It is the first week of Advent - light one purple candle this week.

The Christmas show will be held on Tuesday, December 9th at the Paramount theater with performances at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Kindergarten will perform at the 11 a.m. show only. Rehearsal at the Paramount will be this Sunday, the 7th at 12:45 p.m. Please bring your child to the theater then and plan to stay - practice will be an hour or less for kindergarten. If you can’t stay, please be here for pick up promptly no later than 2 p.m. even if you have older children who need to be at the theater for a longer time.

Dress for the performance for both boys and girls is: khaki slacks with a red shirt. The shirt can be a turtleneck, a button down shirt or a plain tee shirt with no writing or pictures on it.

We will be making gingerbread houses late next week - please refer to the letter in your child’s Monday folder for details.

As of right now (and the date could change!) we will hold our first floor Christmas party on Friday, December 19th - details will be sent out soon. We will have a gift exchange - pleases do not spend more than $5 for a little gift. Girls should buy for a girl, boys buy for a boy. Tags should read: To a girl/boy From (your child’s name).

Also on the 19th is the December Prayer Service in which the Kindergarten participate - please make plans now to attend. I believe the time is at 1:45 p.m. but I will let you know for sure when I find out.

Tis the season for hats, mittens, boots and ski pants! Please label all that gear and please help your child learn how to zip. I am always happy to help out but with 18 children and one me it is great when they can do it for themselves! By the way, there is in the classroom one black, waterproof mitten with a wrist strap - are you missing it?

A brief look at lessons for the week:

Religion - Advent. What does it mean? What do we do during Advent?

Reading - new letters q queen /qu/ & z zebra /z/.

New sight words - can look too not These words are from Sight Word Turtle #2. I have
introduced all the words on Turtle 1 although I have a feeling I may not have included them in previous newsletters. Sorry. They are listed in the Homework section of our Kindergarten pages. When your child has mastered the first list I will write her/his name on a small turtle and pin it in the the box with the corresponding big turtle.

Two pre-decodable books this week - The Trunk and What Can You Do?

Fables, poetry, practice critical thinking skills, story retelling, statements, periods, interogatory sentences and question marks, oral blending with initial and final sounds

Math - number writing, patterning, graphing probability of dice roll combinations

Tuesday: put the above Spelling words into alphabetical order and complete the Math Sheet #32.

Wednesday: Write a sentence for each of Monday’s Spelling words including the bonus words. Follow the directions and complete Math Homelinks 5.4.

Thursday:Complete the Math Sheet and write a sentence using each of the Reading Vocabulary words from the story, “Corduroy.” The words are’
department: section or part of a store that sells one kind of merchandise.
escalator: moving stairs
toppled: fell over
enormous: gigantic; very big
fastened: closed, buttoned

Friday: Have a great week-end.

Tuesday: Dismissal is at 2:45 PM. Remember to study Social Studies and read over vacation. Have a healthy and happy Thanksgiving and I look forward to seeing you on Monday, December 1. No school for the rest of the week.

Tuesday: put the above words into alphabetical order and complete the Math sheet.

Wednesday: write a sentence for each of Monday’s words including the bonus words and complete the Math sheet. Study your Science.

Thursday: complete the Math sheet and write a sentence using each of the Reading vocabulary words from the story, “Butterfly House.” The words are;

larva:  the baby or young form of some insects. A larva has a soft boy that looks like a worm and has no wings.  A caterpillar is the larva of a butterfly.

nectar: the sweet liquid in flowers. Bees use nectar to make honey.

chrysalis: the protective covering around the caterpillar when it is in a sleeping stage while changing into a butterfly.

transformed: to change how something looks

drift: to move because of wind or water.

Friday: Have a great week-end.

While the doors to many Rutland County schools closed tight today, students at Rutland’s Christ the King School are experiencing Veterans Day in a unique way, like they do every year — learning about service, dedication and patriotism from the people who have lived it.

One day before their Veterans Day ceremony scheduled for this morning at 9 a.m. — expected to attract a large crowd of war veterans and their relatives to the school’s gym as in prior years — the meaning of the holiday was already sinking in.

Moments after their Monday afternoon rehearsal, Grade 4 students said they felt obligated to commemorate the day in school because veterans gave so much to them.

Click here to read the complete article on rutlandherald.com.

Tuesday: Put the above words into alphabetical order and complete the Math Sheet.

Wednesday: Write a sentence for each of Monday’s Spellling words including the bonus words and complete the Math Sheet.

Thursday: Complete the Math Sheet and write a sentence using each of the following Reading Vocabulary words from the story “The Paper Crane.”

serve:  help others

guests: people who are visiting in another house, restaurant, or hotel

stranger: someone you don’t know

manner: the way something is done

unusual: something that is different; not seen every day

overjoyed: really excited about something.

Friday: Have a nice week-end.

“She’s a great teacher, and she does great art projects,” added classmate Jordan Perry, 9, gluing curly construction-paper “hair” onto a mask she was making in art class.

The students were expressing their enthusiastic approval for Sister of NDdeN Cynthia Rouleau, their school’s art teacher.Sister Rouleau has been recognized by Artsonia — the world’s largest online children’s art museum — for outstanding leadership in the area of arts education at Christ the King School.

The school’s online art gallery — www.artsonia.com/schools/christ6 — ranks number one in the state and number 64 in the nation, according to Artsonia.

Headquartered in Gurnee, Ill., Artsonia is an online children’s art museum providing free educational resources for students, families and schools. Founded in 2000, Artsonia integrates technology in the classroom, develops multicultural understanding through art and increases family involvement in children’s education.

While teachers in more than 100 countries display their student artwork on the Web site, Sister Rouleau has created a school community deserving of recognition, according to Artsonia. During the 2007-8 school year, the Christ the King gallery showcased 3,008 pieces of artwork. This popular collection of art has been visited
more than 36,796 times and has received 1,594 comments from friends and family. “Artsonia is a simple yet effective way to get parents and family members more involved in art education,” said Rouleau, “and my students love it.”

On a recent morning, third-graders were working on their mask projects as Sister Rouleau alternated standing in front of the class to show them what to do next and standing at the side of students helping them implement her instructions.

“Mine’s going to have a bad hair day,” joked Nick Fish, 9, as he curled orange construction paper to be the hair on his mask.

Sister Rouleau, who also teaches music at Christ the King, seeks to give her art students an introduction to a cross section of media and expose them to all kinds of art like paper mache, watercolors, cut paper, oil pastels. And she fosters in them an awareness of line, shape and color to build their understanding of art.

“I want to give them the chance to be creative,” she said. “I teach them to appreciate art, what to look for when they go to a museum.”

And art class gives those with artistic talent a chance to excel. “It gives them a chance to shine.”

But with Artsonia, all the students have the chance to shine. “Artsonia has put new life into the art program here,” Sister Rouleau said. “The children want to do well, and their biggest joy is seeing (their work) online. And it’s a good thing for the school.”

Family members can purchase keepsakes imprinted with the child’s artwork, and Artsonia donates 15 percent of their annual product revenue back to the school art program. This year, the art program raised $344 for art supplies at Christ the King School.

“My grandparents can look at my art and buy magnets for their refrigerator,” said Jonah Breen, 9.

“I loooooove Artsonia,” Rebecca said during the mask-making class. “It’s really fun, and you get to see other people’s pictures, and you can join their clubs.”

The Web site includes an option to join a young artist’s fan club. “People can seeyour work and put comments on, nice comments,” said Sophia Moore-Smith, 8.

And it feels good to get positive feedback through the fan clubs, said Jordan. “Alot of people I know and don’t know get to see my artwork” and comment.

“I like Artsonia because all my family members can give me comments, and my parents can enjoy my artwork … and look at it at work and remember me,” said Turner Ramsay, 8.

Sister Rouleau said Artsonia motivates students because they know their parents and grandparents will see their artwork, created in a basement classroom that has words from Picasso painted in red on a back wall: “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”

Sister Rouleau began working with Artsonia a year ago, and said the award recently given her “tells me everyone has been very supportive of the program.”

The Leadership Award presented to her honors teachers who go beyond the classroom walls to encourage family and community involvement in arts education. The award also recognizes significant achievement in the area of technology integration within the school arts program.

She has been teaching at Christ the King School for eight years, but she has been an educator in Catholic schools since 1970, serving in Connecticut and Massachusetts before coming to Vermont.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in music from Emmanuel College in Boston and a master’s degree in art education from Antioch University, a 6-campus university located in four states including Ohio and New
Hampshire.
Her Christ the King students have earned various honors through the years, including having their artwork selected for a fire prevention calendar and having their work displayed and honored at the Chaffee Art
Gallery in Rutland.

Sister Rouleau has never displayed her own art, which includes acrylic and some watercolor paintings on greeting cards and a lot of craft items — puppets, dolls and other hand-sewn items — she has sold at craft fairs.

To find out more about Artsonia, visit www.artsonia.com.

List 2

he look she

do where no

can what too

not have this it

Tuesday: Study Reading Vocabulary from the new story “The Elves and the Shoemaker.”

leather:  material made from animal skin

polished: made smooth and shiny

handsome: good looking 

cobbler: someone who makes and repairs shoes.

Complete Math Homelink 4.2.

Wednesday: Complete Math Homelink 4.3.  Remember to wear your Saint’s costume tomorrow and bring your uniform to change into.  Mass is at 8:30 AM.

Thursday: Complete Math Homelink 4.4.

Friday:  Have a lovely week-end.