New Life in our Pre-K classroom!

Hello Wonderful Preschool Moms and Dads!

       We are proud to announce 2 of our chrysalises hatched a early Friday morning! After discussion in our afternoon class, Shamus Sutton suggested the name of "Flash" & "Dash" since they were the first to hatch.  So introducing....... Flash and Dash....our 2 new Painted Lady butterflies.  Please don't ask me to tell the difference!hahaha! Thanks to Shamus for those great names:)
     
      I usually post blogs at home since the school day is very busy.  After trying to post 3 or 4 times without success, my dear husband found a Trojan virus on our home PC.  (big sigh!)  I finally have had the opportunity tonight to write this post from my school computer.  I am very sorry for the delay on this week's post. 

SEALS visit the Bookmobile on Tuesday!

 The Seals class got the opportunity to visit our city's BookMobile.  I wish I could have captured their little faces when they got on the "big bus" and saw it carried books and not kids!   The mobile librarians talked about what the bookmobile does and where it goes.  The children then each picked out a book for us to have in our classroom for a few weeks.  They even decided to keep the books in our "after snack" book tub for ALL classes to share.  What sweet little people!

SEALS had their Mother's Day Tea on Thursday:

   Today (Thursday) the Seals class hosted their moms for a tea time.  I think everyone enjoyed the tea (or punch) and treats.  The children did a marvelous job serving their moms and singing too! 

***PENGUINS and POLAR BEARS will host their Tea Time with Mom on FRIDAY!
Penguins will have their time from 10:30-11:00  and Polar Bears will have theirs from 2-2:30.

"Last Day of School" Bike Day:

     As we near our last day of school, just a reminder that each child is invited to bring his/her bike to school for a bike day.  Please remember that, due to safety regulations, each child MUST have a helmet while they ride their bike. 
    I will send more information out to you on hardcopy as the day draws a bit closer.

A writing reminder:

     I wanted to remind moms and dads that when your little scholar practices their writing at home, please encourage capitalizing the first letter only and lowercase the rest. For example:  J-a-c-k.   At school, we teach the children that the only uppercase letter in their name is the first.  For consistency sakes, please encourage your child to write in this manner.  Thank you so much for your cooperation.  We appreciate all that you do.

Theme for the Week:

         Your child may be doing the Dino Pokey or maybe even wanting to play Dino-Tag.  Or....maybe they are talking about finding fossils in swamps and tar pits! If so, WONDERFUL!  Our theme is Dinosaurs this week.  Lots of great things coming from your precious children. Some of the classes have created swamps, fossil impressions, even naming their OWN dinosaur species! 

"Special Me" for next week is.....

                  Sebastian Gartside! (Polar Bears)

Concluding Thoughts:

     
     As the week winds down, Mrs. Bloom and I want to wish all mothers and grandmothers a very happy and special Mother's Day.  Motherhood is such a blessed vocation   Thank you to all of the mothers for saying "Yes" to God for accepting this selfless vocation.  We appreciate that you share your little gems with us on a daily basis.  God bless you all and have a super rest of the week and weekend.  Enjoy your families!

                                                       Yours in Education,         
                                                  Mrs. Burd & Mrs. Bloom                                                                 

Usbourne Book Fair this Week!

Hello GRREEAT Preschool Parents!
       Happy, happy May everyone. 
This week is the start of our school Usbourne book fair in our school library.   I have all three of the classes scheduled to visit the fair to either purchase books or create a wish list.  You are also very welcome to visit the fair with your child before or after their scheduled classes Monday-Thursday.  The only class that cannot visit AFTER their scheduled time is the POLAR BEAR class as the fair closes at 3pm Monday-Thursday.  Friday, the fair closes at 12pm.  

The Month of Our Lady:

     May is traditionally the month of Mary.  We reserve our WORSHIP for God alone however we do honor Mary as the Mother of Jesus Christ.  We will have a statue of Mary in our classroom for the month of May.  If your child would like to bring in flowers as a sign of the honor and love we have for Mary, please see the sign up sheet located on top of the cubbies in the hallway.

ART Station:

      I am trying something a little different this month in regards to our art projects.  In trying to give the children more independence in their art, I have easy art projects the children have been doing at our Art Station.  They are given different media to create a project related to our theme (Spring and butterflies).  I explain to the children the objective of the craft and the different things they can use, and then I let them work independently.  So far the children have created their own butterflies & flower garden. This week's project is creating kites.  I think they enjoy this more relaxed art area concept.  They are given some flexible direction and objectives but can create at their own pace.

Religion Station:

       I am so pleased to see the children trying out our new religion station.  Although small right now, most the children have vistied this new station.  We have a Noah's Ark play set, Resurrection Eggs, Glory Story Audio Stories about different saints, books, saints memory game, and some new Old testament Bible floor puzzles!  More items are coming! 

Mother's Day Tea:

     The Mother's Day Tea invitations all have been sent out via school folders.  If you have not gotten yours, please let me know as soon as you can and I will resolve that.  Originally, the tea was slated for earlier in May however, I decided to push it a bit closer to Mother's Day. Please disregard the earlier dates that were on our school calendar that you received at the beginning of school. Your invitation date is the CORRECT one!
      Because we are having the tea in our preschool classroom, which has limited space, I have told the children that they can bring only 1 special mommy person.  If mom can not make it, an aunt, grandma or family friend can stand in her place at the tea. It will be about a half hour or so. I hope this helps in planning and such.  Any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

    Have a super day and a very blessed week;)
                                                                              Mrs. Burd & Mrs. Bloom

Correction of year on Mother's Day Tea Invite

Hello Moms and Dads,

 FOR ALL Classes:  I accidently left "2011" on the invites for our Mother's Day Tea.  So very sorry!  Of course EVERY class should have the year "2012".

FOR THE SEALS Class:  Your date for the tea is:  THURSDAY, May 10, 2012!

PENGUINS Class: Your invites are coming on Friday...and I promise... they will be correct:)

                                                       Thanks so much for your understanding;)
                                                                            Mrs. Burd

Community Helper Day- WEDNESDAY!

Hello Fab Preschool Parents!

       Our fuzzy little caterpillar friends are ready to go through their metamorphasis soon!   Tuesday afternoon, the Pre-K Polar Bears got to see the caterpillars start curling and turning themselves to get ready to make their chrystalis.  It was so amazing to see this!   Everyday, all the children are so excited to see how much the caterpillars are changing.  I love to see the wonderment in their eyes.   What a great miracle this is! And to think we get to watch it regularly with our own eyes.  God is so good!

YOUR children are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

I wanted to share a great learning opportunity I experienced with your children the other day.  I tell parents in all classes that I am amazed at the questions the children come up with.  As you know, we have been learning extensively about the season of spring and all that comes with it...the weather, worms, plants, new life, flowers, and of course butterflies.  Last Thursday, during circle time, the Polar bear students and I were talking about what the farmers do in the spring when one of the students raised their hand and asked, "Where does food come from?"  We starting talking about all different kinds of foods and how they are grown.  Another student raised their hand and asked, " What about bread...where does bread come from."  WOW! So that got us started about wheat and all that goes into bread.  We have also been studying the author Eric Carle.  Mr. Carle wrote a book called "Pancakes, Pancakes". In this book, a boy wants pancakes but learns the extensive process that goes into the ingredients for pancakes.  On Friday, we read the book and made our own pancakes!  What great questions!! Thanks to your little ones for these great teachable moments! I love it!  And thanks to Mrs. Sutton for the pancake mix;)

New prayers!

I hope your children are enjoying some of the new prayers we started learning; one being the Super Hero Snack Prayer.  Ask them to sing it for you if they haven't already done so.  Penguins and Pre-K Polar Bears will learn the Hail Mary during Our Lady's Month of May.

Community Helper Visit on Wednesday

We will be have two retired postwomen coming in to talk with us about the community helpers of Mailman! These ladies are wonderful and I hope the children will take lots of knowledge about this very important person of our community.

Next Weeks Theme:

We break off the "spring" theme" and go onto the theme of butterflies for the last week of April!  Just in time as our caterpillars start the miracle of their change. 
We will haveofficially finished the "Letter of the Week" next week.  For Seals and Penguins, I will continue to review letters emphasizing on letter sounds much more.  For the Polar Bears, I will start blends.  We will work on "sh", "ch", "th" and "ph" over the last few weeks. 

Special Me for next week is......(drum roll please....) ADAM TUCKER! 

Concluding thoughts:

        As the weather continues the "hot, cold, hot, cold..." yoyo temps, I encourage you to continue to throw and sweater or sweatshirt in your child's backpack.  It does seem a bit colder down in the preschool wing since we are in the basement level. Have a great week!

                                                                Blessings,
                                                    Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom
       
      

        

Happy, happy, happy Spring Everyone!

Hello Delightful Preschool Parents!

I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful and sun-shiny weather! Love it! I hope that Easter proved to be a joyful time for everyone. As we journey through the Easter season, we are celebrating NEW LIFE that Christ brings us and that we see during the emergence of spring.

NEW FRIENDS in OUR CLASS!
With the thought of spring and new life, I encourage you to ask your children about the state of our NEW FRIENDS...PAINTED LADY CATERPILLARS! Our fuzzy little friends will turn into Painted Lady Butterflies! Right now, they are in their "eating themselves silly" stage. The children are so excited as they experience the metamorphasis they are undergoing.

SPRINGTIME Walks!
All of the classes are taking our Springtime Walks to see God's wonderful spring creations.
We are emphasizing the proper science terms like "buds" instead of flowers. Your wonderful children are such observant and aware of all the spring changes.

Dress Code Reminder:
I just want to remind moms and dads that we do lots of projects at the art station. Sometimes we use some really messy media. Usually the media is washable but I encourage you to dress your students in clothes that are okay to get a bit messy even though we use art shirts.
We are also going outside much more during our Gross Motor time so please dress them for the weather as well as in articles that are safe to have grass stains and dirt marks.
Also, for the GIRLS in our classes, please have your young little lady wear shorts or leggings under her dresses or skirts. At our circle time, when the girls sit "criss-cross applesauce" wearing shorts ensures proper modesty.

PICK-UP POLICY regarding going home with friends:
When you arrange for your child to go home with a school friend, I MUST have a note stating who is going where. Word of mouth is not sufficient. Because our students are so little, we can not always rely on their interpretation of the plans. If I do not have a note, I will not release your child to the other parent he or she wants to go home with. This is a safety policy and I must insist on the complience of this policy. I appreciate your cooperation and understanding of this issue. I love your children and their safety is of the utmost importance to me.

OUR SPRING THEME:
We are continuing to explore spring bugs, animals, plants, and weather. I am encouraging all classes to really start using their senses while observing God's Springtime World.

God bless all of your families!
Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom
"As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!"

Thursday's High Alert situation

Hello Preschool Parents,
Today (Thursday) our school campus was on a "High Alert" security procedure due to the situation of the individual that escaped from a Heath healthcare facility. If this gentleman is still at large Friday, we will likely be on the same "High Alert" procedure. This means that I will meet you and the children at the door so I know who exactly comes in out of the preschool doors.
We will have inside recess, and pick up procedure will be slightly different. I will discuss pick up procedures with you as you drop your children off.

At this point, school will still be in session on Friday however, please keep an ear on the radio if our school administration decides otherwise.

Thanks to all the afternoon parents that worked with us on our release procedure. All in all, it went pretty well.
Please pray that this gentleman gets the help he needs by those who can help him stay safe to himself and others.

God bless,
Mrs. Burd

Happy and Blessed Easter !

Hello Wonderful Families,
I apologize for not getting updates to you sooner. I have not been feeling well this week and have been trying to rest early in the evening. For some reason, I am suffering from some pretty severe headaches that tend to wipe out my energy. Again, sorry for my delay.

SPRING BREAK

I hope your Spring Break was enjoyable and restful. At the beginning of the week, the children shared some fun things they did during their break. It sounds like a wonderful week had by all families. I was so glad to see all my students back though, I missed them all!

HOLY WEEK:

This week was wonderful week. All classes touch on Holy Week in some form. In the SEALS and PENGUINS, we used lots of story-telling and art to talk about Jesus and Holy Week. In the POLAR BEARS, we used Resurrection Eggs, the Stations of the Cross and Tomb Cookies to discuss all about Holy Week. The Tomb Cookies were not liked by all but was a really wonderful lesson in the making of them!
Easter Bunny even showed up and gave all classes a fun little hunt and some treats!

It is my hope that all our lessons and stories made some impact on your sweet little people in how beautiful Holy Week and the Resurrection is! I do know many of the students were excited to go to Holy Thursday mass and even asked eachother if they were going! I love it!

"SPECIAL ME"
Special Me for the week of April 10: Andrew Svatora (Penguins;)

REMINDER: NO SCHOOL on Monday April 9!
** Just a reminder that there is NO SCHOOL on the Monday after Easter, April 9th. Happy Easter!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!
I wanted to extend my gratitude to all the moms and dads that donated Clorox wipes as well as those who donated the potting soil, flower seeds, and small cups! We will be planting as part of our Spring theme when we come back from Easter holiday. Thanks for all you do!

Upcoming Events from our Preschool Calendar:
May 2 Polar Bear’s Mother’s Day Tea
May 3 Seals Mother’s Day Tea
May 4 Penguins Mother’s Day Tea
May 19 St. Francis Parish Festival
May 25 LAST DAY OF PRESCHOOL

We will be sending out Mother's Day Tea invites within the next couple of weeks. Some moms wanted an idea of how long it would last. My intention is for it to be about an 1 hour - an hour and a half.

Concluding Thoughts:
Mrs. Bloom and I hope that you have a beautiful Holy Week and a joyful Easter. God bless you all.


Blessing to all,
Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Bloom
" Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."
John 20: 29