Open House times

Hello splendid preschool moms and dads!
      I just wanted to reiterate the times of each class's Open House times:

            POLAR BEARS: 11:00am to 12:00pm
           
            PENGUINS: 12:00pm to 1:00pm

            SEALS: 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm

Remember to bring any registration, medical papers and child's picture on the apple.  Any questions regarding Open House, please feel free to call my office at 345-4049 ext 236.  Hope to see you all there:)

                                                           Mrs. Burd

Upcoming Open House- August 19th!

Come one, come all!!!

       To our Preschool Open House from 11am-2pm.  Please stop in to chat and allow your precious little one to meet the preschool teachers and our preschool pets! Please remember any paperwork and of course those apples with your child's picture! We look forward to seeing you all!

Grant Awarded to Our Preschool!!  

    The Round Up  Foundation (through the Energy Co-Op) has awarded St. Francis de Sales Preschool $1000 toward the start of playground renovation!!!!!  YEE-HAW!   This money will go toward a Spring See Saw Bouncer, a bigger sand box with a cover, 3 bouncy jumpers, a few more bikes and perimeter cones for the biking area.  I will continue to write more grants for more play ground equipment.  A HUGE thanks goes to the Energy Co-Op and the Round-Up foundation for this grant! Thanks goes to all those Energy Co-Op patrons that "round up" their energy bill.  Without this, the grant would not have been possible! We have been blessed.

Preschool Bathroom Floor re-done

     A grant from the Catholic Foundation, has allowed us to re-do our preschool bathroom floors.   This much needed maintence has helped the floors look (and smell!) much nicer.  The Catholic Foundation Grant is given to maintence projects for parish buildings.  We have also been able to replace the sink fixtures in both of the bathrooms.  They now have sensor-triggered faucets which is very nice for when the little ones need to wash those hands. Thanks to the Catholic Foundation!

Tuition

Thanks to all the preschool families who have established their tuition intentions.  The parish gives preschool families two options for payment.  They are as follows:
      * Pay tuition in one lump sum by no later than August 1st   OR
      * Establish monthly tuition payments (with the accounting department) via automatic withdrawl.
ALL families must have either option established and agreed upon by July 31st. 
Thank you all very much for understanding and consideration of this policy.


I am so looking forward to seeing you all soon.  I am very excited for all the great things I have planned for the year.  God's blessing to you all. 

                                                                                Mrs. Burd, Mrs. Martin, & Mrs. Bloom
                                                                                            "I am with you always."  
                                                                                                         Matthew 28:20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

August is creeping upon us...dog days of summer ahead!

Hello magnificent preschool moms and dads!

         I don't know about you but it is hard to believe that August will be soon upon us.  It was like yesterday that I was saying goodbye for the summer to all your precious little ones.  WOW! 
 I am hoping that you all have gotten the first round of information mailings.  I will be sending out the second (and a little thicker) mailing on Friday.  You should get it early next week.  There are quite a bit of forms that need to be filled out for all students, new and returning.  You may either mail them back to me before August 19th OR you can just bring the along to the OPEN HOUSE on the 19th of August. 

OPEN HOUSE Information:

                 Please come to our Preschool Open House on Sunday August 19th from 11am-2pm.  I have broken up the Open House times according to class.  Please refer to the first letter for time information. If you are not able to make the assigned time of your child's class, please do not hesitate to come when it is most convienent for your schedule. I broke up the day so our room didn't get so hot and stuffy for you, our most important visitors!  I look forward to seeing you all there!      

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL:)

             Our first days of school start up after Labor Day.  They are as follows:
Tuesday SEPTEMBER 4th:  First Day for SEALS and POLAR BEARS
Wednesday SEPTEMBER 5th: First Day for PENGUINS

Please remember our start times:  Seals and Penguins- doors open at 8:05 am
                                                      Polar Bears- doors open at 11:55am

Slight Change in DISMISSAL:

         Last year, the morning classes had to park and come to the classroom to get their student.  This year dismissal will be a bit different.  This year the preschool teachers will bring your child to you in the dismissal pick up line.
Morning AND afternoon classes will be dismissed in this manner.  You will simply get in a "pick up" line to the right side of Pearls St. (right in front of the preschool doors) and we will escort your child to your car.  PLEASE DO NOT PARK IN THE CIRCLE TURN AROUND! Please stay in your cars to pick up your child.  If you need to talk to me, please park in the sacristy parking lot and walk to our loading area. 
      With Michael's Playground being constructed here soon, a different pattern pick-up pattern MAY occur as restructing happens.  I will inform you of any change of pick-up as soon as I know them. 
      Drop off will still occur in the same manner as it did last year. Dismissal is the only thing that will change this year.

TUITION DUE:

       If you have not made tuition arrangements (monthly or pay in full)  with our accounting office, please do so as soon as possible.
The accounting office's number is: 345-9874 ext 235      Unfortunately, if tuition is not reconciled before August 30th, I will have no other choice than to remove the child from the roster.  Please contact Mrs. McCracken in the accounting office if you have any questions or concerns.

Just a Heads Up:

      I just wanted to give mom's & dad's a "heads up" that the preschool will be closed on SEPT. 24th for a Diocesan-wide Teacher Professional day in which Mrs. Martin and myself will need to attend.  Thank you in advance for your understanding of this issue.


Continue to stay cool and have a wonderful rest of July!

                                                                                             Many blessings,
                                                                                                 Mrs. Burd

                                    "God never sends us a thorn in our lives that de doesn't send a rose to bloom."
                                                                                                                             St. Catherine of Siena
                                                                               
     
  

It's the middle of July...ALREADY??!!

Happy Summer my super-ubertastic preschool families!

          I hope this finds you all well, rested and cool!!!  What a hot one it has been so far! I keep hoping to have a cool day so that I can start back into my classroom but I think I will just have to suck it up and brave the heat;(  After shutting the room down in June and our family vacation in the beginning weeks of July, I am now dusting off my computer to write up some "save the date" days to send out to you all.  I miss my sweet little students so much!  I have some great and exciting changes coming this school year.

Our NEW class Bunny Rabbit "Fluffy":

          Much to our family's sadness, our beloved rabbit Thumper died this summer.  A week later, we found a sweet little lion-head bunny that someone had abandoned in our neighborhood.  He was so skinny and sad but after lots of attention and as much food as he wants, Fluffy is doing wonderful.  He will be our "in house" bunny in our classroom this year. He will stay in the room instead of traveling back and forth like Thumper did.

       

Temporary Staff change coming:

        My wonderful co-teacher, Mrs. Bloom, will be doing her student-teaching the first 15 weeks of school in Mrs. Bowman's third grade classroom here at St. Francis. After her 15 weeks of student-teaching are finished, she will re-join us in our preschool class (right around Christmas holiday) for the remainder of our school year. We send Mrs. Bloom many prayers for a wonderful student-teaching experience and wish her all the best during the beginning 15 weeks of this exciting school year. What an wonderful time for her!

     In the 15 week absence of Mrs. Bloom, Mrs. Diane Martin will join our preschool family as my co-teacher.  Mrs. Martin comes to us with a wealth of educational experience.  She recently finished a year as a co-teacher with Mrs. Susan Walsh, one of our wonderful kindergarten teachers here at St. Francis.  Mrs. Martin is excited to be with us in our preschool.  She will be a great asset to us here at SF Preschool. We welcome Mrs. Martin with open hearts and open arms!

Blog Updates for the upcoming school year:

        I will be updating this blog on a bi-weekly basis for the remainder of the summer.  For the upcoming year, I will be sending lots of reminders to subscribe to the blog.  If you already get email notifications of updates, please disregard and have patience with these reminders. Thanks;)

        May you continue to have a blessed and safe summer holiday.  I look forward to seeing you all very soon.  God bless you all. 

                                                                                           Educationally yours,
                                                                                                Mrs. Burd

And the winners are......(drum roll)

Hello Fabulous Preschool Parents!
        Congratulations to the winners of the class artwork from Granville Studio of Visual Arts. They are.......

Seals:  The Richner Family

Penguins:  The Bailey Family

Polar Bears: The Garrido Family

Thanks to EVERYONE who submitted a bid.  We appreciate your great generosity and support.  You are so wonderful.  Mrs. Bloom and I have been truly BLESSED with you and your precious little ones.  God is so good!
Proceeds from this auction will go toward the purchase of more bikes and other equipment for the gross motor play yard as well more classroom learning items. 
              
                                                                                        Blessing to you all!

                                                                                     Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom

Bid update

Hello Preschool Parents,
       The bids are as follows thus far:

                     Seals: $140.00 (Family #3)
                     Penguins: $43.00 (Family #9)
                     Polar Bears: $125.00 (Family #7)
Bidding will close at 3:00 pm today (Tuesday).  Thanks so much for everyone's support for these wonderful masterpieces!
                                                                           God bless!
                                                                           Mrs. Burd

Last week of school!

Hello WONDERFUL Preschool Parents!

           Well, this is the last week of school (sigh!). I want to thank each and every mom, dad, grandma and grandpa for the fabulous support this year.  I have taught for 14 years and this is, by far, the absolute best school year I have ever had! My first year as director was certainly full of wonderful learning and growing.  I want to thank you all for helping with this learning and growing, but also for being patient with me.  I so look forward to next school year to see all my students again.  I also look forward to see my Polar Bears as kindergarteners!! I will pray that you all have a safe and fun summer.  Again, thank you all so much for a great year.  Your continual support is always greatly appreciated.

OCEAN THEME CONT.'

        We are continuing our Ocean theme this week.  Today (Monday) both classes heard whale and dolphin sounds on our Smartboard.  We also will play "Commotion in the Ocean" tag this week.  The children L-O-V-E-D "Dino Tag" and this game is quite similar but the children have to move like the ocean creature they are assigned.  Fun Stuff!!!  Please take a look out into the hall for your child's ocean creations.

 

BIKE Day:

      On your child's last day, we will be having a FUN day by having "Bike Day".  When you drop your child, please place your child's bike just inside the small gate that is right by our preschool entrance.  The bikes will also be inside the gate at pick up time.  A bike helmet for your child is strongly encouraged. 
      A few parents have asked about bringing in a treat for the last day.  If your child would like to bring in a small and simple treat that is perfectly fine.  If you have any questions regarding "Bike Day", please do not hesitate to ask. 

Parent Survey:

      IF you have not done so already, please fill out your Parent Survey and hand them into the basket out in the hall.  Your constructive input is VERY important to me and I appreciate all the surveys that have been handed in thus far. 

Preschool Art Auction:

      Thank you to all of the parents who have put a bid on your child's GSVA art piece.  As of today (Monday May 21st) our top bidders are as follows:

                         Seals: $140.00 (Family # 3)
                         Penguins- $40.00 (Family #6)
                         Polar Bears-  $125.00 (Family #7)

If your family number is not up and you would like to re-bid, you may put in another bid in your child's class bid bag.  I will be closing the auction Tuesday afternoon, at 3:00pm.  If you want to bid and are not scheduled for class tomorrow, please feel free to call my office and I will write your bid down and submit it for you.  Again, thank you for your generosity!


                                                                                               God's blessings to you all,
                                                                                               Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom   
                                              " But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!"  
                                                                                                           Joshua 24:15