Happy Spring Equinox Wonderful Preschool Families!
I know I am a few hours early in wishing this to you but what the heck! It's not like we actually had a real winter or anything!
Noah's Ark and Rainbow week was GREAT! The kids enjoyed the projects, songs and lessons. I will continue some of the color science lessons this week as well!
Thanks to POLAR BEAR Shamus Sutton in convincing our area "leperchaun" to visit our class Friday afternoon! What a super treat.
GYM On Monday/ Wednesday!
What a beautiful day it was today! Today the POLAR BEARS had gym class. We played "Cattail". It was an integration of music, gross motor skills and some spring literacy concepts all wrapped into a 25 minute gym class! Ask your Polar Bear about this P.E activity! PENGUINS will have their gym class on Wacky Wednesday!
Speaking of Wacky Wednesday...
To kick off the Spring Equinox, PENGUINS AND POLAR BEARS will have WACKY WEDNESDAY this Wednesday! If you haven't read Theo. Lesieg's book "Wacky Wednesday" you should! Theo. Lesieg is Theodore Geisel's (Dr. Seuss!) alter ego. The book is so adorable and crazy! I will read it to the children on Wednesday along with some other "wacky" surprises! I invite the children to be plain wacky that day. Some ideas are: wear your clothes inside out or backwards or both!, different shoes or socks, crazy hats (one of the few days the students are allowed to wear them to school!) crazy hair, whatever suits your child is great! Please make sure your sweet little one is able to be comfortable during class and able to participate in physical activity.
SHOE policy:
Please remember that ALL footwear that your child wears to school must have a heel strap to ensure your child's safety while we run and play. Flip flops/sandals without heel straps are a safety hazard. (see page 6 of the Parent Handbook) Thank you for your cooperation and support with our safety policy;)
BIG THANK YOU to...
A huge shout out goes out to all the families that donated Clorox wipes to the class. We are working hard to keep that nasty Norovirus at bay by disinfecting, disinfecting, disinfecting!! Hopefully, with the more consistant weather and temperature, this virus will not be a problem here at St. Francis. Thanks again...we appreciate it.
Spring project Donations:
If you feel called or inclined to do so, I am in need of about 2 bags of potting soil, various flower and vegetable seed packets and 1 box of Dixie cups. Our Spring/Easter theme will last about 2-3 weeks and I have some "growing" projects I would like to do.
(Note: please do not get potting soil with growing additives as the children will be handling
the dirt) Thanks so much for your consideration.
SPRING BREAK Next Week!!!!!
St. Francis will be on Spring Break next week starting March 26-30. It is my hope your break is restful and the weather is beautiful for you to enjoy the week!
GREAT QUESTIONS:
Some great questions from our wonderful mommies and dads!
"It is a beautiful day today, why did you not go outside today?"
Many times, after bouts of rain, it takes a couple of days for our preschool playground is muddy and needs to dry out. Due to the kind of early childhood education license we have, we are not permitted to use the larger elementary equipment out in front of the gym. The school and parish administration pointed this out after I used it for a couple of weeks! Ooops! So I apologized to the administration and the students for my oversight. We certainly do not want this oversight to put our license in jeopardy. We will make every attempt to get out for gross motor at some point during class.
This next one is not exactly an outright question, however I feel the need to touch upon the subject of hugging others:
All of our students are wonderful and loving children. Some children show their love by hugging each other. I think this is absolutely beautiful however I have been encouraging the children who want to give hugs to ask the recipent if they can give them a hug. This shows respect of other children's personal space. Simply put, not everyone is a "hugger". Although hugging is a great way to show our Christian love to one another, we must remember that not everyone is comfortable with showing it in this way. I always remind the children to ask; "Can I give you a hug?" and respect the answer their friend gives them.
Thanks so much for these great questions. Keep them coming!
On a personal note....
Many of you have asked about my mother. She is doing well considering all that she has had to face recently. This weekend, she let us know that she was not going to do any chemical treatment/therapy for the melanoma. There is no cure for her type of cancer and she knows that any chemical treatment will not allow the quality of life she wants for the remaining time God has put in front of her. Thank you all so much for your prayers. I know it is because of these prayers that helped her have the strength to make this very difficult decision. I humbly ask you to continue these prayers. The power of prayer is such a wonderful thing! My family feels so blessed to have you storming heaven for us.
May the last few days of Lent continue to strengthen your bond with our Lord.
Educationally yours,
Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom
