February 10
- February, 10, Friday, Parent Group Meeting, parish hall, 9:15
- Tues. and Wed., February 14 & 15 Sweetheart Lunch with daddy or special guest
- Monday, February 20, President’s Day, No Preschool
- Friday, February 24, Parent/Teacher Conferences MWF and 5 day classes.
Dear families,
This past week I took my mother to the Wisdom Center, Adult Day Care Facility. My mother is wheel chair bound and doesn’t speak because of previous stokes. I was a bit nervous but I had filled out all the registration forms, had a TB test, and all her doctor’s forms. Here we are on the first day. Her hand clenched my wrist as she kept pulling me with pleading eyes that she didn’t want to be there. We did some fun physical therapy, watched dancing and listened to the music. There were many activities and stimulation. It seems like a good environment with low ratios and I know that it is good for her but it was tough for me. Then, of course, I thought of preschool and how hard it is for many of you to let go of your child when then cry and plead and pull on you. I’m right there with you but at the end of life’s spectrum, funny how that is. Sandy
Chapel update… It seems like I’m getting a little ahead of myself starting to talk about Lent this week. (Lent actually starts February 22). But, since we are on break the week before Easter I need to get a running start to be able to fit all of our stories in. This week’s story, The Mystery of Easter, is an introduction to Lent and uses six puzzle pieces that when assembled will make the shape of the cross. During the next six weeks our chapel stories will focus on Jesus’ teachings and lead us up to His death and resurrection. The stories come from a program called “Young Children and Worship” and are presented in a very age appropriate manner. God’s peace, Chaplain Michelle
REGISTRATION 2011/2012 – Backpacker Program is back!
The preschool will be offering a Backpacker Program next year. This is a five day program for those who are a few months too young for Kindergarten or are not ready ‘sit’ in a classroom environment that isn’t appropriate for their development at this time.
Children need to be 5 by November 2 to enter Kindergarten this year and it will move to September 2 by 2014. Many schools offer two-year kindergartens for those who are not quite ready for the rigorous academics of the new Kinder. The problem that I see with the two-year Kindergarten is not so much the repetition of doing two years, but it’s what the children are missing, lots of role-playing and social interaction which is exchanged for seat-work in the classroom. Kindergarten used to be play-based and it was for a reason. Children need to have long sections of time for deep interactive play. Research provides more and more evidence of the positive effects that well-developed play has on various areas of child development, such as children’s social skills, mathematic ability, mastery of literacy concepts, and self regulation. Typically, the children in the Backpacker Class are 5 to 8 months older than most of the preschoolers. Because of their age their brain development and physical development allows the teacher to go further and prepare the groundwork for more advanced Kindergarten skills. These 5’s are developing what scientist call “theory of the mind.” This is the ability to understand that other people have different ideas and that we think differently. The expectations from parents and teachers slowly change as the year progresses.
The Backpacker program continues to be child-centered and play-based
This class focuses on:
Group participation: This includes following teacher directives, working independently on projects, or with small groups, playing group games, following rules of the game.
Large motor skills: Physical abilities, better control for running and stopping, jumping, eye hand coordination, allows for success with ball skills and jump rope, developing confidence and self esteem with their bodies and sports.
Social and emotional skills: Backpackers form friendships and start to understand the cause and effect of their emotions on behavior. The older children are able to develop higher language skills to identify and express emotions. This enables conflict negotiations to be recognized and dealt with a bit differently.
Responsibility: The responsibilities move from “jobs” at school to responsibilities at home, to creating a feeling of independence and an awareness of the child’s role within the family.
Cognitive: Academically the 5’s are ready for more structure and as stated above this class deliberately spends more time on phonics, math, literature, writing skills and science.
