Zion Early Education Center
February, 2014
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School News
2014-2015 Registration
Open registration for the up-coming school year has begun. Class
positions are filling up quickly and our goal is to fill them with our
current students first. If you need registration materials, please
contact the office. If you have not returned your registrations, please
do so as soon as possible. Please remember that the registration fee is
now $50.00.
Tuition
Please remember that tuition preschool and extended care is due
whether or not your child is in attendance. This month all families will
receive a statement with their current tuition account. If your child’s
tuition is in arrears, please contact the office so that we can remedy
this situation.
February
School Closings and Important Information
Mason Hartzell
In case of inclement weather, there are many options available:
our website: www.zionearlyeducationcenter.com, our facebook page,
WSTW/WDEL and our answering machine. Please check our website for
important information, our newsletter, calendar and any form you
might need.
Henry Hills
Logan McBride
Carmine Terranova
Please Remember
Beef and Beer Fundraiser
If February is your
juice/tissue month,
We hope you’ve gotten your tickets to our Beef and Beer on
please send it in. Saturday, February 8th at 7pm at the DAP. All proceeds will go directly
to our students. We have some great prizes to chance off, some great
food to eat, great music to dance to and best of all great friends to
share it with.
The weather is supposed to be fine but if necessary, we do have
a “rain date”.
Please remember the best place for a sick child to be is home. Children have to be
fever free (un-medicated) for 24 hours to return to school.
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Grade Level News
November Newsletter
Two Year Old’s News
Mrs. Terranova and Ms. Murphy
Welcome 2014!! It has been a very cold and snowy winter thus far. It might be cold outside but inside we are
warming our brains with lots of knowledge!!!
We started out this month learning the new year! We talked about the numbers and how to say them! We also
made a glitter picture with the new year on it. They used their large motor skills to shake the glitter bottle onto the glue! Our
classroom sparkled for a week straight!!!
Next we tackled our first lesson on colors and shapes. We introduced the color blue and the shape crescent. We
sang "Oh do you know the color blue.." as we sang the song we pointed out different objects that were blue! We painted a
blue crescent moon. We added white paint to the blue paint to see what would happen. We also made a blue rocket out of
our names! This was great because they had to listen to the instructions and place the square accordingly. We worked on
some new words such as "first, next, underneath, above, and last" They turned out great!!!!
Then we talked about the color yellow and shape star! During group time, we held up a shiny star and sang,
"Twinkle Twinkle little star" and "Oh do you know the color yellow..." We played our "star game" the children had to find a
large star, a medium star, and a small star. I was very impressed on how well they all did! We painted the star cut out
yellow then added yellow glitter to them. We also made yellow suns!
Our next shape was diamond and the color purple. We made kites and added different shades of purple to them.
We discussed how there are many shades of colors. We introduced new words such as "lighter, darker, brighter, and dull"
We sang, "Oh do you know the color purple.." We also read, Crayola Book Of Purple.
Next month, we will continue our lessons on shapes and colors. We will tackle hearts, circles, and square! Along
with orange, red, and pink. We also will be creating valentines crafts!
I will be sending home a list of children in classroom for valentines cards. Please provide a card for each student!
Our homeroom moms will be contacting you about contributing for our Valentines day party!
Three Year Olds
Mrs. Jack and Mrs. Robertson
The cold temperatures and snow fall haven’t dampened our fun! We have spent a lot
of time learning about different aspects of winter and cold weather. We started the month
learning about penguins and snowy owls. It was a lot of fun comparing the 2 different birds!
We then spent some time making snowmen, snowflakes and even some real snow! The
children were so excited to make their very own bowl of snow! The month ended with a unit
on the Olympics. The children had a chance to touch and try some real sports equipment.
We had a hockey stick and even a snowboard and boots in the room. They also got to make
their own torch and gold medals. We learned about the importance of fair play and good
sportsmanship. Go USA!!
February is going to be equally busy! We will be having our Valentine’s Day
celebrations and will then begin a unit on pirates….rrgh!
The year is progressing so quickly! It is truly a blessing to be around all the children as they
grow and blossom. Thank you for sharing them with us!
November Newsletter
Grade Level News
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Three Year Olds
Mrs. Del Grosso and Mrs. Flachier
There is a saying that suggests, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!” Well that is just what we did. Cold
temperatures, ice and snow -- bring it on! We celebrated whatever Mother Nature threw our way. We began with
learning about polar bears and penguins. We walked like penguins when they carry their eggs or young chicks and
we pretended to break through the ice and catch fish like the polar bears. The children rescued arctic animals
trapped in ice and ate cheese balls that resembled snowballs. Then we made snowflakes and frost covered windows.
Now we know why salt is used on icy streets and sidewalks. Salt makes ice melt very fast. Using colored salty water
we melted a big iceberg and it was so beautiful to see the colors seep through the cracks and crevices the salt
created. That was just one of the ways we used our sense of sight. The boys and girls spent the rest of January
discovering just how fun it is to use our five senses to learn about the world around us. We tasted different types of
pickles, played a fun sound bingo game, cooked soap to make great smelling bubbles, identified a variety of surfaces
with our sense of touch and thought of some very creative ways to pop bubble wrap.
February will be filled with preparations for Valentines Day and our Olympic Games. Do children in other
parts of the world play the same games we do? Is it always the same time everywhere in the world? Does everyone
have the same weather we are having? What country will win the most medals? Can we do some of the sports they
do at the Olympic Games? We hope to have lots of fun and we try to find the answers to these questions and more.
Thanks to everyone for taking part in our “smell and tell” day! A special thanks for making sure that all the
smells sent in were good smells! The children really enjoyed sharing their surprise smells with their friends.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Pre-K
Mrs. Burdett
I know we can all agree in saying January was one snowy month! Like the weather in January our
classroom was busy as well. We dove right into cold weather when we came back from Christmas break. We talked
about what makes the sky produce snow. We also discussed the importance of wearing winter coats, hats, gloves,
etc. in these frigid temps. The children have worked hard putting on all their winter gear at the end of the day but
could use some extra zipper practice. Please encourage your child to zip their coats on their own.
The class thoroughly enjoyed our unit on migration, adaptation, and hibernation. We learned about what
animals and insects do in the wintertime. We made a few animals that migrate, adapt, and hibernate and learned
different facts about each. The children could not believe that Monarch butterflies fly all the way to Mexico in the
winter. We ended the unit having our big hibernation party. We had so much fun in our pj’s eating, laying around
watching movies, and of course hanging out in the bear den and rabbit burrow!
In February we will learn all about our 5 senses. We will test our 5 senses doing different crafts and activities.
Wonder if we can paint with smelly Kool-aid paint and follow along to directions we hear in songs? I guess we will find
out!
We are also scheduled to take a trip to the Delaware Contemporary Art Center to join Mrs. Flachier to do
some pottery. It is always a great experience for the children.
We will celebrate Valentine’s Day and discuss how important it is to love and care for each other. Lots of
hearts and red to come!
February will end with our unit on the human body. This unit can go on for a few weeks and will most likely
bring us into the first week of March.
Please remember to bring in your juice and wipes if January or February are your month to do so.
Please pray for an early spring and no more SNOW! Have a Happy Valentine’s Day!
S Page 3 of 4
School Newsletter
School Newsletter
Pre-K
Mrs. Hawk, Mrs. Zabielski and Miss Arms
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What a nice Christmas break we had. It was really quiet around school though, and we are so glad everyone is back.
It was too quiet! We hope everyone had a great time but now it’s back to work! We started right in on our unit on Animals in
Winter. We learned that there are three basic options when the cold weather arrives and food is scarce. We also learned
new vocabulary words that describe these options. We can adapt, which means to change. Humans adapt to the weather by
changing their clothes. Some animals change colors so they blend into the environment. We can migrate which means to
travel to another location. Animals that can fly or swim are likely to migrate. Did you know that it takes three generations of
monarch butterflies to make their migration to Mexico? Even though the butterflies that end up in Mexico are the
grandchildren of the ones who began the trip, they still follow the same route! And finally we can hibernate, which means to
eat lots of food, find a cozy place and slow your breathing and heart rate so you use little energy, and wait out the winter.
Groundhogs, snakes, ladybugs are just some of the animals that hibernate. We learned that most bears Do Not hibernate.
They sleep deeply but can wake up; so be careful if you run into one. When we had to decide where we would most like to
hibernate, our students picked their beds most often. We told you they were smart!
We also decided that since we couldn’t afford the airfare for 15 of us to go to Florida, then we would just have to
hibernate. We ate lots and lots of food, wore our pajamas to school (best part!), played adapt, migrate or hibernate game
and then settled down in our nice warm cave (tent). It was a lot of fun!
We had a lot of fun visiting the Childfind team this month too. The representatives from the Red Clay School District
said our students were wonderful! We know that but it’s always nice to hear.
February is a special month in our class. Some people call it Groundhog Day on February 2nd, but to us it’s Gregory
Day! Because we’re really not sure when Gregory’s birthday is, we celebrate on this day every year. He may not hibernate
like other groundhogs but he needs a special day too.
In February, we will also talk about all the people in our lives that we love. What a wonderful month! We know that
the special people in our lives will not be forgotten. Maybe a little something for mom and dad.
We will just keep on working hard and having a great time!
Kindergarten
Mrs. Roehm and Miss Arms
Greetings from room 6! We have been busy bees in the month of January. After we got back from our
Christmas break, we talked about what New Years meant and changed our year on our calendar. We began
focusing on blending sounds i.e. th, sh, wh, etc. In addition, we reviewed all sight words learned and continued to
learn more. We practiced these words by playing our sight word race game in class. It was a great way to practice
and for me to see who has been practicing at home and which words were most commonly missed. Please continue
to work with your child and make practicing sight words fun. In math, we started simple addition and the children will
start to receive math homework to encourage the lessons taught at school. I was surprised by how fast each student
grasped the concept of adding zero and one to numbers. We also, started discussing the differences between
seasons in science and talked about the difference between autumn and winter.
Next month, we will be reviewing beginning and ending sounds as well as working on recognizing word
families. The first word families we will be focusing on are –at, -an. Each kindergartener is getting closer and closer
to learning to read. I love seeing their faces light up when they find sight words in our library books and/or start
sounding out words. All of these are fabulous signs of their young minds developing the tools need to read. In
addition, we will continue to practice our sight words by adding at least three to our focus wall each week with hope
we learn them and have the words “graduate” to our word wall. In math, we are continuing to learn addition. The
children seem to have grasped adding by 0 and 1. Because of this, I will begin to teach them more basic addition
and possibly introduce subtraction if I feel the children are ready. We will also learn two new patterns (ABBBA and
ABC). I am so proud of the progress each student has made thus far and know we still have a lot to learn. We are
coming up to our one hundredth day of school and the children are so excited!
Extended Care
Mrs. Hultberg, Mrs. Murphy and Mrs. Sadowski
Snow, snow everywhere! We are going to start sing “snow, snow go away”.
The three little pigs are safely in their brick home, the billy goat gruffs escaped the
troll and the King has his beautiful new clothes.
In February we will visit the Circus. Monkeys and lions will watch the children
from our wall as they go about their classes. Our circus tents will be very colorful
and also our elephants.
We are still practicing our dot to dot names and numbers. Bingo is a great
game that helps us reinforce our number recognition. We even play shape and
monster bingo! It’s all a lot of fun.
Later on in the day, we like to have treasure hunts. We draw maps of where
the treat is hidden and we have the entire building to explore. We always seem to
find the treasure at the end. Lollipops are great motivators!
Espanol
Senora Robertson
Espanol-Senora Robertson
! Nieve, nieve, nieve! (snow) !
The month of enero was mucho frio-very cold! We stayed warm inside listening to musica latina and dancing
with the maracas! Muy divertido!
All of the classes are learning the names of los animales you would see at the zoo!
We are singing, “Can you name the animals? Can you say their names? We can say elephante, tigre, leon,
foca, mono, girafa, serpiente, parejo, oso, y kangura!! Excelente!
We listen to a Zoo Song also in ingles y espanol!
Kindergarten is perfecting their greetings and will be moving on to days of the week and months of year-all in
Spanish! They are doing a great job with their Spanish homework too! The 2 year olds are learning a new
song, Diez Juegetes- Ten Toys, we use our dedos to count! They continue to learn los colores y las formas.
(colors and shapes)
The 3 and 4 year olds are counting past 20 and 30...they want to go higher! Stupendo!
They perfected the shapes by doing some “ fishing” for shapes! In February we will be starting the unit on
weather words. Listen for them singing “ Que tiempo hace hoy? “ What is the weather like today? Hace frio y
hace sol! Cold and sunny!
We have read many libros! Si Yo Tuviero Un Dragon- If I Had a Dragon and “ I Like Growing Up“- “Me gusta
Ser Mayor” ! Next will be reading a great story that the children love- “Un Regalo Para Papa Diego”- “ A Gift
For Papa Diego” about the love of a little boy for his abuelo-grandfather that lives in Mexico! Excelente!
Febrero we will also learn the parts of the body- el.cuerpo. Te Amo- I love you for Valentine’s Day and we
will fill our corazons with mucho amor. Kiss Kiss es un Beso is a Kiss! A favorite song among the classes!
Febrero we will learn the parts of the body-cuerpo in espanol . Te Amo- I love you in honor of Valentine’s
Day and we will fill our corazons with mucho amor. Another new song Kiss Kiss es un Beso is a favorite among
the classes .
Thank you for sharing your children-they are so inteligente!!!
Music and Movement
Mrs. Jack
Since the weather has been so cold outside we have made sure that we have stayed very busy in our
Music and Movement classes! We played our “Fish Song” game (always a favorite), tickle tag and freeze tag.
These games kept us moving and kept us nice and warm! The best part was that we had a great time too!
We have also been working on our throwing and catching skills. We learned how to throw with both
underhand and overhand motions. Our four year old classes and our Kindergarten class even tried to throw at a
target. To work on our catching skills, we started trying to catch scarves as they floated down and progressed
to trying to catch beachballs. I’m very proud of them all!
In February, we will continue to work on our throwing and catching skills and will start our kicking and striking
units.
The children are doing a fantastic job! It is amazing to watch just how much they progress and grow in
the time they are here. Keep up the great work everyone!
Fun Fitness Fact:
How many miles of nerves are there in the human body?
Answer: 45 miles