SHOW AND TELL
Bring a red, white, and blue thing.
Topic: Colonial Times
How did the patriots win independence?
The value is courage, which to be willing to deal with difficult, painful, or dangerous things.
For safety, we’ll practice helping ourselves staying safe in lots of different situations.
Outside we’ll play hoops and horseshoes.
The songs we’ll be singing are Star Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful, Yankee Doodle, You’re a Grand Old Flag, and Polly Wooly Doodle.
Our art activities are quilting, silhouettes, apple faces, weaving, cross-stitch samplers, and wind sock.
Creative dramatics will be practicing safety scenarios.
For body development, we’ll work on stamina with dance freeze and jello. For motor development we’ll do motor planning exercises with swimming, follow the leader, obstacle course, and hopscotch.
THINKING EXCELLENT
This piece came from a junior high principal who thinks “excellent”. When we’re up to our necks in alligators, it’s hard to remember that there is more to life than getting dinner, paying the car note, and getting Mr. Smith’s report to him. There has to be an ultimate and worthy goal. For educating our children, these are the goals proposed by Bill Martin:
“Our children will be able to tell us what they think, precisely and clearly, in a variety of ways, with written and spoken languages, visual and musical devices, gesture, and stance. Their arguments must be informed, measured, and sensitive to others, and when appropriate, logically persuasive. The students must be aware of tensions between appearance and reality and be able to sort out the relevant from the irrelevant. They must find the personal authority to stand up respectfully for what they think, and to handle gracefully reasonable challenges to their views. They must be able to listen well to what others tell them.
They must have some sense of how the world works and be interested, ready to question or pose problems and know how to make sense of it. They should be versed in the language of relationships – the sciences of mathematics, science, and technology – which allows the shape of these relationships to be used.
The students must display some awareness of history – our communal memories – to figure out why we are, how we represent ourselves, the meanings and values of these representations – written, designed, somehow shaped – which define us. The students display awareness of some of the values that shape their culture and others, and how these have played out in practical affairs of the past.
Students will recognize the need to act when action is called for. They will step forward in response, committing themselves persistently and patiently as the situation may require. Students will evolve their own view of a matter, searching for both new and old patterns that serve current and future purposes. Students will display a sense of wonder and proportion in worthy things and respond to those delights.”
These may seem lofty for preschoolers. But sometimes we suffer from under-expectation. Our little ones have a sense of wonder about worthy things, and they respond with delight. They commit themselves persistently and patiently. Let us respond in kind to teach and to expect these very excellent things from those who will someday control our world.
On the Calendar
Independence Day Holiday – The school will just be closed on Wednesday, July 4, for the holiday that honors our patriot fathers for pledging their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to fight for their principles of liberty.
Front Gate – Our front gate broke and the replacement part is not an exact fit so until our handy man can address the issue we’ll have to manually push down the latch to lock the gate.
Parents Meeting – Topics discussed: Better communication needed from teacher to teacher and classroom to classroom. We also talked about potty training and the toddler classroom environment. We have a parents meeting each month on the third Thursday. Due to a scheduling conflict we’ll have July’s meeting on Thursday July 26. If you can’t make it to the parents meeting considers on putting a suggestion in the silver box in the foyer or you can email mmgs737@aol.com.
Safety tips - The children have a program on safety at least once a month in the enrichment curriculum. It may be fire safety, safe practices around water, abuse prevention, or bicycle safety. These are some things that we have been working on. Please reinforce these lessons in your home on a very regular basis:
- Frequently reassure your child that you would never abandon him and that you would never stop looking for him until you found him.
- Make sure you child knows her full name, address including city and state, and telephone number including area code. Teach her to use a phone. When reciting this information, teach her to speak clearly and loudly, even to strangers.
- Teach your child how to get help. Spot people in public places that he might ask for help. These might be sales clerks, women with children, grandmothers, or security guards.
- Teach her to scream in a loud voice using words, not just shrieking; words like “This is not my daddy” or “Help!”
- Review where to go if you become separated in a public place. Do not tell a young child to go to the car. He can ask a sales clerk for help.
- Explain that if anyone ever threatens or frightens her, she should tell you. And then believe her.
- Explain that no one has the right to touch him or to tell him to keep secrets from his parents.
Recent Comments