Sunday, July 3, 2011

Summer is Here!


Dear Preschool Parents,

Can you believe that summer vacation is already here? We have had such a wonderful year at our preschool, and while we are excited for our vacation to begin, we'll also be missing those smiling faces in the classroom!

The teachers would like to thank each one of you for EVERYTHING you have done for the preschool this past school year. We couldn't have had such a successful year without all of your help. So thanks to each one of you for....

Volunteering your time in the classroom
Helping with "at home" projects such as cutting paper projects, shopping for us or doing work on your computer.
Providing such delicious snacks for us through the school year
Donating supplies, books and games
Donating your time to be on our preschool board
And especially for keeping us in your prayers!

Of course, we thank you the most for sharing your children with us! It has been a joy and an honor to spend time teaching your children, and they will always have a special place in our hearts!

While I will be leaving the preschool and going on a new adventure, I hope I can stay in touch with you. I have enjoyed working with Miss Darlene over the last several months to better prepare for our transition in Directors. I am more than confident that Miss Darlene will be a blessing to each and every one of you that will be returning in the fall!

Speaking of the fall, this would be a good time to tell you a little bit about our complete preschool staff...

Miss Darlene will be leading the school as Director. She comes to us with over 30 years of teaching experience and as a Christian Education Director. I have come to love Darlene, and I know that you will as well! The preschool is in wonderful hands!

Miss Michelle will be joining us on the staff as MWF lead teacher. Many of you may also know her as the parent of one of our former students. Michelle is an experienced first grade teacher who has spent many hours volunteering with us in the classroom and she is also a former preschool board member.

Working with Miss Michelle in the four-year-old class will be Miss Cheryl. Cheryl brings her special gift as an experienced occupational therapist. We know the MWF children will be in very caring and capable hands as they spend one more year at preschool to prepare for kindergarten!

Our Tuesday-Thursday three-year-old class will be led by Miss Mary. Mary is mom to twins who graduated from our program. And...Mary offers us her wonderful gift as a Kindermusik instructor. I'm sure I'll be able to hear the class singing no matter how far away I am!

Mary will be assisted in the classroom by Miss Jan, a warm and caring teacher who is known at our church for her work with the children on Sunday mornings. We are so blessed to have such wonderful teachers for those incoming three-year-olds as they begin a new and exciting stage in their lives!

And our dear Miss Pat will be back for her 8th year at the preschool! The classroom wouldn't be complete without her laughter and hugs! I am thankful that yet another group of children will be blessed by her patience and generosity!

So...blessings to each one of you over the summer months! And many thanks to each of you for bringing such joy into our lives!

With gratitude,
Miss Jean and the entire preschool staff

Saturday, May 14, 2011

TTh Preschool News - Week of May 8

Hello Preschool Families,

We know that Father’s Day isn’t until June19, but we wanted to celebrate all of our Dads this week! One of the “Dads” we learned about was God our Father! We sang a song about God that you can find on Cullen’s ABCs that goes like this:

My God is so great!
So strong and so mighty
There’s nothing my God cannot do!
My God is so great!
So strong and so mighty
There’s nothing my God cannot do!

The mountains are His
The rivers are His
The stars are his handiwork, too
My God is so great!
So strong and so mighty
There’s nothing my God cannot do!
For you!

And we adapted that song a little bit to sing a song about our Dads at home who we love so much….

My Dad is so great!
So strong and so mighty
There’s nothing my dad cannot do! (Repeat)

I look up to him
To teach me what’s right
To show me the things I should do

My Dad is so great!
So strong and so mighty
There’s nothing my dad cannot do!
Yahoo!

We hope you enjoy the early Father’s Day change dish that we made for you!

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

MWF Preschool News - Week of May 8

Hello MWF Preschool Families,

We had so much fun at preschool this week! We were able to spend a lot of time this week outside playing on our playground and taking walks. There were also several centers set up outside that we could participate at. There was a painting easel, jump rope, a water center with sponges, and we even learned some of the sounds that different birds make.

This week in art we painted some beautiful flowers that will be displayed in the hall later next week. We also painted small pictures using marbles. It was a new experience trying to paint by rolling a marble and trying to keep it in the pan. Our pictures turned out really neat.

Wednesday was a busy day for us. We had chapel with Pastor Greg, and he reminded us that our friends are gifts from God. We also sang the song “God is so Good.” Later that day we learned a new game inside called “Heads Up, Seven Up.” This game was so much fun that we even played it again on Friday.

Here are some other things we did this week…

Played the game “Terrific Tens” with dice
Practiced tracing the number 10
Listen to the story The Surprise Garden by Zoe Hall
Played various matching letter games
Learned to read the book I Go
Listened to the story Grow Flower Grow by Lisa Bruce
Played Jenga
Wrote in our notebooks
…and listened to the story The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle.

We have even more fun stuff planned for next week. Enjoy your weekend!
Miss Amy, Miss Michele, Miss Jean, and Miss Pat

Friday, May 6, 2011

MWF Preschool News - Week of May 1

Hello MWF Preschool Families,

May is here, and the flowers are blooming! Dandelions are found all over the playground as well as in the little hands of preschoolers. The Spring time energy can be felt both inside the classroom and out.

Speaking of the classroom here’s a look at what we did at preschool this week.

In art we made a special picture for our Moms and Dads using paint and our hand prints. It was so nice on Friday that we were able to make our art project outside! We used spray bottles filled with thin paint to spray a misty mural on paper. It is so nice to be able to enjoy the fresh spring air after being cooped up all winter.

At our math table this week we played a dice game called “Nifty Nines”. We discovered the many combinations of numbers using dice that add up to the number nine. We also played a game called “Reach for the Top” using our dice. The game is really based on luck of rolling the right numbers, but it gives us a chance to practice tallying and graphing our results. We also really enjoyed competing with each other to see who could reach the top of their paper first.

This week we also practiced tracing the number nine, matching together rhyming words, reading a book about Family, and making cards for our moms and friends. We listened to the stories Sunny Day by Anne Milbourne, On Top of Spaghetti by Paul Brett Johnson, and Who Made the World by Kathleen Long Bostrom. We also all had fun playing in Dance Bags and going outside to the playground.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Miss Amy, Miss Michele, Miss Jean, and Miss Pat

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Simple Sixes and More

Hello Preschool Families!

We’ve been playing a dice game in the MWF class the last several Mondays that would be great fun at home for all the children - and it would be a great way to learn some important math skills! It is a game I learned at a math workshop that I attended during January’s Early Childhood Conference. The workshop was given by a representative from Box Cars and One Eyed Jacks which is located in Canada.

We start with a tray of 36 dice (which can be purchased from Box Cars - click on the Math Manipulatives link or other places, I’m sure). The tray is great, because it's easy to see if we need to search for missing dice at the end of the game! To play Simple Sixes, someone rolls all of the dice (we roll them into a shallow box to keep them contained). Then, everyone starts looking for dice combinations that add up to 6. So, you could pull out six 1’s, or two 3’s, a four and a two, or a simple six! You can go around the table and take turns or you can use a sand timer like we do and try to find all the sixes before all the sand is on the bottom.

After we learned Simple Sixes, we expanded to sevens, eights and now we’re on Nifty Nines! Usually we will have children at the math table all morning long for these games. Let me give you one other suggestion if you decide to play this at home. When your children are counting the combined dots, have them count the dots on the larger number die first. For example, if you rolled a six and a three, first count the six dots, and then move on to the next die with seven, eight and nine. Scroll down a bit to the previous post to see what the game looks like in our classroom!

Have fun playing and learning!
Miss Jean

Friday, April 29, 2011

MWF Preschool News - Week of April 25


Hello MWF Families!

We finally made it all the way through Letter Z week! This week we learned all about Zoo animals, Zebras, and a short man named Zacchaeus.

In art, we drew some stripes on zebras and then we painted them with watercolor paints. We also made some dragonflies or butterflies because we often see these insects in the spring. We played some math games using dice called “Crazy Eights” and “Reach for the Top” We also practiced writing the number 8 and the letter Z. We even tried to learn how to read a story about the Zoo!


On Wednesday, we read a story all about a man named Zacchaeus, who wasn’t a very nice person because he took money from people. We learned how he became a better person after meeting with Jesus, and how he gave back all the money that he had taken. We sang a song about him too!

This week we listened to several stories about zoo animals. We read the story There’s a Zoo in Room 22 and the story The Zoo I Drew by Todd Doodler. The weather was beautiful on Friday so we were able to play on the playground. We really enjoy being able to go outside.

We hope that everyone enjoys there weekend and we look forward to seeing everyone again Monday!

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


A Kindergarten FYI...Woodland School District is very excited to announce they are exploring the possibilities of a Dual Language program starting in the Fall of 2012. Everyone should have received a flyer with meeting information for families that reside in Woodland boundaries who have a student entering Kindergarten in the fall of 2012 or later. Please contact Miss Jean if you have any questions.

Monday, April 25, 2011

TTh Preschool News - Week of April 25

Hello Tuesday-Thursday Families,

Is it possible to have too much fun at preschool? I don't think so!
Here's a peek into our week...
Miss Amy found some worms in the parking lot on our rainy Tuesday. We really enjoyed watching the children learn about them. It was especially funny when we tried to measure them! They keep changing their length!


We also had fun making giraffes to celebrate ZOO WEEK! At greeting time, we glued the pieces onto a long piece of paper. Then at our art center, we put spots on them with square shaped sponges. They will be hanging up on our bulletin board this week.


We had fun with our tiny zoo animal counters. Many of the boys and girls found out that we have more than 100 little animals!


But maybe the most fun we had this week was playing in our dancing socks! Only 5 of the children felt brave enough to try them out. We'll bring them out again and see if anyone else wants to try them next week. Even though we can't see who is inside the "sock" the person on the inside CAN see who is around them! So, we'll just have to take a guess who is inside this time!


Have a wonderful week! See you in May!
Miss Jean, Miss Amy and Miss Pat

TTh Preschool News - Week of April 18

You are the light of the world
Matthew 5:14

Dear Tuesday-Thursday Families,
We've had a wonderful week getting ready for Easter!

We had fun coloring some egg pictures. We read a silly story by Margaret Wise Brown called The Golden Egg Book, and we ready The Easter Story by Patricia Pingry. We used a foam craft kit to make a beautiful cross with flowers. The cross reminds us how much we are loved by Jesus!

We took the rice out of our exploration station on Tuesday, but it's back again by popular demand! We'll leave it in the classroom just a little bit longer. It really is one of our classroom favorites!

We also learned an Easter Bunny rhyme that we'll share with you...

I Had an Easter Bunny
One day she ran away
I looked for her by moonlight
I looked for her by day
I found her in the meadow
With her babies 1, 2, 3
So now I have FOUR bunnies
To run and jump with me!

We played a new game called Clockominoes. We had a bowl of dominoes and we had to find the matching place on an egg shaped game board. The boys and girls did so well, and they were so excited when they completed the entire picture. Many of them noticed that it looked a lot like a clock!


The highlight of the week was most definitely the Easter egg hunt on our playground. The eggs weren't really hidden, but there was a challenge to find 6 eggs that were each a different color! After we found all of the eggs, we sat down on the rainbow rug and opened them up one at a time. One of the eggs had a cross in it to remind us of God's love for us.

In addition to all of the Easter excitement, we also had a refresher course in kindness this week. We used the white board to write down some of the things that we should always do in preschool. Here was our very important list:

We share our toys
We use kind words
We play with everybody
(we don't tell someone they can't play with us)
We respect each other's space
(we keep our hands and feet to ourselves)

We also talked about what the word respect means. At school, it means treating each other with kindness, using kind words and following the rules. I think that sounds like a pretty good definition for home, too!

We hope that all of you have a wonderful Easter!
Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!

Miss Jean, Miss Amy and Miss Pat

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

MWF Preschool News - Week of April 18


MWF Preschool Families,

Is it really Spring? It’s hard to tell with the weather we have had this week. Even though we had snow on Monday we still learned about Spring and looked forward to the coming of Easter.

This week we made rainbow raindrops using Cray-pas to celebrate all the showers we get in April. Hopefully we will have lots of flowers in May from all the rain we have been getting. We also learned to read a story about Spring where we remembered all the fun things that happen in the spring time.

We are also excited the Easter will be this Sunday! To remember what Easter is really about, we read a story this week about how Jesus was our greatest gift. We learned that because of his death on the cross and his resurrection we will get to go to heaven someday. What terrific news!

To also help us celebrate Easter, we decorated some eggs with paint dotters and we learned a new Easter song called “Easter Time” (Sung to: Jingle Bells)

Easter time, Easter time,
We have much to do.
Time for bunnies, time for eggs,
But time for Jesus too.

Oh Easter time, Easter time,
Jesus showed his love,
He died for us and rose again.
He’s with the Lord above.

Some other things that we did this week was learn some new math games. We played a game called “Successful Sevens” using dice, and “Clockominoes” using dominoes. We also practiced tracing the number 7 and letter Y. And we even went on an Easter egg hunt in Fellowship Hall. Thank you to the generous family who supplied our preschool with Easter goodies! Everything was truly enjoyed by the children!


We hope that everyone has a wonderful Easter and we look forward to seeing everyone back on Monday!

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

Friday, April 15, 2011

TTh Preschool News - Week of April 11

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

Dear Tuesday-Thursday Families,

It's already letter X week, which explains why the week has been Xtra fun! We played with puzzles at greeting time. We brought out some Easter buckets and played an egg toss game. We even had the chance to look at the amazing X-rays that were hanging in the windows.


We had some visitors this week, too! Miss Darlene and Miss Cheryl visited the classroom and had a chance to get to know the children a little bit. Miss Darlene will be taking over as Preschool Director next school year, and Miss Cheryl will be the MWF assistant teacher. The children really enjoyed the extra teacher attention!

We also had a special visit from our friend Miss Mary this week. She is a Kindermusik instructor who is also a parent of two Tiny Treasures graduates. Miss Mary read us a spring story called Will You Be My Friend? by Nancy Tafuri. She taught us a song about a woodpecker, and we all got to use rhythm sticks while we sang along. She even taught us a fun bird rhyme. We hope that Miss Mary comes back to visit again!

For art this week, we added some raindrops and clouds to our rainy day picture and we added flowers to our sunny day picture. We hope that you enjoy the finished products that are hanging in the hallway!


We practiced our fine motor skills by tracing egg shapes using cardstock eggs as the templates. And we even painted on big egg shaped papers. We used paint dotters on some (like bingo markers) and we used cotton balls that were attached to clothespins on some of the others. The next time we come to preschool, we'll draw a picture of what we think could be inside that egg! Look on the wall near the entrance to see the results! This art project was inspired by our reading of Chickens Aren't the Only Ones by Ruth Heller. The book taught us about many different animals that lay eggs. We learned a new word: Oviparous - which means an animal that lays eggs! Ask your children if they can tell you some of the animals that we learned about.


We look forward to seeing all of you next week!
Miss Jean, Miss Amy and Miss Pat

MWF Preschool News - Week of April 11

Hello MWF Preschool Families!

This week we took time to appreciate some of God’s little creatures. We made a miniature book that showed us the life cycle of butterflies. We read the stories The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and The Butterfly Book by Anne Milbourne. Wednesday we made a springtime picture with flowers and bugs, and on Friday we painted some stunning butterflies in with beautiful pastel colored paints.



We sang and performed actions a new song this week called “Praise Ye The Lord”. Our song went like this…

Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah,
Praise ye the Lord!
Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah,
Praise ye the Lord!
Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah,
Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah,
Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah,
Praise ye the Lord!

This week we also played some new games called Simple Sixes and Alphabet Bingo. We practiced tracing the number six and the letter X and we even practiced reading a story called Funny Cat. We played a new game in the gym called airplane. We would pretend to fly around the sky while some music played, but when the music stopped we had to fly into the airport. It was so much fun!


We are looking forward to seeing everyone again next week!
Miss Amy, Miss Michele, Miss Jean & Miss Pat

Monday, April 4, 2011

MWF Preschool News - Week of April 4


MWF Preschool Families,

We have had a wonderful week here at preschool! This week we learned all about the letter W. We painted watercolor whales, made a wormy painting using gummy worms, and read the story The Windy Day by Anna Milbourne.



We learned so many other things this week too! We discovered that if you mix the colors red and blue that it makes the color purple. We practiced writing the letter W, and some of us were even reading the story Go, Go, Go! We listened to the stories The Big Wide Mouthed Frog by Keith Faulkner and One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root. This week we also played the game Jenga. We had to be very careful to push a block out without knocking the tower over.




On Friday we went to chapel to listen to Pastor Greg tell us the story of Easter. We found out that the Easter Bunny isn’t the most important part about Easter…Jesus is! Pastor Greg even performed a magic trick for us! Afterwards we sang a song about a wise man who built his house upon a rock, and a foolish man who build his house on the sand. We even made up our own verses to include an orange and Jello!

We will have even more fun next week at preschool!
Miss Amy, Miss Michele, Miss Jean, & Miss Pat

TTh Preschool News - Week of April 4

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

Hello Tuesday-Thursday Families!
What a wonderful week it's been! We're getting closer to Easter, so we brought out our Easter and spring time cookie cutters this week. We had so much fun making Easter eggs out of playdough and talking about Easter.


We also learned a little bit about the weather this week. We talked about sunny days and rainy days, we talked about storms and we heard how April showers always bring May flowers!

We took a walk to the church Art Room, which is where we would go if there was ever a tornado warning (or a really, really, bad storm!). The children really enjoyed their visit because we had a chance to write letters on a big chalkboard, and we met Miss Crystal who works in that room during the week.

My favorite part of the week was making our sunny day and rainy day pictures! On Tuesday, we used brushes and foam rollers with yellow, orange, white and gold paint. Next week we'll be adding flowers to this picture.


On Thursday, we used blue, purple and white paint with brushes to make our rainy day picture. I think we'll be adding some raindrops to this picture!


We even used some paint scrapers to make cool lines in this painting!


Enjoy the beautiful warm weather we're expecting this weekend! We can't wait to see you back again on Tuesday!

Miss Jean, Miss Amy and Miss Pat

MWF Preschool News - Week of March 21

V is for Volcano! First we built up our volcano around a plaster mold with a plastic container on top. We had so much fun playing with the clay!


We took turns adding clay until we ran out of time (so we made a second one on Wednesday!)


We put vinegar, baking soda and food coloring and watched what happened!


In a couple of days, the volcano was all dried up and started to crack! Maybe we'll make another one some day!



See you all at conferences! Have a wonderful spring break!
Miss Amy, Miss Michele, Miss Jean and Miss Pat

TTh Preschool News - Week of March 21


We are very ready for spring! To celebrate, we made some beautiful spring art work to hang in our hallway! Some of the hand prints may look familiar to you :)


We are looking forward to seeing everyone at parent teacher conferences. Thank you all for participating!

Have a wonderful spring vacation! We will see you in April!
Miss Jean, Miss Amy and Miss Pat

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

MWF Preschool News - Week of March 14

Under His wings you will find refuge. Psalm 91:4

MWF Preschool Families,

Spring is almost here! We had some warmer weather this week which was really exciting, because it allowed us to finally go out to our playground again. We have really missed being able to go out in the fresh air and play.

For art this week we made some blue pictures using paint droppers. We dropped paint onto one side of the paper and the folded it in half to make a mirror image on the other side of the paper. We had fun looking at our picture to see what we had created. We also used scissors and glue sticks to make an umbrella picture. It is amazing to see how well we can use our scissors.


This week we played Barnyard Bingo, Missing Letter Game, and UNO. Playing these games helped us practice taking turns. We worked on our letters while playing the Missing Letter Game, and also practiced matching colors and numbers while playing the game UNO.

One new and exciting thing that week did this week was foam writing. We put shaving cream on the table and spread it out with our hands. We then used our fingers to practice writing letters, numbers, and our names. Some of us even practiced writing words! It was very fun to be able to get our hands dirty and learn at the same time.



This week we listened to the stories Pigs in the Mud in the Middle of the Rud by Lynn Plourde and Fiddle-I-Fee by Melissa Sweet. We also listened to a story out of our Children’s Bible that Jesus told about a lost sheep. A shepherd who knew all of his sheep was counting them one night and realized that he was missing one. He went out to find his lost sheep and was overjoyed when he found it. We learned that God is like our shepherd because he takes care of us and knows each one of us. He will know when we stray (or do something we shouldn’t do) and he will be overjoyed we do the right thing.

In the Gym we learned a new game using bean bags. We practiced throwing the bean bag underhanded to our partner who would catch it. If we caught the bean bag we would take a step backwards making the distance between us further apart. Then we would try it again. If we missed than we would take a step closer together making the distance shorter, and try again. We really enjoyed playing this game and were excited to see how far we could toss the bean bag.

We had so much fun at our exploration station this week. At the beginning of the week we used sponges in soapy water to make bubbles. On Friday, the exploration station was full of rice! We could use measuring cups, scoops, and funnels to measure and move the rice.


We experienced many new and exciting things this week, and have even more planned for next week. We can’t wait to see everyone!

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

TTh Preschool News - Week of March 14

...the Universe was formed at God's command. Hebrews 11:3

Hello Tuesday-Thursday Families!

It feels like spring is finally here (and on Sunday, it will be official)! We are soooo glad! We've already begun to feel some of those warmer temperatures, and today we even had a chance to play outside on our playground! We brought quite a few things outside with us. We saw how the wind made our parachute fly out of our hands. We brought out balls and practiced throwing UNDER HAND to each other, we took turns sliding down the slide, and we had fun chasing the bubbles that Miss Jean made!

This week our focus was on the letter U and the color blue. There were so many things we did...


For art on Tuesday, we made Under the Sea pictures. On Thursday, we painted on canvas with blue and yellow paints. It made green for St. Patrick's Day!
For music and movement, we listened to "Going on a Bear Hunt." We also practiced walking on our rainbow rope inside the church building. We want to make sure that everyone follows our safety rules inside before we start taking walks outside!
We practiced our fine motor skills by playing with modeling clay. It looks like play dough, but it's a lot harder to work with! We really strengthened our hand muscles while we played! Some of us learned how to make hearts out of clay!
We used tweezers this week to pick up different shaped pastas and sorted them using muffin tins.


We had so much fun exercising our larger muscles by throwing crumpled paper into our small classroom size basketball hoop! I think we'll be doing this activity a lot more around here! Don't be surprised if your children start asking for your scrap paper at home!!
We had even more fun playing with soapy water in the Exploration Station! Some of us had so much fun that we needed to change our shirts (thank you for keeping those extra clothes here!).

We read a wonderful book called "The Colors of Us" by Karen Katz about a little girl named Lena who takes a neighborhood walk with her mother. She sees friends with skin of all different shades of brown...skin that looks like honey, peanut butter, pizza crust, peaches, chocolate, and more. The boys and girls ALL listened so well to the story, which tells us that they must have really enjoyed it.
Another story they enjoyed this week was "In the Tall, Tall, Grass" by Denise Fleming. The children learned about all kinds of animals that they might be hiding in the grass: Beetles, snakes, birds, and fireflies were just a few!

And if your child brought a "ticket" home from school this week, it may have been from their "train trip to the mountains!" If your child didn't go on the imaginary train trip this week, they will have a chance again on Tuesday!

Remember that next week will be a short week for the children. No school on Thursday due to conferences. And yes, child care will be provided!

Happy Spring!
We can't wait to see you next Tuesday,
Miss Jean, Miss Amy and Miss Pat

Sunday, March 13, 2011

TTh Preschool News - Week of March 7

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Proverbs 3:5

Hello Tuesday-Thursday Families!
Spring is just around the corner, and boy, are we happy about that! We are so looking forward to taking walks outside and playing in the playground again! Did you know that children and adolescents should get 60 minutes of physical activity each day? It's true! For more information, check out what the Centers for Disease Control suggest. Just click HERE!

This week we took the children to the gym in small groups to play with balls. They love to roll them and kick them and try bouncing them. They are still a little young to be expected to bounce balls or play catch with them, but we still have so much fun and use up lots of energy in the gym using them!

Here are some of the other things we did at preschool on Letter T week...
We practiced our fine motor skills and learned about a new shape by making plates of "Tasty Triangles." They are taped to the office door if you'd like to see them up close!


We learned a new way to hold crayons and learned about textures while we made crayon rubbings with our Texture Plates. What can you use at home to make your own crayon rubbings? We'd love to see your results!


We practiced our matching skills as we played with the Texture Dominoes. Some of the circles were smooth, some were bumpy, some were slippery. It was a good opportunity to learn some new words to express how those textures felt.


We also spent some time learning the capital letters of the alphabet when we played "The Alphabet Game." The children picked a letter, and put it in the matching square. If they knew the name of the letter they would tell us, and if they didn't know it, we taught them what it was! We had lots of fun learning!


We also made some beautiful "stained glass" windows on Thursday with our college student helper, Miss Lainey. The boys and girls had so much fun with our special visitor! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

We look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday,
Miss Jean, Miss Amy and Miss Pat

Friday, March 11, 2011

MWF Preschool News - Week Of March 7

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

MWF Preschool Families,

We had a terrific week here at the preschool. This week we learned all about the letter T.

On Wednesday we painted pictures using textured rollers. The rollers made designs on our paper with blue paint. We also made pictures using crayons and texture plates. We learned that if we rubbed the crayon over the paper sideways when it was over one of these plates that a really neat picture would appear on the paper.


We practiced our fine motor skills this week when we sorted multicolored teddy bears into tins by only using tweezers. It could be a little tricky sometimes.

We had Chapel on Friday and learned all about the stained glass windows in the sanctuary. We even learned how they were made. We had so much fun learning about it that we decided to make our own out of paper. They turned out so beautiful, and now they decorate the office window.

This week we also read listened to the stories The Best-Loved Bear by Daina Noonan and Elizabeth Fuller, and “Slowly, Slowly, Slowly” said the Sloth by Eric Carle. We played with balls in the gym, and practiced matching our alphabet letters. We even had a visit from the bookmobile! We were so excited to pick out new book for the classroom.


Looking forward to seeing everyone again next week!
Miss Amy, Miss Michele, Miss Jean, & Miss Pat

Friday, March 4, 2011

MWF Preschool News - Week of Feb. 28

Seek first the kingdom of God. Matthew 6:35

Hello MWF Preschool Families!

It was a silly week here at the preschool. We learned all about the letter S and had so much fun discovering new words that began with the letter S. We made string pictures on Monday using various colors and sizes of string and we made seed collage pictures on Thursday.


We also had fun dancing to songs like “Spaghetti Legs” and the “Silly Dance,” and we even used streamers when we dance to music in the gym.

We also learned about a man this week named Dr. Seuss who wrote many silly stories. We listened to three of his silly stories, and they were The Foot Book, Green Eggs and Ham, and The Cat in the Hat. Wednesday we painted red stripes on white paper that looked like the Cat in the Hat’s hat.

This week we also planted seeds that will grow in the classroom over the next few weeks. The children planted basil, oregano, and spearmint seeds. After all the seeds were planted we put them under a clear plastic lid near the window to help them grow. We discussed how the lid is like a little green house, and how it will help the plants grow.


Here are some other things that we did this week:
Writing our names
Creating patterns with shapes
Throwing, kicking, and bouncing balls
Using stencils
Using alphabet tiles to match and order.


We have even more fun planned for Letter T week. We hope that you have a wonderful weekend, and we will see everyone Wednesday!

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

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

TTh Preschool News - Week of Feb 28

Surely,I am with you always. Matthew 28:20

Dear Tuesday-Thursday Families!
We wish we could celebrate SPRING during letter S week, but we have to wait a few more days! We are so ready for spring, that we decided to plant some seeds this week at preschool. We had so much fun planting basil, spearmint and chives. The seed packets say that they should sprout in 7 - 14 days. We will let you know!


We had fun cutting out snakes this week, too! On Thursday, we had even more fun painting them with yellow, blue and green paints. You will see them hanging over the cubbies when you come to school on Tuesday.


In addition to the seeds and the snakes, we also had tons of other fun. Here are some of the other things that happened in our classroom...

We heard the stories Silly Sally by Audrey Wood and Seeds by Ken Robbins (both are Big Books that I borrowed from the local library)
We played with tanagrams to learn about shapes and how they fit together to make beautiful pictures and designs.
We made torn paper collages using bright colored paper and glue sticks.
We had fun with dramatic play using our toy barn and the farm animals.
We explored items that begin with the letter S in our "Exploration Station"
(the spiders were a huge favorite! Don't worry, they were plastic!)
We played with bouncy balls in the gym (going in groups of 3 or 4)
And many of us really enjoyed cleaning the paint off of our messy tablecloth! We actually had people waiting for their turn to clean, and waiting patiently to "trade sponges." :) I wonder if they do that at home.....

Feel free to stop in the classroom to help sometime! We'd love to have the extra pair of hands, and it will give you a chance to see your child learning and playing. Just sign up on the calendar by the sign in sheet!


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

Friday, February 25, 2011

MWF Preschool News - Week of Feb 21

Rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again: Rejoice! Phil 4:4

MWF Preschool Families,

We had a great week here at the preschool. On Wednesday we had a visit from the dentist, Miss Lisa, who taught us all about how to keep our teeth healthy. She reminded us how important it is to eat healthy foods and to brush our teeth two times a day. She also showed us what happens if we eat too much sugar and forget to brush our teeth for long periods of time.



This week we learned about many things that begin with the letter R. The students made amazing rainbow pictures using paint dotters, and created pictures using colorful rectangles.



We also assembled rainbow colored cubes for counting and geometric shapes to create patterns.



All the children assisted me in reading the story Row, Row, Row Your Boat by Iza Trapani. The students also put on their “thinking caps” when asked to solve some tricky riddles. We played Go Fish with alphabet letters and even went on a walk around the building while pretending to be puppy dogs. The kids had so much fun using their imaginations.

I hope that everyone has a great weekend, and I am looking forward to seeing everyone’s cheerful smile again next week!

Miss Amy, Miss Michele, Miss Jean & Miss Pat