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.

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

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

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 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

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!

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!

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