Welcome Back!

Welcome back to all our returning students and a big hello to our first year students. We are proud of the success of all of our programs throughout the years and look forward to another banner year!! God bless the teachers, students, administrative staff, and the many families that make St. Mary's Preschool a very special place in the community.

Preschool Two Day

"Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom." -Oprah Winfrey. We kicked off back-to-school by welcoming our new and returning students at our meet-and-greet play date. The children got a chance to familiarize themselves with our classroom and meet their fellow classmates.

Our first week was spent getting adjusted to our daily routine and saying goodbye to our Moms and Dads. By the second week, the children learned that Mom and Dad drop off and come back when our school day is over. The twos have adjusted nicely to our classroom and have enjoyed making their first week preschool crafts. The children helped to paint our tree for our bulletin board and made fish out of their hand prints for their "O'fishally" a preschooler craft.

We start each morning with our discovery play; playing with our toys and manipulatives in our classroom. We cleanup to our clean- up song and transition to circle time. During circle time, we say our morning prayer and welcome each other by singing our "Welcome Song." Letters A and B were our letters of the month. The two's learned that A makes an "A" sound as in apple, and the B makes a "Buh" sound as in boots. The color red, the shape circle, and the number 1 were our color, shape, and number of the month. Holding up one finger and counting our 1 caterpillar on our number card helps to recognize the number 1. We sang our "Shape Song" to learn a circle goes round and round and has no corners or sides. Moving and grooving to our "Color Red" song helps us to point out things in our classroom that are the color red.

During our lesson time, our twos learn to stamp their letter do-a-dot sheets and glue their letters A and B worksheets onto construction paper. The children also glued matching letter pictures onto their letter A and B worksheets. The twos learned to use their working finger to help form the letters A and B. The twos also glued one pom pom onto their number one worksheet and glued circles onto their shape worksheet.

The children are enjoying their healthy letter of the week snacks. Thank you parents for contributing healthy snacks to our classrooms for us to share and enjoy. Before dismissal, the children look forward to hearing a story or having fun listening to one of our teaching songs.

We are off to a great start in the school year. We are looking forward to all the many new and exciting things the rest of the school year has to bring!

Blessings,

Ms. Michele

Ms. Carole

Preschool Three Day

“Welcome, welcome, everyone” is how we begin our morning meeting, giving a greeting to each of the students in our class this year. We sing about everything we do: cleaning up, checking the weather, and holding our crayons. Learning in our class is an extension of play. We are having so much fun!!

What we teach the students each week is based on a theme and a book or books corresponding to that theme. This month we have read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3, and There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves. We have also read books about apples and autumn. We had a blast creating many different crafts for these themes as well as using materials and games made up of these themes.

During September, we focused on the classroom rules as well as learning the letters A, B, and C. The students learn the sound of the letter, as well as the clue word (apple, boots, car), and create a craft for the letter we are studying (apple, bee and cat).

In math, the students are learning to count up to 20. The students practice counting daily and have learned one to one correspondence by completing activities such as setting the table and matching socks to shoes.

We are also learning how to use our words and share with our friends. The students met Twiggle and his friends who will help teach us about emotions and friendships. The students also enjoy their time with Squawker, a parrot puppet, who helps us to learn new vocabulary words.

During language and literacy, our focus this month has been to practice letter recognition. We fished for letters, built alphabet puzzles and our names. We were introduced to some of the many learning materials we use in our classroom.

In preparation for writing, the students sing a song to teach crayon grip. The students practice proper crayon grip daily. We are working to build hand strength by rolling out and manipulating Play doh.

We have been enjoying the beautiful weather while playing on the preschool playground.

Blessings,

Miss Amanda

Miss Carole

Preschool Five Day

A new school year has begun. The students brought their bright smiles and eagerness to learn on the first day!! We have a lot of wonderful things to accomplish in the days and months ahead.

We started the month of September getting acquainted with the many materials we use during our lessons - Wood Pieces, Tag Bags, Four Squares Mores Squares, Mix and Make Shapes and Touch and Flip Cards.

During our PATHS lessons, we reviewed our Circle Rules during school hours. Students demonstrate responsibility as classroom helpers.

Word Time: The first category is My Body. With the help of Squawker, the parrot, the children learn the pronunciation, spelling, and definitions of words. We did a craft for the letter A is for Alligator and B is for Bear.

Math: We begin with our chapter Number and Operations. Using their Tag Bags, students recognize that order and arrangement of objects do not affect totals.

We used our Touch & Flip Cards (counter cards) to make a set of objects to match the number given. Children learn to recognize quantities without counting. We are teaching ordinal numbers to tell a person's position in a line (first, second, third).

Language and Literacy: Our first chapter is Phonological Awareness. Children distinguish between a variety of environmental and speech sounds. They identify sounds that are the same and sounds that are different. Using our Sound Around Box and Picture Tiles, students say whether two words are the same or different.

Penmanship: We used our Letters and Numbers for Me books practice pencil skills using the correct grip, good posture and proper paper placement.

The beautiful September weather allowed us to spend a lot of time in the playground after snack.

Thank you for attending our Back To School night - we hope you found it enjoyable and informative.

Our daily email gives you an update of all the morning's activities. We hope you enjoy reading them.

Blessings,

Miss Ida

Miss Cindy

Calendar Of Events

October 7-22 Ashley Farms Fundraiser

October 9 Yom Kippur No School

October 14 Columbus Day No School

October 17 Tuxedo Fire Department Visit

October 31 Trick or Treat at the Promenade

Address: St. Mary's Community Preschool

10 Fox Hill Rd

Tuxedo, NY

Phone: 845-351-2389

Website: stmtux.org/preschool