Lighted Parade

The Lighted Parade was so fun! Thankfully, we had a warmer day to help keep our hands, ears, and noses from growing too cold. A lot of our friends were able to attend, and it was fun to see all the different preschool classes come together to celebrate with their families. I'm thankful for those of you who were able to attend and ride along with us! It makes the holiday season truly special!

Ellie's family stay close to keep warm
the mayor selected our float for a prize!

Aubrey checks out the floats around us

Joaquin, Savannah Kay, and Ana watch the city pass by

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all of us!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We've had a great time learning about Thankfulness the last few weeks in our class! We realized all we have to thank God for--our families, friends, neighbors, church, houses, food, pets, toys, everything! Not only did we practice our memory verse centered on Thanksgiving ("Give thanks to the Lord; he is good! His love endures forever."), we practiced naming things we are thankful for and then saying "Thank you, God!"

We also used this week to focus on how to pray. We learned that we close our eyes so we don't pay attention to anything but God--not our friends, not our toys, only God. We fold our hands so we don't want to play with anything while we talk to God. And we are quiet so we talk only to God and not our friends. We have prayed all year before each snack and meal, so the kids are used to this posture, but we worked really hard on practicing it along with why we do it.

For the holiday we learned some fun songs as well!

Ted the Turkey (sung to I'm a Little Teapot)
I'm a little turkey, my name is Ted
Here are my feathers, here is my head.
Gobble, gobble, gobble, is what I say.
Gobble, gobble, gobble, it's Thanksgiving Day!

Let's Be Thankful (sung to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)
Let's be thankful for this day,
For our friends and for our play.
Let's be thankful, let's be glad
For the food and things we have
Let's give thanks for you and me,
For our home and family.

and a favorite, Mr. Pumpkin (sung to Are You Sleeping)
Mr. Pumpkin, Mr. Pumpkin
Big and fat, Big and fat
I am gonna eat you, I am gonna eat you
Just like that, Just like that!

We've made several turkey crafts, thankfulness crafts, and finally Pilgrim and Indian hats. I hope your child enjoys wearing it for the holiday!

Nick works on adding feathers to his colorful turkey

Virginia and Addisyn working with shapes and fine motor skills

a few cute little Indians visiting our circle time

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Mrs. Marisha

Thanks for Thanksgiving

With November beginning, we're naturally introducing the concept of thankfulness in our class. Our verse for the month comes from Psalm 107: "Give thanks to the Lord, he is good; his love endures forever." In addition to talking about thankfulness, we are studying about ourselves--our families, our homes, our interests. Learning these help point to all we have to be thankful for. Spend time this month discussing with your family everything God has blessed you with!

We will not have class because of the Thanksgiving Holiday from November 23-25. Instead, we will celebrate November 16-18 with a Thanksgiving Festival. I will be in contact with our room parents this next week to find out what you might be willing to help with.

As always, please feel free to contact me anytime via phone or email, or to set up an appointment to meet. I am fully available to address anything you might like to discuss!

-Mrs. Marisha

Fall Parade

Take a look at some of the fun we've been having this fall, including our costume parade!






Aubrey certainly loves the apple song! -->

Spiderman reveals his true identity--it's Brody!

Woody can't stop laughing out on the playground

How many friends can we fit in this little house?

Tuesday's class-- a monkey, a knight, Peter Pan, Woody, and a pirate

Wednesday's class--a farmer, a cowboy, a peacock, Buzz Lightyear, Elmo, and a witch

Thursday's Parade--Snow White, Super Pickle, Cinderella, a witch, Dora, Wonderwoman

We had so much fun dressing up and sharing our costumes with everyone! Thanks to everyone who brought treats to share!

Fall is Here!

Our hallway is beginning to look more and more autumnal as we learn about the changes this season brings in the world around us. We have three scarecrows guarding the cornfields we made, and pumpkins are beginning to pop up alongside them. In the classroom, we colored trees with autumn leaves. All of these projects contributed to the fine motor development and creativity of our students--they used the muscles in their hands to crumple newspaper to stuff our scarecrows, used single-finger control to add kernals to our corncobs, and squeezed eye-droppers to create colorful leaves on the trees.

Addressing some concerns...

I realize that some of you may be concerned by the worksheets we do in class--please, have no fear! These worksheets are advanced for some students, but our class has a wide range of ages and developmental stages within it. The tracing, drawing, and following lines will be difficult, but my hope is that as our year progresses, so will your child's abilities to control coloring, tracing, drawing, connecting the dots, and the many other tasks we call them to. They won't be perfect, but that's not what the worksheets are about; it is merely more practice with those fine motor skills that will make later writing skills come more naturally.

I also wanted to address our "reward system." Initially, we encouraged students to "make good choices" and had them move from happy to sad face as poor choices (not sharing, not listening to teachers, etc.) were made. Students had the opportunity to move back to a happy face if they made good choices. At the end of the day, the student received a sticker. After filling their sheet (five stickers), they received a "treat" from our treasure box. Not receiving a treat does NOT make them a "bad kid"--I love and am hugely thankful for each and every one of your kids! Some days are harder than others, and it takes more time for some students to adapt to a school environment, especially at this young age.

In light of this, I am scrapping the reward system. We will still encourage "good choices" and have the student move between happy and sad faces, but will make a greater effort to move frequently throughout the day. "(Child), how should we play with our friends? Are you making a good choice by taking that toy away? That choice made me sad. Let's move your name." A few minutes later, the same child may have this interaction: "I noticed how nicely you are sitting and listening to your teacher. You're making a good choice! Will you please put your name on the happy face because you are making your teachers and friends happy?" This will reinforce positive behavior and help children more clearly distinguish between the choices they make. At the end of the day, as a class we will look at the happy face and celebrate when all the names are on it. If not, we will encourage having ALL smiles the next time. For a happy face, a high five or sticker may be given, but no overall treat to work towards. The kids are having a difficult time grasping the old system because their time concept is limited. This new approach will encourage every student on a daily basis without incentive, other than making good choices.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about this or anything else! I encourage interaction with each family because I know that my role in your child's life is limited. Be encouraged as parents! I'm blessed with a great group of kids to teach and love every day, even when I don't get to see them.

God bless,

Mrs. Marisha

5 Senses, Colors, Shapes, and Themes

Wow, the class so far has been a blast! The month of September is flying by and we are packing in all the learning we can. So far we've covered three of the five senses: eyes that see, ears that hear, and nose that smells. We were able to use our eyes to look around the room and identify the color and shape focuses so far (red, green, circle, triangle). With our ears, we listened to various sounds and tried to identify them, and then praised God with instruments. The classroom was pretty loud that day! This week, with our nose, we were able to smell various scents and guess what they might be. We also played with pumpking pie scented playdough. Just when you thought the messy molding material couldn't get any more fantastic, we added scent! I think they enjoyed it.

Each week, I try to find a fun song or art project we can complete that fits a theme for the day. Two songs the kids really loved are posted below, so you can sing along at home:

Two Red Apples (sung to "This Old Man")
Way up high, in a tree (hold hands over head like a tree)
Two red apples smiled at me (point to cheeks and grin)
So I shook that tree as har-r-d as I could (shake the tree)
Down came the apples (make an eating sound)
Yum! They were good! (pat stomach)

Autumn Leaves (sung to "London Bridge")
Autumn leaves are falling down, falling down, falling down.
Autumn leaves are falling down, welcome autumn.
Sweep the leaves and put them here, put them here, put them here.
Sweep the leaves and put them here, welcome autumn.
Jump right in and have some fun, have some fun, have some fun.
Jump right in and have some fun, welcome autumn.

I hope you enjoy!

-Mrs. Marisha

Gone with the First Day of School

Can you believe the first week has come and gone so quickly? I hope all of you had a great time at preschool and look forward to coming back week after week to learn and grow in a spiritual, academic, and social setting. Miss Davida and I had a wonderful time getting to know all of our children and discovering the unique personalities God instilled in each of them. We are all settling into our routine, and it will take some time to adapt to a different morning schedule, but I have faith everyone will adjust and learn to love preschool!

For anyone who may have missed it, this coming week (Sept. 15-17) we will have sharing time. Each student that brings an item that is RED and an item that is a CIRCLE will have the opportunity to tell his/her classmates about that object. These items will return home with them at the end of the day. This is an activity our class will do each time a new shape and color concept are introduced, so keep checking the cubbies for ways they can experience interactive learning at home AND at school!

Here are some pictures from the first day:








See you all next week for more fun!

Mrs. Marisha

One Week Away!

Parents,

It was so nice to meet those of you who were able to attend our Open House! With less than one week before school begins, I am getting SO excited for the opportunity to learn and grow with your children this year. To start off, we'll be examining shapes and colors. This fall will also focus on developing the fine and gross motor skills vital to your child's success through school. Fine motor activities will help develop the small muscles in their hands that help with writing as they grow.

We will also be learning our senses as we study God's Word and the miracles He performed. Our memory verse for the month of September is found in Mark 12:30-31: "Jesus said, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.'" Please feel free to practice this with your child at home!

I can't wait for next week! Your children are on my heart and in my prayers. As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

God Bless,

Mrs. Marisha