Sunday, April 15, 2012
Dear Parents,
Welcome back! I hope everyone enjoyed your time together with your families over the Easter break. I certainly enjoyed this past week with my family. We decided to celebrate Easter Sunday Mass at the Basilica in Washington. The service was beautiful and we soaked in the gorgeous weather while we were downtown. My two daughters and I travelled to Philadelphia on Thursday to visit my son at Saint Joseph’s University. While we were there we had the opportunity to view the Vincent Van Gogh exhibit which is on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I was so impressed by the magnificent paintings on display, many of which I had never seen before and were included from various international collections. On our way home on Friday, we chose to take a scenic ride home and stop off to visit the DuPont Estate at Longwood Gardens. I had not been back to Longwood Gardens in 30 years. My daughters had never been there before and absolutely loved the place. We spent the whole day walking through the gardens. If you have never been to Longwood Gardens before, you will be in for a real treat. There are three really neat tree houses, and a topiary garden, as well as a conservatory that is huge. Okay, enough of that, now to the business of the day.
Tomorrow, Monday 4/16, the students can begin/continue to wear their spring uniform. Picture Day is on Tuesday 4/17. We will have our class picture taken at school, and the students should wear their khaki pants and the white polo shirt for the photo session. I sent home an order envelope from the photography company a few days before Easter break. Please send that in tomorrow or on Tuesday morning if you wish to purchase the picture. If you cannot find the envelope please let me know. There is no obligation to purchase this picture.
Please remember to send back the roll mats for nap time tomorrow. I will be sending the milk order forms for the months of April and May home with your children tomorrow 4/16. The Scholastic book orders will be arriving shortly. I delayed sending in the order to make sure everyone had a chance to submit this time around. I apologize to the Leno and Wibben families, if you are wondering why it has taken so long to receive your orders.
Thank you for the terrific participation and many helping hands at our Easter celebration. The picture frame craft and Easter egg hunt (wow- all of those eggs!!) was a lot of fun. Thank you everyone for your generous contributions; the stuffed eggs, napkins, water, juice, fruit cups, finger foods, and cookies, but most especially for your time. Thank you Mrs. Jung & Mrs. Downey for the cute stuffed rabbits for all of the children. Pictures from that day will be forthcoming
soon. Don’t worry Allie, Connor and Hannah; I have your Easter items waiting for you. I hope you had a great vacation. We missed you all. Happy Birthday Wishes to Brandon and Kayla!! We will be celebrating their summer birthdays during this month of April.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Anne Patsalosavvis
Sunday, November 6, 2001
Dear Red Sailboat Parents,
Hello! I hope all of you enjoyed this glorious autumn weekend! It was certainly a treat to turn the clocks back by one hour last night. It’s all psychological isn’t it? You feel so rested! I am writing to you with a few friendly reminders because we have an unusual schedule this week, and two special days that should prove to be fun for the children.
Most importantly, for your calendar purposes, please note that your children do not attend school on Thursday, November 10th, or on Friday, November 11th. The entire school faculty will be involved with Parent Teacher conferences on those two days. The Red Sailboat Conferences take place all day on Thursday, November the 10th. I am sending a hard copy written confirmation letter to all of you tomorrow (11/7) by way of your child’s backpack.
Tomorrow, Monday (11/7) it isMix-It-Up (Favorites) Day. Your child may come to school wearing their favorite T-shirt. They can wear a shirt with their favorite color, storybook character, action hero, sports team, amusement park/resort, museum, etc. You get the idea.J This is a school wide activity involving all of the students; Pre-K - 8th grades.
On Wednesday (11/9) it isPajama Day. Your student may wear their pajamas to school in honor of Ms. Pointy Patches – Letter P. Please NO SLIPPERS. Your child should wear their regular school shoes, so they will not trip or fall at school.
Ms. Pointy Patches – Letter P is still visiting us at the present time. She will stay with us for the remainder of the week, and we will be revisiting all of the letters that have come to our classroom thus far: M, T, F, N, H, & A. When we return to school on November 14th, we are expecting a visit from Letter Person Z.
Due to the short week, we will resume ourShow and Tell session on Friday, November 18thwith items beginning with theLetter Z.
I sent the next group ofStar Studentpackets home with some of your students in their Red Folders. I send 4 to 5 packets home at a time, and I am going in alphabetical order, so don’t worry if your child has not brought home this item as of yet. Everyone will have an opportunity to participate.
This coming Friday, isVeteran’s Day, so for all of you who have served in a branch of the United States military, or who have family members who have served our great country, Thank You, God Bless You, and have a wonderful Veteran’s Day. Don’t forget to vote on Tuesday, November 8th– Election Day. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday. I will see you tomorrow at dismissal.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Anne Patsalosavvis
Pre-K Teacher
Red Sailboats
Sunday - October 23, 2011
Dear Parents,
Good morning! I am writing to you because there will be so much happening up at school this week. I know this is redundant information that you may have already read on my Teacher WebPage, the STS School Website, or received in the Tuesday Tidbits e-mail, but I want to make sure everyone knows about these events. Our class is participating in all of these activities.
First for the sake of your schedules and planning please note that SCHOOL IS CLOSED ON FRIDAY - OCTOBER 28TH. The STS faculty is attending a Teacher In-Service day at Bishop O'Connell High School.
Here is the schedule for our School Spirit Week:
SPIRIT WEEK
Tuesday, Oct. 25th
Crazy Hat/Hair Day
Wednesday, Oct 26th
Jersey Day (w/ jeans or PE sweatpants)
Thursday, Oct. 27th
Black and Gold Day
(PE Uniforms or STS Spirit Wear)
PEP Rally @ 1:15
Run for Fun(d) @ 2:00
"Crazy Hair" means that the student can wear funny hairdos,a wig, use hair gel, or if you want to to step it up a notch, the students have been given permission to spray in washable hair color just for that day. When the students return to school on Wednesday their hair is to look normal again.
"Jersey Day" means any sports jersey the student wants to wear. It can be a Redskins, Wizards, Nationals, Orioles, or any team shirt that they want to wear. They can wear a Tee-ball or a soccer shirt of their own local team. If you do not have a sports shirt, please do not go out and buy one - it is okay if they wear a regular T-shirt with their jeans.
"Black and Gold Day" - The Red Sails can wear their goldenrod STS T-shirt with their uniform pants. If you own a pair of black sweat pants, you can wear those, as well as the black STS sweatshirt.
"Run for Fun(d)" takes place this same day, Thursday, October 27th. We are the only Preschool class officially in session at the time of the Pep Rally and the Run for Fun(d). All of my parents are welcome to come that day and arrive at about 12:45 if you wish to come to the pep rally and help out with the walk. It would help me to know who is planning to come in that day. Could you send me an e-mail to let me know? Thank you.
Please see the note below that I posted on my website, which is really to address the parents from the other Preschool sections who will be coming back up to the school to participate that day:
RUN FOR FUN(D)
For those students not in the Red Sailboat class on the afternoon of Thursday, October 27th, we encourage you to join us for the Run for Fun(d).
There will be a pep rally at 1:00 p.m. followed by the run. Parents are required to join their children, if not a member of the Red Sailboat class.
Mrs. Pat and Mrs. Myles welcome all parents from the Red Sailboats who wish to volunteer and join us on the walk. Mrs. Pat & Mrs. Myles are covered by the 1 to 10 ratio (we will each have 10 children in our charge on the walk), but it would be helpful to have a few extra helpers given the nature of the activity which involves the whole school population. So feel free to put on your tennis shoes/sneakers and come on down to walk with us!! Please plan on arriving between 12:45 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. Again, students who are returning to school for the run must be accompanied by a parent. Please email your child's teacher and let them know by the 25th if you are planning on attending. Thank you.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO CATHERINE AND CONNOR!!!
We are going to celebrate Catherine and Connor's birthdays at the AM snack before the pep rally and the walk. Then we will have our Show and Tell. We are reviewing the letters that have been introduced thus far; letters M, T, F, N, H, & A. The Show and Tell this week will be free choice.
Needless to say, I don't think we will be covering much academic material on Thursday, but we will have a lot of fun. 
I look forward to seeing those of you who can attend on Thursday. Please remember to sign in at the office. Enjoy your three day weekend! God bless you and your family.
September 11, 2011
Dear Red Sailboat Parents,
Good evening. I hope everyone enjoyed the sunny and dry weekend. What a relief from all of that rain!! My daughter and I, stopped to get two hot cocoas for our long commute home, after leaving school on Thursday afternoon. We were soaked to the bone. The carpool dismissal on Thursday was like none that I have ever experienced before. I felt so badly for your little ones. Mrs. Myles and I did everything we possibly could, to try and keep the students dry, but it was a losing battle against that torrential rain. I hope everyone made it home safe and sound, and that the children were able to get into dry clothes and warm up as soon as they got home. Since school was closed on Friday, two events have been postponed until Tuesday, September 13th. The students may wear blue jeans with red, white and blue shirts on Tuesday, and the National Junior Honor Society will come around to collect the $1.00 donations that will be sent to Fisher House which supports and helps the families of our military soldiers. In addition, The Saint Vincent DePaul Food Pantry collection has been extended until Tuesday as well. The items needed are listed on the STS website (I also have it listed on the left hand tab on my Teacher WebPage). Thank you in advance for your generosity.
We had a super first week of school with your children. I hope that they returned to you happy and excited to share their experiences with you. I am really impressed with how quickly the students adjusted to the classroom and our daily routine. Yes, a few students did shed a few tears on the first and second day at drop-off time, but that is to be expected and perfectly natural. I am happy to report that those brief moments of sadness and anxiety quickly disappeared once they became engaged in an activity with the other children. The first morning we started the day with praying the Hail Mary and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. We talked about the weather and the days of the week during calendar time. At circle time we read a bible story, (the story of Creation) and then we passed a little stuffed raccoon named Chester around the circle so that everyone in the circle had an opportunity to introduce themselves to their new friends. This was a lot of fun and there were many bright, smiling faces. Some children were a little shy, but ultimately everyone had a turn to speak about themselves. The children listened to a story written by Laura Penn entitled “The Kissing Hand.” This is the story of Chester the raccoon, who has to leave his mother for school, and is feeling anxious and sad, so his mother kisses his hand, so that he will feel that she is with him all through the day. After we read the story, the children traced their own hands ALL BY THEMSELVES – WOW!! Mrs. Myles and I helped the children cut their traced hands out of the construction paper. After our art activity we had so much fun dancing to the Chicken Dance. I will guarantee you that by the end of the preschool year, your children will be well-versed in all of the standard dances (Hokey, Pokey – Electric Slide – Locomotion- and dare I say it the Macarena) and will be ready to dance at family weddings. Due to the rainy weather, we had recess in the aftercare room and then we had snack. The children start off the school year with a simple grace before meals: “Thank you God for the food before us, the friends beside us, and the love between us - Amen.” Our Line Leader was Alejandra, our Line Ender was Chloe, our Flag Bearer was Nicholas, our Mail Carrier was Eva, our Door Holder was Catherine, and our Lights Person was Alexander.
Transition time at the 11:15 dismissal went very smoothly. The children who remained for the extended day enjoyed free play, and recess in the gym later in the afternoon. We read additional stories about the first day of school: Marc Brown’s “D.W.s First Day at Preschool”, and Tucker’s First day of School. After lunch the children found their nap-mats in their designated cubbies, and rolled them out on the floor for their nap. Mrs. Myles and I sang them a lullaby and put on some classical music before dimming the lights. Amazingly, for the first day of school, we had a majority of students who went into a really deep sleep. Those who did not go to sleep were very quiet and just relaxed listening to the music. They were just great, and don’t worry, honestly- no tears. After our second recess and snack, it was time to say closing prayer and dismiss for the day.
Did your children tell you we were visited by our school mascot, the Saint Timothy Tiger? That caused a lot of excitement, and some of the students even had their picture taken with the Tiger. Some of the students were feeling timid about the tiger, but we explained it was just one of our eighth grade students dressed-up in a costume. Look for a picture in the near future. We also enjoyed a visit from our Pastor, Father Weymes, who stopped by and introduced himself to our class. Father Weymes gave us all a very special blessing for the start of a new school year and we prayed the Hail Mary together.
On Wednesday, we shared stories about our families, how many sisters and brothers we have and if we own any pets and what we named our pets. After circle time we had fun building our own personal crayon boxes with new crayons, scissors and glue. We continued our Kissing Hand project by making Chester the Raccoon out of heart shapes. I prepared pre-cut kits for the students and they followed along as I modeled how to glue the raccoon together. Then we glued their personal kissing hand from the previous day onto the raccoon page. If you are in the building, please stop by and take a look at their work displayed on the wall next to our classroom. I am so proud of my class. They did a remarkable job of putting these together and their raccoons are so adorable. I will send the art work home in their red folders this coming Friday. We finished our day with “Who Stole the Cookies from the Cookie Jar?” The students absolutely love this game, and it helps them to learn the names of their classmates.
On Thursday, we took a tour of the building to show the children where the art room and the science lab are located. In class we started our pre-writing skills with some fun tracing activities and coloring pages. Each child has their own name plate to keep in their crayon box to help them copy or trace over their name. Eva celebrated her 4th birthday with the class. Eva brought in rice Krispy treats and juice boxes for all of the children. We sang Happy Birthday and wished Eva a very happy day. She looked lovely all dressed up in a beautiful purple dress. On your child’s birthday you may send in a snack and your child can come to school dressed out of uniform on that day as a special treat. We played Duck, Duck Goose in the vacant cafeteria, which really helped us get our energy out on a rainy day. Every day Mrs. Myles and I read multiple stories to the children; at circle time, at snack time and at lunch time. I love to read to the children, and I encourage all of you to do the same at home. You can never read enough to your children- it will prove to be invaluable time well spent.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs. Julie Downey (Logan’s mom) for so graciously volunteering to serve as our Room Mother this year. Mrs. McCoy has also so generously volunteered her time to help Mrs. Logan out with any needed preparations for class activities. They will be contacting all of you in the near future with any needed information. Mrs. Myles and I thank you very much and we appreciate your support. Happy Birthday to Eva, Victoria, Alexander and Melissa.
Please make sure to subscribe to my Newsflash on my website. You can access my website by clicking the Preschool tab on the left side of the Saint Timothy School Website. Scroll down to my name, and click on my website and you can subscribe on the Newsflash tab. Also, if you have any questions my e-mail address is apatsalosavvis@sainttimothyschool.org. My direct number at school is (703) 378-6932 Ext#227. In closing, thank you again for coming to our orientation before the start of school. It was a pleasure meeting all of you, and I think we are going to have a fantastic school year. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to teach your children this year. God bless all of you, and on this special day, God Bless America.
Sincerely,
Anne Patsalosavvis,
Pre-K Teacher, Red Sailboats