Preschool
News
2016
LETTER FROM MRS. LEANY
Happy New Year! I was so excited to do something that I have wanted
to do since I was a little girl. I helped decorate 4 floats for the Rose
Parade. It was so much fun and a great learning experience. I hope
you were able to do something you wanted to do also. As with every
New Year, there is a feeling of excitement of new things to come. This
January is no exception. All of the classrooms have added new
centers to go along with our Jungle Theme. Be looking for wild
animals, jungle huts to play in and giant leaves and vines that help
create the layers of the rainforest. All of the children will be together
on the play yard behind building E10 to join in our Jungle Cruise
Activity Day, January 29. It will be lots of fun. Please remember our
school policy: "children not enrolled in our school may not be at any
of our theme day activities". I understand this makes it difficult for
some parents, but not only is it a safety issue for the school, it is
sometimes distracting for those participating in the events.
We are excited to welcome new children to our school. Jacqueline
Pretorius and Jack Grabill joined our Hummingbird Class and Liza
Nabedrick returned to the Coyote Class. We are so happy to have
each of these children. Be sure to welcome their parents into our
program.
Like our other months this school year, January will be busy. Be sure
to check the calendar for important dates and events. The daily My
Day In… paper is another place to find important information. All of
this information is on our school webpage www.pvs.org. The John
Tracy Clinic will be providing Hearing Screenings for all children who
are 3-5 years old on January 21 and February 4. School will be closed
on January 18 in honor of Martin Luther King Day.
Remember, every day is made up of minutes. Take the time to make
them moments to remember.
As always, if you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, I
would encourage you to contact me either in person, phone, or by email at [email protected]. I teach in the Coyote classroom each day, but
I do check my messages throughout the day. If it is an emergency,
please call the school office 760.328.0861 and let them know you
must speak with me and to put you through to the Coyote Classroom.
After 4:30 pm, our phone number is 760.610.3791.
IMPORTANT DATES
Jan. 13 Pizza forms due
COYOTE NEWS
Jan. 15 Free Dress Day/First
New Pizza Day
What an exciting month to learn about the special things that you do
in your family. It is such a great experience learning more about each
family. I appreciate you making time in your very busy schedule to
share something that is important to your family. The children
enjoyed experimenting with "snow", ice, and gingerbread boys.
Jan 18 No School Martin
Luther King Day
Jan. 21 Hearing Screening
(Preschool)
Jan. 22 Free Dress
Day/Morning
Assembly/Pizza Day
Jan. 29 Free Dress/Pizza
Day/Theme Day - Jungle
Cruise
In class, we reviewed all of the letters we have learned this year.
Many of the children can recognize both the name and the sound of
the letters. We had fun counting different winter objects to 20. This
month we will learn new letters and practice blending some of the
letters we have learned so far to make word families, like cat, hat,
and sat. I use a hand clap method. We hold up one hand and say the
initial sound for a letter such as (c) then hold up the other hand
saying then next part of the word (at). Next we clap our hands
together and say the whole word (cat). It is amazing how quickly your
child will pick this up. We will build up our counting skills to count 30
objects and practice numbers 10, 11, and 12.
JACKRABBIT NEWS
Jan. 31 School Open House
Science Theme
Feb. 4 Hear Screening (PreK)
We’ve had such a wonderful month! The Jackrabbits reviewed all the
letters and numbers that we have learned since September by playing
many exciting games. We had fun making winter crafts, doing science
experiments and searching for the gingerbread baby every day.
We were very lucky to have so many families share their traditions
with us. Thank you for all the special treats and activities. We enjoyed
all of them!
At the Winter Sing all the Jackrabbits recited a poem called Five Little
Snowmen and they did such an amazing job!
We can’t wait for 2016 when all the Jackrabbits return from vacation
and we can dive right into our tour of the Jungle. We have new letters
and numbers to learn, books to read and games to play! What fun!
HUMMINGBIRD NEWS
EVERY FRIDAY IS FREE DRESS
DAY. Please follow the school
dress rules. No jewelry, no
boots, and we must wear
closed toe shoes with socks.
The Hummingbirds enjoyed all the winter activities and family
traditions. Thank you to all the families for sharing their holiday
traditions with the class. The Hummingbirds participated in the
Winter Sing performance and did a fantastic job!
We will be exploring the jungle when we come back from winter's
break. The children have already been discussing the animals that live
in the jungle, and we will expand on their knowledge of jungle life
through art, science and cooking activities. We welcome you to the
Jungle!
QUAIL NEWS
Winter activities were a great way to close the wonderful year of
2015. Everything we did was fun and exciting, singing snowmen
songs, playing with snow (shaving cream), reading Gingerbread Baby
book, and of course, looking for the sneaky gingerbread boy and girl
was fun.
Family traditions gave us the opportunity to learn about what we like
to do as a family. We learned many new things about our friends and
their families. We were very fortunate to have so many families
sharing their traditions with us. Thank you so much to all of you.
We are looking forward to a fun and exciting New Year. We will learn
more letters and numbers, in addition to the wonderful jungle
habitat. We are already asking the Quails what they would like to
learn about the jungle. There are so many things that the children
want to learn, and we will!!!
Quote: Yesterday is but a
dream, tomorrow but a
vision. But today well lived
makes every yesterday a
dream of happiness and
every tomorrow a vision or
hope.
--Indian Proverb
Community Service: We have collected over $125.00 in
our Feed the Children Jar. Who says recycling doesn't pay? We have
helped our Earth and will feed the hungry. How awesome is that?
Thank you so much for your generous donations of new toys for
Toys for Tots at the 29 Palms Marine Base. They were very grateful
for your contributions.
CURRICULUM
SPANISH
Birthdays: We love to share
birthdays with your child. You are
welcome to bring in a healthy
treat to share with your child’s
class. Please make sure your
child’s teacher knows in advance
what you are planning to serve.
We have several children with
allergies and we want to make
sure to include them. Children are
invited to donate a new book to
the classroom library. We try to
have the special treat at 2:15 pm
before we go outside for our last
recess. If your child attends school
part time, we will make
adjustments.
El Sombrilla-umbrella, mono-monkey, lluvia-rain and a pajaro-bird are
just some of the Spanish words we are learning that are related to the
jungla-jungle. Senora Marron is reading El Sombrilla-the Spanish
version of one of our literature books.
MUSIC AND MOVEMENT
The children love singing. We are learning several jungle songs such
as Elephants have Wrinkles, I'm Being Swallowed by a Boa
Constrictor, I Like Bananas, Coconuts and Grapes…
THEME DAY
Taking a Jungle Cruise on the play yard behind building E10 will
include going down the lazy river, visiting giant jungle animals, having
a wild rumpus using our jungle musical instruments and a special
jungle story. This will be the first big theme day that all four classes
will participate in together.
WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO
Sofia Smith
January 3
Jacqueline Pretorius
January 4
Max Pretorius
January 4
Wyatt Palmer
January 11
Nick Wagner
January 21
Sara Darawal
January 27
Blocks: Blocks are one of the most valuable learning materials in our
classroom. Children learn about sizes, shapes, spatial relationships,
math concepts, and problem solving, as well as, balance, sequence,
and gravity. When playing with blocks, children acquire logical
thinking skills and increase their language abilities.
LITERATURE CORNER
Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles
Andreae.
What a wonderful story
about learning you can do
anything-you just may do it
differently. How the
Elephant Got Its Trunk retold
by Jean Richards is a great
story about how an elephant
got his questions answered.
We are also reading The
Umbrella by Jan Brett. This
book is a beautifully
illustrated story about the
animals in a rainforest.
NUTRITION TIPS
Everyone starts the New Year with resolutions to eat better and be
more physically fit. Take it one day at a time or even one meal at a
time. Maybe you can decide to eat one more piece a fruit each day or
add one more veggie as a snack. Keeping veggies and fruit already
prepared in your fridge makes it just as easy to grab for a snack as a
bag of chips or a candy bar. When you are parking to drop your child
off, choose a spot a little farther from the front door and get in a few
extra steps of exercise.