GOOD SHEPHERD NURSERY SCHOOL

February 2006 Newsletter

On costume day, we would appreciate no scary costumes! Costumes worn should allow for children to move and play freely and safely.  Snack and school calendars for the month of March are attached to this newsletter.  Details about school photos will be coming home soon.  On March 28 and 29, staff will be available to watch children during parent-teacher conferences.
 

The children begin each day with group songs and creative movement.  We try to begin circle time no later than 9:20 a.m. (12:50 p.m. for afternoon classes).  We realize that arriving late is sometimes unavoidable, but please remember that when children arrive late to school, they miss out on song time and part of circle time, both of which are an important part of their school experience. 

The children recently enjoyed a short presentation by Becky Long (a missionary from Medway Village Church).  Becky works with the Zapotec Indians in Mexico where she is translating the Bible into the Zapotec language.  The children learned some Zapotec words, sang a song in Zapotec, and saw some delightful pictures from the village where Becky works.  They were excited to hear about how much the village children enjoyed the packages from Operation Christmas Child!
 

The children loved talking about and looking at pictures of different types of cars, trucks, planes and boats as well as learning a big new word during "transportation" week.  During "senses" week they enjoyed identifying different smells, tastes, and sounds

as we talked about the five senses God gave us to explore His world.   We used plastic food from our dramatic playroom to make piles of healthy and not so healthy foods during "nutrition" week.  The children had fun learning more about the foods we eat as they sorted and categorized.  We noted that most of the healthy food was provided by God and grew on trees or in the ground.  Valentine week is the perfect time to talk about feelings.  Puppets helped show the children how to recognize and express a variety of feelings such as anger, sadness, embarrassment, happiness and love.  We had a few laughs as we watched one another make faces to show different emotions!  After vacation we'll be talking about visits to the doctor and also what a hospital is like. 

During small group this month the children were asked to identify some basic shapes such as a circle, square, and triangle, and then to try to duplicate a circle, a straight horizontal line, and a straight vertical line on a piece of paper.  This is a way to develop and practice some basic pre-math and pre-writing skills.
 

As January came to an end we discussed the many different forms of transportation including how they used to get around many years ago and how we get around today.  Many of the children agreed that they like the way we get around today much better!  We ended January and began February talking about the five senses.  The children were able to use their sense of smell to  identify different scents such as lemon and vanilla, their sense of taste by tasting salt and sugar, their sense of touch by identifying different objects in a bag, and their sense of hearing by listening to different sounds within the classroom.  We then went into Nutrition/Dental week.  We talked about the foods that are healthy for you as well as the foods that are not as healthy for you.  Many of the children agreed that fruits and vegetables are on the top of the list of healthy foods, while candy is on the top of the list of not as healthy food.  We ended this week with a visit from a dental