Concordia Lutheran Preschool

WOW!

2012-01-27T13:06:00.000-08:00

While the paperwhite bulbs planted by the M,W,F group are not quite as tall as the other paperwhites, they have grown quite a bit! 7 more inches to be exact! WOW! We were sure to add a drawing to our journals.

Centers time was full of lots of reading, building roads, painting paperwhite and snowstorm pictures, making cards and a little bit of kitty play!

Worship time reminded us about the parable of the Good Shepherd. We also sang the three new songs and Bible verses we have been learning. Next week will being a few more songs!

Art with Miss Holly was brown clay and making pots. These pots will dry and become part of our art show. After the art show, they will go home to be part of your art collection.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Another Great Day

2012-01-26T13:30:00.000-08:00

It was another great day at preschool. It was fun to discover that our paperwhites had grown another 2 inches! I think they are done growing in height, but we'll see!

We painted with poofy paints, shaving cream and white glue mixed together. When it dries, it feels really neat. We also used clothes pins to sort puff balls, we could not touch the puff balls with our bare hands, we had to use the clothes pins!

We also celebrated a 1/2 Birthday today! If you preschooler has a summer birthday, you are welcome to bring treats for the 1/2 birthday. Don't worry about it being exactly 1/2. We like to celebrate the life of your child anytime! Let me know if you want to schedule a day to do this!

They are Blooming!!!

2012-01-25T14:36:00.000-08:00

Yes, the preschoolers came into the classroom today to blooming paperwhites! What JOY! Each preschooler took a turn smelling the blossoms and we made a tally chart of those who thought they smelled good and of those who thought they smelled bad. The good won! It will be wonderful to watch more blooms emerge over the nest few days.

Today was cooking with Grandma Karen and we made apple muffins. Each preschooler helped measure part of the ingredients and then the put "snow" on top of their very own muffin using powdered sugar and a sifter. They topped it off with a cute snowflake toothpick. Our feast time was delicious.

Chapel time with Pastor Dudley was wonderful as we were able to sing for him and teach him our three new Bible verse songs. He also talked about saying thank you to God for each new day!

With the outside being extra icy we stayed inside with our balancing river stones, tunnels, pop up houses, monster feet, basketball hoop and beanbag toss. We had a great time!

Tall Paperwhites

2012-01-24T12:44:00.000-08:00

Well, the T/Th group's paperwhites have literally grown off the chart! Our chart went up to 20 inches, and today we measure them at 21 inches! Delight all around! We added new drawings to our science journals too.

Woodworking was today and the kids learned how to sand rough edges smooth and how to round corners. We also made paper snowmen, melted big ice chunks with salt and warm colored water, played trains, dinosaurs and creative beading!

Worship time introduced a new song, "We Shall be Changed" 2 Corinthians 3:18. The words are... We shall be change into His likeness, 2 Corinthians 3:18. These songs have made scripture memorization easy and fun for the preschoolers. Fantastic!

We had indoor recess with tunnels, balancing river stones, pop up houses, jumping hoops and a few other things. It was great fun!

Back After the Snow!

2012-01-22T14:55:00.000-08:00

I’m ready to get back to preschool! I hope your kids are too! The crazy storm brought some wonderful opportunities to enjoy creation with your family. I hope you were able to grab some of those memory making moments! This week we will be observing to see how snow and ice melt. We will investigate to see how it might melt faster and slower. We will also be making observations with our Paperwhites. While we missed the week of extreme growth, the children will be amazed to see how they grew while we were off due to the snow.

Worship time will involve working with the stories we have heard and seen so far. The preschoolers get to take the pieces of the stories and retell the story on their own. Hands on work with the Bible story is always a wonderful and amazing process to watch!

As time permits, I will be doing a few assessments with the preschoolers and we will do some more focused handwriting work.

We are also gearing up for our Art Show and Silent Auction Fundraiser to be held on February 24, 6:00pm-7:30pm. Invite your family and friends! We need regular frames and paper frames that you no longer need. We are also collecting items for our Silent Auction! All monies raised from this event go directly to the preschool! In the near future we will have sign-up sheets for specific volunteer help that we will need in order to make this event a HUGE success.

No Preschool - Friday January 20

2012-01-20T05:47:00.000-08:00

Due to weather and road condition, preschool will be cancelled today Friday, January 20. Many prayers for a safe and fun weekend! See you all next week.

No Preschool - Thursday January 19

2012-01-18T16:25:00.000-08:00

Due to weather and road conditions, preschool will be cancelled on Thursday January 19th. Be safe!

No Preschool Today

2012-01-18T06:14:00.001-08:00

Due to weather and road conditions, preschool will be cancelled today (Wednesday January 18). Be safe and enjoy the snow!

Snow!

2012-01-17T12:36:00.000-08:00

Well, we played in the snow! It was fabulous. We came inside, had hot chocolate with our snack. wrote down snow observations and drew the paperwhites in our science journals! They paperwhites have really grown!
It was a fun, snowy day!

Coming Up...

2012-01-16T13:27:00.000-08:00

I’ll be honest. I’m not 100% sure what this week will look like! Yes, I have lesson plans, but if the snow cooperates, I will scratch my plans and go with the opportunities God give us with the snow! So, BRING SNOW CLOTHES FOR YOUR CHILDREN!!! Either way, we will be making snow observations, working with more crystals, looking at attributes of a snowflake and checking out the growth of our paperwhites! I think the kids will be excited at what they see.

As time permits, I will be doing a few assessments with the preschoolers and we will do some more focused handwriting work.

REMINDER... If Pullman School District is either closed for the day or has a late start, preschool will be cancelled. I will post any cancellation on the blog by 7am. If you would like a phone call to notify you about the cancellation, you must put in a request with Mrs. Krantz either in person or by email.

Important Information

BRING SNOW CLOTHES THIS WEEK!!!

Mark February 24 on your calendar for our Art Show and Silent Auction!

Pajama Day!

2012-01-12T13:11:00.000-08:00

Pajama Day was a huge hit! The preschoolers loved wearing their PJ's and slippers at school... the teachers didn't mind either!

We watched sheet crystals form today and measured our paperwhites. They are 4 inches tall now. The kids will be so surprised to see how tall they are next Tuesday! We worked on numbers and counting with the help of a volunteer, little cars, trucks, trains and airplanes. It was a super fun game. We also stirred together our own cream cheese dip for crackers and celery sticks.

Have a great weekend!

Sheet Crystals

2012-01-11T13:05:00.000-08:00

It was another great morning at preschool! We grew sheet crystals at circle. time. They are fast forming and look a lot like frost on a window. We talked about safety when doing science investigations, including always wearing safety glasses to protect our eyes.

Centers time included taking a closer look at the crystals, playing and new ABC Bus game, mixing together our own dip for crackers and celery for our Feast, playing farm and stamping.

Chapel with Pastor Dudley was today. We learned about the lost sheep and sang some fabulous songs.

We headed outside for a few minutes of winter fun. The little spots of crusty snow gave us the opportunity to see some ice crystals!

PAJAMA Day is Thursday and Friday!

SNOW!

2012-01-10T13:16:00.000-08:00

It was with great joy that our meteorologist circled the snowy picture on our weather board this morning! I guess it is winter on the Palouse! We started our Science notebooks today and drew pictures of the paperwhites. In the coming days, some incredible things will happen with our bulbs! We made guesses as to how tall the paperwhites will grow. When they have grown, we will look back to see how close we were in our guesses.

It was woodworking with Ken today! We made wood curls that we are saving for a special project. We also made glittery snowflakes, worked with play dough, read some new books and were busy with the train set.

During worship we heard and saw the Parable of the Mustard Seed. Each preschooler helped add birds and their nests to the tree. We also began learning a song that will help us memorize Psalm 17:8. "Keep me as the apple of your eye." We will be learning more songs that will put scripture in our hearts and minds in the coming weeks and months!

Thursday and Friday are PAJAMA DAYS!!! We can't wait!

Is this January???

2012-01-09T13:05:00.000-08:00

This warm weather is making me wonder if it really is the month of January! Our snowflakes inside seem a bit out of place, but we have to have snow somewhere!

Today we took a close look at our Paperwhites. We added a new drawing to our scientific journals. The pictures in the journal will record the growth we see happen each day. Over the weekend, the bulbs in the soil (the M,W,F class planted the bulbs in the soil) grew 1/2 inch. We can't wait to see what happens on Wednesday! We are charting the growth and will compare it to the growth of the bulbs planted in the rocks and water (planted by the T,Th class).

We got back into "Woodworking with Ken" as we worked with the hand saw. This is a favorite activity of our class! We also made glittery snowflakes and played a lot of board games including Candyland and Snails Pace Race. We saw a lot of fantastic teamwork and cooperation this morning!

Worship time including hearing and seeing the parable of the Mustard Seed. I finally broke out my guitar and we are learning some new songs that will help us memorize some wonderful scripture verses. It is a wonderful way to put the Word of God in our hearts! Today we learned Psalm 17:8. The words are, "Keep me as the apple of Your eye, The apple of Your eye, The apple of Your eye. Keep me as the apple of Your eye. Psalm 17:8.

Of course we went outside to enjoy our springlike weather! FABULOUS!!!

GROWING!

2012-01-08T14:32:00.000-08:00

I am really excited for this week! We have some really amazing things planned. Thursday and Friday are Pajama days, so make sure the preschooler wear their cozy PJ’s! Slippers are welcome too! We will be watching and charting the growth of our Paperwhite bulbs. We will also be growing crystals! If this is something the kids really enjoy, it will continue next week too. First, we will make sheet crystals, they form very quickly! We will also begin making sugar crystals (they’ll be like rock candy when they are done). So many things will be growing in our classroom!

Speaking of growing, our worship time will be about the parable of the mustard seed. We will also be learning a few new songs that focus on scripture memorization.

As time permits, I will be doing a few assessments with the preschoolers and we will do some more focused handwriting work.

If you haven’t let me know your plans for next fall, please do so ASAP.

We are also gearing up for our Art Show and Silent Auction Fundraiser to be held the end of February. We need frames that you no longer need. We are also collecting items for our Silent Auction! All monies raised from this event go directly to the preschool! More information will be coming about this fabulous evening!

Upcoming Events

Jan. 12 PAJAMA DAY

Jan. 13 PAJAMA DAY

Jan. 13 Scholastic Book Order Due

Jan. 16 No Preschool – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day

Important Information

No Preschool Jan. 16 – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Please turn in your Fall intention forms at your earliest convenience!

PAJAMA DAY IS THIS THURSDAY AND FRIDAY!

Our Volunteer calendar is out, sign up if you’d like to volunteer!

Our Gears Were Working!

2012-01-05T13:02:00.000-08:00

SHARE Day was so much fun as the preschoolers talked about the stuff they brought. There were lots of Christmas presents and excitement! It is a pleasure to see how they have grown in their ability to speak in front of their peers, and how they have grown in their ability to listen to their peers and wait for their turn! What wonderful children you all have.

One of our preschoolers brought a very fun, animated marble works. This captured the attention of many of our preschoolers for most of centers time. They loved watching the gears move and the marbles move. We pulled out our gear set, and they got to work making our gears work. They were so proud of what they accomplished!

We have been singing out Numbers 1-30 song. It is a fun way to learn how to count to 30. We also took a look at different ways to measure. We planted our Paperwhite bulbs today and will be measuring them each day, keeping a graph to see how they change and grow. The bulbs are planted in a glass container in rocks, so we will be able to see what happens "underground."

We enjoyed chapel with Pastor Dudley as we followed the star to find Baby Jesus, just like the wisemen did so long ago.

We again enjoyed "spring" weather in January as we played outside!

Next week, on Thursday, is PAJAMA Day! Your preschooler is invited to wear their PJ's and bring their slippers for a fun, comfy day.

Our pantry is getting bare. We do have lots of Goldfish, but we could use crackers, pretzels and non-sugary cereals if you are able to give us a box or two! Thanks!

Christmas Stories

2012-01-04T13:03:00.000-08:00

It was wonderful to hear all of the different Christmas stories the preschoolers has to tell today! Our volunteer wrote down some of their stories and they are posted for everyone to enjoy. It sounds as if everyone had a wonderful Christmas break.

Since it feels more like April outside, we decided to make the classroom look more like January! We were busy with scissors, making snowflakes to hang all over the room. We also painting glittery snowscapes. Puzzle building and playing in sensory table snow were also part of our morning.

Prayer journals were part of our worship time and we LOVED being outside for a good amount of time.

SHARE DAY IS THURSDAY AND FRIDAY THIS WEEK!

Building A Snowman

2012-01-03T12:58:00.000-08:00

We didn't let the lack of snowy weather keep us from building a snowman today! Ask your preschooler just how we got the job done. It took some teamwork!

It seemed as though everyone was ready to get back to preschool! Friends were happy to reconnect and play with one another once again. We cut out snowflakes, painted snow storms, played with dinosaurs, farms, and we even built a few roads.

We used our prayer journals during worship and began singing, "He's Got the Whole World." This will be a new favorite I think!

We spend a good amount of time outside today. It's not too often that we get an almost 50 degree day in January! The kids loved it, and so did the teachers!
SHARE Day is Thursday!

Greeting 2012!

2012-01-01T14:13:00.000-08:00

NO PRESCHOOL MONDAY (JANUARY 2)

Happy New Year! We are ready to greet 2012 with lots of energy and fun learning in our preschool classroom. This first week back will be used to reestablish our routine, hear about all the wonderful things the kids did over Christmas break, work with calendars, focus in on some work with measuring tools and do some work with winter snow… we may not have any outside, but we will do our best to make snow inside!

We will have SHARE Day on Thursday and Friday this week. I know the preschoolers can hardly wait to share some of their new items, so we won’t make them wait too long. Remember, have them choose ONE item and help them practice three things they would like to say about their item!

Our worship time will include prayer journals and revisiting a few of our stories from 2011.

It is already time to think about next fall and preschool! You have received a fall intent form in your mailbox that I ask you to fill out and return at your convenience. Spots for next fall are tight, and returning families and congregation members get first priority on a first come, first served basis. I would ask that you mark both your first and second preferences. Open enrollment begins March 1.

We are also gearing up for our Art Show and Silent Auction Fundraiser to be held the end of February. We need picture frames that you no longer need. More information will be coming about this fabulous evening!

Upcoming Events

Jan. 3                         Back to Preschool

Jan. 5                         Share Day

Jan. 6                         Share Day

Jan. 16          No Preschool – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day

Important Information

No Preschool Jan. 16 – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Please turn in your Fall intention forms at your earliest convenience!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-15T13:26:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful morning as we sorted through our food drive items, created a HUGE graph, and counted 122 items to give to the food bank! It was a fabulous activity and service project. Many thanks for supporting the efforts of your children!

Our Christmas party was so much fun. Thanks to Jenny and Heidi for all your work. Thanks to the parents and grandparents who were able to come and be part of our celebration. We pray you have a wonderful Christmas break full of time with family and good memories being made. See you in 2012!

Little Town of Bethlehem

2011-12-12T13:02:00.000-08:00

Sweden was our country today. They have some very rich traditions for celebrating Christmas, including Saint Lucia. Ask your preschooler about it!

Most of our time during centers was spent on the little town of Bethlehem. We had a stable, the manger, gifts for baby Jesus, animals in the stable and even straw. It was wonderful to see the children play out the Christmas story all on their own!

We had delicious satsuma oranges for snack and counted the segment of our oranges. This was lots of fun!

We did a little river stone balancing, Lilly pad hopping and tunnel crawling to work out wiggles out before music. Miss Marsha told us more about Christmas in Sweden and we even saw Saint Lucia!

Wednesday is the last day of the food drive!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-11T13:57:00.000-08:00

It seems a bit unreal that this is our last week of preschool for the year 2011! It has certainly been a magnificent fall.

This week will be full of all kinds of wonderful activities. We will be learning about Christmas around the world from Addy, turning the food from our food drive into a HUGE 3-D graph, enjoying chapel with Pastor Dudley, and celebrating Christmas together in our classes!

Our T/TH group of preschoolers were sent home a nativity presentation with your preschoolers part highlighted. The party on Thursday will involve acting out the nativity story. Your child does not need to memorize these lines, but this is to help them be familiar with their parts. Thanks to Jenny and Heidi for planning our celebration!

Thanks to Jennifer and Patrick for planning the party on Friday!

Our Christmas parties will begin at 10:30 on Thursday and Friday. Family is welcome to attend! Let us know if you have any questions.

CHRISTMAS BREAK IS Dec. 19-Jan. 2

A Fun, Easy Recipe

2011-12-09T13:05:00.001-08:00

We made these wonderful smelling ornaments today in art. Here is the recipe. Simple, easy and fun!

1 cup cinnamon
3/4 cup water
4 Tb. white glue

Mix. Roll out, not too thin. Cut out with cookie cutters, poke a hole it the top (a straw works well) and either bake on warm for 2 hours or air dry for several days!

Christmas Cookies

2011-12-08T13:12:00.000-08:00

The highlight of the day was certainly making Christmas cookies... actually eating them probably was! The preschoolers cut out their own cookies and frosted them. Yum!

We had a WSU student in our classroom this morning. She was there to observe and see what a faith based preschool program was like. I am always excited to share the joy of faith based education! If your preschooler talks about a visitor, this is who it was. She was delightful to have in class.

We also worked on a top secret project during art. You'll find out just what is was when you open you gift on Christmas!

Making Gifts

2011-12-07T13:16:00.000-08:00

After learning about Christmas is Haiti, we were busy making secrets gifts! You'll find out what they are during your home Christmas celebrations. They will be wrapped and sent home on Friday!

During centers time we hung ornaments on the tree in order from 1-12, worked on more Christmas cards, dug our hands into shaving cream and took care of Baby Jesus.

Worship time talked about the place where Jesus was born and trying to find a room at the inn. We put the Innkeeper on our Bethlehem scene today.

SHARE Day is Friday!

Shoes By the Christmas Tree

2011-12-06T13:19:00.000-08:00

Today we learned about a few traditions form Germany. One included putting shoes out to be filled with treats by the patron saint, St. Nicholas! So, we put our shoes by the Christmas tree near the couches and after centers time, we looked to see if anything happened. Well, we were very pleased to find several little gifts stashed in our shoes! Needless to say, the kids LOVED it!

We also tried our hand at a science investigation with the help of a wonderful parent volunteer. It didn't work like it did when I tested it out at home, but it was still neat to see the color spread up the coffee filter. These will be turned into the dress of angel tree toppers! We also had a big zoo full of dinosaurs and gorillas. They enjoyed eating fish and later trying to get our hopping frogs to hop into the bucket. We made a fun bowling game and balanced on a rainbow circle.

Worship was about Joseph and his important job of taking care of Mary and baby Jesus. We thanked God for our Daddy's who keep us safe too.

The sun was shining and we were running outside. The fresh air felt great and the kids enjoyed every minute of it!

We sorted our food drive items into groups and counted how many items were in each group. We are getting a good amount of food! We can't wait to make our big floor graph next week!

SHARE Day is Thursday. See you then!

Romanian Stars

2011-12-05T13:12:00.000-08:00

Addy told us about Christmas celebrations in Romania. They include covering wooden stars with foil to shine the way for the wisemen! So of course we made foil covered stars today. We also did some very open ended nativity art, crazy wood crafting, wood working with Ken and writing Christmas cards and gift tags. It is great to get the preschoolers picking up writing utensils and creating cards and tags for their friends and family. You can easily do this at home too... many of them enjoy this project and spend a lot of time hard at work!

Worship included the story of Mary being visited by the angel Gabriel. We sang, lit two advent candles and put Mary on our Bethlehem scene.

Music with Miss Marsha introduced the sounds of the music families through the story of Peter and the Wolf. Puppets helped portray the story with the help of the preschoolers!

Coming Up This Week

2011-12-04T14:28:00.000-08:00

Our Advent adventures continue this week as we learn from Addy about Christmas celebrations in Romania, Germany and Haiti. Addy is a beloved friend of your children. You can see her napping on top of the teacher’s easel. We will be making things and doing activities that correspond with the celebrations we hear about! We will be doing some interesting science investigating while making angels, cutting out and decorating sugar cookies and making special secret gifts for family! Our closing letters this week are M and N. We are singing a new number song that will help us count to 30 too!

Our worship time follow your home advent devotional. We will be hearing about Mary, Joseph, the Innkeeper, and the Shepherds. The Thursday class has chapel with Pastor Dudley! Wonderful songs are also a big part of our worship during advent.

We are continuing our work with handwriting as we remember to start our letters at the top, and begin to focus on big curves and little curves.

SHARE Day is on Thursday and Friday this week! Next Thursday and Friday will be our classroom Christmas Parties from 10:30-11:30am. Family is welcome to come and join the fun!

Our Food Drive is still going on. We are sorting and counting everyday! Please donate as you are able.

Important Information

FOOD DRIVE

Starting this week, we will be collecting non-perishable food items and children’s hygiene items for the local food bank. We will be sorting and grouping these items and will make a HUGE 3-D graph with them at the end of the drive. Please consider bringing some items for our service project!

CHRISTMAS BREAK IS Dec. 19-Jan. 2

Upcoming Events

Nov. 28-Dec. 14 Food Drive

Dec. 8 & 9 SHARE DAY

Dec. 15 & 16 Christmas Parties

Dec. 19-Jan. 2 No Preschool – Christmas Break

Loving Advent!

2011-12-02T13:10:00.000-08:00

Have I said that Advent is my favorite time of year to teach? I LOVE IT! Addy told us about Christmas in Japan and how it is much like our Valentine's Day. So we cut out hearts and decorated them with Christmas stickers. We also worked with crazy wood shapes, made Christmas greeting cards, took care of Baby Jesus and sang wonderful songs.

At Worship we added a tree stickers to our Advent scene. It will be fun for you to do at home too

During art with Miss Holly we made beaded stars. They help us remember the star that led to wise men to Jesus and they help us remember that our light can shine for Jesus too!

We've been busy counting and sorting in the classroom too! Our food drive is still going on, so please add to the drive as you are able!

Back in the Classroom

2011-12-01T13:20:00.000-08:00

It was good to be back in the classroom today. My little guy is feeling much better. Thanks for your prayers!

We learned about Christmas traditions in Greece today. Addy told us how they tie fresh basil to wooden crosses, dip them in water, and sprinkle the water all about the house. We made crosses with basil today. It smelled very good!

We cut our jello jigglers today, we had mixed up the jello on Tuesday. We cut them in tree and star shapes. We worked on big puzzles, hung tree ornaments on the Christmas tree in numerical order (very fun), took care of babies, and arranged nativity scenes all around the room.

During Worship we put our Bethlehem scene together as we get ready to read something new each day of advent. You have you scene at home too! It is a great connection between home and school. I hope you are able to make use of it at home!

We finished the day with Art with Miss Holly. We made beaded stars as we talked about the star that led the wisemen to Jesus.

Please remember that our Food Drive in going on! We love sorting and counting all the items that come in!

Mrs. Krantz at Home

2011-11-30T07:17:00.000-08:00

I stayed home with my youngest little one yesterday and will be home again today. He is responding well to antibiotics, so I should be back on Thursday. The preschoolers are in the very capable hands of Mrs. Barrington and Mrs. Eld. Yesterday the children learned about Christmas in Argentina and today they will learn about China. Yesterday involved a tradition with fish scales! Today will be paper chains. The preschoolers also have chapel with Pastor Dudley today.

Don't forget the Food Drive! The collection buckets are out and ready to be filled!

Concordia Lutheran Church holds Advent Evening Services on Wednesday nights at 7:00pm. They are about 30 minutes long. You are invited to join us! Kids are always welcome! Blessings to you this Advent Season!

Our Room As A Stable

2011-11-28T12:49:00.000-08:00

What an amazing first day back from break! It was great to see the preschoolers after a week away. We met a new friend at circle today, her name is Addy the Advent Angel. Each night she flies to distant countries, meeting children who tell her all about their Christmas celebrations. She is a fast flyer, because she makes it back just in time to tell all of the preschoolers about the celebrations she learned about. Today she told us about Argentina. It is warm there and they light fireworks on Christmas. The nativity scene is set up close to the Christmas tree because it is the most important decoration. They also decorate their Christmas trees with cotton balls to make it look like snow!

Centers time was full of discovery as boxes around the classroom were opened to find miniature nativity sets, jingle bells, all kinds of gifts to sort, drums of different colors and many other fun items for Christmas. We made cotton ball decorated trees and dressed up as angels, shepherds, Mary, Joseph and wise men. Many gifts were brought to baby Jesus today!

During our worship time, we learned about the Advent candles, that help us wait for Christmas to arrive. We lit one candle today, the prophecy candle or the candle of Hope. Ask your preschooler what color the candle was! We also sang a few new Christmas songs along with a few most of the preschoolers already knew!

Music with Miss Marsha ended our morning with songs, dancing, listening to the metalaphone and song birds.

Our Food Drive is starting, so please bring food or children's hygiene items to donate as you are able. We will be doing some neat activities with the donated items!

Blessings to you this Advent!

The Season of Advent!

2011-11-27T13:56:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the wonderful season of Advent, the time that we wait and prepare for Christmas! Our room is full of advent adventures. Dramatic Play has all kinds of costumes and props to take the children back to Bethlehem to become part of the story. Miniature nativity sets are all over the room to be handled and played with. Each morning, Addy the Advent Angel will tell us about her journey the previous night to a county somewhere around the world. We will learn about how people all over the world celebrate the birth of our Savior! Many of our open ended crafts will be focused around the different celebrations around the world. We will enjoy counting, sorting and classifying different Christmas items. We will be busy making Christmas cards for our classroom mailbox and of course we will be singing wonderful songs. FYI… Santa is not part of our celebration at preschool. Preschool children may talk about Santa, but we will not be learning about him or celebrating Santa, reindeer and such.

Our worship time will also be focused on Advent, but we will accelerate it a bit so that we can celebrate the birth of Jesus on the last days of preschool is 2011! We will be using an Advent devotional that is also being sent home with each child. This is a wonderful opportunity to make a solid connection between school and home. I hope you are able to use it in your home!

Mrs. Krantz and Mrs. Barrington

Important Information

I am looking for a parent or two to plan and run the classroom christmas parties on dec. 15 and 16 from 10:30-11:30. if you are interested, please let me know asap!

FOOD DRIVE

Upcoming Events

Nov. 28-Dec. 14 Food Drive

Dec. 8 & 9 SHARE DAY

Dec. 15 & 16 Christmas Parties

Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving Break!

2011-11-18T13:19:00.000-08:00

While is doesn't seem like Thanksgiving Break should be here yet... it is! Enjoy the snow, drive carefully, enjoy family time and delicious food! I am so very thankful for your wonderful children and the opportunity to be their preschool teacher! May blessings shower down upon you all week long!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-17T13:23:00.000-08:00

We had a great day today making Pumpkin Pie, eating Pumpkin Pie, enjoying SHARE day, scooping, filling and dumping wheat in the sensory table, dressing turkeys in colorful feathers, stamping paper and all kind of other fun things!

Chapel with Pastor Dudley was today and we learned all about being thankful. He showed us a lot of things he was thankful for! Ask your preschooler what some of those things were.

At the end of the day we acted out the story of creation to music. It was a lot of fun and something we will continue to work on with the intent of sharing it with you one day!

Enjoy your Thanksgiving Break! We'll see you again in Advent (my FAVORITE time of the year to teach!!!!).

Thanksgiving Traditions

2011-11-15T12:59:00.000-08:00

It was wonderful to hear the Thanksgiving traditions in our preschool families! The preschoolers enjoyed sharing their homework and telling us about their illustrations!

Centers time included working on a wonderful Thanksgiving project, making the Native American puppets to go with last week's Pilgrims, dumping and scooping wheat in the sensory table and doing all kinds of neat building in the building area. Today was also our woodworking day!

The story of the Lost Coin was told today during our worship time. Ask your preschooler about it!

We spent some time outside in the bright sunshine. It was cold, but we had a lot of fun running on the hill, collecting jewels, using sidewalk chalk and sliding down the slide.

Don't forget... THURSDAY IS SHARE DAY!

Seashells

2011-11-14T13:23:00.000-08:00

One of our preschool friends just returned from Hawaii, and gave each of us a beautiful shell necklace. Thanks!

We worked on a special fall project today that will be going home on Wednesday. They turned out quite nice and should make a beautiful addition to your Thanksgiving decor! We also made native American puppets to go with the Pilgrim puppets from last week. Woodworking was today too!

Worship was the story of the Lost Coin. Ask your preschooler how many coins the woman had and how many she lost.

Music with Miss Marsha included a musical story of creation that was very interactive and beautiful! The preschoolers really enjoyed it and we are hoping sometime to share it with you.

Homework is due on Wednesday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-13T12:57:00.000-08:00

It seems to be that parents aren’t as informed as they were when I put out paper newsletters, so I’m starting the practice again. If you do not want a paper copy and do read the email and blog updates, I will be happy to not deliver a paper copy! I just want to make sure you know what is happening at preschool! I believe is a strong partnership with parents to ensure the best early learning experience for your preschooler!

Our week will be all about Thanksgiving and being thankful. Last week a Thanksgiving Traditions paper went home for homework. We will be sharing those on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, so please return them! It is always fun to hear about home traditions as they are very special to your children! We will be getting our fingers busy with some fabulous fall artwork. We’ll be patterning with feathers, sorting leaves, creating turkeys and baking pumpkin pie! Yummy! Our closing circle letters this week will be I and J.

Our worship time will be the story of the Lost Coin. We also take time at some of our worship times to pull out the stories and let the children work with and play through the stories on their own. This has been a blessing to watch!

I just want to say that Mrs. Barrington and I are so very thankful for your children in our classroom and the amazing group of families that you are! We feel extremely blessed!

Important Information

SHARE DAY On Thursday and friday!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
No PReschool All Of NExt Week November 21-25

Please you caution in the parking lot and please help your children remember that the outside railing between the church and parking lot is not for climbing.

Please send warm outdoor attire everyday… it is COLD!!!

Wood Curls and Fruit Kabobs

2011-11-09T12:45:00.000-08:00

Today we talked about the Pilgrims. We looked at pictures and made our own Pilgrim puppets. We also learned that the pilgrims sailed across the ocean on the cauliflower... oops! Mayflower!

Centers was busy with lots of congregational volunteer help. We made fresh fruit kabobs for our feast time, used a block plane to make wood curls, played a leaf game with numbers and counting, worked on pilgrim puppets, turkey headbands, and created several puppet shows!

We had Chapel with Pastor Dudley today and we learned about be Psalm 106 and being thankful. Pastor also tried to blow the rams horn for us... it was a good try!

REMEMBER... No Preschool on Friday. Thank a Veteran!

A Beautiful Fall Day

2011-11-08T12:58:00.000-08:00

First I want to start off with MANY apologies for the crazy parking lot at pick up time today. It is a tight parking lot to begin with, and there were many things going on with the installing of the elevator and two church meetings going on. The college population is also creeping into our parking space, so we will be cracking down. I do apologize and we will work to make the parking lot more available and accessible.

The preschool was busy this morning talking about Thanksgiving! We read "The Night Before Thanksgiving" and laughed a lot! Today was our wood working day, and the kids had the opportunity to try out a block plane! The curly wood shavings were lots of fun to collect! The preschoolers also played a fun math game involving trees, leaves and numbers!

During worship, we heard the story of the 10 Lepers and talked about being thankful. Each preschooler told one thing to Jesus that they were thankful for.

We enjoyed the cool morning as we played outside. Again, please remember coats, hats and gloves or mittens!

Being Thankful

2011-11-07T13:18:00.000-08:00

I am thankful for today! This morning we talked about Thanksgiving, what we knew about Thanksgiving and then we read a book about the very first Thanksgiving.

Centers included fall beading, Indian Corn mosaics, wooden craft creations, playing the drums with the African Children's Choir (on CD), reading new fall and Thanksgiving books, and building elaborate train tracks! We had hoped to see the elevator come inside, but they weren't fast enough... it started coming in just as I was getting ready to drive home.

Worship included singing, prayer time and the story of the 10 lepers. Ask your preschooler if they remember anything about the story!

Your homework went home today... it isn't due until next week, but you can turn it in at any time. And remember, the will not be preschool on Friday.

A Few Weeks Being Thankful!

2011-11-06T14:03:00.000-08:00

First, a few reminders...
1. There will be NO PRESCHOOL on Friday as we observe Veterans Day. Please take time to thank a veteran or someone in active duty.
2. It is COLD! Please be sure to send your child in warm clothing and appropriate outdoor gear. Also please double check the extra clothes in your child's cubby to see if they still fit or if they are out of season!
3. Be careful in the parking lot. There can be a few icy spots in the morning, so watch your step. Also, please do not let your preschoolers run freely in the parking lot as they can be difficult to see.
4. As tempting as the outside railing (between the church and the parking lot) is to climb, please keep your children from climbing this. Feet are safest on the ground and the concrete is very hard if they slip and fall. The frost can make it extra slippery.

Now, onto the week ahead! We will begin talking about Thanksgiving! We will be reading a lot of Thanksgiving books, singing a silly song about a turkey, getting our fine motor muscles busy working with corn kernels and making turkey headbands as well has creating wonderful fall beaded jewelry. Our closing letters this week will be G and H. Some of the games we will play this week will work on the numbers 1-6 along with the dot patterns on dice.

Our worship Bible Story this week is about the 10 Lepers. This is also a story of thanksgiving and remembering to be thankful. We will also be singing a few new worship songs and continuing to learn some that are fairly new to us.

With our handwriting, we are working hard to remember to start our letters at the top! We continue to work on proper handgrips too.

I will be sending home a HOMEWORK project! It should only take 5-10 minutes of your time at home. It is about your family Thanksgiving traditions. There will be a few questions for you to answer with your preschooler and a place for an illustration. These need to be back by the beginning on next week, but you can turn them in as soon as you have them completed. The preschoolers will be sharing them with one another on Tuesday the 15th and Wednesday the 16th.

Blessings to you this week! I am so thankful for the work you do as parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles and friends in the lives of the children you bring to this preschool. They are some fantastic children and you are doing a great job with them!

More Leaves

2011-11-03T13:03:00.000-07:00

We are having a lot of great fun and learning with leaves in our classroom! Today we mixed leaves and number together in a song, made some leaf stained glass (although this wasn't the most popular center option!), did some leaf matching and did a beautiful leave project in Art with Miss Holly. This was also our woodworking day, so the kids had fun working one-on-one with our volunteer learning how to drive a nail. I love how much the preschoolers are enjoying their woodworking time!

Chapel with Pastor Dudley included M&M's and discovering that God loves us all the same, and that's A LOT! We enjoyed praying, singing, and thanking God for chocolate!

FYI... Since snow might be one the way, here is our school closure information. There will be no preschool if the Pullman School District is delayed or closed due to inclement weather. I will also post the school closure on our blog by 7:00am. I will only phone you if you request a phone call ahead of time. Please let me know if you would like a call if preschool is cancelled.

REMINDER... Please double check your child's cubby to make sure that he/she has a change of clothes appropriate to the weather. We also need you to bring mittens or gloves, winter coats and hats or a hood each day. Thanks for helping us out in this area!

Leaves Falling

2011-11-02T13:29:00.000-07:00

Our morning began with a fun book about leaves falling. It really was a song, to the tune of "The Ants Go Marching." The kids caught on right away, so it wasn't a Mrs. Krantz solo! We also went on a quick leaf hunt to collect some fallen leaves.

Centers time included beading, fire fighting, Indiana Jones, making pumpkin decorations for the nursing home, putting together puzzles, and working on cutting and matching pictures! Lots of great play was all around!

Our worship time included learning a new song and spending time in our prayer journals.

We headed outside for a little fresh fall air, and we got it! The wind wasn't too bad and the preschoolers were happy to be out in the sunshine! Please remember to bring mittens or gloves, hats and winter coats everyday. The weather is COLD, and we will continue to go outside when we can!

Scholastic Book Orders are due on Friday.

Wonderful Day

2011-11-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

I must say, this was THE BEST day after October 31st I have ever had in the classroom! The preschoolers were engaged and learning all morning long! We started out looking at some crazy creative gourds and talking about what they looked like, felt like, reminded us of... We had some excellent observations. Then we put our coats on and headed outside to collect some leaves for a leave collage project. It was chilly, but our collection went quickly with so many leaves on the ground!

Centers time was phenomenal as leaf projects were made, beading was done, sorting bears were sorted, babies were taken care of, and more observations were made. The preschoolers worked together, cooperated and used great words as they worked cooperatively!

I must say, this group has shown a tremendous amount of maturity since the beginning of the year. Our circle times have successfully moved from 7-10 minutes to almost 20! I am so proud of these kids and all they are learning about being in a group and cooperating with friends. You all have such great kids!

Worship time was a time of singing and praying through our artwork in our prayer journals. This is a favorite for some of the preschoolers. You could even make a prayer journal for your kids at home!

In was too cold to head outside, so we enjoyed an obstacle course with balancing, hopping, a curvy tunnel and a river stone path.

THE WEATHER HAS CHANGED AND IT IS COLD! PLEASE BRING A PAIR OF GLOVES OR MITTENS AND A WARM HAT OR HOOD EACH DAY. ALSO MAKE SURE THE EXTRA SET OF CLOTHING IN YOUR CHILD'S CUBBY IS WEATHER APPROPRIATE! THANKS!

Pumpkin Party Fun!

2011-10-31T13:31:00.000-07:00

It was Pumpkin Party Day and we had such a great time! There were over 15 booths and activities to choose from, tickets to earn and prizes to buy with the tickets! Cookies were decorated, beautiful centerpieces were made and fun was had by all!

Pumpkins and Leaves This Week

2011-10-29T13:40:00.000-07:00

Of course the most exciting part of our week is the PUMPKIN PARTY on Monday!!! This is for both classes and begins at 10:30am. Preschoolers are invited to come in costume, parents too! Parents, siblings and friends are welcome to attend the party. It is a big event with lots of fun and prizes. Fishing, ring toss, cookie decorating, crafts, obstacle course, and the bean bag toss are just a few of the fun booths! At each booth, preschoolers will earn tickets to use at the store to buy prizes! Please join us in the fun!

Starting on Tuesday, we will shift gears to learn about leaves. We will be doing a lot of leaf investigations and beautiful leaf crafts that work to develop those fine motor muscles. Watch for some spectacular things to come home!

Out worship time will include time on our prayer journals, chapel (Pastor Dudley is back from Germany!), and working with some of the stories we have already heard.

Scholastic Book Orders are due by Friday, November 4. There are some great books and lots to choose from! We'll have one more book order after this before Christmas.

SHARE Day

2011-10-27T13:04:00.000-07:00

Everybody loves SHARE Day! I enjoy listening to and watching the preschoolers show so much pride in their special things. They are becoming so much more confident sharing in front of their peers... such a treasure to see!

One of the preschoolers brought in his gecko! We had a lot of fun observing the lizard's behavior, and he just happened to be shedding his skin, really cool! We fed him crickets, however he seemed a bit distracted and chose to wait for his lunch. It was fun to see those crickets too!

Our day ended with Art with Miss Holly and 5 Little Pumpkins!

Monday morning is our Pumpkin Party! Please join us from 10:30-11:30am for a lot of carnival fun. Siblings and friends are welcome to join in on the fun. It is a CANDY FREE event. Instead we will be winning tickets to purchase prizes at the prize store. Costumes are encouraged, but not required. Please no costumes that are spooky, scary or evil... NO MASKS please!

Thanks for a great week!

Ferdinands

2011-10-26T13:23:00.000-07:00

We had a great time on our field trip today! The pumpkin ice cream was delicious and the walk was great... a little chilly, but it was still nice to be outside!

Remember... SHARE Day is Thursday and Friday. Have a great afternoon.

Trip to Ferdinands

2011-10-25T13:11:00.000-07:00

We had a spectacular time on our field trip! The pumpkin ice cream was delicious and the kids were fantastic. The weather was wonderful for a short walk to Ferdinands. We watched a short movie in the observation room, saw cheese being made, tasted cheese curds and ate our yummy ice cream! It was a very tasty adventure. Thanks to all the parents who came along with us, it was great to have you along!

Reminder... Thursday is SHARE Day!

Pumpkin and P words

2011-10-24T12:59:00.000-07:00

Our week started out just right today as we did a little more pumpkin work. We have enjoyed singing our silly pumpkin vine song, picking what crazy things might be growing on our pumpkin vines. We keep the rhythm of the song with our hands as we sing. We also learned about the letter P, that pumpkin starts with the letter P and we followed up with a list of words that we thought of beginning with the letter P. It was quite a list! The words we use when teaching the handwriting strokes for the letter P are... start at the top, write a big line down. Frog jump back to the top, make a little curve to the middle. Then we have our letter P!

We ventured outside to do some leaf rubbings, but it was short lived... the wind was frigid! We brought our leave inside and finished out beautiful chalk leaf rubbings.

We lost track of time because we were so busy during centers having a great time learned and ended centers almost 15 minutes late! We learned a song to help us remember how to pick up a crayon. We are beginning to establish proper handwriting grips.

Music with Miss Marsha was a lot of fun with the glockenspiel, metalaphone, and some singing and dancing games.

Wednesday is our field trip. We are walking, so wear warm jackets and maybe even mittens!

A Fun and Busy Week Ahead

2011-10-23T14:14:00.000-07:00

We have a wonderful week ahead! It's going to zoom by I'm sure, but we are going to enjoy every moment of learning together!

Tuesday and Wednesday are field trip days. We will leave for Ferdinands promptly at 10am. We will be walking, so bring you jacket if you signed up to come along! We will be back right around 11:30. I'm ready for some delicious pumpkin ice cream! Please make sure you have turned in your child's permission slip.

Thursday and Friday are SHARE Days! Help your preschooler choose ONE item to bring to tell their friends about. Help them think of three things they would like to say about their item. I know the preschoolers have been waiting for the next SHARE day! I'm excited to see what they each bring.

Our worship time will include the story of Abram and Sarai from Genesis 12 and 13. We will even have a little piece of the desert in our worship space.

Each group of kids has a big woodworking project they will do this fall. The M/W/F group will begin, and perhaps finish, their projects this Friday. We will be building Bat Houses! The T/Th group will be working on their big project in the next couple of weeks. These are sure to be items your children will be extremely proud of, and they should be!

Next Monday, the 31st, is the Pumpkin Party for both classes. It runs from 10:30-11:30. Appropriate costumes are welcome that day, NO MASKS please. This is a big event with lots of church volunteers running booths for the kids to participate in. This is a CANDY FREE event... the only sugar found will be a the cookie decorating table! Parents, you are invited to come and enjoy this event with your children!

SAFETY NOTE... Please make sure that your children are not running free in the parking lot during drop off and pick up times. Children are fast and not easily seen by cars backing out. Also, the ever tempting railing along the sidewalk ramp is not for climbing. Please keep your children on the sidewalk and off the railing so no accidental tumbles onto hard concrete take place. We appreciate your efforts in this matter!

REMINDER... Preschool starts at 9:00am with opening circle beginning at 9:05am. We have lots we want to accomplish during our preschool time, so we will be starting on time!

Big and Orange

2011-10-20T13:03:00.000-07:00

We took a close look at two pumpkins today to see how they were the same and how they were different. We also talked about how a pumpkin goes from seed to pumpkin. It is amazing how in just 4 months time, God can make such a tiny seed grow to such a nice big pumpkin! We do have a fantastic God!

We painted coffee filters today with red and yellow mixing together to make nice orange pumpkins . These will soon be part of our pumpkin vine on the wall (hopefully going up this weekend)! We sorted, put pumpkins in order by size, worked intensely on big floor puzzles, and began lifecycle posters.

The Creation story is so amazing, with incredible visuals. We looked at some dynamic creations pictures as we talked about the days of creation and the wonderful things that God has made.

Next Tuesday is our field trip to Ferdinands. We will be walking there, so be ready for a nice little walk! We will leave promptly at 10am. If you have not signed up to go along, but plan on going, please email me and let me know so that I can pre-order your pumpkin ice cream cone!

Pumpkins Growing

2011-10-19T13:26:00.000-07:00

We had s great time learning about the lifecycle of a pumpkin today... some of us even chose to make lifecycle posters! We had a handy book to tell us all about how pumpkins grow. We took a close look at a big pumpkin, played pumpkin memory, arranged pictures of pumpkins in order from smallest to biggest along with a few strong firefighters putting out fires in the building and dramatic play areas!

We listened to a wonderful telling of the creation account and saw some beautiful illustrations of creation. We also learned a new song for our invocation, or call to worship!

Outside time was glorious with the trees changing colors and the cool, crisp air!

At closing circle we made orange play dough by mixing two colors of play dough together. Ask your preschooler what colors they were!

8 Legs

2011-10-18T13:04:00.000-07:00

We counted a lot of spider legs today as we read a spider book, made spider snack, created hanging spiders and adorned our heads with spider headbands... counting all the way! We also had fun using the drill press with our woodworking friend and volunteer. We also saw great teamwork as preschoolers worked together to put several floor puzzles together!

Worship was about Creation, and we saw 7 pictures for the seven days. Ask your preschooler if they remember what some of God's gifts to us were in creation.

The weather was incredible as the preschoolers ran outside, collected leaves, dug in the sandbox, rode in the cars and just enjoyed our time outside. Our closing circle took a look at the letter D and we made a chart for the day.

Remember that our field trip has been changed to next week on Tuesday. You should have found a permission form in your mailbox. Please return it before our trip! If you plan on attending make sure to sign up on the sheet by the sign in/out binder. If a sibling is coming along, please note that as well so I can pre-order enough pumpkin ice cream cones!

Spider Fun

2011-10-17T13:11:00.000-07:00

Spider fun abounded at preschool today. We read The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle, made spider headbands, spiders from hand prints to hang from their silky strings, made spider nests with wood shavings and we even had spiders for a snack during out feast. Ask your preschooler about the yummy spiders!

We learned about the Creation of the Earth and all that is on the earth today. We also learned a new worship song, "God is so Good." It is very easy and I bet your preschooler could sing it to you.

Outside time was full or running and sandbox time. We ended our day with Music with Miss Marsha!

Spiders and Pumpkins

2011-10-16T13:38:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another great week at preschool! We are switching gears from construction to take a closer look at some of the things we are seeing a lot of lately in our homes and our communities... spiders and pumpkins. The Very Busy Spider will be read this week and we will follow up by painting spider webs in a crazy new way, making a spider and spider web snack for our feast time, making hanging spiders out of handprints and creating spider headbands for wearing! Can you guess what number we will focus on? If you said 8, you are right on! We will then learn about the pumpkin lifecycle, make close observations as we investigate pumpkins and we will watch what happens to a pumpkin over time.

Our worship time will be the Creation account. Throughout the week you can point out different things you see outside, things that God created. We will be looking at many things that God made, and how good they are!

Our closing circles will look at the letters D and E. Help your preschooler think of words that start with D and E this week!

Our field trip that was planned for this Thursday has been moved to next Tuesday. The 3 day group will be going next Wednesday. We will be walking to Ferdinands to eat pumpkin ice cream and learn a little bit about Ferdinands. This is a delicious trip! If you plan on attending with us, please sign up and make a note if a sibling is coming along. I need to pre-order our pumpkin ice cream cones! Look for permission slips in your mailboxes.

School pictures should be back early this week.

Our Pumpkin Party will be held on Monday, October 31 from 10:30am-11:30am. This is for ALL preschoolers. It is a BIG event with about 20 congregational volunteers, so we only do it one day. It is a fun carnival for the preschoolers. There will be different booths with activities to participate in. The preschoolers earn tickets at the booths and bring their tickets to the store to buy prizes. It is a CANDY FREE event. Siblings are welcome to attend, but please remember that this is set up for children ages 3-5 and their may be items that are small. Costumes are welcome, but please remember nothing spooky, scary, evil looking and please no masks. Let me know if you have any questions.

A verse to ponder this week...
"Finally, brothers (and sisters), whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." Philippians 4:8

Field Trip Change

2011-10-13T17:05:00.000-07:00

Our field trip date for the T/Th class has changed because another group will be at Ferdinands at the same time we were planning... that won't work so well! So, our date has changed to the following Tuesday, October 25. I apologize for the change.

It's been a busy week at my house, so I apologize for my lack of blogging. Things should be back to normal next week!

Picture Day

2011-10-12T13:36:00.000-07:00

Picture Day was a success! No one was covered in paint or markers for picture time, so I feel successful! Our day was a bit off schedule to accommodate the picture taking, but we had a blast. Ms. Senger was our substitute and she was an absolute delight to have with us.

Fixing Things

2011-10-11T13:07:00.000-07:00

Our morning started with a list of things that we have needed to get fixed. Cars, toys, windows and a few others were on our list. We snag a silly song about fixing a hole in the ceiling and a poor guy named Willy just wasn't able to get the job done, even with the help from Liza!

Centers time included more wooden craft building and building letters out of little line, big line, little curves and small curves. We also made lots of patterns, did big floor puzzles and painted.

We made Pastor Dudley a very special gift during worship time today.

The rain stopped in time for us to play outside! It was windy, but fun! Special thanks to Mrs. Blum for subbing in the classroom today. She will be back with us on Thursday.

REMINDER.... PICTURE DAY IS TOMORROW, OCTOBER 12. The group picture will be taken at 9:15am. Please be prompt!

The Sweet Smell

2011-10-10T13:16:00.000-07:00

We started our day with discussion about things we have had to fix... roofs, cameras, toys.... We sang a song about a hole in the ceiling (like a hole in the bucket) and laughed a lot as the song went on. We made lists about what needed to be fixed, what was used to fix the problem and what was needed to be able to use what was needed to fix the problem. Lots of giggling this morning!

It was also cooking and woodworking day at preschool! The sweet smell of fall filled the room as we made applesauce that we later ate at our feast time. The preschoolers also learned about and used a drill press! After drilling a hole, they attached a nut and bolt to their very own drilled piece of wood! They LOVED it! We also worked with magnets, continued wood art creations and buildings and worked in our construction journals.

During Worship, we talked about acts of service as a way to worship and then we made a special gift for Pastor Dudley to thank him for his service to us! We will finish the project and give it to him later this week!

We ended the day with music with Miss Marsha!

Remember... PICTURE DAY IS WEDNESDAY!!!

Coming Up...

2011-10-09T14:09:00.000-07:00

This will be our last week around the construction theme. The elevator isn't done yet and we will keep watching the progress until it is done, hopefully in about a month. This week will be a little different, Mrs. Barrington will be gone T-F and we will have wonderful subs in the classroom. Wednesday is picture day too, so our routine will be a little extra flexible on Wednesday and a whole lot less messy!

Our M/W/F group has woodworking this week where they will be working with an adult one on one to drill a hole in a board using a small drill press! They will also get to attached a nut and bolt through the hole they drill. Keep in mind that we are VERY safe when we do this. The T/Th group will get a chance to do the same thing, just not this week. We will also be making our very own applesauce for snack. It's sure to smell yummy and taste delicious. We will also be doing some work on the floor designing walls on large pieces of paper and then designing tiles for a floor. Large tangrams will help us as we work with our designs. At the end of the day we will be finding B and C words to describe our days. Watch the blog each day to read specifics about what went on during the morning!

October is Pastor Appreciation Month so we will be taking some time this week to appreciate Pastor Dudley. We have a special project we will be making which will give it to him at the end of the week. He's going to be leaving for a 2 week trip to Germany next week, so we want to catch him before he leaves! Showing appreciation will be part of our worship time this week and then we will take a look at the Creation account.

Once again, Picture Day is Wednesday. The group picture will be taken at 9:15am upstairs in the sanctuary. We won't wait too long, so please be prompt! After the group picture is done (it is always a hoot to watch 22 preschoolers get their picture taken at the same time) a new backdrop will be put up and the T/Th group of kids will have individual and sibling pictures taken. I will have activities set up to keep the kids busy while they wait for their turn. The M/W/F group will go back downstairs to have their normal preschool day. Once the T/Th pictures are done, the other group will get individual pictures done. If you are a M/W/F family that wants sibling pictures taken, talk to me about the time. I hope this all makes sense! Please let me know if you have any questions. If you wish to order pictures, order envelopes need to be turned in on or before Wednesday.

There are sign up sheets for the upcoming Ferdinand's Field Trips and for items we need donated for the Pumpkin Party.

I pray that your week is full of fabulous family moments in your homes and around the community! Thanks so much for allowing us to be part of your child's life!

Rainy Day Fun

2011-10-06T12:46:00.000-07:00

The rain didn't slow us down at all today. We were busy playing construction charades, painting our signs, cutting caution tape, building and gluing wooden creations and playing a game with Mrs. Krantz. I have begun some baseline assessments in order to create the best learning environment for your preschoolers!

We drew in our prayer journals at worship today and we had recess inside! We finished off the day with Art with Miss Holly. We did sunflower art with seeds!

REMINDER FOR THE 5 DAY AND 3 DAY FAMILIES... NO PRESCHOOL TOMORROW! HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

The Lost Son

2011-10-05T12:58:00.000-07:00

If your preschooler happens to tell you that someone got lost at preschool today, don't worry! For chapel time, Pastor had one preschooler hide without the other preschoolers knowing. We discovered he was "lost" and quickly found him! We were so happy that the lost was found! Chapel time with Pastor Dudley is always full of fun hands on learning!

Today we worked at adding verses to the song we have been learning this week. Ask your preschooler about the verse they came up with. We also worked on painting our signs, working the play dough, drawing in our construction journals, and sanding wood. I also started some baseline assessments with the preschoolers today. These take just about 2 minutes to do with each child and are a fun game that the kids enjoy. These help us better provide the best learning environment for your child!

Please remember that there is no preschool on Friday. Picture Day is next Wednesday, October 12. Mrs. Barrington will be gone next week Tuesday-Friday, so we will have substitutes in the classroom with me on those days.

Busy Hands

2011-10-04T13:22:00.000-07:00

Today we got moving with our hands and bodies and we learned about the different things done at a construction site. We hammered, sawed, dug, lifted, held boards in place, and painted! My Dad, Ken, came in and did woodworking with the preschoolers. We put our safety glasses on worked hard with the saw. The kids LOVED sawing a piece of wood and were so proud to take their own piece of lumber home! We also glued wood together to make some fantastic buildings. Painting wooden signs was also part of the morning along with chalk writing. Our hands were busy today!

Worship was about the Good Shepherd finding the Lost Sheep. We learned a new worship song and saw the story. We wondered about what it was like to be the lost sheep and how it might have felt to be found. We also thought it would have been fun to be at the party the shepherd had after the lost sheep was found!

The rain kept us inside, but it was the perfect opportunity to bring out all our inside playground stuff. We had a HUGE tunnel, a tumbling mate, basketball hoop, pop up houses, balancing rainbow, bean bag toss, jumping hoops and monster feet for walking on. It was a great time and the preschoolers loved all the new stuff!

Miss Marsha, our music teacher, is unable to teach music on Tuesdays this year. Bummer. However, she is giving me her lesson plans, so I am able to teach what she would have done! I know it's not nearly the same as Miss Marsha, but I will do my best to be a great music teacher too! We started today with a circle dance, a listening song/dance and then we sang Uncle Jessie. Ask your preschooler about it!

Our "A" word to describe the day was AWESOME! Thanks for an AWESOME day with your kids!

Construction Jobs

2011-10-03T12:33:00.000-07:00

Today we talked about all the different types of jobs we have seen at a construction site. Painting, digging, sawing, hammering and drilling were all things we came up with. We learned a song about building a house that uses a lot of different jobs in the song. Ask your preschooler if they remember it! We acted out the actions of each job too! We highlighted the letters N and P today.

Centers time included chalk drawing on paper chalkboards, painting signs (this is a two day project), making letters with magnets on magna-doodle boards, building a church out of blocks and sanding wood with sandpaper in the sensory table.

Worship was about the Good Shepherd finding the lost sheep and bringing the sheep back to the sheepfold. It's all about how much Jesus loves and cares for us!

We had our first music with Miss Marsha today! It was fantastic fun as we danced, sang, kept rhythm with sticks and listened to and sang with several string instruments.

Please remember that there is no preschool this Friday and picture day is next week on Wednesday October 12.

NO PRESCHOOL THIS FRIDAY

2011-10-02T13:17:00.001-07:00

REMINDER... There is no preschool this Friday.

October Here We Come!!!

2011-10-02T13:15:00.000-07:00

October is a very busy and very fun month. Look forward to something out of the ordinary just about every week. Check the upcoming events to stay on top of what is happening and when. As always, please ask any questions you might have.

This week we will be doing a little more construction as we sing a song about building a house. We will also be talking about the different types of construction jobs, acting out some of those jobs in a great game of charades, and we will be listening close to sounds at the beginning and ending of words. Starting this week, we will be finding words to describe our day as we end our morning at closing circle. We will choose a particular letter and find words that begin with that letter. We'll also continue making graphs each day!

Our worship time will be about the Good Shepherd and the Lost Sheep. We will continue with Psalm 23 and add John 10 into the mix! If you have a moment, you could read those passages to yourself and read them with your child. See what they have to say about it and if they have any questions about it. In preschool we like to wonder about our Bible stories. We wonder how many sheep fit into the sheepfold and we wonder if the shepherd has names for all the sheep. We wonder how the sheep feel when they see the good shepherd and how they feel when they are in the sheepfold. The children are also enjoying time in their prayer journals. What a wonderful way for children to pray through their artwork!

I am sending home background check forms for all parents who are volunteering in the classroom. Please return these forms ASAP!

Please watch for sign up sheets in the next week. We will have a sign up for parents who would like to volunteer to come on our field trip to Ferdinand's. We also will have a sign up for items to be donated for our Pumpkin Party on the morning of October 31.

Picture Day is Wednesday October 12. The all preschool group picture will be taken at 9:15am, so please be here by 9:15. The T/Th families will have individual pictures taken first followed by the M/W/F group. T/Th parents will need to stay with their children as the teachers will be busy with the normal preschool day with the M/W/F group. I hope that make sense! Siblings are welcome to have their pictures taken too! Please let me know if you plan on siblings pictures so I can let the photographer know. If you know of any other families who would be interested in having pictures taken, we have time slots available after 11:30am. Please have them contact me for a time slot. Envelopes and flyers will be in your mailbox. Envelopes may be returned on or before picture day. Please let me know if you have any questions. :)

UPCOMING EVENTS...
10/7 No Preschool
10/12 Picture Day
10/20 Ferdinand's Field Trip 10am
10/26 Ferdinand's Field Trip 10am
10/27 SHARE Day
10/28 SHARE Day
10/31 Pumpkin Party 10:30am

T/Th Pictures... Look what we've been doing!

2011-09-29T13:13:00.000-07:00

M/W/F Pictures... What we've been doing!

2011-09-29T13:09:00.000-07:00

Heavy and Light

2011-09-29T13:03:00.000-07:00

We worked with the opposites heavy and light today! We used a balance scale to investigate items to see which ones were heavier than others, lighter than others, or the same weight! We used rocks. feathers, craft balls, fabric and other items around the classroom.

During centers time we began some of our handwriting work by practicing our big lines. We start at the top and write a big line down. We also did more weighing of items, used magnets with our collection of nuts and bolts, made an elaborate home in the dollhouse, worked at the workbench and cut caution tape. Busy and fun morning.

At worship we saw the parable of the Good Shepherd. Ask your preschooler about the parable and what they saw!

We spent some time outside before we came in to have Art with Miss Holly. She told us about Van Gogh and we saw some of his paintings. We also talked about the color yellow and then did some painting of our own!

The flyers for picture day will be available next week. Picture day will be held on Wednesday, October 12. Since we are such a small school, we can only have our photographer come once and Wednesday worked best this year. We will have an all preschool group picture taken at 9:15am. If you would like your preschooler to be in this picture (and I hope everyone can come!) please be upstairs in the sanctuary by 9:15. After the group shot is taken, T/Th kids can have their individual pictures taken if you so choose. Siblings of T/Th are also welcome to have pictures taken at this time if you would like sibling pictures taken. Group shots of families are also available. I hope this answers some questions! Please email me or talk to me if you need more specifics. The price list will be on the flyer next week!

Words Ending in ..er

2011-09-28T12:45:00.000-07:00

Don't be surprised today if you find your preschooler looking and listening for words that end in with the letters ER. As we listened to our skyscraper songs, we listened for words that ended in ER. Skyscraper was one! Then we took rhythm bells and shook the bells as we broke the words up into syllables. I think we could have done this activity for 30 minutes! The kids loved it. You can do it with them at home, just find two things you can use to tap together and they can tap while saying the words!

Centers time included playing floor Candyland, working with colored inch cubes to create patterns, making collages of things we find up high and we had some spies in the classroom, taking notes and watching people with binoculars!

Chapel with Pastor Dudley was a great as we watched how Jesus can erase, or forgive, the things we do wrong and the mistakes we make. Ask your preschooler what Pastor Dudley did wrong and how it was fixed!

Reaching Up High

2011-09-27T13:03:00.000-07:00

We learned about the opposites high and low today! Our bodies helped us define the difference in high and low. We also learned a song about building a skyscraper, which is very high!

During centers time we made "Things Up High" collages by finding things in magazines that are usually up high, cutting them out and adding them to our collages. We also did some fall art, measured the lengths of nuts and bolts, did some work at the workbench and made bricks in the moonsand.

Our worship time was about the Good Shepherd. Ask your preschooler about what they saw at worship time!

Woodworking

2011-09-26T13:17:00.000-07:00

We started off our week thinking about things that are up high. Our song about skryscapers got us thinking and looking for things way up high. We also made a skyscape with a tall, taller and tallest building!

During centers we made our own personal skyscapes, autumn trees and did a little woodworking with a volunteer from the congregation, actually Mrs. Krantz's Dad! He brought a workbench and worked one on one with the preschoolers to teach them how to use a saw and saw a piece of wood! The kids were so focused and interested in it! They wore safety glasses and some chose to wear hard hats! It was wonderful.

Our worship time got us wondering about sheep and shepherds. We are getting ready to open the gift of the parable for the Good Shepherd!

We are looking forward to another great week!

Looking Ahead to the Week

2011-09-25T13:45:00.000-07:00

I am excited for this week ahead! We have lots of fun learning planned and I can't wait to hear the great things your kids will say. So far, this group of kids is the funniest group I have ever had!

This week we will be learning song called "Building a Skyscraper." There are some great new words in the song and we will be talking a lot about high and low along with other opposites. We will also be listening close to the end of words to identify similar sounds. Rhythm and rhyme will be wonderful friends to us this week. We will also be doing a little handwriting work, story writing, all kinds of sorting and investigations with magnets.

Our worship time this week will focus on the parable of The Good Shepherd. Parables are like wonderful gifts to us. When we look inside the parable, God has something amazing for us. This parable will be hiding in a beautiful box and your preschooler will watch the parable come to life as different things come out of the box. Our scripture is Psalm 23:1-4. We will also have some time to use our prayer journals. These already are precious books your children are writing to the Lord. I am amazed by their drawings!

Miss Holly, our art teacher, will be coming every Thursday and Friday now. She is a wonderful art teacher and I can't wait for her to get to know your children. We will be working with specific colors during art time and the color wheel.

This week looks to be a little cooler, so please make sure to send a jacket each day and make sure your preschooler has socks and shoes on. The grass tends to be a little wet, and toes can get cold pretty fast. We are enjoying our daily time outside so very much!

I am no longer putting paper newsletters in everyone's box. You will receive a paper newsletter only if you have signed up for one. The sign up sheet is by the sign in/out binder. The volunteer calendar is also there if you would like to sign up for a time to volunteer in the class. In October we will be taking at least one field trip per class, so consider coming along for that!

UPCOMING EVENTS...
10/7 NO PRESCHOOL
10/12 PICTURE DAY - LOOK FOR A FLYER ABOUT THIS COMING SOON
10/27 SHARE DAY
10/28 SHARE DAY
10/31 PUMPKIN PARTY FOR ALL PRESCHOOLERS

Blessing upon your week!

Mrs. Krantz and Mrs. Barrington

Beautiful Stones

2011-09-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

Our first SHARE Day was a HUGE success! Each child had a special item to tell his/her classmates about, and they all did a fantastic job! They all were fabulous listeners as they heard about all the items in the circle! Such a fun time!

We made beautiful garden stones today. The preschooler mixed their own concrete and then decorated their stones to their liking. The will be dry and ready to go home on Tuesday! We also got busy working with play dough, shooting baskets, using monster feet for walking and doing some bean bag tossing. Lots of energy, lots of fun!

We had our first T/Th Chapel time with Pastor Dudley. We saw a big red tool box full of some pretty neat tools. Then we learned that we are all part of God's tool box! We can be God's tool for sharing love and helping one another! Our pastor comes up with some pretty cool stuff for these kids!

It was also our first day or Art with Miss Holly. She brought in some very colorful balloons. Ask your preschooler about art today!

Getting Our Hands Dirty

2011-09-21T13:12:00.000-07:00

Today we made garden stones! We mixed up our own concrete and added jewels and letters to make out own special garden stone! It was so much fun to make the same thing that we saw being poured out of the cement mixer just last week! We also used popsicle sticks and playdough to make some buildings. Half of the classroom was taped off to become an elevator construction site. There was a lot of hammering, measuring and sawing going on in that corner of the room!

Worship time included a new song, "I Love You Lord." We also found out that God can talk to us through the Bible! We read John 8:12. Look it up with your preschooler when you have a minute and ask them what they think about it. I'm sure they will love to share with you!

While we were outside, we walked over to the elevator construction site to see what the workers were up to. They have been busy sawing lumber and building a frame. We saw some big tool belts full of some fantastic tools. The saw was very loud.

Thursday and Friday are SHARE Days. Help you preschooler choose ONE item to bring to tell his or her classmates about. Help them decide on three things to say about their item. At opening circle, they will have the opportunity to tell us about their SHARE item!

Construction Site

2011-09-20T12:55:00.000-07:00

We started our morning with a book about construction sites. We are also learning the different parts of a book. When reading with your preschooler, take a second or two to point out the front cover, back cover, author and illustrators names and the title page. The saw through pictures the different types of construction sites and then we went to see what our construction site was up to. Ask your preschooler what they saw happening with the elevator this morning!

Centers time included sorting nuts and bolts, building with glue and toilet paper rolls, building a road and putting up garages, playing a color dinosaur game and a few other fun things!

We had a special day because we celebrated a birthday! Congrats to the birthday boy and thanks for the yummy treats and awesome rings!

Worship was wonderful as we lit a candle for each child to show how Jesus love and light shines in each one of us. They were so quiet and focused as the candles were lit and as they were told how much Jesus loves them!

We went outside and enjoyed the fall morning! We ended at circle time looking at our construction site book again and naming things in the pictures. GREAT FUN!

SHARE day is Thursday. Please help your preschooler pick ONE item they would like to bring to class to tell their friends about. Help them think of three things to say about their item. During centers time, they will have opportunity to play with their item if they so choose. If they would rather not have it out, it will stay safely in their cubby.

Caution!

2011-09-19T12:56:00.000-07:00

I don't think today could have been more fun even if we tried! The group was ready and excited to get busy exploring our construction site. We started with a discussion about the word CAUTION, as we had caution tape to use in our room. We found out that it means to "BE CAREFUL." Anytime we see that yellow caution tape, we know what to do! Then we got busy building walls, establishing a safe construction site, sorting nuts and bolts, working with tools and a whole lot of other fun things. Later we made word cards that have construction words written on them. They are all over the room!

During our worship time, we lit a candle for each person in the classroom to show that Jesus shines in each one of us. I am enjoying how focused and interested the children are during our worship time. We are learning a few more songs and started to learn the Lord's Prayer!

The fall weather makes for fabulous outside time. Soon we will be seeing lots of changes outside! Please remember to send a jacket on cool days!

Coming Up This Week

2011-09-18T12:42:00.000-07:00

Get your hard hats on because we are entering the construction zone! This week begins our journey to the construction site. On our trip we will be discovering colors, textures, sounds, shapes, word, numbers and a whole lot more. Watch for word cards to go up around the room that have some of our favorite construction words written on them. Keep an eye out for caution tape and signs in our classroom. We’ll be busy building all kinds of thing with a variety of materials. Handmade garden stones are also on the list of things to do this week!

This week is also our first time to have SHARE Day! The kids have been waiting and waiting! This is the chance for your child to choose ONE of his/her items from home to bring to class to tell everyone about! Please remember that toy guns, swords, and other such toys are not allowed in the classroom. Please help your child choose something to bring and help them think of 3 things to tell about their item. At opening circle, everyone will have an opportunity to share about their item. This becomes a favorite day for the kids and it is so fun to see the confidence of the children grow over the year as they share in front of their peers! Please let me know if you have any questions!

Our worship time will continue to take a look at Jesus as the light of the world. We will be learning a Bible verse about this, continue to learn a few new songs and have a chance to pray to God through our art work. We will start our prayer journals this week!

Please apply sunscreen to your child before preschool if you would like them to have it on for our outside time. You are also encouraged to send a water bottle with your child that can be kept in his/her cubby during preschool time, so that they can easily stay hydrated. Please take the water bottle home each day.

This is the last week for paper newsletters. I will only send home a paper newsletter to those families who request it. There is a clipboard by the sign in/out binder. All the newsletter information is available on our blog.

Mrs. Krantz and Mrs. Barrington

Happy Birthday Mrs. Barrington!

2011-09-16T12:58:00.000-07:00

That's right! Mrs. Barrington is having a birthday, so we were sure to celebrate! Birthday's are a BIG deal in preschool, even a teacher's birthday. She even wore a crown!

Today we used our bodies to make numbers. The easiest number was the number 1. It took some pairing up to make the other numbers, but it sure was fun. We also use pipe cleaners to shape the numbers we've been working with. The new sidewalk was being poured today, and we had a great view from the big windows in the staircase. We talked about the tools being used, the big boots the workers were wearing, why we couldn't walk on the new sidewalk yet and we saw the concrete coming down the slide from the truck. The preschoolers watched for about 5 minutes, completely absorbed in the process! There is nothing like seeing the real thing!

Centers time was lots of fun with a spontaneous mask making activity! We also did some beading, pipe cleaner formations and dress up.

Worship time was fantastic as the children are catching on to the routine of this time! Ask your preschooler about our time at worship.

The cool fall day was a welcome outside companion! Giggles filled the air and smiles warmed out hearts as we watched you children play together. Such wonderful friendships are growing and we are so happy to be blessed with the opportunity to watch! Thanks for a great week with your kids!

What's That Noise?

2011-09-15T13:22:00.000-07:00

A jackhammer of course! We listened to the tool off and on all morning and even got to see it in action. We had a perfect view from outside the office. We watched as the jackhammer broke up the old sidewalk and we felt the vibrations on the bottoms of our feet. Very cool!

The preschoolers has a glorious time sharing their color posters. It is so wonderful to see them so proud of their work! The posters will soon be on display in the classroom!

We mixed red and yellow paint together to make a new color. Ask your preschooler about it! We also colored chameleons just like the chameleon in our color book. Our chameleons are throughout the classroom!

At worship, we lit our candle and talked about how the light can remind us that Jesus is the light of the world and is with us. When the candle was snuffed out, we talked about how the light was going to change from a flame to something else. Ask your preschooler what happened!

The cool, fall weather was beautiful as we enjoyed the breeze on the playground. Soon we will be watching for signs of autumn! When the weather is cool, please remember to send a jacket for your preschooler.

Duck, Duck, Goose!

2011-09-14T12:51:00.000-07:00

The number line is coming together! The preschoolers enjoyed sharing their posters and soon the line will be going up on the wall. Thanks for all you at home help with this project!

Today we learned how to make a tally sheet and took clip boards around the classroom to count and tally things up. Memory was a fun game that s few preschoolers chose to play with one another, building was a busy place, more mail went in the mailbox and number charts were made. Busy morning.

We had our first chapel time with Pastor Dudley. Chapel takes place upstairs in the sanctuary. He taught us about making lists and praying to God for the things we need and the things we want. We sang songs, prayed together and received a blessing!

Outside was a lot of fun as the preschoolers decided to play Duck, Duck, Goose! This group works so well together! They all chose to play and we had a wonderful 15 minutes of a group game. Spectacular!!!

Colors Everywhere!

2011-09-13T13:01:00.000-07:00

We love colors! We spent a lot of time today looking for colors, using colors, and naming the colors of things around us. Painting was by far the most popular activity. We painted with tempera and used finger paints. The children loved to see what happened when the colors were mixed together. We also used our balance beam, which is a rainbow of colors, to practice naming the colors. As we balanced, we named the color we were balancing on.

We had a fun surprise today... the cement mixer came to pour cement for the elevator. We took a front row seat to watch the action. It was fun to listen to all the sounds of the mixer and see just how big it was.

At worship we learned how to get our bodies still so we can listen to what God has to say to us. We practiced wiggling and then making our bodies still. We sang a song to help us know when it is time to be still.

Each preschooler took home a poster with a color labeled on it. Directions were sent home along with the poster. Have your preschooler decorate the poster with the appropriate color and return it on Thursday so we can add our color line to the classroom! Thanks!

Numbers

2011-09-12T13:07:00.000-07:00

We are off to a great week as we dive into the numbers 1-12. We have a great group of counters who did a great job helping me figure out how to make a number line during opening circle. Everyone contributed in the process of making our line, so we had some great teamwork going on!

During centers time we did some great number games with pegs and one that matched the number of objects with the correct number. We also played with dominoes, made out own personal number lines, read books, played farm, and worked at the workbench.

Our feast included fresh carrots, tomatoes, dip and goldfish crackers. YUMMY!

During worship we learned new ways to help ourselves be able to listen to God. We learned a little bit about helping our bodies and voices be still. We sang some songs to talk to God and received special blessings for the day.

Outside time was full of children running! Bikes and treasure were also a lot of fun. We are loving this weather and being able to be outside!

Each family went home with a number line poster to complete and bring back on Wednesday! Please take a moment to help your preschooler!

Curriculum Corner

2011-09-11T13:08:00.000-07:00

We are excited and ready for a new week at preschool. We certainly enjoyed the first few days with your children and we can’t wait to get to know them, and you, better.

This week the M/W/F group will be working with numbers 1-12 and the T/Th group will be getting messy with colors. Watch the blog to find out just what we did each day as we explore numbers and colors. A small homework assignment will be sent home and we ask that you return the project the following day your child is at preschool. They are simple, fun projects that you can do with your child that won’t take too much time. Thanks!

Our worship time will take a look at Jesus as the light of the world. Each worship time we light a candle that helps us remember Jesus being our light. We will also continue to learn about our worship time and find out about new ways we can talk to God.

I will send home a paper newsletter for the next two weeks. After that, I will only send home a paper newsletter to those families who request it. All the newsletter information is available on our blog.

UPCOMING EVENTS…

September 14 Book Orders Due

September 22 SHARE DAY

September 23 SHARE DAY

October 7 No Preschool

October 12 Picture Day (more info to come)

Special Reminders

2011-09-11T13:03:00.001-07:00

Please be sure to have an extra change of clothing in your child’s cubby!

CHECK YOUR MAILBOX Everyday!

Book Orders Are Due on Wednesday

First Week Down!

2011-09-09T13:09:00.000-07:00

This week went fast! In May, we will be thinking the same thing, only about the entire school year. So we do our best to make certain we enjoy every moment we can as we teach your children!

If you take a look at yesterday's blog entry, you will get a good idea of the routine in the classroom. This can help you understand the flow of the morning and will also give you a good place to start in conversation with your preschooler.

At opening circle we did another name game song as we are still learning the names of everyone in the class! Pastor Dudley also stopped in so the preschoolers could say hello and so that the new preschoolers would know who he was. We will see him almost everyday and if this year is like that last 4 year, he will become one of their FAVORITE people!

Centers time included balancing on river stones and a foam balance beam, writing cards and putting them in envelopes to mail, and using long strip of paper to write and draw, stamping, play dough, dancing to some great music and listening to books at the listening center.

We had a birthday girl in our classroom today, so we had special birthday cupcakes to celebrate her day!

Worship time included learning more ways of talking to God. We sang songs, and learned a new song. We use our hands while we sing, this is another way we can talk to Jesus. We also drew pictures for Him. These were sent home, so be sure to ask your preschooler about his/her picture. As the year goes on, each child will be given a blank notebook they can use as their prayer journal. When they would like to make a drawing for God, they can use their journal. When their journal is full, it will be sent home and they will get a new journal to start. Using art is a wonderful way for children to communicate with the Lord. Many times children will give loved ones pictures as a sign of their affection. This is the same principle. This is something you can very easily do at home too!

We made our way outside to feel the warm sunshine and play in the fresh air. The jewels hidden on the playground have brought a lot of joy to the children as they have searched for treasure, collected precious stones, created a birthday house with gems just to name a few treasure games. the cars and bike are also getting great use!

Have a fabulous weekend and we will be excited for a new week together on Monday!

Making Comments

2011-09-08T13:39:00.001-07:00

A few parents told me that they were unable to make comments on the blog. This is now fixed and you should be able to comment! Enjoy!

Discovering the Routine

2011-09-08T13:14:00.000-07:00

Well, it was another fabulous day at preschool! Seriously, these kids are wonderful.

Just so you know, we follow a daily routine. This routine starts with hand washing at arrival time, signing in at the sign in table with Mrs. Krantz, book time with Mrs. Barrington and then we start opening circle. Opening Circle begins with our hello song. We find out who the room helpers are for the day, have our calendar and weather time and then do a group lesson, game or activity. Centers time comes next with the preschoolers having a good amount of time to choose activities throughout the room. Today that included dot painting, roller painting, cutting and pasting collages, moon sand at the sensory table, dramatic play and building areas, river stones for balancing and a foam balance beam, rock investigation and a few other fun things. This is a great time for the preschoolers to learn how to interact with their peers, to engage in conflict resolution, to negotiate and make good choices. It is also a time to make fabulous discoveries as they play and grow.

As centers time comes to an end, they hear the 5 minute bell ring letting them know that they have 5 more minute to play. As the time comes to a close, we count backwards from 10 down to 0 and clean up begins. This group has done an amazing job cleaning up. We head to circle for a story to be read. Then the preschoolers line up as their name is called to head to the bathrooms for bathroom time and hand washing before our feast. We have a bat named Henry who likes to come out of my pocket when the hallway is quiet. Since bats have very sensitive ears, he only comes out to dance when his ears don't hurt. Once he has decided to visit, we sing for him because Henry is a great dancer!

Our feast is next. We say our prayer together and then the snack is served family style. Today we had Ritz crackers and craisins. As each child finishes eating, they clean up there area and find a towel, their rug, and take it to an area of the classroom that they choose. They unroll their rug and find a faith book to quietly read while we wait for others to finish the feast. This is a time that we are preparing our hearts and our minds for our worship time.

Mrs. Barrington then invites children one at a time to go to the worship center. Once everyone has arrived, we greet one another and sing a few songs. Today we talked about talking to God. We can talk to God by singing, by talking, and we can even talk to God through our art. Each child drew a picture for God today. As the year continues, each child will have a prayer journal that they can use to draw picture for God. We closed our time with the song "Go Now in Peace" and I gave each child a special blessing whispered in his/her ear and they went to line up for outside time.

We went outside and enjoyed time running, sliding, digging, biking, balancing, chalk drawing, looking for treasure and blowing bubbles. We do lots of fun, loud things outside!

We close our morning with one last gathering together at the Jesus carpet. We talk about what we did that day and either make a list, a chart or a graph. Today we made a graph and talked about the word "most." Mrs. Barrington read a book and then each child was dismissed with a blessing song.

So I hope this helps you understand the flow of the morning. It can give you a starting point when discussing the morning with your child!

So Happy Together!

2011-09-07T13:13:00.000-07:00

If I could choose one word to describe today, it would be "DELIGHTFUL!" It truly was a delight to see old friends get together again and watch the blossoming of new friendships begin. It is indeed a precious gift to watch these early friendships form in your children!

We started our day with circle time where we learned names and discovered what circle time is all about. Our Meteorologist dressed our penguin for the weather and our calendar helper pointed out the days of the week while we sang each day. We also began learning the months of the year and we counted the apples up to 7, since today it the 7th of September. Each child will have the opportunity to be a room helper many times during the year. They are very excited for this!

Centers time included a lot of activity at the moon sand, dollhouse and dress up clothing. Roads were also built, complete with road signs. Some of the preschoolers chose to do a journal entry about what they thought preschool will be like. These journal pages will be kept and put in their binder so at the end of the year they you have a book written and illustrated by your preschooler!

Our feast time was fabulous as they served themselves family style. After eating, they cleaned up their own area, picked a rug and a faith book to read as they prepared their hearts and minds for worship. Our worship time was an introduction to our worship area, a little bit of singing and a dismissal with a personal blessing just for your child!

Outside was HOT, but that didn't stop anyone from treasure hunting dancing with ribbons, drawing with chalk, riding bikes, playing house and climbing on the structure. We had so much fun!

Thanks so much for allowing us to be part of your children's lives. It is a true blessing!

It Was a Fantastic First Day!

2011-09-06T13:09:00.000-07:00

We couldn't have asked for a better first day of preschool! We had a tear free morning (at least kiddos... I think there were some misty eyed parents!) full of fun and energy! We began the morning singing a hello song to everyone as we start the process of learning all the new names of our new friends. We saw how circle time goes and discovered that everyday there are room helpers. Many times throughout this year your preschooler will get to be a room helper!

Centers time followed and there was a lot of exploring in the classroom, digging in the moon sand, getting dinosaur land put together, building at the workbench, cooking in the kitchen, designing roads and watercolor painting. Busy times!

This is a great group of cleaners and clean up time went super fast. We read a great book about a red, ripe strawberry and a big hungry bear. Ask your preschooler about it! Then it was off to the bathroom to get our hands washed for our feast. After our fest we pulled out our rugs and did a few minutes of quiet reading to prepare our hearts for worship time. At worship time we learned that our worship space is a special place where we don't have to hurry, we talk a little quieter so we don't disturb someone who might be talking to God, we listen to and see some sacred stories from the Bible and we will get opportunities to do some neat things with the stories we have heard. I am new to this curriculum style and am very excited to see how it goes! The kids thought is was great.

Outside time included bubbles, bikes, cars, digging for treasure, sliding down the slide, playing in the house and running around enjoying the sun.

Thanks again for the wonderful opportunity to be part of your young child's life. We are honored to be your child's teachers!

A New Year at Preschool!

2011-09-02T11:24:00.000-07:00

WELCOME to a brand new school year at Concordia Lutheran Preschool! We are certainly looking forward to getting to know each preschooler and their families. Our prayer is that God enables us to provide a fabulous preschool experience for them while we have fun learning, exploring, investigating, reading, singing, building friendships and much more. We also are so blessed to be able to openly share the love of Jesus with each child is our classroom!

These next few weeks will focus on learning the names of our classmates, discovering the routine of the classroom, exploring the different areas of our room, getting to know one another and making sure each child find this preschool to be a safe, warm, and inviting place to be.

I will send home a paper newsletter for the first three weeks. After that, I will only send home a paper newsletter to those families who request it. All the newsletter information is available on our blog. The information for the upcoming week will always be posted the Sunday evening before the week begins. Multiple updates will also be posted throughout the week to keep you informed about the happenings of our room! You can subscribe to the blog to have the new updates delivered to your email address. Please let me know if you have any problems receiving the updates via email.

Again, we look forward to teaching your children and partnering with you to provide the best experience possible for your child. ALWAYS feel free to contact me with any questions, concerns, ideas, etc.

SPECIAL REMINDERS
Please be sure to have an extra change of clothing in your child’s cubby!
CHECK YOUR MAILBOX EVERYDAY!!!
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We Are Excited!

2011-09-01T13:26:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Barrington and I are very excited to get this year going with our wonderful group of preschoolers! It was wonderful to have everyone in the classroom together, to meet family members, see the preschoolers with one another and just begin to build family relationships that will grow and be strengthened over this coming school year.

Please remember to subscribe to this blog if you would like the updates to come straight to your email inbox. You can do that by using the gadget on the right hand side bar. This is a great way to stay updated about what is going on, what upcoming events are and what went on in preschool that morning. Share this blog address with relatives and they can keep updated on what your preschooler is up to!

I pray that you all have a safe and happy holiday weekend. See you next week!!!

Getting Ready

2011-08-19T13:26:00.000-07:00

The preschool classroom is starting to buzz with activity and preparations! On Thursday, a group of congregation members swooped in to clean and sanitize the classroom and our equipment in preparation for our new group of preschoolers! Thanks to Ken, Karen, Dudley, Beth, Isaac and Hannah! Next week the carpets will be cleaned and then I will hit the ground running as Mrs. Barrington and I get the classroom set up at ready to go! We are looking forward to full classes with lots of life and energy!

Those students returning will find some fun new things in our classroom thanks to money raised from our Auction and Art Show! The classroom will be set up a little differently as well and we will be trying out some fun new things with our Jesus Time each day. I'm really excited about it!

Orientation is just around the corner and I certainly am looking forward to connecting with new families and students and reconnecting with those that are returning. I get more and more excited as each day goes by!

If you have any questions before orientation, please feel free to call the church office or email me at clppullman@gmail.com. See you soon!

Sent Forth with God's Blessings!

2011-05-26T12:51:00.000-07:00

May the Lord bless you, and keep you always,
May the Lord bless these children, bless them everyday!

Almost Done

2011-05-25T13:15:00.000-07:00

We are rounding the corner to the end of our last week of preschool. We enjoyed our day together in lots of different ways. We watched our preschool DVD, although that didn't last too long, we played in the moon sand, made journal entries about our favorite things about preschool, played farm, took care of babies and just enjoyed one another!

We had our last chapel with Pastor Dudley. Everyone got a turn to be the acolyte. This was by far a favorite part of the morning! We talked about being the hands and feet of Jesus.

We ended our morning with some wonderful outside time.

Remember that Thursday and Friday are SHARE Days and the end of the year parties begin at 11am. Families are welcome to join us!

Watching Our Movie

2011-05-24T12:54:00.000-07:00

We had such a great time today as we watched the preschool DVD, starring the preschoolers! It was fun to see them remember then different things we have done over the year and beam with pride when they were on the big screen!

We also spent time on the balance beam, bouncing on the big riding balls, creating a volcano in the moon sand, writing letters, and working with puzzles.

We sang our favorite Jesus Time songs, heard the story of the Holy Spirit coming to the disciples, and spent some time praying with each other.

Music with Miss Marsha ended our day as we danced, listened the the birds sing, and played a fun game about Lucy Locket.

SHARE Day is Thursday and out party will be at 11:00am. Parents are welcome to join in!

Cardboard Fun

2011-05-23T12:53:00.000-07:00

We started the day with some fun rhyming words. We made lists of words that rhyme with BUG, BALL and SUN. The kids were enjoying these lists and even made up some great nonsense words for the lists!

Centers included cardboard fun. They asked for cardboard, and I just happened to have a bunch of it stored away, so we brought it out and amazing inventions, art and creations followed. We had wings, houses, garages, as projects yet to be finished. They were so engrossed with their activity that we went longer than usual. We had a great time!

The preschoolers also took some time today to help clean and organize our room. We checked the games to make sure the pieces were there and in the right boxes, we checked the puzzles and some of the manipulatives. We also took art from the walls and delivered the artwork the the correct cubby. What great helpers!

SHARE Day is Friday!!!

Our Last Week

2011-05-22T13:33:00.000-07:00

This year has flown by! The last week of preschool comes with a lot of emotions… sadness to say goodbye to some wonderful kids, excitement to know they are going to do an amazing job in Kindergarten, joy for the arrival of summer, anticipation for next fall… so many things! Thanks for a great year!

This week we will be doing some of your kids’ favorite things! They will be choosing activities and projects for centers times. We will be singing our favorite Jesus Time songs and praying together. We will get outside as much as we can and work together to clean up our room as we say goodbye.

We will have SHARE DAY on Thursday and Friday!!!! Your kids are going to love bringing one last SHARE to preschool this year!

The last half hour of preschool on Thursday and Friday will be our closing parties. Thanks to those parents who are planning! You are welcome to come and join us as we celebrate the year together. Come around 11am if you want to take part!

Special thanks for coming to the Closing Program and Graduation and to those who brought food! We had such a fabulous time and the kids did such a great job! Thanks again!