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!