Parent Letter September 15, 2010

September 15, 2010

Greetings from the preschool,

It was great seeing so many preschoolers and families at the All School Pot Luck Dinner last week. Leelee did a fabulous job on the slide show! She has many more photos of preschoolers that we will present as a slide show at a morning drop-off soon.

This week marks our first full week of school. The children are clearly experiencing a joyful and impressive transition vis-à-vis the challenges, rituals and expectations of preschool. We created a sharing schedule last week, and on Monday we started the sharing activity. It’s fun to observe how quickly the children take ownership of this ritual, and engage each other in simple but meaningful ways. The job chart is a little more complicated, but since we refer to it frequently during the day, the preschoolers are quick to figure out how it works. Yesterday we heard a story about Mousie’s first day of school and the rules that the animals came up with for their classroom, followed by a discussion of our own preschool rules. We started making our Tree of Kindness yesterday as well.

The specials schedule is comprised of art with William (Monday), music with Alli (Tuesday), French with Johanna (Wednesday), library/stories with Ponnie (Thursday), and PSD (physical skills/development) with the kindergartners on Friday. These sessions are consistently from 9:00 to 9:30 each morning. On Monday during our art special we made wonderful robot-like assemblages out of cardboard and various objects.

All these activities, and more – recess, circle times, snacks and meals, projects, games, songs, hikes, cracker snack and candle circle (p.m.) – provide the context for a treasure trove of information about your child’s experiences each day. We invite you, and encourage you, to learn as much as you can about the rituals of our day, and to visit the program to experience it for yourself if you can. You’ll be much more likely to actually receive feedback about your child’s day by asking her/him simple, engaging, and specific questions about what goes on at school.

It’s not too late to help us observe the life cycle of the monarch butterfly. We are seeking several (the more, the better!) monarch caterpillars, which are found on milkweed plants, to be brought in and cared for by the preschoolers. We provide them with fresh milkweed leaves and watch as they grow larger, shed their skins, and eventually turn into chrysalises and become monarch butterflies. It’s a very special experience. Let us know if you find any caterpillars in your travels!

Don’t forget: Thursday is Pajama Day! Friday, Sept. 17 is Photo Day, and Thursday Sept. 23 is our Curriculum Night meeting.

As always, thanks for the opportunity to care for your terrific children.
--Ken and Leelee