Welcome to School!

We are so proud of our kids for making new friends, learning new routines and we are having a great time already this school year!  Check out these pictures from our first week!

Helping Your Preschooler Adjust to School

The beginning of the school year is very exciting, but it can also be a very overwhelming time for both preschoolers and their parents.  It is very normal for your child to need some adjustment time to a new school, new friends and new routines.  We are here to help you!

During the first few weeks of school, don’t be disturbed if your child:

• is shy and clings to you.
• is aggressive and won’t share.
• hits and refuses to take turns.
• tires easily and cries a great deal.
• resists using the school bathroom and has accidents.
• doesn’t talk much about what happened at school.

These are all symptoms of adjusting to a new situation and will disappear as your child becomes comfortable with the teachers, other children, and the classroom routines.  Be sympathetic and supportive!

 You can help by:

• letting your child bring in a favorite security object (such as a stuffed animal or blanket) to keep in his/her backpack or cubby for naptime.
• letting your child just stand and watch, knowing observation is one way of participating.
• not putting pressure on your child to produce something to take home.
• not pushing your child to conform to routines without time to adjust.
• allowing lots of morning time for personal routine, a nourishing breakfast, and a pleasant ride to school.
• having a cheerful, positive attitude as your child leaves you, either at home or at school, such as: “Goodbye!  I’ll see you later!”
• encouraging talk about school by asking specific questions, such as, “Did you play with the blocks today?”  Or, “What did you have for snack today?” 

Remember: the more relaxed the parent, the more relaxed the child.

Picture books about the beginning of school can help to lessen apprehensions, and more importantly, can open a channel of communication about school between you and your child.  Here are some books we suggest:

• It Happens To Everyone, by Bernice Myers
• If You Take a Mouse To School, by Laura Numeroff
• Starting School, by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
• The Kissing Hand, by Audrey Penn

No matter how your child responds to school, please be assured that we are prepared for this transition, and we will do everything possible to make it a smooth one.  We are here to nurture and love your child as he/she adjusts to school!  Please feel free to talk to us at any time about how your child is doing and how we can work together to make the transition as smooth as possible! 

Summer Preschool Events

Don't forget that the preschool fun lasts all summer long!  Make sure to join us for these fun events!

Year End Celebration Week

We have worked so very hard this past year on learning and growing, that we took the last full week of school to celebrate all of our hard work.  We had so much fun and loved every minute of our celebrations!


Monday - Bubbles, Popsicles & Sidewalk Chalk

Tuesday - Art Day

Wednesday - Bike Day

Thursday - Water Day at War Memorial Splash Pad

Friday - Pajama & Movie Day

Summer Fun Activities to Keep Learning

It's hard to believe that we are so close to the end of the school year, and summer days are ahead.  Our kids are ready to take a break from their schoolwork, and they have definitely earned a break!  Even though summer is much more laid back, the learning does not have to stop.  Our preschoolers have grown and learned so much this year, and we want them to keep that learning going, even while on their summer break.  So, how do you do this?  No worries, we have a great list of ideas that can be incorporated into your summer plans! 

To Keep Those Reading and Letter Recognition Skills Sharp

So, you are driving down the road on the long road trip, enjoying the scenery, and then you hear the words, "I'm bored!"  Our favorite activity for road trips is the Alphabet Game.  Start with A and work your way through the entire alphabet, using road signs, license plates and billboards. 

Check out the Library!  The Central Arkansas Library System has a fantastic Summer Reading Program, even for preschoolers.  You will find everything from weekly story times to activities for the whole family.  Preschoolers can get their own library card, so give them the responsibility of keeping up with their card and then checking out their own books!  They will love it!

Get Into Groceries!  As you are making out your grocery list, let your preschooler help write some of the letters and point out letters already on your list.  When you get to the store, ask them to help you find the items on your list, giving them hints like, "We need Peanut Butter.  Let's find the jar that has two words: the first word starts with a P and the next word starts with a B."

1, 2, 3 Math

Number Game  Similar to the Alphabet Game for road trips, but this time you are looking for a specific number of objects.  Start with #1 and work your way up to #20.  Find an object that is in groups of whatever number you are looking for.  For example , "We are on #5, let's find 5 of something.  Oh look, 5 birds!"

Go Old School with a Lemonade Stand!  This was one of my kid's favorite things to do on a summer afternoon or whenever we had a garage sale.  It does require some hands-on parent help, but this can be such a fun way for kids to learn about math through counting and making change.

Don't Forget Science!

Create a Weather Chart  Our last favorite thing to do to keep our learning going is through Science.  We LOVE making weather charts in preschool, so start a summer chart and each day mark whether or not it is cloudy, sunny or raining.  Have your preschooler help write the temperature (check it at the same time each day for an accurate chart) and then talk about your findings!

No matter what you have planned this summer, learning can always be incorporated into your summer fun! Be creative and share any ideas you have with us! We hope everyone has a fantastic summer!

Afternoon Special Classes

We have special classes each afternoon during the week, and on Fridays we have Music & Art History.  These are some of our favorite classes because we get to be really creative.  Today, we learned about tempo and pitch in Music Class and in Art History, we learned about George Seurat and Pointillism.  We even had a chance to practice everything we learned in Music & Art! Be sure to check out our facebook page for videos from our Music Class!

Field Day Fun!

Every year, at the end of school year, we take a day off from our studying and just have fun!  We play games all over the playground and our school campus.  Our favorites this year were sidewalk chalk drawing, bubbles and the parachute!  We rounded out the rest of the day with an outdoor picnic and some extra playground time outside!

Muffins with Mom - Happy Mother's Day!

We had a great time this week with our wonderful mothers and grandmothers!  First off to chapel, then to a scrumptious breakfast celebration in our classroom where we gave our moms their Mother's Day Presents (we made really cool garden stepping stones).  We practiced so hard to sing our special songs, just for our moms, and we did a great job!  Happy Mother's Day, thank you moms and grandmoms for all you do to make our lives so special!

Thunderstorm Ideas for Preschoolers

Spring thunderstorms can play havoc on playtime and bedtime routines, causing the house to be a bit crazy!  Most kids, and especially preschoolers, have a fear of thunderstorms.  This is completely natural, and most will grow out of that fear, but there are some ways that you can help your preschooler work through the storms.  We can all remember when our parents would do everything from singing songs, to making up stories about God having a bowling tournament or that God was building our home in heaven and He had some big dump trucks working and flashing their lights.  As parents, we are always looking for new ideas to help our kids, and we wanted to share some of our ideas with you!

1)      There are a number of good books that talk about thunderstorms.  One of the best ways to help children overcome their fears is to get them talking about it.  Some of these books talk about fear of storms, while others help explain why thunderstorms and rain are good things!  Here are a few of our favorites:

 

a.       Just a Thunderstorm – Gina & Mercer Mayer 

  

b.      Thunder-Boomer! – Shutta Crum

c.       Why Does It Thunder & Lightning? -  Chris Arvetis, Carole Palmer

 

 

2)      Start a new and exciting, one-on-one project when you start hearing the thunder roll.  Make sure that you are completely engaged and focused on the activity and your child, so you can be ready to react when that loud thunder claps and the bright lightning strikes!  Here are some ideas for creative projects for storm time:

a.       Pull out the water colors!  Paint a picture of what rain, thunder and lightning looks like, but then talk about how it makes the flowers grow and the rivers flow!

b.      Start Gardening!  No, we are not saying to take your kids out into the storm, but spread out a sheet on the kitchen floor and plant some potted flowers, vegetables or herbs.  Talk about how everything you are planting needs water to grow!

c.       Make a fort!  This might be our favorite rainy day activity, and it has the bonus of blocking out the visual of the storm, making your kids forget all about that rain and wind pounding the windows.  Pull out the sheets and the clothespins and build the castle of their dreams!  Arm them with flashlights, glow sticks, stuffed animals and watch the fun begin!

3)      Create a Silly Storm Box!  There are times when the storms are so loud that all of the above ideas just don’t work.  Then it’s time to pull out the Silly Storm Box.  Take a tool box or any box that you have around the house that is easy to carry and store in a closet.  Stock it full of playdough, fun books & doodle pads, paper dolls, small lego sets, etc.  You can find all sorts of toys and trinkets in the dollar bins at stores, and they are just enough to help occupy through the storm!  The excitement of having something new to play with will be something exciting and will make your child focus more on what is in the box, than on what is going on outside.

Try these ideas during the next storm!  Make sure to let us know how well they work for your family by commenting on our blog or on our facebook page!

Easter Fun!

We had so much fun on Friday with our Easter Celebrations!  We started out the day with a special Jesus time with Mrs. Lamb, where we talked about how Jesus dying on the cross gives us new life in Him!  She even brought a real bunny for us to see!

After our Jesus time, we continued our celebration by having our Easter themed center time- dying eggs, drawing an Easter themed picture, puzzles, and a science center where we learned about rabbits and took turns holding our bunny visitor.  Rounding out our center time was a special Easter snack-it was so yummy!

And because we still wanted to have some Easter fun, we headed out to the courtyard for an Easter Egg Hunt and then after some playtime on the playground, we ended the day with an Outside Pizza Picnic!

Thank you to all our parents & grandparents who sent eggs for our hunt and spent time with us on Friday morning!  We hope you had a wonderful Easter celebration!