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Lakeside Presbyterian Church Weekday Preschool

December 2008 Newsletter

December 2008

School News
The Annual Christmas Pageant
Our Pageant will be held on Wednesday, December 17 at 10:30am in the church sanctuary. Lite refreshments will be served in the fellowship hall immediately following the program. Everyone will receive an invitation to the program with an RSVP at the end of this week. Please send back your RSVP as soon as possible. We will send home more information about the program in the coming weeks so please check your child’s folder daily.

We strongly encourage the participation of our Tuesday/Thursday children even though they don’t normally attend school on Wednesday. They have been practicing hard with the other children on the days they attend school and we would hate for them to miss the program. 

On the day of our pageant we are asking each child to “bring to the manger” an unwrapped gift (new/unused) for the Baby Jesus. Our gifts and those given by the church family will be donated to the Crisis Pregnancy Center this year. Some suggested items: newborn diapers, wipes, bath items, first aid items, formula, onesies, hats, sleepers, board books, feeding items.

A visit from a special guest from the North Pole
The grandfather of one of our children has graciously volunteered to come visit us on Friday, December 19! Thanks for helping us keep this a surprise. Shhhhh!

Thank You
~Thanks to all of our families for supporting with your donations our annual “Turkey Dinner Bags” for the Lamb’s Basket, our area food pantry. Check out the pictures of our visit to deliver the bags and take a tour. This has become a tradition for our Pre-K’ers! While we were there, several high school groups came in to help stock shelves. Help is needed all year long. What an opportunity for your family, youth group or sports team! Food donations are accepted at any time. 

~Thanks to the Pre-K parents for the wonderful turnout for the annual Pre-K Thanksgiving Play and Dinner! Mitchell Bayles’ great grandparents came from Pennsylvania! Ross Parent gets the prize for the most attendees - 13! It was wonderful seeing so many grandparents, siblings, cousins, friends. Food was plentiful, not to mention delicious. What a great start to the holiday season! 

~Thanks to the Parents for the items you sent for our annual “Caring and Sharing” day mix. It was a big hit and very yummy! Maybe some of it made it home to share!

December Birthdays
Happy birthday this month to: 1/Tyler Thorn, 2/Jackson Garcia, 17/Duncan Carlson, 24/Heidi Crist, 30/Josiah Fife

For Your Thoughts and Prayers
The family of Janice Wilmoth - Most of you will not recognize this name, but she was a member of the church family who just became a special member of our family, without us really realizing it. Before her untimely death last month, she had been spending time in our TMO class. I remember Janice always offering to lend a hand at whatever event we were having. She never missed an opportunity to let me know what a wonderful job we were doing and that it was a ministry making a difference in the lives of young children and their families. She felt blessed to be part of that and in remembering her we will be reminded that we are too! 

Reminders
Dates
~Friday, December 19, 2008 is our last day this month
~The Preschool office will be open December 22, 23, 29, 30, 31 and January 2 and 5, 9am - 4pm
~Monday, January 5, 2009 is a staff development/ work day
~Our programs will resume regular schedules on Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Monthly Tuition
Please make sure your January tuition payment is in the Preschool office on or before January 1. We do not return until Tuesday, January 6, 2009.

Happy Face Portrait Packages
Thank you for returning your payment or package by Friday, December 5.

Shoes and Toys
The change in the season does not change our shoe policy: “Children must wear soft soled shoes and socks. Hard soled shoes, sandals, slides, “Crocs” and flip flops are not acceptable for safety reasons. Children wearing this type of footwear will not be allowed to stay unless they have a change of shoes with them."(pg4/Parent Handbook) If the shoe will not stay on please do not let them wear it to school! Also, thanks to parents for helping to keep those “home toys” at home or in the car! 

Parent Coffee: Meet and Greet
Just a reminder from Meredith Hertzler and Loren Johnson that we would love to meet all of the parents of other students at our first Parent Coffee, Thursday, December 11th at 7pm. We will meet in the preschool and hang out as long as we have people there to talk to! Look for Loren and Meredith to be passing out information at Drop off in the upcoming week or feel free to email Loren or Meredith with questions. Thanks to those who have already responded!

From the Director’s Desk
Food for thought on discipline . . .
I recently read an article about the importance of where we as adults ‘come from” when dealing with misbehavior. Do we base our “behavior” when confronted with inappropriate behavior on the belief that misbehavior must be corrected and punished? Or do we base our “behavior” on the belief that this an opportunity for instruction, for planting seeds for developing self-control and character. My experience continues to confirm for me that it really does matter what you believe discipline is about. I have come to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that discipline that is punitive and seeks to “stamp out” misbehavior might be good for the moment - a band-aid of sorts. Sometimes that is all time allows when unacceptable behavior occurs or that is what we think.

These coming days have always been busy times for parents trying to get it all done. Children get caught up in this “busy-ness” and act out in unacceptable and inappropriate ways. Unfortunately our response most often is inappropriate and unacceptable. My challenge for you is: be intentional this year to do some prep work with your children - talk to them about what is going to happen and what is expected of them. You will give not only them a great gift, but yourself as well! 

Classroom Updates
Toddler’s Morning Out: In just a few short months we have seen our little friends growing up before our eyes. There has been an obvious growth spurt with verbal communication just within the past few weeks. The children are interacting with one another and really improving on their ability to cooperate with eachother. We have had a ton of fun with art this month. The children are all usually very excited when the art “stuff” comes out...read more.

Playgroup: This week we talked turkey! We made our special turkey cards and read about giving thanks and sharing. We also learned new songs about Thanksgiving. On Monday the Bookmobile came and we listened to Thanksgiving stories...read more.

Preschool:
Mrs. Hudson’s Class: We are all doing so well with our letters and ended November with the letter J.  They have had a great time doing art to go with each letter.  We have also enjoyed making crafts to go with our Thanksgiving theme.  Several pieces of their art work will come home Wednesday.  They all continue to enjoy dancing with Mrs. Mandy and singing with Mrs. Gill… read more.

Mrs. Parent’s Class: The children are growing as the bond between our classmates grows each day. They all seem to know each other by name, and often times stick together during Community Time or Playground Time. It is important that they have that comfort with each other and with me. I look forward to feeling that growing bond get stronger as our school year continues...read more.

Pre-K:
Mrs. Porter’s Class: Our letter of the week was Jj and our number was 6.  We spent time writing Jj’s, searching for Jj’s, and thinking of words that began with Jj.  We read the books “Jump, Frog, Jump”, “Jack and Jill”, and the nursery rhyme “Jack Be Nimble”.  Each child had the opportunity to be Jack and jump over the candlestick.  Please be sure and check the website to see the pictures of them candlestick jumping.  We made jellybean jars by scrunching pieces of tissue paper and gluing them on a paper jar...read more.

Mrs. Oliver’s Class: This week we studied the letter “j”.  Our alphabet activities included practicing “j” sounds while “writing” j’s in the air.  We fingerpainted jelly bread pictures and read the book “Jamberry.” After reading the book, we made “jamberries” out of Play-Doh and played a game putting a jamberry in the jar for each word that began with the letter “j.” We also practiced writing “j’s” in shaving cream, always a favorite activity with the children… read more.

Extended Hours: Happy Winter Holidays to All - The children have become very comfortable and at home in the extended hours program.  November found us enthusiastically creating huge amounts of paperwork.  Books, art, coloring, writing and drawing have been the most requested activities.  I am sure December will continue to be a creative time for us. ... read more.

We would love to hear your comments and suggestions!

Highlights This Month