Preschool News - Week of January 24

Nothing is too hard for God. Jer 32:17

Hello Preschool Families!

We had a shortened week at school, because your teachers went to Chicago for an Early Childhood Conference. We had so much fun learning! I'll list some of the workshops that we attended (and will add some links soon as well in case you would like additional information).

Miss Jean went to...The Potential of a Puddle
A Sense of Art and Nature
Applying the Wakanheza Project
A Breath of Fresh Air
Author/Illustrator Todd Parr
Shuffling into Math
Play on Words

Miss Amy went to...Keeping Living Things in the Classroom
Strategies to Support Young Children's Language Development
Got Dirt? Growing Healthy Kids
Singing Games and Dances for Children
Talking to Parents About Sensitive Issues
Supporting Successful Interaction in the Classroom

Miss Michele went to...
Making Sense of Prosocial Skills
Storytelling, Movement and Comedy for the Classroom
From Craft Time to Inspired Minds
Navigating the Turbulent Waters of Challenging Behavior
Mathematizing Children's Visual Arts Experiences
KID FIT: Phys Ed for Preschoolers
Singing and Dancing for Enhancing Learning
From Craft Time to Inspired Minds

We hope that those of you who went to the Children's Museum had a wonderful time, and that those of you who stayed home, enjoyed some special family time!
See you next week at preschool!

Miss Jean, Miss Amy and Miss Michele

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