We’ve been doing color — hands on! Our fine motor skills with cutting, coloring, painting and gluing have been challenged, as well as our imaginations. We learned the colors in a rainbow and how to mix primary colors. We learned about warm colors and cool colors, primary colors and secondary colors, and where we see them in our world.

We have tried many fruits and vegetables from every color of the rainbow. We cultivated our sense of adventure; and most of the time, we really liked the new things we tried! From frozen grapes, red sweet peppers and raw sweet potatoes, to purple cows, we explored color and food.

We read many stories with color themes and we sang some fun songs about color. We loved singing 5 Little Ducks and 5 Green and Speckled Frogs. We really liked hearing Yellow Submarine, we thought it was pretty funny. But the best, was Purple People Eater. We love to dance to it and have asked for it again and agian!

Color days rock!

Woo Hoo! Go Blue!

Our “warm color” days were so exciting! We learned that if you mix yellow and red you get orange. We even learned a song about that. We experimented with the science, art and tastes of red, orange, and yellow. We sampled some foods we knew and a few we didn’t. We had a big surprise when we found out the orange things we thought were carrots turned out to be raw sweet potatoes! And for our yellow snack we had frozen bananas! We learned something from each experience. We also discovered that trying new things can be interesting, challenging, and fun! On yellow day we got to go out and cheer on our Cross Country Buddies! That was super exciting. We brought them a “Go Bananas Falcons” banner and some yellow bananas for their after run boost! We have thought a lot about colors, not to mention how much better we have gotten at cutting, coloring, painting, beading and gluing! Color days are fine motor skills 101 !

We had a fun Hat Day for Spirit Week. Then we got to go to the Homecoming Cross Country Meet and cheer on our buddies. The FA Falcons took first place for boys and girls! Falcon feet fly! So exciting! Then on Friday we finished off Spirit Week with an amazing parade! We sat on the curb and cheered as the middle and upper school students paraded past. They stopped right in front of us and performed! They really think about us when they plan their parade. That is what it means to be FAmily! We were mesmerized. It was all so awesome! When the spring parade and pep rally roll around, we’ll be old pro’s! All of that Spirit Week fun was topped off with a fantastic Fall Carnival. Go Falcons!

We spent the last few weeks getting to know FA. We traipsed all over the Fredericksburg Academy campus and were greeted with smiles everywhere. We are learning what it means to be part of a larger community. We know our school name, our nickname, our mascot and our school colors. We are learning the names of our classmates, our special teachers and many of the administration and staff we will learn with at FA. We are JK Falcons and we are proud!

All around campus, administrators and staff invited us to come into their offices, classrooms and facilities. We read stories, sang songs, and danced. We walked the grounds, including the tunnel! We toured the lower school, the middle school, the gym, and the upper school. We loved seeing the trophies and the locker rooms in the gym! We also thought all those Beanie Babies on the ceiling of the Upper School were pretty funny. We had special time with Ms. Moschetto,  Ms. Estes, Mr. Steinberger (middle school science teacher and coach of our cross country team buddies), Mrs. Atkins (Lower School Librarian and coach of our cross country team buddies), Mr. Durso (Head of the Upper School), and Ms. Houston (Alumni Liaison and Admissions). We visited the upper school theater, the middle school science room and garden, and walked all over the lower school. All around the campus we were greeted with smiles and invitations to come in and look around! We could really tell we were special to this Fredericksburg Academy community. 

As a culminating activity for our Fredericksburg Academy unit we took a trip to the school store. We each got to choose three things to put into our bags. We chose lots of spirit supplies, some art items, some school tools, and a few glow in the dark erasers. When we got back to our room we took turns showing what we got. We patiently watched as each child shared their treasures. What a wonderful way to demonstrate our respect for each other and a great way to boost our FA Pride! Go JK FALCONS!

What a perfect day! Parents showed their confidence and children came joyfully into the classroom ready for their adventure in learning to begin. Together, we began to discover what being part of the Fredericksburg Academy community means. We connected with old friends and made new ones. We worked hard, played hard and were ready when quiet time came. If we can do this, on our first day, imagine what the future holds…

What a wonderful beginning. Parents and children working together to create memories and masterpieces! It was so much fun watching families in action. We are so happy the children enjoyed themselves and got comfortable in their new surroundings with those they love most. We are looking forward to welcoming the children tomorrow and beginning our adventure together! Junior Kindergarten is up,up and away!

Greetings Parents!

Our new school year is about to begin! We hope you have had a relaxing and fun-filled summer. Ms. Jareb and I are eager to get our students together and begin the fun of learning. We have many exciting activities planned for this year.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Darlene Kolotos and I have been at Fredericksburg Academy for 23 years in a variety of teaching positions. I am passionate about working with very young children and Junior Kindergarten is where my heart is. I have been in JK long enough to see children grow up, graduate and go to college! It is very rewarding. I love answering questions, reading aloud, acting silly, and being outside. I live in Fredericksburg with my husband. Our son is a film editor and works in McLean and our daughter is a kindergarten teacher just waiting for an opening at FA! My associate is Della Jareb. She is a student at UVA. She has a passion for the arts and is eager to share that with our students. This is our first year together as a team, and I am so excited! Ms. Jareb has worked in our Falcon Club, as a substitute teacher, and in the summer camp program, so she knows quite a few of the children already! I feel fortunate to have her by my side.

Orientation for junior kindergarteners and their parents will be Monday, August 23^rd. On orientation day, we will have a brief information exchange and then do a parent/child activity. Parents and children should dress for the floor! Please bring your child’s school supplies to orientation.

The first full day of school, with after school care, will be Wednesday, August 25^th. (No before school care until Thursday, August 26^th.) Drop off is between 8:15 and 8:30 a.m. Please bring your child to the door, keep your goodbyes brief and show your confidence in your Junior Kindergartener!

If you have any questions now or during the school year, please do not hesitate to contact me by cell at (804-445-6822) or e-mail dkolotos@fredericksburgacademy.org. We look forward to learning together.