January Newsletter 2013

From The Director

Dear Parents,

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas. Thanks to everyone for the gifts. I appreciate your generosity and kindness. The children had so much fun learning their new songs, especially the translation of Jingle Bells into Mandarin. All of the staff really appreciated the extra help from Meli and Yona to translate and teach us to sing the song. Thanks to Amy again for doing such a wonderful job of playing the piano at the Christmas program.

There is a new emergency form for 2013 in your parent mailbox. Please fill it out and return it to the office by January 11. Thank you for your cooperation.

I hope that everyone was able to meet with his or her child’s teacher for a conference. If for some reason you did not have the time, please let me know and I am sure we can make something work with your schedule. If you have any feedback to share with me about the conferences, suggestions are welcome.

The preschool is presently at full enrollment and we are always working on ways to improve it, so if parents have any suggestions please let me know. The board and I are working on a number of things, but one idea I thought of for an easy fundraiser is to have a big spaghetti dinner in Parish hall. Most of your children love spaghetti and I do too. It would be nice to have the parents attend on a night that is not to late to have dinner together. We would offer crafts and games for the children. At this time, we are beginning to plan it out. If you have any ideas or would like to help organize or participate in the planning, please let me know!!

Happy New Year! I hope that all of our families had a healthy and safe holiday season. My prayer for the New Year is that God continues to bless the church, the preschool, and all the families in it.

In God’s Service,

Ms. Marie

From The Assistant Director

Dear Parents,

Happy New Year!   I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season.  Thank you to everyone who gave me a Christmas present.  It was very thoughtful and generous of you and I loved every one of them.  The children had a great month in December, learning about Christmas and the birth of Jesus.  We had some wonderful Chapel times with Mother Julie, learning about the star of Bethlehem and seeing her beautiful collection of Nativity Scenes.

We will be learning a lot of new things and participating in a lot of fun activities this new year.  The children are continuously working on their social skills such as listening, following directions, being kind to one another, and keeping their hands to themselves.  The teachers play many fun games and conduct different circle time activities to help teach these skills.

One other very important social skill is teaching children manners.  We ask them to say “May I have some please?” when they ask for something; “No Thank You” if they do not want something; and “Excuse me” if they want to tell us something when we are speaking to someone else.  Try these techniques at home as well, and the children will remember their manners even better!

We will be closed on Monday, January 21st to observe the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Everybody have a great  month!

Ms. Rita

From The Butterflies

Dear Butterfly Parents,

In the month of December, we did a lot of dancing. I brought in my “Disco Ball”, and the children all had fun dancing in the reflections of colorful light. We also danced with scarves and instruments. We made sticker art and rolled Playdough, which strengthens fine motor skills. The children and I practiced rolling the dough to make snakes and balls. Then I showed them how to use all the Playdough tools.

Mother Julie brought us a tent and the children had a great time playing in it. The children brought blankets, pillows, and snuggled with puppets and books inside.

It was so nice to see so many parents show up to the Christmas show. I hope everyone enjoyed it. Thank you very much for all the thoughtful gifts that I received. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and all your wishes came true.

This month I will work with the children how to express themselves in an appropriate way by modeling the correct language.  I will use songs to teach them about pitch and voice control. Since the class is now full, the new children are learning the rules and routines. I hope that by the end of the month they will be experts on how the school works.

Happy New Year 2013!

Ms. Alison

From The Dragonflies

Dear Dragonfly Parents,

Happy New Year! May the New Year bring you prosperity, joy, love, and peace! I hope that all of you had a wonderful holiday season with your families. Thank you so much to all of you for thinking of me and giving me a Christmas gift. I truly appreciate your thoughtfulness and kindness.

December was a busy and exciting month for all of us. The children did a wonderful job singing the Christmas songs at the program. The children had a great time making ornaments for our class Christmas tree and their parents’ gifts. The children had fun playing the passing game and taking turns to touch a bag of ice as they learned about cold winter. They listened to a story called “Froggy Gets Dressed” and learned about the warm clothes people wear in winter. I also showed them the different pictures of winter clothes that they might have. Last month the children had fun stringing beads, and practiced holding the scissors. Some of the children know how to hold the scissors properly. We will continue practicing our on cutting throughout the year.

In January, the children will be learning about winter animals, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and colors. I will read a story about Dr. King and discuss about his teachings such as, using our words, respecting others, and playing nicely. We are working on expressing our feelings verbally with words instead of yelling or hitting. For example, “That makes me mad when you knock down my blocks.” You may want to try acknowledging your child’s emotions when he/she is mad or upset at home as well. We are also working on asking for a turn with a toy. For example, “Can I have a turn please?” instead of grabbing a toy from someone’s hand. We will practice these skills on a daily basis. This month we will also sort colors, make a colorful necklace, play “I Spy” color game, and color Bingo game.

In conclusion, I would like to say thank you for taking your time and coming in for a parent-teacher conference. It was a pleasure to meet with you all and talk about your child’s development. I look forward to another great year with all of the children.

Warm Wishes,

Ms. Frannie

From The Seahorses

Dear Seahorse Parents,

Thank you for the generous Christmas gifts. We appreciate your thoughtfulness. The children had fun preparing for the Christmas program. They continued to sing the songs we learned throughout the month. The children worked on their fine motor skills making Christmas decorations. They made snowmen with instant snow.

As January takes us into a new year, we will continue to work on listening skills through games such as: Listening lotto and “What’s that Sound?”. The children listen and identify different sounds in these circle time games, which increase focus, critical thinking skills, following directions and sensory awareness.

We will also work on cognitive skills: problem solving and emergent literacy through puzzles, manipulative toys, and games that encourage letter and word to image recognition like bingo and spelling with cookie letters. Art projects will include name tracing with various media. The children will draw with stencils and pencils to help build their fine motor skills.

January is also the time to learn about Martin Luther King Jr. and what a difference he made to the world. Through discussions and books, the children will learn about his contributions and talk about how they can help others.

Happy New Year!

Ms. Beth, Ms. Debbie, Ms. Anjali

Dolphin Parents

Dear Dolphin Parents,

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a joyous holiday season. Thank you for all the very nice gifts.

Thank you for attending Parent teacher conferences. Your children are on their way to a successful pre-school ending and the start of a kindergarten experience at the end of the year. In the months ahead, we will continue to work on letter recognition. We will focus on the letter of the week at share time, playing letter bingo, writing letters using tracing boards and listening to stories.

This month our theme is winter. There will be discussions about animals hibernating. We will also spend time to watch the weather and make observations and comments. We will learn about snow and pretend to be polar bears and penguins. Some projects I have planned will include making a picture of a snowman and a snowstorm using marble painting.

Following directions is a skill we really need to work on in our class. The first method I use, is to model what I want them to do. For example, when I want the children to line up and wash their hands, I participate with them. Children learn by watching and listening to what is happening around them. The more “WE” model for them, the faster they will learn how to do it. Another technique is to state clearly what I need them to do, such as: It is time to put the blocks away or please clean up your area and line up. I give a five-minute warning to ease the transition.

A book I plan read to the children which is titled “Stone  Soup” written by Marilyn Sapienza and Hans Wilhelm.  Stone Soup is an old folk story in which hungry strangers persuade local people of a town to give them food. It is usually told as a lesson in cooperation and sharing. Later we will make stone soup in the class. I will ask for donations at the sign-in sheet later in the month.The last thing to do is “Eat Stone Soup”.

Have a great month!

Ms. Kim