Something To Think About

“I am a child of God.

I am a beautiful and powerful human being because God not only made me,

but has shared something of His precious divinity with me.

I am good enough.”

Leo Booth

A Visit From Princess

Our friend, Princess, came out for a visit today. She is a little monkey friend that lives in our room. She watches our center time and helps us with our letters, but today she came to visit because she was so sad. She talked to the children about friendship and how words can hurt others, just as much as pinching or pulling hair. She was crying so much that the children had to help make her feel better by sharing ways to be friends and share God's love. It is so important to always remember that our words can be hurtful and that your children overhear everything that you say. (And they repeat it in our classroom.) Princess just asked the children to use kind words and to work together. She also told the boys and girls that it is okay to not be best friends with everyone, but that it is not okay to be mean to them. I believe that God's love abounds in our classroom and the children will learn to work together. Becoming independent and making smart choices has nothing to do with anyone else because each child is responsible for their very own behavior. It is just a bonus when friends help each other! Thank you Princess for reminding us to be nice! Her visit ended with enormous smiles because she came around and gave everyone a little kiss on the hand or cheek or foot or head. She's such a sweet little guest in our room. (And really wise!)

Beautiful Day

It was a gorgeous day. You can see the season changing in the sunlight and in the cooler temperature. It was one of those days that we could have spent the entire day playing outside, but unfortunately there was a little work to do. These are God's little angels playing and sharing God's love. Can't you see His love in these sparkling eyes.

Fall Favorites

You should have found a child created book in your child's bag today. (There were so many things to find.) It was all about our "Fall Favorites." This is one of those projects that takes several days to complete, but is so much fun to read and read and read again. It pretty much sums up all of the fun things about the new season and even leaves blank pages on the back for you to add at home. I especially love the funny faces on the pumpkins in the pumpkin patch and the trick or treat page. Your children are such good artists.

Apples, Apples & More Apples

In honor of Johnny Appleseed's Birthday on Monday, we took time this whole week to celebrate his gift to us... the apple. We have done lots of apple math and apple art. To end our week we enjoyed a delicious taste test of red, green, & yellow apples. Of course, there was also a surprise apple too. It was a "trick" apple that I made from Oreo's dipped in colored chocolate. I'm sure that you aren't surprised, but this was really our favorite. You can see our friend below with her apples. (The children had to taste all three real apples before they could earn their cookie treat.)

We also talked about how an apple tree grows...starting with the very seeds that Mr. John Chapman (also know as Johnny Appleseed) shared with those he met so many years ago. Seeds lead to flowers than apples. The tree produces so many that you collect baskets full to make delicious apple pies. I usually bake pies with our class, but had to move this to a later date due to our special guest this week.
The children made an art collage for their family tree that took all week to complete. The base tree was painted on Monday, we added leaves on Tuesday, apple stamps on Wednesday and finished up today with our fingerprint leaf. These are being displayed in our room and it is amazing how different they all are. The trees are totally child created with help from Mrs. Laurie & I on the apple stamps and leaf stamps. These trees totally represent each family and I think that you will be surprised to see who they chose to include. I don't dictate who is the family tree, your child adds as many as apples as they want for those that they include in your family.
The final art project was our stained glass apple. It is kind of complicated, but always turns out so beautiful. This is one of those art projects that takes several days to finish because it requires attention to detail, not to mention it is pretty complicated. They are hanging above our work tables in our room.

As you can see we had quite the week of apple education. The big message for us is that God's love abounds just like apples do on trees. They also start from a tiny seed, but grow to be so big and full of fruit. We just kind of break it down to mean...share God's love. You can do this one tiny seed at a time. Thinking of this makes me sing our favorite blessing..."oh the Lord's been good to me. And so I thank the Lord. For giving me the things I need... the sun and the rain and the apple seed. The Lord's been good to me!"

The Librarian

Today we had a guest from the Lexington Library. She came to share some really fun books. (Also, you may have noticed the fun stamp on your child's hand. It was "the cow that jumped over the moon.) The children had a really good time with her book selection and even sang some funny songs. Pictured below are her books from today...don't be surprised if your child is asking to take a trip to the library to borrow one. Thanks so much for coming today Mrs. Angie.

The Tooth Fairy

I didn't get a chance to post the first Tooth Fairy visit, but as you can see, it was money. That Tooth Fairy is one special friend because she gets around to all of the children who lose teeth all around the world. Here is our friend with her special gift. She was soooooo proud. (and that is an understatement.) Growing up is so much fun, especially at Pilgrim Preschool. We will have more fun with the Tooth Fairy in February when we celebrate dental health month.

We Love These

After much demand from the children, I am posting a picture of our snack from today. It was a "juice bar." (also known as a Popsicle.) The children loved these so much and begged for me to ask their parents to buy some for home, so here is the information. (I'm not sure if you can see it, but there are no added flavors and no corn syrup. The main ingredients are fruit juices.) They were so tidy with their snack and there weren't any frozen drips anywhere. I endorse this one for home because it wasn't too big and it was just right for a quick snack. (And it tasted really good.)

Our First Lost Tooth (For Real)

Today was a very exciting day in our classroom. (Besides our friend sharing his survival story from the pediatrician and his four shots.) Today we had a friend lose their very first tooth at school! It was amazing. This friend just had her fifth birthday so everyone in our classroom believes that you have to five years old to lose a tooth. You can't see it in the picture, but it was a very tiny tooth on the bottom and she had no idea that she had even lost it. (This helped decrease the fear factor for some that loosing a tooth is painful.) So needless to say there was intense discussion about the Tooth Fairy. Please be aware that Mrs. Laurie & I spent a lot of time talking about letting God take care of our teeth and that we should not intentionally try to wiggle our teeth to make them loose before they are ready. We also made it a rule that classmates cannot put their fingers in each other's mouth to check for loose teeth. It was just so exciting for everyone to get to share in our friend's big "growing up" event. Now everyone is waiting on pins and needles to hear about the visit from the Tooth Fairy. (Stay tuned....)

Did You Meet Mr. Wiggles?

This was our little book for the week, but the children could not wait to bring it home...so it went home in their bag yesterday. Mr. Wiggles isn't really a reader for the children but it is intended to help them learn positional words. They had so much fun with Mr. Wiggles and I hope you had fun with this little book at home. I'm not sure why, but Mr. Wiggles has a British accent and it is totally hilarious to hear the children imitate him. If you didn't get a chance to check their bag yesterday take a few minutes and have them talk like Mr. Wiggles, I guarantee some laughs.

Bravery

One of our friends came to school with important news to share. He had a doctor's visit the afternoon before and had to get FOUR shots! He was so brave. He told us all about his doctor's appointment and even admitted that three of the four shots didn't hurt. (of course all of us admitted that shots make us cry so it was no big deal to any of us. Some of us even said that we would have cried about all four of the shots.) We were all so proud of him and gave him lots of hugs. Team Pretzel loves each other and today we cheered for our friend.

We Love Great Grandparents

It isn't often that we meet Great Grandparents, but today was our lucky today. Here is one of our friends and her Papa Bob. This was such a fun surprise. Thanks to our friend for sharing her Great Grandfather with us today. (He doesn't look like a great grandparent to me though.)

The Truth About What We Do

As I did some looking around for fun learning ideas I came across a wonderful quote from a preschool teacher. My number one priority at the preschool is to instill a love of learning while sharing God's love but every year there are new faces, new families and new ideas. This teacher totally summed up the real purpose of what I do: "to show the children that everyone is an individual and it is okay to be the way the Lord made you. Just be comfortable and happy with who you are." God made us all so different and wonderful in all kinds of ways and that is what makes our world such a beautiful place to live in. Some of us grow up to be military men/women while others grow up to drive a bus or work at a grocery store or invent something wonderful. It isn't a teacher's role to try and make everyone fit into a box and be something they are not. It is my constant prayer that we see the positive in each other; may that be a child or adult. Yes we have rules, behavioral expectations, structure and skills to learn but the most critical thing to do is to meet each child where they are. Not everyone is writing their name or coloring in the lines. Mrs. Laurie & I expect our students to try their very best and build their self confidence. Pilgrim Community Preschool has the following mission statement: "... to provide a fun, safe, and loving Christian environment which inspires, uplifts, and encourages families, and where children grow and develop an awareness of God's world and his love for them." If you ever have any concerns regarding your child or their progress in our class, please contact me directly. We can make a time to speak face to face or share information through email, but we want you to know that we are committed to your child and their preparation for kindergarten.

Cuteness

Just to end our week with smiles I am sharing pictures that I can only call "cuteness." Your children are such wonderful gifts from God. We had some family visitors today for a birthday party and they saw some of your children in action. They got to experience a little piece of our fun filled day and I think it made them smile.We were talking about another word that starts with "f"...FORGIVENESS. To the children it means saying, "sorry." It is a huge concept for children but learning to say "I'm sorry" is a lesson in friendship. At four years old most of us don't really like to acknowledge when we do something wrong but did admit that it feels really good to have someone say "sorry" to them. The good news is Jesus always forgives us...so we were glad to learn this word. Happy Thursday!

Meet The Paper Bag Princess

Today we had another guest at the preschool. It was the "Paper Bag Princess." She came to teach us about the letter f, fairy tales and to share a great book. She also brought her friend, Caliente, to help tell the story. (He is a dragon.) This was a great story and we really appreciate the princess for coming to visit us. I am sure that your child can tell you about her and the adventure with Caliente, but in case you need more detail you can check the book out at your local library. It is true that reading helps your mind grow and you could see the lights going off in your children's eyes. They were begging to borrow this book and to hear the story again.This was, however, my kind of princess story. She had some hard times and ended up wearing a tattered paper bag for a dress. (as you can see above.) She was smart and worked hard to save her "Prince Charming" (actually named Ronald) and would you believe he had the nerve to reject her because she didn't have on a beautiful Princess gown and was dirty from saving him. Thank goodness she had enough sense to leave him for the dragon and find her very own "happily ever after." Thanks again to the Paper Bag Princess for taking some time to stop in and share this story.
Above you will see the Princess and Caliente. He wasn't nearly as scary as we thought he would be. And of course, she left us with a sparkly, magic stamp on our hand. (And you know how much we LOVE sparkly magic stamps!!!!)

Feeling Fantastic

This week has been about the letter F. We spent some time talking about families and feelings and will start my favorite subject, fall, tomorrow. Here are some fun pictures of our "feelings" faces. There will be a fun class book that will start making it through our class; so when it shows up in your child's bag take a few minutes to read around the faces to find out what makes us happy, mad, sad, & scared. Can you guess what we are feeling in these pictures? (We were acting and having so much fun - I wish I could post all of my pictures .) Our two cute angels above are showings us happy. The trio just below is showing us scared.The red trio (and I know you can't believe that this grouping was unintentional because of the shirt color) is, you guessed it, mad.
This last little group is showing us sad. If you could have seen all of the boys & girls showing us this face you might get the impression this is a face they use a lot. I can only speak about my own children, but this face usually gets them what they want OR gets them out of trouble.
We had fun sharing our feelings and spent most of our time talking about using our words when we are upset. There are so many fun books about feeling all of our feelings but the best one reminds us that God loves us no matter what face we put on. He always listens and never grows tired of hearing our prayers! This makes me feel happy just thinking about it! God is good! All the time!!!!!

F is for Football

Meet the Pilgrim Pretzels. To introduce the letter F, we made a football player and talked about being a team. Learning to work together is a process that takes more than a few days, so we took some time to talk about team rules and came up with a team name for our class. You can see from the list above that we made lots of interesting suggestions but "pretzels" captured the most votes. (I personally love "Team Picnic.") I think our team looks really cute because this project required lots of tricky cutting, folding and pasting.

Rainbow Fish

These little fish turned out to be such a cute art project. They were inspired by the book by Marcus Pfister, Rainbow Fish. It was a pasting project that helped with fine motor skills because the children had to glue the beautiful spots on their fish one at a time. It wasn't a project where we slathered the paper with glue and just smashed down some paper - this one took a little thought and organization. These fish are swimming around on our wall and the children had so much admiring their work. They are also a great reminder about how the rainbow fish learned to share with his friends.

Prayer Pockets

You should have found a small prayer pocket in your child's folder today. This is just something to keep at home for your child to use when they say their night time prayers. You can add names of friends in other classes but we love to share these as a way to remind us to remember our friends in our prayers.

Sharing God's Love

Here are some of our friend pictures from this week. We spent a lot of time talking about how friends are alike and different. We also continued to talk about being a bucket filler, but knowing how to forgive if someone is a bucket dipper. It is so amazing to see the growth in your children since school started. We are all learning to work together in our classroom family. We also learned a special song that was shared via children in Tanzania. (Because yes we can have friends all of the world and some of them may not look a thing like we do.) The words translate as follows..."I am thanking Jesus, I am thanking Jesus, I am thanking Jesus with my heart...." and yes I do thank Jesus every day for these beautiful, smiling faces totally "lit" up with His love.

Friendship Cake

Today was our first cooking project. We made a friendship cake with the other four year old classes and it was the tastiest project thus far. (Now we did make lemonade, but it was tangy and refreshing.) Each student added food coloring to the batter and we made a colorful cake. It smelled so yummy that the children had a really hard time waiting to taste our creation. Of course we had to add some frosting and colorful sprinkles because that would make it just right.
We enjoyed this delicious treat after lunch and the children really loved it. I wouldn't be surprised if they asked to make a colorful cake at home to share with your family. Happy Friendship Week!

Did Your Child Read To You?

You should have found some beginner books in your child's folder on Thursday. They look like this.Now I know that we have only been in school for 7 days, but some of us really can read already! (Looking at pictures and memorizing words is considered reading to me.) These two little books were part of work centers and helped us practice tracing, letter proportion, and coloring in the lines. We did our best work with these two learning projects and even read the books together in our class. I really hope you gave your child a few minutes to impress you with their beginner reading skills. I know that they were very proud of themselves and you should be too. Look for these little readers each week in your child's folder. It is great to get into the habit of reading over papers together and building your child's confidence with school readiness skills. I always keep these books together in our reading center for the boys and girls to use during center time. You will be surprised at your child's appetite for reading over the course of this year.