Manners

I think this question of the day says it all. Funny how no one was brave enough to put their clothespin on the "no" side. Since we are learning about the letter M, we spent some time talking about manners and even colored a place mat to use at home to help remind us of our good manners. It is so funny that the children talked the most about "chewing with your mouth closed." Who knew that was so important to them? We also read some fun books about manners and will spend some time putting those to work in our classroom. (Let me know how this works out at home.)

Meet "Mama"

Today we had a visit from a "shelter"/"rescue" dog. (She is from PawMetto Lifeline) Her name is "Mama." She came to visit as a result of a service project done by a Pilgrim graduate. This graduate is now a nice young lady who coordinated this service project for a beauty pageant. (And she won.) I cannot say how sweet this dog was during the presentation. I know that you cannot believe that all of the children at the preschool sat quietly as the representative from PAWS read a book and patiently waited their turn to pet the dog. Here are some pictures of friends in our class saying "hello" to "Mama." She is such a sweet & gentle dog. (Of course she would have to be to let all of these little hands pet her.)

For more information on this agency, please visit their website at www.pawmettolifeline.org. The children were so excited to talk about pets who need homes and one of our friends even explained what it means to "adopt" a pet. Don't be surprised if your child asks to buy something for these animals.

Is It Formal Day?

One of our friends came to school wearing his new bow tie. Although our classroom doesn't require "formal" dress, he wanted to wear it. He looked so cute and didn't "fiddle" with it during the day. Isn't it wonderful when children put things together to express themselves? Childhood is the best...really! I've said it so many times, but being yourself is what God wants us to be and, at this age, it is without any danger of judgement from others. Thanks friend for brightening our day.

Reading Is Fun

Here are some friends sharing a book at the end of the day. If you would have been in our room, you would have heard one of the friends reading the book as the other three listened. They were having such a good time together. The words might not have been totally correct, but reading from clues on the page makes a book just as good. Yes we can read!!!!

Our Lenten Cross

The cross that we made to mark the beginning of Lent is slowly coming to life with flowers. Each Monday we write our name on a flower and hang it on the cross. As you can see it is getting harder to see our cross underneath.

Spring Art

Here is our latest art creation displayed just outside our door. To welcome Spring, we made blooming dogwood trees. It was a fun art project because we used a straw to blow the brown paint around to form our tree. I think they are so pretty. Take a few minutes to check out your child's art.

Spring Fever

Pollen is everywhere and it is awful to be outside playing in the hazy yellow cloud - BUT we have to do it. The weather is so gorgeous and beckons to us, "come out and play." It is called "spring fever." Here we are loving the warm sunshine and gentle breeze. It was a great day.

R is for Reduce, Reuse & Recycle

Okay for anyone familiar with our class, we try to recycle as much stuff as possible. As Earth Day gets closer, your child will become more & more familiar with the recycling concept. (Previous classes have become vigilant recyclers at home - so beware.) It is always fun to try and think of ways we can reuse or "re-purpose" things so naturally when we did the letter Rr last week, we used this symbol for our letter.

N is for Necktie

With our society changing to a fairly casual dress code, a necktie is one of those things you see only on important occasions. With my dad being a service manager and mechanic, ties were for really special events so I can relate to the children's confusion about this fashion accessory. Today we made neckties and this is one of our friends doing her best "dad" type pose. Doesn't she look serious? I bet she is a really tough negotiator.

100th Day

In case you didn't know, we made it to our 100th day of school. The counting caterpillar reached 100 and crawled almost halfway around our room. It was a day of 100 starting with the 100 steps to our playground. Then we did 100 exercises and competed by groups in the 100 yard dash. (If your child was unusually tired, they should have been. We did a lot of physical exercise with the other four year old classes.)
We also enjoyed a tasty snack mix made from 100 different treats brought in by friends. It was so good and actually quite healthy. The fun part was seeing what everyone got in their "handful" of snack mix. One of our friends said, "hey all of that stuff in the bowl and I didn't even get a pretzel." Children sure are observant when it comes to snacks. You should have found a little bag of this fun treat in your child's bag. They weren't sure whether they wanted to share with anyone at home.
Being 100 at school is more fun than we imagined, but kind of sad because that means school is moving towards then end. Can you believe that there are only 2 more months of school? We concluded our celebration by making a 100th day snake. It was a little harder than we thought because we had to look for the 5's & 10's and color our snake by listening to instructions. They were lots of fun to wave around, but too delicate for our windy day. Happy 100th day everyone!

Meet Our Caterpillars

It is that time of year- Spring. The time when everything starts to wake up from Winter's nap and it is warm enough to wear shorts & t-shirts. Well, it is also the time in our class when we start watching caterpillars begin their transformation into butterflies. Here are our two new friends, Sparkles & Princess. They just joined us on Monday and are already causing a "stir." They are moving around and growing. There is so much speculation about what they do in those little cups all day and about what they will look like when they come out of their cocoons. Imagination is a wonderful thing, especially when you get to hear amazing thoughts all day. We will keep you posted on their escapades - so stay tuned. The plan is to release our friends at our Spring Fling on April 7. If you haven't ever been to the Pilgrim Butterfly release day you have really missed something special. All of the butterflies from all of the classes fly away at the same time and the children love it. It is magical to see these delicate insects take flight. Sometimes they land on a friend or on a nearby grass patch. Make plans to join us if you can.

St. Patrick's Day

Did you wear green today? In case you have forgotten, today is St. Patrick's Day! What a "magical" day we had!!!!! Our little leprechaun friend escaped his warm, cozy home and brought fun to our school. There were tiny green footprints all around and our thoughts raced about where he might have gone. The children were so excited to look around our room and propose ideas of what might have happened overnight. We went on a treasure hunt find our Leprechaun and followed some rainbow clues that he left to guide our way.
Our treasure hunt ended in the Sanctuary of the church, where our leprechaun left us some treats. He was no where to be found, but left us a cool shamrock to remind us that God is the Father, Son & Holy Spirit. This is a complicated thought, but was explained by remembering that God is with us everywhere, even in spirit. We got a splash of water from the Baptismal pool to remind us that His spirit lives in our hearts all of the time.
These little green people had a fun day and I'm sure had lots of stories to tell. Imagination is a wonderful thing!!! Happy St. Patrick's Day 2011!

Welcome Grandparents

Even though our letter Gg has long ago passed, we still welcome all grandparents to stop in and say, "Hi." Here is another friend and his grandmother. No matter how many times I see grandparents come in our building, it makes my heart smile so proudly. My grandparents are long in heaven, but my time with them makes up some the BEST memories ever. We love moms & dads, but nothing can replace a grandparent. Thanks for stopping by.

Rainy Day Art

Of course our weather today is gorgeous, but earlier this week when we were learning about weather, we had fun with a rainy day project. These are our cut & paste projects describing fun things we can do when it rains.

Fundraiser

This is just a reminder that your Original Art Works fundraiser is due on Thursday. I apologize for not sending a letter with this project. The house painting done by your child was their "rendition" of your home. I always try to choose an art project that is child created and this has been a favorite in the past. If you do not wish to order, please return your magnet on Thursday.

Congratulations

Just a quick congratulations to our friend's sister!!! She won the beauty pageant for her grade. If you recall, she came to our classroom to read to us and share information about food allergies. WAY TO GO!

A Message From Dixie

This picture just says it all. AHHHHHH ... Friday!

Lent

This is our hand print cross for Lent. If you have been around our classroom in the past years, you will know this has become a sort of tradition. We make this on Ash Wednesday to mark the first of the 40 days of this church season and will use the next few weeks to cover it with love.

D is for Diamond

What starts with D? Well - diamond of course. All of the girls in our class knew this one right away. Here are some pictures to fast forward about 20 years ...D is for Diamond - they are a girl's best friend. These were just too precious not to share; I think the expressions are priceless.

Dinosaurs

It was dinosaur week in our room. This isn't usually a subject that interests our girls, but they seemed to enjoy these prehistoric friends. (You can't see it in the picture above, but this dinosaur actually had pink toenail polish.) We had some fun using our foot prints to create our own dinosaurs. They were so cute and will be appearing in soon in a class book. Here are some friends working hard with our learning activities.
One of our friends even had dinosaur sandwiches at lunch. Talk about taking your learning seriously?

Growing Up

I am officially getting old. These are two of our graduates who are growing up so fast!!! They were so nice to come back and share their reading skills with our class this week. It is amazing how much more attentive the children are when another child reads to them. Thanks girls for taking the time to come in and say Hi.

Does This Kitchen Have Wireless?

Computer "savy"? Barbie's computer is never at rest...our girls are always at work keeping up with latest technology - even in the kitchen. Wonder what she is looking up? Probably a yummy recipe to share with her friends. (But - does Barbie know how to cook?)

Prayers

Prayer is one of those things we do in our classroom several times a day. For meal & snack we use "God Our Father. " To close our "circle" time, we do, however, take a moment for each child to share a personal prayer concern. As I have mentioned before these prayers are sometimes so fun, like the thank you prayer for the new pack of gum; but sometimes, they are much more serious. Your little ones have such compassionate hearts and share concerns about family members who are sick. They are comforted by our prayers for each other and are so happy when we make cards for those mentioned in our prayers. Well - I don't know why I have never done this - but I would like to start a class prayer list. Our class is really a family, brought together by this preschool. If you have a prayer concern for a loved one, just send me an email. I can add a list to our weekly newsletter.

A Very Serious Subject

The church season of Lent is very serious. It is sad and scary and not very much fun to live in for 40 days. In all of our talks today about the fun of "Fat Tuesday" we also talked about what to expect tomorrow on Ash Wednesday. No one wants to talk about Jesus' death on the cross. So, to make it just a little bit easier, we fast forward of the Good News to come. Your precious children understand this awesome sacrifice by Jesus for us. I can see it in their eyes but I have to tell you that one of these angels brought tears to my eyes when she said "I know why Jesus had to walk to the cross...to take away my sin." (Again - God just spoke out right in our classroom.) Many thanks to you wonderful parents for filling your child's heart with Jesus' love.

Pride

Each week your child brings home a folder full of work. It may look like a stack of paper, but each one is important. Just look at these faces - who knew that one little sheet of paper could bring out such an enormous grin! This is pride from hard work and using good thinking skills. (By the way - YES WE ARE DOING ADDITION) Kindergarten here we come!!!

Mardi Gras!!!!

Today is my absolute favorite day of the year...Mardi Gras! It is just about having fun and enjoying yourself in preparation for Ash Wednesday. This is one of those concepts that is really hard to teach so basically we just spend time goofing around. So many thanks to our classmate's family for donating our "King Cake" and party notions. It made our festivities so much more fun.
We had a great time wearing our party costumes and having a parade. It was our big event to say goodbye to "alleluia" until Easter Sunday.
From the looks of the picture below we embraced the concept of "laissez les bon temps rouler." These children were worn out at the end of our day.