Thank you Mrs. Colalillo

Mrs. Colalillo will be teaching at St. John Fisher, beginning in September. So as the “Dynamic Duo” in room 101 comes to an end, I wanted to thank her for everything she has done for our students and for the community, here at Our Lady of Lourdes. Looking back over the last three years in room 101, Mrs. Colalillo worked hard to ensure that the students in our “little family”  felt loved, valued, happy and safe. The students and I have been incredibly lucky to learn, play and inquire alongside our beloved Mrs. Colalillo  She brought so much love, light, laughter and life to room 101. She is not only an incredible teaching partner, but also my dear friend, and I’m so happy I was able to share this Kindergarten journey with her; our partnership and friendship will last a lifetime. The students, staff and families here at OLOL love her, and we hope that her new kindergarten team knows how lucky they are to have her. We will never forget Mrs. C’s kindness, generosity, expertise and humour. The “dynamic duo” will always hold a special place in our hearts, and in room 101.  We wish you all the best Mrs. Colalillo!❤

ps. A very big thank you to Mrs. Pittman for organizing the surprise video for Mrs. Colalillo as part of the end of the year celebration. 🙂

     

🌹❤️Welcome to the World, Sweet Sofia Rose! 🌹❤️

Dear families of room 101,

Marco, Luca, Oscar and I welcomed the newest member of our family on Tuesday, January 31, 2017 at 10:22 pm. Sofia Rose came into this world weighing 8 pounds 6 ounces, and measuring 21 1/2 inches long. We are absolutely in love with our sweet baby girl. We wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of our family and friends for the outpouring of love, kindness, generosity and warm wishes we have received. We are truly blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful and supportive people. We can’t wait for you all to meet her.

With much love and gratitude,

The Guida family

xoxo

From Our Families to Yours, Merry Christmas!

“All is calm, all is bright.”

Merry Christmas to all of our families in room 101! We hope that you are enjoying this Christmas with all of your families, friends and loved ones. Thank you once again for all of your thoughtful gifts, kind words, lovely cards and yummy goodies. We are completely spoiled by all of you, and we are truly blessed. We wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous 2017!

Lots of love,

“The Dynamic Duo”

Mrs. Guida & Mrs. Colalillo

xoxo

“Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Let your heart be light.”

Thank You!

“And every day, the world will drag you by the hand, yelling, ‘This is important! And this is important! And this is important! You need to worry about this! And this! And this!’ And each day, it’s up to you to yank your hand back, put it on your heart and say, ‘No. This is what’s important.'” Iain Thomas

Dear Families of Room 101,

As my family and I eagerly prepare for the arrival of the newest addition to our family, I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you how truly blessed we are to be sharing this experience with the community here at Our Lady of Lourdes School. Thank you for all of all your warm wishes, and for your generous & thoughtful gifts for our little one! Words cannot adequately express our sincere gratitude for your kindness and support these last few months.

As I reflect on my time with my “family” in room 101, fond memories and recollections come quickly to mind. It has been an absolute pleasure working with all of you and your children. It has been so exciting and such a joy to watch your children grow and learn so much in our Early Learning Kindergarten Program. I am very proud of all the progress that each child has made this year, and I know that they will continue to grow, learn and flourish in room 101. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your ongoing support with our program, and for all the hard work that you do with your child at home. Your support and efforts are the reason for your child’s successes.  Congratulations to you for raising such wonderful & caring children, and each of you is to be commended for positively impacting on their education. I wish you all the best for the remainder of the school year; your little ones remain in the best, most caring hands with my teaching partner extraordinare, Mrs. Colalillo. ❤️ I look forward to seeing our “family” in room 101 when I return from my maternity leave next winter. I  promise that I will come back and visit before the end of the school year too. 😉

With much love and gratitude,

Mrs. Guida 💙💗

xoxo

Let it Snow!

“I may not be able to give my kids everything that they want, but I give them everything they need. Love, time and attention. You can’t buy those things.” Nishan Panwar

To welcome all the snow we’ve had these last few days, we made snowflakes using popsicle sticks and acrylic paint.

We are certainly enjoying the snow during outdoor play. We had fun making snow angels, and building & playing in the snow all this week.

Thank you to N.G. and family for the donation of craft materials. We had fun on Friday morning making the reindeer, snowmen, and Santa faces.

We have been learning about ordinal numbers. To help us with this concept, the students  thought it would be a good idea to line up from oldest (1st)to youngest (27th). We had a lot of fun with this task. 😊

We continue to work on our fine motor and cutting skills. We set out an invitation for the students to cut ribbon and Christmas wrapping paper in our sensory bin.

We did a winter science experiment. We used pipe cleaner snowflakes, hot water and Borax to make crystal snowflakes.

We continue to work on our “Night Filled with Love” booklets.

 

We made stockings with construction paper, markers and cotton balls.

We colored and decorated Christmas ornaments.

We continue to discuss the virtue of Hope and prepared our class poster for the virtue assembly the grade 1s will be presenting next Friday.

Next week is spirit week, and we encourage you all to participate.

    Mon: Pajama day

    Tues: Christmas hat day

    Wed: ugly sweater/Christmas accessory day

    Thurs: Christmas character day

    Fri: Red & Green day

Thank you once again for the donations of food for our food drive, mittens and socks for our Giving tree, and all the craft materials for our classroom. Your ongoing generosity is truly appreciated. You can click on the following link for a list of activities that will be wrapping up next week:

More Christmas Fun 

Lastly, we had a bit of Christmas fun with social media this week- check out our new reindeer snapchat portraits.😊

Next Friday, December 23rd, 2016, our class will be having a pizza party. Our class raised the most money for the card box fundraiser this fall. Each child will be receiving one slice of cheese pizza. See you all next week!

“The deepest language of all … is the language of relationships. It goes much deeper than more easily measured skills like logical thinking and problem solving. Learning is about making relationships…it is the language that enables us to absorb information and process it at a deep level.” (Fraser, 2012, p. 304)

The Polar Express, Poinsettia Paintings & More Christmas Festivities in room 101

“The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear” ~Buddy the Elf

Thank you again to M.M. and family for the donation of Christmas crafts and art supplies. This week, our little elves painted ceramic Christmas ornaments.

The students continue to use pipe cleaners to make bracelets and candy canes, and work on their fine motor skills.

Thank you to all those students and families, including M.A., O.M., A.R., A.S., N.G., C.D. & D.D., R.S. and A.M. who have generously donated socks and mittens to our “Giving Tree.”

The students continue to work on their writing skills. This week they were encouraged to continue to practice writing sight words, and also write about Christmas. We also started our Christmas religion books, called “A Night Filled with Love.” Each day, the students write a sentence about the Nativity and illustrate it as well. This book will be a beautiful keepsake for your child to share with their family over the Holidays.

Here are some writing samples form the students’ “Persobak Best.”

The students had the opportunity to act out the Christmas story too. Our little actors had the chance to be Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and wisemen.

We have been singing songs to helps us learn about the Christmas story.

 

We finished our cork wreathes this week and the students took them home to share with their families; we hope that you like them! 😊

We set out our annual Christmas provocation where we invite the students to create a still life painting of a poinsettia plant using pencils, water colour paints and sharpie markers. Every year we encourage the students to look closely at the flower and carefully draw what they see. We are so proud of their artwork and they never cease to amaze us with their attention to detail. Please look at pictures of their artwork below.

We also set out an invitation for our students to create Christmas paintings using tiles, glitter and acrylic paint.

 

We set out an invitation for our students to create snow globes using foam snow globes, sparkles and paint. Thank you to R.S. and family for the donation of craft materials. 😊

We invited our students to decorate a  cardboard Christmas tree using felt loose parts.

On Thursday, we celebrated our Polar Express & PJ day. “Elfie,” J.C.’s & I.C.’s “elf on the shelf” brought a special letter from Santa & a care package for all of us, all the way from the North Pole!

“I like to compare the holiday season with the way a child listens to a favourite story. The pleasure is in the familiar way the story begins, the anticipation of familiar turns it takes, the familiar moments of suspense, and the familiar ending.” Fred Rogers