Let's learn about the letter Nn.  This week we are learning the Nn sound, the correct way to write Nn in upper/lower case, and the "sign" for Nn.  Fun videos, books, and songs are helping us learn about Nn. 
We had a messy day in  Preschool. Today we had fun playing in Moon Sand that we made with flour and baby oil.  Our sand allowed us a fun tactile way to write letters, make shapes, and more.  We also used glue and shaving cream to make puff paint for a special winter craft we are making this week.  We will display these at school for all to enjoy for a while.  Our little ones really enjoyed our busy day.
Our focus in Religion this week is the story of Noah's Ark and God's Rainbow Promise.  Today we watched a short animated video about the story of Noah.  We also had fun learning the "Arky, Arky" song.  We will continue with our lesson on Thursday.

**When you go through deep waters I will be with you. -Isaiah 43:2

**Special Notes:
*If your child is not feeling well, please keep them home.  We work very, very hard to keep our room as clean and free of germs as possible.  Mrs. J. and I do a lot of daily cleaning, we sanitize, wash, scrub desks, wipe down anything and everything that may have been touched by tiny fingers, open windows, and more.  If your child comes to school and is not quite acting like their normal self, shows sign of fever, cough, excessive runny nose, or seems extremely tired we will call you for a pick-up. 
*Please have your child ready to exit your car in the morning.  This includes having their coat on and zipped; hat, gloves, mask on etc.... We need to keep our line moving as quickly as possible.  Mrs. Nesom, Mrs. Everhart, and myself have had to help too many students with winter gear in the morning.  It is cold outside and we have many Preschoolers standing outside waiting for everyone to get in line.  If we have to continually help get your child dressed in the morning, it keeps everyone outside longer than necessary. 
 
Also, please be sure to dress your child for the weather.  We do try to have outdoor play time if it is not too cold out.  I am unable do this if I have too many little ones without hats, mittens, and boots (if we have snow on the ground). Thank you for your help.
*I have had some parents ask about Valentine's Day.  We will have a small class party - our Room Mom is working on that now.  I am waiting to hear from Mrs. Forsythe to see if we will be allowed to pass Valentine cards out in class.  I will keep you posted as information comes my way.

This week we will learn all about the letter Nn.  We will learn to write Nn the correct way in upper/lower case, the "sign" for Nn, and the Nn sound.  Our Board Story is about Nick and Nancy.  Our Board Words are: nickle, necklace, nurse, and nest.  We added 18 additional words to our board. Awesome job!!  
In Science/Health this week we will focus on Nutrition.  Today we played pretend and packed healthy lunchboxes.  Everyone did a great job.  I am very proud of them.   A fun video about eating healthy taught us more about nutritional foods.  We will continue to talk about healthy eating habits all week. 
In the Art Center we started a fun craft based on the story The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats.  We will finish these up on Wednesday and hang them in our hallway for all to enjoy.  
Our Religion this week will focus on the story of Noah's Ark and God's Rainbow Promise.  Today we heard the story of Noah and started to learn the "Arky, Arky" song.  
It looks like it's going to be a fun and busy week in Preschool.

*Whoever does not love, does not know God, for God is love. -1John 4:8

**Special Notes:
*If your child is not feeling well, please keep him/her home to rest.  If your child is running a fever, they MUST be fever free with no medication for 24 hours.  
*I am starting to get questions about Valentine's Day.  Normally we pass out and share Valentine's with our classmates.  I will be talking to Mrs. Forsythe to see what will be allowed for our party this year.  I will keep your updated on what our Valentine's Day party will look like.  Our Room Mom's are already working on crafts and a special snack.
*Please mark your calendar - NO SCHOOL on Monday January 18th in honor of MLK Day.

Welcome back.  I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas break.  I had a very relaxing couple of weeks.  Obvioiusly, with the way things are, my family stayed home and did not gather with anyone outside of our household.  Instead, we stayed home and had movie nights, game nights, and played on-line trivia via zoom with our extended family.  I spent some time reading, cleaning out closets, and organizing.  I even got some naptime in.  It was a nice break.  It was nice to see all my sweet Preschoolers smiles this morning as they excitedly shared what Santa brought them.  It's nice to be back. 
This week we are focusing on the Letter Mm.  We will learn how to write Mm the correct way in upper/lower case, the Mm sound, and the "sign" for Mm.  Our Board Story today was about Mama Monster making many muffins.  Our Board Words are monkey, money, milk, and mouse.  We added 22 more words to our Board.  Great job!!!  During Circle Time we started to learn about Mm is for Michigan.  This is what we learned today about our great state:
*Michigan is shaped like a mitten and we are called the "mitten state" or the great lake state because we are surrounded by lakes
*Michigan has an upper peninsula and a lower peninula.  We got to the U.P. by way of our beautiful Mackinac Bridge
*Our State Bird is the Robin and our State Tree is the White Pine

We will continue to learn more about Michigan through the week.

In the Writing Center today we did our Getting Ready letter Mm practice page.
We also made our letter Mm crown.  In Math we sorted colored marshmallows and counted to see what color we had more of on our plates.  We will continue to do marshmallow math on Wednesday.  We will end our week with M&M math.  This is always a big hit with our little ones because they get to eat their M&M's when we finish.  

*Special Notes:
*If you have traveled or were with larger groups of people over the holidays we are asking that you please keep your child home this week to be sure that we are not spreading any germs to others in our classroom.  Please work with us to help keep everyone safe and healthy.  If your child shows any signs or symptoms of an illness, we will call you to pick them up from school. 
*Wednesday is the Feast of the Epiphany. The epiphany, or showing, of Jesus teaches us that Jesus’ coming into the world was important to the whole world and that the Good News of Jesus Christ is meant for everyone!  The epiphany is also called "little Christmas". We will be reading stories and learning about this special Feast on Wednesday. 
*Thank you, Thank you all so much for all of the Christmas gifts that you gave to me.  My heart was overflowing with special feelings of love and joy for all of you and all of the ways you made my heart smile.  The candy, candles, gift cards, cash, jewelry, mugs, Yeti tumblers, pictures, and more were all so wonderful. I have no words to express my gratitude and love to you all for your kindness and generosity.  I am still working on my thank you notes, so please watch for those coming home with your child (if they have not yet gotten one).  God bless all of you!!

**Thankfulness is the quickest path to joy. - Jefferson Bethke

This week is all about CHRISTMAS.  Everyone is very excited about the magic of Christmas.  Today we talked about why we are excited:
*We get presents from Santa
*We get to decorate and I LOVE all the lights
*My mommy makes really good cookies and I get to eat them!
*I like Christmas because everyone is happy.
*I like getting the presents.
*Everywhere you look there are lights, and Santa, and presents, and lots of good things.
*Christmas just makes me excited.

I love their responses.  May we all find the magic of Christmas in our hearts and allow ourselves to feel like a child again.

We are not studying a new letter of the week.  We are reviewing letters A-L.  Our Preschoolers did  a great job writing each letter on the Writing Boaards - in upper and lower case.  They also did a great job with each letter sound.  
In the Art Center today, we made a Santa.  Several of our littles ones were ho, ho, hoing while making their Santa.  So Cute.
In Religion we read the Nativity Story and lit the third candle on our Advenet Wreath. Today we lit the rose candle and learned that it is called the Candle of Joy or the Shepherd's Candle. It is meant to remind us of the joy that the world experienced at the birth of Jesus as well as the joy we feel midpoint of Advent.  

We are also learning to "Sign" Merry Christmas.  
​
We will continue to review our letters and have fun with our many Christmas Crafts, stories, songs, and dancing.

**The Light in a child's eyes is all it takes to Christmas a magical time of the year. -unknown

This week our Preschoolers are learning all about the letter Ll.  We have learned to write Ll the correct way in upper/lower case, the Ll sound, and the "sign" for Ll.  We also learned the "sign" for love, lamb, lunch, and laugh.  Our 4-Year Olds added 21 words to our Board Words. Great brainstorming guys!!  Songs and stories have helped us learn more about the letter Ll.
We have had so much fun learning and doing Christmas songs/dances this week during Music/Movement.  I think their favorites are the "Reindeer Dance" and "Crazy Santa Dance" which allows our little ones to be super silly.  Mrs. J and I love watching them do Crazy Santa Dance.  Too adorable!!!!  We have also been singing many  Christmas songs the past couple of weeks.  
Our Christmas songs have put us in the Christmas spirit in our Art Center.  Our 3-Year Olds have done candy cane art and made an adorable handprint and fingerprint Three King Craft.  These are on display in our hallway.  Our 4-Year Olds read the story The Kindness Elf and made a super cute Elf  to hang in our hallway.   These crafts will come home next week.  I hope you enjoy them as much as we have at school.  
We continue to work on writing names, tracing lines, counting, number recognition, scissor skills and more.  We are always busy in Preschool.

Special Notes:
*Mrs. Nesom and I are planning a simple Christmas party in class next week.  It will be on Thursday, Dec. 17 for our 3-Year Olds and Friday, Dec. 18th for our 4-Year Olds.  You DO NOT need to send in a snack for your child on their party day.  We will have a special snack and drink, make a craft, play some games, and watch a Christmas movie.  
*Preschool will participate in Sprit Week next week.  Follow the flyer that came home with your child earlier this week.  I'm excited to see their Christmas and St. Paul Spirit.  
*Santa Shop has been extended.  Be sure to check our this super fun event with your child.  

**Christmas is not so much about opening presents, as opening our hearts! -unknown

Today in 3-Year Old Preschool we started to learn all about the letter Kk.   We learned the Kk sound and the "sign" for Kk.  A fun song helped us to learn the Kk sound.  During Circle Time we had fun Freddy the Weather Frog for our first snow day.  We put him in a warm coat, added a hat, gloves, and boots, and had snowflakes falling from the sky.  Freddy was nice and warm for our snowy day.   Our Circle Time story was Does Kangaroo Have a Mother Too? by Eric Carle.  
In the Writing Center to continue to practice line tracing on our shapes along with proper pencil grip.  During Concerfences I spoke to you about what we say for proper pencil grip (rest it, pinch it, give it a pillow, and put these 2 piggies under the bed).  Please practice this at home with your child so that we can avoid poor pencil grip habits.  

We spent some time today talking about Advent.  We learned that Advent is the "Waiting Time" before the birth of Jesus.  During that time we spend more time in prayer and think about the what the Advent Wreath means.  This is what we learned about the wreath today:
*It is a circle shape to remind us of God's never ending love and the everlasting life we find in Christ.
*The evergreen leaves stay green all year.  They do not wither, turn color, and die.  They signify continuous life.
*The Candles represent the 4 weeks of Advent. Three of the candles are purple which is a liturgical color that signifies a time of prayer, penance, and sacrifice.  Today we "lit" (with a paper flame) our first purple candle.  It is the candle of HOPE and is called the Prophecy Candle - the prophets foretoldthe  birth of Christ. 

We will continue to talk about Advent and what each candle represents in the coming weeks. 

We also talked about the Three Kings in class today and made a King Craft.  These will be displayed at school and will come home at a later date. 

Special Notes:
*Thank you to everyone for helping us keep St. Paul safe during these crazy times.  I know that many of us had a very different Thanksgiving this year due to Covid.  Mrs. J. and I both stayed at home.  My husband and I and 2 of our 4 children had a quiet dinner, watched a movie, and relaxed.  I did not see my 2 married children or my new grandbaby for safety reasons.  If you traveled over the holiday or were with a large group for a party, please consider a self quarantine period for your child.  Our little ones require a lot of help with backpacks, coats, hats, gloves, masks, runny noses, etc.... This requires both Mrs. J and myself to work in close contact with many of our preschoolers.  Our goal is remain safe and healthy so that we can come into our classroom each day and give our best and also keep our own family safe and healthy when we go home.  Please help us by being extra cautious, 
We also work hard each day to sanitize our rooms - desks and chairs are cleaned daily, doorknobs, light switches, and computers are wiped down each morning and each afternoon.  We wash hands frequently.  We wash and sanitize toys and anything that may be shared at a later date.  If you have any Lysol spray or extra Clorox wipes, 70% Isopropyl alcohol, peroxide....  and would consider donating some we would be so grateful. 
*If your child is not feeling well, please keep them home.  If they come to school with any Covid-like symptom we will call you for a pick-up.  Missing time in preschool is fine.  Reading to your child daily is a simple way to keep them learning.  

God Bless!
*Stars can't shine without darkness. -unknown

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving.  I was glad to have some down time.  My family stayed home to be safe (I have 2 children that are still at home.)  My married children and their spouses stayed at home too, but we had a zoom get together so that we could visit.  A very different holiday, but it is good to know that we are all safe.  I spent some time reading, decorating for Christmas, wrapped a few gifts, and even took a few naps.  A pretty relaxing Thanksgiving break.

This week we are learning about the letter Kk.  Today we learned the correct way to write letter Kk in upper/lower case, learned the Kk sounds, and the "sign" for Kk.  Our Board Story was about a Kangaroo kicking a ball.  We put 11 Kk words on our Board.  Great job Preschool!!!  During Circle Time our little ones loved doing music/movement to "The Raindeer Dance" song.  We did the dance 3 times and they wanted more. :)

In Religion today we focused on Advent. We discussed how Advent is the "Waiting Time" before Jesus' birth. We learned that the shape of the Advent Wreath is a circle because Jesus' love never ends, it signifies the eternity of God, and the everlasting life we find in Christ.  The evergreens stay green all year and tell us that God never changes. It helps us to remember the newness of life we have in Christ.  We also learned that each candle signifies one week.  Today we lit (with paper) our first candle which signifies HOPE.  
We will continue to learn about Advent over the next few weeks.  

We also continue to work on our pencil grips and scissor skills.  

Special Notes:
*If you traveled over the holdiays or were with a large group I am asking that you keep your child home to self quarantine.  Our Preschoolers require a lot of help with coats, hats, gloves, boots, backpacks, runny noses, etc.... which require Mrs. J. and I to be near your child frquently.  We need to know that we are safe and can be healthy to continue to be at work and with our own family.  We appreciate your help. 
*If your child is not feeling well, Please keep them home.  If they come to school with any Covid symptoms we will send them home.  If your child misses a few days or a week of school, everything will be fine.  Read to them daily and know that they are still learning.

**Hope is seeing light in spite of being surrounded by darkness. -unknown

Songs, stories, and fun activities are helping our 3-Year Old Preschoolers to learn all about the Letter Jj.  We had fun with our story today - Jackie Jumps with Joy.  Every time Jackie jumped, our little ones jumped too.  During Music/Movement we did the "Jumping Jack Freeze" Dance.  In our Art Center today we had fun making a Turkey Craft.  These are hanging in our hallway and received lots of praise and admiration from passersby.  They are quite adorable.  Good job Preschool!!
We continue to practice our shapes, counting, and patterns in Math.  We are also working hard on proper pencil grip. Developing stronger hand muscles will help.  In class we continue to work on our fine motor skills with pinch/grip activities, using PlayDoh, puzzles, stringing beads, playing with lacing cards, and more.  Please find activities to help your child at home.  We use this phrase to help us remember how to hold our crayons/pencils: Rest it by your thumb, pinch it so it doesn't fall, give it a pillow to rest on, and hide those 2 piggies under the bed.  
Next week is a short week.  We wil focus on reviewing letters A-J and will continue our discussion about being Thankful.

**Special Notes:
*Please remember to sign up for a conference time.  The link came through Flocknote.  If you did not receive it, please contact me via email and I will send it to you.
*We're all working hard to keep our class clean and disinfected.  If your child is not feeling well, please, please keep them home and help us stop the spread of germs.  If your child has to miss school, even if it's for an extended time, do not worry about what they are missing in class.  If you read to them daily at home, they are learning more than  you know.

​

This week we are learning all about the letter Jj.  Today in 4-Year Old Preschool we learned the correct way to write the letter Jj in upper/lower case, learned the Jj sound, and the "sign" for Jj.  Our Board Story is about Jasper the Jaguar jumping the river and dropping his jelly beans.  Our Boards Words are jewelry, jacks, juice, and jet.  We added 6 extra words to our list.  Good job preschool!!  Our little ones did a great job with their Getting Ready Jj page and their Jj crowns.  Keep working on your scissor skills at home.  
Our theme this month is Thanksgiving.  We listened to a story about being Thankful which led to us brainstorming about things we are thankful for.  Here are some things that our Preschoolers listed:  family, friends, home, God (or as our sweet Anna said: "Our Heavenly Father"), pets, toys, food, my teacher, presents, and more.  During Music/Movement we had lots of fun doing the Turkey Dance.  In Art we colored our "I Am Thankful For..." mats.  I am seeing some really nice coloring in class and am feeling very proud.  
In Math we continue with shapes, number recognition, counting with one-to-one correspondence, and patterns.  We are very busy in Preschool.

**Special Notes:
*Be sure to check the link that was sent today to sign  up for your conference time.
*If you have any extra raffle tickets, please return them ASAP.  We have families that are ready to sell more tickets.
​*Continue to help us keep our classroom safe and healthy by keeping your child home if they are not feeling well.  A runny nose, stuffy nose, cough, sore throat, nausea, sneezing, diarrhea, or fever are all reasons to keep your child home.  We all know how quickly Covid is spreading.  Let's all practice extreme caution during this crazy time.  If you are not sure if you should send your child to school - KEEP THEM HOME- and allow them to rest.  

**We rise by lifting others. - Robert Ingersoll

Today we started learning about the letter Hh.  We learned the correct way to write Hh in upper and lower case, we learned the Hh sound, and we learned the "sign" for Hh.  A fun song about the letter Hh reinforced what we learned during Circle Time.  Our Circle Time story was the Hiccupotamus by Aaron Zenz.  We had lots of giggles with this funny story about animals  trying to find a cure for the hiccups. We also read and listened to a song about Humpty Dumpty. Everyone enjoyed moving their bodies during Music and Movement to the song "Up High. Down Low."  Such fun.

In Math we sorted by color.  This activity not only helps us with sorting but is a great small small motor skill and helps us with our hand/eye coordination.  We also continue to work with our shapes.  

In Art today we made a Humpty Dumpty craft.  Our goal was to "put him back together" with our puzzle craft.  Everyone loved working with band-aids today. 

**Special Notes:

If your child is sick, please, please keep them home.  We are working so hard in class to try and keep germs away but we can't do it on our own.  Remember, this is preschool.  Your child be just fine if they miss a few days of class.  Reading to your child at home has so many benefits.  If they can't be with us in class... read, read, read.  
If your child has been around someone that is sick watch carefully for any symptoms.  If you are concerned or not sure if you should send them - keep them home.  The news is full of stories of illnesses spreading rapidly.  Let's all do our part and help keep each other safe and healthy.

**Spread love everywhere you go.  Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier. -Mother Theresa