Happy Winter! (Well, almost.) Your preschooler should know when Winter officially begins, because we have been learning about many of the holidays that are celebrated this month, including Solstice. The Preschool Team dedicates each December to teaching your child how families have different traditions during this time of year. We like to highlight the common theme of lights–Christmas lights in our city, Menorah candles, Santa Lucia’s crown of candles, Kinara candles, and, of course, the sun’s light in the days that grow longer after Solstice, the first day of Winter!

We are celebrating the diversity of traditions represented in our community after having studied the human body. No doubt you’ve been hearing facts about the different systems (we really like the digestive system, because it’s sooooo gross!), and hopefully your preschooler has been using new vocabulary from this unit at home. Focus on our body and senses will continue as we enjoy holiday smells, eat special treats, listen to festive music and learn about what our neighbors and friends might be celebrating at home, while we perhaps observe a different holiday.

As always, we continue to be amazed by your children’s progress. Everyone is working on developing small motor strength, spatial awareness, skills in phonics, literacy and beginning math. Please continue to support your child’s independence over the Winter break, keeping him/her busy with little jobs, encouraging responsibility. We wish you a happy holiday season full of joy and rest! See you next year!

We want to shout out a big THANK YOU to all of our parent volunteers who came with us to Miller Farm! It was a successful trip, and we made many special memories. We hope your families are able to enjoy a nice vegetable stew on these chilly days!

All Preschoolers welcome!

Next Tuesday (October 2nd) we are going to Miller Farm. We will be harvesting vegetables and having a picnic lunch. This is a wonderful outdoor experience for the preschoolers!

A few things to remember:

• Wear sneakers or good walking shoes, and long pants . (This is a working farm and we will be walking through fields and digging in the dirt.)
• Pack a brown bag lunch. (We will provide water and snacks.)
• Put sunscreen on in the morning!
• Parent volunteers, You may want to bring a pair of gardening gloves. The pumpkin vines are prickly.

We need all preschoolers to be here by 8:40am, so we can do a head count, match them up with parent volunteers, and use the bathrooms before we leave on the bus.

Thank You!

Welcome to a new year! 

One of the most amazing things about preschoolers is how fast they grow and how dramatically they change in 12 months.  As we greet our students from last year, they are moving through the halls with such confidence and style it is hard to believe they were once having their first days at Rivendell.

We are spending the month of September working on classroom routines, routines and more routines! We are helping our children learn all those new skills necessary to function in a group, in a new classroom, and with new teachers.  We teach them how to make friends and how to “keep ourselves safe.” We are breaking all these new tasks down into small components to help them master each step. We want to give them the confidence to try the next step.  

Something as simple as lunch is a big deal to a preschooler. We try to set up their environment for success.  Coming in from outdoors, we remind them to use the bathrooms and teach them how to wash their hands with interlocking fingers and scrub.  They need to collect their lunch boxes, find a seat and unpack, and put their lunchbox under their seat. We talk about good choices in what to eat first (“protein first”) and not the dessert.  We teach them how to stay in their seats during lunch, how to open their own containers, how to clean up their own messes and encourage them to try a little of everything. That‘s just lunch!  We have at least six more hours!!

Overlay this with the challenge of learning appropriate social skills, assessments and starting some Workjobs and we have a very busy September!

Ancient Greece

We have transformed the home living center into an ancient Greek polis and are learning about home life, foods, household goods, clothing (chiton), gods & goddesses and mythology, Aesop’s fables, the Trojan Horse, voting, Olympics, architecture, art and culture, etc. We will sample a little ancient Greek cuisine, create a mosaic, and vote in an election.

Again, thank you for trusting us with your children! The transition to preschool is no small experience in the life of your little one. Some days are easier than others, and anxiety is a normal part of a new school experience. The following link offers support for understanding the challenge of change in routine and provides great advice for setting up these little people for success in their transition into preschool. 

http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=1372

Check back here for news and updates about what’s going on in the preschool classrooms.