Santa is coming to SDSA!

Hi parents!

SDSA is going to be visited again this year by Santa on Wednesday, December 8th! We think this will be a lot of fun for the kids and are excited for them to get to see Santa in a less stressful (not to mention overstimulating!) environment than the mall! Feel free to join us!

SDSA on Twitter

Hi everyone,

I wanted to let you know that SDSA is now on Twitter...follow us at www.twitter.com/stdomsavio!

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! Everyone at SDSA is so thankful for our amazing students and parents! I'm looking forward to seeing you all on Monday.

Twilight Turtle

I don't know if any of you parents have seen this thing called the "Twilight Turtle." It's carried at Buy Buy Baby and is meant to be a nursery item, but we actually bought one through a sensory catalog. It's a turtle that's shell lights up in three different colors, and casts stars onto the ceiling. I wasn't sure if the kids would get much use out of it, but thought it might be cool to turn on with the lights out during sensory time. I brought it out today for the first time, and every single one of the elementary students was in love! They liked seeing the stars on the ceiling, casting stars onto each other, and seeing them glow on their shirts and arms. Since the kids were liking using the turtle so much, we actually decided to turn it into an art project, and used different shaped hole punchers to cut holes in card stock. Then we held them over flashlights to create different shapes. It was a lot of fun! Anyway, if any of you parents are looking for a new sensory item, I can assure you the Twilight Turtle is pretty cool :D

Petting Zoo at SDSA :)

The petting zoo today was, without a doubt, a huge success! Carter's Farm brought a goat, a cow, an alpaca, and many, many goats, chickens, and rabbits! Every student participated by going in the animal enclosure, and petting, holding, and brushing the animals! It was so rewarding to see how calm and happy all the kids were! I think it was truly an "animal therapy" experience! They all were smiling ear to ear and really enjoying themselves. We didn't want it to end. I think we have a new SDSA tradition!

October!

Hello everyone! Our farm-animal theme has been so fun this month! We've had a lot of practice making farm animal themed art projects, making farm animal noises, and sorting farm animals vs. other animals. We are so excited that our month long theme will culminate in a visit on Wednesday by Carter's Farm Petting Zoo! We'll get to brush and feed a cow, goat, and sheep, along with rabbits, chickens, and ducks! It should be a lot of fun for all the kids, and a great learning opportunity.

On Friday, we will be having our school halloween party. Students should come dressed in their costume. We will "practice" trick or treating as we did last year, going to visit the different rooms within the church and collecting some treats! We will also watch "The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" and have a dance party! It should be a lot of fun for all the kids. Can't wait to see them all in costume!

Donate $$ to SDSA By Searching/Shopping the Internet!

We have something new and exciting we'd like to share with you! It’s the new St Dominic Savio Academy toolbar – once added to IE or Firefox, each time you shop at more than 1,300 stores (from Amazon to Zazzle!) a percentage of your purchase will automatically be donated to St Dominic Savio Academy – at no cost to you (and you may even save money as the toolbar provides coupons and deals as well!). The toolbar also has a search box and each time you search the Internet, about a penny is donated to St Dominic Savio Academy. Follow the link to add the toolbar today, and encourage family and friends to do the same!

First Week Back

The first week back to school for the SDSA kids was a huge success! It seemed like every kiddo was ready to be back at school, and we didn't have any of the transition difficulties that we had anticipated! This week, we've been practicing the concept of "me" "my" and "mine," to go along with our "about me" theme. We'll be sending home a poster for the students to complete about themselves. Please assist your student in completing it as independently as possible. In the next two weeks, every student will take a turn presenting their poster. I know for many of our kids from last year, they completed this poster already. Hopefully this year they will have a greater sense of self and will be able to complete many of the components independently.

Great first week back, and we're looking forward to another great year!

August Theme: All About Me

During the month of August we will be focusing on the theme "All About Me." Students will be sent home with a project to complete that focuses on their favorite things, what they'd like to be when they grow up, etc. Each student will have a turn to present this project to the class and share about themselves. We will be concentrating on practicing our personal information (name, age, where we live, etc.) and noticing that in our class we have similarities and differences among each other. In science, we will concentrate on practicing our body parts, and for those that are already identifying their body parts, what each part is responsible for doing. In Social Studies, we will look at pictures of people and cultures from around the world. We will learn that we live in Arizona, and make an Arizona Flag, a map of Arizona, and an Arizona collage in art. If you'd like to help your child with this theme at home, there are many ways to do so. It can be as simple as having them identify themselves in a family photo, or identifying their name from a grouping of the names of the family members. For more advanced learners, they might practice talking about what their favorite activities are, versus what other family members enjoy doing. Get creative! See you all soon!!

Hello!

Hello!

Welcome to the St. Dominic Savio Academy elementary classroom blog.  Throughout the year, I will be updating the blog weekly to inform you on the week, what we've been working on in the classroom, what the month's theme is, upcoming events, and much more!  I am planning to post each Friday afternoon, so plan on reading it over the weekend for an update on the week's events at SDSA!  We hope that this will help you stay informed on the SDSA news. 

Reminder: the parent meeting will be taking place on Sunday, August 15th at 5 pm at SDSA in the elementary classroom.  It is mandatory for at least one parent from each family to attend.  Looking forward to seeing you all there and the start of another great school year!