Summer is Here!

Dear Preschool Parents,

Can you believe that summer vacation is already here? We have had such a wonderful year at our preschool, and while we are excited for our vacation to begin, we'll also be missing those smiling faces in the classroom!

The teachers would like to thank each one of you for EVERYTHING you have done for the preschool this past school year. We couldn't have had such a successful year without all of your help. So thanks to each one of you for....

Volunteering your time in the classroom
Helping with "at home" projects such as cutting paper projects, shopping for us or doing work on your computer.
Providing such delicious snacks for us through the school year
Donating supplies, books and games
Donating your time to be on our preschool board
And especially for keeping us in your prayers!

Of course, we thank you the most for sharing your children with us! It has been a joy and an honor to spend time teaching your children, and they will always have a special place in our hearts!

While I will be leaving the preschool and going on a new adventure, I hope I can stay in touch with you. I have enjoyed working with Miss Darlene over the last several months to better prepare for our transition in Directors. I am more than confident that Miss Darlene will be a blessing to each and every one of you that will be returning in the fall!

Speaking of the fall, this would be a good time to tell you a little bit about our complete preschool staff...

Miss Darlene will be leading the school as Director. She comes to us with over 30 years of teaching experience and as a Christian Education Director. I have come to love Darlene, and I know that you will as well! The preschool is in wonderful hands!

Miss Michelle will be joining us on the staff as MWF lead teacher. Many of you may also know her as the parent of one of our former students. Michelle is an experienced first grade teacher who has spent many hours volunteering with us in the classroom and she is also a former preschool board member.

Working with Miss Michelle in the four-year-old class will be Miss Cheryl. Cheryl brings her special gift as an experienced occupational therapist. We know the MWF children will be in very caring and capable hands as they spend one more year at preschool to prepare for kindergarten!

Our Tuesday-Thursday three-year-old class will be led by Miss Mary. Mary is mom to twins who graduated from our program. And...Mary offers us her wonderful gift as a Kindermusik instructor. I'm sure I'll be able to hear the class singing no matter how far away I am!

Mary will be assisted in the classroom by Miss Jan, a warm and caring teacher who is known at our church for her work with the children on Sunday mornings. We are so blessed to have such wonderful teachers for those incoming three-year-olds as they begin a new and exciting stage in their lives!

And our dear Miss Pat will be back for her 8th year at the preschool! The classroom wouldn't be complete without her laughter and hugs! I am thankful that yet another group of children will be blessed by her patience and generosity!

So...blessings to each one of you over the summer months! And many thanks to each of you for bringing such joy into our lives!

With gratitude,
Miss Jean and the entire preschool staff

TTh Preschool News - Week of May 8

Hello Preschool Families,

We know that Father’s Day isn’t until June19, but we wanted to celebrate all of our Dads this week! One of the “Dads” we learned about was God our Father! We sang a song about God that you can find on Cullen’s ABCs that goes like this:

My God is so great!
So strong and so mighty
There’s nothing my God cannot do!
My God is so great!
So strong and so mighty
There’s nothing my God cannot do!

The mountains are His
The rivers are His
The stars are his handiwork, too
My God is so great!
So strong and so mighty
There’s nothing my God cannot do!
For you!

And we adapted that song a little bit to sing a song about our Dads at home who we love so much….

My Dad is so great!
So strong and so mighty
There’s nothing my dad cannot do! (Repeat)

I look up to him
To teach me what’s right
To show me the things I should do

My Dad is so great!
So strong and so mighty
There’s nothing my dad cannot do!
Yahoo!

We hope you enjoy the early Father’s Day change dish that we made for you!

See you next week!
Miss Jean, Miss Amy and Miss Pat

MWF Preschool News - Week of May 8

Hello MWF Preschool Families,

We had so much fun at preschool this week! We were able to spend a lot of time this week outside playing on our playground and taking walks. There were also several centers set up outside that we could participate at. There was a painting easel, jump rope, a water center with sponges, and we even learned some of the sounds that different birds make.

This week in art we painted some beautiful flowers that will be displayed in the hall later next week. We also painted small pictures using marbles. It was a new experience trying to paint by rolling a marble and trying to keep it in the pan. Our pictures turned out really neat.

Wednesday was a busy day for us. We had chapel with Pastor Greg, and he reminded us that our friends are gifts from God. We also sang the song “God is so Good.” Later that day we learned a new game inside called “Heads Up, Seven Up.” This game was so much fun that we even played it again on Friday.

Here are some other things we did this week…

Played the game “Terrific Tens” with dice
Practiced tracing the number 10
Listen to the story The Surprise Garden by Zoe Hall
Played various matching letter games
Learned to read the book I Go
Listened to the story Grow Flower Grow by Lisa Bruce
Played Jenga
Wrote in our notebooks
…and listened to the story The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle.

We have even more fun stuff planned for next week. Enjoy your weekend!
Miss Amy, Miss Michele, Miss Jean, and Miss Pat

MWF Preschool News - Week of May 1

Hello MWF Preschool Families,

May is here, and the flowers are blooming! Dandelions are found all over the playground as well as in the little hands of preschoolers. The Spring time energy can be felt both inside the classroom and out.

Speaking of the classroom here’s a look at what we did at preschool this week.

In art we made a special picture for our Moms and Dads using paint and our hand prints. It was so nice on Friday that we were able to make our art project outside! We used spray bottles filled with thin paint to spray a misty mural on paper. It is so nice to be able to enjoy the fresh spring air after being cooped up all winter.

At our math table this week we played a dice game called “Nifty Nines”. We discovered the many combinations of numbers using dice that add up to the number nine. We also played a game called “Reach for the Top” using our dice. The game is really based on luck of rolling the right numbers, but it gives us a chance to practice tallying and graphing our results. We also really enjoyed competing with each other to see who could reach the top of their paper first.

This week we also practiced tracing the number nine, matching together rhyming words, reading a book about Family, and making cards for our moms and friends. We listened to the stories Sunny Day by Anne Milbourne, On Top of Spaghetti by Paul Brett Johnson, and Who Made the World by Kathleen Long Bostrom. We also all had fun playing in Dance Bags and going outside to the playground.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Miss Amy, Miss Michele, Miss Jean, and Miss Pat

Simple Sixes and More

Hello Preschool Families!

We’ve been playing a dice game in the MWF class the last several Mondays that would be great fun at home for all the children - and it would be a great way to learn some important math skills! It is a game I learned at a math workshop that I attended during January’s Early Childhood Conference. The workshop was given by a representative from Box Cars and One Eyed Jacks which is located in Canada.

We start with a tray of 36 dice (which can be purchased from Box Cars - click on the Math Manipulatives link or other places, I’m sure). The tray is great, because it's easy to see if we need to search for missing dice at the end of the game! To play Simple Sixes, someone rolls all of the dice (we roll them into a shallow box to keep them contained). Then, everyone starts looking for dice combinations that add up to 6. So, you could pull out six 1’s, or two 3’s, a four and a two, or a simple six! You can go around the table and take turns or you can use a sand timer like we do and try to find all the sixes before all the sand is on the bottom.

After we learned Simple Sixes, we expanded to sevens, eights and now we’re on Nifty Nines! Usually we will have children at the math table all morning long for these games. Let me give you one other suggestion if you decide to play this at home. When your children are counting the combined dots, have them count the dots on the larger number die first. For example, if you rolled a six and a three, first count the six dots, and then move on to the next die with seven, eight and nine. Scroll down a bit to the previous post to see what the game looks like in our classroom!

Have fun playing and learning!
Miss Jean

MWF Preschool News - Week of April 25

Hello MWF Families!

We finally made it all the way through Letter Z week! This week we learned all about Zoo animals, Zebras, and a short man named Zacchaeus.

In art, we drew some stripes on zebras and then we painted them with watercolor paints. We also made some dragonflies or butterflies because we often see these insects in the spring. We played some math games using dice called “Crazy Eights” and “Reach for the Top” We also practiced writing the number 8 and the letter Z. We even tried to learn how to read a story about the Zoo!


On Wednesday, we read a story all about a man named Zacchaeus, who wasn’t a very nice person because he took money from people. We learned how he became a better person after meeting with Jesus, and how he gave back all the money that he had taken. We sang a song about him too!

This week we listened to several stories about zoo animals. We read the story There’s a Zoo in Room 22 and the story The Zoo I Drew by Todd Doodler. The weather was beautiful on Friday so we were able to play on the playground. We really enjoy being able to go outside.

We hope that everyone enjoys there weekend and we look forward to seeing everyone again Monday!

Miss Amy, Miss Michele, Miss Jean, and Miss Pat


A Kindergarten FYI...Woodland School District is very excited to announce they are exploring the possibilities of a Dual Language program starting in the Fall of 2012. Everyone should have received a flyer with meeting information for families that reside in Woodland boundaries who have a student entering Kindergarten in the fall of 2012 or later. Please contact Miss Jean if you have any questions.

TTh Preschool News - Week of April 25

Hello Tuesday-Thursday Families,

Is it possible to have too much fun at preschool? I don't think so!
Here's a peek into our week...
Miss Amy found some worms in the parking lot on our rainy Tuesday. We really enjoyed watching the children learn about them. It was especially funny when we tried to measure them! They keep changing their length!


We also had fun making giraffes to celebrate ZOO WEEK! At greeting time, we glued the pieces onto a long piece of paper. Then at our art center, we put spots on them with square shaped sponges. They will be hanging up on our bulletin board this week.


We had fun with our tiny zoo animal counters. Many of the boys and girls found out that we have more than 100 little animals!


But maybe the most fun we had this week was playing in our dancing socks! Only 5 of the children felt brave enough to try them out. We'll bring them out again and see if anyone else wants to try them next week. Even though we can't see who is inside the "sock" the person on the inside CAN see who is around them! So, we'll just have to take a guess who is inside this time!


Have a wonderful week! See you in May!
Miss Jean, Miss Amy and Miss Pat