Friday, December 10, 2010

MWF Preschool News - Week of Dec. 5

I am with you always. Matthew 28:20

Dear MWF Families,

We have had so much fun this week getting ready for Christmas and the birth of baby Jesus. For our Letter I week, students brought in several items that began with the letter I. Monday was so much fun because we decorated our very own Christmas Trees with red and yellow paint. We also learned many new songs such as “We'll Decorate the Tree” which has the same tune as “Farmer and the Dell”.

We'll decorate the tree,
We'll decorate the tree.
Heigh-ho, it's Christmas time,
We'll decorate the tree.

The presents we will wrap,
The presents we will wrap.
Heigh-ho, it's Christmas time,
The presents we will wrap.

Carols we will sing,
Carols we will sing.
Heigh-ho, it's Christmas time,
Carols we will sing.

Jesus will soon be here,
Jesus will soon be here,
Heigh-ho, it’s Christmas time,
Jesus will soon be here.

Another new song with actions that we learned on Monday was called “Wise Men Still Seek Him” and it followed the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"

Twinkle, twinkle, little star (hold diamond shaped hands above head)
Wise men followed from afar (shield eyes with hand)
They found the boy of whom we sing (cradle arms as if holding a baby)
And gave him gifts fit for a king (extend arms as if giving a gift)
They fell right down and gave a nod (bow head)
Jesus was the promised gift from God (clasp hands as if in prayer)

Wednesday was a very busy day for us. We had a Bookmobile visit and each student had the opportunity to pick out two books for our classroom. We also made different shaped ornaments out of salt dough, and lamb ornaments using macaroni. Friday was a great day which started with Chapel in the morning, where Pastor Greg told us about advent and the Christmas story. After Chapel we came back to the classroom where we painted the salt dough ornaments that we had made on Wednesday. We can’t wait to show our parents the ornaments we have made!

Here are some other highlights of our week…

We played with winter dominoes,
Made Christmas cards for our friends and family,
Listened to the story of Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree by Robert Barry,
Played Red Light, Green Light in the gym,
Listened to the story Hello Snow by Hop Vestergaard,
Played with the train and the game High Ho Cheery O in small groups,
Sang the song “If Your Happy And You Know It”,

This week was so much fun, but we can’t wait until next week when we will celebrate Christmas and the birth of baby Jesus at our preschool celebration!

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

Sunday, November 14, 2010

T-Th Preschool News - Weeks of Nov 1 & 7

Encourage one another. Hebrews 10:25


Hello Tuesday Thursday Families!

Don't you just LOVE those beautiful masks we made? I couldn't wait till the end of the month to share that photo with you! We've had two "short" weeks in a row, but we still managed to fill them with all kinds of fun, faith and learning! This month our focus is on Gratitude as we prepare for Thanksgiving.
Last week, we learned about the Letter E! We used blue and green paint to paint some beautiful pictures that reminded us of our earth. We give thanks to God for His beautiful creation! We also brought out some wooden eggs with numbers on them. All of the children had a chance to put them in order from 1 - 10 (and everyone had so much fun with them!)


We heard the story "What A Wonderful World" in a unique way. As we looked at the pictures, we listened to the story being sung by Louis Armstrong. The children loved the colorful pages in the book, and Mr. Armstrong's singing was, of course, beautiful!

Also for letter E week, we....
Colored a beautiful picture of our earth
Played with our Letter Builders
Used tiny animal counters with our 100 Chart
and played Musical Colors on our Rainbow Rug
(all that in just one day! Wow!)

For letter F week, our visit to the food pantry this week was a perfect opportunity to remember to give thanks for what we have AND to share our blessings with those who are less fortunate. Each child brought a canned item to the church's food pantry and learned how we can help other people who may not have food in their homes.



Drew pictures of our Favorite Foods...


Had fun playing make believe with our Felt Board...


And practiced our math and matching skills with our Foam Tanagram Shapes...


In addition to that, we....
Used Letter F rubber stamps to Fill up a very large letter F
Heard the Fun rhyme "Five Green and Speckled Frogs"
(led by Miss Jean along with Felt Frogs and a Story Apron)
Most of all, we had lots of FUN!

Looking forward to seeing you at our Thanksgiving "Feast" this Thursday!
Miss Jean, Miss Amy and Miss Pat

Friday, November 12, 2010

MWF Preschool News - Week of Nov. 7

The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness. Gal 5:22


Dear MWF Families,

We have had a fantastic week here at the preschool. This week was focused on the Letter F and Gratitude. For Show and Share we had two students who brought in a frog and a fish to share with the class. Beautiful weather graced our week once again and we spent some time playing on the playground. Several highlights of our week were a visit to the Food Pantry, the Rainbow Fish Art, and Chapel.

Monday we visited the WPC food pantry. Each student donated a can of food to the panty and learned the significance of having a food pantry. Here we also discussed sharing and thankfulness.


This week we also listened to the story The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister which taught us a great lesson about sharing. We learned that by sharing we not only make other people happy, but that we will be happy ourselves. To go along with our story about sharing we also created our own Rainbow Fish. On Monday we cut out a fish from brown paper and glued it to our blue paper. Then on Wednesday we decorated our fish in rainbow scales. Miss Michele had some beautiful silver scales that she shared with us to put on our fish. 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.


At the Chapel Pastor Greg and Miss Jean acted out a skit which related to giving to others. The children recited a finger play to Pastor Greg entitled “Thank You God.”

Thank You God

God made the sun (put arms over head in circle)
God made the trees (hold arms up at shoulders with fingers spread like trees)
God made the mountains (hands at chest making a triangle like a mountain)
and God made me! (give self a hug)

Thank you God for the sun (repeat hand signals for all below lines)
Thank you God for the trees
Thank you God for the mountains
and Thank you God for me!

Here are some other things that we did this week…

Listened to the story The First Thanksgiving Day by Laura Krauss
Traced farm animal stencils with colored pencils
Counted small animals on our One Hundred Chart
Practiced writing in our notebooks
Made a Giving Thanks collage
Sang and acted out the movements to the song "Father Abraham".


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

Saturday, October 30, 2010

T-Th Preschool News - Week of October 25

Do to others as you would have them do to you. Luke 6:31

Hello Tuesday-Thursday Families!

What an exciting week we've had at preschool. The highlight of the week was probably our Halloween celebration, but we did so many other fun things as well! And before I forget, let me say thank you, thank you, thank you to all of the parents who have been volunteering their time in the classroom! I can't remember the last time we had so many parents come to play with us at preschool. We hope you enjoy your time in the classroom as much as we enjoy having you!

At our art table this week, we had so much fun making masks! The teachers cut out a variety of shapes ahead of time, and the children were allowed to create ANY kind of mask they wanted to. The results are hanging above the cubbies!


We practiced our number recognition by playing with play dough and fun acorn counting cards.

For letter D week, we brought out our dinosaur toys (always a BIG hit with the children!)

We also played with some magnetic letter blocks to help us learn our letters A through D and to help us practice our fine motor skills and pencil grip.


On Thursday morning, we colored our trick or treat bags. On the bag was a pumpkin and the words, "Shine with the light of Jesus!" A wonderful Halloween message for all of us!

And of course...there were the costumes on Thursday! The classroom was full of princesses, but we also had a bunny rabbit, a Mario, a bumblebee (that didnt' sting!) and a butterfly. The children had so much fun when we lined up to trick or treat in some of the rooms of the church! The women's Bible study especially enjoyed our visit to them!


After trick or treating, we said our grace prayer on the steps and went back into the classroom for a wonderful Halloween snack (or should I say feast? I suspect that many of us didn't have room for lunch when we got home!). Thank you parents for supplying our trick or treat goodies and our yummy snacks for the morning!

We will look forward to seeing you next Tuesday for a shortened week of school. Remember there is no school on Thursday, due to parent teacher conferences. Enjoy those October Shutterfly photos that will be coming your way soon!

Fall blessings to you and your families!
Miss Jean, Miss Amy and Miss Pat

Friday, October 29, 2010

MWF Preschool News - Week of October 25

Do everything for the glory of God. 1 Cor 10:31

Dear MWF Families,

What an exciting week we had at preschool! We had an entire week full of activities and a Halloween celebration. This was also Letter D week, and many of our activities reflected our letter of the week. For Show and Share we had two students bring in a purple dolphin and a stuffed dog to share with the class. We listened to the story The Dinosaur by Anna Milbourne, played with dominoes, and practiced writing the letter D. We also practiced letter recognition and our fine motor skills when we played with our alphabet stencils.


Some of us practiced our scissor skills by cutting out rectangles and triangles.


We made a picture by dripping Red and Yellow paint onto paper with droppers and using a textured roller created a design on the paper.


We also played Duck, Duck, Goose and had a Silly Dance Contest.

This week we sang the Christian song “He’s Got the Whole World”, and we had a lot of fun taking turns at making up some of our own verses to the song. We discussed how GOD has everything in his hands and how he watches over each and every one of us. This week we listened to the story of “Daniel in the Lion’s Den” and “Jonah and the Fish” out of our Children’s Bible.

We also had so much fun celebrating Halloween this week. We participated in several activities to help celebrate this holiday. We painted spider webs on black, blue, or purple construction paper with white paint. We counted 100 spiders and creepy-crawly creatures on our One Hundred Poster. The children had so much fun dressing up in costumes for our Halloween Celebration and going Trick-or Treating throughout the church building. We had a wonderfully large snack followed by a paraded about in our Halloween costumes. 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!

Miss Amy, Miss Michele, Miss Jean & Miss Pat

Thursday, October 28, 2010

T-Th Preschool News - Week of October 18

Clothe yourself with kindness. Col 3:12

Dear Tuesday-Thursday Preschool Families,

What an exciting week we had at preschool! The highlight of the week was probably the visit from Firefighter Jeff and his friends on Tuesday. We all got to see what a firefighter looks like wearing all of his protective fire fighter gear, and we even had a chance to sit inside a real fire truck!


Pictures will be coming your way via Shutterfly real soon! We learned how important it is to "Stop, Drop and Roll" if our clothes ever catch on fire, and we were told to have our moms and dad check the smoke alarms in our homes to be sure they are working. This would also be a good time to decide on an outside meeting place for your family in the event that you ever did have to get out of your house quick!

Here are some of the other things we did this week at preschool...

Introduced the new letter of the week...Letter C!
Drew pictures for our firefighter friends for a "thank you" book
Painted with red and yellow paint on flame shaped paper
Practiced using scissors a little more
Played a number game we call "Bears in Squares" (it helps us with our number recognition and counting skills)

Learned a "Stop, Drop and Roll" song (sung to Skip to My Lou)

If your clothes catch on fire, what do you do?
If your clothes catch on fire, what do you do?
If your clothes cathc on fire, what do you do?
I will stop and drop and roll!

(and of course, we practiced stop, drop and roll, too!)
So check your smoke alarms everyone, and stay safe! See you next week!

Miss Jean, Miss Amy and Miss Pat

Friday, October 22, 2010

MWF Preschool News - Week of October 18

Children, obey your parents in all things. Col 3:20

Dear MWF Families,

October is Fire Prevention Month, so this week our class took a field trip to the Fire Station. There the children watched an Elmo video about fire safety, and met Firefighter Jeff. Firefighter Jeff gave a wonderful presentation on fire safety and showed everyone the fire trucks and ambulance. The students especially loved climbing aboard the fire truck to get their picture taken. Another firefighter put on his uniform and equipment, and showed the children what a firefighter crawling around in a fire would sound and look like.


Later in the week, we practiced crawling low to the ground in an obstacle course to practice Stay Low and Go for fire safety. The children learned so much about fire safety.

Here are some of the other things we’ve done this week at school…
We glued stems and seeds on our pumpkins we painted last week. Then we practiced counting the seeds that we had glued.
We made a Thank You book for the fire fighters at the fire station and included pictures we made for them of our favorite things that we had seen there.
We read Firefighters by Norma Simon and Fred The Firefighter-an Usborne Book.
We practiced counting and sorting colored cotton balls and picking
them up with tweezers.
We practiced tracing and writing the letter C.
We also cut along a large template of the letter C to practice our scissor skills and then glued colorful circles to the letter.

Last week I sent home our Show and Share bags for Letter C week, and this week we had two students bring in items to share with the class. One student brought in a camera, and another student brought in a cat.

We had so much fun this week, and we are looking forward to Letter D Week and the week of Halloween!

Miss Amy, Miss Michele, Miss Jean & Miss Pat

Monday, October 18, 2010

MWF Preschool News – Week of October 11

Be kind to one another. Eph 4:32

Dear MWF Preschool Families,

We’ve had another great week here at the preschool! This week we focused on Pumpkins, and the Letter B. Appropriately fitting with our letter B theme, we had our first bookmobile visit this week. All the students had the opportunity to visit the book mobile and they each picked out several books to bring back to the classroom to read.

Here are some other things that we did for letter B this week…Used paint and dish soap to make bubble art work
Practiced tracing and writing the letter B as well as our other alphabet letters
Used our Busy Bugs Math Set to practice matching both colors and patterns


Played with our barnyard and farm animals
Practiced bouncing balls in the gym

This week we also took a close look at what was inside of a pumpkin.


Friday we painted paper plates orange to resemble pumpkins and we will finish them next week.

See you again next week!
Miss Amy, Miss Michele, Miss Jean, & Miss Pat

Thursday, October 14, 2010

T-Th Preschool News - Week of October 11

Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10

Hello Tuesday-Thursday Families!

It's letter B week! We had another wonderful week learning and playing at preschool! I hope all of you enjoyed seeing the photos that were left in your cubbies, too. All of the children look wonderful!! Please return the photo orders to me by next Friday, October 22. That way we can be sure to have the photos back before Thanksgiving break.

Here are some of the things we've been doing this week...
We played with play dough and plastic letter stamps at greeting time.
We had so much fun singing along with the song "Going on a Bear Hunt"
We heard the story "Fall Leaves Fall" by Zoe Hall.
We practiced our scissor skills and our number recogntion skills by cutting out some numbered pumpkin shapes.


We had fun painting this week with orange paint and some rubber texture brushes.


On Tuesday, we made drawings of what we thought was inside a pumpkin. Then on Thursday, we brought a pumpkin into class, and got to find out what was really inside! Here's what the children thought might be inside a pumpkin...

A monster
A monster and a seed
Lots of stuff
A lot of orange things
A pumpkin

Have fun carving your own pumpkins at home this month! Have a wonderful weekend!
Miss Jean, Miss Amy and Miss Pat

T-Th Preschool News - Week of October 4

All things were made by Him. John 1:3

Hello Tuesday-Thursday Families!

This is the first week for our "Letter of the Week" theme! For the next 26 weeks, each week we focus on a letter of the alphabet. We also began a new month, and with the new month, we have new colors that we are focusing on (orange and black) and a new Christian character trait (self control).

The scripture verse on our bulletin board this week says, "For the grace of God teaches us to live self controlled, upright and godly lives." (Titus 2:11-12)
We explained to the children that they are showing self control when they are able to sit quietly at the rainbow rug and listen during story time, and when they are keeping their hands and bodies to themselves.

Here are some of the other things we've been doing during Letter A week...
We brought out orange crayons at greeting time on Tuesday to color some "orange" coloring sheets and on Thursday we colored in a Bible "book" about Noah's Ark (we hope the children been having fun finishing that book at home!)

For art, we used foam ABC stamps and orange paint on Tuesday and on Thursday, we made beautiful fall tree collages with torn paper.


For pre-writing and literacy, we brought out some fun alphabet puzzles. We also practice making circles by tracing around plastic circle shapes. We also played an alphabet game where we matched capital letters.


For stories this week, we read "ABC I Like Me" by Nancy Carlson and "On Market Street" by Arnold and Anita Lobel.

See you all on Letter B week!
Miss Jean, Miss Amy and Miss Pat

Thursday, October 7, 2010

MWF Preschool News - Week of October 4

As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15

Dear MWF Preschool Families,

We had an Amazing week at preschool. This week was “Letter A Week” so many things that we did in the classroom involved using the letter A and our Alphabet.

Here are several of the things that we did in preschool this week…

For art, we used our fingers and ink pads to put ants on our orange letter A paper, and made an apple mural using cut apple pieces and red and yellow paint.


We practiced writing both our uppercase and lowercase letter A, and played an alphabet game.


We worked on matching numbers together, listened to many stories about our ABCs, and sang our Alphabet song.
We also practiced our balancing skills by walking around the gym with bean bags on our heads. We even challenged each other to a bean bag race, to see who could make it to the other side of the gym without letting our bean bags fall off of our heads. This was a big hit with everyone!

Enjoy the long weekend! We will see you again next Wednesday!
Miss Amy, Miss Michele, Miss Jean, & Miss Pat

Friday, October 1, 2010

MWF Preschool News - Week of Sept 27

Dear MWF Preschool Families,

We have been having so much fun this week learning about the Signs of Fall. Our leaves are just starting to turn colors. It would be a great time to take a nature walk with your family at one of our nearby forest preserves!

Here are some of the things we've been doing this week...
We had our pictures taken by Miss Leslie (proofs should be in next week!)
Each child was assigned their own letter at the rainbow rug. They will keep these letters for a few weeks.
For art, we painted with yellow, red and orange paints. We also made beautiful fall tree pictures using torn pieces of fall colored paper.


We practiced our fine motor skills this week by playing with our Bug Lacing toys.
We brought out our notebooks and colored pencils to have fun with our pre-writing skills. The children each have their own spiral notebook, and they can "write" or draw anything they want in it!
We played a game of "Hot Tomato" to encourage the children to share and wait their turn for something.
At the playground this week, we brought out our parachute! We had so much fun learning how to lift the parachute high in the air. Once we learned how to do that, we were able to take turns "trading places" with each other while the parachute stayed up! We also took a "nature walk" and looked for signs of fall (we also saw the moon during daylight hours!).
At story time this week, we heard "Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf" by Lois Ehlert, and "I Am a Leaf" by Jean Marzolla.

We also learned a new finger play this week, called "Five Leaves"

Five little leaves so bright and gay
Were dancing about on a tree one day
The wind came blowing through the town,
And one little leaf came tumbling down.

(Continue with 4 leaves, then 3,2, 1 and 0)

Enjoy the weekend! See you next Monday!
Miss Amy, Miss Michele, Miss Jean, & Miss Pat

Sunday, September 26, 2010

T-Th Preschool News - Week of Sept 27

Hello Tuesday-Thursday Families,

This week we learned about friendship at preschool Of course, one of the most important things that we wanted the children to know is that Jesus is their friend! I found this song on the You Tube site Cullen's ABCs and thought it would be perfect to teach the children...

I Have a Friend

I have a friend who loves me so
And Jesus is his name-o
J-E-S-U-S
J-E-S-U-S
J-E-S-U-S
And Jesus is his name-0

Here are some of the other things we did this week...

We had our pictures taken by Miss Leslie (the proofs should be in next week!)
We played with puzzles at greeting time this week.
We made cards for our friends (the stickers were a big hit!)
We practiced counting and sorting skills by playing with peg boards. They were a favorite with all of the children!
We celebrated the last day of September by wearing red and by painting the letters R E D to hang up in our hallway.


We read the stories "All Things Bright and Beautiful" by Ashley Bryan and "Forever Friends" by Carin Berger. Both books had beautiful collage illustrations that the chidren really enjoyed.
We took a walk on our church sidewalk to look for signs of fall. The boys and girls are doing so well on our walks. It's hard to believe that it's only September!

Enjoy the beautiful fall weather!
Miss Jean, Miss Amy and Miss Pat

Friday, September 24, 2010

T-Th Preschool News - Week of Sept 20

Let the little children come to me... Matthew 19:14

Hello Tuesday-Thursday Preschool Families!

First of all, let me say thank you to everyone for joining us this week at our Curriculum Night. Being involved with your child’s school life is a very important part of parenting!

We’ve had another wonderful week at preschool! Our theme this week was family! We talked about our family members at home, our extended family who may live far away from us, and our preschool family. Our art project on Tuesday was drawing our family members on house shaped paper. The teachers had so much fun hearing all about the people who live in your houses! On Thursday, we took a long sheet of paper and drew ourselves on it, so we now have a portrait of our Preschool Family to hang up in the hallway (look for it next week when you’re here!).

We read two stories about family members this week. What Mommies Do Best by Laura Numeroff and The Daddy Book by Todd Park. Numeroff and Park and two wonderful children’s authors, so if you have a chance to visit your local library, be sure to look at some of their other books!

For science this week, we talked about the change of seasons and brought out some related activities. Can you believe that fall is already here? In our exploration station, we brought out a leaf matching game where the children would be able to find two leaves that are the same color and the same shape. We also added some laminated paper leaves that had capital letters written on them, so the children could pick a leaf and tell us what letter they found.

We also played a seasons game that had four seasons and we had to match the correctly clothed people pieces to the season where it belonged. Many of the children enjoyed it so much, that I’m sure we’ll be bringing it out again soon!

For large motor, we enjoyed the beautiful weather once again as we played on the playground. We also took our first walk on the church sidewalk using our “Rainbow Rope.” The rope has colored rings on it that we can hold on to. It makes going on walks so much fun!

We are looking forward to next week when we have picture day on Tuesday, September 28. Bring those smiles to school!

Have a wonderful weekend!
Miss Jean, Miss Lacy and Miss Pat

MWF Preschool News - Week of Sept. 20

I praise you God, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14

We would like to thank all the parents who attended our curriculum night this week. We are glad to see everyone's interest in their child's preschool education.

We’ve had another great week here at the preschool! This week’s focus was on “Friends and Family.” We talked about our many different kinds of families, including our family at home, our family with Christ, and even our classroom family.

Here are some of the things we did in preschool this week…

Drew a family portrait with markers,
Created “Our Classroom Family” mural,
Made cards for friends or family members
Learned some new songs and fingerplays, such as

“Some Families”

Some families are big. (spread arms out wide)
Some families are small. (bring arms close together)
But God made our families one and all! (point up in the air)

Some families are big. (spread arms out wide)
Some families are small. (bring arms close together)
But God loves our families one and all! (cross arms over chest)

Some families are big. (spread arms out wide)
Some families are small. (bring arms close together)
But God keeps our families one and all! (cup hands in front)

We played on the playground, Duck, Duck, Goose, the Silly Dance Contest, and the Hokey Pokey.
We listened to the stories What Moms Can’t Do, What Dads Can’t Do, by Douglas Wood, and Little Quack’s New Friend by Lauren Thompson.
We also used hole punchers on red paper to develop our fine motor skills, and practiced our writing skills in our notebooks.

Also a reminder, this Wednesday, September 29th, will be our class's preschool picture day.

We had lots of fun this week and hope to have even more next week!
Miss Amy, Miss Michele, Miss Jean, & Miss Pat

Friday, September 17, 2010

T-Th Preschool News - Week of Sept 13

Thank you, God, for making me!

Dear Tuesday-Thursday Families,

We've had another wonderful week here at preschool! This week our theme was "All About Me!" We continued to work on learning each other's names this week, and we have been busy learning all about our new preschool friends. And we all remembered to say "Thank you, God, for making me!"

One of our highlights this week was getting a visit from Miss Colleen who works on the bookmobile! She left the bookmobile at the library this time, and just came into our classroom to read a story. The bookmobile visits our preschool each month, switching between the T-Th class and the MWF class. Watch your calendar for the first time we actually get to go ON the bookmobile!

Here are some of the fun things we did at preschool....

For art, we painted with red paint and played with red play dough
We learned about our bodies this week when we played with our human body puzzle and our handprint puzzles. The handprint puzzles also helped us learn our numbers 1 - 10.
We had fun building amazing things with our castle blocks this week.


For fine motor skills, we had the chance to tear strips of red construction paper at our Exploration Station (aka the sensory table).
For large motor this week, we played outside on Tuesday, and stayed inside to play Duck, Duck Goose on Thursday (the children had so much fun with that!)
We read two more big books this week: Mice Squeak, We Speak by Tomie DePaola and Eeny, Meeny, Miney Mouse by Pascoe and Williams.
We had fun being silly when we sang our good morning song in "kitten voices"
We also celebrated TWO birthdays this week! Thanks for the yummy birthday snacks!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! See you back at preschool next week!
Miss Jean, Miss Lacy and Miss Pat

MWF Preschool News - Week of Sept. 13

Thank you, God, for making me!

Hello Monday Wednesday Friday Families!

We have enjoyed another terrific week here at preschool. This week’s topic was “All About Me” and we learned that each and every one of us is special. Each child had an opportunity to share with the class positive qualities about themselves, and about what was special about them.

This week we also…
Painted an abstract picture using red tempera paint.
Sang “Jesus Loves Me” and “I Am Special”
Learned the movements to a poem “Me”
Created self portraits of ourselves.
Worked out our wiggles by doing the “Silly Dance” (which was a huge hit!)
Used yellow and purple tempera paint to create “My Hands” picture


Listened to the stories Designed by GOD, So I Must Be Special by Bonnie Sosa, You Are Special, Little One by Nancy Tafuri, and From Head To Toe by Eric Carle.
Played Duck, Duck, Goose in the GYM.
Demonstrated our knowledge of numbers by playing the Number Game.
Practiced taking turns while playing “Follow The Leader”.
The weather was great this week so we all had the chance to play on the playground.

Looking forward to another great week!
Miss Amy, Miss Michele, Miss Jean, & Miss Pat

Friday, September 10, 2010

T-Th Preschool News - Week of Sept 6

A cheerful look brings joy to the heart. Proverbs 15:30

Dear Tuesday-Thursday Families

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...

Good Morning Song


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

Good Bye Song


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

And learning our grace prayer at snack time...

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

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 the story I Like Me (in big book form)
Listening to the story Good Night Moon (also in big book form)
Drawing a picture of our first day at preschool and coloring a big apple shape
Playing with some puppets at the Exploration Station
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!

Looking forward to next week!
Miss Jean, Miss Lacy and Miss Pat

MWF Preschool News - Week of Sept. 6

This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it! Psalm 118:24

Dear MWF Families,

We have had a terrific start to our new school year!

This week at preschool we really focused on getting familiar with our preschool and learning each other's names.

These are a few of the things that we did in preschool this week. We learned our Good Morning song as we sat together on the rainbow rug, and our Grace Prayer before snack time.

This Is The Day

This is the day, this is the day
That the lord has made, that the lord has made
We will rejoice,We will rejoice
And be glad in it, 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 also sang a song and used a bean bag to help us learn each other's names. The children enjoyed this so much that they requested it on the second day as well.

Learning our Names Song

Thank-you God for (name)
For (name), for (name)
Thank-you God for (name)
We're glad (s)he is here

This week we used crayons to color pictures, a scale to balance teddy bears, and we helped develop our pre-writing skills by using dry erase books to practice tracing. Together we read the story ABC I Like Me and discussed what we each liked about ourselves. We also had some fun outside on the playground and in the gym playing with some balls.

Looking forward to next week!
Miss Amy, Miss Michelle, Miss Pat & Miss Jean

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Welcome to Preschool!

Every good gift and perfect gift is from above. James 1:17


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 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 may not see any photos of the children's faces, 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 definitely helped make your child's transition to preschool much smoother. We've already learned so much about each other!

Here are just a few reminders...

1. Please send your child to school in shoes that are appropriate for play. Closed toed gym shoes are best - not only for safety, but they also keep those playground wood chips from bothering little feet!

1. Please bring in a change of clothes for your child as soon as possible. It would be great if you could bring them in a Zip Loc bag marked with your child's first and last name (pants, socks, a shirt and undies). You never know when we'll need to make a quick change here! Sometimes preschool gets messy!

2. Also, please remember to bring a photo of your family for us to hang on the bulletin board. 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, we have hand sanitizer available. 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!), please return the order form to us by October 1st (let me know if you need one!).

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!

Peace & Blessings!
Miss Jean

Monday, May 17, 2010

TTh Preschool News - Weeks of May 3 & May 10


Hello Tuesday-Thursday Families,

We've been busy the last couple of weeks celebrating Moms and Dads! Our May character trait of "Wisdom" is intentionally planned for this time of year, because you parents really do have so much wisdom to share with your children. This would be a good time to talk with your children about the importance of "Honoring your Mother and Father" (Exodus 20:12). Let's also remember to honor all of the elders in our lives! (it might also be a good time to think about what the word "Honor" means. The Greek word for honor means “to revere, prize, and value.” What does it mean in your family?)

We had so much fun recently making special gifts for our Moms and Dads (we didn't want Dad to feel left out after Mom got her awesome flower pot gifts from us last week!) The Dad "creations" will be sent home with your child this week. We just wanted to enjoy them on our preschool wall for a little while :)





We also had fun learning about color mixing when we mixed shaving cream with red and yellow paint. Each child had their own ziploc baggie so they could see what happened from start to finish.


For large motor fun, we've been playing outside on the playground when possible. Inside, we've been having just as much fun playing Musical Chairs or Duck, Duck, Goose. (I know many of you parents had a chance to peek in our window to watch Musical Chairs in action - pictures on Shutterfly will be coming soon, too!) We play a special preschool version of Duck, Duck, Goose where we have the same number or chairs and children. We did explain to them that at parties, it may be done a little bit differently, but here at preschool, we want everyone to feel included in our fun games!

Speaking of Duck, Duck, Goose....watch your step when you come in through the preschool entrance. I've had some friends visiting lately in the afternoon, and sometimes they leave...um...surprises for me! :) So watch your step!!


We are looking forward to these final two weeks of preschool with your children! It has been such a wonderful school year, and we are so excited that ALL of the Tuesday Thursday class will be returning in the fall for another year of learning and fun!

Blessings to all of you,
Miss Jean, Miss Pat and Miss Lacy

MWF Preschool News - Week of May 3 & May 10


Dear MWF Families,

We have finished all our A thru Z Weeks and we are almost at the end of our preschool year! With May we began to teach the children the song "May There Always Be Sunshine." Then they choose something that is special to them and they recite it with the song. It has been a lot of fun and it seems to be one of their favorites! May has brought some beautiful weather so we have played outdoors and it has also brought some wet and rainy weather in which we played in the gym with the entire group. Of course we played "Duck Duck Goose", as it was one of their requests. One of our parent helpers contributed a lovely butterfly kit in which we have been watching five caterpillars each transform into their very own chrysalis. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of five butterflies! Some of our board members have graciously joined the Arbor Day Foundation so they could donate seedlings of oak trees to each of our families. It has been a lovely spring. We are looking forward to our end of the year field trip to a nearby farm and petting zoo with a train ride. One of the fun things about being a teacher is you get to be a kid again! See you there!

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

Made surprise handprint drawings as a gift to our parents.
The children made Mothers Day cards with pink construction paper. The teachers helped them write little notes to their moms.
Painted Paper Flower Petals and paper plates. You will see our flowers soon hanging over the cubbies.
Practiced our fine motor skills and strengthened our hand muscles by using paper punchers and strips of paper.
Played with our new animal counters and practiced sorting and counting to 100...


Read What Moms Do Best/What Dads Do Best by Laura Numeroff, and
The Surprise Garden by Zoe Hall
We even went outside to take pictures of our shadows, and played with bubbles and sidewalk chalk.




We are enjoying this wonderful spring. Please come out and celebrate the very last day of school with us as the children prepare for their preschool graduation! Pizza party to follow!


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

Thursday, May 13, 2010

A Poem for Arbor Day

In llinois, Arbor Day is celebrated the last week of April. In honor of Arbor Day, three of our preschool board members joined the National Arbor Day Foundation just so they could each get 10 free saplings - enough that each of our students could take one home to plant. We hope that all of you have planted those tiny saplings that were sent home with your child recently. They may just look like little sticks, but within each of them is amazing potential (kind of like us, in a way, when we start out!)

I also wanted to share this poem by Ilan Shamir with you as well, Enjoy!

Advice from a Tree

Dear Friend,

Stand Tall and Proud
Sink your roots deeply into the Earth
Reflect the light of a greater source
Think long term
Go out on a limb
Remember your place among all living beings
Embrace with joy the changing seasons
For each yields its own abundance
The Energy and Birth of Spring
The Growth and Contentment of Summer
The Wisdom to let go of leaves in the Fall
The Rest and Quiet Renewal of Winter

Feel the wind and the sun
And delight in their presence
Look up at the moon that shines down upon you
And the mystery of the stars at night.
Seek nourishment from the good things in life
Simple pleasures
Earth, fresh air, light

Be content with your natural beauty
Drink plenty of water
Let your limbs sway and dance in the breezes
Be flexible
Remember your roots

Enjoy the view!


Click HERE if you'd like some history on Arbor Day!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Preschool News - Week of April 26

Letter Z Week! Who remembers the story of Zacchaeus? If you don't know it yet, visit Luke 19 verses 1-10 to read about Zacchaeus. There's even a song about him...

Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he.
He climbed up in a sycamore tree, for the Lord he wanted to see.
And as the Savior passed him by, He looked up in the tree,
And he said, "Zacchaeus, you come down from there;
For I'm going to your house today, for I'm going to your house today"


(Click HERE to hear it sung by the Cedarmont Kids on Youtube)

Here's what we've been up to for letter Z week:

Tuesday-Thursday Class...
Heard the stories "The Zoo I Drew" by Todd Doodler and "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" by Eilene Christelow
We all brought a favorite stuffed animal in for Zoo Day!
We practiced our fine motor skills as we used animal stencils
At circle time, we tried to think of an animal for EVERY letter of the alphabet.
Miss Lacy and I were pretty impressed with all of the animals that the children thought of! Here's what we came up with just during our circle time:

A: Alligator
B: Bird and Buffalo
C: Crocodile and Caterpillar
D: Dolphin and Duck
E: Elephant
F: Fish
G: Giraffe and Gopher
H: Hippo
I:
J:
K: Kangaroo
L: Ladybug
M: Monkey
N: Narwhal (Miss Jean told the children about this REAL animal, when someone mentioned the Unicorn!)
O: Octopus
P: Penguin and Peacock
Q:
R: Rabbit
S: Squirrel, Snake and Spider
T: Turtle and Tiger
U: Unicorn (they're make believe, you know!)
V:
W: Whale
X:
Y:
Z: Zebra

Maybe someone at home will think of some animals with the letters we missed!

MWF Class:


We made amazing watercolor Zebras!
We played the A B Seas Alphabet Fishing Game (one of our favorite games made by Discovery Toys)
Played with our Barrel of Monkeys
Made thank you notes for friends and teachers
Painted long strips of paper with green paint (you'll see why soon!)
Heard the song/story "The Green Grass Grows All Around"
Had a special outside Chapel Time with Pastor Greg. We sang "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" while we walked outside on a very windy day. We all got to see a beautiful bird's nest that will soon have some baby robins in it!


Can you believe we already went through the entire alphabet! We did!
See you next time!

Preschool News - Week of April 19


Happy Earth Day! Just a little behind, but better late than never I suppose!

For letter Y week, let's remember this verse from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount...

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:14


A perfect time to sing the familiar children's song "This Little Light of Mine."

Here are some of the things we were busy with for Letter Y week:


Tuesday-Thursday Class:
Painting a picture of our earth, and then adding animals to it
Playing the "All Around the Town" game
Looking at books about our earth
Hearing the stories "Bluebird's Nest" by Jo Parry and "What a Wonderful World" illustrated by Weiss and Thiele
Playing Duck Duck Goose in the Gym
Matching plastic egg halves and finding foam letters at our exploration station.

MWF Class:
Painted "Earth" pictures and created some beautiful sunshine pictures
(see above)
Worked on our letter recognition skills and fine motor skills while we played with our Magnetic Learning Letters
Developed our pincer skills by using tweezers to pick up animals and sort them in muffin tins
Played with our mountain and animal set at the exploration station
Heard the stories "For the Love of Our Earth" by PK Hallinan, "The River" by Sheri Halpern and "My Favorite World of Color" by Margaret Wise Brown.
Played on the playground and with balls in the gym



Till next time, remember to be kind to our earth!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

TTh Preschool News - Week of April 6 & 13

W and X Week? Already??

W...We know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

For W week, we learned about all kinds of weather! We ready one of our big books called "The Wind Blew" by Pat Hutchins. And we read the story "The Rainy Day" by Anna Milbourne and Sarah Gill.

We had fun with new green play dough at our greeting time
We played with our new Magnetic Letter Learners
We brought out some small, colorful bears, with a small scale to weigh them
We played with some new File Folder games that had us matching capital letters


But the most fun we had was probably playing with the water and the Water Works toy at our exploration station. The preschool offers our apologies for any wet sleeves that came home that week!!

X is for...Exalt the name of the Lord! Isaiah 24:15

For letter X week, we learned about Eggs (which kind of sounds like "X" doesn't it?)

We heard the stories "The Golden Egg Book" by Margaret Wise Brown and "Chickens Aren't the Only Ones" by Ruth Heller. The second book told us about many different animals that come from eggs. So to go along with that idea, we used sponge brushes to decorate some egg shaped papers, and on the inside, we drew pictures of what was inside our eggs! There were so many wonderful ideas...be sure to look at them in our hallway when you come to preschool next time!

At the exploration station, we played with plastic eggs to find the matching half. There were also foam letters and lots and lots of Easter grass in there as well!

Since we are learning about eggs, it was the perfect time to introduce the oval shape. The children know their shapes so well! We are so proud of them!

During our center times, we took children out in the hallway in groups of 3 to learn a new game. It's called the All Around the Town Game, and it is so much fun! (It's also a great learning tool to develop language and matching abilities, reading and memory skills, and following directions. Basically, it's a table size rug with a little town and roads on it. We take turns rolling a die. It could land on red, yellow or green. We pick the matching card, and it tells us where in the town we should go. We get to pick any vehicle we want when it's our turn.

This game has been a HUGE hit in both of our classrooms! It would also make a great family game for home.

See you all at preschool,
Miss Jean, Miss Lacy and Miss Pat

MWF Preschool News - Week of April 5 & 12

Dear Parents,

It is hard to believe that we are almost at the end of our alphabet and the preschool year. These two weeks we focused on Letter W and Letter X. Most of the students really enjoyed the worms we brought in for Letter W week. For show and share one of the children brought in a wallet from another country he received while traveling abroad. Our favorite item for Letter X week seems to have been a miniature xylophone. It was a class favorite for many. We have had beautiful weather and have spent the majority of our small group time outdoors playing in our playground.


Our themes have mostly been spring and God's creatures. Thank you to one of our parent helpers who assisted with a craft on Easter Monday. We made coffee filter flowers for our bulletin board. They turned out lovely. The next time you are near the classroom, please feel free to stop in and take a peek. We have also purchased some new literacy resources for our classroom which we have been using frequently. Thankful for God's blessings. Have a wonderful spring!



Here were some other highlights of our past weeks.

Used scissors to cut out leaves for our spring flower craft.
Created a beautiful butterfly by using eyedroppers and various colors of paint. We painted on one half and then folded our butterfly to create symmetry.
Used magnifying glasses to explore a variety of plastic insects.
Painted with watercolors on a walrus template.


Listened to the fingerplay "Five Little Speckled Frogs" at circle time.
Read Come Rhyme With Me by Hans Wilhelm, One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root and The Wide Mouthed Frog by Keith Faulkner.
Practiced counting with our Busy Bugs Math Cards.

Continue to enjoy this beautiful spring weather! And enjoy the two newly planted maple trees in our playground. Thanks to all of you who made it possible with our fundraising AND for the dads who came in on Saturday morning to help plant them!

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