has older siblings at the school, they will be dismissed at 11:30 by the gym doors. Picking up the preschool children earlier will help make it less congested for when the rest of the school gets dismissed. Thank you for your help with this.
I will be attending an early childhood conference on Thursday, but the children will be in great hands with Mrs. Philbin and Mrs. Bethie.
Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Oetking
2-16-24
Parents,
All of us felt so much love this week as we celebrated Valentine’s Day! A big thank you to all of the parents that came and made our party such a success! The children were smiling ear to ear with all of the valentines they received from their friends. We sure do have a loving preschool family.
Luckily, Valentine’s Day fell on the week we were learning about the letter V! In addition to making valentines for teachers in the school, we started to talk about vegetables and how important it is to take care of your teeth. Everyone enjoyed our vegetable taste test, and I was very proud that the children were willing to taste new vegetables. (I think the ranch dressing helped!) It was fun to vote on our favorite vegetables and then categorize healthy vs. unhealthy foods.
Today we looked in a mirror to count how many teeth we had, and then glued marshmallow teeth onto a paper mouth. This activity led to a big discussion on the tooth fairy and how excited the children are to get a visit from the tooth fairy one day!
We are all so excited for our field trip to the orthodontist office next week to learn all about teeth. The office staff will set up various centers for us to explore x-ray machines, learn how to properly brush our teeth and even explore fossils of animal teeth!
In addition to our field trip next week, we will also be starting our ocean thematic unit! We are excited to make a beautiful ocean display in the hallway.
I hope everyone has a wonderful long weekend. Please remember that there is no school on Monday for Presidents Day. Also, if you have not yet turned in your permission form for the field trip, please do so by Tuesday.
Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Oetking
2-9-24
Parents,
Love is in the air in preschool! This week we started our Valentine’s Day unit, and it’s so sweet to hear the various ways the students show love to one another. We’ve created a variety of Valentines, and so many adorable Valentine projects. Our classroom is filled with so much love!
Please note that our Valentine’s Day party will take place on Tuesday, February 13, since the 14th is Ash Wednesday. Our wonderful room parents have coordinated yet another fun party for our class! I am so very appreciative of all of you!
On Ash Wednesday, Father Chris will come to the classrooms to distribute ashes to all of the preschool students. The children will make their Lent promises to God which I’ll be sure to share with all of you. It’s always so sweet to hear their responses.
This week, I sent home a sheet about our vegetable taste test next Thursday. Since we will be starting our unit on taking care of our teeth and learning about the letter V, we thought it would be fun to taste a variety of vegetables. Thank you for your help with this learning activity.
We are all so excited for our field trip to the orthodontist on the 20th. Our permission forms will be sent home early next week, there is no fee for this fun field trip.
If you are attending Daddy/Daughter Dance this weekend, I hope you have a wonderful time!
Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Oetking
1-26-24
Parents,
We had a wonderful week in preschool! We made adorable melting snowmen. It was so fun for the kids to mix shaving cream and glue to make a magic snow mixture! In addition, we rolled dice to see how many marshmallows we were able to glue on our hot chocolate mug! All of the kids are doing such a great job with easy addition problems.
This week, we also turned our feet into cute penguins! We learned about the various types of penguins and that the biggest penguin is as tall as a preschool student! We explored blubber and each child had the opportunity to feel what it was like to have blubber as skin and how it protects you from the cold temperatures. We even made fun igloos with marshmallows so the penguins had a home to live in! It’s been so fun exploring our winter theme with the students!
Next week kicks off Catholic Schools week! Please note that there is no school for Preschool on Thursday. All of the preschool teachers will be attending a professional development at Botanical Gardens.
I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. Oetking
1-19-24
Dear Parents,
Thank you for all your patience and flexibility this past week with the snow storm and cold day. All of the children were thrilled to come back to school on Wednesday. We learned all about the letter R this week as well as painted beautiful snowflakes. The highlight of our week was Pajama Day! We were super cozy and comfy the whole day! It was so fun to meet everyone’s special stuffed animals. We completed a cute pajama day packet and learned what everyone’s favorite bedtime stories are as well as their nighttime routine.
Next week, we will learn all about winter and arctic animals. We will read, The Three Bears, and complete all of the activities that coincide with the story. We will also paint our feet and turn them into penguins and make an igloo out of marshmallows. Going along with the penguin theme, we will do a fun science experiment where we will explore blubber and get to feel how the blubber protects the arctic animals from the cold weather.
The temperatures will warm up next week. We are all excited to get back on the playground at recess. Be sure to check out the reminders below, and I hope to see many of you at Casino night this Saturday!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. Oetking
12-15-23
Parents,
We had another Christmas-filled week in preschool! The Senior Club was so thrilled to have us sing to them. The smiles on all of their faces were priceless and I know your sweet children gifted them with the spirit of Christmas.
The highlight of our week was our field trip to the Dollar Tree. This selfless field trip is truly what Christmas is all about. I’m so glad the children were able to experience the joy of giving to those in need. Not one child was concerned that the toys were not for them. The children were beaming ear to ear walking around Northbrook in their reindeer antlers telling everyone how we were giving toys to little boys and girls who don’t have any. Mrs. Philbin and I are so incredibly proud of all of our students and it warmed our hearts to watch them participate in this special service project. Thank you all for your help with this service activity.
The children were truly the STARS of the show last night! Each and every student sang so incredibly well, and I couldn’t think of a better way to start the Christmas show. Thank you for all your help in making this evening such a success!
In addition to all of the Christmas activities, we learned all about the letter O, made adorable Jesus ornaments and created cute personalized Christmas stockings.
On Tuesday, December 19th, we will be having a Christmas party with our buddies. You are welcome to buy a $5 gift for your child’s buddy but please don’t feel obligated. I will be sure to have extra candy/gifts so everyone will receive something.
Next week, our last day of school before Christmas break is on Thursday December 21. Our classroom party will also take place that day at 10 a.m.
I hope everyone has a great weekend!
Mrs. Oetking
Parents,
We had a Christmas filled week in Preschool! We started our week by reading about the story of Christmas and learned about the angel Gabriel who spread the good news that Jesus was born. We created beautiful angel ornaments with the sweet faces of all the students on them.
Tuesday was the highlight of our week with our field trip to Chalet to see Santa’s reindeer! The children truly got in the spirit of Christmas with this wonderful field trip. We were able to explore Christmas trees, smell a variety of Christmas scents, learn all about reindeer and even sing some Christmas songs on the bus ride! What a fun way to kick-off the Christmas season!
This week all the students turned into little Elves and made very special presents for all of you! We sent these home Thursday and Friday so you can enjoy them during the holiday season! We hope you love them!
In addition to all of the Christmas fun, we learned all about the letter N and focused on numbers 1-10. A song sheet went home this week with the children to help them correctly write the numbers 0-9.
Next week, we will be singing to the senior group on Monday, we have our field trip to the Dollar Store on Wednesday, and our Christmas concert is on Thursday at 6:30. Specific information regarding the concert was sent home this week, but please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any further questions. Please see below for the show information!
On Tuesday, December 19th, we will be having a Christmas party with our buddies. You are welcome to buy no more than a $5 gift for your child’s buddy but please don’t feel obligated. I will be sure to have extra candy/gifts so everyone will receive something.
We have so many fun events planned during the month of December, and it’s so special to see the students making such beautiful Christmas memories.
I hope everyone has a great weekend!
Mrs. Oetking
Friendly Reminders:
- Thursday, December 7 - Sunday, December 10: Scholastic Book Fair
- Thursday, December 14: Christmas Program (6:30 - 8:00 pm)
- Sunday, December 17: Cookies with Santa (10:30am - 1:00 pm; School Gym)
- Christmas concert info: For the past couple weeks the preschoolers have been practicing their Christmas songs and are so excited for the big Christmas show. Please bring your child to their classroom between 6:10-6:15. dressed in church attire. After the children sing their songs on stage, they will go back to the classrooms and watch a short Christmas film while we wait to sing in the finale! After the show is ended please pick up your child in the classroom. Thank you for your help and cooperation.
12-1-23
Parents,
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with their families. All of the students came to school on Monday talking about what a great time they had at their Thanksgiving. On Monday, we quickly jumped into our Christmas unit! Our classroom is decorated for Christmas, and we even have a cute little Elf named Eleanor that’s watching over our class to make sure we are making kind choices!
This week, we talked a lot about how Jesus is the reason for the season. I explained that we receive gifts on Christmas since it’s Jesus’s birthday and he loves us so much that he wants to share his birthday with us. The children are so excited to visit church soon to see the nativity scene. A few of the Christmas crafts we made this week included: a manger, Rudolph, gingerbread houses and little elves.
The highlight of the week was chasing the gingerbread man around the school! We read the story about the gingerbread man, and then we had to follow clues around the school to try to catch him. Luckily, we caught him in the classroom and were able to eat him up!
This week, I sent home the December calendar along with two field trip forms. Both of our field trips are Christmas related. One field trip is to Chalet to see Santa’s reindeer, and the other is to walk to the Dollar Store to buy toys for children in need and then deliver them to the Toys for Tots bin at the Village Hall.
I also sent home a letter about our Preschool Mitten Tree. We will decorate our tree with hats and mittens for children in need and donate them all to Catholic Charities. Thank you all for your help with these special service projects.
During the month of December, we will not be attending all school mass, but we will be sure to visit the nativity scene at church throughout the month. All school mass will resume in January.
I’m so happy to see many Kindergarten registrations coming in! Be sure to bring in your form before December 15 to waive the $150 fee. If you’d like to learn more about our fabulous Kindergarten please reach out to me and I’m happy to share more information.
December is so much fun in preschool and it warms my heart to see Christmas through the eyes of your sweet children.
I hope everyone has a great weekend!
Mrs. Oetking
11-17-23
Parents,
I hope everyone enjoyed the beautiful weather this week! We definitely took advantage of the weather and enjoyed all of our recess time! The highlight of our week was our field trip to Kohl Children’s museum. Everyone had a great time at the museum and loved interacting with all the amazing exhibits. Be sure to check out all of the cute pictures on Seesaw.
Another highlight of the week was when Mrs. Hurt and Mrs. Kenny came to school to talk about their jobs as nurse anesthetists. They magically turned the large motor room into an OR and had the children perform surgery on a teddy bear! The children absolutely loved this interactive learning experience, and have been talking about it all week long!
This week, we made many adorable Thanksgiving crafts including a cute turkey, Thanksgiving placemats, and a thankful literacy book. We also worked with the 4th grade students to make a Stone Soup craft. They read the story, Cactus Soup, to us and it was fun to compare and contrast the two different stories.
Next week, we have a normal day of school on Monday, and Tuesday is Grandparent/Special Person Day with dismissal at 11 by Grace Hall doors. Grandparents/Special Person Day starts with mass at 8:15 followed by a reception in the gym at 9am. After the reception, the Grandparents/Special Person will be directed to the classrooms. Please let me know if your child will be going to church with their Grandparents/special person and if they are going home with their Grandparent/Special Person. Also, if you have any pictures of your child and their Grandparent/Special Person, please send them my way!
It’s been wonderful meeting with some of you for Parent/Teacher conferences. I’m so proud of how well all of your children are doing in school. Every student is making such great progress but most importantly treats all of their friends with kindness. All of you should be very proud. I look forward to chatting with more parents next Monday and Tuesday.
This will be my email before Thanksgiving, I hope that everyone has a great Thanksgiving. Mrs. Philbin and I are so incredibly thankful for your sweet children and for having such wonderful and supportive parents like all of you.
Have a great Thanksgiving Break!
Mrs. Oetking
11-8-23
Parents,
We had a great week, and I’m so proud of what wonderful little actors and actresses the children were today in our play, Stone Soup. Dr. Hoody and the 4th grade came to watch the play, and she was so impressed with how well the students performed. Be sure to watch the video on Seesaw. Our friendship fruit was so delicious and the children absolutely loved it. Since the story was all about sharing we made sure to share some of our fruit salad with other teachers as well. Thank you to everyone for your generous contributions.
The 4th grade students are reading the story, Cactus Soup. We will be working hand in hand with them next week to do collaborative projects to compare and contrast the different books. The preschool students love to have the opportunity to work with the “big kids” at school.
This week, we also learned all about the letter K, started our unit on Thanksgiving, and practiced writing our numbers correctly. The children learned cute songs to help them correctly remember how to write numbers 0-9.
Next week, we will continue our Thanksgiving theme and take our field trip to Kohl Children’s museum. The field trip form went home yesterday. Please be sure to return in by Tuesday, thank you!
I hope that everyone has a great rest of your week and weekend!
Mrs. Oetking
11-3-23
Parents,
We had the best week in preschool celebrating Halloween! I was so impressed by all of the costumes and the students were all smiles the entire day. A big thank you to all of the parents that helped make our Halloween party such a big success! The children are still talking about how much fun they had!
In addition to the Halloween fun, we learned about the letter J, explored various types of corn and started practicing for our play, Stone Soup. The children received their various roles, and we started to make various props for the play! In backpacks this week, a sheet for a fruit donation for the play was sent home. Since the story Stone Soup is all about sharing, we thought it would be fun to create a friendship fruit stew after we put on our play for Dr. Hoody. We will be sure to record the play so all of the parents can watch as well!
Next week, we will put on our play, have a visit from the Kohl Children’s story bus, learn about the letter K, and start our unit on Thanksgiving!
The invitations for Grandparents Day were sent home yesterday. Please be sure to RSVP to Mary once you know who is able to attend. In the meantime, if you wouldn’t mind sending me pictures of your child and their Grandparent or special person. We will be making cute picture frames that day. If you don’t have a picture, I am happy to take one the day of. Thanks for your help with this!
I hope that everyone has a great weekend!
Mrs. Oetking
10-27-23
Parents,
We had a spooky and fun week getting all ready for Halloween! We wrote in our journals about our Halloween costume and also had the opportunity to design Halloween costumes for Mrs. Philbin and myself. We sure have a lot of great options to choose from!
The main focus of our week was pumpkins! We dug inside a pumpkin, explored a variety of pumpkins in our science lab, painted mini pumpkins and even decorated our classroom pumpkin for the school wide decorating contest! We decided to turn our pumpkin into Barbie! It turned out absolutely adorable. Be sure to check out the pictures on Seesaw.
We can’t wait for our Halloween party next Tuesday! Preschool students are allowed to come in costume all day next Tuesday. There will be an all school parade on Tuesday that begins at 1:00. Details regarding the parade will come soon. We are waiting to see what the temperatures will be like on Tuesday.
Next week, we will celebrate Halloween, start our Three Bears unit, learn all about the letter J and begin practicing for our play, Stone Soup! Also, next Wednesday we will be joining our buddies for all school mass. If you would like your child to attend mass, please drop them off between 7:45-8. If your child can’t make that time frame, please drop them off at the front of school no earlier than 9:15. Thank you so much for your help with this!
I hope that everyone has a great weekend!
Mrs. Oetking
10-20-23
Parents,
We kicked off our pumpkin unit at school this week, and the children are so excited about Halloween! Our field trip to Kroll’s Farm was so fun and we all enjoyed the whole experience. We were able to explore pumpkins, interact with animals and walk through a fun corn maze! This was the perfect way to kick off our Halloween unit in school. Throughout the next couple of weeks, we will be participating in pumpkin science experiments, creating spooky Halloween crafts and learning many fun Halloween songs and dances!
This week we continued to learn about various occupations. On Monday, we had the treat of having Matilda’s Dad talk about being a civil engineer! Every child received a special St. Norbert hard hat, and we explored with blocks how to build tall sturdy buildings. The students had a blast and proudly wore their hard hats all day long! On Wednesday, Hannah’s Mom came and talked to the children about being a track coach! It was so fun to do various large motor activities with Mrs. Huber and learn how to take care of our bodies. It’s been such a special experience to learn about various jobs through our wonderful parents. Thank you all for your participation with this learning unit.
Next week, we will continue our Halloween fun as well as finish our literacy series on the story, Little Red Riding Hood. I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend and enjoys the beautiful weather.
Mrs. Oetking
10-13-23
Parents,
Occupation week was so much fun! On Tuesday, we learned all about fire safety from fire fighter Doug! He taught all of us that fire fighters are there to help us, and we should never be afraid of them. The children loved seeing all of his fire gear, and were so appreciative of the special fire fighter hat and badge they received.
On Wednesday, we had our field trip to the post office! It was a perfect day to walk to the post office and the children can’t wait for you to receive their letters in a few days. Yesterday, Jimmy’s Mom came in to talk to the students about her job as a physical therapist. The children absolutely loved doing various exercises with Mrs. Butz, and we talked about how important it is to take care of our bodies! Every child received their very own medal for completing all of their exercises!
Today was extra special day for me. My Dad/Jimmy’s Grandpa came in to talk about being a banker! We learned about the value of money and how important it is to save your money. Every child received a special piggy bank to take home with them. We have extra banks for the children who weren’t here today.
It’s been so fun learning about different jobs and hearing what the children want to be when they grow up. We have heard so many cool career choices including: doctor, nurse, unicorn, princess, car saleswoman, park ranger and the list goes on and on! There’s no doubt in my mind that the students will grow up and be whatever they set their mind to!
Next week, we will continue to learn about various occupations, the letter H and take our field trip to the pumpkin patch to kick off our unit on pumpkins and Halloween!
I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend, and enjoy the beautiful Fall weather!
Mrs. Oetking
Friendly Reminders:
- Tuesday, October 17: Pre-4 Field Trip to Kroll’s Farm
- Thursday, October 26: Fall Picture Retake Day & Preschool Pizza Party from 5-6p.m.
- Friday, November 10: Staff Development- No School
10-4-23
Parents,
Happy Wednesday! I’m sending out my email today to remind everyone about our half day of school tomorrow, and no school on Friday. As mentioned before, tomorrow we encourage families to pick up their child at 11 by the Grace Hall doors. If your child has older siblings at the school they can get picked up 11:30 by the gym doors. If you need your child to stay until 11:30, please let me know. We just encourage parents to pick up their child at 11:00 to avoid the big carpool line at 11:30 with the rest of the school. Thanks for your help with this!
Although this has been a short week, we sure were busy! Monday and Tuesday, we learned all about St. Francis and how he loved animals. In fact, on Tuesday, Father Joe came with this parakeet and talked about St. Francis and all the wonderful things he did for animals and people. We made beautiful rainbow fish in honor of St. Francis and his love for animals.
Today, we had our first mass with our buddies. A big thank you to all of you to make this possible. I am so incredibly proud of how well the preschool students behaved in church. All of their 7th grade buddies were wonderful mentors, and the children said they can’t wait to attend mass again with them next month. Parents are more than welcome to attend these masses as well, it’s so special to watch how sweet the 7th graders are towards the preschool students.
This week, we also started our community helper week! We learned about policemen and firemen in anticipation for our fireman visit next Tuesday. Next Wednesday, we have our walk to the post office. The permission forms for this field trip went home yesterday. Next Thursday and Friday, Jimmy’s Mom and Grandpa will come to talk about their jobs as a Physical Therapist and Banker. We can’t wait to learn about different professions and find out what the students want to be when they grow up!
I hope everyone has a great weekend, and enjoys the beautiful weather!
Mrs. Oetking
9-29-23
Parents,
Happy Friday! Everyone at St. Norbert today is so excited for our Crusader Team Challenge event this evening. This morning we enjoyed a special breakfast, and we took a whole school picture! It was neat to see the rainbow of colors representing the various CTC teams. There are many fun preschool events that will be taking place, I hope you will all have the chance to stop by after school!
This week in preschool, we were busy learning all about Fall! We created number trees, water colored leaves and counted fall objects! We learned number songs to help us write our numbers correctly. I’m so proud of how well the children are working to learn numbers and all the letters and sounds.
On Tuesday, we practiced going to church with our 7th grade buddies. We are all so excited to attend mass with our buddies next Wednesday, October 4. If your child will be attending mass next Wednesday, please arrive at school between 7:45-8. If you are not able to make that time frame, please drop off your child at the front of school no earlier than 9:15. Thank you so much for your help with this, we are thrilled to have our preschool students join mass again.
It’s hard to believe next week is already October! Next week, we will talk about St. Francis and begin our Community Helper unit! Next week, there is a half day of school on Thursday and no school on Friday. On Thursday, we encourage families to pick up their child at 11 by the Grace Hall doors. If your child has older siblings at the school they can get picked up 11:30 by the gym doors. If you need your child to stay until 11:30, please let me know. We just encourage the parents to pick up their child at 11:00 to avoid the big carpool line at 11:30 with the rest of the school. Thanks for your help with this!
I hope everyone has a great weekend, and I’m looking forward to seeing many of you tonight at Crusader Team Challenge!
Mrs. Oetking
Friendly Reminders:
- If you are attending Crusader Team Challenge, the preschool students have the opportunity to walk the Crusader Teams out to the parking lot. If you would like your child to participate in this, the preschool teachers will be standing outside of the front of school at 4:50. At 5, we will lead the teams into the parking lot. After we walk around the parking lot, we will hand back your child in the preschool section of the parking lot right by Grace Hall Doors.
- Wednesday, October 4-Our first All School Mass with our 7th grade buddies. As mentioned before, please drop off your child between 7:45-8. If you are unable to make this time slot, you can drop off your child after 9:15. Thank you so much for your help with this. We practiced with our buddies on Tuesday, and the children seem very excited to go to mass with them.
- Thursday, October 5-This is a half day of school for the entire school since kindergarten-8th grade has parent teacher conferences. Our conferences are not until November. We encourage all families (unless your child has older siblings at St. Norbert) to pick up your child at 11 in front of Grace Hall. Picking up your child at 11 will help you avoid the huge carpool line that will take place at 11:30. If you would like your child to be picked up at 11:30, no worries at all, just let us know. That pick up will be at the gym doors at 11:30.
- Friday, October 6-No School- Teacher In-Service
- Monday, October 9- Children are back in session.
9-21-23
Parents,
We sure enjoyed the beautiful weather in preschool this week! On Monday, we went on a Fall Scavenger hunt and were thrilled to find everything on the list except a pine cone. It was exciting for the students to see all the different colors the leaves are turning. We made our own beautiful Fall trees by painting with Q-Tips. We also created a season plate and compared and contrasted the various seasons. We are all excited for the season of Fall and can’t wait for our October field trip to the pumpkin patch!
This week we also learned about the letter D. We created adorable Dalmatians and had a Dino art center! We have some very talented artists in our classroom! We drew some adorable dogs in our journals and learned the letter D Jolly Phonics song.
We were so excited to listen to our first literacy story, Little Red Riding Hood. The students loved listening to the story and even made their own books to read to you at home. Next week, we will continue to do activities related to the story.
We will jump into the season of Fall next week, and explore various types of leaves. Next Friday is also Crusader Team Challenge. This is such a wonderful event for the St. Norbert Community, and I hope to see you all there!
Please remember that there is no school tomorrow, the teachers will be participating in professional development.
I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. Oetking
Friendly Reminders:
- If anyone has any donations for our treasure chest, we will gladly take them! Your junk is our treasure!
- Friday, September 22: No School – Staff Development
- Friday, September 29: Crusader Team Challenge (4:30 PM)
- Monday, October 2: Athletic Committee Meeting (7:00 PM)
- Wednesday, October 4: All-School Mass (8:15 AM; Preschool attends with their buddies)
- Thursday, October 5: EARLY DISMISSAL @ 11:30 AM
- Friday, October 6: NO SCHOOL; Staff Development
9-15-23
Parents,
We had a great week in Preschool! We finished our “All About Me” books, and it was so fun to learn about one another and see how special each and every student is. On Thursday, we focused on our favorite colors. We graphed our favorite colors and even made a beautiful Preschool Picasso Canvass. We have quite the talented artists in this classroom!
This week, we also learned all about various shapes! We named the various shapes and used our imaginations to create shape monsters. The children really enjoyed making shape monsters and even gave the monsters silly names.
Letter C was our letter of the week! We learned the letter C song and made adorable little crabs! We drew delicious cookies in our journals as well as tasted some cookies during enrichment.
The highlight of our week was meeting our 7th grade buddies. We played with our buddies in the gym, and both the preschool and 7th grade students had so much fun. I printed out a sheet with your child’s buddies name as well as a picture so you know who your child’s special buddy is. Preschool will be attending church with their 7th grade buddies the first Wednesday of each month starting in October.
Today, we talked about the different seasons and wrote in our journals about our favorite summer memories. It sounded like everyone had a fun filled summer! Next week, we will learn all about the season of Fall. We will go on a nature walk as well as create beautiful Fall projects. We will also start our first literacy series story, Little Red Riding Hood.
I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. Oetking
Friendly Reminders:
- Thursday, September 21: St. Norbert Golf Outing
- Friday, September 22: No School – Staff Development
- Friday, September 29: Crusader Team Challenge (4:30 PM)
- Monday, October 2: Athletic Committee Meeting (7:00 PM)
- Wednesday, October 4: All-School Mass (8:15 AM; Preschool attends with their buddies)
- Thursday, October 5: EARLY DISMISSAL @ 11:30 AM
- Friday, October 6: NO SCHOOL; Staff Development
9-8-23
Parents,
We had a very fun week in Preschool! We learned all about the letter B, created Noah’s Ark, investigated apples, and participated in an apple taste test. While learning about the letter B, we created adorable bumble bees that are now buzzing in our hallway! We came up with many B words and drew colorful beach balls in our journal. The children loved our apple taste test. We even walked around the school and surveyed teachers on their favorite types of apples. The red honey crisp apple seems to be a crowd favorite.
Next week, we will continue to learn about apples and also focus on different shapes. We will create shape monsters, vote on our favorite shape and build beautiful towers with various shaped magna tiles.
On Tuesday, we will meet our 7th grade buddies! The children keep asking when they get to meet their buddies and can’t wait to have a playdate with them. I’ll be sure to let you know who your child’s buddy is as well as take a picture of them together so you have a visual.
I sent a flyer home this week explaining our community helper unit which will take place in October. If you or anyone in your family want to come to school to talk about your job, we would love to have you!
I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. Oetking
Friendly Reminders:
- If anyone has any donations for our treasure chest, we will gladly take them! Your junk is our treasure!
- Monday, September 11: School Advisory Board Meeting (7:00 – 9:00 PM)
- Thursday, September 14: Fall Pictures and 8th Grade Graduation Picture Day
- Thursday, September 21: St. Norbert Golf Outing
- Friday, September 22: No School – Staff Development
- Friday, September 29: Crusader Team Challenge (4:30 PM)
- Monday, October 2: Athletic Committee Meeting (7:00 PM)
- Wednesday, October 4: All-School Mass (8:15 AM; Preschool attends with their buddies)
- Thursday, October 5: EARLY DISMISSAL @ 11:30 AM
- Friday, October 6: NO SCHOOL; Staff Development
9-1-23
Parents,
What a fabulous first week of school we had! I am so proud of how well everyone transitioned into the school routines, and most importantly what kind little children we have in our class. Every student earned their treasure chest reward this week, and I’m so proud of how well everyone did during their first week of school!
This week, we learned all about the letter A, created classroom rules, and learned what it means to be a bucket filler. It warmed my heart to hear all the ways the children expressed how they can make others feel good. When creating the classroom rules, we first read the story, No David! Everyone laughed so hard while reading this cute story, and we had fun creating our own classroom rules.
We also were able to celebrate both Chris and Nicky’s birthday this week. We love celebrating birthdays in our classroom, both boys were thrilled to pick out of the birthday box!
Next week, we will learn about the letter B, start our All About Me books, create Noah’s Ark and continue apple investigations!
I’m so happy we had such a successful first week of school, and I look forward to all of the fun adventures we will have this year. Please remember there is no school on Monday.
I hope everyone has a great Labor Day Weekend!
Mrs. Oetking
Friendly Reminders:
- Please be sure to wait for a preschool teacher to dismiss the carpool line at the end of the day. The preschool lines are the two closest lines closest to the gym. Thank you!
- A sign up for recess help was sent last night from Dr. Hoody. Please sign up if you’d like to help out with preschool recess.
Dates to Remember:
Monday, September 4: No School (Labor Day)
Monday, September 11: School Advisory Board Meeting (7:00 – 9:00 PM)
Thursday, September 14: Fall Pictures and 8th Grade Graduation Picture Day
Thursday, September 21: St. Norbert Golf Outing
Friday, September 22: No School – Staff Development
Friday, September 29: Crusader Team Challenge (4:30 PM)
Monday, October 2: Athletic Committee Meeting (7:00 PM)
Wednesday, October 4: All-School Mass (8:15 AM; Preschool attends with their buddies)
Thursday, October 5: EARLY DISMISSAL @ 11:30 AM; Parent Teacher Conferences only for K-8 students.
Friday, October 6: NO SCHOOL; Staff Development
8-1-23
Parents,