Welcome to Spring! The war weather makes us all smile a bit more; probably because we get to spend time in the yards and on "nature" walks instead of the classrooms!

Spring also brings a new awareness of all things beautiful. One of our pre-k young men came to the office to "visit" because he had pushed over one of the girls. While he and I were discussing the "whys" and "hows" of the situation; he comfortably explained he just loved her!!! We did brainstorm on perhaps some other ways to let her know he loved her, but clearly, the knocking over way, is the best expression of love for a 4 year old!

Even our Threes are finding attachments - Charlie waits for Bianca every morning. Checking the door with each arrival.

In the Twos, Oliver is simply in love with everyone - hugs are given indiscriminately all day!!

Shawn in our Tots class hugs every adult who comes in as well as all of the kids and asks if we want to play "ashes" with her - some might call the game "ring around the roses" but here in the tot's room we all simply say "ashes".

In T-K, attachments are not to be scoffed at - Justin was telling Terri and Gina that some of his friends were laughing at him because he "was in love with Anneliese" who told her mom she "had to have a play date with the biggest boy". Lauren has many admirers, boys and girls; and Liesel, as well as others, are smitten with John.

Registration is over! We still have some spaces in the tots and 2's classes, but older classes are full. We've had lots of visitors observing in different rooms - and the children are so used to it now, that they ignore it completely!

All summer camps info and registration forms will be out beginning April 12th and are due back by May 14th. As usual, we have a 7-week camp, and families can choose any number of weeks and any number of days per week!

In May we have our family picnic... Thursday May 20th from 5 - 7. This is a relaxed come-and-play evening. We BBQ sausages and hotdogs and have many salads, desserts, and chips! Water and juice is provided! Bring the whole family and hangout. We're having the picnic on a Thursday for the 1st time - hoping that older siblings won't have so many other activities going on! Picnic forms will be out the beginning of May.

Lysbeth & Linda

TOT'S WITH BARB AND TONIA

The Tot's love to build!

Just as spring is in the air and the flowers are blooming, so too are your children. Their language and cognitive development is growing in leaps and bounds. Thatcher walked over to me and said, "Peez read," as he handed me a book. Annalise joins us, pulling Nicholas by the hand saying, "Nikus. Come read." "Kay," he responds, "Like book." As we enjoy our book others sit and join us. Social bonds are evolving as well.

Using the colors of the rainbow in our weekly themes has strengthened the children's ability to recognize, verbalize and distinguish color names. Claire and Ana are our color experts. When I ask each child to name a color, they both say the color name before anyone has a chance. They are very proud of their abilities. At circle time they help the others when we play our color sorting game. Henry is gaining ground fast he pronounces the color orange as, "Ordinge."

Along with colors we are introducing numbers 1through 10, Sesame Street characters (corresponding to the weekly color) and Shapes. Ella said to me, "I make gouch." "Oh," I responded. "Oscar the Grouch?" She nodded and giggled. Then she put on a serious face and said, "He mad." That's the Oscar I know.

Our little powerhouse Shawn loves to play "ring around the rosies". And everyone is invited to join in (like it or not). She will give you that sweet, "Hi," grab your hand and sing, "Ashes, ashes. Fall down." I'm sure if you have walked into the class, you have been pulled in. Estella thinks this is the greatest thing since sliced bread. She'll run up and say, "Me too. Me too," and join the round.

We will continue sharing our lives and learn many things as we go along. I'm quite sure you notice the wonderful changes that are occurring in your children and Barb and I hope you are pleased with their progress. We certainly are very proud of them. They are the reason we do what we do. They enrich our lives as they allow us to see the world through their eyes.

TWO'S NEWSLETTER

Playing house is fun in the Two's!

We are enjoying the nice weather, which means we have more time to be outside and play new games.

One morning, KATE, MCKENZIE, JORDAN, MADISON, ERIN C. AND KIERAN, made a wonderful mural with chalk on the walls, when I asked them what they were painting, they all yelled "A Rainbow"

ABIGAIL B. was so excited when she knew it was "Apricot Day" (leprechaun day). OLIVIA and KATE were pointing to all the footprints that the leprechaun left. Olivia would point to them and say "Look, footprints" Kate say "ya, lets follow them"

YOVELA, Abigail B. and HANNAH have become good friends. Every day they give each other big hugs, and they hold hands when they go outside. They like to make "big parties" for each other. Abigail B. said to Ms Cynthia "Yovela and Hannah are my best friends" So cute.

ISABELLA came in after being on vacations and said, "I back now, and I went to the playa (beach) and played"

MADISON and GWEN followed each other around on the playground in the bikes yelling, "Follow the orange road"

We were learning about dinosaurs, the Dino Dance was a big hit! MIKAELA and ELLA were the first ones doing the movements, and at the end they liked to "Roar like T- Rex" said Mikaela while Ella was roaring, clapping and laughing.

Do you have a favorite dino? "I like the big one, brontosaurus, with the big tail" told us SAM. NIKKI thinks "Stegosaurus is my favorite, because looks funny". "Stegosaurus is my favorite, too - said OLIVER - I like the plates on his back" "I like pink, only pink dinosaurs"- said NINA. BECKETT's favorite dinosaur is "T- Rex, look, big eyes, sharp theet, Oh no! It's scary!!" " But, we can't see them anymore" - replied PIERSON "I just see dinosaurs at the zoo"- said LILA "You can't see them anymore, they are extint"- replied ARCHER

What dinosaurs use to eat? JOE said "juice" "No juice -said SIERRA- just people", ADRIA said "I think they like plants, maybe grass" "But T-Rex likes meat, you know -said KIERAN he was big and scary". Great job everyone!

Another great theme was construction. Talking about safety, we were telling the kids how important it is to protect your head, hand and eyes while people work with tools. LUCA explained, "We wear goggles, we don't get eyes hurt! And "we need hard hat on your head," said CAROLINE while she helped LAUREN to put the hat on.

LIVIA told us there are "tools at home" Jacob said "I see tools in the garage, those are daddy's, they are in the tool box" "I know I have tool box at home -said PEYTON- but it's hiding from me, because it's my dad's". "I don't have tools -said ERIN M. - I just have big legos and little legos" "I have hammer" -said ZUBIN while he showed us how to use it. "I have a hammer at home, -said HANNAH - hammer is to knock".

The kids are growing and their imagination is blooming.! We are enjoying every moment with them. Next month we will be learning about Ocean Life.

MS. TONIA, MISS MEAGHAN, MS. SENIA, MS CYNTHIA AND MS. EVELYN

Young Three's Classroom

Blue, yellow and glue for the Three's!

Now that spring has arrived, we've incorporated it into our lessons with planting, farming, baby animals and ecology. The children have enjoyed working with the soil while planting corn and watermelon seeds as well as hypothesizing (with the aid of a graph) under which condition the seed will sprout more quickly. They were also able to help each baby farm animal find its way home to its mommy. During our conversation about farms and farm animals, Tali informed us that, "Baby ducks are ducklettes." Chiara then continued, "Awww...they're cute." Keelin said, "I like baby jaguars." Nate kept the conversation going with, "Ducks are my favorite." Sophie wanted us to know that "Baby pigs say oink, oink." and Cole chimed in with, "Baby cows are my favorite. They moo." Everett told us, "There is a farm with goats and sheep and a red barn in the field." Delaney mentioned, "I saw three big horses by Papa's house." In keeping with the farm theme, we did a "milk the cow" activity (rubber glove filled with water). Ryan said, "This is squishy." Maggie added, "I'm good at this." Tyler observed, "Hey, this isn't milk."

We had a surprise visit to our classroom from some rascally leprechauns. When the children arrived on St. Patrick's Day, they were greeted with green footprints on the walls and cabinets, the room in disarray, green water in the toilets and gold dust in their cubbies. The children were so animated in greeting each friend as he or she arrived and showing them around the classroom pointing out the evidence of the Irish fairies' visit. There was constant pointing and remarking, "Look! Look! They're on the wall! They're on the floor!" Such excitement!

Keeping our bodies healthy involved many discussions and activities revolving around fitness and exercise as well as what we eat. The children got to experiment with different sports equipment, which resulted in the following comments: Annie said, "My Granddad plays golf." which prompted Naina to say, "My Daddy plays golf at the golf course." Dylan added, "My Daddy plays football and baseball." Ella continued, "My Daddy taught me to catch and throw the football." Whitney said, "My brother, Dylan, can play "real" baseball." to which Jackson added, "My brother, Tilden, plays tennis."
Max wanted us to know, "I try to beat my brothers at soccer by dribbling past them to score." while Gaeta contributed, "I play basketball and soccer all the time." Sofia finished up with "I love my Grandpa. He takes me on walks everyday. My Grandma and Grandpa live with us now. Yea!" We discussed how eating healthy involves lots of fruits and vegetables and were able to participate in a taste test with a variety of both then graphed our favorites. It seems you've adopted some healthy eating habits at home as the children are aware how important they are for a healthy lifestyle. Jail informed us, "You need to eat your vegetables." Bodie added, "They are healthy." Drew continued, "They make us grow." Parker concurred, "They make you strong. If you don't eat them, you'll be weak." Katie said, "Fruits taste good. They make your body strong." Liam agreed, "They'll make you turn healthy." and Rachel told us, "Fruits and vegetables are good for us because they will make you run fast." Nicole said, "Mommy puts those in my lunch."

While explaining ecology and respect for Mother Earth, we spent considerable time introducing recycling to the classroom and making a game of which products go into which containers. We even made some recycling sculptures. Recycling must be something you are doing at home as many boys and girls were familiar with the process. We also discussed the three R's - reduce, reuse and recycle.

We hope you all enjoyed seeing us "fly" out of the classroom with our colorful butterfly wings. We worked with some new materials and created a beautiful art project.

Next month's lessons will include exploring the world while learning about the many people in it and understanding their cultures and traditions. These themes provide a wealth of information to bring our global community home to our children and set them on a path toward tolerance.

We appreciate the interest and support you've shown in our classroom family by incorporating what we learn in class into your private lives. The children have grown so much physically, mentally and emotionally since last September. It's a joy to behold!

Have a wonderful Spring Break! We'll see you back in class on April 12th.

Miss Sharyn and Miss Sandy

Older Threes Class
Vicki, Karen and Senia

The Three's are woring hard together!

Spring is definitely in the air and we are headed down the stretch toward summer. The sun is warm on our skin when we go outside to play. It feels so good, but it is also the time to start remembering the sunscreen. We always have sunscreen by the sign in sheet so if you forget the sunscreen in the morning it's always here for you to use for the children.

We have had such a busy, fun filled month and we've learned about so many things. We started our month learning about our five senses. Now we know that we see with our eyes, we hear with our ears, we smell with our nose, we taste with our tongue and we feel with our skin. Each one of our senses is important to the way we live our lives. We tried touching the star in our room and then we tried to put a circle on the star when we were blindfolded and couldn't see. It was really hard to do things when we couldn't see what we were doing. "We toucheded the star and then we put a mask on and then we can't see and I tried to put the circle on the star but I couldn't see," said Zachary. "You see with eyes and if you don't see I put the circle on the house," Zoe told us. "If you close your eyes you go to sleep and you can't see," explained Liam. "I see far away and if you don't, you need someone to help you look," Jason told us. "Eyes help you see or you need glasses," thought Callen. "You can see or you can not see and then you need a dog to help you," Charlie explained to us. "You can get a dog to help you cross the street or have somebody help you," agreed Annabelle. "My eyes are kind of brown, but they change and they're looking at things," said Reed. Then we talked about ears and hearing. Miss Vicki worked with deaf and hard of hearing children for many years and talked about why deaf children don't use spoken words and even told everyone about a little boy who was born without ears and had his ears constructed and could eventually hear. "When you don't hear you talk with your hands," said Ben. "You just need to hear to say with your mouth," continued Jack. "Because if you can't hear then you can't hear the words and then you don't know what words to say," explained Olivia. "If you don't hear, then you can't hear anything like the ocean," mused Bianca. "You hear with ears and you need them to hear lights (at cross walks) if you can't see," said Cameron. "The dolly has ears but she can't hear 'cause she's pretend," Antonia told us. "If you don't have ears the doctor takes the skin off and puts it on your ear." said Anthony. "And he went to the doctor and he fixed new ears," continued Porter. We then talked about our noses and how they were important to us. "It smells and it sneezes when you get sick," Ryan told us. "And when you're sick you sneeze and get a tissue," added Max. "You smell and you taste something and see if it's yucky or not," continued Charlotte. "You smell things like sugar and smelly markers and yucky food," said Jason. "Skunks smell like yucky and I don't like to smell them," added Jack. "You can smell crayons and they smell very good," Cyril told us. "I like to smell grass, but I don't like to smell bugs, said Christine. "I like to smell my Grandma's dog and his name is Jake," Gavin shared. "My nose-it smells a horse," said Harshal. "It's better to smell because sometimes you like to smell cookies," Callen told us. "It smells things what tastes good because they're tasty," said Cameron. "If it smells good or not then I smell it," Anthony told us. Then we talked about tasting things with our tongues. We also learned that tongues help us talk because we have to have our tongue in the correct place to make certain sounds. "Tongues taste and talk and be at places in your mouth," said Nathan. "Your tongue tastes food," Annabelle agreed. "You can stick out your tongue and make (the sound) mmmm," said Cameron. "I stick it out," said Ben. "You can taste and put food in your mouth and ice cream," Bianca told us. "And you lick it," added Christine. "It cleans your mouth when you lick," said Olivia. "Or sometimes you can roll your tongue like a wheel," thought Marianna. "It eats things and it stays on mouths and it has teeth," said Wyatt. We tried feeling different things to think about how they felt. Even with your eyes closed you can feel things that are soft and hard and rough and smooth and sharp. "You touch soccer balls and you feel hard and you feel rough," said Porter. "I feel the wind," Gavin told us. "I feel cold," added Antonia. "It's windy outside and a cotton ball feels soft," thought Harshal. "Fire feels hot because it might burn us and you don't touch it, but it helps feel warm," explained Annabelle. "A dog feels soft and tan bark feels rough," said Ben. "Or when you touch things they're smooth or hard," continued Max. "And cardboard feels scratchy and pokeys feel pokey," added Jason. We're all a little bit more aware of how we work now and how all of our parts are important to make us who we are.

We had a very fun week learning about the circus. We know there are two kinds of circuses: one has just people performing and the other has both people and animals performing. We decided our circus would only have people. We don't have any animals at Growing Tree to perform for us, but mostly we thought maybe the animals didn't really like to perform. We put on clown make up, we made clown hats and we walked on a tight rope (balance beam). "You just make clown hats and you can put them on your head or you just leave them till they dry," said Olivia. "My clown hat was pink with flowers," shared Avery. "I made a clown hat and it was red," added Marina. "You put the hat we made on your head," Bianca told us. "Clowns are funny," Ben thought. "The clown was funny and it had a happy mouth," Marianna told us. "They have funny clowns," agreed Antonia. "Clowns can balance on tight ropes," Max told us. "You balance when you're walking on it," Nathan explained. "I turned around on the tight rope and it was hard," said Cameron. "And I turned around on the tight rope," added Annabelle. "And they walk on ground like the clown does," said Wyatt. "You hold on on the tight rope because you fall off," Ryan shared.

The second week in March was community helper's week and we had special people from our community come in to talk to us each day. On Monday we had the firefighters, who told us about stop, drop and roll, about climbing under the smoke if we were in a fire and then let us see their fire engine and even go inside." They showed us the hoses and they have masks and hats," said Anthony. "The hose sprays the water," added Cameron. "I liked the fire tank because it squirts the water," continued Callen. "I liked when they used the mallet to knock off the hose," Cyril told us. "They showed us the tools," said Ryan. "I went in the fire truck and I saw the big flash light," continued Annabelle. "I liked the tools and they teached us how to crawl under and to roll," Charlotte told us. "When there's a fire in your house you crawl under and we roll because it makes the fire go out," explained Bianca. "They put pretend fire on us and we rolled," added Zachary. "We went inside the fire truck and my sister had it at her school and she told me drop, stop, roll," Christine finished up. On Tuesday the librarian from the Moraga library came to tell us about the library and to read us some wonderful stories. She brought a stuffed doggie and a stuffed turtle to help her with the stories. "She reads books and she read about a little man," said Julia. "We get books there and Mommy takes me to the library," Ben told us. "I never been to a library and the library people read to us and then I go there," shared Marina. "I like sticking my fingers in the doggie's tongue and librarians work at the library," Porter told us. "I like the doggie too and we pet the doggie," said Bianca. "I like the turtle's nose and I like the library," added Jack. "I loved her and I loved her doggie," Avery finished. On Wednesday Porter's Daddy came to tell us about airplanes and about being a pilot. "My Daddy works on the airplane and he controls it so it doesn't crash," Porter told us. "He telled that when you pull it, it comes up and when you push it, it comes down," Zachary explained. "He telled us about airplanes. When it takes off the wheels pull up," added Christine. "It flies up in the sky," continued Harshal. "Porter's Daddy drives a plane and it turns," said Jack. "I love airplanes and sometimes I go to Colorado," shared Callen. "I go to Mexico on a airplane to see the warm ocean and the warm ocean is warm," Charlotte told us. "He gave us some pirate (pilot) wings," said Ben. "He gave us wings and he gave us goody bags," added Julia. "I liked the big hat," said Cyril. We had such a good time learning about airplanes. On Thursday we had another special visitor: Avery's Mommy came to tell us about buying a new house. She read us a book that told us how fun it is to move someplace new and meet new friends and have new adventures. "Avery's Mommy's work is she sells houses," Bianca told us." She makes jobs to sell houses," added Nathan. "She sells them, but she doesn't sell them to people who need them, she sells them when they don't need them anymore," explained Avery. "She talked about houses that are for sale and she read us a book about the bear family getting a new house," said Olivia. "She read to us about the Berenstein Bears move and they take all the stuff to a different house," added Ben. "The Berenstein Bears were picking a new house," agreed Marina. "She read the bears," continued Antonia. "Houses for sale because if they get really old you have to move to another house that's not going to fall down. And you just drive in the car to find them because you still have a car" Max told us. "We make houses and then you have to paint and they sell the houses," added Marianna. "I buy a blue house," Harshal thought. "They move to houses where people want to live," said Cameron. It was fun to learn about moving to a new house. On Friday we had a visit from two police officers that told us all the things we need to do to stay safe and showed us some of the equipment they use for their job. We didn't get to go outside to see the police car because it was raining, but the officers turned on the lights and the sirens when they left which was bright and loud and very fun. "Look both ways when a car is coming," Max remembered. "The police officer said look each way," agreed Christine. "And not to talk to robbers," continued Jason. "Cause they might be bad guys," added Max. "The police was a police officer," said Harshal. "They help people," Ben told us. "He didn't talk to me 'cause I didn't want to, and he gave us a paper," said Julia. "And they gave a sticker," added Gavin. "He gived us pencils," continued Jack. "The grabber (hand cuffs) that grabs the stranger's hand, I like it 'cause I like grabbing," Nathan told us. "I like the hand clipper 'cause it looked like a car," added Cyril. "The police car went Beep Beep," said Annabelle. "And when they put the lights on and then after the lights came on the siren came on," shared Anthony. It was a very exciting day to end a very exciting week of community helpers. Then the Older Threes class made thank-you cards to thank all the people who took their time to make our week so special. It was a truly fun week.

Our third week in March was green week. We learned about St. Patrick's Day and hoped if we made our room look very green the leprechauns might come to visit. When we arrived at school on the morning of March 17, we could see that they had been there. We looked very hard to try to find a leprechaun, but they are very tricky and we couldn't find them. "The leprechauns left footprints and they left us surprises," said Christine. "They came at our school to play," added Liam. "They made footprints and they made a mess," said Cameron. "They made a big mess and then we cleaned it up," complained Annabelle. "They made a mess and they didn't clean up and then we had to clean up their mess," agreed Callen. "They left sparkles all over our carpet," said Charlotte. "They walk on walls because we saw their footprints," continued Gavin. "And they gived us coins," added Jack. "There's a pot of gold on St. Patrick's Day and it's the leprechauns," said Julia. "They got gold and they hide it," continued Zachary. "Because the one I saw in the story, they had the treasure and it's a leprechaun and a pot of gold," Max told us. "They (the leprechauns) like to eat green beans because they like green things," Ryan explained. "The leprechauns have cookies," said Harshal. "My Mommy will love them," thought Reed. "There was a man who was named St. Patrick and he helped the people and he chased all the snakes out of...out of...out of where they live," Anthony explained to us. We had a very fun week learning about St. Patrick and the leprechauns.

Now that spring has officially arrived we spent some time thinking about what makes spring a special time that is different from the other seasons and we did lots of fun spring projects. "The sun is shining and it makes us feel good," said Annabelle. "I see the sun," shared Reed. "The sun is really hot," continued Zoe. "It's too hot for me because we get sunburned," thought Avery. "We need shoes, but we don't need jackets," added Callen. "The leaves come back," Charlie told us. "And they're green added Bianca. "There's a little spider on the ground and it's warm and the leaves grow," Zachary told us. "And flowers grow," continued Cameron. "The trees grow tall as the sky and flowers grow," said Anthony. "Flowers are growing at my house and they're getting yellow," shared Porter. "It's almost spring at my house 'cause I can see purple flowers," continued Christine. "My flowers died, but I don't know if we'll plant new ones," Cyril told us. "When flowers die more flowers come," Jason told us. We're all enjoying the lovely flowers, the buds on the trees and the warm sun when we are playing outside. Spring is such a nice time of year.

Coming up we will learn about where we live and about other people in our world and where they live. It's fun to learn about our world and all the different places and the different people who live there. We hope some day we can go to all the places we are learning about and become friends with all the people. Spring break is also coming up and the teachers hope you all have a wonderful week off, and that we'll all return ready to have lots more fun with our friends at Growing Tree.

Newsletter April 2010 Pre-K.
Teachers- Pat , April and Nikki

Pre-K play!

We were traveling around the world in the month of March. We had a great time on our world tour. The children packed their suitcase with camera, clothes and excitement as we explored the world around us. The children learned all about California. They now know the state flag, flower and bird. Just ask them.
Ana "The California flag has a bear on it."
Siena" I know that California is not an Island. Islands like Hawaii have water all around them and Ca. only has it on one side. I like the Ca. poppy. I like pretty flowers."
Rachel "The Ca. bird is the quail. It has a special feather on his head. I like to go to Palm Springs to visit my Grandma."
Shane "I like to go to Florida and see Grandma Patty. We like to play with cars. Lighting McQueen is my favorite. We make sand castles there on the beach."
Charlie "If I could go anywhere in the world I would go to Tahoe. I like to go in the summertime and play on the beach. The water is really cold because the snow melts in the lake and snow is very cold."
Kaylin "I like to go to Tahoe and snow ski or surf board in Hawaii. I like cold weather and hot weather."

The children made their passports and we were off.
Peyton "We made our trespasses today. You know when we go visit other countries."

First stop Hawaii. We learned how to do the hula and say Aloha.
Dominic "Volcanoes come from under the ground, under the sea. When the plates on the ocean floor move the hot lava comes out of the crack. The lava cools in the shape of a mountain. More and more hot lava comes out and the mountain grows taller. It finally grows tall enough and the mountain comes out of the sea. That makes an island."
Sofia "I have been to Hawaii. I saw the black sand beach. I saw a turtle under the water, he was eating sea weed."
Sam "I have never been to Hawaii. I would like to go there and see a volcano explode. I want to swim in the ocean and learn how to surf."
Lauren "I want to go to Hawaii and see the hula girl's dance. I know how to hula."
Jack K. "I was in Hawaii last week. I like swimming in the pool at the hotel. I saw Diamond Head. Lava made the islands bigger. I saw lots and lots of seagulls there too."
Erin "Jack and I go to Maui every summer with Mom and Dad. I like to swim in the pool and in the ocean. I never go in the ocean with out Mom or Dad."
Jack "Erin and I have fun at Maui. I make really big sand castles with Dad. We all like to go looking for seashells on the beach.
Emmi "Hawaii is the best place to go! I want to play in the sand and hula all day."
Chloe "I like Hawaii. I like to go on the water slides and jump off the diving board in the big pool. It is more fun in Hawaii."
Jack M. "I like Hawaii. I would make big sand castles and watch the water come up and make the sand smooth again."
Dania "I like Hawaii. I played in the ocean. I always hold my Moms hand in the water to be safe. I saw pineapples growing in the fields. "

Next let's head for Mexico. Miss Nikki made churros with the students. Yummy!
Lindsey "I went to Mexico for my 3rd birthday. We swam in the pool and the ocean. We went to a fiesta and they sang songs in Spanish."
Maggie "My family went to Mexico. We stayed in a big house with two pools. My sister and I liked being in the pool because it was very hot outside. The sun made it hot. At night we went in the hot tub. There were no volcanoes, but lots of sea shells on the beach."
Andrew "I would like to go to Mexico. I know how to speak Spanish. I want to go to a Fiesta."
Jacque "I want to go to Mexico. I went camping there once or maybe we stayed in a hotel. I saw fish at the beach. I had a face mask on and I saw orange fish in the water."
Emily "I want to go to Mexico and see the pyramids I want to walk up to the top and see the view. They are very tall and I will see far away over the trees."

Ireland was our next stop. On St. Patrick's Day a leprechaun visited the playground and left everyone a gold ring and a special green stone.
The children drew a picture to go with "If I caught a Leprechaun, I would wish for........"
Ella said "I would wish for all of my friends in this class to come to my house and play with me." It sounds like a fun party to me.
Ben R. I want to go to Ireland and get a snake. I want to track a leprechaun and put him in a cage."

Miss April told us about her husband growing up in the Philippines.
April read about Edgar and Edwin in our UNCIF book. The boys lived in the Philippines and make their own toys. Their family lived in a hut with a dirt floor close to the beach.
We all made a self-portrait with paints and talked about the fact that we may look different but we are all good friends and we are kind to each other.

Let's go to Paris France and check out the masterpieces in the museums. Each of the children got to color their own self-portrait in class.
On to Italy.
Ben M. "We made pasta in class today. It tasted great. I would like to go to Italy and eat pizza and pasta."
Miss Manal taught us about Egypt. Where she was born and grew up.
England was fun to visit. The children were a King or Queen for a day and they had an English tea party.
Brian "I would like to go to Africa and go on a safari. I want to see lions, hippos and giraffes."
Ben B. "I want to go to the rain forest and see a green snake in the trees, lots of monkeys and different kind of frogs. The red ones are poison and I'd never touch them."
Chase "I would like to go to China. My whole family would go. I would see the monkeys. You know I was born the year of the Monkey. I would see all my friends there and we would talk together in Chinese."
Jack A. "I want to go to Spain. They make cookies shaped like diamonds with powdered sugar and cinnamon on them. They are so good."
Luke "I like Hawaii, Disneyland, and Tahoe. You know I am on the ski team so I ski every weekend. Maybe I would go to the rain forest. I want to see the poison frogs and the monkeys."
Anika "I would like to go to Sweden where my Grandma grew up."

During the month of April we will continue our trip on to Costa Rica (the rain forest) and on to Africa. We will look at the earth from outer space, and see how we can help keep the earth clean and healthy. Spring is finally here. We will be watching for new leafs to pop out of the trees and new birds to be born.

We had lots of VIPs in March. Ella, Shane, Ben M., Brian, Sofia, Maggie, and Emmi turned 5 this month. We learned a lot about our friends and the VIP'S loved introducing their family members to the class.

Have a great Spring Break April 5-9 and we will see you on April 12.

Your children are so curious and full of life. It is a pleasure to watch them bloom over the year.
See you soon, Pat

Laureen and Manal's Pre-K

Everyone enjoyed Pre-K friendship soup!

March had brought spring among us and wasn't it full of excitement and learning! The kids are progressing wonderfully in many different areas. They have shown great ease in their improved cutting and drawing skills. And their ability to recognize letters and shapes is also growing. Their comfort and developing social skills has made their friendships blossom and their happiness infectious. Laureen and I are very proud of their accomplishments and enjoy our time with them.

We started March off exploring the children's interests in many different forms of transportation. Between train, car, plane, and boat the children shared their favorite way to travel. We have a lot of young, eager travelers among us!

Before we began our tip around the world we prepared our passports and suitcases. We started the trip in California and Hawaii. Next we made our way to Mexico, Italy, and Ireland where the children were introduced to many foods, including churros from Mexico and yummy pasta from Italy. Our visit to Ireland landed on St. Patrick's Day and the magical leprechaun came to visit!

We wrote in our travel journals, "If I caught a leprechaun, I would wish for" and the kids had great responses. Parker said "I want the leprechaun to give me all the jewels he has" Jessica "I'll take all of his gold" Cameron "get all the gold and eat all the chocolate coins" Emi "more leprechauns and their gold" Meagan "I wish for a dollar" Beatriz "I want him to give me a chocolate bunny" Mall "I want pizza!" Alexandra "I'll ask for a pink unicorn" Timmy "I want a teddy bear" Koji "I wish for an American flag!" Anna "I'll take all the gold he had" Michael "I love rainbow color, this is what I want a rainbow" John "I want all his chocolate coins" Skylar "Gold, I want all the gold"

We will continue our trip by visiting France, Egypt and England. In Egypt we will learn about the pyramids and modern life. While in England we will enjoy a pleasant tea party. Lastly we will visit the rainforest and the continent of Africa.

During our morning circle, we continue recognizing and spelling their last names - "The kids became fluent!" Now the kids are proficient with the calendar and asking for their jobs in complete sentences. During alphabet sharing, the kids look forward to giving the clues and stumping their friends, they find this a lot of fun.

After spring break we will be talking about Earth Day and recycling. We will also learn about outer space and the solar system. The children will also learn about springtime, bugs, and insects.

We wanted thank Katherine Dunne for reading to the class and we encourage any guest readers to join us! The children love to see their parents in the classroom. Also if you still haven't done so, please sign up for your special VIP day on the calendar. The children are getting excited about their turns!

Laureen and I wanted to thank you for sharing your precious children with us and allowing us to be a part of their lives"

Pre-K
Manal and Laureen

Transitional Kindergarten
April 2010

TK Thanks...for popcorn!

Spring is here! And your children are having fun deciding whether it's a "lion" or a "lamb" day...Everyone also has a definite opinion on which type of weather they prefer...

Brett likes lamb weather because "you can go on the swings!"
Liesel likes lamb weather because "I get to ride my 2 wheeler at my brother's school!"
Rome likes lamb weather because "I can play Batman outside!"
Colin likes lion weather because "you get to jump in puddles!"
Anneliese likes lion weather because "you can snuggle in bed and watch movies!"
Lauren likes both: "I like lion weather because we get to watch movies, but I also like lamb weather because I get to jump on my trampoline!"

Flowers aren't the only things blooming, so are your children! We decided they needed a new challenge so we have a new job, "word wizard". The word wizard's job is to wear a word around his neck and teach it to other people. The word wizard knows that teaching Lysbeth can be extra challenging...When Justin was teaching her the word "is", she thought it was "ice" and Justin wisely explained that "if the word was "ice" there'd be a silent 'e' in there somewhere!"
After Logan played word wizard with Lysbeth, he came back into the classroom and sighed, "Wow! She needed five tries!" Your children are quickly learning the virtue of patience!

Besides learning about weather and seasons, we had a lot of fun with St. Patrick's Day! For a science experiment we made green oobelick, but first we asked the children to brainstorm solids and liquids:

Logan: "Water is a liquid because you can drink it."
Grant: "Ice is a solid but when it melts it's a liquid."
Colin: "An orange is a solid but the juice you squeeze out of it is
liquid!"
Ryan: "Ice cream is a solid but if you leave it in the sun for
a day then it's ice cream juice - a liquid!"

We asked your children to think of some liquids you wouldn't drink...
Luke D. "Well, that would be wine. Kids can't drink wine."
John "Yeah, and beer, too."

Then we made oobelick and the children loved watching it (and feeling it!) change back and forth from a solid to a liquid. As it was dripping all over Luke W.'s hands, he exclaimed, "Ah! It's melting! This is the awesomest stuff ever!" Charlie added, "This is disgusting...and fun!"

Everyone had so much fun on our leprechaun hunt, and while we were excited about finding his pot of gold, we didn't catch the leprechaun himself. Josie asked, "Can we keep looking for the guy?" Meghan collected some clover and announced, "Hey, this stuff kind of SMELLS like a leprechaun!" Ella found a tissue on the ground and exclaimed, "The leprechaun littered!"

Our fieldtrip to Percussion Discussion was so much fun! Grace "loved the drums and cymbals and his jokes about how when he was a little boy he thought people were dying on the Matterhorn ride!" Grady's favorite part was when "he played the invisible drums!" Once again, thank you SO MUCH to all of our parent volunteers!"

We had three wonderful Superstars in March. Did you know...
Anneliese's favorite place is Grandma's house where she gets to ride horses?
Justin wants to be a baseball player when he grows up?
Logan's favorite thing to do is play basketball?

Our April themes will include chicks and eggs, spring animals, flowers and gardening.

We are so proud of your blossoming children! We hope April brings us many "lamb" days!

Miss Terri & Miss Gina