Grace Garden Preschool

Howdy y'all!

In honor of Texas' birthday, this week the Robins talked about all things Texas. We learned that we reside in the state of Texas and that Austin is the city in which we live.   We practiced saying Texas, Tejas, Austin, howdy, y'all, bluebonnet and flag.

Our fingerprint bluebonnets are beautiful and in the “abstract” style of painting.   We had fun using our fingers in paint.   We created our Texas flags using blue and red construction paper that had been cut into small squares, which helped them work on their fine motor skills. We glued the small squares onto a white sheet of paper then added the star.

Did you know your kids are wanted - for being cute?   Why there's a $1,000 reward for each of them!  Please take a moment to look at the “Wanted” posters Ms. Susana made. They are too cute and are hanging outside the door to our room.

In chapel, Pastor Amy echoed the Texas theme by talking about cowboys living on the range.  Sometimes they got lonely, she told us, but we are never alone because God is always with us. We finished by singing "Home on the Range.”

During music, we followed our usual repertoire and added a couple of songs about Texas.
Mrs. S had a 'campfire' for us to gather around while we sang.  

We continue learning our numbers one through 10 in English as well as en español.  Our new color of the month is green and we added a green square to our shape wall. The letter "T" was also revealed this week.  Next week, our unit of play centers on spring.

Have a happy and safe weekend.
Ms. Sasha and Ms. Susana

"This is the way we brush our teeth so early in the morning!"   This week we focused on dental health. We talked about brushing and flossing and visiting the dentist.  We also talked about how we use our teeth for eating and smiling.  The books we read were about healthy fruits and vegetables.

For art, we continued exploring what would happen if we mixed red and white paint.  Amazingly enough, it made pink every time we mixed it!   We also used a tooth brush to paint a yellow tooth white, and worked on tooth puppets.

 In chapel, Pastor Amy shared some ideas on how to keep special gifts safe.  She put photos in frames to keep them safe.  She wrapped breakable things in towels to keep them safe.  She said she kept her camera away from the pool to make sure it stayed safe.  And then she asked the children how they kept their gift from God, their bodies, safe and healthy?  By exercising, eating nutritious foods and by brushing our teeth were some of the answers shared.

Ms. S is always ready to bring the fun in music class.  We have learned quite a few songs this year, some with hand motions.  A list of these songs include:  "Good Morning to You", "If You're Happy and You Know It", "Old McDonald", "Where is Thumbkin?", "Itsy Bitsy Spider", and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".  After singing, we have a little dance party and shake our maracas.  Before we leave, we sing "Go Now in Peace".   Please let us know if you would like copies of any of these songs, or if you would like to see the hand motions involved.

We are up to the letter "S", and continue learning our numbers, shapes and colors.  Next week we will talk about Texas's Birthday and Cowboys!  Yee haw...

Have a wonderful weekend!
Ms. Sasha and Ms. Susana

Amor y amigos - this week we built on our Valentine's theme by talking about love and our friends.  On Valentine’s Day we made fun Valentine hats by coloring sentence strips and adding heart stickers.  This activity of coloring and working with stickers helps to hone fine motor skills needed for writing later in life. On Wednesday we read The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister, and then made our own rainbow fish using tissue paper squares and one silver foil square.  On Thursday we mixed red and pink paint.  The children exclaimed that the new color was pink!  Woo hoo!

In Chapel, Pastor Amy talked about love.  If we have love, we also have kindness and patience.  She talked about how she feels when she wears certain cloths, demonstrating her point by donning a silly hat and explaining that she feels silly while wearing that hat; slippers make her feel cozy, while a gardening hat makes her feel ready for the outdoors and adventure.  Then, she put on a pretend invisible shirt of love, demonstrating that we can always feel love.

We had so much fun in music, dancing and shaking our macara eggs to the Beatles tune “Love Me Do”.  We also have been working really hard at the hand motions for "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider".

On a more personal note, we would like to thank you for all our Valentine treats!  What a thoughtful bunch you are.  We feel very appreciated. 

We hope you enjoy your weekend!

Ms. Sasha and Ms. Susana.

Love is in the air!  With Valentine's Day upon us, our theme for the week has been love.  We enjoyed gluing multicolored tissue paper around heart outlines.  Our Valentine bags look amazing.  We started with heart stickers, and then glued red sequins onto our white paper bags. Just beautiful!  Valentine's Day art projects are always sweet and fun. Next week we will mix red and white paint.  We wonder what will happen...?

Pastor Amy's message was about love.  She told us the story of Paul and the Corinthians, reading the basic message about love…"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud." 1Corinthians 13:4

In an effort to work on name recognition, the Robins made new placemats for snack and lunch time. The kiddos colored a blank sheet of paper while Ms. Susana and I added their name and photo. We have also been looking at our written names, focusing on the first letter in each child's name.

Our color of the month is PINK. Our shape wall includes a heart, rectangle, circle, star, and an oval. We are up to the letter "R" and continue to count 1-10 in English and Spanish.

You will be amazed to know that the Robins have learned to clean up after themselves when snack and lunch are over.  This involves putting any uneaten food back in their lunch boxes or in the trash, and then taking their placemats to the sink.  They also put their water bottles back in the water bottle bucket and push their chairs under the table!  They love the independence of this new routine. 

We have been hearing many new words this week in the classroom.  It is so exciting to watch this light bulb moment happen.

Our Valentine exchange is next Tuesday, so don’t forget to have your child bring a Valentine for each friend in class. 

We will see you on Tuesday.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy hearts,
Ms. Sasha and Ms. Susana

Rooooooar!  Even our quietest Robins had fun roaring loudly like dinosaurs.   This week as we finished our dinosaur unit, the Robins continued practicing new words like "dinosaur", "T-Rex" and "extinct".  We talked about how big the dinosaurs were, what they ate and that they lived a long time ago.  We made Dino feet out of colorful foam board.  Each Robin picked the color they wanted their feet to be. We painted, worked with Play Doh and colored dinosaur puppets.  We also made footprint fossils.

In chapel we sang "This Little Light of Mine".  Then, Pastor Amy told us that we are each special and have something inside that will help us through each day - love. This gives us the ability to forgive and also apologize by saying "I'm sorry".  Pastor Amy also talked about what traits God gave each dinosaur to help it survive on Earth. She then taught the children that God gave us the abilities to talk and love, which help us happily survive on Earth.

We are learning all about the letter "Q" and pink is the color of the month, which will carry us nicely into our next unit on Valentines and Love.   We will continue working on our numbers 1through 10 in English and Spanish, and learning different shapes.  Their little brains are absorbing so much and they are quite proud to answer many questions!

Have a peaceful weekend,
Ms. Sasha and Ms. Susana

BOOM, ROAR, BOOOOOM!   There are dinosaurs in the Robin room!   This week the Robins are learning all about dinosaurs.  We learned that these prehistoric creatures were the biggest animals to ever roam the Earth.  We practiced saying T-Rex, Triceratops and Pteradon.  We walked and roared like dinosaurs and then counted the dinos in our room.  For art we painted dinosaur puppets.  We also made fossils by putting dinosaur footprints in Play Doh.

In chapel we learned that God made our amazing world in six days and rested on the seventh.   While telling the story of creation, Pastor Amy used beautiful oil paintings to signify light, water, and the living things God put on Earth. We also learned a song that thanked God for making dinosaurs!

In music, we sang "If You're Happy and You Know It" and shook our stuff while shaking shakers.  In class we've been singing "5 Little Monkeys", "A, B, C's" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".  The Robins love hearing themselves sing out loud. 

We have also been focusing on sharing with our friends.  The Robins are doing a great job as they work their way through the day learning this important concept. 

Thank you for sharing your little ones with us.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Ms. Sasha and Ms. Susana

Construction workers, police officers and doctors abound in the Robin class this week! 
As we finished our unit on Community Helpers, we enjoyed making a tool belt and pretending to be construction workers. Our favorite memory of this was watching the girls don yellow construction worker hats, grab baby dolls and blankets while  proceeding to parade around the room.  We also made police officer hats and badges, and explored a doctor's kit.

In chapel, Pastor Amy taught us about how God taught Moses the 10 laws on the summit of Mount Sinai, focusing on "Love your neighbor, as you love yourself". We took that idea to our classroom, and applied it to how we play together and share our toys. The Robins sang "The People in Our Neighborhood" in music class with Mrs. S, which you may remember hearing on Sesame Street when you were a child!

Our colors of the month are black and white, and we are zooming through the alphabet... we are now working on the letter "O".  We are also working on the first letter of our names.  Our shape wall is filling up!  We have been working really hard on hearts, rectangles, circles, stars and ovals.  We also continue counting from 1-10 in English and Spanish.  The Robins are so smart and really doing a great job with this!  Try counting at home with your child! 

We look forward to our unit on dinosaurs next week.  This is always a favorite with the kids. 

Have a wonderful weekend,
Ms. Sasha and Ms. Susana

Welcome Back!

We hope you all had a happy and safe holiday.  We missed your kiddos and have had a great week getting back in the swing of things.  Even though we had a long break, the Robins seemed to pick up right where we left off.  They remembered the daily routine and enjoyed seeing each other and playing together again.

This week we started our unit on Community Helpers.  We talked about firefighters, police officers, mail carriers and construction workers.  We practiced writing a letter so we could mail it to see what happens!  Have your child go to the mailbox with you.  We also worked on coloring tool belts with an assortment of tools to go in these belts.  We will continue our Community Helper Unit through next week.

We turned the letter “N” over on our alphabet wall and will be emphasizing objects that begin with "N."   And we added an oval to our shape wall to celebrate the kin of the circle.   The colors of the month are black and white.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Ms. Sasha and Ms. Susana

Looking for a stocking stuffer or last minute gift?  We suggest watercolor paints!  The Robins love to paint with watercolors.  So many things can be learned while painting.  It’s a wonderful way to hone fine motor skills. Holding a paint brush helps promote fine motor skills by enhancing eye-hand coordination, finger dexterity and muscle strength. Toddlers can exercise their hands by using a paintbrush.

Fine motor skills involve the small muscles of the body that enable such functions as writing, grasping small objects, and fastening clothing. They involve strength, fine motor control, and dexterity.

These skills are important in most school activities as well as in life in general. Weaknesses in fine motor skills can affect a child's ability to eat, write legibly, use a computer, turn pages in a book, and perform personal care tasks such as dressing and grooming.

Other tasks that help build fine motor skills include:

·      tying shoes
·      zipping and unzipping
·      playing games that require precise hand and finger control
·      drawing, painting, and coloring
·      manipulating buttons and snaps
·      putting small objects together
·      doing puzzles
·      making crafts
·      opening and closing objects
·      picking up and holding onto small objects
·      pinching objects between fingers
·      turning things over or turning pages of a book
·      screwing and unscrewing
·      doing ANYTHING that requires small precise hand and finger movements

We hope you have a fun and safe holiday!  We will see you next year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Ms. Sasha & Ms. Susana

This week we continued talking about different winter holidays and how Christmas is celebrated around the world.  We focused on our closest neighbor, Mexico, and practiced saying “Feliz Navidad." We talked about Mary and Joseph’s search for an inn or posada, and performed our own version of this journey by walking from class to class, searching for an open room at an inn.  It was great fun to watch the kids’ expressions during our search. 

We absolutely love art!  All week long we painted!   We painted Christmas trees, colored in snowmen, and made handprint reindeer with paint on our sweet hands.  We painted and glittered paper dreidels, too!  You will be able to take these home for keepsakes during the holidays. 

We have made it half way through the alphabet and are on the letter “M”.  We have completely mastered the numbers 1 -10 in English AND Spanish.  Our beautiful color for the month of December is red and the children get to see this color all throughout the hallways of the church! 

In chapel, we learned that each of us is a gift from God.  In music, we danced and sang Christmas songs like “12 Days of Christmas”, “Feliz Navidad”, and “Mele Kalikimaka” with Ms. S.  

Don’t forget to come by early next Wednesday at pick up to find your little one’s precious profile silhouette for purchase.  There will be frames available as well!  These make great gifts for the family. 

We hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Stay warm, 

Ms. Sasha & Ms. Susana

(P.S.)  Grace Garden's Breakfast with Santa this Saturday from 9-10:30 a.m. in the Great Hall. Please bring an unwrapped toy for your child to give to Santa, so that he may deliver that toy to a child in need. There will be photos, cookie decorating, and plenty of milk and coffee to enjoy.