First week of school!

Hi New and Returning Families,

Our introduction week went wonderfully.  It was so much fun seeing all our returning children and meeting all the new children.  Orientation was a great opportunity for the teachers to meet all the parents.  We look forward to partnering with all of you this coming school year.

The teachers have been preparing for an exciting and extremely fun year with your children.  Each class has wonderful curriculum to enhance your child's development and bring them delightful days of learning.  There will be fun themes in all the classes and in our dramatic play area.

We are so fortunate to have a great teaching staff again this year.  Teacher Mary and Teacher Sarah, our Pre-k teachers, have been revising and extending the four year old curriculum so each of your children will have a successful transition into Kindergarten.  Children will build confidence in their own skills throughout the year.  Language arts, science, math, writing are some of the academic components your children will be exploring and learning while "playing" at school. Sarah, Mary and I will be attending a workshop for Handwriting Without Tears in October.  I have already attended the writing/literacy workshop, so I will be taking their math workshop this time.  Mary and Sarah will attend the writing and literacy workshop.  We will be collaborating on curriculum after the seminar.  Mary and Sarah have many creative and exciting activities to share with the children this year.

Teacher Lolly S., Teacher Daran and Teacher Theresa will be our team teaching the three year olds in our MWF Class.  When children turn three everything is "why", and these teachers are prepared to answer all those "whys" with an array of hands-on-exploration activities.  They are creating new curriculum to expand our current curriculum in  science, small group, outside play, math, small and large muscle.  They are specialist in helping children start learning conflict resolution and are ready to handle limit-setting behaviors.  The morning will be a great balance between free choice play and more structured large and small group times.

In our TTH Class, Teacher Tammy, Teacher Karen and Teacher Theresa will have loving arms waiting to help your children with separation, tantrums and transition.  Twos have tremendous energy and the teachers have prepared some awesome curriculum for your children to enjoy.  Awesomely MESSY exploration of inside activities and outside activities will keep your children busy all morning long.  Paint and water will be a big splash at preschool.  Please remember to dress your children in play clothes.  Children will have opportunities to sing, dance and play instruments at music time. 

In our Toddler Class, Teacher Karen is looking forward to sharing a morning of learning with parents and children.  For many children this is the first experience they will have in a large group setting.  This parent participation class is a wonderful way to introduce your child to the school and share in their delight. You will be right there to comfort your child if needed and to help your child explore all the wonderful activities that will be here at school.  Play dough, water, bubbles, blocks, paint are just a few of the activities that will be set up in the classroom.  At music time children will dance, sing, watch puppets and listen to stories. 

We all are always available to answer questions you may have about your responsibilities in the classroom and to discuss your expectations for the coming school year.  If you have questions regarding your child, it is always best to set up a time to meet, either with the teachers or the director, outside of classroom time. We feel it is important to talk about any concerns you may have when the child is not present.

Every week I will be sending out an email regarding the upcoming week's activities, This coming week's theme is "All About You".  Teachers and children will be sharing and learning fun facts about each other.  What makes us the same and what makes us different?  Each class will focus on getting to know you, so all the children can start learning new friends names. We have kept the curriculum simple this week because some transitions may be a little more challenging.  All classes will have age appropriate activities especially geared for their age group.

I will include the developmental aspects of the different activities the teachers set up in the classroom. For example; why play dough?  Play dough is a wonderful activity to strengthen your child's small motor muscles in their hand. When children play with dough  their finger dexterity, eye-hand coordination, vocabulary, senses are all strengthening and developing. We have an opportunity to introduce new words; smooth, bumpy, soft, cold, warm, long, short, the possibilities are endless.

Often I will attach information and articles I find helpful and interesting for parents to read.  This time I have attached some information about the benefits of playing with Play Dough.

I will also be incorporating parenting tips on a variety of subjects.  If there is any subject you would like me to address, please just let me know. 

This is going to be an incredible school year, all of us partnering together to bring your children an exciting learning experience filled with wonder and joy.  Thank you for trusting us to care for and teach your little ones.

Sincerely,
Director Karen and all the preschool teachers

Are we raising spoiled, entitled children?

I came across an interesting New Yorker article today titled, "Spoiled Rotten." The article compares American children with those of an Amazon tribe in Peru.  You can read it here...

 http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2012/07/02/120702crbo_books_kolbert?currentPage=all

My happening upon this article occurred while I was also making my way through a book called "The Entitlement Trap."  Here...

http://www.amazon.com/The-Entitlement-Trap-Choosing-Ownership/dp/1583334157/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346450205&sr=8-1&keywords=the+entitlement+trap

Hmmm... I thought.  Perhaps the universe is conspiring to teach me a lesson.

The book and the article conclude that we parents do a disservice to our children when we tie their shoes for them even though they can and should tie their own.  We create problems when we buy them things they haven't earned.  Interesting food for thought.

Today's Lesson in Creativity

When I dropped off my kindergartner at school this morning, I saw a group of 8-year-old boys having a blast playing a game of catch. When I looked more closely, I saw that one boy was barefoot and that the group was playing football with his shoe. "How resourceful!" I thought. It reminded me of how, as a new parent, I spent lots of money on toys and games only to discover that my kid preferred to play with the empty box.

Our children have an amazing well of creativity. If we let them, they will find a way to have fun inside an empty paper bag.

Observing with SOUL

When observing children, there are a few key ideas to keep in mind. Gwen Elliott, of Canada College’s Early Childhood Department suggests the following guidelines:

S - in SOUL is for silent. Silently observe what the child is doing:  simply look intently at what is going on.
O - observe the nuances of what’s taking pace. Really see for yourself how this child is interacting with materials, other children, teachers, the space.
U - understand what is taking place. Take the time to know what the child is doing. Give your full attention to the activities. See from the child’s point of view what is happening.
L - listen to the language and sounds the child is using. Yes, this is the music. This is also how young children communicate in words or nonsensical sounds of their joy, involvement, enthusiasm, fear and concern for you.

Put this all together and we have S.O.U.L.: silently observing, understanding and listening.

In our MWF class we are enjoy observing the children learning to play together as a large group.
They had a terrific time on an Exploration Hunt recently.  Lots of team work happened as they followed their maps and looked for the hidden treasures.  Checking and rechecking the map puzzles helped the children to find their treasures.  “Where do you think it is?” “Where is it buried?”  “How far down is the treasure?” we heard many of the children discussing.

(Posted on behalf of Teacher Lolly)

Learning about friendship

“It’s nice to be important but it’s more important to be nice.”
-- Author unknown

In our MWF class the children continue learning about how to be a friend. One boy recently said to another boy:  “If we are nice to you, you will be nice to us.“ It is very exciting to watch children grasp the meaning of friendship and kindness.

“When I was young, I admired clever people.  Now that I am old, I admire kind people.“
-- Abraham Joshua Heschel

(Posted on behalf of Teachers Lolly and Theresa)

Small kindnesses

“Too often we underestimate the power of touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”

-- Leo F. Buscaglia

In the M-W-F Class we are learning more each day about cooperative play and friendship. We’re learning that sharing, taking turns, and making others happy is also a personal reward.

One of the children brought some notes from home to pass out to friends at school. Upon opening the note, one of the children looked very carefully at the drawing inside and said, “This is very special.”  It is wonderful to see the “acts of caring” that happen in our class each time we are together.

-- Posted on behalf of Teacher Lolly S., MWF Class

Letting go of expectations

I had one of those magical days with my 3 year old this week -- the sort of day you hope for as a parent. I realize now that it all came together so well because I just relaxed and followed my child's lead.

It all started on Monday, when I feverishly crammed all of my errands into the few hours she was at school so that we could have a free morning on Tuesday, with nothing to do but hang out. Emma wanted to go to Happy Hollow in San Jose, which sounded OK to me since we have a membership and I have mastered the art of rushing down there, "doing" the park and getting back up to Redwood City in time to pick up my older daughter from kindergarten.

Unfortunately, when we arrived at Happy Hollow, I discovered that it was closed because of the reduced fall/winter hours. Before I broke the news to Emma, I decided that I needed a backup plan to distract her from the tears that I felt were inevitable. I whipped out my phone to check the hours for the Discovery Museum, dreading how much a few hours of "fun" were going to cost me. I felt lucky to discover that the museum was open. When I explained to Emma that Happy Hollow was closed but we could go to the Discovery Museum instead, she said "no thanks." She wanted to go to a park near our house, which we had visited a few weeks before with some friends.

I tried to talk her out of the park, explaining that our friends would not be there. I tried to explain that we were already in San Jose and that we don't often get the chance to go to the Discovery Museum. But, she was having none of it. She wanted the park. I finally decided that the park was a heck of a lot cheaper and easier than the Discovery Museum -- especially when you factor in all of the rude, pushy grade school kids who always seem to be at the museum in the mornings. So, without even getting out of the car to stretch our legs, we drove back up the 280 toward our house and went to Little People's Park in Portola Valley.

The parking lot was deserted, and I was certain that Emma would be disappointed when she discovered that her friends were not there. But when we walked through the gate, Emma's enthusiasm for a vacant playground became infectious. The two of us ran up and down the AstroTurf hill, we swung on the swings together, we played "ice cream shop" in the little playhouse, we slid down the slides together, we each got our own rocking horse, and we ate our snack side-by-side on the jungle gym. It was truly a magical morning with my little one. I found that by letting go of my expectations about what would make a perfect outing, I was able to just "be present" and enjoy my child's zest for life.

Do you ever feel like you spend so much time, effort, and money to give your children what you feel are "perfect" experiences when all they really want is our undivided attention and a lazy morning at the park?