Even more important, we are learning the school skills that will help us as we grow into older students. We are learning self-contol, social skills, and how to follow directions.

We are doing all this and having a lot of fun, too!

Welcome to KM!  We will have a wonderful first year of "real" school together, getting ourselves off on the right foot.  We will meet our 8th grade buddies right away, and they will be our best friends all through the school year. 

We baked a great big Gingerbread Man, and can you believe it?  He ran away!  We are excited to find out everywhere he goes.

During the first weeks of school, we will be learning our way around STM and finding out what the expectations are.  It is a long day for a kindergarten kid, so parents, please be patient with your tired and possibly cranky children during the first month or so.  Think how you feel when you start a new job.  That's how kids feel starting a new school.  It is pretty demanding learning a new place, new routine, new classmates, and--incredibly enough!--those darn teachers keep trying to input knowledge, too!  By the beginning of October we should be settled into the routine and feeling pretty comfortable. 

That's why you won't see us at school Masses until October.  When the rest of the school goes to Mass, kindergarten has a special prayer service and a Children's Liturgy of the Word using the same readings, which we feel is less disruptive and demanding of little children who are already making a lot of adjustments.  In religion we will be learning that God made the world and that we should be good caretakers of God's creation.  We will also do Lectionary based catechesis related to the readings at Sunday Masses.

Right away, we will be assessing the children's learning styles and skills so that we will be able to best accomodate each child.  During the first weeks of school, there is a great deal of time for play and getting to know one another.  We do still manage to have academic time, though.  In language arts, we will review the alphabet and work on upper and lower case letters.  We will study A and N in particular.  We will learn the sight words a, that, the, and my.  We'll learn about rhyming words, sequence, folktales, initial and final consonant sounds, initial and medial short a, vowels and consonants, color words, and blending known sounds to make words.   We'll work on listening, and following directions.  We'll even read using our sight words and a couple of words we make with A and N!

In math, we will count, write numbers, compare lengths, measure height, measure and estimate, and play with coins.  We'll learn about the weather, zero, and shapes.  We will find math everywhere!

We will learn about the five senses, ants, apples (seeds), and nests in science.

In social studies, we'll find out about Johnny Appleseed. 

Mrs. Merritt has been teaching at STM since 1984. She has taught many different grades and was the music teacher for a while, but she knows she was born to teach kindergarten.   She is proud and grateful to be sharing this special year with your child and you.

Mrs. Merritt loves STM, but sometimes she has to go home.  When she gets there, she is met by a sweet little kitty named Amelie who wants something to eat RIGHT NOW!!!!  Mrs. Merritt loves all the arts.  She enjoys jewelry making, mosaic, crochet, and writing funny stuff for her family and friends.  She is a computer geek, so if you can't find her,  look for the closest computer!  She also loves to read and go to the movies.  In general, Mrs. Merritt loves life and has a lot of fun.

Mrs. Merritt is the proud mother of her very own STM alum, Angela Merritt, who went on to graduate from St. Pius X Catholic High School and Florida State University.  Angela lives in Lancaster, PA, where she works for Dutch Wonderland, an amusement park for kids 12 and under.  Mrs. Merritt is sad Dutch Wonderland is not closer for these reasons:

1. She misses her daughter.
2. Dutch Wonderland is owned by Hershey and there are chocolate fringe benefits...
3. There is a cool wax museum there which would make an awesome field trip, but the bus ride is too long.

Let Us Hear from You

Folders go home and come back to school every day.  This makes them an excellent means of communication.  Just pop a note into the folder.  We'll send a response back.  In fact, anything that you want routed anywhere in the STM community can be sent in "kidsmail." 

E-mail is another excellent means of communication.  It is checked in the morning, around lunch time, and in the afternoon.  You should receive a reply within 24 hours.  Remember that just because e-mail is checked does not mean that it can be responded to immediately.  There are 24 little immediate demands on our time!  But we try hard to reply promptly.  If you don't get something back within 24 hours, there may be a problem with our e-mail or the server.  Please try again or give us a call.

My voice mail number is 173.  I check it when I come into school and when I leave in the evening. 

And Now a Word from the Kindergarten Kids....

Genesis says, "St. Thomas More is fun."

Sam and Henry say, "I like P.E."

Will says, "I like P.E. 'cause you get a lot of exercise."

Katherine says, "I like P.E and recess."

Raleigh says, "I like to jump rope at recess."

Andrew says, "I like to play tetherball at recess."

Sadia says, "I like when we go to music and watch movies."

Camille says, "I like math."

Anthony says, "I like our teachers."

After 4 years of being an active parent volunteer at St. Thomas More, Mrs. Pelli has joined Mrs. Merritt as her teacher's assistant. Mrs. Pelli and her husband Joe are parishioners of St. Thomas More.

 They are proud parents of two STM students. Kathryn is in fourth grade and  Megan is in second grade. Mrs. Pelli has 8 older siblings; her oldest sister went to first first grade at St. Thomas More!

Besides enjoying her large family, Mrs. Pelli likes to make bead jewelry and take care of her many pets ( currently a dog, a cat, many fish, 3 frogs, and a little white mouse!)