March 2008 Newsletter

	Good Shepherd Nursery School March, 2008

Director’s Notes
We’re looking for your feedback on our web site, www.goodshepherdnurseryschool.org. Our web-master, Chris Fallon, is in the process of updating the “look” and content of the web site, and would like your ideas about any information you would find helpful, what you would like to see on the site, and any ideas for changes. I hope you’ll take a few minutes to “browse” and let us know what you think! Feel free to respond either in writing or by e-mail. We value your input! A small yellow bear has been missing since our teddy bear week. We have been unable to locate its hiding place and wondered if perhaps it may have gone visiting to a friend’s home. Any clues as to its whereabouts would be greatly appreciated! We’re hoping that the cold and flu season will end soon! It is important that you let us know when your child is absent from school due to illness or for other reasons. The health and safety of the children and staff are of utmost importance at Good Shepherd. When dropping off or picking up your child, please remember to refrain from pulling around another vehicle in the drop-off pick-up area unless you have been directed to do so by the teachers who are escorting children. We realize that it can be inconvenient to wait, and try to make the process as speedy as possible. However, the safety of everyone must be our priority. We still have a few openings in all of our classes for September, 2008. Please tell your friends and neighbors about Good Shepherd! Full enrollment helps to keep our tuition rates down, and allows us to maintain the high quality of our program. Happy Easter! Miss Cathy
Circle Time
Manners/School Rules- We talked about the importance of polite words, and role-played good manners and considerate behavior- treating each other the way that God wants us to. Nutrition- The children made two piles of plastic food, categorizing the food as either healthy for you, or not really healthy (a “some times” food). We then sorted the food into groups by type- fruit, vegetable, dairy, etc. and noticed that the best food for our bodies is the food that God gives us! Easter- This week we will go upstairs to the sanctuary together, and listen to the story of Jesus’ happy arrival in Jerusalem, His sad death by the people who just didn’t understand who He was, and His happy resurrection into Heaven on Easter Sunday! Music- We’ll end the month of March learning about different types of musical instruments, and enjoying a demonstration by our resident musician, Miss Cathy, as she shares her violin, guitar and other instruments with us
Craft
Marble Painting- The children loved placing a piece of paper into a round or square baking pan, and then rolling paint-covered marbles around in the pan to make unique designs! Spilt Milk- The children had fun creating their own version of the book “It Looks Like Spilt Milk”. Using their fine motor skills they placed droplets of white paint on blue paper and when finished they folded the paper in half and rubbed the paint all around. They then opened the paper and used their imaginations to tell us what they thought it looked liked. Pasta Creations--- Following along with nutrition week the children created ":Colored Pasta Creations". Using pasta colored by our Monday extended class (thank you to all of them) they were able to create their own designs. Some children even went as far as to make faces or cars and trains. Wind Chimes- We hope you enjoy the special Easter craft your children are making, using colored tissue paper and glue for a stained-glass effect.
Science
Woodworking fun! Our science table offered wood pieces, rulers, measuring tapes, safety goggles, and sand paper for the children to explore the world of woodworking. Exploring the animal world! Critical thinking skills are being developed as the children match pictures of animals to pictures of animal footprints, including deer, bear, raccoon, rabbit, and even human prints.
Math
Patterning, shape recognition, color recognition, counting, and matching- One of our more popular games, Playful Patterns, was out for the children to use different colored shapes to make pictures or patterns on the cards provided. In keeping with the theme of nutrition week, the children got to play with the Counting Cookies game. This is a fun game where the children can count the chips in the cookies numbered 1-10 in the cookie jar. Also available was the Matching Donuts game where the children could match the donut frosting tops in a memory-style game. The play extended into buying and selling of cookies and donuts, and building cookie/donut factories out of the nearby legos! Currently out is “Pizza Party”, a game where the children match and count pizza toppings and attempt to fill their slice of the pie.
Writing/Language
Opposites and Rhyming were practiced as the children played two different versions of “Puzzle Pairs”. Writing skills are currently being honed as the children write down food orders at our Writing Center in the Dramatic Playroom, aka The Good Shepherd Café! Some children write using squiggles and lines, while others actually copy words from the menu, as they all have fun working at their own individual developmental levels.
Dramatic Play Room
“The Good Shepherd Café” is a very popular restaurant, providing lots of fun for chefs, wait staff, cashiers, and patrons! The children are enjoying a variety of activities such as setting the tables, placing flowers in vases, passing out and ordering from real menus, writing up orders on sticky paper and sticking them on the wall near the stove where the chef s are busy preparing a variety of food, and then using play money or credit cards to pay for their dinners. It is also a good place to practice manners!
Easels
Sponge painting shamrocks on a flat surface rather than an easel provided a different way to paint. The children also enjoyed holding their crayons sideways and rubbing them over a textured surface such as a geometric design or an animal, hiding under the easel paper. Egg-shaped paper and pastel paint on the easels, and egg- shaped chalk dipped in water provided a fun opportunity to be creative during Easter week.
Sensory Table
It’s “squishy”, it’s “soft”, it’s “gooshy”- it’s goop! What fun it’s been exploring this cornstarch and water mixture which appears solid, but drips and melts as soon as you pick it up! Currently the children are enjoying opening up plastic eggs hidden in Easter grass to discover God’s many creatures that come from eggs, such as turtles, frogs, snakes, dinosaurs, chicks and ducks.
Playdough
Spring is in the air and at the playdough table as the children roll and cut sunny yellow playdough using bunny, egg, and chick-shaped cookie cutters.
Music & Movement
Songs to go along with our “Manners” and “Nutrition” themes included “Please & Thank You are the Magic Words”, “The Good Manners Song”, “I am Thankful”, “Hot Potato, Hot Potato”, “Fruit Salad”, and “Apples & Bananas”. We hope you’ll come to our Sing-Along next week and partake in a sample of the fun songs and motions we enjoy each morning as an important part of our developmental curriculum.
Quotes
Child: (while looking at a picture of skyscrapers): “That looks like a picture of George Washington, DC!” Child: “I’m going to Vermont”. Miss Brenda: “Will you ski?” Child: “Ya, but sometimes when I ski my head tips over!” Child at blocks: “We’re going to make a castle so high it’s up to God’s head!” Child: “I miss Miss Chris”. Miss Brenda: “Your teachers do too!” Child: “Why do you close your eyes when you pray?” Miss Meg: “I close my eyes because I’m talking to God, and I just want to think about Him and nothing else.” Child: “I keep my eyes open, because if He comes to see me I want to make sure my eyes are open!”
Happy Easter and Happy Spring! Miss Brenda Miss Kelly Miss Maryann Miss Julie Miss Andrea Miss Nancy Miss Meg

Miss Cathy

Manners/School Rules- We talked about the importance of polite words, and role-played good manners and considerate behavior- treating each other the way that God wants us to.

Happy Easter and Happy Spring!