T-Th Preschool News - Week of Dec 13

Hello Tuesday-Thursday Families,

We've been so busy all month long preparing for Christmas! We've been busy making paper chains so we can "Deck the Halls"...


We've been painting with red and green paints...


But most importantly, we've been preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus!


Here are some of the other things we've been doing lately...
Developing our fine motor skills while we painted, played with play dough and made paper chains (you'd think it was really letter P week here!)
Decorated Christmas trees to put over our cubbies
Traced our hands onto brown paper so we could make reindeer antlers
Worked on our pre-math skills using our peg boards and colorful pegs


Listened to some wonderful Christmas stories including...
The Stable Where Jesus Was Born by Rhonda Gowler Greene
My Christmas Alphabet by Claudia Kunin
This is the Stable by Cynthia Cotten
Who Was Born This Special Day by Eve Bunting
The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore

And of course, we celebrated Christmas in Fellowship Hall with many of you! It was so wonderful to see you there. Enjoy your time away from school, have a wonderful Christmas, and we'll see you back at preschool in 2010 (January 5th, to be exact!)

Christmas Blessings to you and your family!
Miss Jean, Miss Lacy and Miss Pat

MWF Preschool News - Week of Dec 6

Dear MWF Families,

We have had so much fun celebrating Christmas and the birth of baby Jesus this week. For our Letter I week, our student brought in her favorite polar bear whose name is Icy. (How fitting for this time of year!) We have had some very cold and slippery days this week, so we have stayed indoors for our large motor play. Monday was extremely special because we had a special guest, one of our preschool parents who specializes in Kindermusik came in to sing many fun Christmas songs, and we played a variety of instruments too! She also had puppets! The children really enjoyed this activity! Many thanks to our special parent helper! Wednesday we had the Bookmobile arrive and each student had the opportunity to pick two books! Friday was a great day which started in the Chapel with our two pastors who shared the Christmas story with us! And later that day we went on a Jingle Bell Caroling Parade and shared some Christmas songs with our seniors at their day program. You should have seen the smiles on everyone’s faces…and the seniors joined along! We will see you at our Christmas Party on December 18th @ 10:30 a.m. We wish you peace this Christmas!

Here are some other highlights of our week…

Painted red and green at the Easels
Used stamps on Christmas Trees
Created a fun igloo/ice sculpture with sugar cubes and icing (for display only.)
Explored a variety of musical instruments during our small group time.
Read the story Ten Little Christmas Presents by Jean Marzolla
Looked at I Spy Christmas Books by Walter Wick
Played a favorite group game “Where Is Your Cookie Little Mouse?”
Heard the story Cock-A Doodle Christmas! By Will Hillenbrand
Enjoyed playing with our Christmas Manger Cloth Figurines
Explored a variety of insect replicas
Most of all we really enjoyed celebrating Christmas!!!

MWF Preschool News - Week of Nov 29

Dear MWF Families,

Brrr…as I write this newsletter it is cold outside. How quickly the winter and Christmas season are approaching! This week our theme was signs of winter and Letter H week. For Show and Share one of our students brought in a Rescue Heroes Helicopter. The children really enjoyed its working propeller. On Monday and Wednesday we were able to play outside on the playground. On Friday we opted to stay in because of the slippery sidewalks and icy areas on our playground. We played “Red Light Green Light” in the gym. How fitting for the colors of our month! The students really enjoyed this game, and it is a great game to learn how to listen carefully and follow directions. They learned very quickly green means go and red means stop! We are just beginning to celebrate Christmas in our classroom, especially with the emphasis on the birth of baby Jesus and the importance of giving. Looking forward to seeing all of you at our Christmas Celebration, on December 18th at 10:30 a.m.! Peace and Joy to you this Christmas!

Here are some other highlights of our week.
We used scissors, glue and crayons to make lovely Homes
Painted coffee filters with watercolors and cut them into snowflakes.



Used tape to make Christmas Hoops, (like a paper chain.)
For our fine motor skills, we practiced using paper punchers with paper strips.
Played Hopscotch, Rescue Heroes, and Hands Down


Read Highlights High Five Magazines.
Listened to a squirrel fingerplay and talked about Hibernation
At our Storytimes we listened to Merry Christmas Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood and Hurry! Hurry! Have You Heard?, which is a nativity story by Laura Krauss Melmed

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

T-Th Preschool News - Week of Nov 15

Hello Tuesday-Thursday Families!

We were busy all week preparing for Thanksgiving! Secret art projects were being made for the parents, and we were all excited about the Thanksgiving "Feast" that happened on Thursday at preschool. I think you would all agree that there was a whole lot of Thanksgiving excitement going on in our building this week!

Here are some of the things we did the week before our Thanksgiving Break...
At greeting time, we looked at some books from our recent visit on the Bookmobile
For art, we made fun handprint pictures that we turned into Thanksgiving cards for you! We also made placemats for all of the guests at our Preschool Feast!
For fine motor skills, we cut out paper feathers and we played with play dough to increase our hand strength.
For math and counting, we brought out our Foam Number Puzzle again because it was so popular with so many of the children.
To truly celebrate letter G week...we invited Katie's dad to our classroom to play his guitar and sing some songs. It was so much fun for all of us! I think my favorite part of the visit was when he played "We're Going To Be Friends" by Jack Johnson (from the Curious George Soundtrack). Please come back to visit us again!
At our story time, we listened to the story Give Thanks to the Lord by Amy June Bates.
For music and large motor, we used egg shakers to move to the beat of "Riding on a Horse to Grandmother's House" by Geof Johnson. We really laughed a lot to this song, and we learned a lot of G words, too, such as Going, Grandmother, Giddyup and GO!! GO! GO!!

But the highlight of the week was certainly our Thanksgiving Celebration with all of you! Thank you all so much for participating - either by bringing a dish to share, helping with set up, or just by joining us! We are so thankful for you!

With gratitude on this Thanksgiving week!
Miss Jean, Miss Lacy and Miss Pat

MWF Preschool News - Week of Nov 15

Dear MWF Families,

We had a terrific Thanksgiving week. Our theme continued to be thankfulness and Letter G Week. For Show and Share one of our students brought in a plastic Grasshopper. How clever! Beautiful weather graced our week once again and we spent some time playing on the playground. The highlights of our week included the visit to the food pantry, listening to a special guest play guitar at Story Time, and our Thanksgiving Feast! The children really enjoyed contributing to our food pantry. They asked many questions upon their visit to the food pantry. It was exciting to see them participating and sharing with others in need. Many thanks to all the families who contributed! You were quite generous! On Wednesday we had a special guest Stephen Plumbhoff come in to play some catchy children guitar tunes. The students had many requests! And, of course it was a wonderful way to end our week with the Thanksgiving Feast! Thank you to all the parents, family and friends who shared in this Thanksgiving Celebration! Thank you for being a part of our preschool family! Enjoy your week and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Here are some other highlights of our week...

Painted Turkey Handprints
Made a foam hand Turkey Craft using glue and feathers.
Explored Indian Corn and Squash with magnifying glasses.
Used Shaker Eggs and listened to and acted out…”Riding On A Horse to Grandmother's House."
Played Board Games; Boggle, Memory, Chutes and Ladders.
Practiced drawing and writing words to make Thank You Notes
Enjoyed the story Good Night Sweet Butterflies by Dawn Bentley
Listened to “Thank You God” CD Story-by Schoolhouse Specialty Publishing


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

Here are some of the empty shelves in our church food pantry....

And here is the cart full of donations from you!! Thank you so much!

T-Th Preschool News - Week of Nov 8

Hello Tuesday-Thursday Families,

We had a fantastic and fun-filled Letter F week! And along with all the fun, we've had some excellent opportunities to learn about our November theme of gratitude.

On Tuesday, Miss Lacy took the children to our church office in small groups, where Miss Nancy showed them our church food pantry. We use the visit to explain to the children that the food donated to the food pantry is shared with families who may not have any food in their homes. It's typical for the children to see one of their favorite foods there and want to take it home! It's a great time to talk to your children about how we are all part of God's family, and we are here to help each other!

On Thursday, we learned a little bit about the First Americans who lived in the United States. Miss Jean brought in an authentic deer skin dress that is similar to what may have been worn by a woman many many years ago, long before you could buy your clothes at the mall! The children were already in a giggly mood for the day (they must be anticipating Letter G week!) and they really laughed when they saw that dress on their teacher! When I asked them what was funny, one very insightful young man said, "Because it's different!" Of course, we used that as a quick opportunity to tell the children that just because someone may look different from them, it doesn't necessarily mean it's funny. (don't worry though, we will still be sure to give the children plenty of encouragement to laugh!!)

Here are some of the other things we played with this week...
For art, we started a super secret Thanksgiving project using our fingers and we used colorful paper scraps to decorate fish.
At our exploration station, we had fun stacking and smooshing green foam circles (they were originally swim noodles!)
To help us learn about numbers, we played with a foam number puzzle and we learned the song Five Green and Speckled Frogs using our flannel board.
In small groups, we played a very silly game called Leaping Frogs that helped us develop our large motor skills. We also worked on large motor skills when we kicked a foam ball to each other out on our playground!
We heard the story In the Pond by Milbourne and Waters and the story Giving Thanks - A Native American Good Morning Message by Chief Jake Swamp.

Looking forward to seeing you next week for more fun and learning!
Miss Jean, Miss Lacy and Miss Pat

MWF Preschool News - Week of Nov 8

Dear MWF Families,

This week our themes were Thankfulness, Thanksgiving and Letter F Week. For Show and Share one of our students brought in a Flag, which fit in so well with our themes and the fact that Wednesday was Veteran's Day. Beautiful weather graced our week once again and we spent some time playing on the playground. Several highlights of our week were the Chapel, the Rainbow Fish Art, and the dramatic play of the grocery store.

At the Chapel Pastor Greg and Miss Jean acted out a skit/parable which related to giving to others. (I must say we have some fine talent at this preschool!) The children recited a finger play to Pastor Greg entitled “Thank You God.”

The Rainbow Fish Art Project was quite fun and it was exciting to see the children create their very own version of a colorful fish. The children loved playing grocery store with our many pretend food items, play money and cash register. We also explained how very different it was to live during the times of our ancestors. They had to plant, grow, harvest, and hunt their food.

On Wednesday, November 18th we will be visiting our food pantry. Please have your child bring in a canned good item by Wednesday! We look forward to next week as our theme of Thanksgiving continues with our Thanksgiving Celebration on November 20th @ 10:30. We hope you join us! (Please RSVP for our Thanksgiving gathering by Tuesday morning!)

Here are some other highlights of our week…Drew with Farm Animal Stencils
Practiced counting and sorting with pasta, beans, dice, and muffin tins.
Explored Indian Corn - the students loved picking off the kernels, and Miss Jean even ground up some kernels to show us cornmeal.
Listened to Native American Music, “Kid’s Pow-Wow Songs” by Black Lodge.
Played a “Colorful Feathers” Circle Game, a great recognition color game.
Heard the story This First Thanksgiving Day by Laura Krauss Melmed
Enjoyed the story The Great Fuzz Frenzy by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel. (This is a great fun story which addresses themes of friendship, forgiveness, and cooperation.)

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

T-Th Preschool News - Week of November 1

Hello Tuesday-Thursday Families,

With conferences this week, we had a very short week in the classroom, but we still had lots of fun and learning! Since it was letter E week, we decided to spend the day learning a little bit about our Earth! We read part of the story What A Wonderful World which was based on a very familiar song that you may have heard Louis Armstrong sing! The illustrations by Ashley Bryan are beautiful and "depict children of many backgrounds performing a puppet show that brings the lyrics to life."

At our science table this week, we brought out several of our Usborne books that describe our earth including In the Pond, On the Seashore, and Under the Ground. It's a good time to talk with your children about our earth and all of the life on earth that God created.

Miss Jean also took one last day to take care of some assessments before meeting with all of you this week! Here are some of the other things you might have caught us doing...

Playing with orange playdough and ABC cookie cutters at greeting time
Using green, blue and brown crayons on blue circle shaped paper to make our own earth pictures
Painting with brown paint at the easel
Singing the song "At the Easel" by Thomas Moore (see words below)
Playing with a Spill and Spell dice game
Practicing our name writing skills
Playing with dress up clothes and a challenging USA puzzle in the curtain area by our cubbies
And last but not least...taking a walk on a very beautiful fall day!

And here are the words to "At the Easel" by Thomas Moore...

At the easel, at the easel
I can choose any color I want
(two times)
I choose red!
I paint the house red
I paint the dog red
I paint the sky red
I paint the grass red
Today I must like red!
(repeat with other colors!)

One final thought before signing off. To celebrate letter E week, EVERYONE should go outside this weekend to enjoy our wonderful November weather! See you soon!

Miss Jean, Miss Lacy and Miss Pat

MWF Preschool News - Week of November 1

Dear MWF Families,

This week our theme was Emotions for letter E Week. We really enjoyed discussing the different emotions/feelings such as happy, sad, angry, and scared. Our Show and Share helper brought in a letter E item which was a small elephant.

We were fortunate to have two good weather days! On Monday we went outdoors for a fresh air walk and sang some songs led by our very own parent helper! On Wednesday we were blessed again to have another parent helper and sunny weather! We were very thankful to go outside and play on the playground, especially after many recent rainy days.

We also celebrated another birthday! We used the Easel this week for painting and our children had a great time creating their own masterpieces. Our students have such great creativity! Our paintings are right outside the classroom. Please take a moment and enjoy the children’s art gallery as you are walking by.

Thank you to all of our parents for coming out to Parent Conferences! Your children are doing so wonderfully in Preschool! We appreciate everyone’s feedback and suggestions, as you help us to continue to grow to provide an excellent class for your child.

Remember to join us at Chapel @ 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday November 11th!

Our BROWN DAY is Friday November 13th. Please encourage your child to wear BROWN!

Here are some other highlights of our week...

Painted with Paint Dobbers on Elephant Shapes
Built Railroad Tracks and played with Trains.
Looked at Number Books at Greeting Time.
Wrote with Pencils on Note Paper and used Envelopes too!
Listened to Glad Monster Sad Monster by Ed Emberley. This book also has different masks to display various emotions.
Heard the story The Way I Feelby Janan Cain
Listened to a Rebus Reader Elephants Are Not Little by Anders Hanson
Practiced a Rhyme/Fingerplay “God Made The Sun”

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

News from the Director - Week of Nov 1

Hello Preschool Families!

Thank you all so much for taking time out of your busy schedules to meet with us for parent teacher conferences. We truly enjoyed the opportunity to give you a better idea of how your child is learning and growing here at preschool. We also enjoy hearing more about how your child is learning and growing at home!!

There are many factors that influence your child's growth and development, and preschool is just one of those factors. We are only with the children 2 or 3 mornings a week, and we know that there is a whole other world outside of the classroom. Because of this, we also use our conference times as a way to "walk with you" on the ever challenging path called parenting. Between the 5 teachers on the preschool staff, we have 11 children and about 100 years of parenting "practice" under our belts (Yikes!), so we really do have an idea of what you're going through as you grow your families. I hope that all of you take some time to look through the handouts that we prepared for you, because they have a wealth of information that will help guide you on your parenting adventure!

Several of you have requested our recipe for the home made play dough that we often use in the classroom, so I'll share that with you here. Enjoy the lovely weather that we've been blessed with this weekend!
Miss Jean :)

And for letter E week, let's remember to "Encourage one another!"
(Hebrews 10:25)

Home Made Play Dough

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup salt
1 Tablespoon cream of tartar
1 1/2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups water
1 package unsweetened Kool Aid powder for color

Mix all of the ingredients in a large pot. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly. When it starts forming into a large ball (about 3 - 5 minutes), remove from heat, cool and knead. Store in an airtight container or zip loc bag.

Important Upcoming Dates...

Thursday, November 19: T-Th Class Thanksgiving Celebration
Friday, November 20: MWF Class Thanksgiving Celebration

Class starts at 9:00 & the party starts at 10:30
Family members are welcome to join us
Watch for RSVP sheet in your cubbies next week!

Saturday, November 21: WPC Craft Sale & Bake Sale
9:00 - 3:00
The bake sale is a preschool fund raiser! Let's all make some delicious goodies! We'll also be selling Usborne Books as a fund raiser! See you all there!

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

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

And We're Off...

Welcome to the start of our new school year! All of the teachers are so excited that you'll be joining us for this exciting preschool journey!

And welcome to our new preschool blog, too! We're offering this blog to you as yet another way to help improve our communication. Although we only see your children 2 or 3 times a week, there is soooo much information to share with you (especially for those of you who are new to our preschool)! My hope is that these blog postings will help you to be more aware of what goes on at school after you give your child that good bye hug. We'll be posting our weekly newsletters here for you, as well as important bits of learning that will hopefully make your preschool experience more enjoyable!

The information posted here will be kept very general in order to maintain our privacy. You won't see any photos of the children's faces or see any of their names, but you will gain a better understanding of all that goes on "behind the scenes" at school.

First off, let me say thank you to everyone who joined us at Open House or for a Meet the Teacher morning. These opportunities will help make your child's transition to preschool much smoother. We're already beginning to learn each other's names and our likes & dislikes, and school won't even start for another 10 or 11 days! I'd say we're off to a great start!

Here are just a few items to mention before that first day actually happens....

1. Please bring in a change of clothes for your child on the first day of school. If possible, please bring them in a Zip Loc bag marked with your child's first and last name (pants, socks, a shirt and undies would be great!). You never know when we'll need to make a quick change here!

2. Also, please try to bring along a photo of your family on the first day. We'll find a place to hang them in the classroom for the children to see. Many of the children (especially our new students) love to look at that family photo and it gives the teachers an opportunity to know your families better.

3. A word about hand washing...even though our logo has those paint covered handprints, we always start our day with clean hands :) If you arrive before 9:00, feel free to take your child to one of the bathrooms in the church hallway to help them wash their hands (there are bathrooms in both hallways). Or, when we open the classroom door at 9:00, your child can either use our automatic hand sanitizer or wash his/her hands in our bathroom. Either way, we want to make sure that we are doing everything possible at preschool to keep germs out!

4. Last but not least, if you would like to order preschool t-shirts for your child (or for you!), we will have send an order form home with your child on the first day of school. Always check those tote bags when they come home!!

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to work with your children! We are truly looking forward to getting to know each one of them. Feel free to contact me by phone or e-mail if you have any questions, otherwise, we'll look forward to seeing you on Tuesday, September 8 or Wednesday, September 9!

Peace & Blessings!

Miss Jean