Room 5
February 2012
February will start off finishing off our celebration of Chinese New Year. It is the “Year of the Dragon.” Our classroom is decorated and our dragon will soon make its debut!
On Tuesday, February 14th we will be exchanging Valentines. Below you will find a list of all of your child’s classmates. Please let your child write their friend’s names by themselves. We know this may take some time and patience, but it’s really good practice for them. If you feel that the names are too hard to read just write the name lightly in pencil on the back. The morning of the 14th we would love it if two or three parents could come in first thing in the morning to help the children distribute their Valentines into their friend’s bags. Please let us know if you can help.
Our change jar for Haiti has a little over $8 in it. Thanks so much to everyone who has sent change in. In past years we have collected between $150 and $200 for this important cause. This community service project will end with our pretzel store. More details about this event will follow.
Below you will find a calendar of upcoming events as well as a list of the students’ names for the Valentines. As always, if you have any questions or concerns please let us know.
February 2-In house registration begins
14-Valentine’s Day Celebration
14-Chapel (9:30am)
21-Mardi Gras Parade (11:45am)
28-Chapel (9:30am)
Avalyn Billy Bobby Brendan Sh. Brendan Sp. Cameron
Conner Emily Jacob Josh Philip Julianna Matthew Walt
January 2012
Happy 2012! We hope that you all had a wonderful holiday.
We have a lot of activities planned for the weeks and months ahead. We will start working on making sure that everyone knows how to write their name the “kindergarten way” which is capital letter first followed by lower case. Along with working on writing our names we will be learning to recognize each other’s names. We will do this by looking at the different letters that make up each of our names and which letters are the same and which ones are different. This will be a fun way to work on recognition of lower case and upper case letters as well as letter sounds. We will also be playing some games with our names.
Another thing we will be working on learning is our home addresses (street address and town) and our home phone number. We will do this using repetition and some fun activities such as drawing a map from the preschool to our homes. The children will also be working more with patterns. Using a variety of objects the children will be copying patterns, finishing patterns and coming up with patterns of their own. Along with patterns they will work on sorting objects by a variety of characteristics such as size, color and shape.
Be on the look-out for a conference sign-up sheet to be posted outside of the classroom. If none of the offered times fit into your schedule please let us know and we will make every effort to work with you to find a suitable time to meet. Please keep in mind that you should not bring your child to the conference and if possible it is always nice if both parents can attend.
Starting on January 9th our class will be collecting change for Village of Hope which is a school in Haiti which the church supports. We will have a large jar in the classroom which will keep track of our total (digitally). Each time change is added we will be keeping track of how much we started with, how much we added and how much we ended up with. This will be a great opportunity to work on some basic math skills such as number recognition, money, addition and subtraction. Most importantly we will be doing something to help children in need. We will keep track of our efforts in a special ledger and will continue collecting change until either the end of the school year or the jar is filled. Please do not send in paper money or checks!
Please remember that we will go outside most days unless it is very wet, excessively windy or below freezing. Please dress your children appropriately-hats, mittens (easier for the children to put on themselves), scarves, etc.
We are really working on fostering the children’s independence and Kiss and Ride is a good place to start. Our goal is for everyone to use Kiss and Ride.
We realize that this may cause some anxiety for some of our friends initially, but this is a great way to start preparing them for next year since most Fairfax County elementary schools do not allow parents to walk children to their classrooms.
Thank-you for your continued support. If you have any questions or concerns PLEASE let us know. We are here for you and your children and want them to have the best experience possible.
Calendar of Events
January
10-Chapel (9:30am)
13-Book orders due
16-No School
20-Pajama Day
27-Shoeboxes for troops due
30-31-No School
February
8-Confrences (6pm-8pm)
13-Confrences (12:30pm-1:30pm and 6pm-8pm)
December 2011
It is hard to believe that the holiday season is already upon us. It seems like just yesterday your children were joining us for the first day of school! We have a busy couple of weeks ahead of us!
In November we enjoyed our Thanksgiving feast. Thank you to everyone who sent in food and other items for our feast and special thanks to Mrs. Davis, Mrs. Barrett and Josh’s grandmother who helped prepare the food and serve the children. We hope you enjoyed learning how to cook a turkey courtesy of your children. They have great imaginations!
December will be full of all kinds of fun! The children were welcomed back to the classroom after the Thanksgiving holiday by a Christmas tree. It will be the children’s job to decorate it with ornaments they will be making over the next couple of weeks. We have also started our own version of “I Spy.” Each day we will add a new holiday decoration to our classroom. When the children arrive in the morning they need to look around the classroom and see what is new. By the time December 20th comes around our classroom will be looking very festive!
Don’t forget to save your wrapping paper tubes and mailing tubes for a project we will be working on in January. Paper towel rolls will also be helpful.
Please see the calendar below for information about important dates that are coming up. Have a wonderful holiday season!
December 3-Breakfast w/Santa
1 3-Chapel (9:30am)
16-Sing-a-long (please arrive by 11:40am)
20-Carols and Cocoa (11:30am-This is a special room 5 event. We will share hot cocoa as well as a special treat prepared by the children.)
21-30-No School
November 2011
Wow! Where did October go? It is hard to believe that it is already November. We are heading into a very busy couple of months so be sure to check out the calendar below so that you are ready for all the great things we have coming up.
It was really wonderful seeing all of you at our open house. We really enjoyed meeting you and sharing the children’s delicious pumpkin bread with all of you. They were all so proud to make such a special treat for you!
In November we will continue to work on the numbers 0-10. We will also work more with patterns and sorting. The children will be working on recognizing each other’s names. Using number words which will help introduce them to a variety of letters and their sounds. Most of the books we read this month will deal with Thanksgiving and manners.
As you can see below, our calendar is very full. We do our best to give you advance warning so that you can plan accordingly because we know that you all have busy schedules. Please look at the upcoming events, particularly those in December, as a variety of opportunities to spend time with your child at school.
In January we hope to do an architectural project that will require a large number of wrapping paper tubes, mailing tubes, and paper towel rolls. Please save these for us in the weeks ahead. We will let you know when we come back from our holiday break when you should bring them in.
Lastly, please remember to put a seasonal change of clothing in your child’s bags. Accidents do happen.
We are truly enjoying having your children in our care each day. They are so much fun! Thank-you for sharing them with us!
November
7-8-No School
9-Book Orders Due
15-Chapel (9:30am)
17-Thanksgiving Feast (This feast will be for the children only. Please be on the look-out for a sign-up sheet for things we need for our feast and volunteers (we will need three).)
23-25-No School
30- Tiny Tots Concert at West Springfield High School (Please be on the look-out for a sign-up sheet for drivers. We will need five.)
December
3-Breakfast w/Santa
4-Breakfast w/Santa
1 3-Chapel (9:30am)
16-Sing-a-long (more details to follow)
20-Carols and Cocoa (This is a special room 5 event. We will share hot cocoa as well as a special treat prepared by the children.)
21-30-No School
October 2011
It’s hard to believe that October is here already! We have really been having a good time getting to know each other and learning our classroom routine. During the last few weeks we have divided the children up into groups-anteaters, platypuses, porcupines and armadillos! Four days a week the children are divided into their groups and then they rotate through a variety of activities-two are teacher guided, one is the art center and one is free centers (toys, blocks, books, etc.)
We’ve done a lot so far! We have read over twenty books and we’ve also made two class books which will be added to our book shelf very soon (they just need to be bound). One is called “Germs are not for Sharing” and the other is called “Ten Apples up on Top.” Most of our activities this month will revolve around apples, pumpkins and Halloween.
Our Halloween celebration is on Monday, October 31st this year and since it is our Music and Movement day we will be having a very simple celebration -a special snack and our parade at 11:45am. The children are welcome to wear costumes as long as they do not include masks or restrict their movement in any way. Costumes should not include any weapons. We will be doing a number of fun activities during the week leading up to Halloween.
We have a few requests. Please send in a two part snack for your child. We have about fifteen to twenty minutes to eat and the children rarely finish what you send in because they are spending most of their snack time socializing with their friends (which we love!)! We hate to see so much food wasted! We’d also appreciate it if you continue to check the labels on snacks to be sure they are peanut-free.
Below you will find a calendar of upcoming events. As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions, comments or concerns.
Thank-you
October
10-No School (Columbus Day)
21-Class Pictures
24-Open House (6:30pm-7:30pm)
25-Chapel (9:30am)
31-Halloween Parade (11:45am)
Room 5 Themes 2011-12
September
- Getting to Know Each Other/Friendship
- Germs
- Apples
October
- Fall
- Squirrels
- Halloween
November
- Manners
- Thanksgiving
December
- Music
- Christmas
January
- Penguins/Winter Animals
- Winter
February
- Chinese New Year
- Valentine’s Day
- Feelings
March
- Colors and Rainbows
- St. Patrick’s Day
April
- Easter
- Spring
- Earth Day
May/June
- Insects
- Going to Kindergarten
Welcome
Welcome to the 2011-2012 school year at Lord of Life Preschool! We are very excited to have the opportunity to get to know you and your child and to help him or her lay a strong foundation for the school years ahead.
Our first opportunity to meet each other will be on Wednesday, September 7th from 10:00AM-11:00AM. At this time we will be holding an informal open house in room 5, where you and your child may come to meet us and to see their classroom. We will be available to answer any questions you may have.
Also, on Friday, September 9th we will have our class orientation from 9am-10am. This will give the children an opportunity for a short taste of classroom fun and give the families an opportunity to meet each other and to meet the Preschool Board to hear about activities planned for the school year.
If at any time during the course of the school year you have any questions or concerns please let us know. We want to ensure that your child has the most successful year possible.
A Little Bit About Our Class…
Our Class Goals-
Our goals are to build self-esteem and to instill a love of learning that will encourage the natural curiosity of each child. Teaching young fives is exciting and rewarding. We will send them off ready to face the challenge of kindergarten by developing their social, emotional, physical and cognitive abilities.
Book Club Orders-
We will send book club orders home once a month with your child. Each book you order helps us earn free books for our classroom. If you wish to order, please follow the directions for on-line ordering. The books will arrive in about two weeks and we will put them in your child’s tote bag. Let us know if they are meant to be a special gift that you do not want your child to see.
Snack-
We are asking that each child bring their own snack daily. Our classroom will be peanut -free. Please make sure the snacks you send in do not contain peanuts or peanut products. The container (lunch box or bag) must be clearly dated and labeled in such a way that will identify the owner. Do not send in a drink—we will provide water. Snacks are required by the Virginia Department of Social Services standards to be two parts. From the list below choose two categories for each day and please send in a snack with one item from each of your chosen categories.
Grains
Snack cracker
Bread, muffin, or roll
Dry cereal
Protein
Cheese
Egg
yogurt
Fruit or vegetable
Fresh fruit (we can cut)
Carrots or celery
Canned fruit
Applesauce
Please do not send in candy, cookies, or popcorn for snack.
We strive for independence during snack time and ask that the snack be in containers that the children can open or can be taught to open.
Special treats for birthdays are welcome but will be served in addition to the children’s regular snacks.
Groups-
After the first week of school the children will be divided into groups. During a portion of each day the groups will rotate through different centers. Two of these centers will be teacher guided activities, one will be at the art table and the fourth center will be the child’s choice.
Show and Tell-
Please refer to the monthly calendar to determine what day your child will have show and tell. Please be sure that your child brings only one item on their show and tell day. Also, please make sure that your child’s show and tell requires no special set-up. We only have about five minutes each day for show and tell. No weapons please!
Sign-In
Each day when your child arrives they will find a sign-in sheet on the desk closest to the door. This sign-in sheet is for your child to sign his or her name by themselves. Do not worry if it is not legible! It is meant to be practice.
Lou and Ray-
Every Friday a different child will be bringing home Lou and Ray, along with their sleeping bag, pillow, books and journal. Lou is a stuffed monkey and Ray is his teddy bear. Please take the time to write a short entry in the journal about their stay at your home. We will read the journal entry to all of the children on Monday morning during circle time.
Photographs-
We take a lot of pictures of the children during the school year. These pictures are made available at Walmart.com. They are downloaded to a private account where they can only be viewed by people who are invited. You may also purchase copies of the pictures for a nominal fee. You will receive a form at the beginning of the school year asking for permission to post your child’s pictures.
Last but not least….
PLEASE READ TO YOUR CHILD EVERYDAY!
We are very excited to have the opportunity to work with your children this year. We are always available to discuss any concerns or answer any questions you may have.
ROOM 5 DAILY SCHEDULE
2011-12
MONDAY
9:00-9:30 Free Play
9:30-10:00 Recess
10:00-10:20 Music and Movement w/ Mrs. Wilcox
10:20-10:45 Big Room
10:45-11:05 Snack
11:05-11:15 Circle Time/Show and Tell
11:15-11: 45 Large Group Activity
11:45-12:00 Group Music
TUESDAY/THURSDAY
9:00-9:30 Free Play
9:30-10:00 Recess
10:00-10:15 Circle Time/Show and Tell
10:15-10:45 Big Room
10:45-11:10 Snack
11:10-12:00 Groups*
WEDNESDAY
9:00-9:30 Free Play
9:30-10:00 Recess
10:00-10:15 Circle Time/Show and Tell
10:15-10:35 Big Room
10:35-11:00 Snack
11:00-11:45 Groups*
11:45-12:00 Group Music
FRIDAY
9:00-9:30 Free Play
9:30-10:00 Recess
10:00-10:15 Circle Time/Show and Tell
10:15-10:45 Big Room
10:45-11:15 Snack
11:15-12:00 Groups*
*The children will be divided into four groups. Monday through Thursday we will divide into our groups. It will take two days for each group to rotate through all the activities.