Luck of the Irish and Letter Progress

Good afternoon preschool families!  The upcoming week is going to be full of fun and learning!  On Monday and Tuesday we will be having our St. Patrick's Day parties.  Reminders were sent home in backpacks if you signed up to bring treats.  We also reminded children to wear green if they wish.  Additionally, we are continuing our study of the letters of the alphabet.  Both the three's and the four's classes are working on writing and recognizing the letters.  Monday we begin the letter F.  During circle time we have a running competition to see how many words we can come up with that begin with each day's letter.  You can help your child to brainstorm words for each letter. 

Reminder:
The 4's class is continuing to bring letter sheets home each day for homework.  Again, the children are not required to complete homework, but we do encourage them too.  When children bring back their letter sheets they are able to pick out stickers from our sticker basket!

Learning Our Letters and Having a Read In

Thank you to all the families who contributed to our Valentine's party, the kids had a blast! February is quickly coming to an end.  The month has flown by, and we have been having a lot of fun working on our numbers.  We will be finishing up with numbers this week and transitioning to learning the letters of the alphabet beginning next week.  The focus will be on recognizing letters and their corresponding sounds, as well as writing the letters of the alphabet. Children will continue to bring homework home during the study of letters.  Again, this homework is not mandatory but it is encouraged.

For our Four Year Old Class:
This Friday the 27th, we will be having a read in. Each child should bring his or her favorite book, and a stuffed animal that fits in their backpack.  Children will take turns getting individual time with the teacher to read and enjoy the books they bring in.  We will also be making book marks for the daily craft that day.

Valentines Parties, Ronald McDonald, and Full Day Kindergarten

Good Sunday Evening Parents,

This week we will have our Valentines Day Parties.  For the three's class our party is on Thursday, and for the four's it will be held on Friday.  Please send Valentines in with your children to pass out to their classmates.  These should be labeled with only your child's name.  The three's class has 11 students, and the fours has 22.

Thank you to the families who have contributed to our Ronald McDonald House pop can and item drive.  We will continue to collect items through February. 

As many of you may have heard, this fall Newberg Public Schools are transitioning to a full day kindergarten program.  There will be half-day and bilingual programs also available, but these will be filled by lottery only.  If you have questions about this new format for kindergarten you may contact the Newberg District Office or ask one of your child's teachers.

The Spirit of Caring and Sharing (Sorry for the long post)

Good evening Parents!  We hope you have enjoyed the MLK holiday.  School resumes tomorrow with our three-year-old class, and we will see the smiling faces of our four-year-olds on Wednesday.

As most of you know our school participates in the Campbell's Labels for Education program.  We have appreciated all the Campbell's labels that have been brought to school so far this year!  Thank you to all the families who continue to send these in for us. The points add up quickly and help us to purchase supplies for our classroom. Campbell's also encourages teaching children about caring and sharing through a program called "Campbell's Labels for America".  They will award our school up to 2000 bonus points for participating in community service projects that teach our children how to care for and share with others. We have decided to participate in this program by helping out our local chapter of the Ronald McDonald House (RMH) Charity.  Please check your child's backpack for information on our project this week.

There will be two opportunities for the children to help with this project.  The first is by collecting and bringing in pop tabs from aluminum soda or beverage containers.  The RMH recycles these tabs and it has been a very successful fundraiser for them.  In some chapters of the charity they have collected as much as $30,000 in a year from donations of pop tabs!

The second opportunity will be a canned/non perishable food drive and item drive.  The Oregon/Southwest Washington chapter of RMH has a wish list of items that they can use in their homes.  Children may bring items from this list, which will come home in backpacks this week, and Mrs. Butler will deliver everything that we collect directly to the RMH.

While we will encourage the children to participate in one or both of these opportunities, it is not required, so please do not feel obligated to do so.  We are hoping that by collecting these things for the Ronald McDonald House, we can teach our children that everyone can make a difference and help out  their community.

Lastly, some of you may have noticed that Mrs. Butler has been using a wheel chair / walker at school.  She had extensive knee surgery over the Christmas break and will take several months to heal.  The children have been wonderful and careful of her, and she is very grateful for their kindness and patience!

Homework :)

4-Year-Old Class News:

Last week we began sending home "homework".  We are working on our numbers. During class the children are learning to recognize, count, sequence, and write numbers 1 through 20.  Each day we will be sending home a practice sheet in the student's backpacks.  We want to emphasize that while homework is encouraged and rewarded, it is not required.  At this age the most important thing is for the children to enjoy school.  If homework becomes a struggle or a dreaded event please do not force it. 

Along with number study, this month we are also learning about weather, birds, and the five senses.  We hope that your child is sharing what he or she is learning with you! As always, if you have any questions or concerns both teachers are available before or after class. Both of us are willing to share our home phone numbers, and Mrs. Butler is also available via email.  If you would like this information please ask us during pick up or drop off time.  

3-Year-Old Class News:

We have begun our study of numbers.  We do not, however, send home number practice sheets for our three year old's. In class we are learning to count and recognize numbers 1 through 10, but learning to write these numbers will come next year.  We do send home Scholastic Readers each week called "Let's Find Out".  If your child completes the activities in these readers, and brings them back to school, they will be able to pick out a sticker.  This is not a required activity, but the kids often enjoy the sticker reward!