October 2009
We’ve had a wonderfully smooth start to the school year! We have a fantastic group of children and families. Everyone is busy exploring our rooms, learning the routine, and making friends. I don’t know how we get so lucky every year, but somehow we always get the best kids!
The new schedule is working out great! Everyone seems to be enjoying the less hectic day, and Joan, Jackie and I really love having more time working with the children in small groups. We’ll continue to fine-tune the timing of circle and snack, but it’s been going really well so far and children are enjoying multiple opportunities for projects.
It’s fall – please make sure your child is prepared for any kind of weather! We go outside every day, so it’s a good idea to bring a jacket and boots. We’ll be making the most of our outdoor time before snowsuit weather sets in, so we hope to be outside for at least a half an hour.
We’re working hard to keep the germs down at TCNS this year. We’re doing extra disinfecting of the toys each week and are already talking about proper coughing and sneezing etiquette and hand washing. Please help out by keeping your child home when he or she is sick. Children are often tired when recovering from an illness and an extra day to rest can be very beneficial.
Fundraising:
Bulb orders are due Friday, October 2! This is an easy fundraiser for us and everyone loves having flowers in spring!
We still have a couple of months before the holidays, but I’ll be putting up a preliminary list for the Fun with Santa silent auction. Last year parents reported that many businesses had trouble giving donations late in the year, so start early! We need every family to help get 2 donations!
We’re also planning to do the shopping day again in early November. At this fundraiser, we invite vendors to ‘rent’ a table in the chapel and we provide childcare downstairs while people can get an early start on holiday shopping. Last year we made almost $300 for our scholarship fund. If you know anyone who might be interested in participating, please let me know.
Remember, there will be no school for planning on Friday October 9th and Monday October 12th for Labor Day. Thanks for the wonderful turn-out at the September parent meeting. It’s nice to hear input from everyone and share ideas. The next parent meeting will be October 19th from 6:30-7:30.
October is a long month and there are a number of days when we’ll have a single parent helper in the TTh class. Please consider helping out a little extra by coming back early (11:30) to help with clean-up. I will put up reminders on those days for people willing to help out. It’s a great opportunity to talk get to know another parent. Thanks!
This month we will be introducing the children to different classroom helper responsibilities. They will be asked to help us update the calendar, describe the weather, pick songs for circle time, among others. We will rotate the different responsibilities among students so everyone will get a chance to do each job.
October Activities:
We have a busy month ahead of us. We’re going to start talking about colors and are inviting each child to bring something in for our basket which can be shared at circle time. We’ll start off the month by reading Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. This is a beautiful book using fall leaves to highlight Ehlert’s unique artwork. We’ll make our own leaf creatures and work on a collage of a fall tree and a class poem about fall. We hope to hike to the falls on Wednesday, October 7th. TTh students are welcome to join us with their parents, as well as any other siblings and parents. Our next book will be Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall. We’ll have a lot of fun with apples. We’ll do taste-testing and vote on our favorite apple food. We’ll also make our own applesauce, do apple prints, and cut and glue and apple. We’ll move to pumpkins the next week and read another Zoe Hall, It’s Pumpkin Time. We’ll bake pumpkin muffins and do seed mosaics, and a pumpkin collage. Our last book of October will be What a Scare Jesse Bear by Nancy Carlstrom. This week we’ll make our own mask and paper jack-o-lantern. We’ll also do our Halloween parade to Juniper Manor on Friday, October 30th. Please wear your costume to school that day.
Playdough:
1 cup flour
½ cup salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
2 Tbs oil
1 cup water
Food coloring
Add food coloring to water. Mix dry ingredients together. Add water & oil and mix well. Cook over medium heat, stirring. Remove from heat when slightly sticky and knead until smooth.
Trumansburg Community Nursery School 