MERRY CHRISTMAS

What a wonderful Christmas season we had at Pre School. The snowstorm in early December threatened to slow us down but we got past that safely. Our main emphasis this month was the story of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem. Children can relate to the smells, sights and wonder of the stable where Jesus was born. The Heavenly Host of angels that appeared to the shepherds and the star that shone down on the stable are easy for them to imagine. What a blessing God chose such a familiar setting to introduce his love to mankind! After hearing the story our classes acted out the story for themselves and their friends.

Of course, on party day, Santa came to read us a story, "The Night Before Christmas," and give us a bell necklace and a hug (if we wanted one .) He said the bell was from the reindeers' harness and that made them special!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

The Pre School Staff

THANKS FOR THANKSGIVING

Wow! A whole month has flown by and I haven't had time to blog about what's going on at Pre School. I hope your month of November was a good one. One of the big events of the month was the Fall Program put on by the Blue, Purple, Red and Yellow classes. The children did a marvelous job singing and dancing! Thank you all for joining us and making our evening so special. I intended to take a few pictures to post for you but, one, you parents seemed to be taking a ton of pictures yourselves and, two, it takes a lot of concentration for me to run the music and the slideshow :)

Our second big event in November was the Thanksgiving Feast that we had a school. Each child made his or her own pizza for the lunch we ate together. The teachers added apple slices, milk and a Rice Krispie bar. The four year old classes came to the feast as pilgrim men and women and the three year olds came as turkeys, as you can see by the photos. (Although our pilgrims and turkeys look very serious in the pictures, we did have a good time eating together.)By the end of the day the teachers were busy making the transition to Christmas. There is never a dull moment at school.

Are you are needing a fun project to do with your children during the Christmas season? Making play dough together can be lots of fun. Using cookie cutters to make Christmas shapes and letting them dry for a few days (or putting them in a slow oven for an hour or two) can be the start of some cute ornaments. They can be painted, colored with markers or left plain. When making the dough you can add food coloring of choice, glitter or a fragrance such as peppermint or almond. Here is the recipe if this sounds like a project for your household.

Mix together: 3 cups of flour

1 1/2 cups salt

3 tablespoons powdered alum

Add 3 T. oil and food coloring, if desired, to 2 1/4 c. BOILING water. Pour water mixture over dry mixture and mix quickly. Use rubber gloves so you can knead the dough while hot; knead quickly and thoroughly. Store in a plastic baggie once the dough is cooled to room temperature.

Have fun!

Before I go, I want to encourage all of you to consider donating a "Birthday Bag" for the Ralph Reeder Food Shelf between now and December 12. Just fill a shopping bag with the fixings for a birthday party; napkins, plates, cups, small favors, a little candy, cake mix, frosting, candles, etc., whatever would make a child's party fun. On the outside of the bag write the age and sex that the party items would be most appropriate for, for example, "Four year old girl." Drop the bag off at school. We will see that it gets to Ralph Reeder Food Shelf. The bags will be distributed in the coming months to children who would not otherwise be able to have a birthday party. Thanks for your help with this project!

IT WAS A HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Our Halloween parties were a great success! The costumes you people put together were fantastic! Our costume parade took us upstairs to visit the church staff and they had treats for all of us. Some of you brought us treats also and for that we say, "Thanks!" It all added to the festivities. Each class carved a pumpkin during the party. Some were scary, some happy and some just plain cute. We hope you all had a great Halloween. Thought I would share some pictures of the kids!

Fall Fun

We have had a very busy fall at Pre School! Our fall program for the Blue, Purple, Yellow and Red classes is coming up on November 12 at 7:00 pm. We have been taking pictures of our activities which you will see at our program. Every day we practice our songs and dances so we will do our best!

The four year olds had a wonderful day at Aamodt's Apple Orchard. It was one of the few sunny days in October. The children enjoyed a ride out to the orchard to pick an apple, a tour through the apple barn and a trip through the hay maze. The bus ride was also lots of fun!

Once we were done learning about apples we had a visit from Clifford the Big Red Dog. You can see him in one of the pictures on this blog. We fingerpainted with red and made darling Clifford headbands!

Halloween is our main focus now! Spiders are the theme for the week. Stories, art work and games revolve around them. They might seem creepy at times but we are learning that they are really our friends! (They eat bugs!)

Have a safe Halloween!

Making Friends at School

     Courtney's wedding was beautiful!  She was tall and slender, dressed in white with  a gorgeous bouquet of summer flowers.  Her maid of honor and bridesmaids were all smiles as she came down the isle.  They, too, were looking their best and obviously were great friends of Courtney' s.  I didn't know all of the girls in the wedding party.  Actually, I only knew two, the maid of honor and one of the bridesmaids.  But the story of these three girls is very special to me.  The girls met in our three year old pre school class many years ago.  They didn't live very close to each other but they became good friends as the year went along.  Consequently, the moms got to know each other too.  Sometimes these relationships fall apart after pre school but that was not the case here.  The girls kept in touch and by middle school they were finally in the same building.  Their friendship blossomed once again and it has been going ever since!  Alas, there they were, together in Courtney's wedding!

     The summer is behind us and we are beginning a new school year.  We will be working on letters and number, how to stand in line quietly and how to share.  More importantly, we will be learning how to be good friends with the other children in our class and in our community. It is our hope that this year will be the start of some long lasting relationships for the children in this year's classes.  Friendship is one of the most valuable gifts God offers us.  We want to teach our students to share that gift of friendship.

Ribbon Cuttomg

We have a new park to go to!  New Brighton Park and Recreation has installed new play equipment at Driftwood Park, the playground area we use on a regular basis at Pre School.    The "Ribbon Cutting Ceremony"  was on July 6th and our school was among the  guests invited to be a part of the ceremony!  We are grateful for the opportunity to use this wonderful facility!

FIRE SAFETY

School is almost over but before it ends we wanted to invite the New Brighton Fire Department to come to our school.  Fire safety is very important no matter what your age.  The firefighters emphasized  several rules which the children were to share with their families.  First, have a working smoke detector in your home.  Make it buzz so everyone recognizes the sound it makes.  Second, choose a meeting place outside your home where the whole family will meet if there is a fire.  Third, in a fire, crawl below the smoke to get out.  Fourth, always go to the firefighter if you need help getting out.  Never hide.  Fifth, if your clothes catch on fire, stop, drop and roll!

After we talked about the important rules, the firefighters showed us the special clothes they wear to fight a fire.  Their boots and their pants are hung up together so they can step into them quickly.  They wear a heavy coat that protects them from the flames.  It has lots of reflective tape on it so they can see each other in the smokey air.  Their helmet protects their head from falling objects and they can carry their own oxygen and oxygen mask to help them breath in a smokey fire.  They look a little scary in their gear but we know that they are our friends and they want to help us.

Their fire trucks are full of very special equipment to help in emergencies.  There are many hoses, ladders, axes, picks, oxygen tanks and lots of lights and sirens.  The firefighters invited us to climb into the truck and see where they sit when they ride to the fire.  

We are very lucky to have such great firefighter keeping us safe all year long!

THANK YOU NEW BRIGHTON FIREFIGHTERS!

Have a safe summer everyone.  See you in the fall!