What’s New at Grace Preschool?

Let us show you! We will try to update you with the latest happenings that are going on here with new projects, additions etc.

We hope you enjoy it!

It is hard to believe that we are already more than half way through our 2011-2012 school year here at Grace Preschool.   We were blessed with an amazing 2011 year.   Our school enjoyed full enrollment allowing us to build a wonderful community of support for parents, staff, and our church.

December came and went like a breeze with all the flurry of excitement of Christmas and the holiday season.  Children actively participated in all the fun activities and learning experiences inside the classroom and outside too.  During the two week holiday break, the preschool was still abuzz with activity.  LGUMC Members and preschool parents were hard at work installing our new Garden Arbor.

It was a big hit!

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Previous Postings:  

Grace Preschool is off to a great start to our 8^th School Year  

and already beginning a wait-list for Next Fall.

What a great first two months of school we’ve had getting to know the children and our new pastor!  They are all AMAZING!!

For our youngest students, the initial tearful good-byes at drop off are now gradually turning into smiles and flying kisses; while our returning students are meeting new friends and teachers and enjoying their new role as school leaders.   Everyone is getting more and more comfortable with our campus, their routines, our pastor, and friends and teachers in the classroom.

Our curriculum began with a focus on friends and family and our science unit on Ocean Life.  During the month of October we learn about the colorful season of Fall which will include fall leaves, gourds, seeds and pods.  We will also learn about nocturnal animals (bats &owls) and spiders too.  Our highlights of October also include a trip to Uesugi Pumpkin Patch and our annual Halloween Costume Parade.

We all enjoy our weekly Chapel Time with our Youth Pastor Alex on Thursdays at 9.30 AM and our Pastor Jennifer on Mondays at 11:30 AM.  The children listen to short stories from the Bible and like singing a wide variety of songs.  Chapel time is a favorite among the children!

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We have had a busy exciting spring time here at Grace Preschool!  The children have gotten to learn a lot about life cycles, animals and plants.

Here is an excerpt from Room 1′s May Newsletter -

“During the month of May, the children learned about various insects – butterflies ants, bees and lady bugs. Insects have three main body parts – head, thorax and abdomen. Insects have six legs. They also learned about frogs (amphibians) and snakes and lizards (reptiles). Observing the life cycle of the butterfly (metamorphosis) was indeed a wonderfully rich learning experience. They were able to observe the different stages of growth – from tiny caterpillars measuring about 1 cm in length and then growing bigger and bigger and then they formed chrysalides and stayed in this dormant stage for about 10 days after which they emerged as beautiful butterflies. It was such a thrilling sight for the children – they were all jumping with excitement. The butterflies were happy to be released and the children watched with mixed feelings as the butterflies fluttered away into their natural habitat. There were also the silk worms and the tadpoles that captured their interest. They observed closely as the silk worms grew and grew and formed their cocoons…”

The PreK class took it a step further and enjoyed looking in the microscope at various bugs they found on the play yard, art projects etc. Here is an excerpt from their May Newsletter-

“Our science unit for May was insects/amphibians/reptiles/spiders. It sure was a
month bursting with life for our classrooms as our painted lady caterpillars
went into their chrysalises and then, 14 days later, emerged as butterflies
which we let out into our garden. Our silk worm moths have now spun cocoons and our tadpoles are becoming froglets with their small legs… ”

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The worms have all moved to a happy new home – helping our garden grow. We now are studying silk worms and tadpoles. We have watched the silkworms start off being very small, hard to hold and are growing into bigger worms. We are excited to see what they will do next. The children can pick up the silk worms cocoons from last year and see how they don’t weigh very much and how the silk feels.  Another addition to our bug collection recently is monarch butterfly larva. We are watching them grow and will soon get to see them make their own cocoon and turn into beautiful butterflies. The children can’t wait to release them into the world.

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Grace Preschool is now the proud host of 500+ worms! We have an actual working worm factory in our school! This fascinating on-going science project has the kids really connecting to how worms work hard, help our soil, reduce waste, and are real wiggly!

Our worm factory consists of trays which the worms work their way through by eating through the soil and food. The children can actually see how the worms can turn yard waste, and kitchen scraps into wonderful soil! We’ve read books about the worms such as, Wiggling Worms at Work by Wendy Pfeffer, and Garden Wigglers: Earth worms in Your Backyard, by Loewen, Nancy and Peterson.

We learned how they chew up the food and grind it into small pieces, leaving their castings which provide ample nutrients for our garden. Worms also help by creating tunnels which allow water to reach the roots of plants, and loosen up the soil so the plant roots can grow!

The children can hold the worms, feed the worms, water the worms, add soil and newspaper to the new layers, and become responsible worm owners. We let them bring the worms out from time to time and examine them with our magnifying glasses! We’ve even had a worm race!

We started with 500 red wigglers and we now have babies. Our worm factory has proven to be a wonderful hands on interacting science project. Be sure to visit our worm factory and see our wonderful wiggling wonders!

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We watched our new garden grow. We planted it in September when school started and the children are having a fun time watching the various flowers and produce sprout up and grow into something they recognize.

We received a generous donation from one of our preschool families – a microscope! It resides in our PreK science room, but all the other classes benefit from it as well. It is mobile so we are able to station it in each classroom for a timeframe. Our science expert spends time with each class, sharing various findings and helping the children think about what things to examine. The children are enjoying finding things in the yard to take a closer look.