December Newsletter 2012

From The Director

Dear Parents,

The Thanksgiving feast was fun for all of us. Many Parents helped cook, set up, wash dishes and take down the chairs and tables in the hall. Thanks to all of you who participated. We also had a special Chapel led by a young member of the Parish, Mara. After the feast, she set up a Turkey Bowling Game and a special activity for the Pre-kindergarten children. Thanks Mara for your service to the community.

Lately, some children have been arriving at school and entering into the classroom or the outside playground without a parent. It is a requirement of the state and a policy of the Preschool that parents bring their child in and drop them off with a teacher. There are also other benefits for your child when you drop them off with the teacher. First, the child watches and listens to how the caregiver or parent greets the teacher. Next, they watch the teacher interact with the parent and themselves. They learn social cues on how to greet people from parents and other adults in their lives. It also provides us with a time to check your child’s health when we greet them in the morning. Whenever your child comes into the classroom, every teacher does a health check.  It is also mandated by the state to make sure children are healthy enough to stay in school .So please help us enforce these policies; they serve to make our school safe, healthy and happy.

Our Christmas Program this year will be on December 7 at 7:00 pm and is held next door at Arcadia Christian School. The school is located directly behind our building. Please park in our school’s parking lot and walk next door through the gate to the auditorium. There will be plenty of room, so please feel welcome to bring your family and friends. Please sign up so that I may have enough seating arranged for everyone.  Amy Chang will be our pianist this year. She is the mother of Christopher in the Dolphin Class. Yona, one of the Dolphin parents helped us learn how to sing “Jingle Bells” in Mandarin. Thank you, Yona. We had fun laughing at how we sound to ourselves.

Thank you for your help with the See’s Candy fundraiser.  We raised $1100.00 for the preschool. The candy should be here around December 5. Please let me know if you would like to help us sort the orders when they come in.  It only takes an hour or two to get orders ready for each family.

A safety concern I would like to address  is to please keep your child’s fingernails filed and trimmed. Sometimes the children exhibit aggressive behavior and may use their hands instead of words to express themselves. The staff and I work with them on how to resolve conflicts and express their feelings  appropriately on a daily basis.

Thank you all for making the school such a wonderful place to work and share with others. May you all have a wonderful and blessed Christmas!

Ms. Marie

Calendar of Events

Christmas Program                December 7

Winter Begins                         December 21

Christmas Holiday                  December 24 & 25 (School Closed

New Year’s Eve                       December 31& January 1 (School Closed

From The Assistant Director

It is the holiday season! Everyone here at school is having fun practicing for the Christmas program. The teachers also have many fun holiday arts and crafts planned for the children. We hope to see all of you at the Christmas program on December 7. The event is always a lot of fun. We have had a wonderful 2012 year with your children.

We have been playing many outdoor group activities. One of the children’s favorite games is to play with our parachute. When we play parachute, the children can learn many different things.  They learn position concepts such as up, down, over, and under.  They learn about colors, since the parachute is multi-colored. They learn turn taking, cooperation, listening skills, and how to follow directions.  It is very important for the children to know how to follow directions. Learning how to wash hands, line up, and put their toys away will help them later to follow directions such as opening a book to learn to read and getting a pencil out to learn to write.We try to make learning as fun as possible at our school.  All the staff enjoys teaching your children as much as we hope they enjoy learning.

Everyone have a wonderful Christmas!

Ms. Rita

From The Butterflies

November was a busy month. The class did a lot of sensory projects such as finger painting and making Gak.  We made Jello for our Thanksgiving feast. I poured the powder mix and water into a pan and the children took turns stirring it.  We had a great time. We also enjoyed eating it during the feast.


Another activity the Butterfly class has really enjoyed this month is playing with magnets. They like attaching the magnets to the metal parts of the chairs and to the bookshelf and what ever else they will attach too.  This is a very fun science lesson for them.

The children are working on using their words to express themselves instead of hitting or yelling. I am giving them the words they need to express themselves in an appropriate manner and having them repeat me. It is something that we will be working on all next month too, and probably longer.


On  December 24th and 25th the school will be closed for the Christmas holiday and December 31stwill be closed for New Years Eve. Please keep in mind that it is going to start getting colder this month so please bring a jacket for your child to wear every day.


Tis the season for glitter snow flakes and decorations! Happy Holidays!

Ms. Alison

From The Dragonflies

The Thanksgiving holiday was a big delight in the month of November.  In class, we shared about our families by bringing in a family photo.  Some of the children know their parents’ and sibling’s names.  The family photos are posted next to our calendar in the classroom.  The children love pointing to the photos and saying “Mama” or “Papa” and the other names of family members.  The children are truly showing they are thankful for their families.

We contributed to the Thanksgiving feast by making some mashed potatoes.  The children took turns mashing the potatoes in a bowl.  It was a fun cooking experience!

We learned about different food groups, such as apples are a fruit, and a carrot is a vegetable. We Sang a song called “I like to eat Apples and Bananas.” We talked about how eating fruits and vegetables makes our bodies healthy and strong. We also sang a song called “I am a Pizza” which has a lot of fun movements that go along with it.  We are practicing singing our song for the Christmas program, which will be on December 7.  Every morning we sing the songs as a group.  Ask your child to sing the songs for you.  If you know the melody you can practice with them at home.

In December, we will be working on our fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.  We will practice cutting Playdough and paper with scissors. We will string beads with yarn and make necklaces.  We will also learn about winter and how it is getting colder.  We will make Christmas art projects and a surprise gift for our Mommies and Daddies.

In closing, I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Ms. Frannie

From The Seahorses

The Seahorse class had a lot of fun in November.  They enjoyed the nice autumn weather with extended time outside.  They made cakes and pies in the sandbox.  The climber became a rocket ship as they counted down to blast off.  They were firefighters on the bikes and cars.  The children have great imaginations and they are expanding their critical thinking skills and problem solving skills through representational play.

Inside the classroom, the children worked on turn taking and cooperative skills with board games, building block structures, and playing in the dramatic play area.  The class learned about Thanksgiving through stories like This is the Turkey by Abby Levine and Thanksgiving is Here by Diane Goode. We have been practicing our songs for the Christmas program.  Please practice at home if you know the songs.

This month we will learn about winter and Christmas.  The class will explore the wonders of snow through sensory interaction with Insta-snow and snow globe art that will carry into a wonderful surprise gift for our Mommies and Daddies!

In studying the science of weather, the children will focus on critical thinking and logic skills.  The children will also work on fine motor development through art such as making decorations for our Christmas tree and we will deck our walls with some beautiful Christmas crafts.  We will learn about the birth of Baby Jesus and bring the story to life by acting it out in class.

Parent-teacher conferences are around the corner.  Keep an eye out for the sign-up sheets.  We are looking forward to talking with all of the Seahorse parents about the wonderful discoveries we have made with your children.  We would also like to discuss what your child may need to work on developmentally to prepare them for the pre-k class and Kindergarten.  If you have any questions, please feel free to ask us.

Thank You

Warm Wishes,

Ms. Debbie Ms. Beth Ms.Anjali

From The Dolphins

I hope everyone had a very nice Thanksgiving.  It was great seeing so many of our Dolphin families at the feast.  We hope you enjoyed the pumpkin pies that the class prepared, We really had a lot of fun mixing the ingredients together and pouring the mixture into pie shells.

In November, we learned about voting during the Presidential election.  We read about the election process in our Weekly Readers.  Then we made a prediction of who we thought would win.  The children were very excited the day after the election to tell everyone who had won.  Some of the children even shared whom their parents voted for!

We also learned about the first Thanksgiving and how the pilgrims came to America on a ship called the Mayflower. The pilgrims were very grateful to have a new home and they had a meal and said a prayer of thanks.   I asked all of the children what they were thankful for.  I wrote their answers down and hung the paper up on the classroom wall.

This month our focus will be on the birth of Jesus and the meaning of Christmas.  We will discuss some of our families’ holiday traditions.  We will write a letter to Santa Claus, telling him what we would like for Christmas.  We will make ornaments for our class Christmas tree and other fun holiday crafts.

We are all working on our listening skills.  It will be very important in kindergarten for your child to be able to sit and focus at circle time and listen to the teacher.  We will practice this skill by playing a game called “What’s that Sound?” that requires the children to listen and pay attention to the different sounds and tell what they are.  I will also read stories at circle time and after the story ask the children questions about the story.  This is called reading recollection and is very helpful for later learning how to read.    You can play a fun game with your child to help develop their listening skills.  Say something silly like “Purple peaches make perfect punch.”  If the child repeats the saying after you then it shows they were listening. Play this game often, it takes a while to develop listening skills.Weekly Reader homework and share days will be during the first two weeks of December only.

I  wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Ms. Kim