February 2012

At the end of the month we will be saying good bye to Abbey and her family as the move westward—way westward to Washington State. We will miss you! Good luck!

For those with siblings, remember IN HOUSE Registration is Thursday, Feb. 2.

Valentine’s Day will be celebrated on Wednesday, Feb. 15, with an exchange of cards.* I know the boxed cards with current themes are very popular, but if you can have your child add a personal touch with a red crayon, sticker, or glued heart that would be good small motor practice! Or be as creative as you like with homemade cards, but start early so it’s not a big “chore” all at once. I would like to have everyone write either the first letter of their name, or sign their name on the back of the valentine. (Signing 2 a day would put the starting date on Feb. 8 for eleven classmates and two teachers.) You may leave the front of the envelope blank, write the name yourself, or have your student write the name if they are enjoying the process. Please send the cards in a small bag with your child’s name on the outside as each student will do their own “mailing.”

Feb. 15- Chapel at 9:30
Feb. 20- NO School- Presidents Day
Feb. 22- Fire Department Puppet Show
Feb. 27- Happy Birthday Andrew! And Pirate Dress Up Day
Feb. 29- Happy Leap Day! and Chapel at 9:30

We have been introducing sequencing cards, a rhyming word game, and more challenging puzzles. We are working on the months of the year also! Please start practicing with your child your home address and valid phone number (landline, if you still have one is preferred.)

We have some cute Valentine songs, will read Little Red Hen, learn Rub a dub dub Three Men in a Tub, work on opposites and read the math concept book, Capacity.

The magnet blocks, wooden blocks, dress ups, and play dough continue to be favorites as well.

Thanks for conferencing with us on Monday, Jan. 30. The phone conferences will happen in early February. Thanks for sharing your wonderful children with us!

* Class list of first names for Valentines will be put in mailboxes Feb. 1.

January 2012

Happy New Year to all! We hope you, too, had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed the week off. Thank you for the nice cards, gifts, and certificate.

Though the weather has been very nice*, but it could certainly turn fickle. (* Just did!! It got very cold since I drafted the “nice” part.) We take advantage of the playground every day that it doesn’t rain. Please continue to have your child manage their inside-out sleeves and putting on coats for themselves. Please listen for the daily forecast! LOL’s late opening policy is on the website: www.lordoflifepreschool.org. Make sure the clothes in the tote bag are not summertime items please.

We also expect each child to take their lunch box from their tote bag upon arrival at preschool and place it under their coat for easy access at lunchtime. Thank you for labeling those boxes with the day’s date!

Our calendar for January:
January 11- Chapel at 9:30
January 16- No school, Martin Luther King Day
January 20- Pajama Day (Yes! Wear your pj’s to school! Slippers optional, but sneakers are required for the playground)
January 25- Chapel at 9:30
January 27- Shoeboxes for the troop due
January 30 and 31- FCPS and Lord of Life- No School
January 31- Happy Birthday, Grace!!

During January, Parent-Teacher conferences will be scheduled in 15 minute increments. Please be thinking about any questions/concerns which you would like to bring up during that time. It works very well if you jot some notes so all concerns are addressed. We have set aside the morning of January 30 for our conference times. Please look for the sign up sheet by the classroom door. Phone conferences are also an option. Please let us know if that is your preference. We look forward to having individual time to share with you on behalf of the children.

This month we will be listening to new sound stories as well as reviewing m,a,t,h,p,n,c,d,s, and i. Now that we have two vowels we will be “building” more words! We will continue with scissor skills, painting techniques, and investigate with sinking and floating. We will read The Three Billy Goats Gruff and Stone Soup. Projects will center around winter themes.

Remember that you have access to ordering great books at www.scholastic.com.

Please remember to call the office if your child is going to be absent that day.

Thanks for sharing your children with us! Here’s to a fun and happy 2012!

December 2011

Dear Parents,

It likely goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyways: “Oh, my gracious, December already?!?” After our Field Trip to Woodson High School on Nov. 30, we’ll be in the Christmas spirit! Thanks to those volunteering to drive.

We have 2 birthdays in December: Madison on the 12th and Devin on the 22nd. Happy Birthday!!

Other notable dates:
Dec. 3- Breakfast with Santa
Dec. 7- Constructed Gingerbread Houses Due
Dec. 14- Chapel at 9:30
Dec. 16- Sing-a-long at 12:40 and school wide Bake Sale
No school starting On Dec. 21.
School resumes Jan. 3, 2012

Please check the totes to see if your change of clothing is seasonal. Label all outwear and continue to practice buttons and zippers. We prefer mittens to gloves.

Check the preschool website for Inclement Weather policy.

Look for details to follow on the sing-along and the bake sale. Everyone is invited to join us!!

Remember to check the selection of Scholastic books online. Mrs. Sears is our classroom liaison with Scholastic.

We will continue with the next sound stories: Ii for Pickles the Pig (the short vowel sound), Bb for Bobby’s bouncing ball, and Rr for Rosie the robot.

We are still involved with Little Red Riding Hood and will add The Gingerbread Man. Our nursery rhyme is Baa Baa Black Sheep and there will be lots of holiday songs!

Have the merriest of Holiday Seasons!

Thanks for sharing your children with us

November 2011

Dear Parents,

We enjoyed seeing many of you at Open House. Thanks for coming. Hope you have enjoyed displaying their artful creations at home!

October was busy with pumpkins, ghosts, spiders, and witch’s brew. We sing nearly each morning at 9:30 with Mrs. Gray’s class. Hopefully you have been hearing some songs at home. My favorite is Scamper, Scamper. Lyrics were sent home 10/28 with a little mouse.

Here’s another favorite:
Jack O’lantern, Jack O’lantern
You are such a funny sight
As you sit there in the window
Looking out at the night
You were once a little pumpkin
Growing on a sturdy vine
Now you are a Jack O’lantern
Let your candlelight shine!

November will take us to projects and songs with turkeys, harvest food, friendship, Pilgrims and Indians.

We have introduced the sound stories for: Mm (Muzzy the monkey), AA (Pam the Lamb), Tt (Tommy Tuttle’s timer), Pp (Ping and Pong’s Popcorn), Nn (Norman Newsome’s nose), and Hh (Harry the Hound dog). During November we will add Cc, Dd, Ss, Ii, and Bb. Ask your child if they remember the character that goes with the letter! We will also start sight recognition of the color words, continue counting, learn Little Miss Muffet, Little Boy Blue, and practice with scissors. Our fairy tale activities will be with Little Red Riding Hood, which I had planned to spend more time on in October. We may start with The Three Billy Goats Gruff as well. Goldilocks and the Three Bears were such fun to dramatize in September that they held over into October! Mrs. Wilcox also dramatized The Little Old Lady Who was Not Afraid of Anything with the class. We have some budding actors and actresses in the class!

Apologies to Abbey whose birthday was in October and wasn’t mentioned in the newsletter. Happy Birthday and thank you for the fruit snacks!! Mrs. Wilcox’s birthday is on November 8th.

Dates to Note:
Nov. 7- No School- Fairfax Teacher Work Day
Nov. 11- Veterans Day- thank you, troops!
Nov. 16- 9:30 Chapel Visitors are welcome to join us
Nov. 23, 24, and 25- No School. Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Nov. 30- Field Trip to W.T. Woodson for “Tunes for Tots”

Please read the following Field Trip Policy:  

Each class may participate in field trips for which advance notice is given to families.  Drivers who transport other than their own children must provide proof that they have current driver’s licenses and insurance in accordance with the regulations of the state that licenses the driver.    The field trips require parents to help out with the driving (car seats are required).  Students without car seats/parental permission or who arrive after the class has left will not attend the field trip but remain at the school under staff supervision.  For insurance coverage and safety concerns, no siblings are allowed to participate in the school sponsored extracurricular activities.  Please find childcare arrangements for siblings.  One option may be to trade child care with another parent in your child’s class or another class.  Lord of Life Preschool does not necessarily promote businesses visited nor endorse the resource people brought to the preschool.

If you choose to only drive your own child on a field trip, please notify the classroom teacher as soon as possible so that car pools for the other children can be adjusted accordingly.  All children and all drivers (even those going with the parent only) must report to the classroom so that all children can be accounted for prior to leaving for the field trip.  We advise drivers to not use kiss and ride on field trip days but to park and come into the building.

A sign up sheet for driver/chaperones will be posted outside the classroom door on Nov. 9. If you are able to transport 3 or more children please consider attending the show with us. It begins at 10:00 so we would leave the preschool close to 9:15. We expect to be back to LOL by 11:15.

Scholastic Books!! Our site is ready to access for orders!! Use www.scholastic.com and our classroom code is: GL323

Thank you Mrs. Sears for getting that ready!

Please label your child’s outwear: coats, sweaters, hats, mittens! Thanks!

Lunchtime is going well. We ask the children to put their lunchboxes under their hooks when they arrive in the morning so that they can be checked for names and dates and then easily snatched up for lunch. There’s generally masking tape on our counter if you need to add a quick date. Practice please with the “pinch and pull” tactic on the small packages. Some bags have little notches and some are just plain hard to do! We’re going to start having them snip with pair of scissors to handle those pesky ones! Check to see what hints or little snips you can practice at home. Sometimes starting the peel on the banana needs practice too.

Thanks for sharing your children with us!! We have some fun things to do this month!!

October 2011

Dear Parents,

We are off to a great start in Room 8! We’ve been singing seasonal songs, painting, practicing smooth transitions from activity to activity, and learning each others’ names.

Our first two sound stories were M, and A. M is for Muzzy the monkey’s sound as he rubs his tummy having eaten a mashed banana: m-m-m-m-m-m. A is for Pam the lamb (the short vowel sound of the letter A). The way she calls her family sounds like the short vowel: a-a-a-a-a-a-a.

We read the math concept book, Size. On one page is a photo of a real (but small) house in a deep valley and the next page is a real (but large) dollhouse in a photo taken from close up. Just a nice introduction to perspective, comparison, and how distance makes items look different sizes when we know that size is a constant.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears was the fairy tale we visited in different versions. Then we made up a quick story called Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs. They ate bowls of beef stew, not porridge; sat on rocks, not chairs; and slept in caves, not beds. When we found 3 different sized acorns on the playground the story became Squirrel-lilocks and the Three Acorns.

Mary Had a Lamb is a nursery rhyme from the 1800’s which has some interesting verses!

We discussed scissor safety, played Shape and Color Bingo, Alphabet Bingo, Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar, and Simon Says.

And now October looks to be a fun and busy month!

First three important reminders:

-please check the mailboxes in the hallway at dismissal time. (If they are not in the hall, there is no mail)
-keep a set of spare clothing in the tote bag please (We are practicing pouring our own water at lunchtime and doing quite well so far. Not incident-free, but doing well.)
- Please label the lunch with name and day’s date

An additional two requests regarding lunch:

• Please have your child practice opening the packaging on their standard choices. With some items please start the wrapper at the “tear here” site at home. Some items go flying when the package is ripped open, so it does take some practice. The applesauce and fruit cups are tricky and of course we would not expect them to have the top peeled back causing them to drip and leak. Bananas can be given a slight notch to get them started. We do have specifically designated scissors to open the go-gurts, but being able to manage them without too much mess takes practice too.

• Please look at lunch choices and minimize the number of small “nibblings” that take a long time to eat. Ex: box of raisins and many goldfish plus snack bag of pretzels=time consuming nibbles! We generally allow 25 minutes for lunch and try to send uneaten portions that travel well home to you so you can judge portions.

Dates to note:

10/10- Columbus Day No School
10/16- Mrs. Reed’s birthday!
10/21- Class photos
10/24- Open House during the evening in Room 8. Families and caregivers are invited to visit the classroom. Siblings too! Watch for a special invitation!
10/26- Chapel at 9:30 You are always welcome to join us
10/31-Halloweeeeeen!! We will be dressing in costumes and having a parade around the building at 12:40. Cameras and spectators welcome! Details to follow.

If you can send in clean small-sized soup cans for our use at the easel that would be helpful. We are also asking for small empty boxes in October. Any from Jell-O to those small novelty rice boxes are the size that we would like.

Remember to call the school if your child is to be absent.

If you have concerns or questions please call the preschool at 703-323-5581 and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Thanks for sharing your children with us!

September 2011

We hope that everyone had a great summer! It was a shame that a “rain day” washed out our hour-long orientation session on September 9, but we are ready to meet everyone this week! Please bring a 4X6 photo of your child for our bulletin board if you have not already done so.

We will be eating lunch everyday at noon, so make sure your child has a hearty breakfast. Please label your child’s lunch bag or lunchbox with the day’s date and be sure their name is easily visible. The lunches will be taken out of the totes each morning and set under the coats and hooks with your child’s name. Our MWF names are the upper row outlined in blue. We serve water. No juice boxes please.

Birthdays are celebrated with a paper crown and singing to your child. No in-school parties or distributing party invitations allowed. Goody bags are discouraged. We currently have no allergy limitations so each family is invited to send a birthday snack to share with the class. Cupcakes are too gooey! We prefer cookies, ice cream Dixie cups or Rice Crispy bars.

We use the playground everyday that the weather permits so please dress appropriately. A second set of clothing in the tote bag for spills and accidents is required. Please include socks as well as the underpants, shirt, and pants or shorts. You may want to keep a lightweight sweater in the bag also.

Show and Tell this year will be one child per day as assigned on the monthly calendar. Please send one item which is large enough for the group to see easily and sturdy enough to be passed around to each child. Though handheld electronics with small screens are popular, they are not a good choice. On your child’s Show and Tell Day he/she will also be the Line Leader for the day.

Please regularly check with preschool’s website: www.lordoflifepreschool.org for valuable information. If you have not read the Parents Manual please do so.

At the beginning of each month a calendar with Chapel times, show and Tell assignments and activities will be distributed. Please highlight your child’s show and tell day and post the calendar on your refrigerator. Thanks!

We look forward to a safe and fun-packed school year! Thanks for sharing your child with us!

Themes 2011-2012 Room 8

September:
Welcome to School
Apples
Making Friends

October:
Pumpkins and Halloween
Things We Build

November:
Turkeys and Thanksgiving
Who’s in My Family?

December:
Evergreens and Holidays
Using Our Imaginations

January:
Ice and Polar Animals
Tools We Use

February:
Groundhogs and Animal Homes
Valentine’s Day

March:
St. Patrick’s Day
Easter
What’s in the Sky?

April:
Weather
How do Plants Grow?

May:
Creepy, Crawly Insects
Mother’s Day (and Father’s Day)

Welcome

We hope that everyone had a great summer! Welcome to the new school year in Room 8!

There is an informal playground session for all MWF students, not only Room 8 students, on August 25 from 10-noon under parent supervision. Stop by to chat and give your student a chance to ready him/herself into the September routine.

On Monday, August 29th, we have scheduled our Meet and Greet in Room 8 in groups of 4 as follows:

9:30-9:50:Samples, Caton, Mendoza, Esch

10:00-10:20: Ferguson, Sears, Trost, Nguyen

10:30-10:50 :Millsaps, Chase, Callaghan, Mandavilli

Please bring a 3X5 or 4X6 photo of your child for our bulletin board.

We will be eating lunch at noon, so make sure your child has had a hearty breakfast. We use the playground every day so check the weather and dress appropriately. Have a second set of clean clothes in the tote bag each school day.

Show and Tell is a popular activity with the children. Please send one item which is sturdy and large enough for the group to see. Though they are a favorite, handheld electronics with small screens are not a good choice. A calendar with show and tell dates for your student will be sent at a later time.

The Parents Manual has great information so please be sure to read it cover to cover! Another great resource is the website with newsletters and calendars posted.

When you visit on the 29th we will have a tote bag ready for your child. Remember to bring a photo, bring any questions you may have and we’ll start a school year full of fun and learning!! Thanks for sharing your children with us!

Daily Schedule
MWF Room 8

9:00-9:30 Welcome/Floor Toys/Table Manipulatives
9:30-9:45 Music or Chapel
9:45-10:00 Circle Time and Story
10:00-10:30 Extension Activities and games
10:30-10:45 Show and Tell
10:45-11:15 Recess
11:15-11:45 Big Room
11:45-12:20 Lunch
12:20-12:30 books/puzzles
12:30-1:00 Daily wrap-up and/or second recess

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