Preschool Thanksgiving Feast

I hope that everyone is enjoying their Thanksgiving Break.

Before Thanksgiving we enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving feast together at school. Both classes of preschoolers came together to have snack. Each preschooler decided whether they were going to be a Pilgrim or Wampanoag. We made our own skillet popped popcorn and had a pumpkin cream cheese dip.

Here are some pictures from Tuesday and Wednesday:

Excitement of the Day

We got the chance to witness something very exciting this week during lunch.

The kids were really surprised to see this track hoe pull into our playground.

Quiver River came out to pull out the light pole that doesn't work.

Having this light removed will make planning the playground improvements much easier.

The whole process probably only took about twenty minutes.

Thankfully they were done in time for us to go outside to play, but it did take us a lot longer to eat lunch since many of us stod to watch the excitement

Preparation

This week we have been very busy getting ready for our Thanksgiving Feast. We all made a Pilgrim costume and a Wampanoag Indian costume. The students especially had fun making colored noodles and stringing them to make necklaces.

Making our costumes gave us lots of practice in fine motor as we cut out feathers and put the noodles on the string.

Next week for our "feast" we will join together with Mrs. Masa's classes on Tuesday and Wednesday to have a special snack. Everyone will get to decide whether they want to be an Indian or a Pilgrim.

Building Block Picture Book Award

Please see the previous post to find out what books we will be reading and your child's oppertunity to vote on their favorite book.

Thanksgiving Break

Don't forget that we will have early dismissal on Wednesday at noon. We will eat lunch at school but there will be no school lunch available.

Early Childhood Christmas Program

Preschool will be learning a few new songs when we get back from Thanksgiving that we will be doing as part of our Christmas service on December 12 at 4 PM. All preschoolers are asked to bring 3 dozen cookies for the reception after the service.

Milk Money Project

Every year students at Zion participate in service projects around Christmas time as a way to help the students remember that Christmastime is more than just presents. Last year the early childhood department sponsored an orphange/school in Indonesia. We were able to help the orphange provide milk and other protiens to the children. We will be looking at some pictures sent to us from the school to help the students see who we are collecting money for. When kids bring in their milk carton you can let them bring it into the classroom and dump it into our big milk jug.

2010 Building Block Picturebook Award

Zion Lutheran School, in conjunction with the St. Charles County Library, wants to recognize excellence in Children’s Literature and encourage reading out loud to children. Research shows that when you read out loud to your child when he/she is little, it is the single most important activity you can do with him/her to ensure future success in school.

Our PDO program and our Preschool classes will be listening to books over the course of the next 6 weeks that have been nominated for the Building Block Award because they are considered excellent read aloud books. Children will then be given the opportunity to vote for their favorite book. The ballots will be taken to the St. Charles County Library by Friday, December, 31, 2010. The 2010 Missouri Building Block Award will be presented to the author and illustrator voted most popular by children under the age of 7.

All voters will be entered into a prize drawing to win a hardback copy of a Building Block nominee. If you have time you might want to check out one of the books at your local public library. Happy Reading!

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and we are very THANKFUL for lots of things at school. We were challenged using scissors this week as we cut out things we were thankful for from magazines.


We also got creative making some fun turkeys that line the hallway using watercolor paint and regular paint.

In Jesus time we learned about the First Thanksgiving and talked about why we celebrate Thanksgiving and what we are thankful for. We learned a sign language song about being thankful. Check out the video yourself:



Milk Money Collection This week your child will be taking home a milk carton. As a service project for the Early Childhood department, we will be raising money to help support a school in Indonesia. The Weider's are members at Zion and are currently serving as missionaries in Indonesia. We will be collecting "Milk Money" for the next few weeks. I encourage you to support your child in collecting money by helping them to earn money by doing extra chores or jobs around the house.

Early Childhood Christmas Service I know it seems early to talk about Christmas but soon we will be preparing for our Christmas Service which will be on Sunday, December 12 at 4 PM. This service is an opportunity for your child to lead in worship and share blessing of Jesus' birth. After the service we will have a small reception in the church basement. All of the preschool families are asked to bring three dozen cookies to share.

Canned/Boxed Food Drive
Don't forget next week is the last week for the food drive. The Student Council will put the food together into meals on Wednesday. Our offerings we collected will allow us to get 33 turkeys to complete the Thanksgiving meals.

November has really blown in this week. This week we had a fire drill on Tuesday, we got to experience what the alarm at school sounds like so that we are ready next week when the firemen come to observe our fire drill. We didn't really like having to go outside quickly without our coats but we did a great job lining up and listening when we got outside! We are ready for the firemen!

We finished our Clifford Magazine for October where we learned fire safety. We also colored feather patterns. Mrs. Stewart (8th grade and science teacher) was kind enough to let us borrow a microscope so that we could see a bird feather up close. See our comments below:We also used oil pastels to color birds in the style of Benson Seto with many colors and lots of lines of different sizes and designs. Soon to be updated on Artsonia

Chapel Offerings This month we will be having a food drive so that our Student Council can put together boxes of Thanksgiving meals for students at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. The men at the seminary are preparing to be pastors in the Lutheran church. Many of them are from out of town and are unable to spend Thanksgiving with their families. Our offerings this month will go to buy turkeys for the meals.

Muffins for Moms (repeat) Don't forget that next week is Muffins for Moms, sponsored by the PTL. You can get breakfast in the school gym with your child from 7 AM-7:55 AM. We will then start school like normal but we will go to chapel with the rest of the school at 8:10 AM. Moms are welcome to join us for chapel.

Scholastic Orders You have until Monday to submit a book order for November. The books should arrive in time for Thanksgiving. To order visit: www.scholastic.com/parentordering If you have not ordered yet you will need to register with this code: GPGJT

Thanks Giving Food Drive

Each year during the month of November, the students and families of Zion Lutheran School have a wonderful opportunity to give to others. Down in the Sonshine Center, we will be hosting a canned food drive. All of the food donated will be given to the adult students who attend Concordia Seminary. Concordia Seminary is where men go to train and study to become Lutheran pastors. Some of these men and their families are unable to travel home for the holidays and stay on campus; the food donated from our school will be given to them so that they may enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving meal. The food that is not used to fill out those meals for the families will be donated to the Seminary food bank.
In the lobby of the Sonshine Center will be two wagons. You may drop off any canned food items in those wagons during Nov. 8th-18th. On the 18th, our Student Council Junior High students will collect all of the canned food and travel over to the Seminary to drop it off.
During the month of November, our chapel offerings will go to purchasing turkeys for the Seminarians Thanksgiving meal.

Thank you for your support!