Bear Cub Facts February 26, 2017
Dear Parents,

We at Bethany Lutheran Preschool enjoy the opportunity to "Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6) by providing a Christ-centered environment for students to foster self-esteem and to develop at their own rate of spiritual, emotional, cognitive, social, academic, and physical growth.  We view our responsibility to your child as "second to none". We understand that you are entrusting us with your most valuable asset. We believe we are contributing to America's future by what we teach, the examples we set, and the self-esteem we help your child to develop. Our goal is to remain professional, treat all children with respect, and encourage confidence in their own abilities. While striving for this goal, we are ever mindful that you, as the  parent  or guardian, are your child's first  teacher .

We are looking forward to meeting with you on Friday, March 3 for our Parent Teacher Conferences. Preschool will not be in session so that we may meet with you about your child's progress.  We will review the assessment and look over the portfolios which you will be able to take home at the end of the school year.  Childcare is available for enrolled children during your conference time.  If you have not already signed up for a conference, please check with your child's teacher for availability.  

Enrollment for the 2017-2018 school year has begun.  If you have not already done so, please complete the form and turn it in to the office to ensure that we are able to accommodate the days and times that you would like next year.  We can bill your FACTS account for your registration fee.  We will open enrollment up to the public in March.  For our students in Pre-K who are considering the " Gift of Time," please note that you may complete an enrollment form for both Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten.  After your parent conference on March 3, you may also sign up for the Chancy Bruce Developmental Screening to assist you in making this important decision in your child's life.  Please see Mary Wolfinbarger for more information.

We hope that you feel like we are the "best" preschool in Long Beach.  You can vote for Bethany Lutheran Preschool in the Long Beach Comber contest.  Vote today!  By casting 15 votes in different categories you qualify to win prizes! Entries must be received by February 28.  Ballots are available in the office.

Saturday, March 4, is our special Grandparent/Grandfriend Day here at Bethany.  We will begin with chapel in the sanctuary followed by snack, photos, and a craft in the gym and concluding with an Open House in the preschool.  In order to assist us in setting up, please let us know how many we can expect from your family by signing up in your child's classroom or emailing me at mwolfinbarger@bethanylutheran.org.

In His Service,
Mary Wolfinbarger
Bethany Lutheran Preschool
562-429-7335 
 
http://www.bethanylutheran.org/

Dates for your calendar:

February 28 - PTL Meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the library.  Childcare is provided.
March 1 - Ash Wednesday.  Services will be held at 4 and 7 p.m.
March 3 - Parent Teacher Conferences preschool is closed
March 4 - Grandparent's Day (Please note date change)
March 10 - Night at the Museum Open House
 
 
2016-2017 School Year Calendar

This week in Jesus Circle:

Jesus Welcomes Children - Jesus Blesses Children (Mark 10:13-16)
Discovery Points
Law: The consequences of living in a sin-filled world can make us feel worthless and unimportant.
Gospel: We are so important to Jesus that He died to save us from our sins and gives us new life.
Sanctification : Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can treat other people as important and beloved children of God too.
 
Connections for home: (from One in Christ, Preschool B 2013 CPH)
 
God has placed your child in your family as a special gift and blessing from Him.  You are a special gift and blessing to your child as well.  Look for ways to share the love and blessings of Jesus each day.  Talk to Jesus about your child.  Talk to your child about Jesus. 
 
In prayer, thank God for each person in your family.  Then, trace each family member's hand onto paper.  Cut out the tracings.  Write the person's name and special things about that person on the hand shape.  Hang the hands around a picture of Jesus (with fingers reaching out).  Repeat this until the picture is surrounded with a wreath of hands.  Reach out in kindness and love, as Jesus has done for you.
  
Read more about the story on page 380-382 of The Story Bible

Chapel is held in the church on Tuesdays at 9:15 a.m.  Chapel money will be collected this year to benefit Mission India, Mission Alaska, and Corazones Para Guatemala (Hearts for Guatemala).
Snack for the week of February 27- March 2:

Monday:   AM broccoli, hummus, Ritz Crackers & water  
PM strawberries, animal crackers & water  

Tuesday:  AM Cheese-Its, pears & water 
PM quesadilla & water
 
Wednesday:  AM yogurt, blueberries and water
PM string cheese, apples and water

Thursday:  AM pears,Triscuits and water
PM bagels, cream cheese and water
 
Friday:   Preschool is closed for Parent Conferences.  Childcare is available for enrolled children during your conference.

Snack Prayer this Month:  
March:  Yo ho, yo ho, a Christian's life for me.  Be present at our table Lord.  Be near and everywhere adored.  Yo ho, yo ho, a Christian's life for me.  Amen.
 
Did you know that you can purchase your child's lunch delivered to the school through Choice Lunch.  The password is Bethany.
This Month in the Classroom - Scope and Sequence

Themes of the Month:  Jesus Takes Away Our Sins - Easter Spring, Dr. Seuss, St. Patrick's Day, planting
 
Portfolio:   rhyming, sensory experience - hearing - musical instruments, structure of plants, photo page -Easter Party, art sample
 
Each week, the children explore, express and create through the use of centers within each classroom. Each teacher posts lesson plans in her room that show the activities for the week.  Below is our scope and sequence for each age level for the month from which the lesson plans and activities are developed.
 
Social/Emotional Development Ages 4-5:  Review of concepts. Understands the roll of teachers and caregivers.   Understands and follows social and classroom rules. Accepts responsibility for and consequences of own actions.
  
Social Studies Development Ages 4-5:  Compares and contrasts maps and globes. Creates a map of the classroom or other familiar location.
 
Physical Education Development Ages 4-5:  Understands and explains the need for rest and exercise.
  
Fine Art Development Ages 4-5:  Identifies and describes tempo. Uses movements to demonstrate an awareness of tempo. Uses singing to demonstrate an awareness of tempo.
  
Language Arts Development Ages 4-5: Recognizes and produces rhyming words. Participates in shared writing. Recognition, phonemics and writing for letters Y,Z; Recognition, value and writing for numbers 1, 2.)
 
Science Development Ages 4-5:  Explores heat, light, sound and movement. Names common plants. Explores the structures of plants. Identifies plants as living objects.
 
Mathematics Development Ages 4-5: Represents a number of objects with a written numeral 0-10.
 
Social/Emotional Development Ages 2-3:  Review of concepts. Understands the roll of teachers and caregivers.   Understands and follows social and classroom rules. Accepts responsibility for and consequences of own actions.
 
Social Studies Development Ages 2-3: Review of concept. Identifies traits of a good citizen. (3 year olds).
  
Physical Education Development Ages 2-3:  Understands and explains the need for rest and exercise (3 year olds)..
 
Fine Art Development Ages 2-3: Uses movements to demonstrate an awareness of tempo. Uses singing to demonstrate an awareness of tempo.
 
Language Arts Development Ages 2-3:  Recognizes rhyming words (3 year olds).
 
Science Development Ages 2-3: Explores heat, light, sound and movement. Names common plants. Explores the structures of plants (3 year olds).
  
Mathematics Development Ages 2-3:  Review of concepts counting from 1-10. Identifies the number of objects in a group using one-to-one correspondence (3 year old). Understands the relationship between numbers and quantity (3 year old).

Staff in the Spotlight - Lori Lange, 1st Grade Teacher


Mrs. Lange teaches first grade at Bethany.  She grew up in Nebraska and attended Concordia University in Nebraska.  She is married to Bob and they have four children.  She began teaching at Bethany in 1991.
From Our Handbook - Food - Snacks & Lunch


Snacks are served each morning in the program. Students in the full day program will also receive an afternoon snack between 3-4 p.m.  Each snack time will include one serving from at least two different food groups. Menus are sent home in the weekly e-news and are posted on our parent bulletin board.

If you forget to bring or purchase a lunch for your child, we will provide one and we will charge your FACTS account $5.00.  Please make sure your child's lunch is well balanced, nutritious and healthy. The lunch container needs to be clearly marked with your child's name on the outside.  The children will have a 30 minute period to eat their lunch.  We encourage children to eat the main staples first (i.e. sandwich, fruit, cheese, etc.)  Lunches can also be purchased online through Choice Lunch. 

Extracurricular Activities: 

Bethany Lutheran Preschool offers Webby Dance on Mondays at 8:45 a.m. and Thursdays; Soccer Shots on Tuesdays from 10:50-11:30 a.m.;  Play Sports on Mondays from 10-11:30.   For more information, please see the sign up forms in the preschool hallway.
Conscious Discipline Tip:  What can I do to promote early learning?


1. Play with your child and provide opportunities for them to play. Play is essential for healthy brain development. The over scheduled child attending academic preschools is actually thwarting their own physical, intellectual, social, and emotional development.
2. Turn off the TV. The types of behavior necessary to succeed in school are completely different from those fostered by television. A young child's developing brain is largely shaped by his/her environment. The average child will spend an estimated 5,000 hours in front of the TV before entering first grade (TV Turn Off Network). Yet, research shows that the child's brain develops by "doing," not "watching." Children need activities that stimulate the frontal lobe by involving all the senses, not just passive viewing.
3. Read and talk to your child. Phonemic awareness of sounds comes from listening to the human voice. The sounds that the young child hears wire the brain with the first building block for reading. So talk-talk-talk and read-read-read to hardwire the brain for later academic success.
4. Model the joy of learning and discovery. This means you have to turn off the TV and engage in reading and other activities that keep the mind active. Let your child see you writing; give them writing tools, paper and books. Every time your child sees you writing a phone message, reading a recipe, writing a grocery list and reading a paper, magazine or book, you are modeling the usefulness of reading and writing. Explore museums, zoos and parks together. Take walks and discover the outdoors. These types of activities all stimulate early learning.
5. Connect with your child. Connections with the people in their lives boosts children's brain potential, encourages cooperation, promotes learning and literacy, increases attention, decreases power struggles and builds loving bonds. This happens because connections on the outside literally build neural connections inside the child's brain. My  I Love You Rituals book provides more than 70 positive rhymes and activities that are ideal for enhancing social, emotional and school success through connection. If you don't utilize I Love You Rituals, be certain to dedicate plenty of time to other connecting rituals that include eye contact and touch in a playful setting.

Conscious Discipline Website

Bethany Lutheran School News:

Bethany Lutheran School follows a similar calendar year to Bethany Lutheran Church Preschool.  Keep up with our elementary and middle school students in our Bear Facts publication.    

Thank you to everyone who donated pennies during National Lutheran School's Week.  The preschool donated 4920 pennies and came in 3rd place.  All of the money raised will go towards Hearts for Jesus Ministry which supports Corazones Para Guatemala.
Parent Teacher League:

Parents, you are ALL members of our Parent Teacher League (PTL), our amazing group of parent leadership and an important part of making Bethany such a special place.
Would you like to get involved in a PTL activity? There's a place for you! Just contact our PTL President, Jen Deeble: drdeeble@gmail.com   

Way to go Bethany Bear Cubs!   Our school made $278.60 with all the Box Tops that were collected last week.  Thank you so much for all who participated and sent them in. Thank you to Kelly Olsen for organizing our Box Tops.  Miss Stacey's class received a special glow stick prize.  Here is the break down by class.
 
Mrs. DeJongh        6
Miss Belinda          28
Miss Lauren           30
Miss Mandy            76
Miss Angela           99
Miss Stacey           137
 
Our next PTL meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 28 at 6:30 p.m. in the Library.  Babysitting is provided. 

The 2nd Annual Ball Drop will take place at 6 p.m. on March 10 before the Night at the Museum.  Funds raised will be used for outdoor music at the preschool.
Opportunities to Worship Faithfully, Form Spiritually, Serve Passionately, Give Proportionately, and Share Intentionally:

  • Follow Bethany on Twitter @RevKevBethany and  www.facebook.com/Bethany.Long.Beach 
  • Renew your Ralphs Club cards each year after August 31 using our Bethany NPO # 83441.
  • Box tops for education is a program that allows our schools to get 10 cents for every box top turned in.  The money received from the program helps our schools buy needed equipment and supplies.  Clip the box tops and place them in the container on the sign-in shelf.
  • Labels for Education is a program where our school and church families can work together to earn "free stuff" for our schools.  Labels and caps can be placed in the collection container on the sign-in shelf.
  • Home Bible Study Groups are now forming.  Contact Pastor Seth, Pastor Kritzer, or Karl Fink for more information.
  • Lazy Acres contributes 4% to Bethany.  Make sure to show your Lazy Acres Community Card. 
  • Griefshare meets on Sundays at 1 p.m. in the Conference Room.  Contact kfink@bethanylutheran.org for more info.
  • Family Lenten Devotions will begin on March 8 and continue every Wednesday in Lent at 5:30 p.m. in the church.  Classic Lenten worship services will continue at 7 p.m. with Soup Suppers being offered between 5-6:30 p.m.
  • Challenge yourself to read the Bible in 2017.  The study is posted on our blogspot www.bethanylutheran.blogsport.com.
  • Join us for Tea at Bethany on May 6.  Our guest speaker is Sister Maryama Burger author of From the Crescent to the Cross.  Contact Cindy Stock 562-818-4643 for more information.
  • The Brianna Esswein Memorial Golf Tournament will be held Friday, March 24 at the Lakewood Country Club at 1 p.m.  Cost is $125/golfer.
  • Do you have Kohl's charge?  You can buy Kohl's Care Fundraising Gift Cards from Scrip to pay your bill.
  • Join us Friday, May 5 for a fun filled evening watching the Angels take on the Houston Astros at 7 p.m.  More information coming soon.

 At Bethany, worship is a celebration of what God has done for us in His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior-His initiative in our life, His saving events throughout history. Worship is a remembrance, a reenactment-if-you-will, of God's redemptive acts for all people throughout history; it is also a joyful reception through faith, by God's people now, who live to proclaim His redeeming grace to all the world. The Lutheran understanding of "Gottesdienst" or "God's service to us" and "our service to God" are foundational to all that we do in worship. God first comes to us, and we respond in confession, joyful praise, prayer and humble faith.

 
Worship Service times are: 
 Sunday at 8:00AM, 9:30AM and 10:55AM (convergent/blended style) 


SCRIP

Are you purchasing SCRIP?  If not, you are passing up an easy way to help with your tuition payments and to help Bethany.  SCRIP is simply gift certificates.  You purchase them from us, and use them as you would any gift card.  Since Bethany is able to purchase the cards in bulk, the gift cards cost less than their face value; and the profit is divided between your tuition and funds for various groups at Bethany.  If you have any questions about the Scrip program contact Carol Grudt, 420-7783 x58 or cgrudt@bethanylutheran.org.

FISH Opportunities:

We suggest opportunities that will help you fulfill your FISH commitments; while taking care of some of our needs.  We will post these needs/opportunities in the weekly newsletter, by email and in posters that will be put up on the parent board by the sign in sheet.     Opportunities currently available include:
 
  • Attend our PTL meeting this Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in the library
  • donations of diaper changing gloves and wipes
  • assistance with set up, clean up, and supplies on March 10 for a special Renaissance Alumni event.  Sign up at http://signup.com/go/LXMJ99
     
Once you have completed a FISH opportunity, you may complete a form located in the preschool hallway or online .
Helpful Websites and Links for Parents and Children:


Preschool play websites:
  
Websites and links for parents:
 
Devotions:
 
Ideas you can use at home:
 Numbers - HWT
Gross and Fine Motor Activities from Chancy and Bruce
Mental Health Chancy and Bruce
 
Healthy snacks for kids:
10 tips to decrease added sugars
Healthy celebrations
NEW!  Hard Candy
In Our Prayers:

Thank you for your continued prayers for the loved ones connected to our center. If there is a need in your family and you would like to add someone to the prayer list, please let me know.  
 
In addition, we pray for the children and staff in our center (one a day), look for your child's name listed below throughout the year. 
 
+  Audrey Kienetz, Audrey Cramer, and Emerson Murphy
+  Please join the Board of Evangelism in praying for Reverent Pal Jacob; Christian Outreach in Action; Habitat for Humanity; Jesse and Kelly Sipan - Mission Aviation Fellowship
+  The Young family in thankfulness for the blessing of their new son.

"They all met together and were constantly in prayer." Acts 1:14 NLT

STAY CONNECTED:
Bethany Lutheran Preschool | 562-429-7335 | Email |   www.bethanylutheran.org