Thursday, October 28, 2010

Harvest Parties

I hope everyone as a great weekend and enjoys their Halloween. We had some really great Harvest Parties this week!




On Tuesday we decorated cookies and made a fun pumpkin plate craft. We also had some fun dancing to some fun music.







On Wednesday we made some very cute scarecrow crafts and played some games, pin the nose on the pumpkin and bean bag toss.






On Thursday we made a spider web craft, painted pumpkins, decorated cookies, and played a pumpkin bean bag toss game.





This week some of us also got to do the Clifford Magazine about pumpkins.

Chapel Offerings
We are very excited that we met and exceeded our goal for chapel offerings for the month. We were also able to bring in extra money for the Eisold family who will be missionaries in Peru. Next month our chapel offerings will go to buy Turkeys for the Thanksgiving meals for students at the St. Louis Seminary.

Scholastic Book Orders
New book orders for November are going home today. It is hard to believe it is already November. Orders will be due Sunday, November 7th. See Link on the side to order.

Muffin
Muffins for Moms
Wednesday, November 10th Zion PTL is hosting Muffins for Moms. A chance for Moms to come to school earlier with their children and enjoy breakfast together. Breakfast will begin at 7:00 AM, join us anytime from 7-7:45 in the school gym. Class will begin as normal and then we will go to chapel with the rest of the school at 8:10. Moms are welcome to join us for chapel.

Stuffed Animals (Birds) If you have any bird stuffed animals it would be great to have them in the classroom. We would like to have our own bird sanctuary in our dramatic play center.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

A short week, but we still stayed busy. We had fun walking around campus and finding places to put our bird feeders. Hopefully in a few weeks we can walk around and see if the birds have enjoyed our treats.

We have started to notice that the birds are eating from the feeder that is hanging in our tree, but we haven't seen them come any closer.

In one of our books that we read the kids were curious about the peacock. We searched in on Google to find a picture of a peacock with its feathers down. The kids were interested in how different the peacock looks.
We practiced writing our names using the SMARTboard. We also made some leaf rubbings.

Kindergarten Buddies
Kindergarten will be our buddies this year. Throughout the year we will get together with them several times with them to build relationships with each other. On Wednesday, the kindergartners came down to our classroom to sing with us. We sang a couple of songs that we both knew and they helped us learn a new song "Daniel and the Lions Den" which went along with our Bible story.
Check out the video of us singing together:



Harvest Party Next week Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we will have our Harvest Parties. Each day we will have a different party lead by a different room parent. The parties will take place from 9:30-10:30 each day. Parents are welcome to come help and enjoy the parties along with your child.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

It's for the Birds

This week we made special treats for the birds. We used the following recipe

1 package Knox unflavored gelatin

1/4 cup water

1 cup Bird seed


First we had to carefully pour the gelatin into our bowl. Then Mrs. Helmkamp added the hot water. We stirred carefully so the water didn't spill and the gelatin dissolved.


Then we added 1 cup of birdseed and mixed it up so that it all looked wet.

After picking out the shapes that we wanted to make. We filled 2 molds with our birdseed mix, one for at home and one for at school.

Once dried they can be hung up for the birds to enjoy!


Next week we will walk around campus to distribute the ones we made for school. Please make sure that you do not store them with the bag closed, it may not be completely dry yet. We don't want them to mold.



Fall Fun
Festival

Don't forget the Fall Fun Festival is this Saturday in the Sonshine Center from 9:00 -10:30 AM. Wear your costume and have fun playing some games in the classrooms as well as a fun parade to collect candy.

Outerwear

As we start wearing jackets and get ready for hats and gloves season to approach, please help us out at school by labeling your child's things with their initials. That way when a glove falls on the floor or coat falls on the floor we know who it belongs to.

Parent Teacher Conferences

You will receive a letter in your child's folder about your scheduled conference time. If this time does not work for you please let me know as soon as possible so that we can work out another time. I will post my schedule outside first door in the hall so that you can make adjustments if needed. You can also send me an email.

Remember there is no school on Thursday or Friday next week to allow teachers time to complete conferences. We will take time during the conference to discuss the Dial-3 screenings, your child's day, and questions or concerns. Please keep all the teachers and parents in your prayers as we approach conferences.

Jesus Time

This week in Jesus time we learned the story of Naaman. Naaman was a soldier who had leprosy, he did not believe in God. A little girl who worked in his house told him about God and told him to go to Elisha. Elisha told Naaman about God and that he should wash in the river 7 times. Namaan did what Elisha said and he was healed. God healed him and made him better.

God does amazing things for us. We learned a new song that we are singing in chapel this month called, "My God is so Great." There is nothing that God can't do!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Parent Teacher Conferences

Sorry for not posting this in the last few weeks.

There is NO school Thursday, Oct 21 and Friday, Oct 22 for Parent Teacher Conferences.

PDO and K through 8th grade will have early dismissal on Thursday. Since there are so many preschoolers we have all of Thursday to try to fit in as many of our conferences as possible.

Blessings,

Mrs. Helmkamp

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Busy Week

It has been a very busy week in preschool trying to get all of the Dial Screenings done. The students have really enjoyed doing the screening and getting to spend some extra time with the teachers and Mrs. Kuhlmann. Even though it is a very long process to every child screened it has been very rewarding and I think that you will find it helpful. Please keep all the teachers in your prayers as we score the screenings and prepare for Parent Teacher Conferences.

This week we enjoyed something new to explore in our sand table. The sand is gone and we have replaced it with a lot of bird seed. We are even working on being helpers by cleaning up our own messes we make in the bird seed.

We were also excited to get some new bird feeders out in out on our playground. One out on a pole and a suet feeder out on our fence.

In Jesus time this week we learned a story two good friends in the Bible, David and Jonathan. We also talked about to be a good friend to others and how Jesus in our friend.

Chapel on Thursday was very exciting. Pastor Rouland brought Elmo with him to share the story about the 10 lepers. Poor Elmo was confused and thought it was the story of the 10 leopards. But the kids and Pastor helped him realize that the word is lepers. They also learned that after Jesus healed the lepers only 1 came back to say thank you. Elmo shared with us things that he likes to say thank you for.

Scholastic Order
I will submit the orders on Saturday. If you haven't had a chance to order for October you still have one more chance. If you need the order information please check an older post.

Fundraiser Pick up
Don't forget that fundraiser pick up is Wednesday after school. You will be able to pick up orders in the school gym.

Fall Fun Festival
The early childhood fall fun festival will be on October 16th from 9:00-10:30 in the Sonshine Center. Kids are welcome to wear their costumes and have some fun with some great fall activities. At the end students will parade through the building to get candy.

Parent Teacher Conferences
Conferences will take place Thursday, morning, afternoon and evening and Friday morning. If there is a time that works better for you. Please email me by Tuesday, Oct 12. Teachers will schedule conferences and let you know by the end of the week what your time is.

Next week
I hope to finish our birds (we didn't get much done with screening this week) and to make our own bird feeders. I finally found a recipe that doesn't require peanut butter!

Please keep bringing in bird books. A few people founds some great ones at the library. The kids love seeing the pictures of the birds.