Hey (3-4 year old )Moms.... I'm getting phone calls for next years preschool registration and would like to let you know now if you are interested in having your child come next September, please fill out an application and send it to me as soon as you can.  I would like to give you the first option of what class you would like your child in-

(4-5 year old)-  We have now learned at least 13 sight words and we only have a couple of more reading books to complete.  I have never gotten this far with sight words before and the kids were up to the challenge.  Please keep the cards I have made for each of you so that in the summer time you can go over the sight words and really help them remember them well for kindergarten.

We are still working on counting to 100 - I believe the kindergarten test asks them to count as high as they can.  They are hoping they can count to 10.

They are ready for their colors, opposites, shapes, rhyming words (we will be working more on this month) and writing their names.  Some of the children are now writing both their first and last names as well.  Pretty impressive!  I love em so much. Overall the phonics and letter recognition is something we just have to work on a lot, but I believe each of these children can and will have a great understanding.

We will now start memorizing and learning our preschool graduation program that will be held at the East Idaho Stake House (East of my house -just come in the back doors and come into the gym, where your child will sit on the stage on a designated chair ready to put his/her cap on. The graduation is scheduled for May 21rst.  I'm still waiting for the approval in scheduling that particular building on that day so this date is just tentative.

(3-4 year old)-  We are still developing growth in our fingers, but today for the first time the children wrote their names with a pencil - incredible too!  They each tried very hard and they all were confident in trying.  Yeh!  Sometimes I hear sad words like, "I can't" or "I don't want to do this", but today's experience was very positive.  We are still learning shapes, phonic songs, letter songs, counting to 20.  We do pretty well until we get to 13 and after that we really have to work on that.  Our ABC's are coming along great.  Today as well as the 4-5 year old class we skipped, walked toe to toe, hopped on one foot, hopped on both feet, and did some story plays like "Jack and Jill" and "speackled frogs" and "Little monkeys jumping on the bed", which they loved all of them and wanted to do them over.  Playing these games and learning where our right and left feet go help them not only about coordination and balance, but what I am looking for is sharing, kindness towards each other and developing their social skills to a higher level.  They are becoming very positive about trying as I mentioned before and I feel very happy how far they have come in believing in themselves.

There will be NO school on Monday February 16th. (Presidents Day Holiday)  For those of you who are new, when the school district is out of school I am also.

Dear Parents,

There WILL be preschool this coming week!

Our son in law Matt is doing better.  We almost lost him and he is still in the ICU, He had two surgeries this week and finally this morning they pulled out his breathing tubes from his throat.  His first words out of his mouth was to our daughter Jenni, "I Love you".  He will be in the ICU for another 2-3 days and then they are going to move him to another room after his bowels start to work.  He still has a tube running from his stomach through his nose.

Thank you for giving me this time to spend with my daughter.  I left her today smiling and peaceful she felt your prayers...we all did.  Thank you so much.

See you all Feb 9 and 10th and the rest of the year! Remember, our valentines party will be on wed. and thurs. this week. please bring valentine cards and wrapped treats to put in their bags we are going to make on monday and tuesday.

There will be no preschool on Monday January 19th (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day)

On Tuesday (Jan 20) and Wednesday (Jan 21) we will be starting the letter "P".  Please have your children come dressed in their pajamas.  We will be starting to make our puppets. Hopefully we will be able to have our puppet show (for the children) and eat popcorn and play with playdough within the next week!

Valentines Day is February 14th but this year it is on a Saturday.  So our classes will be celebrating it on February 11th and 12th!  Please check your calenders in your envelopes for the class lists so your child can give out Valentine cards and treats! Thank you

Our last week before the Christmas Holidays were filled with a visit from Santa Clause, (pictures were taken and the children were able to ask him questions and he told them ways to be good to their parents and sibblings for 30 minutes) making and baking Gingerbread men......and one got away so we searched the entire house until we found him warm by the fire, painting a snowman, dressing up like little elfs, decorating our preschool tree and our own tree, planting peppermints in the dirt and watched them grow into big candy canes...that was the best! Also, seeing where the little Elf was in the preschool and what he was doing.  Now I understand that was all the creative play stuff we did, however, they did learn more sight words, shapes, the letters, upper and lower and letter sounds up to the letter "M",  The 4-5 year old classes are right where they should be.

The 3-4 year old class I have some concerns as we are still learning colors.  I worked with 3 children last week for 15 minutes and they had an extremely hard time recognizing their colors and being able to count to 10. We will continue to work on those concerns before we move on.

Days of the week, pledge of allegiance, shapes, colors, identifying numbers as well as counting to 100 are accomplished by the 4-5 year olds!  Way to go guys...so proud of each one of them.

We will see everyone starting Jan 5 & 6 at the regular scheduled time.  Have a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I cannot believe how fast this year has gone!  I haven't informed you as well as I would like but I want you to know we have been learning and drilling a lot in school.  Please as your children sing their alphabet song help them "SEE" what the letter looks like.  I still have children who are struggling with identifying their letters and sounds...we will just keep working on that the whole year.

3-4 year class are counting to 10 - well close again we are working on it.  They are just so cute and doing so well sharing with each other and playing games together taking turns and learning that they're are other people around besides themselves.

4-5 year class have learned around how to read!  They are doing great in class, please have them read their little books to you each night before they go to bed.  Reading to your children is the most amazing thing you can do for them and for your relationship with each of your children.  We are counting to 100 and they are doing great to!  So proud of each of them.

I hope you all enjoyed the little pilgrims your child painted...They did a great job painting.  Have a Happy Thanksgiving!  No school the week of Thanksgiving and we will see you all December 1rst!

Halloween is just around the corner -   Our Halloween party is scheduled on October 29th & 30th, regular scheduled time -  depending on what day your child comes to preschool.

*Please dress your child up in something that he/she can play games in and be comfortable.
*Please bring 12 wrapped treats for your child to pass out to each student in his/her class.
*Do not be concerned about bringing a Halloween bucket/bag - one will already be provided for.
*No doughnuts/cupcakes.  Treats that are individually wrapped are cleaner and less messy for each child.

The children in my 4-5 year old classes are moving along very well with their sight words.  Thanks you so much for helping them at home.

I am still drilling each one of them in understanding each letter we have learned (A,B,C,D,E,F) the letter, the sound of the letter and being able to identify a word that starts with that letter.  In general they are all coming along well.  Please encourage them at home by just writing a letter down on a small card or piece of paper, then having them identify, tell you the sound and tell you a word that starts with that letter.

I still have a few children struggling in writing their names - please if your child cannot write his/her name they may need a little extra help at home practicing.  I will be happy to give you a few extra name sheets so you can copy them for your child, if that would help.

The 3-4 year old class are learning how to write their names by tracing.  It is still very hard for some of the children to push their little fingers hard to trace but we are working on it.  We do have some children that are writing their names very well and it amazes me.  They are still developing their fingers, their speech and their movement.  I am working on all three in helping them progress and feel confident in themselves.  I do not want to push them too hard but only encourage and give them the structure.

Tautphaus Park Zoo from Idaho Falls came today and what a treat for the kids.  Each of them got to touch a rabbit, a hedgehog, a chinchilla, but the blue tongue lizard we did not touch because of their rules..
The children learned that each of us are mammals and please ask your child why?  Because we have hair/fur!