The Murch Elementary Home & School Association has scheduled back-to-school playdates so pre-K and Kindergarten students and their parents can get to know one another before classes begin. Pre-K kids meet up Thursday, August 16th, 5-6:30 p.m. and Sunday, August 26th from 4-5:30 p.m. The Kindergarten playdates are Saturday, August 18th from 9:30-11 a.m., and Friday, August 24th, 3-4:30 p.m.
School starts on August 27th for Kindergarten on up. Last year, Murch Kindergarten teacher Tim Welsh wrote about what his students did during their first week. It’s a good primer on what your kids can expect, and Mr. Welsh has given us permission to post it here.
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What a wonderful start to the school year. Kindergarten is going to be so much fun learning and playing! You have done so much in the first week! This is our blog to remember what happened at school and to share with a grown-up.
You met Mr. Welsh and Mrs. Marcus and played in your new Kindergarten classroom. You also met Ms. Barbie, our security guard, Mr. Berger and Mr. Johnson, the sports teachers, Ms. Cutelis, the art teacher, and Ms. Bell the librarian. Ms. Smith, the music teacher you will meet next week because… Wednesday you did not come to school after the earthquake! Wow! Did we really have an earthquake the second day of school? Really? The engineers came to Murch School to make sure it was safe. They looked to see if there were any walls cracked or whether anything had broken or might fall. Everything was just fine. Murch has strong buildings!
You discovered the toys and art materials. Mr. Welsh showed the safe and happy ways to use them. You agreed to use these things safely and with good thinking, and then you made amazing block buildings, Lego constructions, and pattern block creations, as well as beautiful artwork. Hard puzzles were carefully thought out and maybe best of all you worked with friends to do these things.
You learned how and where we line up inside and outside. You practiced our fire drill correctly and learned why the teachers carry a whistle. You found out what one finger means, what to do when the bell rings, which hall door not to open and how to clean up after snack and lunch.
You showed Mr. Welsh how many letters you already know and how well you cut paper. This tells him that he does not have to teach you some things and he does need to teach other things.
You see our picture of George Washington on our classroom wall. You know he lived a long time ago and was our first President. You told Mr. Welsh that Barack Obama is our President now.
You helped put down our new rug! You pulled our old rug over to be our block corner rug and it got used right away. We carried out our old block rug. Hmmm. The new rug may be a little small. Do you like it?
Diego brought in a CD that was a story in Spanish about a cat in boots. You enjoyed dancing when the songs came on.
We have had music playing much of the time this week. Whose music was it? He is our artist of the month. Mr. Welsh told you a little bit about Mozart’s life. Do you remember how little he was when he first started writing music? He played a lot of music too, as his father took him all over Europe to perform.
You met Ms. Miller on Friday. She told you about how we earn Horse Shoes with cooperation and kindness. She helps anyone who needs someone to talk to about worries. She is a good friend. She will visit us often.
The Murch website at www.murchschool.org has lots of information for parents and guardians and is updated very frequently.