Dear Preschool families,

We have had a busy week! The children worked on many holiday projects; learned about the Christmas Story, visited the church, made observations and predictions while peppermint candies melted in cold and hot water, learned about the letter “Ii”, and learned strategies for how to handle strong feelings and emotions. WOW!

This coming week will too, be filled with many fun activities and special projects. Therefore, our curriculum looks a little different!  (Please note that the January snack calendar will come home before break as well.)

Here is what you can expect:

Monday: We will finish completing our holiday projects.

Tuesday: We will be visiting our 4^th grade buddies and gifting them with a special handmade bookmark that your children made.

Wednesday: We will rehearse in the church for our Christmas concert.

Thursday: A dance instructor from the American Dance Institute will be here to teach the children a special ballet lesson!

Christmas Concert at 6pm in the church.  Please see below for important information and details.

Friday: Last day of school. AM Preschool only.  NO PM Preschool!

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING THE CHRISTMAS CONCERT

Thursday evening at 6pm is our Christmas Concert in the church. Please drop your child off between 5:15 -5:30 at preschool. The teachers will supervise while you head over to the church and find a seat.

While this is a joyous performance opportunity, in an effort to promote performance etiquette, uphold the dignity of the student singers, and assist in maintaining a sense of order and reverence within our sacred space, we respectfully request that:

• Adults please enter the temple through the vestibule doors (west doors) of the church.
• The side entrances to the church are reserved for student performers only.
• Seating in church pews only. Please no seating on the floor or standing near the altar or risers.
• Please refrain from approaching the risers to take pictures/videos before or during student performances.

So that you may enjoy the live performance and not be distracted by your mobile device, the school has contracted with a photographer to take still pictures of the performances. Parent and professional photographer, Alessandra Brescia, has generously agreed to take pictures during the student performance and will provide a link for free download.

WHEN THE CONCERT IS OVER PLEASE PICK YOUR CHILD UP AT PRESCHOOL. PLEASE WAIT OUTSIDE THE DOOR AND WE WILL DISMISS YOUR CHILD TO YOU.

If you have any questions or concerns, please let us know. We look forward to seeing you!

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING IMPORTANT JANUARY DATES

We will be conferencing once again in January. More information on signing up for these will be available after Christmas break. However, we wanted to let you know of the dates so that you can make arrangements now. 

Conference Dates:

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29^TH: EVENING ONLY

THURSDAY, JANUARY 30^TH: ALL DAY AND EVENING NO PRESCHOOL

FRIDAY, JANUARY 31^ST:  MORNING CONFERENCES ONLY – NO PRESCHOOL

PLEASE TALK WITH DAYCARE IF YOU ARE IN NEED OF CHILD CARE ON THURSDAY OR FRIDAY, AS THERE WILL BE NO AM OR PM PRESCHOOL ON THESE DAYS.  

 

 

Dear Families,

We hope you enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving spent sharing time with loved ones and friends. Welcome to December!  Your children have been busy this week learning about the Advent wreath and the Story of Jesus’ birth. They will be bringing home their very own Advent wreaths to share.

Please read on to learn more about what we will be learning next week. Thank you. 

LANGUAGE: This week we will focus on the letter “Ii” and will make an “Ii” sound craft.

RELIGION:

Today we learned about St. Nicholas. Next week we will visit St. John’s Church to view the crèche, the scene of Jesus’ birth. We will pray and read The Christmas Story.

SECOND STEP: Unit 4 Speaking Up Assertively

Coping with other people’s rude or unsafe behavior is very difficult for young children and often prompts strong feelings. Learning to calm down and to speak assertively in response is an important skill for children to have.

STEM:

Morning Preschoolers will become engineers and construct “trees” using toothpicks and gumdrops.

Afternoon Preschoolers will be conducting a “Peppermint Water” Science activity.

CHRISTMAS PROGRAM

The preschoolers will have their traditional Christmas Program on Thursday, December 19th at 6:00 pm in our Church.

We will send out a more detailed message next week with specifics regarding arrival and departure from the Church, seating, and photography.

REMINDERS

• Please fill out the intent to enroll form for next year. This is ONLY for students planning to return to Preschool.
• On Friday, December 20th school will be dismissed at Noon. Therefore there is NO PM Preschool.

 

November 25^th, 2019

 

Dear Families,

Saint John Preschool wishes you all a blessed and bountiful Thanksgiving! We are so thankful and blessed to be a part of your children’s educational journey and appreciate your continued support.

 

We want to THANK YOU for all of your generous donations to the St. Vincent de Paul food drive. According to the 6^th grade class, preschool has donated the most food of any class! Great Job!

 

There are only two days of school next week, Monday and Tuesday. Therefore, next week we will be reviewing letters and sounds learned thus far, finishing crafts, learning about Native American homes, singing new songs, and spending time with our 4^th grade buddies!

 

REMINDERS

• No school on November 27, 28, and 29 for the Thanksgiving Holiday.
• December Book Order forms were sent home today. We ask that you please place your orders by 3^rd to ensure delivery by Christmas.
• MARK YOUR CALENDARS! December 19^th will be our Christmas Concert in the Church at 6pm. More information will follow.
• NO PM Preschool on December 20^th. This is a half-day for the entire school.
• December Snack Calendars were sent home today.

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Families,

November is well underway and as we near Thanksgiving we are reminded of our many blessings. This week in preschool we will focus on the following:

LANGUAGE ARTS

Our letter of the week is Gg. We will learn the sound and reinforce it with a G craft.

RELIGION

Our theme this week is Thankfulness. We will read Thank You, Thanksgiving and talk about Thanksgiving as a day for thanking God and our family for everything!

CULTURAL STUDIES

The children will learn facts about Native Americans and will create an art project and read stories to celebrate the richness and beauty of their culture.

Watch this video about The Wampanoag with your family:

 

 

SECOND STEP

Different Feelings

In early childhood, children begin to recognize that people can feel and think different things about the same situation. This skill is an important part of social perspective taking. Without this understanding, children will not consider the existence of any perspective other than their own and therefor not develop the appropriate empathy towards others.

STEM

For our STEM lesson this week we will do a “dancing corn” experiment using baking soda and vinegar and play a Pumpkin Pie math game.

FOOD DRIVE

We continue to collect food for the St. Vincent de Paul Food Bank. Please send in non-perishable items for our neighbors in need.  Thank You!

MUSIC

The children are learning to sing “TURKEY TIME” this time of year. Below are the lyrics:

Turkey time, pumpkin pie.

Frosty weather in the sky.

Families gather round

For Thanksgiving Day.

 

On that first Thanksgiving Day,

The Indians brought the meat.

The Pilgrims brought the vegetables,

And they all sat down to eat.

 

(Repeat: Turkey time, pumpkin pie…)

 

Each year on this day of thanks,

The people that we love.

Gather round to thank the Lord,

For blessings from above.

 

(Repeat:  Turkey time, pumpkin pie…)

REMINDERS

• Picture Make – Up and Retake Day will be November 20^th from 8:30 – 9:30am in Egan Hall.
• NO SCHOOL November 27^th-29^th for the Thanksgiving Holiday.
• You are invited to help put packets of goodies together for our homeless neighbors on Tuesday, November 15^th from 6:30-8:30pm in Egan Hall.

 Dear Families,

It was so lovely to meet with you last week.  It’s fun getting to know everyone and learning more about your delightful children.  Thanks for your support.

We are very busy in preschool, as “the holidays” have begun.

We are learning new songs and poems, reading Thanksgiving stories and making Thanksgiving art and crafts.

RELIGION

The children will hear the story of the Good Samaritan. They will discuss ways to show love to others. They will identify others as neighbors and describe ways to help.

SPANISH

We will review greetings, colors, numbers, Adonde esta? (Where is?) Como te llamas? (What is your name?)

We will learn: Me gusta (I like) No me gusta (I don’t like)

Food Vocabulary:

Pan: Bread

Arroz: Rice

Frijoles: beans

Sopa: soup

Pavo: Turkey

Papas: Potatoes

Frutas: Fruits

Vegetales: Vegetables

Pastel: Cake

FOOD DRIVE

The classes of St. John’s school will continue to collect food for the St. Vincent de Paul Food Bank, which is located in Quigley.  Please send in non-perishable items for our neighbors in need.

SUPPORT THE HOMELESS

Please remember to donate items  for the Homeless Project that the 4th graders have organized.

Requested Items:

• Socks, gloves, hats for adults and children (small enough to fit in gallon Ziploc bags)
• Individually packaged food items such as granola bars, crackers, tuna packs, instant oatmeal, fruit leather
• Gently used, or new, children’s books (small enough to fit in gallon Ziploc bags)
• Hand wipes (travel size – no liquid hand sanitizer, please)
• Soap, shampoo, deodorant (travel size)
• Individual tissue packets
• Cough drops
• Lip balm
• Maxi pads (no tampons, please)
• Hand warmers
• Tea bags (individually packaged)
• Plastic utensils
• Gallon Ziploc bags
• $5 denomination gift cards (McDonald’s, Fred Meyer, Starbucks, etc.)
• Cash donations are always welcome!  100% of cash and checks (made out to St. John School) will be used to purchase additional goods.

We are collecting goods thru November 15. Thank you for your support!

 

IMPORTANT DATES & REMINDERS!

No school on November 27^th, 28^th and 29^th for the Thanksgiving Holiday

Dear Families,

Happy November! Our preschoolers sure enjoyed the Halloween festivities yesterday.  They were darling in their costumes and had fun singing to our parish senior citizens, attending the carnival, and enjoying one another’s costumes.  Please read on for next week’s activities. Thank you!

LANGUAGE ARTS

This week we will focus on the letter and sound of Ff and make an Ff sound craft.

RELIGION

Last week we learned about “All Saints Day”. We talked about what a Saint is and how they teach us to be like Jesus. This week we will read the lesson of the Prodigal Son. We will discuss forgiveness and learn whenever we make mistakes that God lovingly forgives us.

STEM

Our STEM lesson this week will be centered on Fall harvest and the vegetables that we find this time of year. We will also continue with our building of structures with pumpkins and marshmallows.

Click here to watch a video of the kids!

 SECOND STEP

 This week we will teach the children the meaning of the word Empathy.

Empathy can motivate children to respond to different situations in a caring way.

A good way to review this lesson at home is during story time or while watching a movie. Ask “How is the character feeling?”, talk about it.

BOOK ORDER

November Scholastic book order forms will be sent home on November 4th. Please turn your orders in by Thursday, November 7^th, as it is a short week.

 FOOD DRIVE

We will continue collecting food for the St. Vincent de Paul Food Bank. Please send in non-perishable items for our neighbors in need.  Thank you for your support!

  MUSIC

The children will be learning to sing “TURKEY TIME” this time of year. Below are the lyrics:

Turkey time, pumpkin pie.

Frosty weather in the sky.

Families gather round

For Thanksgiving Day.

On that first Thanksgiving Day,

The Indians brought the meat.

The Pilgrims brought the vegetables,

And they all sat down to eat.

(Repeat: Turkey time, pumpkin pie…)

Each year on this day of thanks,

The people that we love,

Gather round to thank the Lord,

For blessings from above.

(Repeat:  Turkey time, pumpkin pie…)

IMPORTANT DATES & REMINDERS!

No school on November 8th and 11^th.

No school on November 27^th, 28^th and 29^th for the Thanksgiving Holiday

Dear Families,

We had a busy week learning the letter Ee and creating our E craft with eggshells.  We learned about Noah’s Ark and how God saved Noah and his family and the many creatures on Earth. Bob and Sally, our Second Step puppets helped us practice our Spanish phrases and helped us learn some new ones!  Our STEM lesson was all about skeletons and how important they are!

Next Week

Please remember NO SCHOOL on Monday, October 28^th. We are looking forward to seeing you at conferences. Tuesday, October 29^th SCHOOL WILL START AT 9:00 AM. Please read on for what’s happening next week!

Religion

We will learn the meaning of All Saints Day. It is a day to honor the saints who strived to live like Jesus in loving kindness while on earth. We also honor our loved ones who have passed away.

STEM

This week we will do an engineering activity using candy pumpkins and  ghosts!

Halloween

We will celebrate Halloween on October 31^st with our school carnival! The children may wear simple and comfortable costumes to school. Please remember that if your child attends morning preschool they are welcome to attend the carnival with a parent or caregiver. The time is from 1:00-1:45.

REMINDERS

• No School on November 8^th and November 11^th.
• Any questions or concerns please let us know!

Thank you!

 Preschool

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Families,

We had a busy week singing, building and playing! We also listened to the story of Creation in Religion, learned more about our feelings, and did a science absorption experiment involving leaves. Our Fall walk was a great success. Thank you to the many volunteers who made it possible. We appreciate you! Next week will include the following:

Language Arts

 

This week we will learn the letter “Ee” and create a craft involving eggshells.

Religion

The children will learn the story of Noah’s Ark. We will discuss ways we can love God like Noah and explain that God keeps his promises. The children will also learn the meaning of the rainbow!

Spanish

We will practice numbers, colors, and greetings.

Hola – Como estas? (Hi! How are you?)

Bien Gracias! ( Well, Thank you!)

Y usted? (and you)

Adios – goodbye

We will review: Como te llamas? (What is your name?)

Me llamo________ (My name is_____)

 

New Question: Adonde esta? (Where is?____)

October Vocabulary

Calabaza: Pumpkin

Fantasma: Ghost

Calabera: Skeleton

Monstruo: Monster

Dulces: Candy

Disfraz: Costume

STEM

We will learn about skeletons, and create a skeleton craft.

We will also build pumpkin towers!

Halloween

The preschool classes will be celebrating Halloween on October 31^st. The children may wear simple and comfortable costumes to school on this day. There will be a carnival in the gym from 1:00 – 1:45, which the afternoon class will attend. Part time preschoolers and all AM children are invited to attend the carnival with a parent/caregiver that afternoon. 

REMINDERS

• PICTURE DAY is TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22^nd. Please turn in your order forms if you would like to order photos.
• Halloween Carnival is Thursday, October 31^st, from 1-1:45 in the gym.              
• There will be NO PRESCHOOL classes Monday, October 28th and Friday, November 8^th, due to conferences.
• 9 AM Late start on Tuesday, October 29.
• Thanksgiving break is November 27^st – November 29^th.
• FOOD DRIVE! Please consider donating canned and non-perishable food items to support our St. Vincent de Paul pantry. You can drop the items off in preschool.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you!

Your Preschool Team

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Families,

We had a busy week in preschool learning about St. Francis and his special love for animals. We learned about the letter Dd; learned some new phrases and words in Spanish, and learned about spiders! We also kept busy creating Halloween pushpins, playing and building, and making crafts and books about squirrels!

We look forward to seeing some of you on Monday for our traditional Fall walk in the neighborhood. Thank you for your support! It will be a fun day!

 

This week we will focus on the following:

 

Monday: Fall Walk and Craft

Tuesday: Religion

We will learn the story of Creation. We will learn what God created on each of the seven days.

Wednesday: STEM

Last week was our Spider unit. We learned about the parts of a spider and that they have 8 legs and many have 8 eyes! This week will be another Fall unit involving leaves.

 Thursday: Second Step

Unit 3: Empathy

Children will learn how to recognize and name strong feelings like anger or feeling frustrated. They will also learn ways to calm down, and how to communicate these feelings.

Friday: P.E.

Click here to watch a video of the kids during their P.E. Class

 REMINDERS AND NOTES

 Preschool Conferences

The link to sign up for conferences is now available. Please be sure and sign up as soon as possible. Thank you.

 Halloween

The AM and PM preschool class will be celebrating Halloween on Thursday, October 31st. On this day, the middle school classes will be hosting a Halloween carnival from 1-1:45pm in our school gym. The children may wear simple and comfortable costumes to school. Please be sure costumes are easy enough for the children to take care of at restroom time on their own. Also, please no pretend weapons or any kind of accessories. Thank you! All AM children are invited to attend the carnival with a parent or other adult that afternoon. More information will follow.

Music

We sing many songs in preschool. One song is about coughing and sneezing into our elbows! It goes like this:  (Tune is the abc song)

“If you have to cough or sneeze do it in your elbow please!”

“Take a tissue wipe your snout, wash your hands and toss it out.”

“If you have to cough or sneeze do it in your elbow please!”

It’s that time of year! Please keep your child home if they are experiencing a constant cough, or runny nose. There is a Washington state health policy that a child must be fever free for 24 hours before returning to school. If you have any questions please refer to the St. John Handbook or contact the school office.

 Our Weekly Schedule: Just for your information!

We follow this weekly schedule unless there is a special event happening.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

 Monday: New material is introduced as well as our letter of the week.

Tuesday: Religion

Wednesday: STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math)

Thursday: Library for AM Class and Spanish or Second Step

Friday: Library for PM Class and PE for both classes.

Thank you for your continued support!

Dear Families,

We had another successful week in Preschool! Lots of playing and learning!

We look forward to our Nature Walk on Monday, October 14^th in the neighborhood! Permission slips have gone home. Please return these no later than Wednesday, October 9th. Children will not be able to walk without a slip.  We will complete a nature craft following the walk. Remember to dress according to the weather. We will go rain or shine! J

As a general reminder, please practice sounds a, b, and c, with your children. Make it fun! Look for objects that begin with a certain sound, or play a game of “I spy.” Count how many words you come up with. Practice counting too!

 Parent-Teacher Conferences

We are looking forward to the Parent Teacher Conferences on Oct 28^th and November 8^th. More information on signing up will follow soon. Getting to know you helps us know your child better! We want all to sign up. More information will follow soon.

 Language

This week we will learn the sound “Dd” and will make a sound craft.

 Religion

Saturday, Oct. 5 was the Blessing of the Animals at Church.  In addition we will learn about the life of Saint Francis and his love of everything God made.  He called all of God’s creatures his brothers and sisters.

STEM

This week our STEM lesson will include Spiders!

Spanish

Will review greetings, counting and colors and will learn:

 Como te llamas? (What is your name?)

Me llamo ________ (My name is______)

Rapido: Fast

Lento: slow

Grande: Big

Pequeno: Small

Did you know?

We practice making the Sign of the Cross everyday when we say our prayer before snack. Help your child practice at home. The prayer is as follows:

Sign of the Cross:

In the name of the Father

And of the Son

And of the Holy Spirit

Amen

Prayer:

Dear Jesus we thank you for the food we are about to receive,

We thank you especially for  (Student name) and his/her family for providing it.

REMINDERS

• Please notify preschool when your child will be absent due to illness or a planned absence. You must also notify the main school office either by calling, 206-783-0337 or reporting the absence online.
• Book orders are due Monday, October 7^th.

 Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns!

 Your Preschool Staff