Friday's Theater

It was so amazing to watch the following group play develop. Not very often the the whole class decide to play together. Watching each child figure out their role in the action. See for yourself.

Today during the last 20 minutes of centertime, many of the preschoolers set up chairs and decided that they were going to the movies.

Soon they realized that they need movie snacks and Kenzie was quick to proved the food and drink services that were needed.

Gracyn, Jack, and Elaina decided that movie was Alice in Wonderland. They each picked their roll and began acting out their own seens. Soon they also included costumes as part of their show.

I hated to have them stop playing because they were having such a great time and working together so well, but we had to get ready for lunch. I can't wait to see if a similar situation develops again soon.

She's a Grand Ol' Flag

Hard to believe that we are at the end of January and this was our first full week of school since Christmas break. I am ready for the snow to melt so that we can spend some time outside and kill all those germs we keep spreading around. We have had a lot of sicknesses lately. Please be sure to keep your child home for 24 hours from the last time they had a temperature to be sure that they don't share their germs with anyone else. If your child has a cough have them cough into their elbow instead of into their hands.

This week we painted American flags to decorate our classroom for the official voting next week. We took a walk on Wednesday to find the flag in front of school, but when we got there it wasn't hanging up. Mr. Debrick and Mrs. Adams informed us that the flag is hung up by the 5th graders and that we could ask their teacher in the lunch room about it. When we asked her, she said she would make sure they didn't forget the rest of the week. So on Friday we took the trip again! We enjoyed seeing how the flag goes up and down the pole and getting a chance to try it out.

We also did a lot of painting for a Valentine project. Please check out Artsonia this coming week for our new artwork. Don't forget that you can order your child's artwork on keepsakes, this artwork would make great Valentine's Day cards for Grandparents.

Open House
Zion will be having an open house on February 13th. The open house is a great oppertunity for Zion to show new families what we have to offer. If you know of someone who is looking for a new school please make sure to invite with the fliers sent home last week.

Valentines Parties will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 8, Wednesday, Feb. 9, and Thursday, Feb. 10 from 9:30-10:30 AM. If you would like to come in and help us during the party, we would love to have some parent volunteers. Valentines cards will be passed out after the party.

New Students

We are very excited to announce that we have 4 new students in our class. Charlotte has joined our class on Mondays. Shane has joined our class on Tuesday and Thursday. Aiden has joined the class on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Alexia will join our class on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Please be sure to welcome these new students and their families. This brings our total enrollment to 30 students.

Lutheran Schools Week

We are very excited that Jennie Williamson of Arison Records will be joining us for a concert on Grandparents day during Lutheran Schools week. (More information to come). Arison Records performs some of our favorite songs such as Noah, Daniel in the Lion's Den, and the Pearly White Gates. Check out their webstie at: www.arisonrecords.com

Preschool Primaries

This week we got to do an icy Clifford Magazine. We learned that water freezes into ice. We also practiced writing the letter "I"

Below you can see our campaign speeches that we made to our classmates.



We also started our Primary Election to narrow down our choices for our final vote.


Each student got 2 pieces of paper to write their name on. Then they got to tape their paper on the wall under the picture of their choice.

Next week we will prepare for the official election by making voting booths, election signs, and American flags.

If anyone has some Patriotic decorations that they would be willing to lend us for 2 weeks we would really appreciate the decorations.

This week in Jesus time we talked about Jesus calling the disciples. We learned that a disciple is someone who follows Jesus. Jesus calls us to follow him too!

Note about Valentines: I know Valentines day seems to be pretty far off, but I wanted to remind you that we will have parties for Valentines day and the children will get to pass out Valentines to their classmates. Signing Valentines cards is a great time for preschoolers to practice writing their name. If you have them sit down and do 2 or 3 a night they will be able to get them all done in a couple of weeks without it being a difficult task. Please just fill in To: "My Friend" or leave the "To" blank. It is much easier for the kids to pass out their Valentines if we don't have to read who each Valentine goes to. Starting in February we will have a total of 29 students in Full Day Preschool.

'John 3:16 displayed as God's love letter - Valentine' © Adrian van Leen used with permission Creative Commons License

Preschool Elections

Preschool Elections are here! Soon we will be starting a new project and the preschoolers get to decide what our next project will be. Check out the pictures below to find out how we will pick a new project.

This week we also had fun making:
Marshmallow Sculptures

Simple and Tasty Building materials

Creative Structures, Great Engineering, and Intricate Designs

Scholastic Book Orders
January 14 is the last day to place orders.

Donuts for Dads
Wednesday morning starting at 7 AM Dads can join their children in the gym for a fun breakfast before school. Dads are welcome to join us for chapel at 8:10 with the K-8 graders.

Happy New Year

It has been exciting to get back to school and get back to a normal routine. We had a lot of fun in our classroom this week playing with some new toys. We now have a set of Lego's in our room that we have really enjoyed putting together.

We now have also had fun playing with the new doll house.

Mrs. Helmkamp has been most excited about bringing in some toys that she used to play with as a kid. When I was home over Christmas I was able to find my old "Lite Brite" as well as my sister and my husband's. The kids have really enjoyed seeing the colored pegs glow. It is also a great fine motor activity since they have to use a pencil grip to push the pegs into the board.

This week we have had some fun with some snowy projects.

We looked at pictures of snowflakes and found out that they are symmetrical.

We can't wait for the next time it snows to see real snowflakes up close. In the mean time we made our own practicing symmetry.

We also worked on some math skills (sorting size and color and patterns) on the SMARTboard.

We read the story Snowmen at Night and made our own snowmen using balloons to paint the body and adding our own details. Then we wrote stories about our snowman.

Scholastic

New Book orders went out this week. They will be due on January 14th. To order go to: Scholastic our classroom code is: GPGJT
Milk Money Project
Thank you to everyone who helped us raise money for the children in Indonesia. We earned over $1300 dollars!

Donuts for Dads
January 20th starting at 7 AM Dads are welcome to join their children for breakfast in the gym. We will start class at 8 AM then we will be joining K-8 for chapel at 8:10. Please join us for this special chapel service.