Newark Cooperative Preschool  

NEWARK COOPERATIVE PRESCHOOL NEWSLETTER

NOVEMBER 2001

November

15^th 3’s Thanksgiving Feast

16^th 4’s Thanksgiving Feast

NO PARENT MEETING IN NOVEMBER(A Community Worship Service is being held in the building. The next parent meeting will be January 15^th.)

17^th Joe Corbi Pizza Pick-up Noon-1:00pm

19^th-21^st Parent Conferences (NO SCHOOL)

22^nd-23^rd THANKSGIVING (NO SCHOOL)

Parent conferences will be held November 19^th,20^th,and 21^st. The teachers will post sign up sheets on the classroom bulletin board. Please select a time which is convenient for you to spend 10-15 minutes discussing your child’s start for the 2001 school year. Several of you might want to schedule times close together in order to take turns watching the children in the outside play area.

NOVEMBER CURICULUM

Week of Nov. 1^st "Signs of Fall," Star of the week will begin for the 4’s

Week of Nov. 5^th "Native Americans"

Week of Nov. 12^th "Pilgrims travel to America" and "We Celebrate with a Feast!"

Week of Nov. 26^th Introduction to Holiday presentations

Thanks to all who ordered pizza. Remember to pick your order up on Saturday November 17^th, Noon-1:00pm. If you have questions call Stacie Gerhart at 738-4330.

At the October 16^th Parent Meeting the parents present decided to participate in the following activities:

1) November-December 50-50 Holiday Raffle

2) January Tupperware

3) February-March Human-I-Tees

Please keep your child home if:

• Your child has run a fever in the last 24 hours or has a rash
• Your child has had vomiting or diarrhea within 24 hours
• Your child’s nose is running constantly and cannot keep it wiped
• Your child isn’t feeling well and you suspect they could be coming down with something contagious.

An important part of being in the classroom includes confidentiality concerning specific situations in the classroom. If you have concerns regarding anything that occurs during your time in the classroom, please speak to the teacher rather than other parents.

Please be prepared to serve as the helping parent on your scheduled dates. It is your responsibility to be in the classroom 15 minutes early. Special thanks to those of you who are willing to step in and cover so the door can open on time.

Please reinforce the following school rules at home.

• Keep arms, legs, hands and sleeves in your own space.
• Use words, rather than actions to express desires.
• Listen to the teacher at story time; practice this by reading to your child each evening.
• Slide down the sliding boards do not climb on top of the outer parts of the climber.

If there is a spill when you are helping, please use paper towels to wipe it up (never use the sponges on the tables) and then spray with the bacti-chem and wipe again. If you do not spray the spot will become sticky.

A note to P.M. 4’s: The November Helping Parent Schedule attached reflects changes.

Parking Reminder: When exiting the parking area please do not exit via the church driveway to Main St. It makes it impossible for cars to enter. Exit via Kelway Plaza or the Antique store lot. Thank you

Reminder: All pizza orders must be picked up between noon and 1:00pm on Saturday November 17^th. We do not have refrigeration to store any in the building.

We are putting together a substitute teacher list. If you are willing to be called to sub in your child’s class or for an entire day please call either teacher. A sub receives $20.00 per session.

Patti Walters (Ashley 4AM) is still trying to collect health forms. Each child needs the following document on file:

• Health form
• Emergency Treatment
• Child release
• TB test results for the helping parent

Please get your TB tests done immediately.

Thanks to: Joyce Decino (Justin 4PM) for being our insurance coordinator; Kathy Cappiello(Aaron 4AM) for taking care of Scholastic Book orders; Stacie Gerhart (Amanda 4AM) for organizing the pizza fund-raiser; Mary Downs (Chris 4AM) for organizing the CPR instruction session. Great Job!!!!

Several families have asked me what can we do to avoid having to deal with the immunization issue again? They were here in 1998 when this question came up. Diane Roberts and I will work with Deserae Mace to do two things. First, we will revise the application form, which is the first mailing people receive from the preschool. The new form for the 2002-03 school year will include the question: "Does your child have up to date immunizations? This will alert the Board immediately of a situation which needs to be addressed. Second, I will suggest to the Board of Directors that the mailing schedule be altered. As it is now a Welcome Packet with all of the medical forms is mailed out in early June. The families receive a postcard size confirmation in mid March. I suggest the mid March mailing be a Welcome Letter which include the Health Form. This letter will state the child may not attend school until this form is on file. We will need to work out a return schedule for people who register over the summer. The June mailing can then be the rest of the required forms.

Each child receives important papers via the cubby, please be sure to check their backpack/book bag each day.

Thanks to all the parents who participated in our seed walk around the school. The 4’s are showing increased interest in printing their names. At school their name will always be written with a capital first letter and all remaining letters lower case. To keep learning consistent, I urge you to present your child’s name to him/her in the same way. For 3’s parents, it would be helpful for you to begin to teach your child this way. It is very difficult to teach them to "switch" if they have learned to print in all capital letters. Other activities you should be doing at home are:

• Sorting socks
• Setting the table
• Drying silverware
• Cutting anything: coupons or confetti (but let them cut)
• Read lots of stories and have them tell you what happened in the story
• Give them simple two and three step directions.

November is a great month. We will talk about our Fall weather. The Native Americans and the Pilgrims unit will end with a feast. For the 4’s classes this includes roast chicken (our turkey), cornbread, cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

For me, November has always been a time of reflection and thanks. This year, I am especially thankful for the opportunity to learn and play with your child. This is a great group of children and we are forming good friendships and a great foundation for a life of learning.

In November we will be talking about fall, pilgrims and Native Americans. On November 15^th we will have a feast of vegetable soup.

I will be scheduling conferences for November 20^th. I look forward to discussing your child’s growth in school. As always, feel free to call me anytime.

NEW STUDENTS

Please welcome the following new students and their parents to Newark Cooperative Preschool.

4 PM Meibin Chen Li and Haiqiang 369-3805

Renata Petraitis Aldona and Toland 368-5175

Please add these names and numbers to your call list.

SAVE YOUR PENNIES PROJECT

NCP will be collecting pennies (any change really) to donate to New Ark United Church Housing Ministry Project. Drop your coins in our special jar and help needy families in the Newark area.

NEWARK HALLOWEEN PARADE

The Annual Halloween Parade will be Sunday October 28^th at 3:00pm. Our group will gather in the George Reed Park (across from Newark High School) at 2:30pm. . Look for the preschool banner. This is a family event, children participating in the parade with our group must be accompanied by an adult. This is a fun event for our preschool families and a fun way for our program to be visible in the community. This is an entirely voluntary activity. If you have a wagon to lend so the children can ride, please let us know. Siblings are welcome to join us.

HALLOWEEN PARTIES

Our Halloween parties will be held October 30^th and 31^st. At Halloween especially, what is fun for one child is scary for another. Therefore, children do not wear or bring costumes to school for the parties. The children will create costumes as part of our party. Each family is asked to donate 3 items which can be used for "dress up." Hats, scarves, ties, silky fabric shirts, nightgowns, slips, vests, and belts are popular. PLEASE DO NOT SEND IN SHORTS, PANTS, SHOES, OR STORE BOUGHT COSTUMES OR MASKS. We will encourage non-scary creativity, which will include face or hand painting with washable markers. Feel free to come and take pictures of our "parade around the play area" prior to refreshments. Times will be posted on the bulletin board.

The Holiday Shoppe is an opportunity for your child to buy gifts for family and friends for Christmas or Hanukkah. This is a time for us to reinforce the idea of giving. The children love to present their specially selected gifts to their family. Here’s how it works. You and your child decide who they would like to shop for gifts for the holidays. This can include pets. Please limit your list to 8. Any more than that takes too long on shopping day. Then you go to a dollar store and purchase the appropriate number of gifts to donate. For example, if your child is buying for Mom, Dad and dog; your donated items should include a Mom item, a Dad item and a dog item. You can also make items such as play-doh, decorate a can and add pencils or candy canes, trays of cookies are popular gifts for a man. On the day of the Holiday Shoppe, your child will go shopping. Each gift costs 50 cents. Your child will wrap the gifts with paper that they have decorated in school. Yes, you do supply the gifts and do pay for the gifts. This is a mini-fundraiser which involves the children in a fun learning experience.

Please note the dates that the following items should be brought to school: Due: December 4^th – 3’s

1) The donated gifts December 5^th – 4’s

2) A brown paper grocery bag with your child’s name on it

3. The list of names and ages of the people (if this will help us understand who will be receiving the gifts)

Holiday Shoppe dates are: December 11^th – 3’s

December 12^th – 4’s

Class representatives are: 3 AM – Lisa Savina (Isabella)

4 AM – Meena Balgopal (Anand)

4 PM – Sally Toensing (Campbell)

We will also need three or four parents to help take the children shopping. The children love this activity. Three or four children at a time leave the classroom to shop in the big hall. If you have questions, call your class representative or the coordinator.

The annual Holiday Party will take place on Saturday December 15^th from 1:30-3:30 p.m. right here in New Ark United Church of Christ. The city of Newark granted permission to sponsor this one day event with more that 50 children in the building. Several weeks prior to the party the coordinator Heather Davulcu (Isabella 3AM) will post sign-up sheets for help setting up and cleaning up and refreshments. This is not a luncheon event therefore only light snacks will be required.

The children will have the opportunity to make crafts in the classroom area; enjoy refreshments in the social hall and visit with Santa. Heather will distribute information via cubbies. Please return the appropriate portion indicating the number of children attending so Santa will have plenty of treat bags for the children. We need someone to be our Santa Claus. The preschool will provide the outfit.

By Valerie Stenner (Becky 4AM)

Storytelling is an ancient art form rarely mastered in our modern world. I was lucky enough early in my parenting to discover two modern master storytellers who have provided my children and I with hours and hours of amusement and enlightenment (most of those hours being in the car): Jim Weiss and Odds Bodkin. These storytellers take literature, folklore, fairytales and fables which they love and weave magic with them using a myriad of voices and music to draw the listener into the story. With a Twinkle in Your Eye (recommended listening audience 5+) and The Winter Cherries: Holiday Tales From Around The World (5+) by Odds Bodkin and Good Night(3+) and Best Loved Stories in Song and Dance (5+) by Jim Weiss are a few of my favorite tapes.

"The Elf and the Springtime" from the With a Twinkle in Your Eye recording is the story of a tenant farmer in a kingdom long ago who is the hundredth farmer in a hundred years to be assigned to work the failing farm. In hopes of saving his family from starvation over the winter he makes a plea to the "elf of the farm" (an entity the farmer doesn’t really believe in) that if his family survives the winter then the elf should come calling in springtime. The story that unfolds is enchanting!!!

Good Night is a collection of six bedtime visualizations which has helped me get my children to sleep on many occasions. Jim Weiss’ voice is soothing and fluid, and his ability to see and present the world as children would experience it is amazing. In listening to these visualizations the listener is part of the story, they are called upon to hear and see things in their mind that aren’t present on the tape (i.e. hearing wind chimes, feeling a warm breeze). Charming!!