It's Christmas Time At St. Matthew's!

The MWF 3's (our class and Mrs. Carothers class)  Pageant is on Wednesday, December 16th at 9:30am. We will be getting the kids dressed at 9:00am in our classroom. Please stay to help dress your child and then head to the Sanctuary before the class does so you can find a good seat:)  The children will be dressed as the different characters in the nativity. There will be several Mary's, several Joseph's and so on.  Everyone is invited to the Pageant. After the Pageant our Christmas party will begin in the classroom. We are planning to start the Christmas party around 10:00am. A snack will be served to all the children provided by the moms who are organizing the party.  We are going to try and go outside around 10:30am for some outdoor play. Finally, at 11:00 we are all going to watch the Big Pageant in the Sanctuary or head to Henry's for lunch. If you have any questions regarding our very busy day, please email me or just ask at the door.

Just a reminder that on Monday, December 14th, noon dismissal and Wednesday, December 16, Noon dismissal (or earlier). For those parents who feel going to the 11:00 Christmas Pageant is too much may leave after our Christmas party.

Green Gel Bags!

We created green gel bags to practice drawing shapes.  The bags have green hair gel in them.  We mixed yellow and blue to make the green color.  Attached to each bag is a piece of paper that has a circle, square and a triangle on it.  Please help your child use his/her pointer finger to trace the shapes.  When tracing the circle, start on the dot and trace counter-clockwise (that is the way we want to draw an "O")  When tracing the triangle, "slide down one side, then slide down the other side and finally connect the bottom."  To "erase" smooth/spread the gel out again. Once your child feel good about tracing the shapes you can remove the paper and let them free hand shapes or you can draw letters on a piece of paper and place the baggie on top of your drawing for them to trace.  These are great pre-writing activities - please have fun with them :)

"Praise Him" part 1

Mrs. Bonura and Mrs. Carothers' classes sing the 1st verse of "Praise Him" at their Thanksgiving Feast.

"Praise Him" part 2

Mrs. Bonura and Mrs. Carothers' classes sing the 2nd & 3rd verses of "Praise Him" at their Thanksgiving Feast.

"Turkey Gobblers"

Mrs. Bonura and Mrs. Carothers' classes sing "Turkey Gobblers" at their Thanksgiving Feast.

"I'm A Little Indian On The Go"

Mrs. Bonura and Mrs. Carothers' classes sing "I'm A Little Indian" at their Thanksgiving Feast.

"We Give Thanks"

Mrs. Bonura and Mrs. Carothers' classes sing "We Give Thanks" as the blessing before the Thanksgiving Feast.

T is for Thanksgiving and Turkeys!!!

As the Thanksgiving Day holidays approach we have been very busy in the classroom preparing for our class feast! We created "Handprint Turkey" Placemats and "Clay Turkey" Place/name holders. Be sure to take a look a the November Photo Album for details on the entire process of these two projects. We are looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving with everyone on Monday! Your children will be able to take their projects home after the feast so you may enjoy them during the holiday :)

Thanksgiving Feast for the MWF 3s Classes

Thank You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!
Thank you for the wonderful birthday wishes, cards, flowers, cake and fantastic gift card!!!!!!! Also, thank you for you support with the book fair and the books you have purchased for our class!!!!!! You all have gone above and beyond and it is really appreciated!!!!!!

Thanks again,
Mrs. Bonura :)

It's A Short Week! No School On Friday!

Just a few reminders about this week:

• Book Fair is open until Thursday.    
• Stop by at your leisure to check out the great selections.  
•  There are special “Muffins for Moms” shopping times as well, to begin after drop-off on Wednesday and Thursday.
• On Monday we were able to stop by the book fair and all the kids previewed the books.
• A few favorites were:
• How Do Dinosaur's Say I Love You
• The Little Mermaid (or any Disney Princess Books)
• Superhero ABS (they may need to reorder this one)
• Speech screenings will be this Wednesday and Thursday (November 4^th and 5^th).  Make sure you’ve turned in your form to the office if this is something you’d like for your child to participate in.
  
•  No School on Friday due to the SAES Conference.  
  
• Monday, November 9^th is the St. Matthew’s Golf Tournament to raise money for financial aid at St. Matthew’s.  This is an important service we’d like to offer families.  Please consider participating in this enjoyable golf event! 
• October's photo album is complete!  I hope you enjoy the special glimpse inside our classroom :)

Here is a video clip of "The Great Pumpkin Search!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrFcVD6h76I

Orange Day is Friday!

Today we "picked" our pumpkins off of their vines in the class "pumpkin patch" so we could turn them into Jack-o-lanterns! On Friday, we will use them as decorations for our "Orange Day" Party!

• Please dress your child in Orange
• Bring an orange snack
• We will do an "orange" craft and
  
• Have orange "treats" but no "tricks!"

Be sure to pop your head in and see our bats that are hanging in the back of the room. Each child cut or tried to cut the bat wings out! They also worked very hard on creating the orange and black patterned paper chains that the bats are hanging from :) On a side note, if your child has been absent, s/he will not have some of these projects as it is too difficult to try and make up the work after the original class project is finished.

Reminders for 10/26-10/30

Just a few reminders for this week, 10/26-10/30:

• "Love & Logic" Brown Bag lunch is this Wednesday!
• Baby sitting is available - please let Danette (Fletcher's Mom) know if you plan on using it.
  
• Friday is Orange Day!
• Dress your child in orange (if they want to)
• No costumes or masks
• Bring an orange snack
• Book orders are due anytime, turn into me or order online.
• A few still have not turned in the $5 for the Clifford Magazine - please do at your convenience.

On a side note, it was wonderful meeting with all of you during the parent conferences!  I really enjoyed talking to everyone!

Reminders...

Just a few reminders about this week:

• No school on Friday due to conferences.
• Box Tops are due this week
• Please keep sick kids at home... H1N1 hit the kindergartners hard last week and it looks like it's trickling down to the other levels.  If siblings are sick, please go ahead and keep all kids at home or at the very least, do not bring them into St. Matthews - call the office and someone will come to your car to get the healthy child.
• On a different note, I want to thank everyone for extra supplies you have donated to the class and for all of the cardboard tubs!  I am officially out of storage space so please do not bring me anymore until further notified :)
  

"P" is for Pumpkin!

On Friday, Mrs. Carothers brought her class to our room to join in our circle time. We continued to talk all about pumpkins and she even cut the pumpkin open so we could see the pulp and seeds that are inside! "P" is for pumpkin pulp! Please take a look at the pictures in the photo album for a closer look at what we've been doing in the classroom :)

This coming week we only have school on Monday and Wednesday. Friday is Parent/Teacher Conferences. Please make note of your scheduled time. These conferences are very short (20min) and we will be on a very tight schedule. If we feel more time is needed to discuss your child we can schedule another conference.

A few reminders/notes to parents:

• Please don’t forget to send in your Box Tops. The class that summits the most box tops by Oct 23^rd will receive a pizza Party. The money St Matthews earns from the box tops will go to our teachers’ continuous education fund. What a great way to give back to our teachers! Visit http://www.boxtops4education.com to earn more points for our school.

• Book Fair: Erin Brook and Heather Hardeman presented information about our Book Fair. It will happen November 2^nd thru 5^th. Teacher wish lists for their classrooms will be posted at the Book Fair. This book fair will raise money to purchase books for our new library!

• Parent Education Seminars: Danette Koebele will be sending out information soon about our next seminar. She hopes to have an Introduction to Love and Logic session at the end of the month.

• Mentoring: St. Matthew’s has started a new program for new families to St. Matthew’s. If there are any new parents that would like to have mentor family, please get in contact with Missy Ward.

• Box Tops: Please continue to turn in your Box Tops. Our fall deadline will be October 23^rd. The money earned from this program goes toward teacher’s enrichment programs. The class that collects the most Box Tops will earn a pizza party.

• Golf Tournament: Our golf tournament will happen Monday, November 9^th at Lost Creek Country Club. Tee-off will happen at noon. We are definitely in need of golfers and sponsors. It will be $125 to golf per person, which includes a goody bag and pizza lunch. It costs $500 to sponsor a hole for this tournament. Please see Paul Huggins at Fall Festival (he will have a table) if you have any questions about this event. The funds from this program will go toward our financial aid program.

• Our Next Parent Council Meeting will be November 12^th. Everyone is invited to attend!

Fall Fest This Friday!

Be sure to come out and support St. Matthew's during our Fall Fest!  It will happen come rain or shine :)

We have been working very hard on the class pumpkins that will be up for auction!  Here is a sneak peek at the "Witch Carousel"... I cut out the witches and the kids painted them :)

Here is "Miss Gobble" (thank you Lauren, Henry's mom for painting her).  Her tail feathers will be made of the kids' handprints and lollypops!  Thank you Sandy (Allison's Mom) and Jackie (Claire's mom) for getting all of the handprints.  I can't wait to see the final product at the Fall Fest!!!

This is the big fundraiser of the night... Be sure to place your bids ;) 

Fire Safety Week & Reminders

On Monday the firefighters came to visit us, talk about fire safety and show us the firetruck.  It was very exciting especially when they got called away on a "fire emergency!"  We were so lucky that the firemen were able to return later that morning so everyone had a chance to go inside the firetruck if they wanted to :)  A few important things the firemen talk to us about were:

• If there is a fire, do not hide!  It is important to "stay low and go!"
• Call 9-1-1 if there is an emergency.
• Do not be afraid of the firemen - they are there to help (a fireman got dressed in the full gear and mask to show the kids what a fireman will look like)
• If your clothes catch on fire, you should "stop, drop & roll!"
• Please check your smoke detectors at home

Be sure to turn in your money for school pictures by Friday.  You can put them inside the hanging folder that says "Return to office" and I'll turn it in for you or you may bring to the office yourself.

Fall Fest is this Friday @ 5:30-8:00

• Be sure to sign up for a booth slot and the bake sale if you can.
• Come and check out our class pumpkins - they will be auctioned of at the Fall Fest!
• Don't forget to buy dinner, raffle and carnival tickets in advance.
• Sponsorships are still needed so if you can, please "pick a leave" and take it the office to help support this fun event.

I want to thank those of you who have sent in your money for the Clifford class magazine!  If you haven't, you can turn in your $5 any time.  Just put in the hanging folder that says "Mrs. Bonura" on it.

The Fun Farm Unit Comes To An End...

This is the last week of our Farm Unit. We have had so much fun these last two weeks! I think the best was the visit from Farmer Fry and his animals. Be sure to ask your child which animal did s/he like best :) One thing we learned from the animals visit was that not all pigs are pink! Some are brown, red, black and some are even black & white like a cow! If you haven't viewed the pictures, they are picasa. We also learned that not only to farms have animals but they grow vegetables on farms. With some of the vegetables that were grown on a farm but bought in a grocery store, the kids created "Vegetable Prints." Pictures of that process can be found in September's Photo Album. We learned several fun "farm" songs like "Old McDonald" (in music class we sang "Old McDonald had a band!") , "The Farmer & the Dell", "Tiny Tim"... There were several farm themed books that we read(& will read on Friday) - "On the Farm", "Vegetable Soup", "The Little Read Hen"...

During the last couple of weeks I have also introduced the concept of a LINE. We talked about different types lines - straight, curvy, zig zag. Then we practiced drawing all kinds of lines with dry erase markers and we practiced walking in straight lines ;) Drawing a line from top to bottom and from left to right is step one of learning to write letters! *I am not emphasizing that we use the lines to create letters - we are just having lots of fun drawing right now because there should be no pressure on them at this stage.

• On Wednesday, we had fun celebrating Trevor's 4th birthday!
• On Friday, we have a few parent volunteers coming into help the class decorate a pumpkin for Fall Fest's Pumpkin Auction.
• Next Monday, starts a week of Fire Safety along with a visit from the local Firemen and a firetruck!
• Do not forget to purchase your Fall Fest Tickets in advance - Fall Fest is on the 9th!
  

A Note From Our Director:

Dear Parents,

Thanks to all of you who made it to the Ice Cream Social on Sunday. What a fun event it was! I enjoyed meeting and visiting with you and am so grateful to our wonderful Board of Trustees for hosting such a fun party! I look forward to many more fun times together at St. Matthew's!

We are beginning another wonderful week of learning and discovery. Today, I met Barker Dog with some Pre-K friends and we learned all about the letter "M". Then it was off to pet the farm animals with the 3's! It was so fun to see them holding, feeding and petting the pigs, goats, bunnies - even a cow and a donkey! I got to peek in on some parachute fun in Fun 'n Fitness. After a delicious lunch prepared by you wonderful parent volunteers, we had a fun, productive faculty meeting. Whew! What a busy day! I can't wait until tomorrow.

I did want to remind you all of a few things to help keep our school running smoothly and keep us all safe and happy:

1. Please do not park in the Mesa lot. This lot is for faculty. If you are getting out of your car to walk your child in in the mornings, you need to park in the Steck lot. Mesa is for drive through drop off only. If you arrive after 9:05, you must get out and walk your child in. The morning carpool teachers will have gone inside and you must sign your child in.

2. All children need to wear rubber soled tennis shoes to school. This is a safety issue and is a requirement by our licensing agency. No crocs or flip-flops, please.

3. When you come to school, come to the office, sign in, and get a visitor's badge. Again, this is a safety issue. We want to know who is here on our campus. You do not need to do this for pick-up and drop off, but any other time you are here, please wear a visitor's badge.

4. Swine flu notes:
   Please let us know if your child has H1N1 or flu like symptoms. The teachers will let you know if a child in your class is home with the flu, but we can only do this if we know.
   If your child has the flu, we recommend you keep your child home for at least 5-7 days from the onset of symptoms. St. Matthew's has two "high risk" groups in our community - children under 5 and pregnant women - and we want to be mindful of that.
   If you have a sick sibling, please do not bring that child in at St. Matthew's. We understand you cannot leave that child home alone. Please call the office or your child's teacher and we will be happy to escort your St. Matthew's student to and from your car.
   Again, the cases we have seen have been mild. We want to keep it that way!

Thanks so much for all you do to support our wonderful school. I'll see you at Fall Fest!!

Faithfully,

Francie Thurman

The Farm Unit

We have finish up week one of two weeks of our Farm Unit.  

Last week we learned about the types of animals that are typically found on a farm.  The kids had fun making all kinds of farm animal sounds and learning the names of the baby farm animals.  We created paper plate pigs using different sized circles, triangles and rectangles.  We discovered what happens to a color when white is added to it the colors get mixed together.  Everyone also learned how to use a glue stick (the week before we learned how to make dots of glue using the glue bottles and we learned how to cut with scissors - "open, shut, open, shut, this is the way we cut!")

This next week, Farmer Fry will be bringing a petting zoo of farm animals for us to pet!  We will be talking about the types of things farmers grow.  Using different types of vegetables, we will make vegetable print patterns!  Please have fun talking to your child about farms and when you go to the grocery store, be sure to point out things that was grown on a farm :)

Ice Cream Social This Sunday!

Farm Animals Visit Postponed until Monday

Parent Education Night - Oct. 1st

*This is not a St. Matthew's event.*

Holy Smoker's Brisket Order Form

Reminder: Safeguarding God's Children Training This Week!

Those of you needing Safeguarding God's Children Training, there are two trainings this week:  one tomorrow (Tuesday) from 9:15-10:45 and one Friday the 25th from 9:15-10:45.  Sign up in the school office.

Parents need to take this training if you plan on spending more than 6 hours in the classroom.

Notes from the first Parent's Council Meeting

Hi all!

We had a great first Parent's Council Meeting last Friday and I am posting the minutes for you to see what was discussed. A few key points to note:

1.) Sign up for the Bake Sale for Fall Fest for our classroom is on the door to the class :) Treats should be individually wrapped.

2.) Our "Class Booth" for Fall Fest is the 5 and up moonwalk (fun!). Sign up times are in 30 minute increments and we are going to need 13 volunteers total so we are really going to need everyone to try to take a small shift!!!! I'll put this sign up sheet on the class door on Wednesday.

3.) The ice cream social is this Sunday 9/27 from 4-5 p.m. (it's Amy's Ice cream)

4.) Keep collecting Box Tops -- and turn in by 10/23

5.) The date for La Noche has been set for 2/27

6.) We will take up a small voluntary donation from parents in our class to be used in buying gifts for the teachers throughout the year (Birthday, Christmas & Teacher Appreciation) -- More information on the specifics to follow!

Thanks!
Your classroom reps,
Christian & Danette

"Discover Me" Bottles!

For our first science experiment, we created "Discover Me" bottles! Inside each bottle there is:

• Water
• Oil
  
• A picture of the child
  
• Pennies (the number of pennies depend on how old the child is)
• A bead with the first letter of his/her name
• A foam letter that is the first letter of his/her first or last name
• Pieces of plastic straws or foam that each child cut (the number of straw pieces depend on how old the child is)
• Glitter

Each child used a funnel to pour the water, oil and glitter into their own bottle.  Then for every object that was added to the bottles we guessed if it would sink or float.  As with most experiments, unexpected things happened:

• Every child had to shake their bottle vigorously (when I had intended the bottles to be turned gently to so we could see the oi and water move around each other and see the objects float :-p)  
• After the bottles were shaken, the oil became opaque.
• All the glitter that the kids put into their bottles clumped together also making it difficult to see the objects inside the bottles...
• Of course, the kids had no idea what my expectations were so they were so excited about their "Discover Me" bottles and they cannot wait to take them home! (By the way, CJ now wants to make his own bottle just like theirs...)
  
• The "Discover Me" bottles will be sent home on Monday because I decided it was a good idea to glue the caps onto the bottles so no one would be temped to do an experiment of their own by taking the caps off at home ;)
  

Mid-week Announcements

Today we had our individual class pictures.  Almost everyone had a great time having Mr. Dabbs take their picture and call them a cute nickname - I think Addie had the favorite, "Pancake Princess" - be sure to ask your child what Mr. Dabbs called him/her!

Today we also welcomed an new friend to our class, Claire Price.  Claire fit right in with our wonderful class and we are all excited that she has joined us!

Book orders are due Friday.  You can always place an order online at Scholastic.com

• Enter "1FBVH" for the 5-digit code
• For more details on ordering online read this post.
  

This is the last week of our "All About Me" unit.  During this week we are talking about our five senses: sight, smell, touch, hearing and taste.  The kids had fun talking about which senses they were using during lunch!  We are also talking about sound and music.  Everyone got to experiment with different "instruments" or noise makers this afternoon.  Be sure to look at the picasa album to see and hear a sample of this ;)

Next week we start our "Farm" unit. The farm animals will be visiting St. Matthew's next Friday, the 25th.  This will be a lot of fun for our friends since they will get to pet rabbits and pigs, see a cow and maybe a miniature horse!  I do want to give you advance notice that I will not be there that day (or at least not the entire day) because my mother is having back surgery in San Antonio and I need to be there with her. 

Please feel free to contact me via email or phone if you have any questions or concerns!

Weekly Reminders for 09/14/09

• Fun-N-Fitness on Monday - be sure your child is wearing tennis shoes
  
• Individual School Pictures on Wednesday, September 16th
• Book orders due by Friday, September 18th
• Unofficial Class Party at Chick-fil-a is postponed
  

Another Day of Firsts...

Wednesday, September 9th was another day of firsts for our class!

• We had our first substitute (Mrs. Prchlik stood in for Mrs. McCay)

• We had our first full Chapel Service (the kids did great!)
  

• We celebrated our first set of birthdays (Katie, Zach and Henry all turn four this week)!

• We attended our first Music Class taught by Mrs. Magee in the music room!
  

• We ate lunch at school for the first time!

I took a ton of pictures today and they are uploaded to the September 2009 album.  Enjoy!

Class Roster

Please feel free to print this class roster to help your child learn the names of all his/her new friends in Mrs. Bonura's class:

You're Invited to a Party @ Chick-Fil-A!!

Lauren Ward, Henry's mom, wanted to invite you to a *party for Mrs. Bonura's M/W/F class at Chick-Fil-A on Saturday, September 19th from 5-7pm (the location on Braker).

Please let her know if you can come and how many they can expect to set up the fun:)  Food and fun provided by Chick-fil-a. This will be a great chance to meet each other outside the hecticness of drop off and pick up ... siblings are of course welcome.

* This is not an official St. Matthew's event...

If You're Happy & You Know It...

We ended our first week on a very happy note :) The class learned the words to "If You're Happy and You Know It" We clapped, stomped and shouted "Hooray!"

I can tell that kids are starting to feel more comfortable in the classroom, with me & Mrs. McCay and with each other. Many new friendships are starting to bloom! There were so many smiles and giggles today - all of their personalities are really starting to come out :)

The girls have enjoyed playing dress-up with the princess clothes donated by Katie...
The boys love building with blocks, setting up train tracks and playing with the cars...
Painting is definitely a favorite activity for Grant and Addie... Grant loves to sing along with the music and paint :)
On the playground, Henry and Anderson had fun playing chase... Fletcher had so much fun riding a scooter and getting it stuck in the rocks - while Allison kept pulling the scooter out of the rocks for him... Ben discovered that he is "very curious" and likes to know all that is happening around him ;) Charlotte enjoyed riding a tricycle while Mia and Katie took turns on the swings... Zach and Trevor discovered they are going to be great friends!

Reminder: No School on Monday!

Knees Are For Kneelers, Feet On The Floor

Today we learned what to expect during Chapel! Mrs. Dugat taught us that the most important thing to remember when we go into the Sanctuary is that "God loves us!" We learned that "knees are for kneelers", "feet on the floor" and "seats are for sitting" we also learned that the books(the Bibles and Hymnals) are for adults but we did get to look at them for a few minutes! Mrs. Magee played the piano while we practice singing "Good Morning, Lord!" Mrs. Dugat showed us the signs for "I love God" and "God loves me!" Next week we will be prepared for a wonderful Chapel experience.

Reminder: If anyone is celebrating a birthday next week, please bring a baggie with 4 coins to count during Chapel.

First Day!

Pictures from the first day are uploaded here on picassa.

What an incredible, fun day we had! We played, built things, ate snacks, played on the playground with the other 3s classes, read books ("How Do Dinosaurs Go To School?" & "The Kissing Hand") and painted...

I really can't say enough great things about this class! One thing I had been really nervous about was getting these sweet little ones to walk in a line, safely... Katie suggested that everyone hold their own hands and blow bubbles as they walk. What a great idea!! Our class did such a great job walking down the hallway that we were complimented by every teacher that saw us - including Mrs. Thurman (the head of school)!! I was filled with pride :)

The kids learned that when I say "Stop, look and listen" they stop what they are doing, turn and look at me and listen to what I'm going to say. Usually, I would say "Give me five!" and everyone learned to raise their hand so I can come by and give them a "High-five" before they lined up.

Another phrase a few kids learned to use was "STOP! I don't like that!" This is a great phrase to use when someone is doing something that they don't like. It works in several different ways - 1) The child no longer feel like the victim (2) the offending child almost always stops at least for a second (3) it signals a teacher that help is needed.

Mrs. McCay and I will be helping your child "use his or her words" and help solve problems independently.

Here's to a great start of a new year!!!! :D

Pictures from "Meet The Teacher!"

It was great meeting most of the kids and parents today!
I've uploaded some of the pictures we took to picassa.

Remider: Meet The Teachers on Friday!

I am holding a Meet The Teacher/Orientation Day on Friday, August 28th because I feel it will be helpful for the children to meet in a small group and visit the classroom before the first day of school. This is an opportunity for you and your child to visit the classroom, meet the teachers(myself & Mrs. McCay) and other students. The girls' classroom visit will be 10:30am-11:15am and the boys' visit will be 11:30am-12:15pm. The playground will be open for you and your child to visit after our classroom visit. You will receive your child's class folder which will be filled with important information for you to take home and review.

Monday's Daily Schedule

Here is an idea of how Mondays will look:

Click on the schedule for a larger view.

Items To Save For Our Class:

We love having these items on hand for fun projects and activities throughout the year:

• paper towel and toilet paper tubes
• gently worn costumes (that you don’t want anymore) for dress-up – VERY popular!
• empty tissue boxes (needed in February)
  
• odd sewing items: lace, trim, sequins, beads, rickrack, felt, buttons, etc
• wrapping paper scraps, extra occasion cards
• cardboard egg cartons
• yarn, ribbon scraps

THANK YOU!

Book Recomendations: Three Helpful Stories About Managing Big Emotions

The Way I Feel Pack:
The Caldecott Honor-winning When Sophie Gets Angry shows that everyone gets out of control sometimes, and a little solitude can help. Sophie is upset because her little sister grabbed her toy and made her fall over. She's ready to roar, but instead makes the choice to go outside. Climbing a favorite tree and listening to the birds, she is able to calm down. And when she finally comes home, she isn't angry anymore.

The Way I Feel is a perennial bestseller that helps children identify their stressful feelings—and think about constructive ways of managing them. Playful rhymes and evocative illustrations describe jealousy, disappointment, anger, and more, and remind kids that it's not okay to hit, yell, or hurt other people. Also included is a note to parents on how to talk about feelings with children.

Strong emotions can be overwhelming to young children—and they can be difficult to talk about. But discussing the situation of a character in a story is not threatening and can be an excellent way to introduce these issues. Keep these books on hand for times when children need to talk about how to cool down!

Available online through scholastic book clubs for only $10.00(for all 3 books!)

Book Recommendation: The Kissing Hand

Say Goodbye to Separation Anxiety with This Best-Selling Book & Read-Along CD

Perhaps no story has helped children with separation anxiety more than this heartwarming classic about a little raccoon going off to school for the first time and worried about missing his mama. Luckily for him, she's got a special way of helping him feel close to her even when they're apart: She puts a special kiss in his hand that he can hold on to all day long. With adorable illustrations, this reassuring story is a must-have for every child. Plus, the read-along CD included with this set lets children enjoy the story whenever they need a little reassurance.

Available in Scholastic's SeeSaw September Catalog for $7.00