Preschool News - Week of October 25

D is for Delight, so remember to "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalms 37:4 NIV

IMPORTANT CONFERENCE INFO...

We're already finishing up October, and getting closer to those cold winter months that we know are up ahead. This is the time of year that we get ready for our first set of parent teacher conferences. The teachers have had two months to get to know your children in our preschool setting, and we really enjoy the opportunity to meet to update you on how your child is doing in the areas of social, physical, emotional and educational development. We also enjoy hearing you tell us more about your child. We look at conferences as a positive experience where we can explore the areas that your child is excelling at and look at the areas where we encouraging more growth.

After your conference, I suggest that you celebrate your child's strengths with them! Our family started a tradition in preschool that we went out for a snack together after conferences to celebrate our child's growth (and I just celebrated my very last conference as a parent this year!!). What your child needs to hear at this age is how great they are doing at this new thing called "school" and how excited you are that they are growing and learning so much! I always like to remind parents that your children have only been on our planet for 3 or 4 years, and they have a LOT of growing left to do! (I mean really, I've been here for over 40 years, and there's still a lot of room for improvement with me!!)

Some basic conference info to share with you...
Parents will meet with teachers in either the room next to the preschool room or the room across from the preschool office.
Yes! Childcare will be provided in the preschool classroom by either a board member or Miss Jean (for those MWF students :)
Please knock on the door if it is your conference time and we are still in the room with another parent. This helps keep us on our schedule.
If you find that the 15 minutes was not long enough, let your teacher know, and we will set up another time to meet in the near future.

And now...onto our weekly news....


Dear Tuesday-Thursday families,
It was an exciting week in our classroom FULL of dramatic play! Miss Jean took the opportunity of Halloween to wear a "King of the Wild Things" costume and read HER favorite childhood book to the students of both classes this week. Where the Wild Things are by Maurice Sendak is a wonderful children's book that was written in 1963. Did you know that it was originally going to be called "Where the Wild Horses Are" but Mr. Sendak couldn't draw good horses (not many people can!). So his publisher suggested he draw "things" instead, saying something like, "Surely, you can at least draw 'things'!" And did you also know that those "Wild Things" were based on his aunts and uncles that would visit his childhood home in Brooklyn on Saturdays. They must have seemed big and scary to him, and I bet they even said things to him like, "You look so good, I just want to eat you up!!" It's always fun to do a little detective work on the books we read to our children!

Before I go any further, let me tell you that the new movie of the same name is NOT a movie for very young children to see. My favorite on-line movie guide, commonsensemedia.org, suggests this movie for ages 9 and up.

But don't let that stop you from going to the library to check out this Caldecott award winning book. Reading it with your child can open up the doors of communication and help bring up many subjects such as...

What is imagination, and how can we use it creatively in our lives?

What is "mischief" and what consequences do we have at our home when bad choices are made? (on that note, look for a wonderful handout on positive discipline that we'll have for you at conferences!)

Why is it that Max made the decision to "make mischief of one kind or another" ? Was he in need of some kind of attention? Did he feel that making mischief might give him the attention he wanted? Is there a better way that he could have found that attention?? Hmmmm...lots to ponder here....

What is your child afraid of, and what "tools" can you give your child to help conquer those fears? In the book, Max tells the wild things to "Be still!" and he tames them to the point that they are afraid of him!! Cool!!

Are there times that your child feels lonely and misses you, and wants to be in the place where he or she is "loved the most of all"?

Does your child (or even you, for that matter?) ever need a time when they are allowed to "roar their terrible roars, gnash their terrible teeth, roll their terrible eyes, and show their terrible claws"? We are humans, and God has given us a huge range of feelings that NEED to be expressed! And reading this story with your child will give you a chance to really explore those feelings!!

Well...I think that's enough news from the Tuesday-Thursday classroom! I think I'll end this part of the post to leave some room for the MWF news! Have a great week!

All Blessings,
Miss Jean, Miss Lacy and Miss Pat


Dear MWF Families,

We had so much fun celebrating the week of Halloween. On Monday for Show and Share a student brought in a stuffed stegosaurus dinosaur. For Letter D week there was a lot of interest in our classroom on Dinosaurs, so we combined our Halloween theme with dinosaurs! On Monday, it was another wet playground day, but we enjoyed playing as a whole group our favorite Letter D Game “Duck, Duck, Goose” in the gym. On Wednesday we practiced walking on the balance beam, and played “Where’s your cookie little mouse?”

For our Halloween Celebration the children had such fun dressing up in costumes and going Trick-or Treating throughout the church building. And it was especially fun for them when Miss Jean aka Max read the book Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak! Thank you to all of our parent volunteers who have made our Halloween Day such a success! Thanks to each of you for your contributions. We will see you at our Parent Conferences next week!

Here are some other highlights of our week…

Painted spider webs on black construction paper
Played Dress-Up with a variety of clothing and accessories.
Made newspaper hats and decorated them.
Played with Dinosaurs at our Exploration Station.
Heard the story The Dinosaur by Anna Milbourne
Sang the Christian songs “Deep and Wide” and “Down In My Heart’
Watched the Puppet Story of “There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly”
Played with Number Dominoes
Counted 100 Spiders and Creepy-Crawly Creatures on our One Hundred
Poster
Paraded about in our Halloween Costumes.

With Gratitude,
Miss Lori, Miss Donna, Miss Pat and Miss Jean

Preschool News - Week of October 18

It's letter C Week, so let's all remember to clothe yourself in kindness (Colossians 3:12)!

Important Dates Coming Up…
Thursday, October 29 - T/Th Halloween Party Day
Friday, October 30 - MWF Halloween Party Day

Wear a Hallo-friendly costume!
Families can join us at 11:15 for our preschool costume parade by the cubbies

Dear Tuesday-Thursday Families,
What a fun week we had at preschool! We had a special visit from the fire department this week that included a Sesame Street movie, a chance to see what a firefighter wears in a fire, AND a walk to the parking lot to see a fire truck up close! We also had a classroom helper this week! Thank you for coming in to play with us Donna!
Here are some of the other things we've been busy with at preschool...

At greeting time this week, we looked at fire fighter books, number books and letter books.
At circle time, we learned an important song that taught us to STOP, DROP and ROLL if our clothes ever catch on fire.
For art, we painted with yellow and red paint to find out that together they make orange!
We read a wonderful book about colors, called Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? (written by Bill Martin, and pictures by Eric Carle)
At the exploration station, we played with a game about seasons
For dramatic play, many of the children used their imaginations to have a "parade" at our rainbow rug
At our story steps, behind the curtain, we played with BIG CARDBOARD BLOCKS and our toy fire station with fire trucks.

Here's the song we learned this week (the tune is to Skip to My Lou)

If your clothes catch on fire, what do you do?
(Repeat 3 times)
I will stop and drop and roll!

I will stop, drop and roll!
(Repeat 3 times)

That is what I'll do!


Dear MWF Families,
The highlight of our week was the field trip to the Fire Station. The children watched an Elmo video about fire safety. They met Firefighter Jeff. He gave a wonderful presentation on safety and showed everyone the fire trucks and ambulance. The students especially loved climbing aboard the vehicles. He then put on his uniform and equipment, and gave the children a visual of a firefighter crawling around in a fire. The children learned so much, please remember to reinforce the importance of fire safety at home. For Show and Share week a student brought in two different Crystals ,( rose amethyst and quartz) for Letter C week. We played Catch in the gym and a game called Copycats, where the children make up their own body movement, and everyone else imitates it. It is a silly game and we had lots of giggles. We also played “Where’s your Cookie Little Mouse?”, which is another popular fun group game. Thank you to our snack helper this week, we celebrated a birthday too!We were anticipating going to the Chapel this week, but this will be rescheduled at a later time. We will make you aware of that schedule change, as soon as we are aware. Next week we look forward to Letter D Week and the week of Halloween!

Here are some of the other things we’ve done this week at school…
For Circle Time we read Fred The Firefighter-an Usborne Book.
We also listened to “Fire Fire!” Said Mrs. McGuire
For Art we created sculptures from a model clay, and worked on making
paper chains to decorate our room. This is a good fine motor activity using
taping skills.
For Science we played a Science Seasons Game.
For Dramatic Play we played with a Fire Station and Fire Trucks.
For Construction we played with Castle Blocks.
We practiced “Stop, Drop, and Roll.
We crawled through our play tunnel to practice Stay Low and Go for fire
safety.
For Math we practiced counting and sorting colored cotton balls and picking
them up with tweezers. We looked at a book on Circles.
For Faith we sang “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”
We used scissors and cut out a pumpkin.
Blessings,
Miss Lori, Miss Donna, Miss Pat and Miss Jean

Preschool News - Week of October 11

It's letter B Week! A perfect time for us to introduce a very familiar song about a very important book. And now, you even have the words to it so you can sing it with your children!

Thank you to our snack helpers last week, our shopping volunteers who brought back kleenex, cardstock and drinking cups, and to the moms who took home our towels and dollhouse toys to be cleaned!! We appreciate all of you so much!

Reminders for next week.....
MWF class will meet AT THE FIRE STATION on Monday at 9:30 for our field trip! The field trip should end around 11:00, when we will be dismissed for the day.
Mixed Bag orders due in Monday at noon
Picture orders are due in on Wednesday, October 21
And now for our weekly news....

Dear Tuesday-Thursday Families...

We had so much fun this week learning about what was inside a pumpkin. Before we cut open the pumpkin, the children all had a chance to say what they thought was inside. Here are some of their ideas...juice, goodie bags, a pumpkin, goodies, and chocolate! After we cut the top off, we explored the insides and found lots of seeds and lots of gooey orange stuff (one of the children thought it looked like a spider web!). We learned that we can make pumpkin pie from the inside walls of a pumpkin, and we found out that many of us have eaten pumpkin seeds before! Here are some of the other things we did for letter B week...

At greeting time, we colored a B is for Bible coloring sheet and drew pictures on orange construction paper.
For story time, we read a big Weekly Reader poster about Baby Animals and heard the story Birds by Kevin Henkes.
For art, we made prints using bubble wrap print blocks on pumpkin shape paper. We also colored with some orange crayons that were shaped like circles.
For fine motor and hand strength, we played with orange play dough and fall shaped cookie cutters.
For math, we counted and sorted different colored bears. It was one of the favorite activities of the week.
For our small group time by the steps, we played with the train set and we got to walk across a balance beam.
We also played bean bag catch and bean bag basketball in the gym this week. It was so much fun, that I'm pretty sure we'll repeat it again for next week if we can't go out to the playground!

See you all next week when we learn about fire fighters and fire safety!!
Miss Jean, Miss Lacy & Miss Pat



Dear MWF Families...

This week our harvest theme was Pumpkins and it was also Letter “B” week. For our Show and Share Miss Lori brought in a silly looking “Bee Bug.” We sent our Show and Share Bag home with one of our students who will bring in a letter C item next week. At our exploration station we had a real pumpkin with the lid cut off to explore its inside. Most of the children used spoons, but there were a few brave ones who felt the pumpkin with their fingers.

We played Duck Duck Goose in the gym on Wednesday due to a light drizzle that day. On Friday we went to the gym and tossed beanbags into a basketball hoop and also into buckets. We also listened and acted out the motions to a Beanbag Song in the classroom. We were very thankful to have a parent helper with us on Friday! Thank you so much! Our theme for next week will be Firefighters and Fire Safety. We will see you at the Fire Station on Monday for our field trip!

Here are some of the other things we’ve done this week at school…
At Greeting Time we played with play dough and rolling pins, and colored and drew on a pumpkin sheet.
At Circle Time we listened to the Five Little Pumpkins Fingerplay and played a sharing game of passing the pumpkin.
At Art we created little pumpkins by tearing orange construction paper and gluing the pieces on to mini paper plates. Also for Art we painted little wooden bugs and butterflies, which we will turn in to magnets. And on Friday, some of us colored some BIG pictures of Bugs!
For Science and Sensory we explored a real pumpkin.
For Language, Literacy and Math we used stencils to write the numbers from zero to nine.
For Dramatic Play we played with the Barn and animals. We also played with pretend medical kits.
For Construction we played with Builders and Benders, Cardboard Bricks and Blocks.
During Small Group time we looked at a variety of books on Pumpkins.
For Faith Based Ideas we sang the song “He’s Got the Whole World in His
hands,” and talked about God’s great protection. He gives us Courage.
We also sang the B-IB-L-E Song.

Looking forward to the season,
Miss Lori, Miss Donna & Miss Pat

3 Secrets to a Happy Kid

Hello Preschool Families!

One of our preschool board members brought this article to my attention, and I wanted to share it with you! It is from the May 2009 issue of Parenting magazine (also available at parenting.com). Enjoy!

3 Secrets to a Happy Kid
Here's a bug you'll want your kid to catch: happiness! New research suggests that if a child's parents (that's you!) are happy, if her classmates are cheery, if her neighborhood pals are smiley -- well, she's more likely to be sunny, too. Some ways to keep her in the happy-go-lucky loop:

Stay well connected. Happiness is like the flu, says James Fowler, Ph.D., an associate professor at the University of California, San Diego, and the study's coauthor. The more peppy people you come in contact with, the more likely you are to pick up their good humor. So to make sure your child is fully exposed, join a playgroup, schedule playdates, try to hit the playground when you know there'll be plenty of other kids there.

Stress laughter (not achievement). The fundamental point of human existence has more to do with experiencing happiness than success, says Fowler. Of course, when your kid is older, you'll want to make sure she's getting the best education possible, but for now, opt for fun activities and toys over "brain-boosting" ones. And if you're in the market for daycare or you're ready to check out preschools, consider ones that emphasize social skills and play over drilling the ABC's.

Go to your own happy place. This doesn't mean forcing a smile through gritted teeth while you rifle through that stack of bills on the kitchen table. It means doing something that you know will push your bliss buttons -- crank up some music you really love or take your tot out for ice cream. There's nothing like a chocolate-smeared grin on a little kid's face to instantly perk you up.

Preschool News - Week of October 4

Hello Preschool Families!

It was Letter A Week at Preschool, and it was absolutely amazing! A good time to remember that...

"...All things work together for good to those that love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

A big thank you goes out to all of our preschool angels, especially...
Our families who have provided snacks for us recently and
Our shopping angels who have donated Goo-Gone and more painter's tape!

A few quick things to mention...
1. Now that the weather is getting colder, make sure that your child is dressed appropriately for our outside play time! It's definitely been "jacket weather" these last few days! I'm hoping that next week doesn't bring out winter wear!!
2. Please send your child to school in shoes that are safe for active play. We suggest "gym shoes" for everyone. Dress shoes, clogs and "crocs" are hazardous to those little ankles when we are out in the playground or when we are inside playing in the gym.
3. Our fund raiser from Mixed Bag Designs will run through October 16. Thank you to everyone who has already participated in this unique new fund raiser!
4. All of you should have received an order form for the amazing class photos that were taken recently. Please try to return those to me by October 20.

(PS...Mixed Bag orders and photo orders can be dropped in the gray box next to our sign in sheet)

And now onto our weekly news....

Dear T-Th Families,

We've had another fun and exciting week at preschool! The rainy weather kept us indoors, but that just led to even more fun playing with balls in our BIG gym! We broke up the class into two smaller groups (one with Miss Lacy, and one with Miss Jean). While one group played in the gym, the other group stayed in the classroom to look at books and hear some stories. Here are some of the other things that have been going on in our Tuesday-Thursday class:

For art, we used big ABC stamps with orange paint and we made alphabet collages on orange paper. We also played with playdough and pretended to make acorns with some acorn caps.
For our pre-writing and fine motor practice, we played with alphabet puzzles, and practiced learning and writing the first letter of our first name.
For math, we brought out some different sized plastic circles, and used big pencils to trace around them (also great for developing our fine motor skills and hand strength). We also worked on learning numbers 1-10 by hearing a rhyme about a hungry little squirrel. It went like this...

Ten little acorns, sitting in a tree
Teasing Mr. Squirrel, "You can't catch me!"
When along came the wind
And shook that tree, then
SNAP! Went the squirrel,
Happy as can be!

Everyone had a squirrel at our rainbow rug with a different number on it. When the acorn with the matching number "fell" out of the tree, that child got to SNAP the acorn away! (Miss Jean was inspired this week to write that little rhyme. It was based on the original rhyme about the monkeys in the tree who were teasing Mr. Alligator)
For science, we explored real antlers at our Exploration Station. Many of the children were excited to learn that they grew out of the head of a deer. The antlers were given to us by a forest preserve employee who saves them for education purposes.
For dramatic play, we continued playing with the doctor kits. The children love to role play and work through some of their "fears" about going to the doctor. We also had a chance to play with our workshop bench and tools in the hallway by the steps.


Dear MWF Parents,

Once again we are very pleased to announce that we have another new student in the classroom! He is a wonderful addition to our class! Our M-W-F class is now at full capacity. Hip, hip, hooray!

Miss Lori was very thankful to have Miss Lacy from our 3’s Class and Miss Jean help out in Monday’s class (Miss Lori was at home recovering from a foot injury). And we are always thankful for Miss Donna and Miss Pat too!

This week we learned about the letters of the alphabet, focusing on letter A for letter A week. We brought in antlers to explore, with supervision, of course. The children really enjoyed looking at them. Also Miss Lori brought in her friend Allie the Alligator for Show and Share, and taught the children an Alligator Rap Rhyme. And we explored the insides of an apple. We also celebrated another birthday this week, and played outside on our playground both days.

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

We used ink pads and stamps and stamped letters on the letter A.
We made Apple prints by pressing halves of apples into red and yellow paint on painting paper. We made two huge paintings as a group.
At Greeting Time we looked at ABC books and worked on puzzles.
In small groups, we played with our workbench and tools by the steps for dramatic play. We took turns picking out our tools and learned that we can "trade" a tool if someone had one that we wanted. One group had a fabulous time "fixing the sink" on their house. There was some great role playing going on!
We practiced writing letters of the alphabet. we are especially encouraging the children to start their name with an upper case letter, and using lower case letters for the remaining letters.
We practiced counting and number recognition with apple cut-outs that had matching "worms."
We listened to part of the book ABC by Heather Amery and Stephen Cartwright.
We heard the book AA Is For Aardvark by Mark Shulman. This book was from the local library and it had words in it with double letters! (Aardvark for AA, puddle for DD, kitten for TT, etc.). A very clever bOOk!

Enjoy the long weekend, and we will see you back at school on Wednesday!

Preschool News - Week of September 27

Hello Preschool Families!

Time again for another weekly update! We wish that we could include EVERYTHING that goes on in our classroom, but the teachers would have to hire some reporters for that to happen! At least we can give you some insight with our weekly news.

Don't forget to consider our fall fundraiser from Mixed Bag Designs. Everyone should have received an order form, but we have additional ones at the sign in table if you need one. Last date to order will be October 16.

Be sure to check your e-mail this week, too! I sent some September preschool photos to each of you through Shutterfly. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as we enjoy seeing your children in our classroom!

Miss Jean


Dear Tuesday-Thursday Families,

I can't believe we've already finished the month of September! The children are becoming very comfortable with their preschool routines, and we're all learning more and more about each other. The weather is getting colder these days, so be sure to send your child with warm clothing for our outside play time!

Here are some of the activities we've been busy with in our class:
At greeting time, we've been playing with puzzles
For art, we made a red circle collage and we made drawings for our friends
For science, we went outside in pairs and gathered leaves that have fallen from the nearby trees. When we came back inside, we had magnifying glasses to see them even better.
For dramatic play, we brought out our doctor kits (this was a special request from several of the children in our class).
We also had a lot of fun playing with our farm animals and the barn!
For our social learning, we've been playing a game like "Hot Potato." We call it the sharing game. We pass around a squishy red apple while we listen to "The Sharing Song" by Jack Johnson.
For fine motor practice, we brought out some dry erase books that have different types of lines that we can trace. The children are also learning to erase each page before we go on to a new one.

We're looking forward to lots more fun in October! Enjoy the weekend everyone!
Miss Jean, Miss Lacy and Miss Pat






Dear MWF Families,

This week we learned about the changing of the seasons, and the signs of fall. We brought in a variety of leaves for the children to explore. We were very excited to accept a new student into our classroom on Monday. She is a delight! We took advantage of the brisk refreshing fall weather to play outside on our playground and to take a walk on our chilly Friday morning. We also celebrated a birthday this week and began having our daily classroom helper! Next week we are beginning with our Show and Share Bag. Watch for the schedule to go home with your children next week. As the cooler weather is approaching, encourage your children to share with you what they are learning and experiencing in their world about autumn on God’s beautiful earth.

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

We used real leaves and created our own Leaf Rubbings with crayons
With their favorite puppet stage the students created their own imaginary Ice Cream Shop in Dramatic Play
We used scissors to cut out orange circles, as we are learning about shapes
and practicing our fine motor skills
We painted Leaf Cut-Outs with red and yellow paint
Enjoyed creating with Builders and Builders
We practiced our counting and sorting skills with our set of toy farm animals
Worked on Alphabet recognition with ABC Cards
Heard the stories I Am A Leaf by Jean Marzolla
Listened to “Five Little Leaves Storyboard which is a counting story rhyme
Played “Scarecrow Scarecrow Turn Around” which is a large motor activity
Drew Cray-pas Drawings

Looking forward to the season,
Miss Lori, Miss Donna & Miss Pat