MWF Preschool News - Week of March 8

Dear MWF Families,

The theme for this week was our five senses. Monday the children received a vision and hearing screening from our local county health department. Everyone participated wonderfully! We also went on a walk on Friday. During the walk, we practiced using our senses. We saw a UPS truck, felt the wind, heard the local traffic, and smelled fresh air. And we were able to taste yummy vanilla cupcakes, as we celebrated a birthday for one of our students.

For our letter T week a student brought in a Teddy Bear and a little pony named Toola-Roola. On a bittersweet note, we said goodbye to one of our students who is going to a full time preschool program. We made special cards to say goodbye to him and send him best wishes. Next week we will have fun exploring the theme of Farm Animals.

Here were some other highlights of our past week...

Our local bookmobile paid a visit and we chose new library books for our classroom.

We painted with sponges shaped like the letter T and Triangles.

We drew with Chalk Cray-pas to explore other textures of creating drawings.

Played with Texture Dominoes.

Marched around our building with maracas, bells and tambourines and sang our favorite songs, including Christmas carols in March!

Watered our bean seeds and observed one is sprouting.

Used our fine motor skills and played with tweezers and counting plastic Teddy Bears and placed them into muffin tins to practice sorting and counting.
Looked at I Spy Books
Listened to the story We Are Going On A Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. Great Rhymes and Sounds are in this book for Senses Week.
Read the story My Five Senses by Aliki.

We will see you in two weeks for our Parent Teacher Conferences. Please note that there is
NO SCHOOL on Friday, March 26. The teachers will be busy meeting with you!! Enjoy this beautiful sunny refreshing weather! (Our playground is beginning to dry...Yippee!)


Your Team,
Miss Lori, Miss Donna, Miss Pat and Miss Jean

Nine More Days Till Spring!

T-Th Preschool News - Week of March 8

Another fun filled week of learning at Tiny Treasures!

We continued our unit on the Five Senses this week, exploring the world of taste and touch! We also are already on letter T week, so we did several activities related to the letter T. I think one of our favorite times this week started out at our rainbow rug when we explained to the children how to "trace triangles." The children immediately commented on how the triangles look like pizza, and everyone wanted to say WHAT should go on top of a pizza! Here's what we heard...

Macaroni & Cheese

Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches

French Fries

Rice

Paw Prints (ew!)

A Unicorn

Cheese (there must be a realist in our group!)

Crayons

Feet

Our Heads!

So, if your child is suggesting strange pizzas at home, this may be why!!

Here are some of the other things we've been doing this week at school...

At greeting time on Tuesday, we made some beautiful flower petals that will be hanging up soon! On Thursday, we played with puzzles (which gave the teachers a little more time to assess those puzzle skills!)

We brought out some musical instruments and played along to Ella Jenkin's CD "You'll Sing a Song and I'll Sing a Song"

We traced some triangle shapes and learned that triangles have 3 straight sides (just like pieces of pizza!)
We played with two science games this week - one about seasons and one about bugs

We explored some unique pieces of nature at the exploration station: Milk Weed stems and seed pods, Queen Anne's Lace stems, Locust Tree seed pods and a Wasp nest. The children were fascinated to open up the Locust Tree pods and see all of the seeds inside. They also REALLY enjoyed blowing the Milk Weed seeds around the room!

We brought out tanagram shapes to make pictures

We used some textured bug templates to make crayon rubbings

We practiced making patterns and learning colors while we played with our counting bugs

At story time we heard two more stories in BIG BOOK form: The Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort and The Little Red Hen by Paul Galdone

We also went out to the hallway in pairs with Miss Jean to have some puzzle and name recognition skills assessed.

For a simple "Get Ready for Spring" activity, make a paper chain at home to count down the 10 more days to spring! I know I'll be making one at home (even if my kids are 18 and 20!)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Miss Jean, Miss Lacy and Miss Pat

Letter T Week

Trust in the Lord with all your heart! (Proverbs 3:5)

Here are some activities for you to do with your child for letter T week!
And important upcoming dates....

Both Classes:Monday, March 12 - Butter Braid orders are due
Sunday, March 21 - The First Day of Spring!
Monday, March 22 - Butter Braids delivered at 10:00
Wednesday, March 24 - Evening Parent Teacher Conferences
Monday, March 29 to Friday, April 2 - No School - Spring Vacation!
MWF Class:Friday, March 19 - Chapel Time 9:00 - Please Join Us! (and it's BLUE DAY!)Wednesday, March 24 - Kindermusik Visit from Miss Mary
Friday, March 26 - No School - Parent Teacher Conferences
Tuesday-Thursday Class:Thursday, March 25 - No School - Parent Teacher Conferences

Letter S Week

Let's spread the spirit of God wherever we go!
See if you can do each of these things every day for a week:
Help someone, practice patience when you wait, and pray with your family

Here are some upcoming preschool dates that you may want to be aware of:

Both Classes:
Monday, March 12 - Butter Braid orders are due
Sunday, March 21 - The First Day of Spring!
Monday, March 22 - Butter Braids delivered at 10:00
Wednesday, March 24 - Evening Parent Teacher Conferences
Monday, March 29 to Friday, April 2 - No School - Spring Vacation!

MWF Class:
Friday, March 19 - Chapel Time 9:00 - Please Join Us! (and it's BLUE DAY!)
Wednesday, March 24 - Kindermusik Visit from Miss Mary
Friday, March 26 - No School - Parent Teacher Conferences

Tuesday-Thursday Class:
Thursday, March 25 - No School - Parent Teacher Conferences

CHILD CARE IS AVAILABLE FOR CONFERENCES IF NEEDED! PLEASE SEE THE SIGN UP SHEET AT OUR WELCOME TABLE!

If you like to plant things at your house, be sure to check out this info on "Get Growing" from the Illinois Early Learning Project. This is a fabulous tip sheet on sprouting seeds indoors. While we are growing some seeds at the preschool, there are several more ideas that you can try at home!

See you soon at Tiny Treasures!

T-Th Preschool News - Week of March 1

Hello Tuesday-Thursday Families,

This week we began our two week unit on the 5 Senses! We started out this week learning about sight, sound and smell. I think my favorite part of the week was making bread in our bread machine and smelling it as it baked!

Here are some of the other things we've been busy with...

At greeting time, we played with our pink play dough with spring and Easter cookie cutters

For art we colored some snakes on Tuesday, and cut them out with scissors on Thursday. The children did so well staying safe with the scissors! We remind them that they must stay seated when using scissors!

We played with dry erase boards and dry erase markers. Many of the children would sit down and start writing their names without even being asked to. They sure know how to make the teachers smile!!

We planted bean seeds in sandy soil. We talked about how the seeds will need sun and water to grow. We'll be watching them carefully over the next few weeks. The seed packet said it would take 7 to 10 days for the seeds to sprout.

We had sand and alphabet molds in our exploration station. We also had a spray bottle to help moisten the sand (it was very, very dry!). The children did so well keeping the sand in the sand table and only using the spray bottle on the sand!!

We heard the story My Five Senses by Aliki. It is one of the BIG BOOKS owned by our preschool. The children love our big books because they can see the pictures so well. If you stop by your local library, they have a wonderful selection of "Big Books" - definitely worth a visit!

We took advantage of the warmer weather this week by taking a walk with our rainbow rope. There's still too much snow in our playground, but maybe the warmer March weather will make that snow go away soon!

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

MWF Preschool News - Week of Mar 1

Dear MWF Families,

We hope you had a wonderful day off for Casimir Pulaski! Dr. Seuss Week was a fun and silly week! We gave the children plenty of opportunities to “shake their sillies out!” And we enjoyed looking at everyone’s silly socks they wore to class for Silly Sock Day! We also took advantage of our warmer temperatures and took the children out for walks on both Wednesday and Friday. We played with streamers in the gym, and practiced marching and skipping while holding the multi-colored streamers in our hands. The students also played “Follow The Leader.” For our Letter S week, one of our students brought in a soft striped kitty. We played please pass the soft kitty to practice patience, manners and following directions. We hope you get a chance to shake your sillies out this sunny weekend! Next week we will explore the Five Senses.

Here were some other highlights of our past week.

We made Cats in the Hats with round circle and hat shaped paper templates.
The children decorated them with crayons, markers, and stickers.
Practiced writing numbers and the alphabet with Stencils.
Played with Sequence Activity Cards.
Planted bean seeds in the sand as a science experiment to see if they will grow.
Explored an “Oobleck” mixture of equal parts of corn starch and water. It makes a liquid/solid type mixture. Some children were quite fond of it. And some chose not to touch the ooey gooey substance.

Miss Jean brought out a new transportation tabletop game which the students really enjoyed.
It was a great hit! We’ll bring it out again next week!

Listened to the story Green Eggs and Ham and parts of the story of The Cat in The Hat by Dr. Seuss

Your Team,
Miss Lori, Miss Donna, Miss Pat and Miss Jean

Letter R Week

It's Letter R week!

Let's remember to "Rejoice in the Lord always!" (Philippians 4:4)

Here are some "R" ideas for you and your families to do at home:

READ, READ and READ some more! READING to your children is one of the best things you can do for them! The more words your children hear, the better they will recognize them when they learn to read. Along with READING, be sure to spend plenty of time talking and listening to your children. The amount of time spent verbally communicating with your child is directly related to their reading skills!

Remember to REDUCE, REUSE AND RECYCLE!

Go on a RECTANGLE hunt in your house. You can show your children that a rectangle is similar to a square, but the rectangle has 2 long sides and 2 short sides.

When you are on a car ride or waiting somewhere, have fun thinking of words that RHYME! Or think of words that begin with the "r" sound.

MWF Preschool News - Week of Feb 22

MWF Class for the Week of February 22, 2010

Dear Parents,

This week we had a special guest come in from a local dentist office. Miss Lisa gave a wonderful presentation on the importance of brushing your teeth and eating healthy foods. She used great props including an oversize teddybear. Each of the children had an opportunity to show their teeth brushing skills. And we were very pleased with their listening skills especially that day! For our Letter R week, one of our students brought in a rabbit and a card with a robot on it. We also went to the Chapel and listened to the Pastor speak on God’s Love. The students sang their favorite Letter R song that week which was “The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock.” Next week we will be having a silly week, exploring humor and rhyme in the world of Dr. Seuss. We are looking forward to celebrating spring and the month of March together!

Here were some other highlights of our past week.

For Pink and Gray Day we made Rectangle Pictures using Pink Paper and Gray Rectangles.
The children made all sorts of geometric designs and used their imaginations.
Wrote on Stationery Notes and Envelopes and sent notes and pictures to ourselves and loved ones.
Practiced Crayon Rubbings over Textured Plates.
Enjoyed the sand in our exploration station with various sand vehicles.
Played “Red Light Green Light’ in the gym.
Painted Rainbows with Paint Dotters.
Listened to the stories Hey Mr. Choo-choo, Where Are You Going? by Susan Wickberg
And Pinkalicious by Elizabeth Kann.


Your Team,
Miss Lori, Miss Donna, Miss Pat, and Miss Jean