COMMUNITY HELPERS

In the month of May our pre schoolers will meet several of our local community helpers.  The first to visit us was Nancy Olin, the Salem parish nurse.  Nancy met many of you parents at our Parent Orientation meetings in the fall.  I continue to be amazed  by Nancy and her ability to work with every age group in our church.  Last week  we invited her to Pre School to talk to the children about hand washing.  As you probably know, young children often swish their hands under cold water, wipe them on their pants and figure they have washed their hands.  We're hoping for more then that if we want to keep our families healthy.  Nancy demonstrated how to wet your hands, lather the soap on all surfaces of your hands, including the fingernails (while singing "Happy Birthday"), rinsing them thoroughly, drying them and turning the water off with the towel, in case there are germs on the faucet (especially if you are not at home.)  We all had a chance to name circumstances  when we need to wash our hands.  Any good answer deserved applause!  Then we  "pretended to wash" as we sang "Happy Birthday" together.  Good hand washing habits can be fun!

EASTER STORY

What is the real reason we celebrate Easter?  Is it the arrival of spring?  Spring is wonderful and in a year such as this, when it snows on April 1st (no joke) and the Red River is flooding the entire northeast corner of Minnesota, we certainly want to celebrate Spring!  But Jesus is the  reason we celebrate Easter!  God loves all of us so much that he was willing to sacrifice his son, Jesus, for our sins.  But that is not the end of the story.  On Easter Sunday God raised Jesus from the dead.  He conquered death.  Jesus' friends were so excited to see him as he walked among them for a short time.  Then God took Jesus to live with him in heaven where he is preparing a place for us  when we are done living our lives here on earth.   

What a wonderful story this is!  It is so full of hope for all of us.  To tell this  important  story we invited Salem's senior pastor, Rev. Mark Patti, to join us.  Pastor Mark is an extraordinary story teller who was able to tell the Easter Story to the children in a way that they could understand and in a style that kept them interested .   As the children met the participants in the story they heard about how angry some of the people in the crowd were, how scared some of the disciples were and how sad Mary  was.  Then Pastor Mark reminded us that the Easter Story shows us that God is more powerful then anything.  Whenever we are afraid or sad we can remember that God is able to help us because he is the most powerful!

Alleluia!  Have a blessed Easter!

ED THE BUILDER

     Spring break is over.  We hope you had a fun week with your children?  We know some of you were able to travel a bit, whether it be to Grandma's and Grandpa's or a vacation destination, and some of you chose to relax at home.  Or maybe the "relaxing" starts this week when the kids are back at school.  We teachers do know that the children are glad to be back.  They are so chatty and excited tell us all about what they have been doing!  So, welcome back!

     Just before break, we had a special visitor,  Ed the  Builder, otherwise known as Ed Griffin, Mrs. Shelly's dad.  Ed brought lots of his tools, both hand and electric, to school so we could see how they worked.  He also told us how important it is to build things straight and level, showing us how we can check to be sure we are doing just that.  Before leaving Ed the Builder, each child got to squeeze the power drill and make it go.  Cool!!  Back in our rooms there were hammers, nails, blocks, and work benches to keep us busy.

We are thankful for Ed and all other volunteers who are willing to use their time teaching young children about their hobbies and jobs!

     

EASTER

     Easter is such a hopeful time of year!  The world around us is coming back to life after a long winter's rest.  If we are attentive, we can see the first tiny signs in the grass, the pond, the trees and the sky.  These occurrences in spring can set the stage for the most miraculous new life story of all, the Easter story.  Pastor Pattie will be our guest storyteller on April 1st and 2nd as we hear of how Jesus died for our sins, rose again and was taken to heaven where he will prepare a place for us.  Our Easter parties, on  April 7th and 8th will include a little fun.  In addition to dying eggs and making baskets, we are hoping the Easter Bunny will make a stop at our school to give the children an Easter surprise to take home!

The second half of April will take us outside a bit more and we are hoping for good weather.  We will be planting marigold seeds, sharing stories about our pets, and learning about and observing the pond and the birds.  We are not the only ones busy in spring.  All God's creatures are busy too!

PAJAMA DAY

Pajama Day at Pre School was anything but a sleeper!  We played lots of fun games, read stories like "The Princess and the Pea," and had milk and cereal for snack.  We thought you might enjoy these pictures.

MOVING INTO MARCH

Ahhh, March!  Finally we have a month without a holiday or big event.  We love parties at Pre School but they aren't special if you have them all the time.  This month we will have plenty of time to talk about land and water transportation, tools, and big wheels (big trucks as opposed to bikes).  On the 16th through the 20th we will be on vacation.  Although we will be lonesome for each other, and ask Mommy and Daddy every day, "Is it school today?" we will be excited to share our vacation stories with the class when we come back to school.  At the end of the month we will learn about weather.  The seasons will be changing by that time.  The new growth and spring rains will open the door for our talks about "new life" as it relates to nature and Easter!!

Hope you enjoy these Valentine's Day pictures!

A BUSY FEBRUARY

So much has happened at Pre School since the last time I posted news!  The Orange and Green Classes worked hard all month learning their songs, finger plays and musical activities for the evening program on February 5th.  They did a GREAT job!!  We hope you parents enjoyed it, too.  

Last week all of the classes learned about the post office and the responsibilities of the postal workers who deliver our mail to our houses and places of business.  Karol Johnson, a former teacher at Salem, came to school and told us all about this very important community helper.  She brought the official uniform (for each season even) and the authentic mail bag and boots.  Some important advice she shared with us was, first, stay back from the curb when the mail truck is coming. The postal carrier loves to wave at you but he doesn't want to bump you with his truck.  Also, please keep your dog on a leash when the postal worker arrives, for the safety of the dog and the postal worker.   At the conclusion of the week, we all mailed ourselves a letter!  Thank you, Karol, for visiting our classes!

Parent - Teacher Conferences  are coming up quickly.  They will be Monday, Feb. 23 (Blue and Purple Classes), Tuesday, Feb. 24 (Red and Yellow Classes), and Wednesday, Feb. 25 (Green and Orange Classes).  Please sign up for a time  this week.  The sign - up sheets will be posted in the hallway near the classroom doors.

Finally, the most exciting day of the year is coming up .... PAJAMA DAY,  February 26 and 27.   It has been rumored that some children have been looking forward to this day since school began.  Stories have been handed down from older  brothers and sisters and the stories are true.  You can wear you pajamas to school on Pajama Day!  (The teachers will too.)  Your favorite nighttime pal or blanket can come too.  It's a really fun day!  No napping allowed!