Newark Cooperative Preschool  

NEWARK COOPERATIVE PRESCHOOL NEWSLETTER

UPCOMING EVENTS

15^th Fire Lady visits the 3’s Classes (Serena Nauman).

15^th Dinner Meeting 6pm, Bennigans (Adults only).

16^th 4’s Trip to Aetna Fire Station (Serena Nauman).

23^rd Flag Day Parade in our play area, 11am.

24^th 3’s End of School Year Picnic.

25^th 4’s End of School Year Picnic.

29^th-31^st Parent Teacher Conferences

I want to express my thanks to Joe Cutter for the enthusiasm, sense of humor, creativity, professionalism and friendship he has shared with me over the past four years. Joe has had a gentle, caring way of dealing with the three year olds. As the 4’s teacher, I can tell you Joe’s students are strong in their number skills and are able to identify their names, they are well prepared for the more structured atmosphere of the 4’s class. What a wonderful opportunity for 3 year olds to have the experience of being in a classroom with a male teacher.

Joe, I will miss you. The ladies from the re-evaluation committee said "Newark Cooperative Preschool has a superb program," you have helped to create this program in this location. I am grateful for your presence here these four years. Best wishes to you in your new position. Your new students in your new position. Your new students are in for a real educational treat.

Happy Spring!! I cannot believe the school year is almost over. Our children have had fun learning and growing with Mrs. Glines and Mr. Cutter in the classroom, our fundraisers were successful, tuition was received in a timely manner, and the classroom was clean. Thank you to all Newark Cooperative Preschool families for making this year at the preschool a great one! Sadly, the preschool will say goodbye to Mr. Cutter at the end of the year. He will be missed in the 3’s program! We wish him well in his new teaching position at NCCL. If you know any preschool teacher’s looking for employment, send them our way. There are still openings in both the 3’s and 4’s classes for the fall, so tell your friends and neighbors what a great preschool we have here at NCP. On May 15^th we will hold our last meeting of the year at Bennigan’s (6pm). It is an evening to enjoy the company of other preschool adults and to celebrate the end of another successful year at the NCP. I hope to see many of you there.

In May the 4’s will complete a unit on pedestrian safety and community helpers. This will include crossing the street safely which is with an older person for 4 year olds. We will continue counting, doing rhyming words, opposites and number recognition. Joe and I have enjoyed our fourth school year here at NewArk UCC. We have seen lots of growth and maturing in the children. Over the summer continue to encourage your child to complete tasks on his or her own. Read, read, and read some more to your children. I will miss my wonderful 4’s. It is always difficult for me to say farewell. The best advice I can give each of you is to stay involved in your child’s school. Have a wonderful summer! Thank you for being part of the NCP family. I am looking forward to working with our 3’s who are "moving up" and our new 4’s in September.

Welcome to the last month of school! How did it arrive so quickly?! It’s hard to believe these are the same little kids I first met in September. They’ve grown in so many ways and have taught me so much. Thank you for sharing them with me.

In May we will focus on community helpers: librarians, fire fighters, police officers, garbage collectors, etc. On Thursday, May 3, we will visit the Newark Free Library. We will have a visit from a fire fighter and former preschool parent, Serena Naumann, on Tuesday May 15^th (I hear we may see a big red truck, too!). We will make a trip to White Clay Creek State Park early in May to see animal communities first-hand. I will also be assessing the children informally during the month. I thank helping parents in advance for running activities while I work one-on-one with students. We’ll talk over your child’s progress at conferences during the last week of May.

Many thanks to the parents who drove to Pathmark: Mary Downs, Ingrid Ulbrich, Stacie Gerhart, Jolene Preston, Frank Zingale, and Marylee Dichiaro. Also, thanks to all the 3’s families for being flexible about our trip to Frawley Stadium. Many thanks to the Dichiaro family for arranging and hosting the Blue Rocks trip.

I would like to thank ALL the Newark Cooperative Preschool families, who have made my time with the preschool memorable and fulfilling. As you probably know, I will be teaching first- and second-graders at Newark Center for Creative Learning starting in the fall. I appreciate all of the support I have received during my four years at the preschool. A special thanks to Shirley Glines, who makes NCP what it is: a great place for children and families and a wonderful place to be a teacher. (Yes, I’ll still light the oven on cooking days!)

The end of the school year picnics will be in our play area. Parents and siblings are invited to join the fun. Preschool will provide lunch for the preschool children and scheduled helping parents. All others need to bring a brown bag lunch, beverage and lawn chairs. School hours will be 9:30am – 11:30am and 12:30pm – 2:30pm. Helping parents need to report 15 minutes early. Summer birthdays will be celebrated at the picnic. We will have vanilla ice cream, sprinkles, cool-whip and strawberries to put on top. All of the 4’s with summer birthdays will hear the happy birthday song.

I have been reading aloud to my girls for the past 11+ years. I love books and hope to pass this love onto them. We do most of our reading at bedtime, it helps us to unwind and spend time together at the end of the day. Sometimes we read for information or to open a topic to discussion but for the most part it’s simply to be entertained by and enjoy a great story together

(I recently started writing this column for the Downes Elementary Newsletter and I thought I would share it with NCP families.)