Como Park Zoo

There's not much that is more exciting than a ride on a big orange school bus!  And that is exactly what the Green and Orange Classes got to ride on to get to the Como Park Zoo on Wednesday, May 6.  The children packed up their moms, dads, grandpas, grandmas and teachers and headed to the zoo to see what they could see.  Como offers everything from azaleas  to zebras and if the kids could keep the adults moving fast enough they had a chance of seeing something for every letter of the alphabet.  The rain forest had a sleepy sloth.  The monkey house had several babies.  The giraffes and zebras just had a bad smell (but they are so beautiful.)  Although the flamingos weren't out yet, the old tortoise was out in that area.  I'm pretty sure that is the same tortoise I remember as a kid.  I wonder how old he is?  

To keep everyone happy, each child got a snack bag with juice and a treat to eat.  This gave the adults a chance to rest while the children enjoyed their goodies.

The weather was perfect for our trip which helped make this a great day at the zoo! 

Raptor Center

On Tuesday, May 5, the Blue, Purple, Red and Yellow Classes had the privilege of meeting Joanne Peterson, Cinnamon, Samantha and Jamaica from the U of M Raptor Center.  The Raptor Center is a hospital for raptors and the goal is to treat the birds that are brought into the center and release them when they are healthy again.  However, this isn't always possible for various reasons.  The raptors that are permanently kept at the center have become "teachers" of sorts when people like Joanne bring them to schools to teach children and adults about the special characteristics of the raptors.  In our program we first met Cinnamon the Paragon Falcon.  She is small but very fast!  Then we learned about owls.  Cash got dressed up like an owl so we could remember that owls have big eyes to see at night, very sensitive ears to hear their food, and large talons to catch their food.  Samantha the owl came out to meet us once we were knowledgeable about these things!  She was beautiful!  We even learned what an owl pellet is.  When the owl throws up a pellet (the indigestible food it eats) we can examine it and learn about what the owl is eating.  Finally, we met Jamaica, a gorgeous hawk.  Hawks are seen all around us, on light poles, in trees, on fences.  They are busy looking for mice, moles, baby animals, etc. for their dinners.  They have large talons and sharp, hooked beaks to help them catch and eat their food.

Joanne was a wonderful teacher who kept us interested and entertained for the entire program!  The public is welcome to visit the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota St. Paul Campus to learn more!

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.