PAJAMA DAY, 2012

We did not yawn our way through Pajama Day this Thursday and Friday! After the wet, wet snowstorm on Wednesday we had to be careful when we slopped our way to Pre School in our slippers and jammies! But neither snow, nor rain, nor wind, nor sun could keep us from enjoying our Pajama Day festivities. While some of the things we did were silly, like "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed," others were quiet and relaxing, such as reading a good bedtime story. Two of our favorite stories are, "The Napping House" and "The Penguin and the Pea." For snack we, of course, had cereal and juice. It was the only way to go on Pajama Day!

Our songs included "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and the we learned the poem "Star Light, Star Bright, first star I see tonight..." I wonder what the children were wishing for? Hmmmm....

MARCH ROLLS IN

SALEM PRE SCHOOL NEWS, MARCH 2 012

As March rolls around we are usually talking about the weather. I put up my bulletin board showing the lion and the lamb, illustrating how the snowy cold weather (lion) usually gives way to early spring (lamb). Often Easter is celebrated in March adding to the idea of emerging from darkness into light! This year the gentle, wooly lamb has been around all winter. Does that mean we are skipping the “lion” this year, or is the “lion” waiting for March to make it’s entrance?

This year March will not include talk of weather and Easter. We’ll save that for next month. We will begin March learning about our state, Minnesota. Loons, lakes, farms, wilderness areas, and baseball (Twins) are just some of the things we will talk about. We are glad to live in the Northstar State!

Before we have our spring break (March 19-23 ) air and space travel will be our focus. Talk of men walking on the moon was awesome to me as a child. This generation takes it in stride. Living in a space station is the norm. What frontier is next in space? These children will be a part of that adventure! We are constantly expanding our knowledge of God’s world!

March will end with a unit on butterflies, which actually takes us into our Easter theme in April. Let’s hope the “weather lion” doesn’t show up then. We’ll be ready to think about “new life” in Christ and in our gardens by April!

DINOSAURS

Wow! What a fun day. We are learning about dinosaurs this week. There are big ones and small ones. There are meat eaters and plant eaters. And did you know that dinosaurs hatch out of eggs? They really do!

To help us learn about these prehistoric animals we invited Maija Sedzielarz from the Science Museum of Minnesota to come and talk to us. Ms. Maija brought many dinosaur treasures with her. She brought bones of several sizes. She explained how paleontologists decide how big each dinosaur is by looking at the size of their bones, teeth and claws. Big claws come from big dinosaurs. Little claws come from small dinosaurs. Ms. Maija also brought dinosaur poop! When the paleontologists look at the poop they can tell what the dinosaur ate. I mentioned that dinosaurs hatch from eggs. We know that is true because paleontologists have found dinosaur eggs! We sat in a circle with our class today and Ms. Maija passed around the bones, eggs, poop and teeth for us to look at up close. They were all very cool! Isn't it wonderful that we can learn about these prehistoric creatures even though there were no people alive when they roamed the Earth? We think so!

VALENTINE'S DAY

Cupid has had his special day for 2012 at Salem Pre School. Our parties started on Friday, February 10 with the Orange Class celebration. They continued on Monday, Feb. 13 for the Blue Class and culminated with the Green, Purple, Red and Yellow Classes on Feb. 14. That is a lot celebrating and a lot of love shared by all! We learned about the post office during Valentine's season, too. Each student mailed himself/herself a letter from school. We're hoping it got to their house before the "big day." There is something very exciting about opening all the cards and notes in your Valentine bag, even when you can't read the words. It's the thought that counts.....and also the candy that might have gotten included in the mix!

Nursery Rhymes and Fairy Tales

We have just finished a unit on nursery rhymes and fairy tales at Pre School and it was so much fun! As Mr. Rogers used to say, we went to "the land of make believe." Talking animals, huge beanstalks, fairy godmothers, and princesses, princesses, princesses were all the rage! Three was the magic number for the week. We had the "Three Bears," the "Three Billy Goats Gruff," and the "Three Little Pigs!" The teachers did a puppet show of the "The Three Little Pigs." It didn't go exactly according to the book but it was close enough to recognize. Many of the nursery rhymes were put to music. Our favorite was, "I'm a Little Teapot." In the second verse we made a joke. We turned into a sugar bowl, not a teapot! Our "Humpty Dumpty" rendition was very jazzy and lots of fun. The fancy dress-up clothes were out for all to play with, complete with crowns and gloves!

What do Valentine’s Day, US patriotic symbols, and Pajama Day have in common? The answer: love. (Does this sound as random as the Netflix commercials?) February is all about love. Valentine’s Day and the weeks leading up to it are a time set aside to focus on those we love. How can we show our love to another person? What does it mean to love your neighbor? Who are the people who love us? We will have a fun Valentine’s party at school and make cards for someone we love. Naming ways to show kindness is also something we talk about. God puts love in our hearts!

Let’s expand our thinking now. We are all proud to be Americans. We live in a country with many more freedoms then most of the people of the world. This may lead to disagreements but we are allowed to state our opinions and work to find solutions that all of us, Americans, can live with. Because we love our country, we display and honor the symbols of the U.S. such as the flag, the White House, our Presidents, the multi-cultural make-up of the country, etc. This is a broader sense of love.

On Pajama Day, everyone - yes, even the teachers - wears their pajamas to school. We are also allowed to bring our sleeping buddies with us. (Not our husbands.) Our snack consists of milk and cereal and our stories are comforting ones. Who doesn’t long to be tucked in at the end of the day by someone who loves us. Saying our prayers and receiving a good night kiss is a ritual we all should experience to send us off to sleep.

There you have your explanation to the above question. Love runs through Valentine’s Day, patriotic symbols and Pajama Day!

We do have a few more things going on this month that didn’t fit into the love theme so well. We will be learning about dinosaurs (one of God’s very fascinating creations!) Parent-teacher conferences are being held at the end of the month and the three year olds are giving an evening program for family and friends on February 16, at 7:00 p.m. February is a very full month for Pre School! We love school.

The Mitten

Coming back to school in January is very fun. When the children first come to the door they may be a little tentative for a few minutes. Then they reconnect with their friends in class and it's as though they were never apart! The first week of school we talk about fun in the snow and how we enjoy winter. Too bad there isn't much snow so far!! In spite of the weather we love to read, "The Mitten," by Jan Brett. In the story, a little boy drops his white mitten on the snow and before he knows it, a mole, a rabbit, a hedgehog, an owl, a badger, a fox, a bear, and a mouse have crawled into the mitten. I won't tell you the end of the story. I don't want to spoil it for you! Just let me say that we acted out the story as a class with eight children crawling into the mitten! It was quite a sight!