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Lakeside Presbyterian Church Weekday Preschool

February 2009 Newsletter

February 2009

School News
Original Works
We have teamed up again with Original Works to offer a very special program that allows your child’s artwork to be produced into a number of full color products.  A large magnet will be made from your child’s artwork and sent home for you to review in March.  You may purchase the magnet, return it without obligation, and/or purchase a variety of products featuring you child’s artwork.  We have samples of the products in the preschool office if you would like to stop by to take a look or we have pictures of the products here. These items make awesome Mother’s Day gifts! We are thrilled to participate in this unique and innovative program.  Additional product and program information can be found on the Original Works website.

Summer Adventure Series
Our Summer Camp has been given a complete makeover and it is spectacular! We are putting some finishing touches on it now and information will be sent home soon.

Box tops
Keep sending those boxtops in!  We have collected over 5000 boxtops so far this school year.  We are well on our way to our goal of 10,000.  The proceeds from the boxtops go to new outdoor play equipment.  Thanks for you help with this project.

Thoughts and prayers
the family of Cindy Ransom, a former parent whose sons Jesse and Luke attended our program some years back. Cindy is fighting cancer.
Our families who have lost or facing the loss of jobs due to their companies closing or down-sizing.

Happy Birthday
Leah Dunkelberger/ March, Caleb McCain/ March, Carter Wyatt/ Feb.8th, Ms Mandy/ Feb.17, Ms.Jill/ Feb.28!

Valentine Celebration
Playgroup will celebrate Valentines on Thursday, Feb.12 and Friday, Feb.13. Preschool and Pre-K will celebrate on Friday, Feb. 13. We will enjoy exchanging valentines with our friends and making ice cream sundaes on our celebration days. If you offered to send in items for a special day on your volunteer form, look for an email from us asking for items for the Valentine’s parties this week. Give some thought to helping your child make their own valentines for his/her friends this year instead of buying packaged ones. For the Pre-K, please have your child bring a Valentine for all the children in both Pre-K classes. For the preschool, please have you child bring a Valentine in for all the children in both preschool classes as well, not just their children in their individual classes.  A current class list will also come home attached to your February calendar or here is the link to access all the class lists on our website.

Reminders
School Closings in February
Monday, February 16.

2008 Tax Preparation
Please email or call the preschool office if you need a 2008 account statement. One will be sent home in your child’s important information folder.

Who’s in charge when the Director’s gone
Mrs. Amrhein will be out of town Monday, February 2. Whenever she is absent, Mrs. Lawton is in charge with full authority to deal with any occurrence that requires immediate attention or decision.

2009-10 Enrollment Update
There will be a Kindergarten Class next year. If you have given this any thought, but did not put it on your intent form, please talk to Mrs. Amrhein. Both Pre-K Classes are full. New families interested in the Pre-K will be put on the waiting list. Because of this, please let me know as soon as possible if your plans change. The Preschool and Playgroup classes have a few spaces left especially on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The TMO program still has openings, but not many! Your response has been not only overwhelming, but awesomely affirming - thank you! 

Emergency Openings and/or Closings Policy
If due to inclement weather Henrico County Public Schools: 
* Do not open, we will not open.
* Open 1 hour late, we will open at 8:45am, no AM Extended Hours
* Open 2 hours late, we will open at 10am, no AM Extended hours
If due to inclement weather Henrico County Public Schools dismiss early please check our web site, your e-mail and with the preschool office for information about how this will effect our dismissals and PM Extended Hours. No refunds are given for days missed due to inclement weather.

Website and Forum Updates
Parent Network
We have created a section on the forum for Parents to use as a tool to network and communicate with each other. In this section you will find a place for employment questions and suggestions, home business advertisements, advice and volunteer opportunities. If you have not already done so, please take a moment to check it out by clicking here. You are welcome to post and reply as much as you would like. Everyone who is a registered member will be able to use this section.

Sadly, I am unable to alert all the parents when there is a post in this section, so it will be up to those interested to check back in. When you do post, you will have the opportunity to request a notification when someone else posts on the thread. That is a good way to get sent a reminder to come back often! Please help us share ideas, support the other families of the school and learn in the process.

Gallery
There is now a tab on the preschool’s website for our new photo Gallery! If you are interested, pop on over and watch the slide show or page through the various photos. More to come in the future!

For Parents
We have added a section on the preschool’s website called “For Parents”. In this section, you will find a link to the Forum under this tab. We have removed the direct forum button. This section will include items that specifically pertain to parents with students that are already enrolled.

Newsletters
There is a section on the website called “News and Events”. Under this tab, there is a Newsletters section. There, you will find a link to each newsletter from this school year. Very helpful if you misplace your copy or want to review a previous newsletter!

From the Director’s Desk
Our Preschool Flag
Just before we left for Christmas vacation many of you noticed and commented on a “new” flag I started putting out when I came out to do arrival. Well, it’s really not a new flag, it is a “found” flag with a pretty amazing story. A story that just proves we should never give up on anything or anyone! The flag was made by a former parent and given to us some 10 years ago. We loved it and flew it proudly every day. One day I forgot to bring it in before going home. When I came back the next day it was gone, nowhere to be found. This past Fall an elderly lady living in a house whose backyard backs up to the church property had to move. There was a dog house in the back yard that was to be torn down. Her dog disappeared some years back, but the lady just couldn’t bring herself to tear it down, maybe hoping the dog would return. The new owners decided to tear it down. In the process they found our flag folded neatly and laying in one of the back corners. Just gives you chills, doesn’t it! God is good. We just have to trust Him with all we have and are - all the time!’
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Classroom Updates
Toddler’s Morning Out: Welcome back TMO Class!  The children are back in class and are having fun!  We are pleased to welcome our newest friend Garrett!  Garrett is spending M, W and F mornings with us.  We all welcomed Garrett with open arms and he has already made good friends. In addition to our freshly painted room, we have now received our new rug for the room.  The children love the pictures.  It has really warmed up the space...read more.

Playgroup: We had a great week! We talked about winter clothes, mittens especially! We matched mittens and made mitten prints.
We read The Mitten by Jann Brett. Pajama day was a hit! We made teddy bears and painted them with texture mittens. We also enjoyed popcorn and bed time stories...Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear and There Were Ten in the Bed...read more.

Preschool:
Mrs. Hudson’s Class: We have done several letters since we came back to school.  So far we have done N and O and next week we will do P.  It is quite fitting that Pajama Day falls in the week we are doing the letter P.  There will be several fun activities and food to celebrate the letter P.  The boys and girls have also been making snowmen, snowflakes using stamps and paint and coloring winter themed pictures… read more.

Mrs. Parent’s Class: Just wanted to let you all know what a fun and productive week we had in the Yellow Room. Our letter of the week was P, and we really found alot of things to do with that letter. We had popcorn and pizzas as special treats, and for Pajama Day we had pancakes. Our artwork consisted of penguins, paper pepperoni pizzas, pink pig puppets, and polka dot painting. We read a book about Pete the Penguin and Penelope & the Pirates. There are so many things that we know that starts with P, and the children really picked up on it...read more.

Pre-K:
Mrs. Oliver’s Class: We have had two very busy weeks filled with activities! Our letters were N and O.  We read “The Napping House,” “The Nice Newt,” “Olive the Octopus’ Day of Juggling,” and “This Old Man.” Our alphabet-related art activities included a crayon-rubbing picture of nine nickels, noodle necklaces, and an octopus puppet.  We used our octopus puppets to learn the letter “O” sound.  We identified the letter “N” sounds by pretending to “nap” when we heard the “N” sound.... read more.

Mrs. Porter’s Class: We have been working very hard on different skills.  We are learning the days of the week and the months of the year.  We have been going over color words, rhyming words, beginning sounds, one-to-one correspondence, and copying lines & shapes.  A majority of these activities are worked on as a group during circle time or during centers...read more.

Extended Hours: Beading was a favorite activity in the morning group, and building with Legos and blocks was an afternoon favorite. Of course our Beanie Babies collection was a favorite at any time. The afternoon group worked on snow and snowflake paintings using different types of blue, purple and white paint. It was exciting to see how the different types of paint created different looking snow...read more.

We would love to hear your comments and suggestions!

Highlights This Month