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

TTh Preschool News - Week of Feb 14

Quietness and trust is your strength. Isaiah 30:15

Hello Tuesday-Thursday Families!
We had a wonderful week at preschool. The highlight of our week was our visit from Miss Lisa who taught us how to keep our teeth healthy. She reminded us to brush TWO times a day and to eat foods that are healthy for our teeth. Before she left, everyone had a chance to brush the teeth on her very big bear!


While the theme of our week was dental health, most of our focus has been on social skills as we continue to adjust to our larger class size. We've also adjusted some of our routines to help the new students feel more comfortable in their new school. For the time being, we have eliminated our morning "Greeting Time" and are instead starting our day with the various centers. All of the children seem to enjoy this change, because they can start the day at their favorite table.

This week we had pink paint and tooth shaped paper at the art table, play dough with rolling pins and cookie cutters for fine motor practice, and "Building Cubes" at our math table. We also had a parent helper in the classroom this week. Thank you so much for taking the time to spend a morning with us! We appreciate it sooo much!


Many new friendships have been forming in the classroom - not only involving the new students, but also between our former students who may not have spent as much time playing together before now. The new students have already been introduced to "Ring Around the Rosie" which is one of our favorite impromptu class activities. And everyone has fun when we go to Fellowship Hall to play Duck Duck Goose. We'll definitely play that again next week!

See you all soon,
Miss Jean, Miss Amy and Miss Pat

MWF Preschool News - Week of Feb 14

Quietness and trust is your strength. Isaiah 30:15

Hello MWF Preschool Families!

We had a great week here at preschool! This week we learned all about land transportation and the Letter Q.

Monday was Valentines Day and we celebrated by giving valentine cards to all of our friends. In art we made special Valentine cards for our moms, dads, and siblings. We also played many games that included counting, matching, and lacing hearts. We listened to the story If You’ll Be My Valentine by Cynthia Rylant, and we topped our Valentines Day off with a wonderful snack.


Wednesday we learned about many of the means of transportation that get us from one place to another. For art we made tire tracks with black paint on white paper. We discovered that the wheels on different cars make very neat patterns (and some of us discovered how much fun it was to make fingerprints!). We played a Mini Motors Math game which helped us with counting and taking turns. We also read the story and listened to the song “We All Go Traveling By” by Sheena Roberts.


Friday was a busy day for us! In the morning we had our eye and hearing exams, followed by chapel with Pastor Greg. After chapel we learned about quilts, because they start with the letter Q. We decorated our own quilt squares in art and they were sewn together with yarn to make a beautiful quilt!


Here are some other things that we did this week…

Played with the train in small groups,
Used Letter Builders,
Made cards for friends,
Played with our All Around Town game,
Sang the song “Wheels on the Bus,”
Wrote in our notebooks,
Practiced throwing and catching Frisbees.

Have a wonderful weekend!

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

TTh Preschool News - Week of Feb 7

God is Love 1 John 4:8

Hello Tuesday-Thursday Families,

Happy Valentine's Day! We had an exciting week at preschool playing and learning! Can you believe we are already on letter P week? Time is really flying here!

We welcomed another new student this week, bringing our total class number to 11 students. While we are still have more girls than boys, we do have THREE boys in the class now! We've made a few adjustments to our routine to help the new students adjust, but overall, it's been a good transition for everyone. I think the children will all enjoy the opportunity to make some more new friends at school!

In addition to a new student, we also had the joy of celebrating Valentine's Day and celebrating someone's birthday this week. The birthday girl brought in some Valentine's cookies, and someone brought in some strawberries, too! Yum!! We had so much fun making cards for our friends and loved ones using stickers and markers. And we all enjoyed giving our Valentines to our classmates. Maybe we'll continue to give more cards away next week!



We had fun at the rainbow rug this week reading some books by Todd Parr. One of our favorites was called "The I Love You Book". While you are celebrating Valentine's Day this week, it would be a good time to talk about all of the people who you love and who love you. And of course, don't forget to remind the children how much we are loved by God!

For counting practice, we brought out our counting cloth and some silly looking "heart people." Many of the children noticed that after we filled up the entire chart, one of the squares was empty! Maybe our missing heart person will turn up some day!

One of our other favorite things this week was playing with the wooden train set in the hallway by our cubbies. Some of the children were in charge of putting the train together, and they did a fabulous job. We'll definitely bring the train set out again soon! Playing with the train set and with our play dough this week were both great ways for us to strengthen our hand muscles and develop our fine motor skills!

We hope that all of you have a wonderful Valentine's Day!
Enjoy the warm winter weather,
Miss Jean, Miss Amy and Miss Pat

MWF Preschool News - Week Of February 7

Praise the Lord! It is good to sing praises to our God. Psalm 147:1

Hello MWF Preschool Families!

We had a very positive week here at preschool. We learned all about the Letter P. For show and shared, students brought in penguins, puzzle pieces, and even a pink and purple pillow pet. We had so much fun discussing other words that start with the letter P as well.


Art was tons of fun this week! On Monday we made Mr. or Mrs. Potato Heads. We cut out our potatoes and then gave them their own unique personalities when we added facial features and accessories. They turned out amazing! On Wednesday each child made their very own puzzle person. They colored their puzzle the way they wanted and when they were done, they were able to take them home to play with. Friday they painted polka dots on the letter P with paint dotters. They were very colorful and the students made many different designs with polka dots.


This week we also…
Put many different kinds of puzzles together
Made cards for our friends and family
Sang a new song called The "Pig And The Pony"
Examined pinecones
Listened to many stories including But No Elephants by Jerry Smath and In The Pond.
Played with a parachute

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

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

T-Th Preschool News - Week of February 22

Hello Tuesday Thursday Families!

It's already March! Here are some of the other things we've been busy with this week...

At greeting time this week, we colored a picture of our Rainbow Rabbit and a rainbow picture

We learned that R and "Star" rhyme, so we glued a whole bunch of stars on to a big letter R

We watched how white paint gradually turn pink as we added red paint to it, drop by drop

(and of course, we then painted with it!)

We played with dry erase boards and dry erase markers. Some of us drew rainbows and some of us practiced writing our names (without even being asked to!!)

We brought our train set and played with it on our rainbow rug.

Miss Colleen came in to play with us and to read to us. Thank you for helping us with our sparkly art project!

At the exploration station, we played with sand and some texture tools.

To develop our math skills, we played with our Bug Matching Game. We had a couple of mirrors at the table that the children had fun with, too!

At story time, we decided to write our own story about Rosie the Rainbow Rabbit. When the story comes home with your child, you can ask him or her which part they added!

We brought out our Ribbon Dancers and danced to Dulcimer Lullaby music. After we all learned to keep a safe space around us, we decided to dance down the hallways of the church building! We even danced through the women's Bible study room and sang Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star to them!

See you next week!

Miss Jean, Miss Lacy and Miss Pat

MWF Preschool News - Week of Feb 15

Dear MWF Families,

Here are some dates coming up for the MWF class:
Wednesday, February 24 - Scholastic Book Orders Due
Friday, February 26 - Chapel Time at 9:00 - We hope you join us!
Monday, March 1 - No School - Casmir Pulaski Day
Friday, March 12 - Butter Braid Orders Due

It's Already Letter Q Week!

We moved forward into our Transportation Theme this week! We are learning about all the various ways to travel. For Letter Q week one of our students brought in a Quarter. How clever. We talked about the different ways we could spend a quarter and that it is worth 25 pennies. Wednesday we had an opportunity to play “Red Light Green Light” in the gym. We used animal cards for the children to present their acting skills. They loved this game. It is a great game to practice for following directions. Fortunately Friday we had a lovely wintry sunny day, so we took the entire class outside for a group walk on our rope. It was great to get outdoors. We witnessed the snow and the icicles melting and sang one of our favorite songs, “This Old Man,” or as our children call it “Nick Nack Paddy Wack.” Next week we will continue our Transportation Theme, have a special guest from a local dental office on Wednesday, and Chapel on Friday!

Here are some other highlights!

We painted with black and white paint to make gray. We used matchbox vehicles to paint roads.

ZOOM!

We created boats from paper plate semi-circles, straws, and triangle sails. They are hanging on our classroom windows for display.

We listened to the song and story “We All Go Traveling By" by Sheena Roberts and Siobhan Bell and the story "Little Quack’s Bedtime" by Derek Anderson, for Letter Q Week.
At our Exploration Station we played with sand and various vehicles in the sand. This exploration activity proved to be a great fun and calming sensory activity for many of our students!
We played with a new resource in our classroom. It is called Letter Builders, and the children assemble various pieces of wood to create individual letters of the alphabet. This is great practice for alphabetic awareness which is necessary for name writing and forming other words in the future.

The children displayed great imagination and creativity this week!

Moving forward again to next week! Beep! Beep!
Miss Lori, Miss Donna, Miss Pat and Miss Jean

T-Th Preschool News - Week of February 15

Hello Tuesday - Thursday Families!

We've had a fun and exciting week once again at preschool! The highlight of our week was probably a visit from a local dentist office. All of us listened so well while Miss Lisa taught us important things about our teeth, mouth and gums. Did you know that we should all brush our teeth TWO TIMES A DAY! Good thing we all had a chance to practice on Miss Lisa's bear!

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

We played with sand at our Exploration Station (aka the sensory table). The sand has been very popular here! The children are learning so well to wait for their turns - and they really enjoy watching the sand timer for the 3 minutes while they wait!

We wrote postcards for our friends and "delivered them" to the mail bags on our bulletin board. Our bulletin board mail bags have been a huge hit with the children. We'll probably keep it up for a few more weeks. Stop in to take a peek if you haven't seen it yet!

We played with a new preschool resource called Build A Letter. It's a great way for the children to learn their uppercase letters!

We brought out the hula hoops and the tunnel so we could have another obstacle course!

We used some fun painting tools to paint with red and white paint...

Another exciting week of fun and learning! See you all soon!

Miss Jean, Miss Lacy and Miss Pat

MWF Preschool News - Week of Feb 8

Dear MWF Families,

We had so much fun celebrating Valentines Week! Our focus was on Love, God’s Love, and Loving One Another. For Letter P week one of our students brought in a Pirate and a Police Car. Each of the children took turns passing the police car back and forth to each other. On Monday and Wednesday we played various games with a parachute, and practiced tossing beanbags off the parachute.

Friday was our Valentines Day Party for the children. It was a great success! Thank you to all the parent helpers who made it possible! This week we were especially blessed with a multitude of parent helpers! Another highlight of our week was the great fun and learning the children had with playing post office, by sending postcards, notes and valentines cards to their friends and loved ones. Next week we are moving forward with our transportation theme, as we explore the various modes of transportation. Beep! Beep! See you next week!

Here are some other highlights of our week…

A Parent Helper came in and led a craft activity, and assisted the children
in making Valentine Mice, using heart templates, glue, and markers.

The mice are hanging in the classroom above our bulletin board!
We read the book Valentine Mice by Bethany Roberts.
Made Valentines Card for our friends and loved ones, using paper,
heart shaped doilies, and markers.

Played with our Pegboard.
Sang the “Skinamarink” Song and practiced hand gestures with it!
Read If You’ll Be My Valentine by Cynthia Rylant and also read I Love You As Big As The World by David Van Buren.

Decorated Valentines Bags and Placemats with stickers and markers for our
Valentines Party Day which was a great success!

Moving forward to Next Week! Beep! Beep!
Miss Lori, Miss Donna, Miss Pat and Miss Jean

T-Th Preschool News - Week of February 8

Hello Tuesday-Thursday Families!

Happy Valentine's Day! Remember that God is Love (John 4:8) and anywhere you see love in action, you are seeing God there as well!

We had a busy week at preschool celebrating God's love for us and our love for each other! We had tons of fun decorating our Valentine's bags this week (while we practiced our fine motor skills at the same time!). Hopefully all of you had a chance to look at our Shutterfly pictures from our party on Thursday. Thank you Miss Donna for taking pictures! And thank you to everyone who contributed something to our Valentine's Day celebration! You are very sweet!

We also had fun with our play dough this week when we learned what happens when we mix pink Kool Aid powder with our white playdough! We learned that after you mix it for a long, long, time the play dough will eventually turn pink...and it even turns our table pink :)

We were very busy this week making cards for friends. You may have even noticed some post cards coming home with your children. Postcards are a fun way to learn about our world, and practice our pre-writing skills. We still have quite a few blank postcards here at preschool, so I suspect you'll see some more coming home next week!

We really wanted to bring out our tunnel and hoops again this week...but we didn't seem to have enough time. Tell your children that WE WILL bring it out again this week!!

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

We went out to the cubby area 2 children at a time to distribute our Valentines cards

We painted with red and white paint on heart shaped papers using paint brushes and some fun texture tools!

We colored heart pictures that reminded us that "God is Love"

We played with some fun heart shaped "people" to practice our counting skills

We heard the stories What Do You Love? by Jonathan London and No Matter What by Debi Gliori

We played our favorite circle time song: Two Little Blackbirds

We learned two new songs:

The Heart Shape Song - sung to The Wheels on the Bus
From Cullens ABCs

The heart shape means that
I love you
I love you
I love you

The heart shape means that
I love you
Each and every day!

AND...

Three Valentines - sung to Mary Had a Little Lamb
Also from Cullen’s ABCs

Three valentines I have for you
Have for you
Have for you

Three valentines I have for you
Pink and red and blue

I’ll put them in the mail for you
Mail for you
Mail for you
Pink and red and blue

See you back at preschool next week for our unit on Dental Health (and a special visit from the dentist!!)

With God's Love,
Miss Jean, Miss Lacy and Miss Pat

MWF Preschool News - Weeks of Jan 25 & Feb 1

Dear MWF Families,

Our last week of January we focused on Numbers and the Color White! For Letter N week one of our students brought in a Nitroade Car with a launch. Each of the children took turns to practice launching it on the Rainbow rug. On Friday that week, the class had a wonderful field trip to a Neighborhood Museum, while the teachers went to early childhood learning conferences. Thanks to our board members who assisted while the teachers were away! We learned lots of wonderful information and ideas to bring into the classroom!

The first week of February we had fun learning about Groundhog Day and other winter animals who hibernate. We ended the week focusing on Dental Health and Valentine’s Day, as it is quickly approaching. One of our teachers brought in an Orange for Letter O week. We used the gym to expend some of our winter energy during these cold and icy months. The children played with balls, our basketball hoop and hula hoops. We also played Simon Says in some of our small groups and Follow the Leader. Our February Christian character trait is Love. We will learn more about Love and God’s Love during next week for our Valentines Week!

Here are some other preschool highlights…

We had several favorite art projects:
We had fun working on a Noah’s Ark Mural for Letter N Week. The children colored and cut out a picture of Noah, his ark, and the animals. Look for the mural hanging up under our hallway bulletin board.
For White Day we made winter bird feeders with bagels, white Crisco and birdseed.
We made Orange and Letter O Prints using real oranges and orange paint.
We colored Groundhog pictures using our choice of crayons, markers or colored pencils and completed a picture of the “Adventures of a Groundhog.”
We painted hearts with toothbrushes at the easel

For fine motor and prewriting skills, we sorted dried noodles and practiced writing our names
For pre-math skills, we played with number dominoes and we practiced writing numbers

We read many wonderful books:
A Day With No Crayons by Elizabeth Rusch
Guess Whose Shadow and What’s Opposite? by Stephen Swinburne
and The Very Hungry Caterpillar - by Eric Carle (a class favorite!)

We played with flashlights and looked at shadows.
We used our Tunnel to play “What did the Groundhog See?”
And we sang “Oh How I Love Jesus” using sign language for the word Jesus
(Look at Cullen’s ABCs website to see how the signs are used!)

Looking forward to Hearts Week,
Miss Lori, Miss Donna, Miss Pat and Miss Jean

T-Th Preschool News - Week of Feb 1

Hello Tuesday-Thursday Families!
It's already Letter O week!

Sometimes, I can't believe how much we do in just two days at preschool! Here are just some of the things that we did this week.....

Made cards for our friend who recently moved to Michigan (we will mail them out next week)

Made bird feeders by putting cheerios on pipe cleaners

Used letter O rubber stamps and ink to decorate a big paper O

Listened to the story Click, Clack, Quackety Quack

Sang the song, Oh How I Love Jesus and Jesus Loves Me
(we didn't do ALL of the "signs" from the song Jesus Loves Me...but we did learn the signs for Jesus, "Loves Me" and Bible

We also talked about things that are round or that go "round and round." Here are some of the things the children mentioned:
A dolphin that jumps out of the water and back in
A wheel

A clock

Our heads

Polka dots

Our hands (when we "make" a circle in the air)

A "Spin It" (when we spin around with our arms out)

A track - like a roller coaster that goes in circles!

Learned a finger play about 5 little groundhogs

Played a game at the rainbow rug where we each took a turn finding a circle shape in the room

while we sang a song that went like this...

"An O is like a circle, a circle, a circle
An O is like a circle,

That goes round and round"

(it was sung to the tune, "The More We Get Together")

Painted with pink paint and orange paint

Pretended to be groundhogs by climbing through a tunnel and going through hula hoops! (Actually, it was an entire obstacle course! Oh! What fun!!!)

Till next week!

Miss Jean, Miss Lacy and Miss Donna