Starry Knights :: CCS Gala

Please make plans for to attend the CCS Gala, Starry Knights. It will be a fabulous night with friends, exquisite food and fun all in support of CCS.

An exquisite seated dinner will be served at 7:30p.m. Following the dinner, Eddie Lange will host our live auction. You will not want to miss a single item on our silent auction or the class projects! David Louth's band will provide the live music and stargazing is available, weather permitting.

Following is a preview of our spectacular live auction items.
Mountain Hideaway
One week vacation in glorious Ruidoso, New Mexico at the Hummingbird Cabins Alpine Chalet.

Blast Off Family Fun Weekend
Hotel stay for two nights at Hilton Hotel in Clear Lake, Texas. Passes to Nasa and Kemah boardwalk and gift card for Aquarium restaurant

Cultural Cowtown Getaway
Downtown Hilton Hotel, $100 gift certificate to Uncle Julio’s, four passes to Contemporary Museum of Art and $300 merchandise from Kimball Art Museum

Heart of Texas Dove Hunt
Six hunters hosted by Christina and Rob Marshall.

It’s What’s For Dinner
Storage freezer full of grass-fed beef.

Batter Up
Enjoy a Rangers game at the Ballpark in Arlington. Tickets for four with premier seating and VIP parking pass.

Gourmet Dinner Party
Gourmet meal for eight prepared in your home. Package includes wine.

Deer Hunt
Four hunters in Junction, Texas. Hosted by K.C. and Price Brashear.

Say Cheese!
Photography session by Shannon Hunt Photography, 10 x 10 photo book, 16 x 20 portrait and digital files.

Tickets for the Gala are $40. To make a reservation, please see Kathy Barnes in the office. The Gala is Friday, February 4 at 7 p.m. in the Christ Church Parish Hall.

Jan 17- Jan 21

This week we learned about Dinosaurs and the letter D. We read several books about dinosaurs and learned some of the names of them. We learned a lot of new words this week! Such as paleontologist, carnivore, herbivore, herds, and extinct. The kids loved learning about dinosaurs! We talked about what they could've looked like, how they walked, what they ate, how they acted, etc. The students also made their own "shoe-seratops" and painted a Stegasorus and used their fingers to make the spikes on their backs. We played several games about dinosaurs and learned a few fingerplays. We got to dig in the sand and find dinosaur bones, and some of us even made dinosaur fossils. We built homes for the dinosaurs using playdoh and looked at their footprints. We also got to see how big an Apatosaurus' foot was and we tried to fill it's footprint with our own. We found that even putting all 12 of our footprints in it, we still had room for lots more! We decided that we could probably fit all of Mrs. Keever's class and Mrs. McRae's class inside his one footprint!

We also talked about Martin Luther King Jr. We read a story about his life and all the good things that he did. We talked about why we have a special day for him, and that he wanted people to all get along and for things to be fair.

We practiced tracing the letter D and also writing it on our own. We also reviewed the letter C and added both those pages to our Alphabet book. The kids love finding pictures to add to their book and also sharing with the class what they have! Thanks for all of your help with it at home too! We are working really hard to learn our letters and the sounds that they make! We also added some A words and some B words to our word wall.

And on Friday we had Donuts with Dad and loved having our dads come eat breakfast with us!

Next week we'll be studying farm animals and the learning the letter E and reviewing letter F.

Also, next week I will put a sign-out up for our Valentines party for anyone who might want to bring a dessert or snack to go along with the happy meals. Don't forget we need 4 dollars per student for the happy meals.

Next week is also International Week, and we will have some people coming in to talk to us about Russia and Pakistan. On January 27th it will also be our 100th day of school and we will be watching the kindergarteners release balloons!

On Friday of next week, we are planning to take a class picture for the Gala (we'll be taking a picture in front of the flag our class made). So let me know if you're student will not be here next Friday so that we can chose another day to take the picture- because we really want everyone in it!

Uniforms and Colder Temperatures

With the cooler temperatures, we would like to remind everyone about our
uniform policy. Click here for the complete uniform policy.

While in the school building, class, chapel and lunch students are
required to be in approved uniform attire. Jackets, sweaters and coats
which are not part of the dress code will not be allowed. If your
student is cold natured and you need a sweater, please check our used
uniforms. You can always order sweaters, fleece and jackets from Lands
End.

Only white undershirts are to be worn. Long sleeve white undershirts are
permitted with a CCS polo shirt over. The navy blue long-sleeve Knights
t-shirt is only to be worn on Fridays.

For girls, only white or navy blue tights or leggings are permitted.

Pants with holes in the knees are to be patched or not worn at all.

Ties are mandatory for all boys first grade and up on Wednesdays for
Chapel.

Boots of any kind are not allowed.

Beginning Monday, January, 24, students out of the uniform dress code
will be sent to the office and will remain there until a parent can
bring the proper uniform.

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It is our policy that students will go outside for recess unless it is
raining. Please send your children to school with warm coats and
anything else you would like them to wear in the cold weather.


We have ordered a few more long-sleeve Knights t-shirts for purchase.
They should arrive next week. If you would like to buy one, please see
Kathy Barnes in the office. The t-shirts are $15.

Jan 10- Jan 14

This week we studied animal homes and the letter B. We also worked a lot on reviewing the letter A. We read a story called Animal Homes and we made homes for birds, beavers, bears, fish, ants, and spiders. We also had an alligator in our room named Artie who we made a swamp for. We read a B book about Benjamin Bunny and several other books about animals. We practiced tracing and writing the letters A and B, and we worked really hard on learning the sounds that they both make.  We also sorted pictures based on if they started with an A or a B. These are the only two letters in their alphabet books, so if you could go over A and B this weekend, that would be great! And don't forget that you can add anything to their alphabet book this weekend: pictures, words, they could practice writing the letter, etc. And please have your child bring it back on Monday so they can share anything that they may have added with the class!

We also worked really hard on rhyming words this week! The kids are really improving with this! We played matching games using rhyming words, they tried to guess an animal based on clues with rhyming words, finished sentences using rhyming words, and we read a lot of books this week that had rhyming words in them!

On Wednesday, Mrs. Jones came to our class and talked to us about how to be safe around animals. We love when she comes to our class and teaches us about safety!

On Friday, everyone brought in their teddy bears and we sorted them based on size and then made a graph. The bears also found hiding spots in the room and when the kids came back from music they had to decide if they were hiding on something, under something, beside something, or in something. We then made a graph about this too. We also got to eat s'mores with Mrs. McRae's class today!

Next week we'll be studying dinosaurs, learning about the letter D, and reviewing the letter C.

Don't forget, there is no school on Monday! Extended care is still able to come though.

Have a great weekend!
Stephanie Ray

Jan 3- Jan 7

This week we talked about Winter and learned the letter M. We had a puppet named Marvin the monkey and read a story about him and other things that start with the letter M. We made marshmallow moons and did a sheet where we had to find all the letter M's. We colored pictures that started with the letter M/m. This week we also worked on making patterns and recognizing rhyming words.

We talked about what the weather is like in Winter and how we need to dress to go outside when it's cold. We read several books about Winter: Snowballs, Froggy Gets Dressed, Snowmen at Night, and The
Mitten. Throughout the week we worked on making different pieces of clothing so that we could be all dressed up for Winter. We decorated hats, coats, pants, mittens, and gloves. Then we put it all together with our face on it so it looks like we are all ready to play outside! (You'll have to look at these...they're hanging up in the hallway, they're real cute :) We did several fingerplays and songs about Winter and snowmen.

And then on Friday, we had a snow day! The kids found snowballs around the room with thier names on it and we had an igloo inside the classroom. Before it snowed we had to get all dressed up in warm clothes (mittens, scarfs, gloves, hats, coats, etc.). Then we threw the snow up in the air and had a snowball fight! The kids especially liked hitting their teacher with snowballs :). We got to ice skate around the classroom too, putting wax paper on our shoes and sliding around on the carpet. On Friday we also did an experiement with ice. We tried to see different ways we could make it melt. We put some in a glass of water, in our hands, wrapped in foil, wrapped in cloth, and wrapped in wax paper. We also discovered that salt makes ice melt and we put drops of colored salt water on the ice to see what would happen. It was a very fun day! And the kids were great at helping to clean up all our "snow!"

Next week we'll be learning about animal homes and the letter B. We will also start reviewing letters that we've already learned and next week we'll be reviewing the letter A.

Don't foget that report cards got sent home on Wednesday. Please sign and return those by next Friday at the latest. Thanks!


Enjoy your weekend!
Stephanie Ray

Dec 6- Dec 10

We had a lot of fun this week talking about Christmas, the gingerbread man, and the letter "G." The students loved decorating the classroom! They can decorate our two trees in the room during center time and one day they even put garland up in the kitchen area. They also love seeing all their Christmas artwork up around the room and in the hallway. This week we made sparkling snowflakes, a Christmas tree mobile, gingerbread men, cinnamon-smelling gingerbread men ornaments, and a "G" garden. For the letter "G" we had a puppet named Gus the Goat and read a story about him.

This week we also practiced sorting gingerbread men and when on a gingerbread man letter hunt. We played a jingle bell listening game, and a matching game using hershey kisses that had letters on the bottom of them. We practiced counting gingerbread men and also got to make some patterns. Ian also brought us some gingerbread cookies to eat one day! We read lots of good Christmas books this week like "Toot and Puddle," "If You Take a Mouse to the Movies," "Merry Christmas, Little Critter," "Oliver All Alone," and "Gingerbread Baby." When we read the book "Gingerbread Baby" each student got to hold a mask of one of the characters from the story and afterwards we talked about what their character did in the story. They love playing with those masks too!

On Wednesday Mrs. Jones came to visit our class again to talk to us some more about fire safety. The kids got to practice crawling under the "smoke" and learned what to do if there's a fire in our house.

We had lots of fun today at Santa's Workshop! We made star ornaments, santa ornaments, chocolate-dipped spoons, reindeer ornaments, reindeer food, decorated gingerbread cookies, danced ballet, and got to see Santa!

Don't forget our Christmas Program is Wednesday the 15th at 8:30. It is probably only going to last 10-15 minutes and we would love to see you all there! The kids are very excited about it, we've been practicing for weeks and they all have a special part to play! And don't forget about the costumes....if you have any questions about what you need to bring, please ask!

And on Friday the 17th at 10:30 we're having our class Christmas Party! Thanks to everyone who signed up to bring stuff and remember we would LOVE for you to come! We'll have plenty of food to eat and fun crafts to make.

If you have not yet brought your 10 dollars for the Gala project, if you could bring it by the paty date, that would be great!

I have some pictures from this past week and of today from Santa's Workshop. Enjoy!

Nov 28- Dec 3

This week we took down all our Fall stuff and started decorating for Christmas! We also talked about safety and the letter C. We brought out a new puppet, "Curtis the Cow," and read a story called Cathy Cook. We practiced writing c's by making a chain filled with c's and also by writing rainbow c's. We are continuing to work on our letter sounds and talking about how important it is to know the sound that the letters make so that we can learn to read! We are only working on the sounds of the letters that we've learned so far: S, F, Y, A, K, H, Q, O, N, I, and C. It would be great if you could review these letters with your child at home for some extra practice! And we are working really hard on being able to write our names by ourselves. I have seen lots of improvment with this!

We have worked in small groups this week to review letters and we played a letter hunt game, we worked on our cutting skills and on making groups of ten. We also worked on sorting by colors and then counting our different groups.

For safety this week we talked about the number 911 and how it is a very important number, but it's one that we never call for fun. We talked about what an emergency is and when we might need to use that number. The students practiced "calling" 911 by using the phones they cut out. We talked about how to be safe in the car, at school, when crossing the street, and at home. We sorted items that were either dangerous to play with or safe to play with. We read a story called First Aid and talked about what to do when we get hurt. We also played a "find the matches" game. I made fake matches and hid them around the room and if a student found one they would bring it to me (an adult, because it's not to play with) and then they would get  a hug. They had a lot of fun with that! We practiced stopping, dropping, and rolling and did an experiement with a candle and talked about how fire needs air, so that's why we don't go running if our clothes are on fire. But we stop, drop, and roll. We also talked a lot about strangers and how we never go with someone we don't know, even if they seem nice or try to give us something.

For art this week we did marble paintings, made shape snowmen, decorated some ornaments, decorated shirts to hang on a clothesline, made poinsetta flowers, practiced mixing colors together to see what new colors we could make.

Next week we'll be talking about gingerbread men and the letter "G."

Don't forget about Santa's workshop next Friday! And we need parent volunteers to help out with the craft in our classroom!! Let me know if you would be interested in helping!

Also our Christmas party sign-up sheet will be up on Monday. I hope all of you will be able to make it to the party, it's going to be lots of fun!

We still need 10 dollars per child for the Gala art project if we haven't gotten it yet. And we are moving the work day to finish it up to next Wednesday (December 8th). We'll start pulling kids into the art room to finish it up after chapel...around 8:45. If you would like to come help out with that, that would be great!


Hope everyone has a great weekend! See you all Monday!


Stephanie Ray
254-598-8101