Dianne's Preschool News for October 2010

Dear Parents.

Welcome to all our families both old and new. How wonderful is it to see the tears and sadness replaced with smiles and eagerness to start the day. The children and the teachers have all settled down to a classroom routine.  The sounds of laughter at our playgrounds are a delight to hear.  Our specialty teachers have had fun learning the childrens' names and getting to know them.  It is evident that friendships both old and new are growing at great lengths.

This month our children will begin Spanish.  We will incorporate this language through the month of December.  The children will be introduced to Spanish through their daily circle time and language activities. Numbers, colors, shapes and fundamental greetings and sayings will be the focus point of this educational experience.  The children will be exposed to songs and videos on the smart board to help them navigate and learn this language. We will also learn about the countries that speak Spanish and show them famous places in that country. In January we will be introducing American Sign Language. As Doctor Suess says "Oh the places you'll go".  Our "SEE" program this month will be "Wild Baby Animals." We will explore their regions, habitats and life cycle of five very famous animals. This lesson will be presented on the Smart Board and will give us another opportunity to learn how to use all the tools this amazing technology has to offer.

Our teachers have also received professional development requirements with Rory Cohen our national literacy consultant.  Rory continues to energize and educate our teachers to extend the best literacy knowledge our children can experience.  This month we have so much to look forward to. Ann Rockwell has been our Author of the month and we will extend her books throughout the month.  We will also introduce Leo Leonni whose books continue to teach us valuable lessons. Leo Leonni always centers his stories around friendship, helping and caring. November/ December are teacher's author choice.   Your child's teacher will inform you who they chose through their weekly news letters.

Park Shore's grounds offer the most colorful lessons as we switch from summer to fall. Nature walks and treasured colorful leaves enhance our educational experiences. We will also have a hay ride to our pumpkin patch where we will all pick our own special pumpkin.  Lessons in the classroom will continue as we open up a pumpkin and use all our senses to expand our vocabulary as to what we are seeing, smelling, tasting, and touching.  We also have a very exciting event planned for all our children.  Park Shore has managed to obtain magical pumpkin seeds. The children will go to our pumpkin patch to plant their seeds. I can't wait to see their faces when they return the next day to see that the pumpkins have appeared.   Ending the month we will have our traditional Spooktackular. Mark your calendar for October 23rd , rain date is the 24TH.  Please join us for a very fun and enjoyable family fun day.

Looking ahead we have Parent/Teachers conferences on November 2nd. Notification of your scheduled time will be sent home by mail. Our next enrichment program for the 4 years olds will be learning about "Leonardo da Vinci" The 3's and 2's year olds will learn about "Nocturnal Animals."  I can't wait to teach them the fun and amazing facts that I have uncovered.   I continue to enjoy my time with your children and look forward everyday to teaching and working with them.

Sincerely,