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This page will have an archive of all previous month's news articles from Cindy McDowell, beginning with the most recent month. Scroll down the page for the entire school year. April 2008 We enter into April knowing that the calendar is not slowing down one little bit and we still have sooooo much we want to do together! We will be closed for the week of March 31st and hope everyone enjoys a beautiful Spring Break. We reopen on Monday, April 7th with just 7 weeks left in this school year (where has the time gone?!) Be sure to join us for our upcoming Spring Concerts!! The children will be dancing and singing a medley of songs about careers they might choose “When I Grow Up” on Thursday and Friday, April 17 & 18. Concerts start at 11:30 am both days and will be followed by a delicious reception in Fellowship Hall. Come enjoy a glimpse of the future!!! In the week following our Concerts, our Parents are invited to come share their jobs with us during Career Week. We hope for a great response (watch for a detailed RSVP to come home of all our end of year activities) so be sure to sign-up and come in to share with us all the possibilities for future careers. On April 24h and 25th, we will begin each day at 9:20 am with our Annual Umbrella Day Parades in the courtyard. We hope everyone will stay a little longer in the morning and enjoy these must-see parades! We will also hold our final Chapel Moments those days. We have had so much fun in our Chapel Moments with Pastor Bobby this year (see our Hallway Photo Bulletin Board J). Come see why Pastor Bobby is such a hit with our preschoolers! This is also your final chance this year to enjoy Musical Moments starring your preschoolers! Summer Camp 2008 is getting ready and flyers have gone home with the children letting them know dates, times, and fees. Registration begins on April 8th and on April 15th we will open Registration to our ‘08-‘09 in-coming students. It’s time to secure your summer camp adventures and get ready for a wonderful summer! Registration for the 2008-2009 school year continues, and while many, many, many classes are already full, vacancies do remain. If you or someone you know is interested in fall enrollment, please contact the preschool office soon to schedule an appointment. By Mrs. Christian Happy Spring! We hope everyone is having a wonderful and relaxing spring break. April brings the outdoors into our classroom as we learn all about insects. We will explore the life cycle of caterpillars and watch them become beautiful butterflies. Our exciting and entertaining spring concerts will be in mid-April as we share with everyone what we want to be when we grow up. Please join in our fun as we learn about careers with the help of parent volunteers later in April. We will end our month with a unit on weather and learn about our Florida seasons. March 2008 March!! Is it March already? Our school year has entered into its last trimester. We ended the month of February with our Registration for the 2008-2009 school year opened to our on-campus and alumni families. Not only are our current children returning but many of them are bringing siblings with them next year too! Registration opens to the public on March 1st, 2008, for those vacancies that remain. Registration fees are as follows:
February was such fun. We had our hearing tested by the NCJW and our class photos and Graduation portraits taken by our photographer. As March begins, we will also have our Vision tested. We will be so busy in the month of March! Daily activities include playground fun, spending time in our Outdoor Classroom and Learning Center, and enjoying classroom time with our Teacher and friends. Our Early Care program continues making smiles at 8am each day, and our Extended Care program is a favorite lunch spot for many preschoolers daily. Before closing for Spring Break, we will enjoy another very popular event together known as “Center’s Day”. As the classes travel from room to room, I’m not sure who is having more fun, the Teachers or the children! We will close for Spring Break on March 31st. Doors reopen on April 7th. Have a wonderful Spring Break and a Blessed Easter. By Mrs. Plattner We will begin March reading three of our favorite Traditional Tales: The Three Bears, the Three Little Pigs and The Little Red Hen. We will be making porridge and finding out which bowl is “just right”. Next, it’s off to building houses with pretzel sticks, drinking straws and PEZ for those three little pigs and working as a team to make monkey bread for all to enjoy. We will also enjoy learning about our five senses this month (and with all the delicious food we’ll be making, I think we’ll learn A LOT about our sense of taste!!!) Happy St. Patrick’s Day, Happy Easter, Happy Spring! February 2008 January was a terrific month for us. We returned from holiday recess ready for lots of fun together. Back in September, each Teacher held a Parent Meeting in their classroom to provide an opportunity to discuss classroom rules, goals, the use of our student evaluations, and to participate in a Question/Answer time together with their new Parents. Everyone also received a copy of the current student evaluation form we use. During the last two weeks of January each year we hold our Parent/Teacher Conferences and in addition to the student evaluations, our Parents are also able to see their child‘s active Portfolio which is rich with art, skill level activities, dictation and many photos. I hope for 100% attendance and 100% agreement that everyone is having a great year! WE LOVE February here at preschool and this month we will have some very busy days. Our Hearing will be tested by the NJCW (this is a free service provided to our preschoolers). The NJCW (National Council of Jewish Women) will also return in March to hold our Vision Screening. We continue the fun by sharing Valentine’s with our classmates. Chapel Moments will be held on the 21st and 22nd and on February 28th and 29th, our photographer will be here taking class and graduate pictures. Busy, busy, busy!! Oh, and have a Happy Birthday Leap Year Babies!!! February also means that Registration for the 2008-2009 school year is just around the corner. On February 19, 2008, current students and their siblings and alumni families will begin registering for Fall 2008. This is also an extremely busy month for us as we spend the days showing Little Disciples Preschool off to many, many families who want their children to attend next fall. On March 1, 2008, we will open registration to the public. If you or someone you know is interested in joining us please call us soon to set an appointment to visit (note: we offer 10% discount on tuition to our church members). By Mrs. Noel February is the time for hearts, valentines and showing others that we care, The children will be decorating boxes to hold their valentines, using heart cookie cutters to paint with, and reaching inside a bag with their eyes closed and guessing what red object they are holding. We’ll even use a stethoscope to listen to each others’ hearts. After the 14th, we will be studying Space. The children will make moon rocks and paper towel roll telescopes. My absolute favorite is the rocket launch (who knew that just a little Alka-seltzer and water could fuel a rocket?!) January 2008 Happy New Year from all of us! We hope your holidays were filled with love and laughter. We look forward to being together again and can hardly wait to see what adventures the New Year brings. A great big thank you to everyone who helped us to help others by purchasing Christmas gifts for young and old. The boxes were filled and delivered to the Cyesis families on December 19 and the stockings were distributed to shut-ins and the elderly in our community on the 21st. Thank you for making Christmas special for those in need. January is our midpoint in the School Year and is the time for our Parent/Teacher Conferences. These will be held the last 2 weeks of the month on a sign-up basis. This is the opportunity for our parents to meet with their child’s teacher, to find out how they are doing, and to look toward goals for the remainder of the year. We will also send out information at the end of January regarding Early Registration for the 2008-2009 School Year. Registration for our current and alumni families for the 2008-2009 School Year will then officially begin on February 15, 2008. By Miss Williams December 2007 November has been a beautiful month for us. We have been very busy going on nature walks, learning about food and so much more and we are REALLY enjoying our time on the Outdoor Classroom and the Playground! Before closing for Thanksgiving Break, our children came together for our annual Stone Soup Feasts. A delicious time was shared by all. Little Disciples continues to collect Canned Goods for the Food Pantry and Happy Meal toys for children in the Philippines. Our thanks to everyone for contributing so generously. We will return from Thanksgiving break to begin stuffing Santa Hats for the elderly as well as collecting toys for children in our community. This has always been such a heart-warming endeavor as our preschoolers come to think of the children they are shopping for as their “friend”. See us if you are interested in donating a gift to someone in need. December is a very musical, very EXCITING month here!! Our calendar is bursting with special days. Did you mark your calendars for the greatest concerts ever?! On December 13th & 14th, Little Disciples Preschool will come together in song for our preschool families each day at 11:30am. A courtyard reception will follow. We will end our month with classroom holiday luncheons, lots of special/secret workshops and soooo much fun!! Because everyone has been so good here at Little Disciples, Santa called to ask if he could come visit with all our preschoolers! So-ho-ho look for a special visit with Santa during our last week of school-hurray!! School ends on December 21st, and resumes January 7th, 2008. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!! With Love from EVERYONE here at Little Disciples Preschool. By Miss Snider November has been a very busy month for us. We went on a Nature hunt, made nature bracelets and pictures. We made leaf rubbings and painted leaves. Placemats were made for friends and we came together for a story of shared soup and ate our own shared soup. Canned goods were collected for families less fortunate than ours. We gave thanks for all the wonderful things in our world, and in our lives. We wish all a very Happy, Healthy Thanksgiving! November 2007 November is a terrific month to be at Little Disciples Preschool. We always look forward to cooler weather so we can really enjoy the outdoors. As we spend this month counting our blessings, we remember to give thanks for all our friends. Little Disciples Preschool has some empty chairs and we need your help! At present there are 14 vacancies amongst our 10 active classrooms. Most of the openings are in our PreK (age 4) classes as well as a few in our 2.5 & 3 year old classes. Tell a friend about all the fun we have here and encourage them to call us today. Thank you. We continue to collect happy meal/small toys to send overseas. Please see the hallway fire truck for drop-off donations. November also finds us collecting canned goods for Sarasota’s Food Pantry. Let’s stuff the Food Pantry full of holiday blessings for those in need! Each year before Thanksgiving we gather together for our “FRIENDSHIP FEAST”. Everyone will decorate a placemat and the preschool will provide the food to make our meal complete and at the end of both Monday and Tuesday (11/20 & 11/21) we will all gather together in Fellowship Hall to enjoy our “Friendship Feast”. No Extended Care will be available on these days. Our preschool will be closed Wednesday, November 21st - Friday, November 23rd, in observance of Thanksgiving. We will reopen our doors on Monday, November 26th. All of us here at Little Disciples Preschool wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving. Looking ahead… And…it’s time for you to mark your calendars for the greatest concerts ever! Coming in December, Little Disciples Preschool will come together in song for our families on December 13th & 14th each day at 11:30am. See you there! By Mrs. Goodman What a great month October has been, filled with leaves, spiders & pumpkins. We made pumpkin books & we weighed and measured pumpkins and then we made pumpkin mash. We ended our pumpkin fun with a costume parade for everyone and a visit to our preschool “Fun House”. In November we will be learning about Healthy Foods and how thankful we all are for all our many blessings. October 2007 Our first weeks of school went very well and lots of new friendships have been made. The Teachers are having just as much fun as their students and the sounds of music and laughter can be heard throughout the building. (I can’t stop smiling!!) Our Teachers have also been enjoying some special time together with their class parents in their “Parent / Teacher” meetings throughout the month of September. As the Mommies and Daddies lowered themselves into very small chairs, they were taken on a virtual tour of many behind-the-scenes activities for both the children and their Teacher. Well attended and well received, we feel lucky to have the best parents in town at Little Disciples Preschool! We enjoyed our first of many Musical Moments and Chapel Days and thank Pastor Bobby for teaching us how very much Jesus loved the little children. We look forward to seeing members of Beneva Christian Church’s various groups and departments providing our Chapel Moments this year. To all our Beneva readers; if you would like to join us or share your talent with us, call me at 924-9290 to find out more.. thank you! Our staff heads for Orlando on September 28 - 29 to attend the annual ECA Conference. We always return from our annual Early Childcare Conference bursting with ideas and excited to begin sharing all WE’VE learned with the boys and girls. We can hardly wait to see what
fun October has in store for us! From student picture days, to
center activities, and Movement and Handwriting Without Tears
courses, everyday is sure to be a great adventure! By Mrs. Kohut Yeah! It’s wonderful to be back to school. We’re jumping right in with our journals and alphabet pages. A is for apples. They are so good to eat and learn about. Why aren’t the green ones called Green Delicious? Puzzling, huh! We are enjoying exploring our new room and getting to know our new friends and Teachers. We took a vote and named our fishes Orangy and Spotty. Stop by and see why!! September 2007 Welcome to our 2007-2008 school year. Our Open Houses on August 29th & 30th were very well attended and enjoyed by all. Now that our first days of school are finally here, we are VERY excited to begin making new friends and having lots of fun together. Your Preschool Staff has grown and we are so happy to welcome our newest Teacher, Mrs. Kim Noel, who will be teaching our 3 day, 4 year olds and our youngest level “Little Bits” 2 days per week. Kim has enjoyed playing in Kindergarten the last few years so when she called me wanting to return to her preschool roots, I was ecstatic! We are also thrilled to have Mrs. Lynn Plattner teaching another of our 3-day PreK classes. Lynn served as a Classroom Aide last year and we all soon realized that she is meant to be in her own classroom and I am so glad she feels the same. We also look forward to having Lori Walsh with us again. Lori began her preschool career with Little Disciples as a Classroom Aide way back when and after a four year hiatus, we are so glad she’s come home. One of the many facets of our staff that I dearly love is that no matter the number of years they’ve served our Preschool or how long they may be retired from us, they are family. The friendships we have in one another continues to evolve and grow and when you add to that our beautiful preschoolers and their caring parents who honor us with their children, it means everyday is a delight and an exciting adventure. A great big thank you in advance to our Preschool Parents for turning in all paperwork for your preschoolers by their due dates. Please also help us keep all files up-to-date with any changes to address, phone and cell phone numbers and preschool pick-up people. September is sure to be a busy month. We will spend time getting to know one another and getting to know our preschool. Our special programs will begin with Judy Kendall bringing back our “Handwriting Without Tears” program twice a month, and Lenice Haber bringing Sign Language into the classrooms each day. On Wednesday, September 12th, our four and three year olds will begin Movement class with Miss Yseult. We also welcome the return of “Chapel Moments” @ 11:45am each month, as presented by Pastor Bobby and other talented members of Beneva Christian Church. Parents are invited to attend and enjoy Chapel Moments with us. Please note: As the school year opens, we are reminded of our Hurricane Season and how it may impact our preschoolers and their families. In the event the public schools are closed, Little Disciples Preschool will be closed. Listen to local radio and television stations for school closures and take appropriate measures to keep loved ones safe. Once again this year the Teachers will enjoy some special time together with their class parents as they hold “Parent / Teacher” meetings throughout the month of September. As the Mommies and Daddies lower themselves into very small chairs, they will be taken on a virtual tour of many behind-the-scenes activities for both the children and their Teacher. Watch for more info soon. Here’s wishing everyone a wonderful preschool year together! Did you know that 9 of our staff are also Little Disciples Preschool alumni parents? Roxann Borchert (all 3 children are LDP graduates), Lenice Haber (both children are LDP graduates), Susan Kohut (both girls are graduates), Paula Martin (1 graduate), Cindy McDowell (1 graduate), Kim Noel (1 graduate), Lynn Plattner (both children are graduates), Shelly Snider (1 graduate), Lori Walsh (both girls are graduates). August 2007 Hello Everyone! Hope you’re having a terrific summer. With just a few weeks of summer fun remaining, the preschool is getting ready for our 2007-2008 school year. During the week of August 27th you will find all of our preschool staff back and getting ready for our first days of school! Your 2007-2008 Preschool Staff
We will be together with our students and their families at our OPEN HOUSES (you will find us filling Fellowship Hall both evenings) to kick-off our 2007-2008 school year on Wednesday, August 29th, & Thursday, August 30th. This is our opportunity to introduce the staff, meet the students and their families, see our class rosters and visit classrooms. Both evenings begin at 7:00 pm. Invitations were sent out near the end of July with additional information and the appropriate date for families to attend. Attention all Preschool Parents: We will be looking for Parent Volunteers to help us in the mornings on our playground and in the classrooms. You will receive information at Open House (in your Preschool folder) showing all the ways we hope to involve you during the school year. We look forward to including YOU! Did you know that Little Disciples Preschool keeps very active in community service? Last year we held a canned goods collection for the Food Pantry, we had a small toy collection for children in Honduras, we collected gifts for seniors which were put into stockings and delivered on Christmas Eve and we also stuffed BIG boxes full of Christmas presents for children within the community. We are so blessed here at Little Disciples Preschool and it is our privilege to bring that same joy to our preschoolers as they discover how gratifying it is to help others. Our preschool year begins Tuesday, September 4, 2007. Our public schools will open on August 20th. Please help us keep all students safe by buckling them up in the backseat, using appropriate car seats and booster seats and please DRIVE SAFELY. July 2007 Registration for the 2007-2008 school year finds us very nearly full at present. We have 86/91 students already signed up and ready to join us when we open the doors in September. I may revamp one of our classrooms to accommodate internal desires but that is a decision for next month. My biggest blessing is that all staff are in place with keys in hand. I will be sure to properly introduce them all in next month’s article. In the meantime, the office is moving full steam ahead in getting ready for the new school year. July’s Summer Camp theme is “Commotion in the Ocean” and Rainbow Fish “Tales”. Held July 9 -20, it’s going to be a splashing good time for all. My sincere thanks to Mrs. Christian and Mrs. Kohut for planning and implementing all our summer fun. We will be together with our
students and their families at our OPEN HOUSES on August 29th
& 30th at 7:00pm both evenings. Open House invitations will
be sent out the third week of July with additional information
and the appropriate date for families to attend. Please note:
The office will be closed June 25-July 11. Keep enjoying your
summer everyone! I am getting ready to go on a once-in-a-lifetime road trip with my daughters. Our itinerary covers over 3000 miles, a stay in Pigeon Forge for a family reunion with all four of my brothers and their families as we all gather to celebrate our parents 50th anniversary. But the trip doesn’t stop there! We will also travel through 8 different states to visit 7 different amusement parks and as many roller coasters as we can stomach! If you had told me even a year ago that I would be taking on such a journey, I would have never believed it….and I would have been so stressed by the burden of getting everything ready that my stress level would have sky-rocketed. What I have learned in the past few months is that the anticipation of any event, especially the BIG ones, should be looked upon not as a chore but as a blessing, not dreaded but instead embraced, and welcomed. As this summer continues, I wish all of you peaceful moments, safe journeys and memories made that will last a lifetime. June 2007 Hello Everyone! There have been a few quiet weeks around here and I MISS all the laughter! We will open up Summer Camp, Session 1, with 13 children in June and I’m not sure who’s going to have more fun, the children or the teachers! Our Session 2 in July is sure to be another great adventure. Our Summer Camps offer the children opportunities way beyond the normal school year and we hope you will keep us in mind when making plans for your child next summer. You never know what those wild and crazy teachers will come up with in 2008! Last month I said thank you to all our Preschool families for sharing their children with us and for a wonderful year together. I’d like to take a moment now and recognize those wonderful ladies who make everyday fabulous. To Diane, Kay, Susan, Shelly, Sandy, Sue, Flor, Roxann, Paula, Tinna, Stacey, Lynn, Donna and Lenice, a GIANT thank you for everything you have done this year. The months and months of work you give to Little Disciples Preschool and all those hours spent in planning, evaluating, labeling, RE-evaluating, maintaining our NAEYC ACCREDITATION, checking the playground, doing ant-treatments, taking children to the potty, washing dishes, setting up snack, washing your hands….does not go unnoticed. I am so proud of you, so blessed by each of you, and so honored to be part of this very special family/team. I am already counting the days until we are all back together again. We want to thank everyone who attended our Retirement/Ice Cream Social for Sandy Tromboni on May 11th. We sent out invitations to over 150 alumni families and alumni staff and were thrilled to see so many beautiful (oh so grown-up) faces (not the staff - they are timeless). I’m unsure of the total attendance but a lot of laughter and ice cream was shared and a lot of tours were given and we ended our evening so happy for Sandy and her family as we send her off after 14 wonderful years with us to begin her next great adventure. Registration for the 2007-2008 school year finds us very happily full. We have 91 students signed up and ready to join us when we open the doors in September. The office is moving full steam ahead in getting ready for the new school year. We will be together with our students and their families at our OPEN HOUSES on August 29th & 30th at 7:00pm both evenings. Open House invitations will be sent out the last week of July with additional information and the appropriate date for families to attend. Keep enjoying your summer everyone! May 2007 We enter into May knowing this is the end of another wonderful year here at Little Disciples Preschool. For some families, it means the end of four, six or eight years of schooling with us and the graduation of their second or third child from LDP. You can imagine how proud we are of each and every one of our graduates. We have come to the end of our Musical Moments and Chapel Moments for this school year. Many, many thanks to Sara, Sandy and Greg for sharing your time and talents with us. I also want to take a moment and thank Nancy Dennis and Marshall DuBois for all their help with our website. www.littledisciplespreschool.org exists thanks to Nancy and she continues to maintain it as her gift to our preschool. Thank you Nancy and Marshall! On May 7th and 8th we will be turning the playground into a water park complete with pools and watery tractor rides. It’s sure to be a soaking good time! Our last week of school will be full of end of year parties and various activities. On Friday, May 11th, we will graduate 37 very grown up, very loved students. The ceremony begins at 11:00 am with a reception in the courtyard to follow. This is also our last day of school for the 2006-2007 school year. We will enjoy two Summer Camp sessions this year. Session #1 runs June 4 - 15; Session #2 runs July 9-20. All sessions have a few vacancies that remain. If you are interested in joining us, please contact the preschool office soon. We hope everyone has a summer filled with adventures. Enrollment for the 2007-2008 year finds us FULL at all age levels!!!! The office will be open various hours through the summer so be sure to stop in and say hi! Thank you to all our wonderful families for a truly beautiful year. Thank you dear parents for sharing your children with us. Together we have survived booboo’s and separation anxiety and we have celebrated birthdays, loosing baby teeth, learning to tie our shoes and the birth of many beautiful new siblings (future preschoolers!). May God be with each of you ‘til we meet again. By Mrs. Kohut What a wonderful year! It had
been a fun-filled, action-packed and exciting time. April 2007 We enter into April knowing that the calendar is not slowing down one little bit and we still have sooooo much we want to do together! We closed for the week of March 26 and hope everyone enjoyed a beautiful Spring Break. We reopen on Monday, April 2nd with just 6 weeks left in this school year (where has the time gone?!) and will be closed on Friday, April 6th for Good Friday and wish everyone a Blessed Easter. We have had so much fun in our Center’s Days this year (see our Hallway Photo Bulletin Board J). We will wrap up this series on April 9th. On April 19th and 20th, we will begin each day at 9:20 am with our Annual Umbrella Day Parades in the courtyard. We hope everyone will stay a little longer in the morning and enjoy this must-see parade! We will also hold our final Chapel Moments those days. Come early and get a chance to enjoy our final Musical Moments starring….your preschooler! Have you been yearning to go to the beach but just cannot find the time? If so, then our upcoming Spring Concert is just what you’ve been waiting for!! The children will be singing a medley of songs about being “Down By the Shore” on Thursday and Friday, April 12 & 13. Concerts start at 11:30 am both days and will be followed by a delicious reception in Fellowship Hall. Come join us….Down By the Shore!!! On Monday, April 23, we will hold our Annual End of Year Family Picnic with all our families gathering at Siesta Beach. This is always a highlight for me as I get to see all the families come together for a potluck dinner and playtime. We also see many of our alumni students at this event, and enjoy a chance to reminisce over the year’s activities. Watch for a detailed RSVP to come home of all our end of year activities! We will end the month with our Graduates-to-be rehearsing for their upcoming ceremony followed by a celebration luncheon. Set up to resemble the “big school’s” cafeteria, the children will enjoy a special lunch together in Fellowship Hall on April 27. (Do we really have to let them graduate?) Registration for the 2007-2008 school year continues, but finds many, many, many classes already full. If you or someone you know is interested in fall enrollment, please contact the preschool office soon to schedule an appointment. Happy Springtime! By Miss Williams March rolled in and found our class searching for Leprechauns and finding pots of gold at the end of rainbows. As we move into Spring, we will begin to learn about the wonders of plants, flowers, butterflies and life cycles. Our year is coming to an end and I greet it with a mixture of sadness and warmth. I have enjoyed my first year at Little Disciples and I am grateful for having been touched by each of you, but children grow and I will miss not having their smiling faces in my classroom. Thank you for sharing your children with me. March 2007 March?! Is it March already?! Our school year has entered into its last trimester. We ended the month of February with our Registration for the 2007-2008 school year opened to our on-campus and alumni families. Not only are our current children returning but many of them are bringing siblings with them next year too! Registration opens to the public on March 1st, 2007, for those vacancies that remain. Registration fees are as follows:
February was such fun. We had our hearing tested by the NCJW and our class photos and Graduation portraits taken by our photographer. We enjoyed Chapel Moments by Sandy Mackey and Sara Metheny and are hoping we can talk them into returning again and again. We also had a visit from our very own “Tooth Fairy” and together we learned how to keep our teeth healthy by making good food choices and brushing and flossing daily. Our 4 year olds even got a free dental exam (thank you Dr. Mary Egan!). We will be so busy in the month of March! Daily activities include playground fun, spending time in our Outdoor Classroom and Learning Center, and enjoying classroom time with our Teacher and friends. Our Early Care program continues making smiles at 8:00 am each day, and our Extended Care program is a favorite lunch spot for many preschoolers daily. Before closing for Spring Break, we will enjoy another very popular event together known as “Center’s Day”. As the classes travel from room to room, I’m not sure who is having more fun…the Teachers or the children! We will be closed for Spring Break from March 26th through 30th. Doors reopen on April 2nd. Have a wonderful Spring Break. By Mrs. Ulrich Erin go Braugh! We say goodbye to a fun-filled February that had us learning about Dental Health, Community Helpers, as well as reviewing our letters and numbers. We even had a visit from the Tooth Fairy! March will roar in like a lion as we begin our units on Plants, Insects and Weather. February 2007 January was a terrific month for us. We returned from holiday recess ready for lots of fun together. Back in September, each Teacher held a Parent Meeting in their classroom to provide an opportunity to discuss classroom rules, goals, the use of our student evaluations, and to participate in a Question/Answer time together with their new Parents. Everyone also received a copy of the current student evaluation form we use. During the last two weeks of January each year we hold our Parent/Teacher Conferences and in addition to the student evaluations, our Parents were also able to see their child's active Portfolio which is rich with art, skill level activities, dictation and many photos. I hope for 100% attendance and 100% agreement that everyone is having a great year! WE LOVE February here at preschool
and this month we will begin by having our Hearing tested. Sponsored
by the NJCW, this is a free service provided to our preschoolers.
The NJCW (National Council of Jewish Women) will return in March
to hold our Vision Screening. We continue the fun with a "Stay
and Play" Center's day on the 9th and Valentine's Day fun
with our classmates. Chapel Moments will be held on the 15th
and 16th as well as the much anticipated return of the Tooth
Fairy. On February 22nd and 23rd our photographer will be here
taking class and graduate pictures. February also means that Registration
for the 2007-2008 school year is just around the corner. On February
15, 2007, current students and their siblings and alumni families
will begin registering for Fall 2007. This is also an extremely
busy month for us as we spend the days showing Little Disciples
Preschool off to many, many families who want their children
to attend next fall. On March 1, 2007, we will open registration
to the public. If you or someone you know is interested in joining
us, please call us soon to set an appointment to visit (note:
we offer 10% discount on tuition to our church members). By Mrs. Christian January got off to a chilly start in our classroom as we played with snow and ice. We made some "cool snowmen" out of shaving cream and glue and read a story about what snowmen do at night. Our favorite winter stories included: The Gingerbread Man; Brown Bear, Brown Bear and The Snowy Day. As we ended January with our Parent/Teacher conferences, I want to thank you for sharing your precious children with me. January 2007 Happy New Year from all of us! We hope your holidays were filled with love and laughter. We look forward to being together again and can hardly wait to see what adventures the New Year brings. A great big thank you to everyone who helped us to help others by purchasing Christmas gifts for young and old. The boxes were filled and delivered to SPARCC and the stockings were distributed to shut-ins and the elderly in our community. Thank you for making Christmas special for those in need. January is our midpoint in the School Year and is the time for our Parent/Teacher Conferences. These will be held the last 2 weeks of the month on a sign-up basis. This is the opportunity for our parents to meet with their child's teacher, to find out how they are doing, and to look toward goals for the remainder of the year. We will also send out information at the end of January regarding Early Registration for the 2007-2008 School Year. Registration for our current and alumni families for the 2007-2008 School Year will then officially begin on February 15, 2007. December 2006 November has been a beautiful month for us. We have been very busy going on nature walks, learning about food and so much more and we are REALLY enjoying our time on the Outdoor Classroom and the Playground! We ended the month of November with all classes coming together for our annual Friendship Feasts. Little Disciples continues to collect canned goods for the Food Pantry and Happy Meal toys for children in the Philippines. Our thanks to everyone for contributing so generously. We will return from Thanksgiving break to begin stuffing stockings for the elderly as well as collecting toys for children in our community. This has always been such a heart-warming endeavor as our preschoolers come to think of the children they are shopping for as their "friend". December is very musical, very EXCITING month here!! Our calendar is bursting with special days. Did you mark your calendars for the greatest concerts ever? On December 7th and 8th, Little Disciples Preschool will come together in song for our preschool families each day at 11:30 am. A courtyard reception will follow. We will end our month with classroom holiday luncheons, lots of special/secret workshops and sooo much fun!! School ends on December 15th, and resumes January 3rd, 2007. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!! With Love from EVERYONE here at Little Disciples Preschool. By Mrs. Goodman What a fun time we have had learning about the farm. We made butter and had a delicious farm-style breakfast and ended our fun with a lot of moo-ing and clucking being heard in our room! December comes upon us and we look forward to the holidays and all the fun this busy month holds. Happy Holidays. November is a terrific month to be at Little Disciples Preschool. We always look forward to cooler weather so we can really enjoy the outdoors. As we spend this month counting our blessings, we remember to give thanks for all our friends. We continue to collect happy-meal small toys to send overseas. Please see the hallway fire truck for drop-off donations. November also finds us collecting canned goods for Beneva Christian Church's Food Pantry. Let's stuff the food pantry full of holiday blessings for those in need! Many Thanks to everyone for your help in making our Staff Garage Sales such a success! A special thank you hug to Sandra & Jim Waugaman for all their time and help. Sandra is a wonderful resource when it comes to anything and everything you could ever want to know about putting together a successful garage sale. Thank you Sandra! I am also indebted to Chad and Todd Dellit for all their help picking up donated items (the heavy stuff!!). It was a big endeavor and I, for one, am thinking a Dunk Tank (you know... Dunk the Director and Staff for a fee) would have been easier and a lot cooler!!!! Thanks to everyone's help, we will be sending 10 staff members to the NAEYC Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. We will leave from preschool on Thursday, November 9, in two vehicles and spend all day Friday and Saturday in sessions with thousands of other Early Childhood Educators. We will be back in the building on Monday just bursting with new ideas and activities! Atlanta, here we come!!!!! Each year before Thanksgiving we gather together for our "FRIENDSHIP FEAST". Everyone will decorate a placemat and the preschool will provide the food to make our meal complete and at the end of both Monday and Tuesday (11/20 & 11/21) we will all gather together in Fellowship Hall to enjoy our "Friendship Feast". No Extended Care will be available on these days. Our preschool will be closed Wednesday, November 22nd - Friday, November 24th, in observance of Thanksgiving. We will reopen our doors on Monday, November 27th. All of us here at Little Disciples Preschool wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving. Looking ahead... And . . . it's time for you to mark your calendars for the greatest concerts ever! Coming in December, Little Disciples Preschool will come together in song for our families on December 7th & 8th each day at 11:30am. See you there! By Miss Snider The first two months of school have found us busy learning and having fun. We have painted and played, mixed yellow and blue to make green, gone on color hunts and costume parades. We are collecting toys for children overseas to help them know people care. We will gather together for Friendship Feasts. As we wind down November, we take a moment to give thanks for our families and friendships and for love. October 2006 Our first weeks of school went
very well and lots of new friendships have been made. We enjoyed our first of many Musical Moments and Chapel Days and thank Pastor Bernard for teaching us how very much Jesus loved the little children. We look forward to seeing members of Beneva Christian Church's various groups and departments providing our Chapel Moments this year. To all our Beneva readers; if you would like to join us or share your talent with us, call me at 924-9290 to find out more.. thank you! We ended September capturing all those wonderful preschool smiles with the help of our photographer and look forward to seeing proof(s) in a few weeks. We can hardly wait to see what fun October has in store for us! On September 30th we will be holding our staff garage sale from 8am - 12noon. We will also be hosting another fun-filled Scrapbook Day from 9am - 5pm in Fellowship Hall. All proceeds will help to send our preschool staff to the NAEYC Conference being held in Atlanta, Georgia, in November. This will be our first time attending such a grand scale Conference and we are all very excited to be able to attend. The Conference will end on a high note as the closing presenter will be the world famous "Raffi!" It is time for our annual collection
of small toys (happy meal toys, matchbox cars, small dolls…)
for the H.O.P.E. Foundation. Last year we sent 5 huge bags of
small toys to the Philippines to children who have nothing more
than the clothes on their backs. The H.O.P.E. Foundation provides
free medical care during the holidays and Santa has been known
to show up with small toys for the children. Consider being a
child's secret Santa this year and make smiles happen. By Mrs. Tromboni Hi Everyone! We started our school year reuniting with old friends and making new friends too. We had fun sharing our summer vacation with each other. In September, we learned about apples and even made "Apple Crisp" yum-yum! Did you know that we found "The Little Red House with No Windows and Doors and a Star" inside? October will be a busy and fun month for us as we explore the changes of Fall. September 2006 Welcome to our 2006-2007 school
year. Our Open Houses on August 16th & 17th were very well
attended and enjoyed by all. Now that our first days of school
are finally here, we are VERY excited to begin making new friends
and having lots of fun together. A great big thank you in advance to our Preschool Parents for turning in all paperwork for your preschoolers by their due dates. Please also help us keep all files up-to-date with any changes to address, phone and cell phone numbers and preschool pick-up people… Just a reminder that we will be closed on Monday, September 4th for Labor Day, but we WILL be open on Tuesday, September 5th (even though the public schools are not). August & September are sure to be busy months. We will spend time getting to know one another and getting to know our preschool. On Wednesday, August 30th, our four and three year olds will begin Movement class with Miss Yseult. We also welcome the return of "Chapel Moments" @ 11:45am each month, as presented by Pastor Luis Bernard and other talented members of Beneva Christian Church. Chapel days are also preschool T-shirt days and these days will be posted in advance. Parents are always invited to attend and enjoy Chapel Moments with us. Please note: As the school year opens, we are reminded of our Hurricane Season and how it may impact our preschoolers and their families. In the event the public schools are closed, Little Disciples Preschool will be closed. Listen to local radio and television stations for school closures and take appropriate measures to keep loved ones safe. We will end the month of September
with our first-ever Staff "GARAGE SALE"!!! We will also be hosting another wonderful Scrapbook All-Day Event in Fellowship Hall on the same day as our garage sale. If you are one of the many people who have a box or drawer full of photographs just waiting to be put into some semblance of order, consider joining us to learn the latest techniques, use some great tools, and make some new, scrappy friendships while having fun cataloging your family's memories. Contact us at #924-9290 to make your reservation and come Scrap all day from 9 - 5 for only $35. You can also download and print a form for reservations by clicking here. Morning (9am-1pm) and afternoon sessions (1pm - 5pm) are also available for $20 each. A buffet lunch will be served from 12:30-1:30 (lunch tickets are $5 each). Mark your calendar now to come shop at the garage sale and then head to your own table in a well-lit, air-conditioned hall with fellow scrappers for "Scrap-tember" fun. Did you know that 11 of our
staff members are also alumni & current parents? |