Christmas

                      

May the love of Christ fill your hearts with joy!  Merry Christmas to all our families and friends!

December

December has been an exciting time here in our classroom. In addition to all our usual activities, we have added some special projects. We have enjoyed learning about Advent and have made a  beautiful Advent Wreath together. It has  also been fun creating Christmas themed art projects. We have also been practicing for our upcoming Christmas Concert.

Thanksgiving

We have been busy making turkeys and  learning about Thanksgiving. It was wonderful to meet with you and to share all the children's work during our conferences. I am thankful to be your child's teacher this year. I hope you all have a very blessed and joyous Thanksgiving.

Halloween Parade

Our class will be participating in our school's Halloween Parade on Tuesday October 31 at 1:00 pm.  Our half day students will stay for lunch that day and will need to bring lunch.  Students will also need to bring their costumes to school with them in the morning. Please have your child's costume in a bag labeled with his or her name.  Parents are invited to come watch our parade. Following the parade, our class with have a Halloween party in our classroom. All the students (except those attending our CARES program) will be dismissed at 2:30. 

Fun Fall Days

  We  had a wonderful week of learning about changing leaves and created colorful leaves to decorate our classroom. We enjoyed several nature walks around our school this week observing how quickly the leaves change color from day to day.

Pumpkins

We enjoyed learning about pumpkins this week.  We loved finding out how they grow, read stories about them and used orange paint to create pumpkins for a pumpkin patch in our classroom. We also learned the song Pumpkin, Pumpkin on the Ground.

Socktober

Our School's FACT club will be collecting brand new adult sized socks for the needy in our area. Please consider helping with this important project. You may send your donations to school with your child and I will bring them over to the donation box at school. Thank you!

Our class parents

Our class parents this year are Mrs. Rebecca Gazi and Dr. Maria Rodriguez.

Hello October!

This was a fun week as we welcomed our new month of October. We learned about our Guardian Angels and St Francis too. We loved learning about apples, fall and practiced writing our names.

September

Our first weeks of school have gone well and the children are enjoying our school routine. We love learning together. This week we practiced the first letters of our names with a fun art project. We all enjoyed welcoming Fall and the cooler weather.

Our first week together

Our class has had a wonderful start to the new school year and the children have enjoyed learning and playing together. Mrs. McKeown and I are very pleased with their progress as they become familiar with one another and our routine.

Lunch Reminder

Thursday, September 7th is our first full day of school. Full day students will need to bring or purchase lunch. Our CARES program begins on Monday, September 11th. If your child will be attending this program, he or she will need an afternoon snack. Please label this snack CARES and pack it separately from your child's lunch. 

Welcome to Pre-K!

Welcome Pre-K Families! This school year will be an important milestone in your child's life and our class will have fun learning and growing together.

Please provide the following items on the first day of school:                             

• backpack that can hold a folder
• morning snack
• refillable water bottle that your child can open
• a complete change of clothing sealed in a zip lock bag. These are regular clothes that will be kept at school in case your child needs clean, dry clothing. 

                                      Please label everything with your child's name.

I will be providing a folder for your child on the first day of school. Please check and empty the folder daily. I will use the folders to send home your child's work or important information to you. Please put any notes, paperwork for the office or money that you may be sending to school, in your child's folder.

Your child will need a healthy snack daily. Please do not send any foods containing nuts or peanuts for snack or lunch. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.  My email address is: dstraut@ics41mtn.org. I am looking forward to being your child's teacher this year.

Coming and going

I greet our students and parents each morning at our classroom door. Children may begin arriving at 7:30 am. Pick up time for the half day students is 11:30 am and 2:30 pm for the full day students. When our school has an early dismissal day, our full day students will be released at 12:20 pm. There is no lunch on early dismissal days.

About me

My name is Mrs. Donna Straut and I love teaching Pre-K.  

I graduated from Drew University with a BA in Religion. After my own five children were settled in school, I decided to return to school myself and become a teacher.  I completed my studies in 2004 and am a certified elementary school teacher.

When I am not in school, I enjoy working in my garden, reading and spending time with my family.