March Newsletter 2013

From The Director

Dear Parents,

This month we begin re-enrollment for the next trimester. It helps me plan the correct number of openings the school will have during the summer and in September. Please review your bill for March and let me know if you have any questions. Families that will have children in the pre-kindergarten class need to choose between a five half day or five full day schedule and there are a limited number of spaces. The pre-k class next year will most likely be the largest class since we presently have 16 children in the three-year-old class. Ms. Kim and Ms. Debbie will be working with each other in September and Ms. Beth will be in the Seahorse class. That is what we have projected, but we will see what God has planned.

The school will close on Friday, April 29 to observe Good Friday. The church will have a special celebration on Easter Sunday, so if you do not have any plans and wish to attend, families are welcome. Mother Julie will post a letter later in the month to let you know about all the fun activities.

At this time, Cupcake the bunny will be leaving the school. Some of the children have allergies and since we do not want anyone to suffer because of the animal, we have arranged for him to have temporary housing at another location. We will see him again late summer or early September.

Happy Easter!

In God’s Service,

Ms. Marie

From The Assistant Director

Dear Parents,

We are all anticipating the arrival of Good Friday and Easter.  The children are learning about Lent and the teachings of Jesus every Wednesday at Chapel.  Mother Julie tells a Bible Story using art that the children create during the days prior to chapel. We sing songs about God and say a prayer before we are dismissed.  The children are learning that God likes us to be kind to one another and help one another.  We also reinforce the importance of listening to our parents and our teachers as something that makes God happy.

I wish everyone a wonderful month of March and a joyous Easter.

Ms. Rita

From The Dragonflies

Dear  Parents,

In February, the Dragonflies had fun learning about Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day, Friendship, and All around the World. Last month the children were very excited to celebrate two holiday events with their friends at school. We saw Chinese traditional outfits and ate Chinese food on the Chinese New Year celebration day. A parent brought us lucky money in red envelopes and another parent brought us Vietnamese gelatin for our afternoon snack. It was interesting to learn about another culture and try different foods that are new to us. I would like to thank you all for the delicious food and all your help at our Valentine’s Day class party. The children enjoyed passing their valentines to their friends.

I am excited to see the children’s progress in that they are beginning to interact more with their peers. I have heard some children asking their friend, “Can I play with you?” before they engage in play. The children practice how to use kind words, share and do things together such as: doing puzzles, cleaning-up, playing group games, and painting with partners. These activities promote their listening, cooperation and social skills.

In March, we will be learning about animals, St. Patrick’s Day, spring, Easter, and the wonderful life of Jesus. We will listen to a story called “Haatch” and learn about animals that hatch from eggs. During circle time, we will sing “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” and take turns naming a farm animal. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, we will have a class party and learn about Ireland, a country where St. Patrick taught people about Jesus, and what a shamrock looks like. On Monday, April1 we will celebrate Easter with a class party and egg hunt.

This month we will focus on increasing our imaginative pretend play. I will demonstrate how to play roles in the dramatic play area. The act of role play fosters different kinds of development such as: fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, language, cognitive, and social-emotional. For example, children can learn about nurturing and tenderness through a simply pretending to care for a baby doll. This month the theme for our dramatic play area will be “Supermarket.” We will pretend  to buy groceries and pay with play money. We will use our math skills when we count and add the grocery. Happy Easter Everyone!

Ms. Frannie

From The Butterflies

Dear Parents,

Some highlights of February were Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day, and playing with our rabbit Cupcake. Chinese New Year was so much fun.  The children really had a good time. They loved the delicious food that everyone provided and enjoyed holding their lanterns and walking in the parade. After the parade was over, they were still talking about it. Valentine’s Day was very nice and we had a lovely party. Afterwards, we read “Valentine Mice.”

.Cupcake our rabbit has been spending a lot of time in our class.  Sometimes we take him out of his hutch to spend time with him in the library area of the classroom.  Other times we visit him at his hutch in the hallway and feed him lettuce.

For the month of March, we will still be working on sharing and communication. Some children are starting to use their words in appropriate ways when trying to solve a problem with their friends or with me but there is still more work that needs to be done.

I will continue working with children using appropriate language when they are upset or want a toy that another child has. I will be using phrases such as, “May I have a turn?” “May I use that toy?” “Please give it back I am using that”. I am working the children on using a “talking voice” to help them use the correct tone. I am also planning on doing a lot of activities to help strengthen fine muscles. They include play dough, painting, sticker art and puzzles.

We will make a lot of green art to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. I will also post an Easter party sign up.  Our party is on April1 at 9:30am.

Happy Easter!

Ms. Alison

From The Seahorses

Dear Parents,

February was fun filled with wonderful acts of kindness as we learned about friendship. We discussed the importance of using kind words with our friends.

We learned about many different places around the world such as Italy, France and Mexico We learned that pizza comes from Italy and built a pretend Venice canal out of blocks.  We sailed our plastic boats and had a great time.  There are some photos of this project on the wall in our classroom.  We also learned about French food and made a pretend French Bistro in the Dramatic Play Area.  The class really had fun dancing to Tango and Salsa music when we learned about Mexico.

In March, we will be studying about animals.  The class will expand their cognitive development by learning how to categorize animals through their natural habitats and characteristics which is called classification.  We will learn about jungle animals, farm animals, forest animals, and why some animals camouflage their colors to blend in with their environments.

We will use the CD ,Doing the Animal BOP by Jan Ormerod and Starry Safari by Linda Ashman to imitate animal moves using dance and descriptive language. The children will further their development by building animal homes like farms and zoos in our block area. We have added corresponding animal builder manipulative toys to enhance learning. They will bring animals to life in one of their favorite activities, the imaginative role of becoming animals in dramatic play. Overall, it should be some rip-roaring rhino fun!

Our other theme for March is spring. We will discuss the weather, such as rain, sun and wind. This is a good scientific opportunity to learn about how weather affects our lives. There will be discussions about longer days with day light savings time approaching.

A fun science project planned for this month is watching lima beans sprout in plastic bags. On St. Patrick’s Day the children will hear a story about St. Patrick and the country of Ireland through stories and songs, such as St Patrick’s Day by Anne Rockwell and The luckiest St. Patrick’s Day Ever by Teddy Slater. Our class will have a party on Friday March 15 at 9:15 a.m.

Just a reminder: when arriving at school, please walk your child to the classroom or the playground where your child’s teacher is. We need to know they have arrived and greet them warmly. It is a great way to start their day off right! Thank you.

Seahorse Smiles,

Ms. Beth, Ms. Debbie, Ms. Anjali

From The Dolphins

Dear Parents,

We are looking forward to spring.  When the weather is warm, the children and I enjoy playing outside together.  One day we lay on the grass and looked up in the sky at the white puffy clouds.  We talked about the shapes of the clouds and what we imagined them to be.  It was a fun game.

We had a busy month of February.  The month began by celebrating Chinese New Year.  We read some wonderful stories about Chinese New Year.  Our class was in charge of making a dragon float out of a box for the parade. We had a bright and colorful dragon to chase away the “bad luck or spirits”.  It was nice seeing all of the parents who joined us for lunch and the food was so delicious.

A few days later, we had a wonderful Valentine’s Day party in our classroom. We read so many stories about friendship and kindness. The children enjoyed making Valentines for their families. Thank you to all who brought something in for the party.  The children enjoyed passing out the valentine cards to one another. We had a lot of fun.

The next week we learned about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The children learned that George Washington was our first president and his picture is on the one-dollar bill. We discussed how he cut down the cherry tree and told his Dad the truth about it. We played a George Washington listening game. The children made Abraham Lincoln masks, which they put on and I took a group photo of them.  We also played with Lincoln logs to build an Abraham Lincoln log cabin.

They children have been working on their tray tasking activities and their letter of the week. All the children seem to enjoy both of them. I will be discussing the results with you at our next conferenceThis month we will work on letters S, T, U, and V. We will learn about Ireland and St. Patrick’s Day. We have a “wear green week” and a party planned on Friday, March 15 to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day. We will learn about spring, baby animals, and watch the weather change. We will continue with tray tasks, weekly reader and share days. We will dye Easter eggs on March 28 for the children to take home. Our Easter party will be on Monday, April 1.

Another skill we have been working on with your children is how to follow directions. Some of the ways I will continue to work on this skill is to help the children is to watch the children complete following the directions I ask of them. For example, if the children are running down the hall, I will walk all the children back to a specific point and walk with them to model how to walk safely. There are other behaviors that I model with the children to help them learn a variety of skills. The Dolphins are doing great and I am very proud of their growth.

Thank You and Happy Easter Everyone!

Ms. Kim