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May 10, 2024

Good afternoon families!
It was awesome to see the students come to school today excited with their science fair boards. We displayed them and walked around to see everyone’s. They loved looking at each other’s boards and showing off theirs. Next week, they will practice their presentations in front of their classmates to prepare to show their work to the other grade levels and parents on Friday, May 24.
We had a blast at the color run yesterday! There is one week left to raise the most money and win prizes.
We painted poppies to decorate our door for the Blessed Mother for May.
Every day we work hard on becoming better and better readers and spellers. Thank you to everyone for sending in their spare change. We’ve been practicing recognizing the different coins, the difference between heads and tails, and counting coins in math class.
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April 19, 2024

Good afternoon families!
There is another 8th grade pizza lunch fundraiser next Friday. The form is in the Friday Folder.
This Week’s Activities:
ELA – The kids are soaring with their reading skills! We are having so much fun reading new stories every day as we continue to practice our reading, writing, and spelling skills. Our favorite story this week was the folktale of The Three Little Pigs. I ordered the finger puppet set for this story and we’re looking forward to some puppet theatre next week. Shout out to this week’s Super Readers!
Math – We worked on chapter 17 this week on time: sequence of events, calendar skills, and activities that take less time and more time. We also enjoy math choice centers where they can practice all of the skills from the year with partners.
Religion – We completed lesson 17 in our workbooks about why we pray. We read the story in the Beginner Bible of Jesus appearing to the apostles after His Resurrection. Next week we will complete our last Bible worksheet and are super excited to assemble our own Bible books from all of the stories we have read this year. We prayed the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary this week. We made a congratulations sign for the 2nd graders receiving their First Holy Communion this Sunday.
Science – We learned all about the life cycle of chickens from the embryonic growth inside the egg through hatchling, chick, and adult hens and roosters. We watched a time lapse video of chicks hatching. We are so excited for our chicks to hatch!
Social Studies – We made our paper mache Earth’s this week to paint on Monday for Earth Day.
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April 12, 2024

Good afternoon families!
I hope your child had so much fun on their field trip today learning and playing in God’s classroom. It was a beautiful day. Pictures will be uploaded onto our webpage soon.
This week we enjoyed viewing the solar eclipse on Monday. We celebrated Easter with ice cream and an egg hunt with our 8th grade buddies.
The 8th grade is having a pizza lunch fundraiser again next Friday. The form is in the Friday Folder. Form and payment is due by next Wednesday.
This Week’s Academics:
ELA – We are working really hard every day on perfecting our sentence writing, spelling, and spending a lot of time getting better at our reading skills. We’re having so much fun reading books ourselves!
Math – We completed chapter 16 and are working on our hundreds chart all the way to 100!
Religion – We learned more about Jesus’ Resurrection. The reason for our hope. We prayed the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary and celebrated The Annunciation on Monday.
Science – We have chicken eggs in an incubator that should be hatching soon, so this week we learned about the development of a baby chicken inside the egg.
Social Studies – We were supposed to make paper mache Earths yesterday afternoon outside, but the storm prevented us, so we will make them on Monday and paint them later next week for Earth Day.

Kindergarten Science Fair!

Dear Families,

We are so excited for Kindergarten to host their own science fair this year! Students may choose any science topic they are interested in.

For example:

Life Science – Plants, animals, insects, food chains, life cycles, living vs nonliving things, ecosystems, etc.

Physical Science – Magnets, light, sound, sink or float, states of matter, etc.

Earth and Space Science – Planets, moon, stars, NASA, ISS, astronauts, seasons, weather, etc.

Or any other science topic they are interested in and would like to research and learn more about.

 

Requirements:

  1. Display Board – Student will organize a tri-fold (36×48 inch) display board that contains at least 5 facts written by the child, 3 illustrations drawn independently by the child, with clear evidence that the board was organized by the child (33% of grade).

  2. Presentation – Student will present topic information while making eye contact with audience, speaking at a proper rate and volume with confidence (33% of grade).

  3. Content Knowledge – Student will demonstrate a clear and thorough knowledge of topic (33% of grade).

 

Project due: Friday, May 10, 2024

Student Peer Presentations: May 10-23, 2024

Whole School Science Fair Presentations: Friday, May 24, 2024, 8:30-9:30 a.m. in Seton Hall

Family Science Fair Presentations: Friday, May 24, 2024, 10:00-10:30 a.m. in Seton Hall  (Please enter the hall through the door in the parking lot)

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March 22, 2024

Good afternoon families!
You’ll find a green tote bag from our church’s Outreach food pantry in your child’s backpack today. One of the pillars of Lent is almsgiving. The Outreach coordinator shared with us that the pantry shelves are very bare, so we decided to help for Lent. If you are able to give, the items they most need are listed on the side of the bag. Please return it by next Wednesday, March 27. The students will give the items to Ms. Aileen. Thank you so much.
This Week’s Activities:
ELA – We continue to work hard every day to grow in our reading and writing skills. We were blessed to have Mrs. Rucci as our surprise secret reader today. She read The Easter Bunny That Overslept to the students, brought a special Easter snack, and we painted paper Easter eggs.
Math – We continued working in chapter 16 counting on within a 100s chart and reviewing previous skills learned.
Religion – We are preparing for Holy Week next week. We read the stories of Mary and Martha with Jesus in the Bible as well as about Palm Sunday. We learned about St. Patrick and St. Joseph for their feast days this week. The middle school presented a beautiful living Stations of the Cross. We prayed the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary.
Science – We learned about mass and matter and the three states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas. We identified these states on our campus and with water making ice cubes which we observed melt into liquid and evaporate into a gas. We also used freezer pops.
Social Studies – We completed our map study skills by creating a location booklet from Google Earth starting small here at our school and then zooming out to our city, state, country, continent, planet, and solar system.
I’ll send home the April calendar next week. Have a great weekend!
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March 15, 2024

Good afternoon families!
The students really enjoyed their pizza lunch today. You’ll find our next field trip permission slip form in your child’s Friday folder today. It is due back by Friday, April 5. Please note the date change from April 19 to April 12.
This Week’s Activities:
ELA – We are continuing to work on our reading, writing, and spelling skills with our guided readers, leveled readers, word families, language games, etc. The students are reading so well and some were brave enough to read aloud to their classmates this week!
Math – We began chapter 16 about counting on within 100. We are also working hard to officially master the 100s chart 0-100 independently.
Religion – This week we read the story of The Good Samaritan in the Bible. What a great lesson about how everyone is our neighbor, so we should treat everyone with kindness and respect. We also prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary and the Stations of the Cross together.
Science – We completed our Earth and space unit by learning about astronauts and Florida’s unique role in space exploration. We learned about the moon landing and the students built their own Neil Armstrong out of model magic clay.
Social Studies – We explored on Google Earth and the students began building their own location booklets that will go from small to large illustrating and labeling our school, city, state, country, continent, planet, and solar system.
The rest of this week’s pictures will be loaded onto our class webpage shortly. Have a great weekend!
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March 8, 2024

Good afternoon families,
I hope your child had a blast on our field trip today! They were so good and we had a wonderful time. The pictures will be on our class website shortly. We’re going on a field trip in April as well. I will send the permission slip home next Friday.
The 8th grade is having a pizza lunch fundraiser. The form is in your child’s Friday folder today. It is due back by next Wednesday for pizza lunch next Friday.
This week several students moved up in their reading levels. They are working very hard and making fantastic progress in reading. This was the last week of the third quarter, so we reviewed math skills and played math games. In religion, we completed lesson 16 in our workbooks about prayer. We read the story in the Bible of Jesus as the Good Shepherd and prayed the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary together. In science class we learned about space rocks: asteroids, meteoroids, and comets. In social studies, we learned about continents and oceans and labeled and colored a map of the world.
There is no school on Monday for the Diocesan teacher PD day, so I’ll see you Tuesday. Have a great weekend!
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February 15, 2024

Good afternoon families!
It was a busy short week as we celebrated and learned about Mardi Gras, Saint Valentine, Ash Wednesday, and Lent. Please see our class website for all the pictures.
ELA – We worked on the -ed word family this week. The students’ sounding out and blending abilities are really coming along. We continue to practice guided and independent reading, and spelling. We read aloud some more Dr. Seuss books this week as well as Peter Rabbit, and did a fun activity with Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.
Math – We finished chapter 11 on subtraction this week and took the test today.
Religion – We completed lesson 14 this week about what sin is and how it affects our relationship with God. We looked at some examples of good behavior and sinful behavior and discussed how sin is not an accident, but a deliberate choice to do what we want instead of what God wants. We read the story in the New Testament of when Jesus calmed the storm. We learned about the real Saint Valentine, Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday, and the season of Lent.
Have a great long President’s Day weekend and we’ll see you back here Tuesday.
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February 9, 2024

Good afternoon families,
We got back into our regular routine this week after Catholic Schools Week last week.
ELA – We are working hard on our encoding and decoding skills with word family words and reading in our leveled reader books. We began reading Dr. Seuss books this week. We’ll celebrate his birthday in March. We read the classic Harold and the Purple Crayon and the students got to illustrate their own book of purple crayon adventures!
Math – We continued to practice subtraction this week in chapter 11 of our workbooks and subtraction games. We’ll finish this chapter next week and take a chapter test.
Religion – We completed lesson 15 in our religion workbooks on ‘How Does God Love Us?’ The students drew themselves and their families worshipping God in church. We read the New Testament Bible story about Jesus’ sermon on the mount. We prayed the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary together.
Science – We completed learning about the planets in our solar system and the students finished painting and labeling their solar system posters. We also created a chemical reaction with baking soda and vinegar to blow up the volcanoes we had built.
Social Studies – We continued learning about community jobs and the students traced community helpers.
This week’s pictures will be up on our website shortly. Have a great weekend!
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February 9, 2024

Good morning families,
In your child’s Friday Folder you will find the permission slip for our first field trip. Completed front and back of permission slip and payment are due by Friday, March 8.
We have room for two parent volunteer chaperones from each Kindergarten, so four parents total. You have to be a cleared volunteer through the school to be a field trip chaperone.
Who: Kindergarten class dressed in PE uniforms and with their own lunch and water bottle as usual (I’ll bring extra snacks for everyone)
What: Field Trip on our school bus
Where: The Florida Agricultural Museum in Palm Coast
When: Friday, March 8,2024
Why: Because being together off campus and learning history and making scientific observations out in nature is awesome!
Cost: $22 per person
All info is on the permission slip. Please let me know if you have any questions.
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February 2, 2024

Good afternoon families!
We had a very busy and fun week of Catholics Schools Week! Our 8th grade buddies invited us to the science lab this afternoon for some very cool experiments. Yesterday the SEAS band put on a great performance for us. Thank you so much for your generosity with the baby bottle drive for the mammas and babies at the Alpha Pregnancy Center here in town. They appreciate it so very much. If you still have your bottle at home, please send it in on Monday.
ELA – We continue to practice encoding (spelling) and decoding (reading) words.
Math – We started chapter 11 on subtraction.
Religion – We completed lesson 12 in our workbooks about how we respond to God’s love by making good choices. We read the New Testament Bible story about Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding feast at Cana, and prayed the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary together.
Science – We learned about the other terrestrial planets in our solar system and the students painted them onto their solar system posters.
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January 26, 2024

Good afternoon families!
We hope to see you at the noon Mass and open house on Sunday! We’ll sit together on the side by the choir.
We had a blast today celebrating 100 days of Kindergarten, growth, learning, friendship, and fun! We colored 100 day crowns, took some photo booth pics with friends, worked hard on a 100th day sticker chart, enjoyed secret reader with Centipede’s 100 Shoes and then we helped centipede put on his 100 pairs of shoes, ate 100 day snack buffet, had a 100 egg hunt, and 100 cup stacking challenge! Whew!
Thank you so much to those that donated items and snacks for our celebration and a huge thank you for those that sent in more baby wipes!
This Week’s Activities: 
ELA – We are continuing our rigorous practice of spelling, sounding out word families, and the students doing guided reading with me and independent reading. It is awesome to see them reading. For them to get better at reading, they have to practice reading. They are motivated and determined.
Math – We completed chapter 10 this week on addition and took the chapter test. We’ll begin subtraction next week.
Religion – We completed lesson 11 in our workbook on how we know God loves us. We discussed and drew the things that make us special. We read the Bible story of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus and prayed the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary together.
Science – We began learning about the planets in our solar system by learning about Mercury. The students are painting their own poster of the solar system.
Social Studies – We continued learning about community jobs with those in the medical field like doctors, nurses, dentists, and veterinarians and what it’s like to visit the doctor and dentist. The students are building their own little collection of community workers.
Going forward, pictures will be posted on our class webpage as I’m still struggling to get them to load and send through email. They should be posted shortly. Thank you for your patience.
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January 19, 2024

Good afternoon families!
Reminder of upcoming dates:
  • 1/26 – 100th day of school! Child may wear a 100 themed tshirt designed at home and bring 100 of a little snack to share
  • 1/28 – Catholic Schools Week kicks off at the noon Sunday Mass. Students will wear their uniforms to Mass. We will sit with our 8th grade buddies again.
Classroom Need: We are running out of baby wipes. These are safe for the kids to use to wipe hands, faces, desks, etc. We would really appreciate more. Thank you!
This Week’s Activities:
ELA – This week we began working on the students reading independently with leveled readers. I’ll continue guided reading and read alouds, but we’ll be spending more time every week with them practicing sounding out and reading themselves. They were very excited and did a great job. The students are tracking their own reading progress. As they read the level A books to me, they can check it off of their book list. When they’ve read all the level A books, they will receive a certificate and move up to level B. The Diocesan standard goal is for all students to be able to independently read level B books by the end of the year. Starting next week, students will write their first and last name on all of their work. We practiced tracing them this week. I sent home a practice sheet. Please send it back when they have completed it.
Math – We continued working in chapter 10 on addition. We’ve been playing a dice addition game to practice the skill. We continue to practice the 100s chart from 0-80 and counting centers. The students are becoming more independent. We do the front of a lesson worksheet together like we always have, then they get with a partner to complete the back and then we check it together.
Religion – We completed lesson 23 in our workbooks about Jesus’ birth that we celebrate at Christmas and how the greatest gift we can give Jesus is our hearts. We read the Bible stories of Jesus’ presentation in the temple, the three wise men visiting baby Jesus, and Jesus getting lost in the temple from the New Testament. We prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary together.
Science – We learned lots of moon facts this week as we continue our earth and space unit. We made the moon’s phases out of Oreos. Yummy!
Social Studies – We’ve begun learning about communities and jobs. This week we focused on safety jobs like police officers, firefighters, and EMS workers. The students are building a collection of workers made out of popsicle sticks and we’ll add to it over the next couple of weeks.
Have a great weekend!
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January 17, 2024

Hi families!
Next Friday, January 26th is already the 100th day of kindergarten! We have been counting and charting the days since the first day of school and are looking forward to celebrating!
1. We will have fun games, activities, and books all about 100.
2. Students may design their own shirt about 100 and wear it to school with their uniform bottoms (Google 100th day of school tshirt ideas).
3. Students can bring in 100 of a snack to share at our 100 buffet like goldfish crackers, pretzels, M&Ms, Skittles, etc.
If you are able to donate items for our celebration, we would really appreciate it!
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January 12, 2024

Good afternoon families!
Notes:
  • The students took the STAR Early Literacy test this week. We will be able to compare this data from the time they took it back in August to see their growth. I was hoping to send the results home today, but the printer was down today. I will try to send them on Tuesday.
  • Just a reminder there is no school on Monday for Martin Luther King, Jr. day.
  • Calendar update: Due to the severe weather day missed, the 100th day of school celebration will now be Friday, January 26th.
This Week’s Academics:
ELA – We are zipping along in our reading and writing skills now that we have the alphabet down! The students are doing an awesome job working with word family words, sounding out, and blending words to read independently. It is so exciting to see! We worked on the AG word family this week and they took their December sight word and fluency sentence test with me. We also learned how to do a word search to continue to practice letter and word recognition.
Math – We began chapter 10 on addition. This is where all of our counting, number recognition, and writing practice is really paying off. The students added with objects, pictures, counting cubes, and we played a fun addition game with dice. We are working on our 100s chart to 80 this quarter. By the end of the year, they have to be able to fill in a blank 100s chart from 0-100. I attached the one we use here at school if you want to print it out and practice at home.
Religion – We began the New Testament of the Bible with the stories of the Annunciation, and Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem for Jesus’ birth. We completed lesson 10 in our religion workbooks on how the Church loves God and others. We prayed the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary.
Science – We began our earth science unit by learning all sorts of facts about our sun. The students painted their own sun and drew their favorite activity to do in the sunshine.
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January 2, 2024

Happy New Year!
I hope you’ve had a wonderful holiday with your families. Just a reminder we return to school tomorrow to begin the 3rd quarter of our school year. December homework is due, so please send their homework binder in with them.
Now that we have mastered letter recognition and sound, we’ll be shifting our focus more to word families, sounding out and blending words to read independently, sentence writing, and continue to practice spelling.
Starting this month, a new homework notebook will come home to practice the word families. I’ll send that home by the end of the week. The students will also take the STAR Early Literacy assessment again next week so we can see their progress from when they took it at the beginning of the year. I’ll send the results home to you.
See you tomorrow!
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December 19, 2023

Good afternoon families!
Thank you all so much for the beautiful cards and gifts. I really appreciate it.
We were blessed to be asked to sing ‘Prepare the Way’ for the school over the intercom for morning prayer. We finished deep cleaning our room and supplies out today to prepare for the new year. We enjoyed popcorn and juice while we watched A Charlie Brown Christmas, and we had hot cocoa and some recess time with our 8th grade buddies.
From my family to yours, I wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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December 15, 2023

Good afternoon families!
This Week’s Activity Summary:
We had so much fun today at our Christmas festivities from our PTO. We made Christmas cards for people in nursing homes, made magical reindeer food, decorated cookies and enjoyed cocoa and juice, had a freeze dance party, and Santa visited and gave us gifts!
We worked hard today on completing our gift for our families. They will come home on Monday.
ELA – We have mastered our letters and sounds, so we are working on sounding out and blending with word families. We continue to work on writing, spelling, and finger follow reading. We had secret reader today who read us The Giving Tree and then we made our own trees.
Math – We worked on Chapter 15 making bigger numbers using base ten blocks. We continued practicing writing 0-50 in a 100s chart. We had a math counting center where we practiced counting objects and writing numbers.
Religion – We learned about the birth of Jesus and prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary. We also learned about the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Saint Juan Diego in Mexico in 1531 for her feast day on December 12.
Social Studies – We learned the economic concept of spending and saving and how the items we purchase are either a good or a service.
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December 14, 2023

Good morning! ♥️💚♥️
We are excited about our upcoming Christmas activities these last couple of days of school before Christmas break:
Tomorrow, Friday, 12/15: The PTO has planned fun station activities for the students to rotate through in the hall similar to how the fall festivities were planned from 8:45-9:45 a.m. We are also working on a gift for our families that should be completed and sent home tomorrow 🙂
Monday, 12/18: We will wrap up our second quarter studies and clean our room before break. The students may bring a toy and we’ll have some extra recess. We’ll have candy canes and fun Christmas crafts and coloring sheets.
Tuesday, 12:19: Last day of school before break. It is early dismissal beginning at 11:20 a.m. Students may bring a small blanket and stuffed animal. We’ll have snacks and watch A Charlie Brown Christmas (we read the book together this week). We’ll also have a snowball fight and a hot cocoa bar with our 8th grade buddies!
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December 8, 2023

Good afternoon families,
This Week’s Activities:
ELA – Since we completed the alphabet last week, this week I introduced word families. We started with the -AB family. The students are also completing their morning work handwriting workbooks and I started to show them how to use a composition notebook for morning work with the word families that they’ll have in the 3rd quarter after Christmas break. We continue to practice reading in our little phonics book of the week and practicing spelling. The students took their November sight word and sentence fluency tests. We’re working hard on sounding out words and blending the sounds to read words.
Math – We completed chapter 9 this week on breaking apart numbers up to 10 down into smaller numbers. We took a chapter test. We reviewed what a pattern is and the students used Advent colors to make a pattern paper chain to decorate our classroom. We practice counting every day and we’re working on being able to fill in a 100s chart from 0-50 independently.
Religion – This week we learned about the Church’s liturgical calendar as we began Advent. We learned about the Advent season and the students decorated our classroom Jesse tree. We attended Eucharistic adoration on Wednesday and Mass today for the feast of Mary’s Immaculate Conception. We learned about the life of St. Nicholas on his feast day on Wednesday and he visited us and gave us candy canes! We prayed the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary.
Social Studies – We learned about the economic concept of needs vs wants. We brainstormed and wrote lists of needs and wants and then completed a cut and glue.
Science – We continued learning about severe weather by learning all about thunderstorms. The students added thunderstorms to their Severe Weather brochure.
Have a great weekend!
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November 17, 2023

Good afternoon families!
We had a busy and blessed week in Kindergarten! I have a lot of wonderful pictures to send, but I’m having trouble getting them to go through. I checked with other teachers and they are having technical issues as well, so I will try to send them from my home internet.
We had fun today having lunch, apple dipping, and recess with our 8th grade buddies. Thank you so much to the parents who donated items for our sweet treat. Thank you also to the parents and students who helped set up our school’s Christmas tree at the library. It looks wonderful. If you have a chance to stop by and see all of the wonderful trees, they’ll be up into January.
This Week’s Academics and Activities:
ELA – We added letters W and Y to our list of letters learned. Only 2 letters left! We’re so excited to finish the alphabet and have an alphabet party! We worked on our handwriting, spelling, and reading and read some great Thanksgiving read alouds. We took a test on letters J, Z, N, and M.  I let the students take home up to 5 books from our class library so they have plenty to read over the break. 
Math – This week we worked on counting and writing 0-50 into a blank 100s chart.
Religion – We completed lesson 7 in our workbooks on how we praise and thank God. We read the story of Samson in the Old Testament. We prayed the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary. The ladies that run the Outreach program at the church came to visit us and we blessed them with all of the food we have collected so far. They were blown away and send a huge thank you to you all for being the hands of Jesus to those struggling in our community.
Science – We learned about hurricanes and how to prepare for them. We’ve begun making a severe weather brochure.
Social Studies – We learned about the history of Thanksgiving. We watched a video today on how to draw a cornucopia and the students made pinecone turkeys to decorate their Thanksgiving tables.
From my family to yours, I wish you a blessed, safe, and restful Thanksgiving with your families.
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November 10, 2023

Good afternoon families!
We had a busy week here in Kindergarten. We have begun practicing for our Advent Presentation and are so excited to share the joy of the season with you! Please mark your calendars for Thursday, November 30, at 1:15 p.m. in the hall.
ELA – We added U and V to our list of letters learned. We are so excited we only have 4 letters left to learn in the alphabet and then we can work more with our words and blending. The students continue to finger follow read with me in their little phonics books, review all letters, practice sight words, sentences, and spelling. We continue to enjoy our read aloud time together every day.
Math – We completed chapter 7 on 3D shapes this week. We made the shapes out of clay and then went on a campus wide shape hunt marking our findings in a tally chart. We practice counting every day and are working on 0-50 on a hundreds chart.
Religion – We completed Lesson 6 in our workbooks on how God shares His life with us through Jesus, prayer, and the Sacraments. We read the Old Testament Bible story of Joshua leading the Israelites in the Promised Land with the battle of Jericho. We prayed the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary. We got with our 8th grade buddies to make signs for the Project Share campaign coming up to collect toys for families in need for Christmas and colored funny turkey masks to wear next week to our buddy lunch and dessert before break.
Science – We learned about Florida’s two seasons of weather – the summers that are hot and humid, and the cooler dry season. The students’ pumpkin seeds have sprouted! We’ll plant them in our garden bed next week.
Social Studies – We learned what a veteran is and the history of Veteran’s Day. The students made cards for veterans. If you or anyone in your family is a veteran, God bless you and thank you for your service.
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November 3, 2023

Good afternoon families!
This Week’s Academics:
ELA – We added letters P and R to our list of letters learned. We are working hard on our letter recognition, sound, spelling, and reading skills. We took our October sight word and sentence fluency tests and began learning our November words and sentences.
Math – This week we began working on chapter 7 about solid or 3D shapes. We’ll complete this chapter next week, make the shapes out of clay, and go on a shape hunt around our campus.
Sorry for any confusion with the math homework on IXL. Your child should be completing 15 minutes several days a week. This is their only math homework, which I chose over worksheets so they can choose whichever math skill they want to work on at their level. It is for a math homework grade, but more importantly to help them learn and practice their math skills. Shout out to Dylan for completing the most questions proficiently on IXL in October! Great job!
Religion – We learned about and celebrated All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day this week. We prayed the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary. We read the stories from the Bible of the Israelites entering the Promised Land in the Old Testament.
Science – We learned about the 4 traditional weather seasons of the year. The students completed a cut and glue activity.
Social Studies – We learned about U.S. currency and spent time sorting, counting, and cleaning coins.
Sorry, I didn’t take too many pictures this week after Halloween festivities.
Have a great weekend!
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October 27, 2023

Good afternoon families!
This Week’s Academics:
ELA – This week we added letters N and M to our list of letters learned. Just 8 more letters and we’ll have the whole alphabet to start working on word families and blending more to read. We continue to practice finger following and reading with our little phonics books, our sight words and sentences for the month, and spelling. And of course daily read alouds, which we love. October ends next Tuesday, so the October homework is due next Wednesday and I will test the students on their words and sentences.
Math – This week we worked in chapter 6 on plane shapes. We recognized and drew triangles, circles, squares, rectangles, and hexagons. We learned how to use rulers to make straight lines. We have mastered 0-20, so now we’re working on a 100s chart to 50. By the end of the quarter we should be able to count to, recognize, and write numbers 0-50.
Religion – This week we continued reading the Bible story of Moses in the desert with the Israelites and when God gave us the Ten Commandments to follow. We completed lesson 5 in our workbooks about what the Church is, and prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary.
Science – We continued learning about pumpkins this week diagramming their life cycle with clay. The students had to work hard to combine colors for their diagram. We also planted pumpkin seeds to observe their life cycle.
Social Studies – We completed our study of U.S. symbols with the Statue of Liberty. We learned all sorts of facts about this special statue and then watercolor painted a picture of Lady Liberty.
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October 25, 2023

Good afternoon families!
We are so excited to celebrate our first big holiday together next Tuesday, October 31st, for Halloween! We will focus on the Catholic feast of All Hallows Eve before the feasts of All Saints and All Souls. We’ll learn about bats in science class and finish our pumpkin studies. If you would like to donate items towards our festivities, please sign up here and send the items in by next Monday. Thank you!
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October 19, 2023

Good afternoon families,
Thank you all so much for coming to meet with me today! It was such a pleasure to get to talk with you about your child’s progress this year.
Notes: 
  • Pizza lunch 10/31 – You’ll find the order form in your child’s folder to order them pizza lunch on Halloween. Please send that in as soon as you can.
  • I will be out Monday, October 23rd. Ms. Monica will be subbing for me. I went over the activities for the day with the students today so they know what to expect.
  • We’re planning our class Halloween celebration. I’ll let you know the details next week.
  • The kids were all talking about the Fall Festival at the church this weekend. I hope you can make it and have a great time!
This Week’s Academics:
ELA – This week we added letters J and Z to our list of letters learned. Only 10 letters left to learn and we’ll be working hard on word families and blending, which we have already been practicing in class. We were ‘pumpkined’ by our 8th grade buddies, so we ‘pumkined’ the 1st grade with kind notes and a pumpkin coloring sheet.
Math – We began chapter 6 this week on plane shapes. The students also learned about tally marks, made their own tally chart survey and surveyed each other.
Religion – We read the story of Moses, the ten plagues, and the crossing of the Red Sea in the Bible, and prayed the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary.
Science – This week was all about pumpkins! We learned the parts of a pumpkin and the students made their own diagram. We carved our own pumpkin, and roasted and ate the seeds. Next week we’ll learn the life cycle of a pumpkin and plant our own seeds in our Kinder-Garden bed outside.
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October 13, 2023

Good afternoon families,
We had a jam packed last week of the first quarter! Today the students had some extra play and crafting time to celebrate all of their hard work this first quarter.
ELA – We completed another little phonics book. We practiced our letters, sounds, and practiced spelling. We will complete the rest of the letters at the beginning of the second quarter and then move more heavily into word building, practice, and blending.
Math – We worked on chapter 5 this week on writing, recognizing, counting, and comparing letters 6-10. I am individually testing the students on the material from chapters 3-5.
Religion – We started reading the story of Moses in the Bible. We led the school in the beautiful procession and prayer to Our Lady of La Leche on her feast day on Wednesday. We got to spend some time with the nuns from India that visited our parish. We prayed the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary.
Science – We set up bean seed germination stations to observe bean seeds sprout.
Social Studies – We learned about the White House and took a virtual tour online. The students built their own White House out of model magic clay and paint.
I’ll see you at parent/teacher conferences next Thursday! There is no school next Friday, October 20, for a teacher PD day.
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October 6, 2023

Good afternoon families!
Notes:
  • Next week is the end of the first quarter already! Your children have been an absolute blessing to work with. Report cards will be emailed home, and I will see you on the 19th for our conference to discuss their progress.  Here is the link if you still need to sign up:  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080D4AA8AA2EA64-44636046-parentteacher
  • Just a reminder to please only send water in your child’s refillable water bottle. If you want to pack a juice box or another water bottle with a mix in in their lunchbox, that’s fine, but the refillable water bottle should just have water in it. Thank you!
This Week’s Academics:
ELA – We completed our final letter for the first quarter with letter K. They are doing such a great job with their letter recognition, sound, and beginning blending. They are also doing well finger following in their little phonics books every week. We are laying the foundation for little readers! I tested each of the students this week on their September sight words and fluency sentences and we began memorizing our October ones.
Math – We completed chapter 4 on writing, recognizing, and comparing numbers 6-10. They have just about mastered the ten digits we will need to build every other number.
Religion – We completed lesson 4 in our workbooks on “Who is Jesus Christ?” and learned about the Holy Family. We reread the story of Joseph and his brothers in the Old Testament because this is such an important lesson on trusting God in hard times, how God can bring good out of any evil, and the importance of forgiveness. We prayed the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary together this week and the students took a Rosary home to keep. We were blessed to spend a few minutes with Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration this morning and we stopped by the hall to see the display of Eucharistic Miracles of the World.
Science – We continued in our plant unit by learning all about seeds. The students completed a diagram of a bean seed and were able to dissect real seeds to see the parts.
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September 29, 2023

Good afternoon,
Notes:
  • The September homework is due Monday. Please return the homework binder with completed work for homework grades.
  • I will test the students individually next week on their September sight words and fluency sentences.
  • Please begin studying the October sight words and fluency sentences. Add them to the ones mastered.
  • Math homework begins on IXL in October. You’ll find the log in the homework binder. Students must complete 30 math questions a week for a math homework grade.
  • Please sign up for a conference with me and thank you to those that already have!
  • If you buy books for your child to enjoy at home, please consider purchasing them through our Scholastic class website. We earn points to purchase books for our class library.
  • Just a reminder next Friday, October 6,  is early dismissal beginning at 11:20 a.m.
This Weeks’ Academics:
ELA – We added letter Q and H to our list of letters learned. We continue to review letters, practice reading with finger following, sounding out and blending words, and writing. We were so excited to have our first surprise secret reader today! Mrs. Wooley read us If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and brought us cookies and pencils. The students did a color by number mouse and then got to choose what they would give the mouse and molded it out of model magic clay.
Math – We completed chapter 3 on counting, ordering, and comparing number 0-5, recognizing greater than and less than numbers, and ordinal number 1-5. The students made their own alligator mouth out of popsicle sticks to compare numbers. 
Religion – We completed Lesson 3 in our religion workbooks about why God made us. We read the story in the Beginner Bible about Joseph and his brothers and how God can bring good out of any bad thing that happens to us. We prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary.Science – We learned about the parts of a plant and what each part does. The students traced and colored their own plant.Social Studies – We learned all about our first President, George Washington, and the students made their own George Washingtons._______________________________________________________________________

September 26, 2023

Good afternoon,
Just a reminder our first homework due date is next Monday, October 2. Please send in your child’s homework binder with the September reading log completed and their writing notebook for reading and English grades. I will test them next week on the September sight words and fluency sentences. We’ve been practicing at school as well and they are doing great! Thank you so much.
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September 22, 2023

Good afternoon families,
We practiced our safety drills this week including a fire drill and a lockdown drill so the students know what to do in case of emergency. I know this can be scary for the kiddos, so I wanted to let you know. We talked all about it, how safe we are here in our school, how every adult on campus is here to protect them, and I answered any questions they had.
This Week’s Academics:
ELA – We added the letters E and G to our list of letters learned. I gave the students their first reading and writing test on the first four letters we learned: L, T, I, and F. They did great! We practiced finger following and reading our little phonics book of the week and the students each read it to me. I started showing them how to use the manipulatives in our Discovery bins we work with on Wednesdays and they can practice the skills if they complete their work early. I started showing them how to play Alphabet Go Fish. So fun and a great way to practice letter recognition!
Math – We worked on chapter 2 this week, which was all about counting, recognizing, and writing numbers 0-5, making equal groups, as many as, and fewest and most. I started teaching the students how to play the War card game to practice number recognition and comparison.
Religion – We completed Lesson 2 in our workbooks about who God is. We read the stories in the Bible about Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Esau. We prayed the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary.
Science – We began our plant unit this week by learning all about what plants need to grow. The students painted their own poster of plant needs.
Social Studies – We are continuing to learn about United States symbols by learning facts all about our national bird, the bald eagle. The students colored their own eagle and attached real feathers. We even checked out a bald eagle nest live cam!
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September 15, 2023

Good afternoon families!
I want to thank everyone for a wonderful turnout at our Kinder/8th Sundaes on Sunday event. I hope everyone had a wonderful time fellowshipping with each other and enjoying sweet cool treats despite the super hot weather.
You’ll find a sample of the reading and writing tests I’ll be administering to your child one-on-one with me over the last couple weeks of the first quarter in your child’s Friday Folder today so you can see what is expected of them to meet the Diocesan standards and can use them to practice with your child at home.
This Week’s Academics:
ELA – This week we added A and B to our list of letters learned as we continue to review previous letters. We also sing this alphabet song together every day to practice letter recognition and sound. We read our little phonics book together every day as we practice recognizing and memorizing new words, finger following as we read, and reading from left to right. We also discuss story elements like characters and setting. Please have them read the little phonics book to you. They are excited and proud to be emergent readers! We have been practicing our September sight words and fluency sentences every day as well. I continue to read aloud a book a day. I have begun to show them how to use the independent practice bins that have many manipulatives for them to practice at their desks while I work with small groups.
Math – We are counting the days of school every day so we can celebrate the 100th day of school! Today was the 24th day! We also count from 0-20 every day verbally and with pom poms on a 20 chart. We got a bit behind because of the hurricane, so this week we caught up by completing chapter 8 on position and location, which included identifying:
1. Above and below
2. Top, middle, and bottom
3. Over, on, and under
4. Inside, outside, and beside
5. In front of, behind, and next to
6. Left, right, and between
Next week we’ll begin chapter 2 on writing and recognizing 0-5.
Religion – This week we discussed and prayed the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary. We completed lesson 1 in our religion workbooks: How do we know God? Through prayer, reading the Bible, the Sacraments, and through others. We read the story in the Bible about Abraham, Sarah, and baby Isaac, watched a cartoon about the story, and colored a sheet to add to our Bible books we’re making.
Science – We learned all about the complex life cycle of a frog as an animal that goes through a metamorphosis. We read a few non-fiction books about the topic and watched a few educational videos. Then the students made the life cycle out of clay.
Social Studies – We began our United States history and symbols unit by learning all about our American flag. The students painted their own flags.
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September 12, 2023

Good morning,
In your child’s Daily Folder today you will find their log in info for IXL.com. We will be using this website for required math homework for a math homework grade for each month. You will find the log for this in their homework binder. Starting the first week of October, students will be required to complete at least 30 math problems per week on IXL.com.
The best parts about this website are:
1. You and your child can choose the skills they work on at their own level and pace
2. It has Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies skills as well that they can practice
Please try to log in in the next few weeks before October to check it out and let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!

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September 8, 2023

Good afternoon families!
Thank you so much for RSVPing to our buddy event on Sunday! As of right now there are 82 people attending! Wow! See you there!
We had popsicles with the principal on Tuesday to celebrate her birthday 🙂
This Week’s Academics:
ELA – This week we began our Reading to Phonics workbook. Every week the students will have a little phonics book of the week we will repeat read together every day with finger following. Their first one is in the Friday Folder. See if they can read it to you! We added the letters D and O to our list of letters learned. We review the letters learned every day. We also started building words with the letters we’ve learned and practiced blending the sounds left to right to read them. We looked at our September sight words and have begun to memorize them.
Math – We completed chapter 14 this week on measurement. We practiced testing procedures with the chapter 14 test and they did so great! We practiced measuring objects with rulers and tape measures. We use pom poms on a 20s board to count to 20 and we count the days of school every day. IXL.com info will be coming home next week to start for math homework. Until then, keep practicing counting and recognizing numbers 0-20.
Religion – This week we prayed the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary and celebrated Mary’s birthday today! We paid a special visit to the Our Lady of Fatima statue on campus to pray and made beautiful Mary projects with tracing, cutting, finger painting, and glitter! They turned out beautiful and we hung them in the hallway. Mrs. Sammelman’s class invited us over to eat some birthday donuts, sing some Mary songs, and make necklaces with blessed Mary medals.
Science – We had our first science lesson this week where we learned all about what science is, what scientists do, how they use their five senses to make observations, and looked at many tools scientists use to explore the natural world. The kids had fun playing with the tools and pretending to be scientists.
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August 31, 2023

SURPRISE READER: Once a month we’ll have a surprise parent reader come to our classroom to read aloud to the students. You’ll read aloud to the class and are welcome to stay for a craft that goes with the book. You’re also welcome to bring a snack for the kids if you want. I have all of the books here. You have to be a cleared school volunteer to sign up. Try to keep it a secret from your child. It’s so fun for them to be surprised! Thanks!

Good afternoon families,
I hope everyone’s family and homes are safe from the hurricane.
Your child’s homework starts tomorrow for the month of September, so please check the homework binder to plan how to best meet the practice goals of this month. Let me know if you have any questions.
This Week’s Academics:
ELA – Every reading and writing class we warm up with reviewing all of the letters and and sounds and then review the ones we’ve learned more in depth so far. This week we added C to that list. Next week we’ll begin our Reading to Phonics workbook and looking at the September sight words.
Math – We began chapter 14 on measurement. I jump around a bit in the workbooks doing the easier intro material first and then building up to more challenging skills. We compared objects by size and length, and then ordered objects by length.
Religion – We prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary. We read the Bible story about Noah’s Ark, watched the cartoon that goes with our Bible, and colored a picture of it. Mrs. Sammelman’s Kindergarten class invited us over on Tuesday afternoon to learn about the life of St. Therese the Little Flower, make a craft, and pray with her relics.
Science – Excited to finally start our science classes next week by learning about what science is, what scientists do, different types of fields in science, tools scientists use, and how they use their five senses to observe the natural world.
Just a reminder there’s no school on Monday in observance of Labor Day. Have a great weekend!

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August 29, 2023 – Kindergarten Books

Hi everyone,
Thank you so much to those of you who were able to take time out of your busy schedule to come meet with me today! It was so great to see you face to face and talk about this awesome year with your kiddos.
Here is a list of Kindergarten books to read aloud to your child like we talked about. I read aloud great books to them every day. You can also Google lists of Kindergarten books. I also highly recommend taking them to the Flagler County Public Library to get their very own library card and check out books for free! They have a great children’s section in there on the back right when you walk in the front door. I also read to them from the Beginner Bible. We will read the entire Bible by the end of the school year so they have a good foundation to continue to study the Word of God for the rest of their lives.
The goal by the end of Kindergarten is for your child to be able to read level A and B books independently. Here are some simple sets you can get to practice at home if you want. Repetition is important at this stage of development. I included up to levels E and F if they are already a strong reader.
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August 25, 2023

Good afternoon everyone,
We had an excellent week here in Kinder. Here are a few notes and reminders:
  • Homework begins in September. I sent it home today so you could look at it and plan for how it will best fit into your schedule. There are skills we work on for the month, so you can do it with your child when it works for your family.
  • I decided to use the binders for homework instead of the Friday papers. Sorry for any confusion. The homework binder will stay home until it is due once a month. The Friday Folder will come home Fridays to be cleaned out by you and returned on Mondays, and the Daily Folder will continue to live in the backpack for daily items between home and school when needed.
  • In the binder you’ll also find my plan for the year on the skills to be covered in all four quarters so you can see the academic goals for your child.
  • I hope you can make it to the Breakfast Meeting on Tuesday morning at 8:15 here in our classroom. It will be nice to meet face to face and discuss the goals for the year and answer any questions you have. Please enter through the office if you’re attending. Thanks!
  • Starting next week, students may bring a toy with them to school on Fridays to play with on the playground. There is no school next Friday because it is a Professional Development day for teachers, so they may bring a toy on Thursday.
This Week’s Academics:
ELA – We reviewed the letters learned so far and worked on letters I and F. I read aloud a good book to the students every day.
Math – We completed chapter 1 on sorting by size, color, and shape. I didn’t have the students take the paper test for this first chapter, but had them show me they could sort with multi-color buttons. We are counting the days of school to 100 and are working on mastering writing, counting, and recognizing numbers 0-20 in this first quarter.
Religion – We prayed the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary this week. We also read the Bible story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Every week the students will color a worksheet based on the Bible story we read to reinforce the lesson and practice choosing appropriate colors, coloring in the lines, and strengthening their hands. You won’t see these sheets come home because I assemble them at the end of the year into their own Bible book they can take home of all the stories we’ve read.
Science and Social Studies – I was hoping to start science and social studies classes this week, but we worked on taking the STAR test instead to get beginning of the year data on where your child is academically. I have a few more students to test next week and then I will send home the results. We’ll take the test again after Christmas break and at the end of the year to see their progress.
Have a great weekend!

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August 18, 2023

Good afternoon families!
We made it through our first full week in Kindergarten and I have to tell you how impressed I am with your kiddos. They are a joy!
We met our 8th grade buddies for the first time this week. We attended our first school Mass on Wednesday morning. We started our first classes.
In your child’s backpack today, you’ll find their Boomerang Binder and their Daily Folder. The Boomerang Binder goes home Fridays with completed work, absent assignments, and any paperwork from the school. Please clean out their binders over the weekend and return on Mondays. Their Daily Folder lives in their backpack for any papers that need to travel between home and school during the week.
This Week’s Academics: 
ELA – We practiced our first letters: L and T. We practiced recognizing them, brainstormed words that start with these letters, and practiced writing them. We read aloud and discussed some great books every day. We’ll begin working with out Phonics to Reading workbooks next week.
Math – We began chapter 1 on sorting objects by size, color, and type. We did some hands on sorting every day. We practice counting 0-20 every day.
Religion – We started reading the Bible with the story of God creating the world. We started learning how to pray the Rosary with the Joyful Mysteries.
I’m planning on beginning our science and social studies classes next week 🙂
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August 11, 2023

Good afternoon families,
Happy Friday! We had a great second day in K. We practiced our procedures again so everyone feels confident and comfortable in our classroom home.
We practiced making the Sign of the Cross properly. We began talking about what we’ll be learning in reading and math classes. We watched a little video on how to properly hold a pencil. I had them copy the sentence: This is me in Kindergarten, and draw a picture of themselves so I could see where their handwriting is and ability to copy from the board, because that is a skill all in itself.
I showed them the x-ray of a Kindergartener’s hand compared to a first grader’s so they could understand how everything we do like working with play-doh and clay, beading, building, etc. builds strength in their hands for better coordination.
We counted to twenty in math and talked about and traced the number zero. We learned how to use our water color paint and painted pictures of God’s creation. We hung up our sheep on our Jesus as the Good Shepherd bulletin board. I love how they all look different because we are all different, but all made and and loved by God.
The students that brought their About Me poster in got to present them. We had fun playing with toys inside because of the heat advisory again today.
Have a great weekend!
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August 10, 2023

Good afternoon families,
I hope your child had an awesome first day of Kindergarten! They did so great today. We weren’t able to play outside because of the heat advisory, but we made the best of it playing inside. We read aloud The Twelve Days of Kindergarten, crafted a sheep to go on our bulletin board with Jesus as the Good Shepherd, planted a tiny plant so we can watch it grow along with us this year, had our first music class, and colored a first day of school picture.

Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School