St. Francis Preschool

What a GREAT Hibernation Day!! & Upcoming Events

2012-01-29T21:03:00.003-05:00

Hello Beautiful Preschool Families:)

Our first annual "Hibernation Day" was a blast with all classes! Of course the popcorn and hot cocoa topped it all off! We played games like the Hibernation Dance and the students introduced their hibernation friends that they brought to school. Thanks to the families that let us borrow their popcorn poppers! One of our PreK students surprised us and donated a popcorn popper to the preschool! We now have our very own popper so I am sure we will have more popcorn parties in the future;) Thank you so much to those who also donated hot cocoa mix. We ALWAYS greatly appreciate the generosity of our wonderful families. We also want to say thanks to Mrs. Walsh's K2 class that came to read with our Friday classes. The kindergarteners did a fabulous jobs reading and interacting with the preschoolers. Thanks Mrs. Walsh;)

Our New Theme...
Our New theme this next couple of weeks will be Snow & Snowflakes.
In our Imaginations Station, we will have a snowman that the students will be able to dress and undress! We will be reading books about snow and snowflakes. We will be studying about a man named "Snowflake Bentley" who was one of the first to photograph and study snowflakes.
In our Art Station, the students will be making snow flakes and using different media to create snowmen and other winter items.
We will have our Listening Center open again in a our Reading Station to read snow books on CD.
Spanish words of the Week: Azul (blue) for Penguins and Once (11) and Doce (12) for Polar Bears
Religion focus for the week: The Holy Bible and Our Church
Lots of great things planned this week!

Parent- Teacher Conferences:
For those who have scheduled conferences with me, they will be held on February 2nd. Remember these are NOT mandatory conferences. As a result, unless I have contacted you for a conference OR you have requested one from me, you do not have to meet with me during the Winter Conferences. If you would like to meet, please feel free to contact me and we will schedule a time.

February Community Helper:
Our February community helper will be Trooper Brian Stischok with the State Highway Patrol. He will be speaking to the Penguins and Polar Bears on Friday February 3rd.

Catholic Schools Week:
As we go into "Catholic Schools Week" this week, we encourage the students to wear green, blue and yellow (our school colors) at some point during the week. It does not have to be St. Francis wear but just these colors or a combination of these colors.

Concluding Thoughts:
I see so much growth from the children! They are all doing such a great job. We continue to work on the fine motor with all the classes. Name writing with the Seals and Penguins, and Word families number formation with the Polar Bears. What a SUPER group of children we have been blessed with! May your week be blessed.

Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom

"Sing a new song to the Lord, who has done marvelous deeds."
Psalm 98:1

Hibernation Day and other fun stuff ;)

2012-01-23T21:56:00.002-05:00

Hello Outstanding Preschool Families,

We have another fun-filled week hibernation week ahead! We will wrap up this week up with finishing our hibernation theme. We have been reading Karma Wilson's book "Bear Snores On" and we will end our week with a Hibernation Day. Each child can wear their most comfy pajamas as well as bring a favorite hibernating animal. We will pop popcorn and have hot cocoa too! We will play some hibernation games too!
Hibernation Day for SEALS: Thursday Jan. 26th
Hibernation Day for PENGUIN and POLAR BEARS: Friday Jan. 27th

PLAYDOH Recipe:
This week I made "sparkly white play-doh" to mimic snow as next week we dive into the theme of Winter and Snow. Some of the Polar Bears wanted me to "tell mom and dad how to make this stuff." I told them I would post this on the blog so here is the recipe for really EASY play-doh:
1 cup of salt
1 cup of water
2 cups of flour
1 TBSP of cooking oil
Food coloring or glitter (optional)
If you want to use food coloring, mix it in with the water before adding it to the other ingredients. If you use glitter, I mixed it in with the dry ingredients before adding the water.
Mix all the ingredients together and knead the mixture until it is dough and pliable.

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK:
This upcoming week is Catholic School Week. Our open house is January 29th from 11:30- 2:00 pm. If you know of anyone who is searching out preschools, please feel free to invite them to our Open House on Sunday.

Have a super duper week! God bless.
Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom

Hibernation theme and delay info;)

2012-01-17T19:55:00.002-05:00

Hello Beautiful Preschool Families!
I hope this note finds you doing well and everyone staying healthy! Lots of respiratory yuckiness going around all over St. Francis...not just the preschool. ;( We continue to lift up and pray for healing for all of our preschool friends who are out sick. We miss you!!!! Please continue to encourage your precious little one to cover their cough/sneeze and keep those fingers off their noses and mouths;)

SCHOOL DELAYS/CLOSING Policy due to snow/ice:
I just wanted to remind everyone about the policy of delay/cancellations. IF St. Francis Elementary has a 2 hour delay, there is NO morning preschool for that specific morning group that comes that day. IF St. Francis Elementary is closed, then the preschool is closed as well.
Please check the blog site if you are in question of anything. You will want to go directly to the blog site. Do not wait for the email for your notification. The email notification for our blog is a bit inconsistant. I strongly encourge EVERYONE to check the St. Francis blog site directly if you are in doubt regarding snow delay and or cancellation.

Hibernation Theme for the weeks of Jan 17 and Jan 23rd:
We wrapped up our Polar Animal theme last Thursday. Check out all the Polar work in the hall that your beautiful children have done!
**We are now starting our Hibernation theme. Lots of great things planned. Our Imagination Station has now become a "Hibernation station". We have a hibernation den set up with different books about hibernation and all the different animals that hibernate. If anyone happens to have a large refrig. size box you would like to donate for this station, we will happily take if off your hands;)
**The sensory table has sand in it so the children can build dens for the plastic bears and other hibernating animals.
**Hibernation Science!!
**Lots of great songs to teach(..Going on a Bear Hunt!) and super books to read regarding the different animals that hibernate.
**Next week (the week of Jan. 23) will have a day for "Hibernation day" where the children can wear their jammies to school, bring their favorite hibernating animal, and we will have popcorn and hot cocoa!
**Seals' "Hibernation Day" is: THURSDAY January 26th
**Penguins' "Hibernation Day" is FRIDAY January 27th

**Here is a silly story I share with the students about the meaning of hibernation.
I have a friend named Bernate who gets real sleepy when the weather gets
cold. Whenever I see her, I wave my hand at her and say Hi Bernate!
Usually the very young ones stare at me wondering why I told this goofy story but the older Pre-K's get it and think it is so ridiculous!
** Next week, your student will be bringing home a bear that they have painted. Their "homework" is to place their bear in a hibernating spot for the night. They are to bring the bear back and tell us where their bear has hibernated!

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK OPEN HOUSE:
St. Francis will have open registration and open house visitations on Sunday January 29 through Tuesday January 31. Families who are interested in our preschool or in the elementary school are strongly encouraged to visit our school. If you know of anyone who is interested or looking at preschools, we humbly ask you to invite your friends and family to visit us!

Optometrist Dr. Dietz visits Polar Bear class!
Last Thursday, Dr. Brett Dietz visited our Pre-K Polar Bear class. He discussed how he helps our community stay healthy. Dr. Dietz is also a parent of 3 beautiful girls at St. Francis and does the eye screening at kindergarten registration. Many thanks goes to Dr. Dietz and to our wonderful Polar Bears! They were perfectly behaved and asked great questions. My FAVORITE was when one student ask Dr. Dietz if he is "able to see through me with your glasses?"

ENROLLEMENT AGREEMENT:
Please make sure you return your enrollment agreement as soon as you can so we can ensure a spot for your child. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to come in and ask.

PARENT SURVEY:
Within the next week, I will be sending out a parent survey to all families. Please keep on the watch for this in your child's folder. This helps me tweek things in the program and improve as a teacher and director so our preschool continues to grow and improve. I humbly ask you to take some time to fill this out and return it to me as soon as you can. We appreciate you input;)

Concluding thoughts:
To all our little ones who are out sick, we will pray you get well quickly!

"My son, when you are ill, delay not, but pray to God who will heal you:"
Sirach 38: 9

2nd School delay/cancellation Update- 7:43am- St. Francis de Sales Preschoo

2012-01-13T07:43:00.002-05:00

2nd School delay/cancellation update: 7:43am

St. Francis de Sales Preschool will be CLOSED today Friday, January 13th. All classes are cancelled.
Any questions or concerns, please feel free to call 740-364-8280

Jan. 13- 1 st update: Snow delay- No morning Preschool

2012-01-13T05:30:00.002-05:00

1st Snow Delay update: 5:30am:
**** St. Francis de Sales Preschool is on a 2 hour delay with NO MORNING Preschool today

Reminder- No School on Monday ;)

2012-01-11T19:46:00.002-05:00

Hello Fabulous Preschool Families ;)

Just a few things to share with you all:

1. No School on Monday January 16 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day) Enjoy the day off;)

2. Health Notice:
Just a heads up, we are beginning to have more students sick with throat and respiratory illnesses . We are cleaning and disinfecting more than normal to help prevent the spread of these type of sicknesses. I have spoken to all our students regarding keeping their hands away from their noses and mouths. I also continually talk to them about the proper way of covering their coughs and sneezes as well as thoroughly washing their hands. I would greatly appreciate your help with reiterating these simple health tips.

I have had questions regarding what we would term as "stay at home" symptoms. Great question! So here are the policies:
**Please keep your child home if they are running a fever greater than 99.5 degrees.
**If your child is diagnosed with an illness that requires an antibiotic, they must be on
it for 24 hours before they can return to school.
** Please keep your child home if they have a cough that sounds hard or"barky" or
one in which they have uncontrollable fits of coughing; even if there is no fever.
**Please keep your child home if they have loose stools, stomach cramping, or vomiting.

Any questions regarding this policy, do not hesitate to talk with me.

3. Phone Issues:
We have no working phone in our office at this time. Please call Mrs. Burd's cell if you need to speak with either teacher or top call your child absent. This number is: 1-740-364-8280. I will let you all know once we get a working office again;) You can also contact me via email at: mburd@cdeducation.org

May the rest of your week be a very blessed one! God bless.

Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom

ooops...one more thing!

2012-01-09T21:19:00.002-05:00

Hello Again Preschool Families...
I forgot to include some great info about a great opportunity:

Catco. Productions is putting on a play of " If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" on the following dates: January 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15. This play is based on the Laura Numeroff book series "If you Give a...." Our preschool used her books for an author study theme. The children loved these books and I am sure would love the play as well!
If you are interested, you can find further information on the following website: www.catco.org
Thank you to Katie Shay-Sutton for providing this information for a great dramatic opportunity.

Mrs. Burd

Back into the swing again;)

2012-01-09T19:41:00.002-05:00

Hello Lovely Preschool Parents!
Ahhhh, back into the swing of things again...I LOVE structure! Now that we are back into a "normal" schedule, here are some items that we will be underway!

Enrollment Agreement for the 2012-2013 school year:
An Enrollment Agreement will be sent home this week in the PENGUINS and SEALS classes. This Enrollment Agreement will tell us who intends to come back next year and at which level you want your child to attend. This helps us determine how many enrollment spots remain after the intentions have been made which ensures your student's spot. If you need advice or input on which level your child would best be suited, please do not hesitate to ask Mrs. Bloom or I as we would be more than happy to give you our professional input on this decision.
If you know of anyone who is interested in St. Francis Preschool or who is looking for a preschool, please encourage them to call my office extension (345-4049 ext 236) or visit us during Catholic Schools Week held during the week of January 30th.

Winter Conferences:
Winter Conferences will be held on Thursday, Feburary 2nd from 3:30-6:00. This conference session is NOT mandatory however, I would be more than happy to meet with anyone who wishes to conference with me. If you would like to request a conference with me on February 2nd, please contact me and we can set up a time to do so.

Our Polar Animal Theme:
We started our new year out, with a polar animal theme. This theme will last into this week as well. (We will do a Hibernation theme starting next week.)
The children have been learning all about polar bears, walruses, seals, different types of whales, and penguins. Last week we had our water table actually filled with water and polar animals...they L-O-V-E the water table. The students so enjoy the tactial learning stations!

Here some other parts of our theme:
* Letter of the Week: B (we are learning about Beluga whales!)
* For Penguins and Seals: Spanish Colour Word of the Week: rojo (red)
*For Pre-K Polar Bears- Spanish counting Words- once (11) and doce (12)
*For Pre-K Polar Bears- Sight Word of the Week- big
*For Pre-K Polar Bears- Word Family of the Week- "am" words.

Wonderful Question...for Q&A session!
Q- "I notice my child is still struggling with the fine motor. How can I help them with this?"

A- I encourage parents to allow their child to play with scissors...supervised of course! ;)
The same muscles it takes to open and shut a scissors are many of the ones they will use to hold a writing tool and write! If you want to contain the "mess" cutting can potentially make, allow them to cut Play-doh on a place mat or allow them to cut paper in a tote or tub.
Also sorting small items such as M&M's, Cherrios, or Lucky Charms works the "pinching" and "grasping" muscles. This can help the fine motor as well.

GREAT question! Thanks for the question!

Concluding Thoughts:
Thanks for all you do for your child and our preschool! We appreciate it. God bless.

Respectfully yours,
Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom

Delay and cancellation policies

2012-01-03T20:47:00.002-05:00

Hello Dedicated Preschool Families!

Well, the snow has finally graced us and so we come to the issue of school delays and cancellations. Here is how it will work:
** If St. Francis Elementary is closed, the preschool is closed as well.
** If St. Francis Elementary is under a two hour delay, there will be no MORNING preschool for that day; however if school is in session after the two hour delay, we will still hold AFTERNOON preschool (Pre-K Polar Bear group).
Once the school administration calls me, I will post the update on the BLOG as soon I get the information and on WCLT radio.(www.wclt.com)
If you have any questions regarding this policy, please let us know and we will be happy to clarify.

AFTERNOON PICK-UP:
We would like to extend a HUGE thanks to all the Afternoon Pre-K families for adjusting to our new pick-up policy with such grace and class! You have all been so great about this and I think it is running very smoothly. Remember, if you ever have a concerns or questions regarding the afternoon pick-up routine, please do not hesitate to bring it up to us. We are here to help!

Change of Clothes:
Remember, with winter upon us, please make sure to take a peek into your student's "change of clothes" bag to make sure you have winter clothes and not shorts or short sleeved t-shirts. My suggestion is the following:
**Long pants or sweatpants, **long sleeved shirt, **a pair of socks, and **an extra pair of underwear.
I also recommend throwing an extra sweatshirt into the backpack during the winter. With the heat being shut off during holidays, the building does take a while to warm up. Having an extra sweatshirt that the kids could throw on would be helpful.

PASTA:
Please check your pasta order over to make sure we have filled your orders accurately. If you discover an error, please let us know;)

Concluding Thoughts....
It was so good to see the kids today! I truly missed those little laughs and shining smiles! What a blessing! God bless.

Yours in education,
Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom

Happy New Year Everyone ;)

2012-01-01T19:26:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year Preschool Families ;)

I hope you all had a very peaceful and joyful Christmas holiday! I wanted to remind everyone that SEALS and POLAR BEARS will be starting back to school on: TUESDAY January 3rd and PENGUINS will be back on WEDNESDAY January 4th. I can not wait to see you all and to welcome you all back.
Mrs. Bloom and I would like to THANK YOU ALL for your wonderful effort and support on the FunPasta Fundraiser! We also want to recognize ENZO BORLAND. He is being recognized for having the highest amount of FunPasta sales for our school! He will recieve a $10 Walmart card from the FunPasta Company for this achievement. Way to go Enzo !!!!!

Here is a run down on what the first pary of January will bring for our classes:

Our theme for the first two weeks of January: Winter/Polar Animals and those that hibernate

Our letter for this week: "W"(for Seals and Penguins) Word Family feature: "at" family
(P Bears)
Sight Word of the week: "we" (Polar Bears)

Saint of the Month of January: St. Francis de Sales (feast day is this month!) all classes

Author of the Month: Jan Brett (all classes)

Religious focus for this week: The Epiphany (all classes)

To the SEALS Moms and Dads: I will have your pasta orders in bags for you when you drop your precious ones off on Tuesday morning.

Enjoy your Monday off! See you all back on your scheduled day. God bless you all!

Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom
"And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw His glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth."
John 1: 14

MERRRRY CHRRRISTMAS!!!!!

2011-12-19T10:32:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!
Mrs. Bloom and I would like to extend a huge "THANK YOU" to all the families that shared Christmas treats with their class as well with us! The yummy treats and presents were quite delightful and so thoughtful! Thank you so much and we hope that your Christmas break is joyful! See you all in January!

Many blessings,
Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom

PASTA is HERE!!!!

2011-12-15T18:44:00.001-05:00

Hello Dynamic Preschool Families!

This afternoon, our pasta from our fundraiser arrived! YEAH! Mrs. Bloom and I sorted this evening so orders for the Penguins will be ready to go when you arrive in the morning. PENGUIN parents- please pick the orders up when you drop your child off in the morning. I will have them ready for you.
SEALS moms and dads- I will have yours bagged up and ready to go tomorrow as well. If you would like your orders BEFORE we leave for holiday, you are more than welcome to come at any point tomorrow(Friday) to pick your order up. Please note that Mrs. Bloom and I will not be available from 11:05-11:55. After 12:00, however, we will be back in our classroom and will be able to ring you in to get your pasta orders if desired.
POLAR BEAR Parents/Guardians- Your orders will also be bagged and ready for you to take home when you drop your child off tomorrow. Please take them at drop off as pick up time is not condusive with trying to juggle children, backpacks, lunch boxes on top of bags of pasta ;) Thank you so much for your cooperation with this.

Speaking of cooperation...I wanted to take this time to extend a sincere "thank you" to all our Polar Bear parents that have transitioned so nicely to our new pick up routine. You guys are so awesome. I think it is going pretty smoothly so far. Thanks so much for NOT parking in the turn around. We appreciate your cooperation and support. I truly hope that pick up is actually easier for you rather than more complicated. The children have also transitioned very well.

God bless you all!
Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom

The waiting will soon be over....

2011-12-14T21:12:00.002-05:00

Hello Blessed Preschool Families!
Maybe it's because of my age, but it feels like just yesterday we were just starting Advent! How fast the beautiful season flies by. The day of the Christ Child is soon upon us and it is absolutely precious to see the children's faces light up when we do our Jesse Tree or our Advent countdown posters! They know the time is near too!
* Before we go on Christmas holiday, I want to tell you how wonderful of a time we ALL had at The Works last week! What a super experience. We are so fortunate to have The Works so close in our community. It provides GREAT science experiences for our children. Thanks to all the parents that served as chaperones. We simply could not have done it without you. I want to give a shout out to the behavior of our wonderful students. The Works science director, Miss Rori, commented many times on how wonderfully behaved the children were in the classes as well as the museum. Super job kids!
* Just a reminder, this week is our last week as St. Francis is on break starting Monday December 19th. The following classes will resume as follows:
* SEALS and POLAR BEARS- Tuesday January 3rd
* PENGUINS - Wednesday January 4th

As we embark upon this most blessed time, Mrs. Bloom and I want to wish you all a
peaceful and joyful Christmas and New Year. We will certainly miss all of the children during our break.
Merry Christmas!
Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom

" Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and brought redemption to his people. He has raised up a horn for our salvation within the house of David his servant.."
Luke 1: 68-69

SEALS- The Works trip

2011-12-07T20:37:00.003-05:00

Hello Stupendous Parents...

It will be the SEALS' turn to attend The Works on THURSDAY morning. Seals will attend from 9am to 11:05. Please DO NOT drop your student off to The Works anytime before 8:55 am as The Works does not open until 9am. Parents may begin picking children up between 10:55 and 11. ALL Seals students must be picked up by 11:05 as we have to prepare for the afternoon class as normal;) Thanks so much for your consideration with this.
Remember SEALS -do not drop off or pick up at school tomorrow (Thursday) but go directly to The WORKS.
Also, your student may bring a small snack to have after the color mixing class. After the snack, the students will have the remaining time to play in the museum.

The Penguins and Polar Bears had a GREAT time today. I think the Seals will enjoy it just as much. Polar Bears: It is back to class as normal on Thursday ;)
Penguins: It is back to class as normal on Friday ;)
See you all then!

Mrs. Burd & Mrs. Bloom

Field Trip and Such ;)

2011-12-06T21:54:00.002-05:00

Just a reminder, WEDNEDAY the 7th will be PENGUINS and POLAR BEAR's trip to The Works.
Penguins- Your time is from 9 am to 11:15am. Please DO NOT show up too much before 9am as The Works does not open until 9am. I will be at The Works at approximately 8:55am. Penguin pick up time is starting from 11:00am and no later than 11:15 (at The Works) as I have the Pre-K class coming at 12:15 and will need to grab lunch before the afternoon class arrives.

Pre-K Polar Bears- Your time is from 12:15 to 3:00pm Please arrive closer to 12:05pm You may begin picking your student up starting at 2:55 but no later than 3pm.

REMEMBER: Drop off AND pick up is at The Works. Please DO NOT come to the school on Wednesday. Any questions, please feel free to contact me on my cell at: 364-8280.

Today's Christmas Program for Polar Bears:
Today's Pre-K 'ers did a WONDERFUL job today at the Christmas program. I am so proud of them. Not only did they perform beautifully but also sat so patiently while the rest of the program went on. Kudos!

FOR AFTERNOON Polar Bear Pick up ONLY:
Starting Thursday afternoon, Mrs. Bloom and I will begin escorting the Polar Bears to the pick up line at the end of their school day. We will be outside our Preschool door at 2:55. Please get into the elementary pick up line and we will bring them directly to you. If you have a child that goes to the elementary, they can wait for their preschool sibling on the playground close to our door. When we come out, the elementary sibling can then join us and we will escort them to your door.
The school administration request that you DO NOT park and wait as this defeats the whole purpose of getting in the pickup line. Any questions, please let me know ;)

New Prayer for PENGUINS and POLAR BEARS:
The children are learning a new closing prayer. I thought I would share it with you so that you can help them pray it. It is the 'Angel of God' prayer.

Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love
commits me here.
Ever this day be at my side. To light, to guard, to rule,
and to guide.
Amen

St. Nicholas Day and the second week of Advent;)

2011-12-04T22:36:00.002-05:00

Hello Splendid Preschool Families!
Happy Second Week of Advent! What wonderful week it has been. Our first literature-based theme went so well! I hope the children enjoyed Laura Numeroff 's books and all the activities we did with them.
The SEALS "made" their own muffins they would give the moose from
"If You Give a Moose a Muffin".
The PENGUINS created puppets of the moose from "If You Give
a Moose a Muffin" and counted muffins to give the moose in our
"Muffin Math" activity.
The POLAR BEARS work on "Cookie Math" after we read "If You Give
a Mouse a Cookie", graphed their favorite cookie, and we even played
"If You Give..." games on our Smartboard!
Our next literature theme will be on Jan Brett stories. This theme will be done in February ;)

THE WORKS Day!
I am so excited about the science classes at The Works! Here are the details:
PENGUINS will attend on Wednesday the 7th of Dec. from 9:00-11:15
POLAR BEARS will attend on Wednesday the 7th of Dec. from 12:15-3:00
SEALS will attend on Thursday the 8th of Dec. from 9:00-11:15
* Remember that drop off AND pick up will be at The Works. If you need directions or the address to THE WORKS, please see Mrs. Burd.
* Remember to return the permission slip and class fee by Tuesday the 6th.
* Remember that The Works does not open until 9:00 so please do not drop off your child at the "normal time" (8:05) as no one will be there. Please do not come to the school this day either.
*** Any other inquires, please see Mrs. Burd.

POLAR BEAR PARENTS:
Polar Bear Pre-K class will be performing on December 6th at 1:30 in the afternoon at the elementary school Christmas Program. We will be reciting a Christmas poem, singing "J-E-S-U-S" as well as singing an Advent song. I am not sure the order in which the Pre-K will be as the first and second graders have a performance to do as well.
ALL Polar Bear parents are invited to come watch their little one at the afternoon show! (We will NOT be performing in the evening.)

St. Nicholas's Feast Day- Tuesday, December 6th
We will be learning about St. Nicholas (the saint) this week in class. The children will be making stockings on Monday for St. Nick to fill as he did to the peasant man who could not afford his daughter's dowry. St. Nicholas's story is a beautiful one of humble giving just a Jesus humbly gave himself to us as our personal Savior! We will also be reading about St. Nicholas in class on Monday and Tuesday.

THIS WEEK's "GOINGS ON":
Letter of the Week: "N" for (St.) Nicholas
Color of the Week: PINK
Number of the Week: 9
Science Station Theme: Dinosaurs and their Tracks

Apology regarding the Community Helper of the Month:
I want to apologize for not having the promised community helpers. Unfortunately, the Optometrist (for the letter "O") ended up not being able to come until January so we will see Dr. Deitz in January. The Farmer we were supposed to have for October, ended up cancelling and I could not find a replacement;(
We will be having two community helpers in January. Along with Dr. Brett Dietz, we will also have a policeman into the class. Exciting stuff!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!
I want to extend my most sincere appreciation to all the families who sold pasta. We brought in about $2000.00 in which we get approximately 40% of this! Some of you expressed some frustration at the short selling duration. This completely falls on me. I apologize about this! I will do better;) Again, thanks for all you do!

AFTERNOON Pre-K Parking:
It has been brought to my attention that some afternoon Polar Bear parents are not being treated very respectfully regarding the parking issue. First off, allow me to apologize if you are being treated in a rude or disrespectful in any way. This issue with the treatment of Pre-K parents is being addressed and hopefully can be resolved. I will keep you abreast on what comes from my meeting regarding this unfortunate issue.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS...

I hope this Advent is proving to be a blessed season of waiting and preparation. I remember thinking that, somehow, the Advent and Christmas season was supposed to be miraculously perfect and peaceful. I quickly came to realize that it is in the "craziness" of our everyday life (the noisy and over-excited children, the crowded places, the busy streets, and yes, even the irritable store clerks) that Christ is giving us the opportunity to strengthen our abililty to see Him more clearly. When we are able to see Him in each other in the busiest or craziest of days, that is when we will be able to hold the peace and joy of Advent and Christmas in our heart. May God continue to bless you as we near Christ's birthday!

Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Isaiah 7:14

A Blessed Advent Season ;)

2011-11-28T22:23:00.002-05:00

Hello Great Preschool Families!

I hope this finds you all rested from our Thanksgiving holiday. It was so great to see you back this week! May this blessed season of Advent give peace and joy to you all.
Thank you so much for all the parents and grandparents who were able to make our little Thanksgiving Recital and Fellowship time. I thought it went well. I hope you all enjoyed it as well.
This week's theme is a bit different. When I taught older grades, I would use literature-based thematic units. I am trying this for the first time with the preschoolers. So far, so good! We will be using Laura Numeroff's books "If You Give....". The classes all will start off the week with " If You Give a Moose a Muffin" . I have activities in Math Station, Art Project Station, and Working with My Teacher Station all based around these books from Ms. Numeroff. We will certainly try to get through most of these books this week but I encourage you to look up this author if you do not already know her.
Here is the rest of the week's study points:

Color of the Week: Purple
Number of the Week: 6
Letter of the Week: M
Theme of the Week: Laura Numeroff
Science theme this week: Dinosaurs and their fossil prints
Special project this week: Making our Advent Wreaths and starting our Jesse Tree !
Group Math Project- Graphing our Favorite Cookie!

PASTA Fundraiser:
Remember, our fundraiser, "Fun Pasta" is due on Tuesday! Bring in order forms and payments collected.

Science Day Field Trip coming up!!!
Tuesday and Wednesday we will be sending out the Works Field Trip permission slips. Please fill these out and submit payment ($5) to Mrs. Burd by this coming Friday December 2nd.
I will ask that all parents to drop off and pick up the children at The Works. Please look for the permission slips that will be in your child's folder Tuesday and Wednesday. Please refer to your permission slips for day and time as it applies to your child's class.

Check Those Folders Please ;)
Please check your child's folder for important information but more importantly to check out all the wonderful work your sweet precious one is doing at school. I encourage you to inquire about the work/projects. The kids are constantly asking, "Can I please take this home to show Mommy and Daddy?" They are so proud of their work.

POLAR BEAR Pre-K PARENTS:
On December 6 at 1:30pm, the Polar Bears will take part in our school Christmas Program.
We will be doing a class Christmas poem, Away in the Manger, and the song S-A-N-T-A. The first and second grade will also be putting on their program as well. I am not sure if we are before or after the other performers. (Remember...This program applies the Polar Bear Pre-K ONLY!!!)
I have sent home a line of the poem I would like for your child to memorize. Please work with them at home. More to come on this!

Concluding Thoughts:
After a long break (such as the one we are coming back from) some of the children will have a hard time transitioning back into the routine of things. This is normal and we completely expect this. It seems especially hard for younger ones (3's and 4's) By the end of the week or so, they will all be back in the swing of things again. Sometimes, holiday can be a double edged sword. We welcome the break but the transition back to "normal" routine can be difficult.
Rest assured all will be fine ;)

Remember us as you are working your way through your Christmass decorations. If you have some gently used / new decorations, please remember the preschool before you throw it to the curb or discard because you don't use it anymore.

In Christ,
Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom

Tidbits before our holiday break

2011-11-21T20:35:00.002-05:00

Hello Phenomenal Preschool Parents!

I just want to say how proud I am of the Penguin class. They did a great job singing their songs...even ones we sprang on them to sing at the last minute! Thank you to the Penguin parents that donated food, drink, plates and cups and that gave up their time to watch the little ones sing. We so appreciate your support and generosity.

Tuesday's Recitals:

On Tuesday, the Seals will have their Fellowship Thanksgiving Recital from 10:15-10:45.
The Polar Bears will have theirs from 2:15-3:00. Both will take place in the Lamy Center. Can't wait to see everyone then.

NO SCHOOL Reminder!
Remember, our last day of school is Tuesday(tomorrow) as our Thanksgiving holiday runs from Wednesday 11/23-Friday 11/25. We will see everyone back at school on Monday 11/ 27.

Pasta Orders:
You all will get your order forms and flyers at the recitals. All orders and monies are due November 29 to enable the orders to get to us by Christmas break. Our goal is for each child to try to sell 9 items. Any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to ask me ;)

God bless and have a super break;) Enjoy your families!

Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom

Thanksgiving Edition

2011-11-20T17:16:00.001-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving Outstanding Preschool Families!

I know it is a little early but I thought I would wish you all a blessed holiday!

PARENT-TEACHER Conferences:
I want to take a moment to thank all the parents for the stupendous conferences. I have to say in my 13+ years of conferences with many parents, our fall conferences here at SF Preschool were the most positive and upbeat conferences I have every experienced! Thank you so much! You are all such wonderful advocates for your children. It is absolutely refreshing! God bless you all.

Thanksgiving Recitials
The children, Mrs. Bloom and I are so excited to share Thanksgiving fellowship with and a bit of music with you all. Please refer to your invitation for time and place. See you all then. Thank you to all the parents donating to the Fellowship and Recitial. We so appreciate your generosity.

Quote of the Week:
Many times students, especially young ones, are so surprised to see their teachers outside the classroom and have some very interestings views on this. As many of you have seen, I have my office in a little room in the classroom. On Friday, one of my sweet little Penguins poked her head in the office and asked...
" Hi Mrs. Burd! Is this your bedroom?"
After hiding a chuckle, I explained to her that I don't sleep here then she said, " Oh, so is this your kitchen then?"
I love it! How precious it their perspective.

Pasta Update
I will be handing out and explaining the Pasta Fundraiser at our Thanksgiving Fellowship and Recitial. If you have any questions during the Thanksgiving holiday, please feel free to email me at my home email: michelle_rburd@yahoo.com (there is an underscore after "michelle") I will not be going home this Thanksgiving so I will be around and checking my email on a daily basis.

Concluding Thoughts:
May your Thanksgiving holiday be very blessed and joyful. May God bless you all with peace and safety during this great time of the year!

Educationally yours,
Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom

"You know that Christ was rich, but for you he became poor. Christ did this so that by being poor you might become rich."
2 Corinthians 8:9

Last set of PT conferences and other updates ;)

2011-11-16T02:16:00.002-05:00

Hello Oh Patient Preschool Families!

Hello everyone! I apologize for my delay on getting the blog updated. My dear sweet husband has been out of town since Saturday on business and so it was just me maning the Burd's nest! Needless to say, I was running my six sweeties to and fro places this weekend like the Pony Express! Simply not enough hours in a day. My sincere sorry to everyone. My dear husband came back tonight so life returns to somewhat crazy intead of perpetually manic ;)

Parent-Teacher Conferences- WEDNESDAY!
Our last set of conferences are on Wednesday November 16th from 3:30- 7. If you are unsure what your time is, please let me know and I can let you know.
A great question arose today from a parent and I thought I would address it. "Can you post your conference schedule so we can just check our time?"
Great idea however confidentiality issues do not allow to to do this. So as the Bible says..." Ask and you shall recieve." ! Let me know your inquiry individually and I can let you know your time ;)
I wanted to thank the families from last week's conferences. Thank you for your patience if I happened to be behind on a few conferences. I do respect your time that you have given to come to conferences so I will try to do better next time around. They were great and positive conferences.

Thanksgiving Invitations
By now your precious little one should have given you your handmade Thanksgiving invitation. Please know that these are not huge productions. We simply feel so thankful for all of you, that Mrs. Bloom and I thought it would be nice to have a little get together before we all leave on our Thanksgiving Break. The kids do have a couple of things planned for you I think you will enjoy. Any questions or concerns, please let me know.

Book Orders going home this week:
First, Mrs. Hammond our school librarian, wanted me to thank you if ordered from the school book fair last week! Our school did wonderfully and the school library will benefit immensly.
Second, we will be sending our December book order forms home this week. I put the due date for this round is set for early December so they will be here in time to get to you before Christmas break. If you are intending for them to be a gift, let me know and I will not put them in their backpack but give them to you "on the sly" instead ;)
If you would like to order online, please refer to the "JG..." number on the flyer. This will enable you to get online (www.scholastic.com) and order.
Lastly, please do not feel obligated to order every month these flyers are sent home. We completely understand that times are tight with the holidays upon us. We do appreciate the times you can as it enables for our preschool library to expand.

PASTA order forms are in!!!!
The Pasta Fundraiser forms and info arrived! I will explain the ordering and hand out forms at each classes Thanksgiving get-togethers next week. Thank you for your patience with the delay on this ;(

What Are We Doing This Week and Monday before Break......
All classes are learning about:
* the color gray
* the number 10
* the letter ' T '
* What was the First Thanksgiving like? discussions
* Native Americans and Piligrims
* Traditions of Thanksgiving - we are making the traditional Pilgrim and turkey crafts but are talking about Indian culture. We will be making Native American necklaces and or bracelets in most classes.
New items in our STATIONS:
*We have our puppet theater put up this week in the Imagination Station
*In our sensory table, we have rice instead of beans! (did I mention the custodial staff love me! hahaha)
*Playdoh Station!
* "T" for tractor, trains, and trucks Station- I brought all sorts of trucks for all to celebrate "t" words!
* We broke out the turkey manipulatives for the "Working with my teacher" Stations. Counting turkey feathers left and right!
*This week our Science Stations focus on the science of our senses.

CHRISTMAS !
With Christmas just around the corner, we would like to know if there is any family that has a small Christmas tree they would like to get rid of or allow us to borrow. In our Imagination Station, we will be having a "Santa's workshop" theme and as a part of it and allow the children to decorate the tree as they visit this station . They can also make little paper ornaments to decorate the tree. Large trees are discouraged as our room is little.
Decorations:
If any family would like to donate gently used or new Christmas decorations that we can decorate our classroom with we would so appreciate it;) (Lights are not permitted as they violate fire codes.) The children do enjoy decorating the room for the holiday season. Thank you in advance for any help you can provide with this.

Concluding Thoughts....
I would like to say THANK YOU to all the parents for the wonderful healthy snacks you are providing for your child. I sincerely appreciate your respect on our policy regarding snacks! You are all so wonderful ;)
As the blessed time of the Thanksgiving season comes upon us, Mrs. Bloom and I would like to take this time to express how thankful we are to all of you! God has blessed us abundantly by allowing us to teach and be a part of your beautiful and precious childrens' educational lives. May God bless all you!

Yours in Education,
Mrs. Bloom and Mrs. Burd

"God indeed is my Savior; I am confident and unafraid. My strength and my
courage is the Lord, he has been my savior."
Isaiah 12: 2

Q&A session and first session of P-T conferences

2011-11-08T08:04:00.003-05:00

Hello Super Preschool families!

First, I apologize for not updating my blog until Tuesday but I was fighting some type of flu this weekend and did not feel up to doing anything other than sleeping! Today I feel much, much better...so here we go!

PARENT-TEACHER Conferences- Thursday, November 10:

Our first session of Parent-Teacher conferences start this Thursday. If you need a reminder of when and what time your session is, please feel free to email or call and I can look it up on my sign up sheets :)

Just a friendly reminder....
Sending candy/candy bars in your child's healthy snacks is strongly discouraged. If your child craves a sweety, please consider consider something like: graham crackers, lightly sweetened cereal, Teddy grahams, animal crackers, fruit roll-up type snacks. Thanks so much for your understanding on this matter ;)

Some wonderful Q&A ;)...Take a look!

1.) " I recieved a "new physical" request. Why does my child need a new one now?"
GREAT question! According to the Preschool Program Licening Rules, Chapter 3301-37, every student that attends a preschool in the state of Ohio, must have a yearly updated physical in order for our wonderful preschool to stay compliant with the state. As we have been going through our student files, we have noticed some are out of date and need to be updated. The form for this can be found on the blog site under "medical examination" form. Please make sure your physician signs this form and correctly dates it as well and includes an updated innoculation sheet.

2.) " My child talks about different station he/she works at during the school day. What are these stations?"

The literacy work stations are similar to the traditional "centers" concept. Materials in the stations are taught with and used first with the whole class. They they are then placed in the work stations for meaningful independent use. Most stations will also stay up for most of the year. I will rotate some stations out for others for the sole purpose of spacing in my classroom. I simply do not have enough room for all the stations I have or intend to have throughout the year.

Here are the literacy stations we have out at the current time"
1.) Listening Station/Reading Station- Children have the opportunity to either listen to story books on CD (I change out different ones every couple of weeks) or they can look independently at books as well. We have "friends" (beanie babies) at this station and I have modeled to the students how they can "read"to these friends. I strongly encourage the children to read by simply looking at the pictures in the book and read according to what they see. This is the first step to decoding in reading and is very purposeful.

2.) Science Station- This encourages exploration of different species in the world around us. Right now we have magnifying glasses, bugs (dead of course), pine cones, different type rocks with crystals or fossil imprints. I also rotate items at this station every couple of weeks.

3.) Math Station- The use of things like tangrams, number puzzles and other manipulatives at this station helps reinforce concepts that we teach about spacial learning, one to one correspondence, and counting.

4.) Imagination Station- currently on hiatus right now to make room for our sensory learning station (and also so I can clean it as well ;) Playing by imagining is actually learning. This will help with verbal expression and creative thinking. We recently had a "Farmer's Market" in this station with rakes, leaves, pumpkins, fruit, and a stand! It was great to see them work at this. Coming near Christmas....an elves workshop!

5.) Stamping station- This is a station that has been in the works and I have just recently made it an independent station. Last week, our letter of the week was 'H' so we had horse stamps and 'h' stamps out for the student to create pictures and the word 'horse'. Different classes will have different task with this station.

6.) Smartboard Station- This station is currently in the "independent transitioning"stage. I will work on it with the students and then the students will work on it that day. We practice writing or counting with this station. This is probably one of the favorites!

7.) Computer Station- We use the programs of "I spy", Blues Clues Learning, The Learning Company as well as the internet site called "Starfall" that re-inforces phonics, letter identification and early reading. Students are give the choice but I assign which computer they can go on since each computer have different programs that match different levels and needs.

8.) Block Station- Students can work using different building items to create all different things. This "playing" is actually a reinforcement of math skills, creative thinking, cooperative learning and verbal expression. Also a favorite station;)

9. Writing Station- A teacher-guided station, we work on the fine motor skills it takes to write and cut. We don't always write with pencils at this station. We just recently "wrote" with Cherrios with the Penguin class! They of course were able to eat them in between ;) This activity hit on a couple of objectives: fine motor use and practice correctly "writing" certain letters of their name. Many students want to write their names with all uppercase letters. We want the student to form their names with first letter only being uppercase and the rest lower case. We have also written in shaving cream!
Currently, the Pre-K Polar Bears have started writing their poems at this station.

10.) "Working with my Teacher" Station- This station changes daily to reinforce differentstandards that we work on in our curriculum. Sometimes it is an art project or sometimes we may be creating a book!

11.) Sensory station- Right now there are dry beans at this table however this will change as our themes change. Sometimes it maybe water, or packing peanut they can work with. Other times it could be sand!

12.) Comings soon..."Games Galore" Station- Currently the Penguin class has started this station with our new class helper, Miss Angel. All classes will eventually have this station as well.

WHEW! I hope this gives you an idea of what your child does in the course of a day. They do not all hit each station everyday but through the week, they get to them all with the exception of the Writing and Working with my Teacher station. We make sure we work with every child each day.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS:
I look forward to seeing and chatting with everyone in the upcoming conferences! God bless and have a wonderful week.

Yours in education,
Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom

"All praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source of every mercy and the God who comforts us."
2 Corinthians 1:3

NO SCHOOL ON TUESDAY

2011-11-07T17:44:00.003-05:00

Just a reminder...

There will be NO SCHOOL tomorrow, Tuesday, November 8th. St. Francis staff members will be at a professional development meeting all day. Thanks ;)

Mrs. Burd

Science field trip, book fair, & Pasta fundraiser..Oh my!

2011-11-02T20:33:00.003-04:00

Hello Dynamic Families!~

What a week of developments! Here they are:

Field Trip: Science Day at The Works:
DECEMBER 7th for PENGUINS and POLAR BEARS
DECEMBER 8th for SEALS
What a super opportunity we have presented to us! The Works (in downtown Newark) is conducting a "Tykes Tour" that targets certain science concepts to Pre-K's. I have signed our preschool classes up for this great opportunity to delve deeper into the wonderful world of science. This "tour" will target simple machines and how they make life easier. The fee for this trip is $5. This will include the class and time for the students to explore science opportunities at The Works for the rest of their classtime. I will be sending a hardcopy permission slip and more detail home the start of next week.

BOOK FAIR:
Going home this week is a flyer for our school book fair taking place in the library on the main floor of the elementary building (the building across the parking lot from the Early Childhood building) The flyer consist of all the books the fair offers. We will go over as a class one time next week for them to "look" (not buy at that time)If you chose, you and your child can go over to the fair before or after their class to purchase any desired books.

PASTA Fundraiser:
Our preschool does 1 fundraiser a year so that we can purchase bigger items for our preschool playground. Last year, the preschool used the FunPasta Fundraising Program. It did very well and so we will try it again this year. Fun Pasta is from The Pasta Shoppe in Nashville, Tennessee. They offer specialty pastas like collegiate shape pasta, pasta salads mixes, pasta meals and soup mixes. Your child will have a order pamphlet send into his/her folder next week. We made 40% profit with this fundraiser.

A friendly reminder regarding our pick up and drop off policy:
1.) Please ensure that your child(ren) has an adult accompanying them into the building to ensure they get their things put away, they get their hands washed and more importantly, are safely to the classroom. If you have made arrangments with another parent to accompany them into the building, please give us a "heads up" that you have made these arrangements. You can send a note, call or email me. Your child's safety and security is our first concern. Please help us ensure this concern is met. Thanks so very much ;)

2.) We completely understand things happen that may delay pick-up of your child, however, if you know that you will be more than 5 minutes late, please call the classroom at:
345-4049 ext 236. Children get very anxious when his/her classmate are gone and they are still waiting in the classroom. If you call, we can reassure your child that someone is on their way to pick them up. This will help ease any fear or anxiety this wait time can create. Thanks so much helping us with this concern.

Parent-Teacher Conferences:
Just a reminder that Parent-teacher conferences are scheduled for Thursday, November 10 and Wednesday, November 16th. The Nov. 10 slots are all full however there are one or two slots left on the 16th on Nov. If you still need to schedule one, please see Mrs. Burd directly to schedule.

Have a Blessed Week;)
Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom

All Saint Day and the week of Oct 31

2011-10-30T21:05:00.002-04:00

Happy Halloween Fabulous Preschool Families!

Happy All Hallows Eve! Thursday and Friday was great with the costume parties and treats. A HUGE thanks goes out to all the moms and dads that helped out with napkins, plates, drinks, and treats! The costumes were all so wonderful and so was dancing to the "Boogaloo Song"! Thanks to all ;)

ALL SAINTS DAY/ ALL SOULS DAY- November 1 & 2:
As we quickly approach November, we come to one of our Catholic feast days... All Saints Day/All Souls Day. We will touch on what All Saints Day/All Souls Day is all about and do some activities on Tuesday and Wednesday. Your child will have an orange leaf sheet sent home in their folder. Please cut out the leaves and write down any loved ones names that have passed on that you would like for us to pray for and be included on our All Saint/Souls Tree that will be up for the month of November.

St. Francis YEARBOOK
This week, on top of the cubbies, we will place out order forms for school yearbooks. The preschool will be included in this year's annual. If you would like to order one, fill it out with the required amount and return it in to Mrs. Burd or Mrs. Bloom by the end of this week (Nov.4)

PHYSICALS for Penguins and/or Polar Bears:
Within the next couple of weeks, various Penguin and Polar Bear parents may get a request to update your child's medical physical form. This request is solely the result of the Early Learning state requirements and must be done to keep our preschool compliant with the State of Ohio. IF you receive a Physical Request, we respectfully request that a medical physical be scheduled with your family doctor as soon as possible as the due date for all updated physicals must be done by December 16th. Thank so much for helping us keep our records up to date and compliant.

CONFERENCES:
November 10 & 16 are our Parent-Teacher Conferences. Please sign up for a time slot if you have not done so already. If either of these days will not work for your schedule, please see Mrs. Burd for other alternatives.

NEW STATIONS:
Your precious little one may talk about having new stations every once in awhile. Sometimes we switch out stations to either throughly clean toys and/or furniture or give the students new stations to keep things different and touch on different standards that we are working on. This week we have switched out the Imagination Station with the Water Table and added the Stamping Station. The Imagination Station will be back in a couple of weeks.

In School this Week:
Color of the Week: Yellow (In Spanish: amarillo)
Number of the Week: 4
Letter of the Week: H
This week's Theme: Fall Harvest/Fall Animals
"Special Me"this week- AJ Burd (Seals)

Concluding Thoughts:
If any parent took pictures of the students during our Halloween festivities and are willing to share pictures with me, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks so much!
Your children are such beautiful blessings from God. I feel so blessed to be able to work with them! May God continue to bless you and your families this week. Have a great one!

Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom

"And we can be confident that He will listen to us whenever we ask Him for anything in line with His will." 1 John 5: 14

.

Missing ??? in Pre-K Polar Bears

2011-10-25T20:07:00.003-04:00

Hello Super Polar Bear Parents !

We are missing one of the student-made books called "Introducing the 2011-2012 Preschool Class". We would appreciate it if you would look in your child's back pack and or around your home to see if anyone happens to have it. If so, please pack it into your little one's backpack and send it to school with them. Thanks so very much! God bless you all.

Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom

Introducing... and other things;)

2011-10-23T17:37:00.002-04:00

Hello Great Preschool Families!
As I sit here in my wool sweater and fuzzy slippers I am confident autumn is definitely here to stay! Brrrrr! Hope you all are keeping warm;)

INTRODUCING....
Last week I forgot to introduce our newest helper to our preschool family. My apologies.
We are blessed to have another helping hand in our classroom on Monday and Friday mornings....Miss Angel Blake. Angel is a St. Francis parishoner and a graduate of Utica High School. She is the daugther of Jeanne and Don Blake. Angel loves to interact with children and has been doing a great job with helping out during our Penguin morning class as it is our largest class of students with 13 children. Welcome Miss Angel!

HALLOWEEN PARTIES:
Just a reminder that we will have small Halloween parties. Different classes will have different days for their parties. They are the following:

THURSDAY October 27: The SEALS will have their party on this day. The SEALS class can dress up this day and we will have a game, a small treat, and a craft. Remember that costumes should not be so elaborate that the child can not sit and interact during class. We will also parade to the kindergarten classes.

FRIDAY OCTOBER 28: The PENGUINS and POLAR BEARS will have their party this day. The PENGUINS and POLAR BEAR classes can dress up this day and we will have a game, craft and a small treat. Remember that costumes should not be so elaborate that the child can not sit or interact during class. We will also parade to the kindergarten classes.

I will be sending home request Monday and Tuesday to the parents that have signed up to help for the Halloween parties;)

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU....!~
I want to give a HUGE shout out to all the parents that donated disinfecting wipes and Lysol spray! This so appreciated as we are currently battling some yucky respiratory flu. We are so blessed to have such generous parents. Thanks so very, very much!

What will be doing this week...
Our theme this week will be: Fall animals: Owls, Spiders and Bats ; the letter 'O' ; the color black; and the number ' 7 '( for the Penguins and Seals.) We still have our "Farmers Market" in the Imagination Station. Our Math & Science Station still features the "things of Fall" box and the Buckeye and Acorn Measure. For the Polar Bears, I have added a new station this week. It is the "Overhead Station" The child play a 'spell and find' game with their sight/ theme words. I will work with the younger classes using the overhead but it will not be an individual station for them yet.

Quote of the Week:
All classes had gym class this past week. We played "Red Light, Green Light". We did different movements. One of the movements I told the children to "walk like a mummy...and growl like a mummy too." One of the children spoke up and said...
"walk like a mummy and growl like a daddy."
Needless to say, Mrs. Bloom and I had a hard time keeping a straight face! What a hoot!

BOOK ORDERS: If you are interested in ordering a scholastic book order from the October forms, please do so within the week as due dates are upon us soon. I will be sending out to you the holiday order forms soon.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS:
I introduced something called The Peace Rose to the Polar Bears. This is a Montessori concept that helps teach young children to resolve small conflicts peacefully. It helps childrent to tattle less and how to solve problems that arise when we interact with others. Mrs. Bloom and I have been modeling how to use the Peace Rose the last couple of weeks. Last week it seemed to have really kicked in as we have had situations where children having simple conflicts have used it and it worked! What a great thing to see!
I just want to tell you how much growth and wonderful learning I see out of all the children in all classes and it is only October! I am so blessed with such wonderful children and great parents! God bless and have a super week.

Yours in Education,
Mrs. Bloom and Mrs. Burd

" I am convinced of this, so I will continue with you so that you will grow and experience the joy of your faith."
Philippians 1:25

Pajama Day and Cold weather coming.!

2011-10-17T21:16:00.002-04:00

Hello Super-Fantastic Preschool Families!

What a perfect Pajama Party we had! I think the children had a fun time wearing their PJ's to school! They certainly remember that Pajama starts with the letter "P" !

Fall is truly upon us and how beautiful it is! God is so wonderful.
With colder weather means two things that we as teachers need your help with.

The first is that we make sure all children have adequate clothing to go outside in. Coats, hats and, when needed, gloves! Up to the point it gets cold and snowy, we try to make every attempt to have the children go outside even if it is just for a short time.
The second has to do with the yucky "G" word...Germs ;( We are in need of Lysol disinfectant spray(the clean linen scent is very light and condusive to the children's sensitive smellers) and anti-bacterial wipes. We regularly spray all the toys and furniture down but will need to do so more often. Thank you so much in advance for any help you can provide us to try to keep our preschool a healthy environment.

"FEVER" POLICY:
Please remember that if your child is running a fever (of 99 or higher), we respectfully request you keep them home until the fever breaks.

What Are We Doing this Week?: LEAVES, the letter 'L', and the color brown! Finger Painting Leaves, Leaf identification, Leaf Sorting, Leaf Echo Reading, sorting leaves, graphing leaves, using a microscope to see leaves and even our Imagination Station is a Fall Wonderland (Thanks to Mrs. Sutton!) ! We will not "LEAF" you out when it comes to all the great leaf things we learn about!

Have a blessed week. Enjoy the fall beauty this week!

Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom

" I will praise the LORD at all times. I will constantly speak His praises." Psalm 34: 1-2

My apologies SEALS families/ Fall Halloween Party

2011-10-13T21:01:00.004-04:00

Hello Precious Families...;)

APOLOGIES:
I want to extend my sincere apologies to the SEALS. I inadvertantly left on the wrong time on the hard copy I had sent home to the SEALS regarding the time they had pictures done today. I am so very sorry about this mistake. I hope this did not cause to much of an issue for any family. If so, please accept my sincere apologies on this. When I made the hard copy picture flyer, I overlooked the time as I use the Polar Bear's flyer and just cut and pasted. I will be more vigilant on these details next time when pertentant info like this goes out.
Again, so very sorry for this unfortunate oversight on my part;(

Halloween Party day:
SEALS: Thursday October 27th
PENGUINS and POLAR BEARS: Friday October 28th
Costumes are allowed but NOT required. PLEASE make sure the costumes are not so elaborate that it prevents your little ones to not be able to funtion in class. I discourage masks and costumes where your child can not sit or stand without problems. Thanks for your understanding on this. I will touch base with those parents who have volunteered help with Halloween treats and help next week.
One thing I do have planned for all classes is "donut eating on a string". It is a very fun little activity but they should be able to get their little faces a little messy so just keep this in mind; )

A great Q&A came from a question regarding morning Halloween parties. See below:

1.) My child is in one of the morning classes and I do not want to give them sugary treats at 10ish in the morning. Can you suggest something?
Fruit treats are a great idea especially for morning students. I will give you an example of one thing I did: When my oldest was in morning kindergarten, I made small little fruit parfaits (in small paper cups) using a few basic "kid friendly" fruits (grapes, blueberries, strawberries, etc) and layered in with strawberry yogurt.
Keep it basic and relatively healthy. Another couple of ideas are fruit snacks and tiny donut holes. I hope this helps ;)

GYM:
I had to cancel gym for today (Thursday) as the portrait people were using the Multi-purpose room. It was raining today so we could not take advantage of the outside. My plan is to either do gym Friday or next week.

MUSIC:
Our wonderful music teacher, Mrs. Rodenberger, has offered to give each of our preschool classes a music class in her music room! She has SO many wonderful instruments and is so gifted in her instruction of music that I readily said "YES" Next week, the elementary is conducting their Terra Nova test so she will have some vacant class time that she is willing to give to the Preschool students! THANKS Mrs. Rodenberger.

The Pope:
Just wanted to let the PRE-K Polar Bear families know that I have introduced the concept of the Pope into our class this week. Since our letter of the week is 'P' we talked about St. Peter, our first Pope. I also talked to the children about our current pope. We described him as "like the president of the United States only he is president of the Catholic Church." We talked about how he is a leader and tries to lead our church toward glorification of God. I have brought in a picture of him.

Concluding Thoughts:
**We have our Smartboard up and running so we will begin do some activities using this wonderful technology. My intention is too eventually make this an occasional Literacy station that the children can work on independently.

May God continually bless you this week!
Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom

Picture Day and Pajama Day!!!

2011-10-12T15:06:00.002-04:00

Hello Blessed Preschool Families!

Picture DAY is upon us ;) Yeah!!! Remember, Penguins will have their pictures taken at 9:00 am on Thursday. FOR PENGUINS ONLY- Please bring your child directly to the Multipurpose room. SEALS will have pictures done between 9:30-10:00 depending on how fast the photographers get through with the Penguin class. SEALS- please come to the classroom as normal and we (the teachers) will take them over. POLAR BEARS will have pictures done at 12 noon so please have the children to the room as close to this time as possible and the teachers will escort them over to the multi-purpose room as well. If you have any questions please feel to contact me.
PAJAMA DAY on FRIDAY to Celebrate Letter of the Week: " P " !! For Penguins and Polar Bear Classes: (Seals will have a PJ Day at a later date.) This week we have been studying the letter "P". To end the week with a Perfect "P" Promoting, we will have a PJ day on Friday! Your child may wear his/her favorite PJ's. (We will still have class like normal and remember: NO night toys please) Please understand that this is completely optional. If your sweet little one is not comfortable with wearing his/her jammies, they do not have to. Do not make them feel like they have to.

SNACKS: I encourage parents to please only send 1 or 2 items for snack. We have limited snack time and when many snacks are packed (3 or more) the children feel like they need to eat them all. To avoid this, please only send one or two snacks and a drink.
Also, just a reminder again we have severe nut allergies and chocolate allergies in our classroom this year. Thanks ;)

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: " Purple Porcipine Ball! "

I am so blessed to be able to be absolutely amazed by how your precious ones see things. It is AWESOME!! I have a box that holds items for the letter of the week. This week was 'P". One of the items in my "P" box was a purple pom-pom that we use for crafts. When I put it out on the floor to see "what P word is this" one of the children shot their arm up and, when called on, enthusiastically said, "a purple porcipine ball!" LOVE IT!!!! So we no longer refer to them as pom-poms but as a _________(color) porcipine ball!

LOOK & SEE: Take a look at our Farm Scene we have in the hallway. What a great scene the kids have made! The Polar Bears are "horsing around" this week with horses, the Penguins are "having a Baaall" with their sheep and the Seals are "wallowing" in great fun with their pigs! What a great FARM week have had so far!

Concluding Thoughts: Your children are such little miracles from the LORD! Thank you for sharing your little miracles with us ;)
"He is your God, the one who is worthy of your praise, the one who has done mighty miracles that you yourself have seen."
Deuteronomy 10:21

Happy Sunday!

2011-10-09T11:42:00.002-04:00

Hello Stupendous Preschool Families!

With our incentive charts beginning to become full, I would like to reward the children with a small treat once the charts are full. I wanted to make sure you are all okay with me giving the students a small piece of candy when we give them their filled incentive charts. I have bought small pieces of different flavored Tootsie Rolls to give to them. If you would like me NOT to give them to your child, please let me know and I will do something else.
Please know that I will not always give them candy when they have a full chart. I visit Target's dollar stand and Dollar Tree often and am trying to build a "Prize Box" but it is not yet full enough for classes to all have a pick.
Give me a call or email me (mburd@cdeducation.org) ONLY if you OPPOSE to them having a Tootsie Roll. By the way, flavored Tootsie Rolls are gluten free, milk-free, chocolate free and NOT made in a facility that processes peanuts or tree nuts so I think we are good on the allergy concerns ;)

God bless and have a super Sunday!
Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom

Yeah...Picture info and prayers!

2011-10-07T16:27:00.002-04:00

Hello to all !

YEAH!!!!!! We have confirmation on pictures! First: they are going to be individual pictures ;)
Pictures for ALL classes are still going to be on Thursday October 13th. Here are the times for each class:

Penguins- Please meet in the Multi-purpose room NO LATER than 9am. The Multi-purpose room is on the bottom floor of the Lamy Center. Go through the GREEN double doors of the Lamy Center. Go down the stairs and the double wood doors lead into the Multi-purpose Room.
**Please make sure you bring the picture envelope and money the day of the pictures.

Seals- Please bring your child to the classroom as normal on Thursday morning and the office will call us when the photographers are ready for us and Mrs. Bloom and I will escort the children over. Again, please send the picture envelope and money the day of the pictures.

PRE-K Polar Bears- Please bring your child to the classroom like normal but please try to be their by 12 noon! As soon as we have all the students gathered. Mrs. Bloom and I will escort the children over. Please send the picture envelope and money the day of the pictures.

Any questions, please do not hesitate to call the classroom at 1-740-345-4049 ext 236 OR email me at: mburd@cdeducation.org if you may have any questions or concerns!

Q&A of the Day:

1. " Could you please post the prayers on the blog so we can pray these at home?"

Absolutely...here they are! God bless you all.

Opening and Closing Prayer:
" As I start another day, keep me close to you I pray. Be with me both day and night. Help me follow Christ our Light. AMEN"

Snacktime Prayer:
"Thank you for the food we eat, thank you for the world so sweet. Thank you for the birds that sing. Thank you God for everything! AMEN"

Starting in December, we will close Penguin and Polar Bear classes with the Guardian Angel Prayer.
This is how it goes. (This is a great bedtime prayer too.)
" Angel of God, my guardian dear. To whom God's love commits me here. Ever this day, be at my side. To light, to guard, to rule, to guide. AMEN"

Have a super great weekend. May God's peace and grace be with all of you on this beautiful autumn weekend.

Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom

News from School and Q&A ;)

2011-10-06T22:26:00.002-04:00

Happy Fall Marvelous families!

What an absolutely beautiful day today. WOW... God is so good!

A few things for your information:

Pictures:
Yes ;) we are still planning on pictures for the 13th of October. Mrs. Walsh and I are waiting on the picture company to contact us regarding a quote of a price and time slots. As of now, I think we are going to simply do group pictures and not individual. (Ex.: a group picture of the Seals class at one time block, then Penguins class, and then Polar Bears class) I will confirm all this information as soon as I find out. I want to apologize about not having this information as soon as I had hoped to have it.

Another Super Q&A:
"My child would like to bring in a snack for his/her birthday/holiday. Can you recommend something that will not conflict with the allergy issue of the room?"
Here are some ideas. If you happen to have any others, please feel free to email me your suggestions:

* little baggies of fruit (ex: grapes, strawberries, blueberries. Could be individual or mixed?)
* Fruit chews/ Fruit Roll-ups
* Tubes of Go-gurt/ Moo tubes (if you shop at Aldi)
* Danimals
* little baggies of popcorn, pretzels, chips (Sun chips seem to be a favorite)
* popcicles (not real healthy but a yummy treat non the less!) We do have a freezer for storage.

Please stay away from certain fruit cereal bars and granola bars as they still contain traces of peanuts, walnuts, and or almonds oils. Even a trace of the oils on a hand or tranferred to a toy or table top can prove dangerous. Thanks so much for your diligence on this.

Scholastic Book Orders:
Watch your child's folder for upcoming book orders. These will be sent out Friday, Monday and Tuesday. The books you order count toward points to get classroom books for our preschool.

Saint of the Month of October:
St. Vincent de Paul...Pray for US! I stress to the children that we NEVER worship any type of saint or angel but we simply ask for them to talk to God for us since they are closer in Heaven to Him than we are! The big word we talk about is "intercession". We have talked about how St. Vincent de Paul was good to the poor and sick. He saw God in everyone just like we need to do.
The children LOVE to learn about these wonderful Christian people!

Preschool Time Line:
Mrs. Bloom and I have put together a "Preschool Time Line" on the bulletin board above the cubbies. It will stay up all year and will include monthly events with pictures. Check out September that just went up today!

Concluding words...
Since it has only been a 3 day week, we will extend our "Farms" theme into next week as well so as not to rush through it.
* Children are such wonderful truth tellers...I love their frank comments and opinions...what a true gift! Have a fantastic weekend!

"You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies and all who oppose you." Psalm 8:2

SAVE the DATE: Preschool Pictures!!

2011-10-01T07:18:00.005-04:00

Hello Super-Duper Families :)

Save the Date !!! -Thursday, October 13 we have saved for Pre-School Pictures! On Friday morning, our principal, Mrs. Walsh, asked me if the preschool would like the opportunity to have school pictures done. I said YES! as many parent have inquired about this very thing. I am unsure of the times for any of the classes as this is also the elementary re-take day so Mrs. Walsh and I will be working on these details when we get back from our professional days. I will confirm the date and time again on Wednesday/Thursday and will send an "official" hardcopy notice home this upcoming week.
The only class that will have to come on their "off day" is the Penguin class and I touched base with most parents on Friday morning to inquire if you would be willing to come in that day to get pictures done as well. Most Penguin parents said it would not be a problem BUT if it turns out that you can not get away this day, please call me, email me, or talk with me directly and we will try to see what we can work out.

Q&A session:
Again...some absolutely great questions! Read below.

Q#1.) My child got Lucky Ducky. What exactly does Lucky Ducky get to do?
Lucky Ducky is my helper for the day. He/She gets to: * Lead Intentions, Prayer and Prayer Song, *helps with Circle Calendar time, * is the first one to pick what Literacy Station he/she would like to work at, *leads the class to restroom break and outside gross motor time, and when we have our "Brain Breaks" can pick our song for this break. EVERYONE gets Lucky Ducky as it is a rotation system. I have the students' names on a checklist paper to ensure no one gets left out of the rotation that we are on. Once everyone has had a turn, we start over again. We are currently all on our second rotation meaning everyone has had at least one time of being "Lucky Ducky". Of course, the Polar Bears are starting their third soon as they come everyday.

Q#2.) What is a "Brain Break"?
A "Brain Break" is a time we take when the children have been working so hard and we take a break to give our brains a rest from so much thinking and working ;)

Q#3.) I know in the past years, the preschool did fundraising to enhance the outside play area. Will there be another fundraiser this year?
Yes, we will be doing the Pasta Fundraiser again. More info to come soon!

Q#4.) Will the preschool be doing Scholastic Book orders again?
Yes we will be doing orders again. I just recieved the Winter forms this Thursday. They will go out next week some time. Watch your child's folders.

Ending Thoughts:
*With colder weather coming upon us, please make sure you change your child's "extra clothes" that are in his/her backpack to warmer clothes.

* All classes have had their first session of gym class :0 It was a parachute and bean bag activity that also implemented color recognition and some fine motor skills. On days that are rainy or too cold to go outside, we have the multipurpose room reserved in the elementary school. It was an absolutely great time!

"...And anyone who welcomes this little child on my behalf is welcoming me..."
Matthew 18

Just a Reminder ;)

2011-09-29T22:40:00.002-04:00

Hello Wonderful Preschool Parents,
Just a reminder that there is NO SCHOOL on Monday Oct. 3 and Tuesday Oct. 4. The instructors have professional development conferences to attend.
Your children make my day! Thank you for allowing me to be part of their lives.
God bless and have a super weekend!!

Fireman visits today!!

2011-09-28T22:03:00.003-04:00

Hello to all you wonderful parents!
Well, let me just say that our community fireman Lieutenant Rehbeck "rocks"!....at least that is a quote from one or our Pre-K Polar Bears ;) It was a super day today when Fireman Darby Rehbeck visited our Penguins and Polar Bears classes. Lots of great questions and "brave students" as we practiced : Stop, Drop and Roll!, Go Low and Go (crawling under the smoke) as well as what to expect to see when a fireman has on their full fire garb. What a super learning experience about fire safety and what a day in the life of a fireman is like. Thanks Fireman Darby!!!!
Thanks to all the families who have donated Fall Harvest decorations! WOW! You rock! The students have so much fun seeing the turn to the beautiful season of autumn. It's wonderful to bring it into the classroom too.
Thank you so much for sharing your sweet children with us. We are blessed.

Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom

Q&A session

2011-09-27T20:17:00.003-04:00

Hello Wonderful Preschool Parents,
I just wanted to address a couple of great questions that came up today. I thought it would be beneficial to all of us to touch on them just in case someone else has/had these same questions. Here they are:

Q#1. "Is my Polar Bear supposed to be counting to 100?"
No, not at all. The objective for the end of Pre-K Polar Bear year is for your child to count to 30. Some children have the desire or drive to want to try to count higher and that is completely fine. You will find that outside our door, we have little "shout out" counting strips to those children who have volunteered to count to 10, 20, 30 or even 100. We have "share time" most afternoons and some of the children have volunteered to share how far they can count to (whatever they are comfortable with). Some children are a bit more shy/reserved and chose not to share this in front of their peers and this, again, is perfectly fine. I will start doing more formal assessments starting in the first of October assessing how far they can all count as well as other objectives.

Q#2. "I notice my Pre-K Polar Bear child sometimes does the same craft as the younger classes (Penguins/Seals)...why are they doing all the same craft."
First, art/crafts are supposed to do a few things: 1.) should be fun while teaching a course objective ;) 2.) teach some type of fine motor skill and 3.) should teach or relate to a topic we are studying. All Creative Curriculum art is leveled according to the child's ability and level. For example, the Seals (3 yr olds) were not required to cut out any of the pieces of the fire truck however they practiced gluing and logically knowing where the parts of the fire truck went. (teaching up, down, front, back, etc) The older 2 classes had increasingly more difficult objectives they had meet for this craft. Even though the end result showed the same project, the objectives and goals of the lesson were very different. Everything that is planned has a state objective connected to it in same way. All the planned objectives must meet the State of Ohio Pre-K educational requirements.

***Don't Forget....Our Community helper comes to visit on Wednesday!

Thank you for these GREAT inquiries! You are a such a super group of parents. I know I have said it before but I will continue to say it....we are blessed to have you!

Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom

Fall Harvest/Halloween donation request

2011-09-24T15:21:00.002-04:00

Hello Everyone!
I forgot to include this in my last post. The Preschool is looking for Fall type of decorations to be donated. Decorations like window clings, fall leaf garland, wreath type things, cut out decorations would be very much appreciated. If you feel that you would like to contribute, we would be most grateful. Thanks for all you do and God bless!

An "Apple-y" Week!

2011-09-24T06:50:00.002-04:00

What an absolutely delightful week!
It was such a beautiful thing to see the wonderment and delight on the faces of your sweet little ones at the orchard and in class as we made the applesauce. I talked about it all week to my family until my own children said, "Okay Mom, we get it!" :)

Here is a run down of just some of the things we did this week:
* Read oddles of books about apples and Johnny Appleseed...I think the favorite was
The Apple Pie Tree
* Picking apples at the orchard...of course!
* Made apple mosaics. They are all on the bulletin board as you come down the stairs.
* Made YUMMY applesauce (Penguins will get to taste theirs on Monday!)
*Polar Bears made "wormy apples" for their fine motor...they were hilarious!
*Echo read our "Apple" poem
*Played "That's My Apple" with apple letters
*Polar Bears made "Apple" books that went home on Friday
*Played "Hot Apple"...like Hot Potato
* Colored and created LOTS of Apple pictures
* Our Seals and Penguins counted apples and WOW can they count!
Plus we learned our new prayer song (that we sing after our opening and closing prayer) "Jesus Loves Me"
It is our prayer that we were able to make some wonderful memories while learning about how apples grow!

This upcoming week our theme is "Firefighters and Fire Safety". We have our very first Community Helper visiting this week...Mr. Darby Rehbeck from the Newark Fire Dept. He will come with some of his equipment to show the children, talk about what firefighters do, and talk to the children about fire safety. On October the 6th, a fire truck will be visiting the school and our preschoolers will be able to also see it!
* The PreK Polar Bears also participated in our school fire drill on Thursday afternoon and did a fabulous job. Mrs. Walsh, our principal, was very impressed with them. GREAT JOB Pre-K!

***"SHOUT OUT'S" and "THANKS YOU'S"...... Many thanks to ALL you parents & grandparents! (of our SEALS, PENGUINS and POLAR BEARS!)
Thank you for your help, for chaperoning and driving, for donating an apple for our class applesauce, and just for your wonderful support and kindness. We feel so blessed to have you and your children.

** CONCLUDING THOUGHTS:
With colder weather coming, please send the children in warm clothes as we will make EVERY attempt to go outside for recess (even if the grass is a bit wet).

If you have a prayer request for a friend or family, please feel free to send it with your child as we do intentions before prayer and would love to include them in our prayer time.

Working with your children reminds me of this scripture verse: "Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him." Psalm 127: 3

Have a Blessed Week!

Apple Orchard

2011-09-19T21:07:00.003-04:00

Hello All!
The children are SOOO excited about our upcoming apple orchard trip and so are the teachers! Looking at the forcast for Tuesday and Wednesday, I think it is going to be decent. We will only cancel if it is cold (50 degrees or lower) and raining OR raining with thunder and/or lightening. Neither of these looks forcasted. Let's pray to St. Rita! See you at the orchard!

Apple Week!

2011-09-18T17:46:00.002-04:00

Hello Wonderful St. Francis Preschool families!

What a beautiful weekend! Hopefully, our trip to the apple orchard will be just as nice!

We finished up our "Friendship" theme last week. The children are really starting to settle into the routine and I see them getting comfortable with their school friends and teachers. I wanted to mention some questions that parents had last week that also may be helpful to the rest of you.

Q#1. "My child got some kind of Hand Award and I don't know what it is for."
The "Helping Hand" Award is awarded daily to different students for being exceptionally helpful. Usually it is being helpful to without being asked to do so. When they recieve one, please pat them on the back in some way and say "great job" or "I'm proud of you."
I also award "Kind Heart Award". This is given to a child or children that is showing compassion toward others. I feel that children need encouragement for being kind and compassionate and these 2 little awards do just this.
I occasionally give out little slips of paper that say that your child had an exceptionally super
day. Again, these are not always given everyday but given as a "pat on the back" when we have had a extra nice day.

Q#2. "What is Lucky Ducky and how do you determine who gets it?"
Lucky Ducky is simply my helper for the day. They lead prayer, help with Calendar and circle time songs, lead the line for the day, pass out supplies (if able) and get to be first to pick their first literacy station of the day. ALL children will have an opportunity to be Lucky Ducky. I simply go down my roster and check off who gets it and when. I encourage the children to celebrate in someone else's joy such as getting Lucky Ducky for the day so we encourage the children to be happy for eachother. (This concept helps your child with large group communication skills.)

Q#3. "My child said they moved a clip today, what does this mean?"
This week we introduced our class discipline system to the Penguins and Polar Bears. Each child in each class has a little clothes pin with their name on it. When they break one of the class rules (which we have been going over since our first week together) we discreetly have the child finds his or her clip and place it on the stop light we have in the room. Green is the"warning" circle...we call it "Go with a warning" . This is their warning that what they are doing is breaking a class rule.
IF they break another class rule, they move their clip to the yellow "Caution" circle. They have some thinking time in the "Thinking Chair". We quietly sit down with the child and go over their behavior using a "REFOCUSING" sheet. This basically goes over what they did that was wrong, what are they going to try to do the next time and lastly, when they rejoin the class, what is it that they are going to do so they do not get into to a "pickle" again.
Lastly, if the child has problems again following the rules, they move their clip to the red "Stop" circle. This means that they must stop breaking the class rule(s) out of respect to me and their class friends. At this point, the child sits in the Thinking Chair again for a set time (usually according to their age) , we quietly do a refocus sheet together and a note is sent home to you...mom and dad. It is called a "Bummer Note". This is a a little note that lets you know that they made a poor choice and to please speak with them about it.
We always discuss their behavior and how they can improve their behavior with firm love and kindness; never degrading. We want the children to be confident and strong in making wise choices.
Any questions or concerns, please feel free to email or call me.

We start our Apple Theme this week! We will focus on apple based Math, Science, Fine Motor and Language Literacy this week in our stations. This week will be more teacher guided group activties and projects that the last couple of weeks. We will also start in our Religion Books this week. We will continue reading our Bible stories, learning about saints and angels, and start learning about the Holy Trinity. POLAR BEARS and will also start their ABC saints this week as our letter of the week is "A".

** REMEMBER: Graville Apple Orchard Field Trip this week! This is the address for those who have never been: Granville Apple Orchard
2770 Lancaster Rd.
Granville, Ohio
1 mile south of Granville on St. Rt. 37

Here is a reminder of when the groups are attending:

* TUESDAY Sept. 20th- SEALS (arrival at orchard approx. 9:15am) and POLAR BEARS (arrival at orchard approx. 12:45pm)
* WEDNESDAY Sept. 21st- PENGUINS only on this day (arrival at orchard approx. 9:15am)

*If you are meeting us at the orchard, you and your child should be at the Orchard at the arrival time listed above.
* If you are dropping your child off at the preschool for us to transport, your child should be at school at normal time. DO NOT FORGET HIS/HER car seat.
Any questions, please do not hesitate to ask;)

News for You;)

2011-09-12T22:38:00.003-04:00

Hello Wonderful Preschool Parents!

Happy Monday! Just a few things to touch on....

1. I will start calling parents Wednesday to confirm drivers from school for our trip next week. If you haven' t handed in our Driving Intention form, please do so asap.

2. You may start turning in your child's $2.00 for the Apple Orchard. We will check you off "paid" and store all monies in an envelope.

3. We have started something called "Snacktime Science" on Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays. We are watching short science related excerpts from the Discovery site United Streaming. St. Francis has an account and so we are making use of the this great tool in preschool as well. Tuesday we will watch a short 2 minute talk on the Life Cycle of an Apple. On Thursday, it is a excerpt about Johnny Appleseed. These excerpts are no more than 5 minutes and will touch on our themes or science topics we are learning about.

4. Please send food and drinks in a bag of some kind so it is easier for little hands to grab and go for snack time. Thanks!

5. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support for the Wise family as well as the St. Francis School Community. We ask for God's peace to continue to grace this family.

Please Pray

2011-09-11T17:13:00.002-04:00

Dear St. Francis Preschool Families,

Over the weekend, St. Francis Elementary School lost a sweet and precious little guy. Michael Wise, a 1st grader at St. Francis, died on Saturday in an unexpected accident. Our intentions in class this week will be for the Wise Family. We ask that you lift the Wise family up in prayer. We pray that God's peace be with them during this difficult time.

Our Wonderful First Week !

2011-09-10T09:15:00.002-04:00

Whew! I don't know about your sweet little ones, but I was tired after our awesome first week of preschool! What a wonderful job the students did adjusting to the first week of school...only just a few tears:) I want to thank all the parents for the great support for the little ones and for the teachers. We are going to have a stupendous year.

Just a few reminders.....
1. Please make sure your child has something to carry his/her snack in. Please do not feel obligated to purchase a lunch box as a brown paper bag, plastic shopping bag, or a lg. ziploc bag would be fine. Not only will this help with keeping spoons, food and drinks all together, it will also help backpacks stay cleaner when little hands forget to snap snack bags or push down drink tops.

2. Also, don't forget your child will need a folder to transport work as well as important school information to and from school. If this is a hardship, please let us know and we can assist with this.

3. Please check folders as we are sending important papers home regarding the upcoming field trip.

4. Please send back the following ASAP to school: a.) Apple Orchard Permission Form
b.) Driving Intention Form

** If you need another, please let Mrs. Bloom or I know. Thank You!!

5. Ask your lovely child about the books: The Kissing Hand and The Rainbow Fish. These were just a couple of the literature books we worked with this week. The Kissing Hand touched on how we feel the first day of school. The Rainbow Fish is touching story about friendships and most importantly, sharing and being selfless.
Seals loved the our starting song "Wak'in up is Hard to Do"- isn't this the truth!
Penguins learned a song called "I wish I had.." all about those we love.
Polar Bears learned some great songs too! I think they like our starting song called "Hello Neighbor" but they especially loved "Bubblegum"!

6. It is Mrs. Blooms birthday on Sunday 9/11. All Friday classes sang Happy Birthday to her
and she got to pick her favorite song to sing with the Polar Bear class...which of course is "Tooty tooty ta" a silly fun song. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MRS. BLOOM!

Important time change and Apple Orchard Trip

2011-09-07T21:38:00.003-04:00

To Polar Bear PreK families...
Well, no can say we didn't give our new afternoon hours a try but in the end the traffic won:) As a result, our afternoon Polar Bear classes will begin at 12pm and end at 3pm. We are REALLY hoping that the elementary traffic will have thinned out significantly by 3. My hope is that it will be safer for little precious ones and less of a headache for moms and dads! Who is the patron saint of traffic?...St. Christopher?....Pray for us!!!! (hey, it's worth a shot.)

For ALL St. Francis Classes (Seals, Penguins and Polar Bears)- We are, once again, collecting Campbell Soup Labels. Save, Save, Save! There is a large plastic bottle on top of our cubbies. You can either stick the labels in there or hand it too either Mrs. Bloom or Mrs. Burd.
Thanks in advance!

Many, many many thanks to our wonderful parents and guardians who are donating colored printer paper, Germ X, and Play-doh! You are awesome. We played with Play-doh the first day of classes and the students LOVED it! Thank so much for your donations. We are so blessed.

UPCOMING APPLE ORCHARD TRIP- Your sweet little one was sent home a permission slip to attend the upcoming Apple Orchard Field Trip during our "Apples" themed week the week of Sept.19th. (We plan on making yummy applesauce that week with some of the apples we pick! )
I have decided to give you as parents a couple of choices regarding transportation to the Granville Apple Orchard the day of your child's planned trip. Here they are:

Choice #1- You and your child drive separately and can meet the teachers at the Granville Orchard. Parents are MORE than welcomed (but not required) to chaperone this trip with your child. Meeting times and leaving times will be posted on Friday.

Choice #2- Drop off your student to school as normal and a parent volunteer will transport your child to and from the Granville Orchard.

I will be sending a note home Friday for you to let us know which you would like to do. We will need an accurate choice count so I (Mrs. Burd) can set up drivers.
Thanks so much. This is our first field trip but it is my hope to do more.

God's blessing to you and your family!
Mrs. Burd

Lunch question

2011-08-30T13:11:00.004-04:00

Hello Parents!
I had some great questions yesterday from some of our afternoon families. Take sometime to read these as they may be questions you have had. The questions posed were as follows:

1.) " Do you serve lunch for the students since the afternoon starts at 11:45am?" No, we do not serve lunch nor do we have a lunch time for the afternoon class. We do have SNACK and a drink for the afternoon classes around 1pm.

2.) "Do you have gym classes?" Yes we are starting gym classes! They will be twice a month for each class. They will be taught by me. I coached for many years and when I taught, as a classroom teacher, we were responsible for our own gym class activities. I do have experience with teaching Physical Education. For preschool, P.E is ALOT about refining the Gross Motor Skills and encouraging good sportsman-like conduct.

3.) "Can you publish your lesson plans so we know what you are doing?"
I am required by the state and the diocese to hand in weekly lesson plans for preschool to our headmaster, Mrs. Walsh. I use the State Early Childhood Standards to create the Literacy Stations and activities we do in class. I take these standards very seriously however, I will not publish the plans for every parent to see. I do publish a THEME CALENDAR, the DAILY/WEEKLY Schedule, and "SCOOP FROM SCHOOL" and post it outside the room. I feel this is allows you to see what we are doing each week.

4.)" Will you be doing field trips this year?" YES!!!! In fact the first one is coming up in a couple of weeks! We will be going to the Granville Apple Orchard during the week of our Apple Theme. We will be driving out to the Orchard and picking our own apples! Later on that week we will use some of these apples to make our own HOME Made APPLESAUCE! Yummo! An information sheet/permission slip will be sent with your child on the first day of school so be on the look for it.

GREAT Questions! Keep them coming and I will post a "FaQ" sheet for anymore of these great questions. God bless.

Mrs. Burd

2011-08-30T13:11:00.001-04:00

Drop off Reminders & Change to POLAR BEAR pickup

2011-08-29T10:46:00.003-04:00

** Calling all AFTERNNOON POLAR BEAR (PreK) PARENTS.....

After discussing the pick up situation with our principal Mrs. Walsh, it was decided that it would be best for all if we made the AFTERNOON PreK pick-up at 2:50 instead of 2:45. HOPEFULLY, this will give the elementary school traffic some time to clear out and make it easier for you to park and pick up your students. We will continue to monitor this and adjust if necessary.
Please have patience with us as this new school starts. Thank you so much!
POLAR BEAR Pickup- 2:50p.m.

* Please take note of when doors open for DROP OFF:

All Morning SEALS and PENGUINS: Doors will open at 8:05
POLAR BEAR-PreK: Doors will open at 11:40
THANK YOU for your help with this. God bless and have a great week!

Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom

OPEN HOUSE- and THINGS TO COME

2011-08-25T10:55:00.003-04:00

Hello Preschool Families!
It was GREAT to see everyone last Sunday. What wonderful group of moms, dads, guardians, grandmas and grandpas! I am so very excited to get started the wonderful world of learning with your sweet little ones!
With preschool only a couple of weeks away, here are few things to remember:
For SEALS and POLAR BEARs(PRE-K)- School starts on Tuesday Sept. 6th
For PENGUINS- School starts on Wednesday on Sept. 7th.

*POLAR BEAR FAMILIES: Please be patient with us as we work through the afternoon pick-up line. Mrs. Walsh and I are working on this so I will keep you posted on how this will best be handled. STAY TUNED:)

*Please be aware we have students with severe peanut/tree nut allergies and chocolate allergies. As such, we are keeping our room peanut/tree nut free and chocolate free. When you bring in birthday treats and holiday goodies, please keep this in mind.

* On the first day of school, I will be sending home a preschool calendar for the year as well as our " About Me" schedule with all students. Please keep an eye out for these.

* Please remember to send a change of clothes (seasonally appropriate) with your child. They will be kept in their backpacks in case of any accidents.

Thanks again for allowing me to work with your precious little one. It will be a super year. May God bless all of you.

Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom

A new school year is upon us......

2011-07-27T09:21:00.000-04:00

Hello Preschool families!
With July winding down and August just a few days away, school is just around the corner. Here are some important dates to be aware of:
* Sunday, August 21st- Preschool Open House from 11-1 We hope
see you then!
* Tuesday, Sept.6- First Day of School FOR: SEALS and POLAR BEARS
* Wednesday, Sept 7- First Day of School FOR: PENGUINS

ALSO: some time changes for this upcoming school year
Morning Classes (SEALS and PENGUINS) will be 8:15-11:00
PLEASE NOTE: Doors will open at 8:05.
Afternoon Class (POLAR BEARS PRE-K) will be 11:45-2:45
PLEASE NOTE: Doors will open at 11:40

2011-04-29T15:35:00.002-04:00

Here is this week's newsletter:

April 29, 2011

This has been a great week. I hope all Moms received their Mother's Day Invitations for next week. Please be sure to reserve the times to come in and celebrate with your student! Penguins are welcome on Friday, May 6 from 10:45 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. and Polar Bears are welcome on May 6th as well, from 2:30 - 3:00 p.m. We look forward to seeing you!

April 27, 2011

2011-04-27T15:09:00.002-04:00

Attention: Polar Bear Moms!!

Please check your invitations carefully. I had quite a lot of papers for the kids to work on today, and your child may have inadvertently signed a Penguins paper. If so, please send it back tomorrow, and we will fix it!!

FYI the time for your celebration is 2:30 p.m. - 3:oo p.m. on May 6th.

Thanks!

2011-04-21T15:46:00.001-04:00

April 21, 2011
http://static.schoolrack.com/files/101874/317959/Forests1.pdf

2011-04-15T12:33:00.003-04:00

This week's newsletter: April 15, 2011

We had great week of Community Helpers! Thanks to Dr. and Mrs. Garrido, Mrs. McKenna, Mrs. Leedale, Katie Miller (Cy's Grandma) and Sandy Quick for visiting us and teaching us about Doctors, Nurses, Pharmacies and Postal Workers. A big shout out to Mrs. Pangborn and Mrs. Yehle who helped in the classroom this week. I appreciate your time with the kids. If you need to contact me, my school email has been established. It is bbloom@cdeducation.org. The phone number remains the same, 345-4049, ext.236. Thanks!

April 8, 2011

2011-04-08T12:50:00.003-04:00

Here is this week's newsletter: April 8, 2011

We had a very busy week in the preschool. We learned about Community Helpers and had some very special visitors to our room. The Bookmobile arrived, as did Nurse Practitioner Terri Hempleman and Bailey, Mrs. Cotterman's dog. Mrs. Cotterman is the Teacher Aide in the class until the end of the year. She is a wonderful addition to the classroom and the kids love her. She worked in a preschool for 4 years and taught 2-3 year olds. The kids have done very well this week and have transitioned well.

April 8, 2011

2011-04-08T12:19:00.003-04:00

Happy Spring Break

2011-03-25T14:15:00.002-04:00

Thank you all for the kind words and generous gifts this week. I appreciate how thoughtful and understanding everyone was during this transition. It made this difficult week much more enjoyable and easier. I love your children dearly and I will miss each and every one of them.

Remember, there is no school next week because it is Spring Break! :)

This week's newsletter: March 25, 2011

A Few Announcements

2011-03-18T12:07:00.003-04:00

Volunteers Wanted!
During the weeks of April 4th and April 11th we will be learning about community helpers. If you (or a relative or family friend) work in the community, help others and would like to volunteer to come in part of the day during these two weeks to share about your job, please let me know! Since this is more of a presentation and not working directly with the children, everyone is welcome and volunteers do not have to be fingerprinted or have Protecting God's Children.

Summer Birthdays!
I know a lot of students will have birthdays over the summer. We would like everyone to get a chance to celebrate their birthday with their friends. If your child has a summer birthday, please pick a day that you would like to celebrate in the classroom. Treats may be brought in and parents may join us for snack time and bring a book to share with the class. Please let the preschool know a few days before you would like to celebrate so we can mark you on the calendar. Thanks!

Protecting God's Children Seminar
Blessed Sacrament, 394 East Main St., Newark, is hosting a Protecting God's Children Seminar on Saturday, March 26th at 9 am in the school cafeteria. In keeping with VIRTUS polity, no one will be admitted to this session after the first video has started. Go to www.virtus.org to register for session. Please remember that in order to work with or volunteer around children of our parish, school and Diocese, you must attend a session of Protecting God's Children and have a background check on file with the School and/or Parish Office. For more information contact the parish at 345-4290.

Here is this week's newsletter and a copy of the parent letter that was sent home on Friday. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
March 18, 2011 Newsletter
March Parent Letter

Scholastic Book Orders

2011-03-15T15:12:00.002-04:00

Online Ordering Information
Web address: scholastic.com/bookclubs
Class Activation Code: GZQPB
Due Date: Wednesday, March 23rd

Dear Parents,

Books make for great gifts in Easter baskets! If you would like to receive your books on the sly, please let us know and we'll make sure to do a discrete delivery. In order to make our deadline and have all our books arrive on time, your order to Scholastic Book Clubs is due by the date shown above. Use the order form in the flyer your child recently brought home and return it to me with your payment right away!

Or, make it easy and send me your order online!Go to www.scholastic.com/bookclubs and log in using your user name and password.If it’s your first time ordering online, use the Class Activation Code shown above to get started

SIGN UP at www.scholastic.com/bookclubs. On the parent page, click the “Register” button in the “First Time Here?” section. Register for your own user name and password. When prompted, enter the one-time Class Activation Code shown above. This code ensures that your order is sent to me.

SELECT the books you’d like to order—choose from thousands of titles—many more than in our monthly flyers.

SEND your order to me online by the due date and your child’s books will be delivered directly to my classroom. Ordering online is fast and easy!

Best of all, we earn a FREE book for the classroom library every time a parent places an order online.

Thank you!

Rainbows

2011-03-11T12:21:00.002-05:00

Thank you everyone for your generous donations this week. We have a healthy supply of tissues and disinfecting wipes. We appreciate you! :)

On Friday we sent home a Preschool Parent Evaluation Survey. Please fill it out and place in the folder hanging up outside of the classroom. We value your input.

Here's this week's newsletter! March 11, 2011

Welcome March!

2011-03-04T12:16:00.002-05:00

Next week's theme is rainbows. We are asking that everyone wear a color of the rainbow for daily sorting and graphing activities!

Donations Needed: In our efforts of trying to minimize germs spreading, we are running low on tissues and disinfecting wipes. If you would like to donate any, it would be greatly appreciated!

Now that Spring is around the corner hopefully the weather will start being nicer. We will be trying to get outside for a little bit each day. Please make sure to send your child with appropriate cold weather clothing.

Finally, here's this week's newsletter! March 4, 2011

2011-02-28T08:10:00.002-05:00

St. Francis de Sales AM Preschool is canceled today, Monday, February 28th. Even though Newark City Schools are closed, St. Francis is still on a 2-hr delay. There WILL be afternoon PreK.

2011-02-25T14:35:00.001-05:00

This week's newsletter: Friday, February 25, 2011

We had a great week! Everyone worked really hard. PreK parents - remember to work on those phone numbers and addresses. Enjoy the weekend!

No AM Conferences

2011-02-22T05:34:00.001-05:00

There will be no morning conferences due to the 2 hour delay.

2011-02-17T12:12:00.003-05:00

This week's newsletter: February 17, 2011

Remember, there is no school tomorrow on Friday the 18th or on Monday the 21st.

Conferences are on Tuesday and Wednesday. I look forward to meeting with those of you who scheduled a conference. If you would still like to sign up, please let me know.

Enjoy the long weekend!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-11T15:08:00.002-05:00

This week's newsletter: February 11, 2011

Don't Forget!!

Penguins' Party - Monday at 10:00-11:00. Doors open for EVERYONE at 11:00 am for a special song. Students need to bring in valentines to exchange with their classmates. There are 14 Penguins. Thank you to everyone who volunteered to send in items. Reminders were sent home on Friday. :)
Polar Bears' Party - Monday at 1:45-2:45. Doors open for EVERYONE at 2:45 pm for a special song. Students need to bring in valentines to exchange with their classmates. There are 15 Polar Bears. Thank you to everyone who volunteered to send in items. Reminders were sent home on Friday. :)

Fundraiser update: We've recently purchased new headphones for our classroom computers with part of our fundraiser money! They work much better than the old ones and are easier for the students to use. More updates coming soon! :)

Scholastic Book Orders

2011-02-08T12:52:00.002-05:00

Online Ordering Information
Web address: scholastic.com/bookclubs
Class Activation Code: GZQPB
Due Date: February 16, 2011

Dear Parents,

Now it’s easier than ever to find the perfect books for your child—shop our NEW online Book Clubs Web site. Choose from a much-wider selection of books than in the printed flyer. Plus, you can send your orders directly to me online and use your credit card to pay.Best of all, we earn a FREE book for the classroom library every time a parent places an order online.It’s so simple!

Here’s how it works:

SIGN UP at www.scholastic.com/bookclubs. On the parent page, click the “Register” button in the “First Time Here?” section. Register for your own user name and password. When prompted, enter the one-time Class Activation Code shown above. This unique code ensures that your order is sent to me.

SELECT the books you’d like to order—choose from thousands of titles—many more than in our monthly flyers.

SEND your order to me online by the due date and your child’s books will be delivered directly to my classroom. Ordering online is fast, easy, and secure.Of course, you can still order using the form from the printed flyer. But why not see for yourself how convenient it is to order online?

2011-02-04T20:17:00.002-05:00

This week's newsletter: February 4, 2011

Thank you to those who signed up to help out with our Valentine's Day celebrations. We appreciate it! If you did not get a chance to sign up, it'll remain posted through the earlier part of the week.

We will be exchanging valentines in the classroom on February 14th! Students do not need to fill in their classmates' names if it is easier on you. We will be making bags for our valentine collections during our parties on the 14th. If you need another copy of the class roster please let me know!

Another Ice Day

2011-02-02T05:30:00.001-05:00

St. Francis de Sales Preschool is closed today, Wednesday, February 2nd.

Ice Day!

2011-02-01T05:34:00.002-05:00

St. Francis de Sales Preschool is closed today, Tuesday, February 1st.

Tomorrow the sign-up sheet will be posted for our Valentine's Day Celebration. Both classes are having their parties on Monday, February 14th. We are asking for 2 parents to volunteer to help out in the classroom and a few others to donate items (snack, drink, plates, etc.). If you have already volunteered in the classroom at another party, please wait and allow others to have a chance to sign up first. Thanks! Also, like all other parties, we will be opening the doors 15 minutes early for a little song for our families and friends. :)

Penguins' Party - 2/14/11 10:00 am-11:00 am. Doors open for everyone at 11.
Polar Bears' Party - 2/14/11 1:45 pm-2:45 pm. Doors open for everyone at 2:45.

A few notes and the newsletter

2011-01-28T14:52:00.002-05:00

A few things:

On Wednesday, February 2nd I will be sending home conference sign-up for parent-teacher conferences on February 22nd and 23rd. If you have already met with me in November and neither of us sees a need for another conference, it is not required for us to meet. However, I will gladly meet with everyone who is interested in a conference.

The supply fee for the second half of the year will be mailed out early next week. Please be on the look out!

PreK parents - please make sure to read the letter sent home on Friday about afternoon pick-up. Share this information with everyone who picks up your child.

Here's the newsletter! January 28, 2011

Snow Day and Newsletter

2011-01-21T06:45:00.002-05:00

St. Francis de Sales Preschool is now closed today, Friday January 21st. I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend!

Here is this week's newsletter: January 21, 2011

2 Hr Delay

2011-01-20T21:11:00.001-05:00

On Friday, January 21st St. Francis de Sales is on a 2 hr delay. There will be no morning Preschool. The afternoon PreK will remain the same and begin at 12:30.

No School Monday

2011-01-14T12:20:00.002-05:00

Just a reminder, there is NO SCHOOL on Monday because it is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We'll see everyone on Tuesday and Wednesday! :)

If you haven't turned in your enrollment agreement for the 2011-2012 school year and plan on returning, please do so next week to ensure your spot in the preschool!

Also, if you want to order from Scholastic, please return your order form or fill it out online by Wednesday, January 19th.

Enjoy the long weekend!

This week's newsletter: January 14, 2011

Snow Delay

2011-01-12T06:04:00.003-05:00

St. Francis de Sales is on a two hour delay. There will be no morning preschool class today, Wednesday, January 12th. PreK will remain the same and start at 12:30.

Early Release = Snow Day

2011-01-11T11:00:00.002-05:00

St. Francis de Sales School is on an Early Release today, Tuesday January 11th, because of the snow. There will be no PreK class this afternoon.

Scholastic Book Orders

2011-01-10T12:11:00.002-05:00

Online Ordering Information
Web address: scholastic.com/bookclubs
Class Activation Code: GZQPB
Due Date: January 19, 2011

Dear Parents,

Now it’s easier than ever to find the perfect books for your child—shop our NEW online Book Clubs Web site. Choose from a much-wider selection of books than in the printed flyer. Plus, you can send your orders directly to me online and use your credit card to pay.Best of all, we earn a FREE book for the classroom library every time a parent places an order online.It’s so simple!

Here’s how it works:

SIGN UP at www.scholastic.com/bookclubs. On the parent page, click the “Register” button in the “First Time Here?” section. Register for your own user name and password. When prompted, enter the one-time Class Activation Code shown above. This unique code ensures that your order is sent to me.

SELECT the books you’d like to order—choose from thousands of titles—many more than in our monthly flyers.

SEND your order to me online by the due date and your child’s books will be delivered directly to my classroom. Ordering online is fast, easy, and secure.Of course, you can still order using the form from the printed flyer. But why not see for yourself how convenient it is to order online?

Thank you,
Jenny Noward

First Week Back

2011-01-07T11:55:00.002-05:00

We had a fantastic first week back! Just a reminder, the enrollment forms are out for preschool next year. Please return it by the 19th if you plan on returning. If moving on to Kindergarten at St. Francis, you need to call Linda McDonald in the office at 345-4049 ext 215 to register and schedule a screening for your child.

On January 23rd St. Francis is having an Open House after mass 11:30-1:30 pm. If you have any family or friends who have preschool age children please invite them to visit us! Thanks!

Here's this week's newsletter : January 7, 2011

2011-2012 Preschool and Kindergarten Enrollment

2011-01-04T15:44:00.005-05:00

Welcome back! It was wonderful seeing everyone's smiling faces after break! Is it just me, or did the children grow over the past two weeks? It seems like everyone has gained a couple of inches.

Penguin Parents - Tomorrow an enrollment agreement will be sent home for the 2011-2012 preschool year. If you plan on returning to St. Francis Preschool (and we hope you do!) please fill out the form and return to us by Wednesday, January 19th to guarantee a spot for next year. Also included with the agreement is a table comparing PreK and Kindergarten readiness benchmarks. If you are unsure of the what might be the next best step for your child, please consider these factors. I'll be happy to answer any questions or help with concerns. (If moving on to Kindergarten, please see the Polar Bear Parents' note.)

Polar Bear Parents - Kindergarten Registration will soon begin for St. Francis de Sales School. If you plan on sending your child to St. Francis next year please contact Linda McDonald at the school office (345-4049 x.215) at your earliest convenience before spots begin to fill up. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-17T12:11:00.002-05:00

This week's newsletter: December 17, 2010

Merry Christmas! I wish you all a safe and happy holiday break. Thank you for all that you do and your generosity. We appreciate you all! See you in 2011!

Snow Day

2010-12-12T21:02:00.002-05:00

St. Francis de Sales Preschool is closed today, Monday, December 13th.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

2010-12-10T12:36:00.003-05:00

What a crazy week we had with the snow delays. Please make sure to keep an eye on the news and our website next week. I always post delays and closings in the morning as soon I am notified. (Please don't rely in the subscribing email because that does not always go out right away.) It sounds like we might be in for some nasty weather next week.

Don't forget about our Christmas celebrations next Friday. We will open the door 15 minutes early to sing some Christmas cheer!

December 10, 2010 Newsletter

Snow Delay

2010-12-10T06:19:00.000-05:00

St. Francis de Sales is on a 2 hour delay today, Friday, December 10th. There will be no AM Preschool. The PreK will remain the same and start at 12:30.

Snow Delay

2010-12-06T06:00:00.001-05:00

St. Francis de Sales School is on a 2 Hour Delay. This means the morning preschool is canceled. The PreK will remain the same and will start at 12:30.

Advent Time

2010-12-03T12:13:00.003-05:00

Here's this week's newsletter:
December 3, 2010

For our Christmas parties coming up, we will be doing a couple of fun activities and crafts together in the day. Mrs. Bloom and Mrs. Noward will be decorating cookies with the students, but they may still bring in a snack with a drink if they would like. We will not be asking for volunteers to donate items or help out in the classroom, however we will be opening our doors 15 minutes early so we can share some songs and celebrate the season with our families. We look forward to seeing everyone there. :)

Pasta, Christmas, and Book Fair

2010-11-30T12:11:00.003-05:00

The final pasta order has been delivered and will be passed out this week! Thank you again for making sales and supporting St. Francis de Sales Preschool. We sold enough pasta to earn two $10 iTunes gift cards. Congratulations to Mayci Sayre and Cooper Fink! They are our lucky winners!

I hope everyone had a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving. It is hard to believe that Christmas is right around the corner! Looking at the calendar, both classes have Christmas performances scheduled for December 17th. Since we just prepared performances for Thanksgiving, we're going to change it to Christmas Celebrations. Each class will have a Christmas party on December 17th and we'll open our doors a little early to spread some Christmas cheer with a song. If you want to help us celebrate, the sign-up sheets will be up on Monday, December 6th.

Just a reminder, this week we are having an Usborne Book Fair in the preschool hallway! Please stop by and check out the display or look at the order catalog. St. Francis de Sales Preschool will receive up to 50% of the sales in FREE books! You can also browse the full Usborne books catalog and place your book order online at www.ubah.com/BF44042 now through Dec. 3rd.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-19T12:06:00.002-05:00

The Preschoolers and PreKers have been practicing all week long for their big performances next week! Everyone is invited to come. Please don't forget about them!

Penguins' Thanksgiving Performance - on Monday, November 22nd at 10:45 am in the Lamy Center. We will bring over our coats and book bags and students will be dismissed from there. A big thank you to everyone for donating items!
Polar Bears' Thanksgiving Play - on Tuesday, November 23rd. There will be a prayer service in the gym at 1:30 and we will perform our play with the Kindergartners at the end. After the performance we will return to our classroom and be dismissed early, if a ride is present. Don't forget to wear turkey colors - brown, orange, or black!

There will not be a newsletter next week because of the shortened week. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Here's the newsletter: November 19, 2010

Fall is Here!

2010-11-12T12:11:00.002-05:00

Good news! The pasta has been shipped from the warehouse, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we get it before Thanksgiving!

Please don't forget about Parent-Teacher conferences next week. I emailed or sent home notes last Friday and this Monday. If you did not hear from me please let me know!

This week's newsetter: November 12, 2010

Thanksgiving

2010-11-10T15:41:00.002-05:00

Thanksgiving invitations went home today! Please let me know if you have any questions.

The Preschool Penguins will be having a Thanksgiving Performance on Monday, November 22nd in the Lamy Center from 10:45-11:15 am. The students will sing a couple of songs and then there will be refreshments and snacks. If you would like to donate items for this event, the sign up sheet will be posted on Friday. EVERYONE is invited, including parents, grandparents, etc. The students will be dismissed from the Lamy Center.
The PreK Polar Bears will be participating in a Thanksgiving Play with the Kindergartners on Tuesday, November 23rd in the Gym at 1:30 pm. Before our play there will be a prayer service for the whole school. It would be great to see you there! Students will be allowed to leave a little early after the play if their ride is present.

Also, St. Francis de Sales Student Council is hosting a Drive Out Hunger event in the spirit of Thanksgiving. They are collecting non-perishable food items from November 15-December 14. They have a calendar of suggested items to donate each day. The Preschool will also be participating in the food drive. All proceeds will benefit the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry.

Beginning next week, I will post the calendar of items in the hallway and place a box outside our door. Please donate as you are able to do so, without creating a hardship for your family in these difficult economic times. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.

2010-11-05T11:47:00.002-04:00

Thank you to everyone who returned their conference sheets. I am finalizing the schedule and you will be hearing from me shortly with your time slot. If anything comes up and you need to reschedule please let me know as soon as possible. I look forward to meeting with you all soon. :)

Progress reports will be sent home next Friday. Please be on the look out!

A huge THANK YOU and JOB WELL DONE goes out to all of you for selling the pasta! We raised $1,120 for the preschool! We're currently looking into some playground equipment and classroom technology to order for our students. Once the order is finalized, you will be the first to know! Thank you so much for your support. We appreciate you!

Here's this week's newsletter:
November 5, 2010

Scholastic

2010-11-05T11:43:00.002-04:00

Online Ordering Information
Web address: scholastic.com/bookclubs
Class Activation Code: GZQPB
Due Date: November 12, 2010

** This is our last Scholastic book order before Christmas. If you would like your books to be sent home in secret please let us know. We will also be having an USBorne book fair after Thanksgiving in the preschool.

Dear Parents,

Now it’s easier than ever to find the perfect books for your child—shop our NEW online Book Clubs Web site. Choose from a much-wider selection of books than in the printed flyer. Plus, you can send your orders directly to me online and use your credit card to pay.Best of all, we earn a FREE book for the classroom library every time a parent places an order online.It’s so simple!

Here’s how it works:

SIGN UP at www.scholastic.com/bookclubs. On the parent page, click the “Register” button in the “First Time Here?” section. Register for your own user name and password. When prompted, enter the one-time Class Activation Code shown above. This unique code ensures that your order is sent to me.

SELECT the books you’d like to order—choose from thousands of titles—many more than in our monthly flyers.

SEND your order to me online by the due date and your child’s books will be delivered directly to my classroom. Ordering online is fast, easy, and secure.

Of course, you can still order using the form from the printed flyer. But why not see for yourself how convenient it is to order online?

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-29T12:19:00.002-04:00

This week's newsletter: October 29, 2010

We had a spooky fun time this week! Thank you for everyone who helped out at our parties or by bringing something in. We greatly appreciate it!

In everyone's folder on Friday was a conference sign-up sheet. I will be offering parent-teacher conferences on November 17th and 18th. The conferences will be for 10 minutes and available times will be in the mornings and afternoons. I would like to meet with everyone. Please review the paper and return the bottom section with your preferences by next Friday. If you have any questions, please let me know! Thanks!

Friday's Party!

2010-10-27T11:40:00.002-04:00

Please do not forget about our Fall parties on Friday. Thank you to the parent volunteers from each class who signed up to help out in the classroom and those who are donating items. The door will open 15 minutes early before the end of class so that parents/grandparents may come in and celebrate with us (make sure to bring your camera)! Costumes may be worn to class. Please refer to the Fall party information sheet that was posted earlier for more information.

A big GOOD JOB goes out to all the PreK Polar Bears! They all did a wonderful job during the bad weather warning yesterday. We spent a good portion of our afternoon in the hallway and they were well behaved and didn't complain once. We even had to eat our snacks out there! I'm so proud of all of them. :)

Pumpkins!

2010-10-25T21:04:00.002-04:00

The Penguins' and Polar Bears' pumpkins!

Here's the Penguins performing, "Five Little Pumpkins"

2010-10-22T13:18:00.002-04:00

October 22, 2010 Newsletter

Thank you to everyone who turned in your Pasta Fundraiser order forms this week. If you have not returned it yet, please do so on Tuesday or Wednesday. We will be finalizing the order early next week and sending in the payments.

Don't forget about our Fall Party next Friday. Please look at the previous post for more information about the party and costumes.

As the weather changes, our playground gets cooler and cooler. Please remember to send your child with a coat. Our playground does not get any sunshine and we often stay in or go out for a short amount of time because we have students without jackets.

Finally, there is no preschool on Monday! Enjoy the long weekend.

Fundraiser and Fall Party

2010-10-20T15:24:00.002-04:00

Reminders were sent home today about the Friday due date for all pasta orders. Please try to return your packet by then. Thanks!

Here's some more information about the Fall Parties next Friday:

We are very much looking forward to our Fall celebrations at the end of this month. Thank you to those who either volunteered to send in items or volunteered to help in the classroom. We would not be able to do it all without you. If you did not to get to help out this time, please know that there will be many other opportunities throughout the year. If you volunteered to help in any way, a friendly reminder will be sent home next week. :)

On the party day, students are allowed to wear Halloween costumes. However, please have costumes that students are able to get in and out of for the bathroom by themselves. Also, no masks, face paint, fake blood, or weapons. I understand that some costumes come with many accessories, but please simplify so nothing gets broken or lost before the actual holiday.

The dismissal door will open fifteen minutes earlier that day so parents/relatives who are picking up may come in for a short performance. This would be a perfect time to snap some pictures and meet other children in the classroom. We hope to see you there!

2010-10-15T12:26:00.002-04:00

October 15, 2010 Newsletter

Thank you all for signing up to help out at the Fall parties at the end of the month. There are still some openings for helping out with a craft or a game if anyone is interested.

As the weather gets colder, please make sure to send your child to school with a coat or a sweater. Most of our playground is in the shade, so its often cool back there!

Pasta Fundraiser:

Please keep encouraging all of your out-of-town family and friends to order. With each online order placed on our group's web page, 40% of the sale (excluding flat shipping rate of $5.95) will go back to our group and help us achieve our fundraising goal!http://www.funpastafundraising.com/shop/sfdspreschool

Our fundraiser will end on 10/22/2010. So spread the word - and thank you so much for supporting our effort!

Fall Parties

2010-10-12T15:18:00.002-04:00

Both classes will have their Fall Parties on Friday, October 29th. The Penguins' party will be 10:00-11:00 am and the Polar Bears' party will be 1:45-2:45 pm. All parents will be invited to join us for the last 15 minutes of class for a short performance.

The sign up sheets for the Fall Party will be hanging up outside the classroom tomorrow. Since the class sizes are larger this year, we are asking for two parents to sign up to help organize a classroom craft and two other parents to help plan a game. All four of these parents are expected to be able to help out in the classroom at our party. Please use the Parent Rosters to get in contact with the person who signed up with you to plan together.

Remember that all classroom volunteers must be in compliance with the Protecting God’s Children requirements. Volunteers must attend a class for Protecting God’s Children program and be fingerprinted for a background check. Fingerprints and class attendance must be no older than a year old before becoming a St. Francis parent. If you do not have these requirements completed, please do not sign up to help in the classroom at this time.

We also need volunteers to donate items for the party. We are asking for parents to sign up to bring snacks, drinks, napkins and plates. We greatly appreciate everyone who volunteers their time and effort. We could not do it without you! :)

Farm Picturews

2010-10-10T21:03:00.003-04:00

Happy Pajama Day Penguins!

The Penguins Plus group learning about the letter P.

Penguins on the computer.

Ansley making her silly cow eating pizza!

Shamus is practicing writing his name.

The Polar Bears were all smiles in their PJs!

"Take Me Out to the Farm" performed by the Polar Bears.

2010-10-08T11:38:00.002-04:00

Pasta Fundraiser:

Please remind your friends and family who order online to make sure they choose which student they are sponsoring so I know who to give the credit towards. We have received an order from Melissa M, but she didn't specify who she is sponsoring. If she is part of your sale, please let me know.
Keep up the good work. We have $152 in our online sales so far, which is a great start!

Thanks for everything you do! Here is this week's newsletter:
October 8, 2010

Scholastic Book Orders

2010-10-06T12:01:00.001-04:00

Online Ordering Information
Web address: scholastic.com/bookclubs
Class Activation Code: GZQPB

Dear Parents,

Now it’s easier than ever to find the perfect books for your child—shop our NEW online Book Clubs Web site. Choose from a much-wider selection of books than in the printed flyer. Plus, you can send your orders directly to me online and use your credit card to pay.

Best of all, we earn a FREE book for the classroom library every time a parent places an order online.

It’s so simple! Here’s how it works:
SIGN UP at www.scholastic.com/bookclubs. On the parent page, register by clicking click the “Don’t have a user name or password?” link. When prompted, enter the one-time Class Activation Code shown above. This unique code ensures that your order is sent to me.

SELECT the books you’d like to order—choose from thousands of titles—many more than in our monthly flyers.

SEND your order to me online by the due date and your child’s books will be delivered directly to my classroom.
Ordering online is fast, easy, and secure.

Of course, you can still order using the form from the printed flyer. But why not see for yourself how convenient it is to order online?