GOOD SHEPHERD NURSERY SCHOOL
November 2007 Newsletter 
 

Director Notes

We’re sure you heard from your children all about Firefighter Joe MacDougall’s visit to our school.  Joe talked with the children about fire safety and showed us all the special clothes that firefighters wear, including the heavy jacket and pants, boots, face mask, oxygen tank, and fire helmet. The children were excited to be able to try on some of the clothes.  He took the children outside to see his fire engine and gave each of them a chance to go inside the cab and “drive”.  During his presentation to the children, Firefighter Joe asked the children to tell you that: 

1)   You should sit down as a family and discuss two fire escape routes within your home, and you should make sure that you can crawl along these routes in case of smoke.

2)   You should designate a special meeting place outside of the house.

3)   You should check your smoke detectors to make sure they work.  Let your children listen to the alarm so they become familiar with the sound.  Replace the batteries each year. 

He also talked about the importance of not playing with lighters and matches, and what to do if your clothing should catch fire:  STOP, DROP and ROLL.  As always, Firefighter Joe did a wonderful job of informing the children about fire safety. 

During fire safety week, we also conducted our first fire drill.  The children were very responsive to following the directions. We will continue to conduct fire drills each month, and will practice exiting the building when the weather permits. 

I am excited to report that our frozen dough fundraiser was an enormous success, with the school netting just under $2000!  Kudos go to our top sellers, Beth Watts, Janine Kizik, and Pam Champagne.  Between them, they sold 120 packages of dough!  Our warmest thanks go to all of you who were able to participate, and to Nicole Williams, who helped sort nearly 500 packages of dough on delivery day!  We look forward to the day we are able to remodel our bathroom to make it more child-friendly.

I would also like to extend my thanks to all of you who participated in Operation Christmas Child.  I will be delivering the shoeboxes this week for shipment across the world.  Your generosity is such a blessing to these very needy children.

We have several small items such as hair clips and barrettes, as well as a pink hooded zipper sweatshirt, that seem to have lost their owners.  Please check out the “lost and found” box when you are here for Thanksgiving!

It has come to my attention that some parents may have forgotten to order class photos last month.  It is still possible to order these photos on-line.  If you need the web address and access code, please give me a call or send an e-mail (508-533-5854 or cslowndes@aol.com).

We’re looking for four volunteers (one per class) to bake birthday sheet cakes for our Christmas Parties for Jesus.  If you are interested, please let me know.

The Christmas season quickly approaches, and we are concerned that giving individual staff Christmas gifts may become burdensome because we have so many teachers.  We are offering parents again this year the option of giving a gift to the school that may be enjoyed by all the children and staff in lieu of individual staff gifts.  A small Christmas tree hung with paper “wish list” ornaments will be on display during our Thanksgiving celebration. 

I have attached an excellent article about coping with the holidays.  Some of you may have read it before, but it is so good that I want our new families to see it too.

Wishing a wonderful Thanksgiving!   Miss Cathy

CALENDAR NOTES

The Good Shepherd Curriculum- Learning through Play

As you know, our school has four rooms for the children to explore during Free Play time.  Each room has several different learning centers.  The teachers meet weekly to brainstorm ideas and plan the weekly curriculum, giving careful thought to each different learning center.  This monthly newsletter will keep you informed of the skills the children are learning and practicing as they “play” at each center, using their imaginations and power of choice to become independent, inquisitive learners.

CIRCLE  TIME

SMALL GROUP

CRAFT

Vehicle Painting:  During Fire Safety week the children used fire trucks and other small vehicles to paint.  They dipped the wheels in red and black paint and “drove” them all over the paper.

Finger Painting:  It was a fun sensory experience as the children squished and swirled red and yellow paint together and made the color orange!  Some of the words they used were “gooey”, “cold”, “slippery” and “smooth”.

Family Portraits:  The children enjoyed thinking about and drawing pictures of their families with a variety of markers in honor of “Family Week”.  These portraits will be placed in a keepsake booklet to be sent home at the end of the year.

MATH

shape or color:  as a follow-up to our small group activity, the children placed objects of different colors and shapes onto sorting poles.  

Science

Kaleidoscopes: What fun it was to explore  brightly colored pictures, toys, and friends  through a variety of open-ended kaleidoscopes! 

Tornado bottles: Currently a selection of bottles and containers to shake, swirl and observe are providing lots of curiosity and conversation.

WRITING/LANGUAGE

Social cues, matching & language skills:      The children took turns matching cards with different facial expressions on them in the game “Silly Expressions”.  A mirror added to the fun!

ABC stamps provide a fun way to learn letters and create words.

THE SENSORY TABLE

Bead Stringing:  The children enjoyed making necklaces and “snakes” over and over again while socializing, practicing patterning, eye-hand coordination and fine motor

Buried Treasure: We are currently re-enforcing number recognition and counting as the children search for wooden numbers and other items buried in the sand, and place them in numbered stacking cups.

EASELS

Creativity & fine motor skills:  the easels have been very busy and full of conversation!  First, the children painted with feathers and used flat crayons to make leaf rubbings.  Currently out are water color paints and animal markers which are shaped to promote a triangular grip needed for writing. 

PLAYDOUGH

Creative expression and socialization:  Plastic spiders were found in the orange playdough earlier this month.   We are now experimenting with modeling clay.

THE DRAMATIC PLAYROOM

Social development, language and math skills,: This popular room has been transformed into a  “grocery store”, complete with “food”, shopping carriages,  cash  registers, a scale and more!  The children have enjoyed shopping for, purchasing and bagging their groceries.  Our cashiers have enjoyed collecting and counting money!

MUSIC & MOVEMENT

This month’s songs have included “Jump to the Front and Back”, “I am Thankful”, “Share His Love”,

QUOTES

Firefighter Joe-  “Once we’re out of the house we don’t go back in until the Fire Chief  says we can.  He’s the boss.”
Child- “No, my Mom’s the boss.”

Child. at snack-  “I want what he has”.
Miss Nancy-  “We are having carrots and dip.  He brings his own snack because  he has allergies.”
Child-  “I want allergies”.

Miss Brenda-  “What would happen if we fed Bingo too many carrots?”
Child-  “He’d turn into a monkey!” 

Child while eating pineapple at snack- “I know how to make a pineapple volcano. You use pineapple crunch, water, mustard, and tomato sauce.”

Child 1, looking at a picture of of another child who comes on a different day-  “Maybe one day I’ll meet her and love her.”

We hope you enjoy a blessed and
bountiful Thanksgiving with your
precious children, family and friends.

Miss Brenda-PK!, P2       Miss Kelly-PK2, P1

 Miss Maryann-PK1, P2    Miss Meg-PK2

 Miss Andrea-P2             Miss Nancy- P1

             Miss Julie-P1

“We are His people and the sheep of His pasture… be thankful unto Him and bless His name.”  Psalm 100