Daily Scripture

In the same way, let your light shine in front of others. Then they will see the good things you do. And they will praise your Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 5:16

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

M.O.M.

The response to the M.O.M. group was fantastic! We have decided to form two groups for right now. One group will be mothers of Nursery and Toddler children, and the other group will be Preschool and Pre-K.

Mothers of Preschool and Pre-K will meet Tuesday, September 15 at 9:15 AM in our break room. Coffee and juice will be served. Plan on staying about 45 minutes.

Mothers of Nursery and Toddlers will meet Tuesday, September 22 at 9:15 AM in our break room. Coffee, juice, and 45 minutes also!

If you are a mom of both, just pick which one you would like to attend. If you are unable to attend, notes of the meeting will be available later in the week.

Upcoming Dates

Tomorrow is our chapel day with our lesson "God Blesses Me with the Bible". Here are some other dates of note:

Tuesday 9/15 - Wear Red Day!

Tuesday 9/22 - Bring Your Favorite Fruit Day - parents (Toddler through Pre-K), please pack some kind of fruit for the class to enjoy. Make sure it is bite-size! This will go along with our new theme "Healthy Food, Healthy Bodies".

Tuesday 9/29 - no school (half-day Wms. Co.)

Thursday 10/29 - Fall Class Parties

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease

We wanted to let parents know that there have now been two cases of hand, foot, and mouth disease in the Nursery. This is a common virus occurring in summer and fall. It causes sores in the mouth, on hands, feet, and sometimes legs and buttocks. It is spread through coughing and sneezing. The incubation period is 3-6 days and there is also fever involved.

You can click on the title of this post to check out more information about the virus (it will take you directly to the site). Remember to keep your child home from MDO until he/she is fever-free for 24 hours.

Thanks!

Saturday, September 5, 2009

New Addition to Pre-K

We are pleased to announce that Kelly Coyle will be joining our staff permanently beginning this coming Tuesday. Kelly will be teaching Pre-K 1 with Kellie Johnson, so yes, it will be Ms. Kellie and Ms. Kelly! Joyce Bell will now be teaching with Amy Smith in Pre-K 2. Kelly is also teaching at MOPS on Wednesdays and helps with children's ministry at FCC. We are so happy to have her become a part of FCC MDO!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Chapel

Thursday we will have our first Chapel time. This year we decided to divide Chapel into three groups. Pre-K and Preschool classes will meet first followed by Toddler 1 & 2 and then Nursery will have their own little Chapel Time.

Thursday's Lesson: God Blesses Us With His Creation

LABEL, LABEL, LABEL!

Dear Parents,

Thank you for a great start to our new year! The vast majority of the children seemed to adapt fairly quickly. You should see how Toddler 1 managed to line up and hold onto their shape ropes to take a trip outside today!

A few reminders though for Thursday! Please help our teachers by labeling everything in your tote bag. We will provide nametags for the bags soon, but the items inside need to be labeled: sippy cups, bottles, extra clothing (PLEASE don't forget to pack extra clothing!), nap mats, lunch boxes, etc.

As the teachers are trying to learn names, faces and little personalities, help them out by eliminating the guesswork on "whose cup is this one?"

Also, with 84 children, we cannot cook, heat or prepare lunches. Try simple finger foods such as apples, strawberries, carrots, sandwich meat, crackers, etc. that the little guys can eat themselves. Obviously, the older children can handle food that need to be eaten with spoons or forks.

Thank you for your cooperation in this. We look forward to seeing you on Thursday!

Curriculum

Copies of our curriculum will be on the foyer desk on Thursday. It was an item that I neglected to put in your Parent Handbooks.

The main thematic curriculum that we use comes from www.PreschoolCorner.com. They have about eleven different thematic units that you can choose from along with basics such as letters, numbers, colors, shapes, etc. This year we decided to divide the themes by months so that we only spend approximately a month on one unit. It is at the teachers' discretion how quickly they want to cover the academic subjects.

Each unit is divided into three groups: Toddler, Preschool and Advanced Preschool. We provide the teachers with all the materials which allows them to choose what best fits their class.

In addition we use educational and Christian based internet sites to supplement materials as well as The Parent/Teacher Store, www.Amazon.com and, of course, Scholastic.

This year I am creating two holiday curriculums: Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thanksgiving will explore If You Were at the First Thanksgiving which is a Scholastic book that I recently discovered. I am still debating on the Christmas unit!

The curriculum calendar will list both lessons for the day as well as any Chapel lessons on Thursday. It also includes the dates for the special activities planned.

So don't forget to pick up your copy on Thursday!