LESSONS AND CAROLS

LOST AND FOUND BIN

Are you wondering what happened to your child's missing coat, sweater, or hat?  Please come and check the Lost and Found bin located in the STM school cafeteria!!  

HAVE YOU REGISTERED FOR NEXT YEAR?

We have enjoyed two successful Open Houses and classes are rapidly filling.   STM school wants to be sure to secure your child's spot in next year's classes.  Please click here to complete the needed paperwork for the  2018-19 school year.  

It is time to place your orders for January or Winter quarter hot lunches : 

• Quarterly subscriptions begin the week of Wednesday January 3, 2018, and will run through Wednesday March 28, 2018. This lunch rotation consists of 44 lunches at a price of $6.25 per child.  Total cost for the Winter quarter is $275.00 per child.
• January subscriptions will begin on Wednesday, January 3, 2018, and will run through Wednesday, January 31, 2018. A total of 15 lunches will be served for a cost of $93.75 per child.  

STM GIRL SCOUT TROOP 2102 TOY DRIVE

The scouts are collecting NEW and unwrapped toys for girls and boys ages 3-12.  Please send in your donation and place it in the boxes located near the office or in the cafeteria.  The collection will continue until December 11.

STM's own resident ceramic artist and art teacher, Mr. Hadrian Mendoza, will showcase his work as a final step towards the completion of his Masters of Fine Art.  Mr. Mendoza's thesis exhibition will be displayed at Gallery 102, Smith Hall of Art, 801 22nd Street, NW, Washington DC, from Monday, December 11 through Friday, December 22.  The hours of operation are 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday.  An evening reception will be held on Saturday, December 16, from 5:pm to 7pm.  More information about Mr. Mendoza's ceramic work can be found at his website:

http://www.hadrianmendozapottery.com/

Your kids have been playing all afternoon, moving from one activity to the next.  You realize dinner is 20 minutes away and the house is a mess.  There are toys EVERYWHERE.

• Start young - I tend to think clean-up should be part of play from the beginning.  Even before children can help, you can talk to them about how "we are done playing now so I am going to put these toys away."  By eighteen months to two years old, give them small jobs as part of the clean up.  By two and a half they should really be participating and hopefully by four years old taking ownership.
• Get organized - For kids to be able to put away toys, there should be clear places for toys to go.  This means having a preferably clear bin for each type of toy, a box for puzzle pieces, a cabinet or shelf for puzzle boxes, a big basket for balls or a cabinet for dress-up clothes.  It may take a few months to teach kids where and how things get put away and it is worth the effort.
• Have a consistent plan - If you find your kids do better cleaning up after each activity, make that the expectation.  Better to clean up at the end of the day, that's good too.  Find your plan and then stick with it.
• Everyone cleans - Everyone who gets to play, helps to clean.
• Give warnings - Clean up time is a transition.  Many children benefit from having a warning before transitions. With my own kids, this is "We are done in five minutes, finish up," and "One more minute, do your last thing."  It works best if you say the same things for each warning and mean the same amount of time.  If sometimes when you say "five minutes" you mean two because you are in a hurry or you mean twenty because you get distracted, your warnings aren't very helpful.
• Clean-up songs - Every preschool teacher and most of the parents I know sing "Clean up time. Time to clean. Everyone is helping."  That's a start. Google "clean up songs" or "clean up games," there are lots.
• Divide and conquer - Several children working together can distract each other.  If this is the case, it may work best to assign each a specific job or area of the room to clean. This might also mean one cleans at a time.
• Set small goals - If there really are toys absolutely everywhere, it can be an overwhelming task to clean it all up.  It may be helpful to start small and clean up the trains before snack and the legos after.
• Positive choices - Giving children choices would be saying "do you want to start with the blocks or balls?" or "Would you like to throw those in or dump truck them in the basket?"  When a child makes a choices they are that much closer to doing the behavior.  Here is a full blog post on how choices work in discipline.
• Challenges - Can child count all the blocks they put on the shelf?  Can child pick up more blocks than you?  Can child make neat stacks?  Can child put all the blocks away in two minutes?  Ready, go!
• Jobs - Jobs around clean up time might be the block supervisor, the doll organizer, or the art supply sorter.  Give a title and a brief job description.
• Read books about it - Children's story books include:

1.  Pigsty by Teague
2. Super, Completely and Totally the Messiest by Viorst
3. The Messiest Room on the Planet by Kulling