Preschool News - Week of September 20

It's already Friday! Time again for another weekly news update!

But first...let me say thank you to the following people:

Everyone who attended curriculum night this week to learn more about our preschool program
Both of our families who brought snacks in this week
The families who picked apples from our "Giving Tree"
(We are so thankful for the donations of Kleenex and Blue Painter's Tape!)
The very kind MWF Mom who donated a new camera to our preschool!

Now for the weekly news....

Dear Tuesday-Thursday Families,
This week at preschool, we've been learning about about families. We talked about the people in our family at home, and we learned that all of us are part of God's big family. We are really glad that we have our family pictures on our bulletin board. The children love to tell us about their families and about when the pictures were taken. Can you believe that September is almost over? What a wonderful first month of school we're having!

Here are some of the things we've done this week...
We had our school picture day this week! The children had beautiful smiles!
Mixed red and yellow paint to make orange to celebrate the beginning of fall
Used fine tip markers (and house shaped paper) to draw the people in our family
Made a collage using pictures of people from magazines (and we even learned that the word collage means "to stick")
Learned a song called "God Made My Family"
Brought our train set out to our curtain area (they LOVE the trains!)
Moved and danced to a song that teaches us body parts
Took walks on our church sidewalk to enjoy our beautiful fall weather.

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



Dear MWF Families,

Our focus for this week was teaching the children about families, kindness, and learning to work together. Our students are sitting well on the rainbow rug as they are learning to listen, care, and share at circle time. We are getting more familiar with our gym and playground as we continue to explore areas outside of the classroom. On Monday we played “Duck, Duck Goose” in the gym. They had a great time, and I am sure it will be one of their favorite group games. Our picture day went smoothly. Your children are wonderful listeners. Later that day we took everyone outside on our first rope walk adventure with the entire group. Next week we will focus on the theme of Fall. Thank you to everyone who joined us on Curriculum Night on Tuesday. It was a pleasure to share with you our goals and philosophy of Tiny Treasures. To those of you who weren’t able to join us, we certainly understand busy schedules…if you have any questions feel free to contact us at anytime.

Here are some of the other things we’ve done this week at school…

We drew a family portrait with markers.
We made cards for a family member or friend to demonstrate kindness.
Worked on our own imaginative Red Collages on “Red Day" …using glue and scissors..
Used texture plates for crayon rubbings.
Learned a fingerplay about families.
Listened to The Mommy Book and The Daddy Book by Todd Parr and the story Red Red Red by Valeri Gorbachev.
Played with play dough and puzzles.
Explored a number learning set of cards.
Played with the trains in our smaller groups, and listened to books.
And played with puppets - this group really enjoys puppet shows!

With kindness as we continue to grow and explore together,
Miss Lori, Miss Donna & Miss Pat

Preschool News - Week of September 13

It's already time for another weekly newsletter!

Important Upcoming Dates:

Tuesday, September 22 Curriculum Night

(Childcare available if needed)

T-Th Class 6:00 - 6:30

MWF Class 6:45 - 7:15

Wednesday, September 23 Preschool Photo Day - MWF Class

Thursday, September 24 Preschool Photo Day - T-Th Class

Dear Tuesday-Thursday Families,

Our Tuesday-Thursday class has had another wonderful week! Miss Lacy, Miss Pat and I are pleasantly amazed at how much we have been able to do already at preschool!

Here are some of the things we were doing at preschool this week…

Encouraging the children as they learn to take care of their hand washing and/or toileting needs

Continuing to learn our daily schedule and routines (we're doing great!)

Having a classroom visit from the librarians who work on the Bookmobile

Painting “apples” with red paint (a huge hit with everyone!)
Learning that “Hands are For Helping” not for hurting and learning that “We Keep Our Hands to Ourselves.”

Learning that God loves us just the way we are!

Continuing to learn each other's names by hearing the teacher sing "Where Oh Where is My Friend?"
Learning the finger play “The Itsy Bitsy Spider"
Hearing the story "Mice Squeak, We Speak" by Tomie De Paola - a story that reminds us to use our words!
Playing with alphabet puzzles and a body puzzle

Tearing red construction paper at the exploration station - a great way to strengthen those finger muscles (over heard in the classroom this week: "My mom never lets me tear paper at home!!" )

Using red crayons that are shaped like the letters of the alphabet

Playing with a wooden train set in groups of 2 or 3 at the curtain area by our cubbies
Enjoying the beautiful weather at our playground

And...celebrating someone's 4th birthday!

WOW! Without a doubt, we have been busy learning and having fun together. What a great class we have!

Miss Jean :)
Dear MWF Families,

We have had a full and interesting week this second week at preschool! Our children are beginning to learn the routine and become more familiar with our classroom, our building and playground. This week our theme was on “ALL ABOUT ME.” We are learning the "basics" as each child is becoming more familiar with the preschool routine.

These basics include washing our hands in the morning, learning to sit on the Rainbow Rug, learning to sing our Good Morning and Good-Bye songs, listening to a story, participating in a fingerplay or song, assisting with clean-up time, using our walking feet in the class room, and learning the playground safety rules. The children are also beginning to make new friends and play together in groups.

Again, thanks to this beautiful September weather we have been taking the children outside every day to play on the playground or to go for a walk with our "Rainbow Rope." On Wednesday, the children participated in a fire drill, and they did wonderfully leaving the class room promptly, following the teacher, and staying in line outside the building.

Here are some of the other things we’ve done this week at school…
We traced our hands as we continue to learn that Hands are for Helping.

We used crayons and "people shapes" to make self portraits.
Played with animal dominoes and texture dominoes.
Practiced number recognition and counting with our 123 Cards.

Practiced our fine motor skills when we played our "Make a Face" game
Painted whatever we wanted using red paint.

Played with our big train set in the hallway by our cubbies
Heard the stories "Designed By God So I Must Be Special" by Bonnie Sose "Eyes,

Nose, Fingers and Toes" by Judy Hindley and "From Head to Toe" by Eric Carle

Began to talk about the change of seasons (fall is next week, you know!)

Learned that we are each special and unique and created by God

Talked about ways we can show kindness to each other

We look forward to next week in which our theme is “OUR FAMILIES.” If you have not brought in a family picture for our bulletin board, please do so at your earliest convenience.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Miss Lori

And remember....Be kind to one another! Ephesians 4:32

Our Daily Songs and Grace Prayer

Hello Preschool Families!

Rumor has it that your children have been trying to teach you our daily songs and our grace prayer! I suppose it would help if you knew the words, so I'll share those with you here. If the song has a familiar tune that goes with it, I'll include that as well!

Our Grace Prayer (both classes)

Thank you, Lord, for the world so sweet
Thank you, Lord, for the food we eat
Thank you, Lord, for the birds that sing
Thank you, Lord, for everything

(while there is a tune to this, we choose to speak it instead. It seems a bit more respectful this way :)

Tuesday - Thursday Songs

Our good morning song is much shorter and much simpler than the MWF morning song. In the spring time, we will begin teaching the class the MWF song to help prepare them for their 2nd year.

Good Morning Song- Hello!

Hello, Hello
Hello and how are you?
I'm fine, I'm fine
And I hope that you are, too!

(sometimes we sing it to the teachers, and they sing back to us!!)

Good Bye Song - Now Our Time at School is Done
(kind of goes to the tune, Jimmy Crack Corn)

Now our time at school is done
We've learned so much and had some fun
We'll come back to smile and play
And see our friends another day.

Monday-Wednesday-Friday Songs

Good Morning Song - This is the Day

This is the day
This is the day that the Lord has made
We will rejoice
We will rejoice and be glad in it

This is the day that the Lord has made
We will rejoice and be glad in it
This is the day
This is the day that the Lord has made

(we are also learning hand motions to go along with this)

Good Bye Song - It is Time to Say Good-Bye
(Tune: "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain)

It is time to say good-bye to all our friends.
It is time to say good-bye to all our friends.
It is time to say good-bye,
Give a smile and wink an eye. (wink)
It is time to say good-bye to all our friends.
Good-bye friends. (wave)

I hope this helps you out when you are listening to your children singing our songs!

All Blessings,
Miss Jean

Preschool News - The Week of September 6

Hello Preschool Parents!

We're happy to present you with our first on-line version of the Weekly Preschool News! One way that we're trying to be "green" is to watch how much paper we send home with you (and also, this is a great way for you to share our preschool happenings with your extended family if you want to share this link with them!). I'll start with the Tuesday-Thursday 3-year-old class news, and Miss Lori will follow up with the MWF class! As always, the preschool staff is available to you if you have any specific questions about your child. We're usually available after class each day (and by e-mail, too!). Enjoy!

Dear Tuesday-Thursday Parents,
It has been a wonderful first week at school! Our two main goals this week have been getting to know your children and helping them adjust to their new environment. We are also learning our morning routine and getting familiar with our classroom environment and our classroom rules.

Here are some of the things we've been doing already in just two days...
Learning our good morning and good bye songs
Learning our grace prayer at snack time
Starting our day with Play Dough while we get to know each other
Learning to sit together on our rainbow rug (your children did great!!)
Listening to a few pages of I Like Me (in big book form)
Listening to the entire story of Good Night Moon (also in big book form)
Beginning to learn our Preschool We Care Rules...more about those soon!
Heard the story of Mary Had a Little Lamb using two adorable puppets!
Drawing a picture of our first day at preschool and a picture of our favorite colors
Playing with some peg puzzles at the Exploration Station
Having LOTS of fun playing in our "kitchen" and with our block center!
Enjoying our beautiful weather while playing on the playground

As you can see, it's been a busy first week, and Miss Lacy, Miss Pat and I are looking forward to spending the next several months getting to know you and your children much better! Thank you for your patience as we all adjust to our new environment and our new friendships!
(PS...no tears at all in our classroom this week...maybe some at home??? :)

All Blessings,
Miss Jean


Dear MWF Parents,

We had a terrific first week at preschool. This class is off to a great start. Already we have seen the children learning to share, take turns and play in groups. We had a few short-lived tears, but overall the adjustment to the first day went very smoothly. Our focus this week is on getting to know the rules at preschool, learning each other’s names, the daily routine, and exploring the classroom and playground. We will focus on kindness and teaching the children to learn to listen, care and share. We had beautiful weather on Wednesday and Friday, so we were able to take all of the children outside to play on the playground. Also this is a reminder if you have not brought in a family picture yet for our bulletin board, please bring in one this week as we will soon be talking about our families and learning more about each other. And it does help the children to feel more secure when they see pictures of themselves and their loved ones. Next week our theme will be" All About Me."

Here are some of the other things we did…

We drew imaginative first day drawings.
We played with ABC, number, and shape puzzles.
Practiced learning to sit together and listen during Circle Time.
We celebrated a Birthday!
Played a Circle Game “Higgelty Wiggelty Bumble Bee" to learn each other’s names
Listened to the story I Like Me by Nancy Carlson
Drew a picture of our new preschool
And kept very, very busy...not a single dull moment going on here!

Looking forward to the year ahead,
Miss Lori, Miss Donna & Miss Pat