March 2016

“In like a lion, out like a lamb!” — we hope!  Welcome March! Spring is on its way, although we never really had much winter this year. Perhaps we’ll just have a really long mud season this year – remember that wind or snow pants are still useful to keep clothing clean. The children in all classes are making great strides in all areas of their development. They are developing new friendships and creating imaginative play scenarios, recognizing many names in the classroom and working hard on their drawing and writing skills.

2016-17 Registration: we will be starting to register children for next school year by mid-March. Registration forms will be in cubbies soon and we’d like them all back by April 8^th so we can open registration to new families after that. We will be having an evening open house sometime this month. Once we have a date, please share it with any families who might be interested. Two’s families are also invited to join us if they’d like a chance to visit the classrooms or talk with the teachers.

This month we’ll continue working on assessments with the children in preparation for parent-teacher conferences at the end of the month – watch for a sign-up to come. Your child might talk about ‘playing games’ with individual teachers. At the parent meeting we will share our assessment process and progress reports and answer any questions.

Thanks for everyone’s hard work on our Rongo/silent auction. It turned out to be a wonderful event enjoyed by many friends and family and we raised over $6000 for TCNS.

Dates to remember:

March 2^nd & 16^th: story time with Ms. Jackie at 10:30 in the two’s room

March 14^th: No school

March 22^nd: 6 pm. Parent meeting with pizza! We’ll explain how we do student assessments and conferences.

March 25^th: Scholastic orders due

March 31 & April 1^st: parent-teacher conferences

Preschool Activities: We’ll continue with penguins in the beginning of the month, then move onto our pets, weather and spring. We’ll be reading Penguin and Pinecone by Salina Yoon, Three Cheers for Tacky by Helen Lester, Grumpy Cat by Britta Teckentrup , and I Want a Dog by Helga Bansch. We will build penguins and packing peanut igloos, do a cityscape, make dog biscuits, cats and wanted posters. We will also be graphing our pets and weather and compare our snowy days to rainy days as spring gets closer. We’ll have pajama day in the preschool classes on March 10^th & 11^th. Let your child sleep in and don’t waste time getting dressed!

Two’s Class: With the disappointing lack of snow this year, we will adjust our circle time books. We will focus on books themed on shapes and colors and hopefully throw in a snowman book when we get a blizzard!  We will read Good Luck Bear, by Greg Foley and Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit by Il Sung Na to welcome spring. We will explore with our senses, looking for signs of spring and winter leaving us.  We will enjoy finger painting and water colors. Our play doh will be blue and yellow, exploring with mixing to make green.   Our year is moving with huge strides in all our children.  We are seeing growth in language and social skills. All children are taking more of an interest in inviting others to join in play.  We are adding more yoga and continuing sign language to our daily activities. Please continue to encourage independence in dressing by helping the children choose easy comfortable clothes to manipulate.

Spring is a rainy season, spring is a rainy season,

spring is a rainy season, when the flowers bloom!