October is a spectacular month with special trips and activities shared by family and friends. We are blessed that we have the opportunity to share this fun with the students, families, and friends of St. Mary's Community Preschool.
Preschool Two Day
From pumpkins to Fire Prevention week, dressing up in costumes and trick-or-treating at Tuxedo Promenade, October was a month full of fun and learning for our 2-year old class.
 
Each morning began with playtime, while also working on our fine motor skills. The children learned to form wiggly worms with Play Doh and practiced their scissor skills with Play Doh scissors. Our circle time begins with our morning prayer and welcome song. Then, we discuss the calendar and weather.

We reviewed letters A, B, and C and the sounds they make. The children were introduced to the letters D, E and F this month and the sounds they make. We reviewed the number 1, counting 1 caterpillar. The children learned we have one head, one nose and one mouth. The number 2 was our number of the month. The children counted 2 ducks and learned we have two eyes, two feet, two arms and two hands to clap together.
 
During our lesson time, each student glued the letters D, E and F onto construction paper as well as the corresponding pictures. The students then use their working finger to form each letter. Our letter of the week do-a-dot page helps our students develop their fine motor skills as well as help form the letter of the week. Each child colored in their letter of the week book using an orange crayon, our color of the month. While counting 1 and 2 each child stuck 2 stickers onto their number page. Dinosaurs, Elephants, Elmos and Foxes were some of the crafts the students created for their letter of the week craft, which we proudly displayed on our bulletin board outside our classroom.
 
Chapel with Father Rick is always a fun time to learn all about God. Father Rick read the stories of David and Goliath and brave Queen Esther to the children this month.  Father Rick also sang God is So Good and The Lord is My Shepard with the children.
 
Fireman Rattazzi and Fireman Gardner of Tuxedo Town Fire Department came to visit the children to teach them all about fire safety for fire prevention week. It was an exciting time when each child got to climb aboard a fire truck.

The children also got a visit from Librarian Susan Babcock of Tuxedo Library this month. Miss Susan read the children story books about animals, then got our students to sing and dance while playing with shakers.

Our trip to Wright Family Farm proved to be a fun and beautiful day. To name a few of the many activities at Wright Family Farm, the children had fun running through the corn maze, picking out pumpkins and gourds, sliding down a tube, and feeding the farm animals.

We celebrated the end of our month with our Harvest party where each child adorned a costume of their very own. The children then headed over to The Tuxedo Promenade where young and old came together to share fun, laughter, and a little candy. 

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers" - Anne of Green Gables. 

Michele Kayser
Carole Cleary
Preschool Three Day
October was Spooktacular! We created many fall themed crafts to decorate our hallways. The 3 year old class focused on learning to recognize the letters D, E and F. The students created a duck for the letter D, an elephant for the letter E, and a frog for the letter F. The students are doing a great job of recognizing these letters as well as identifying the clue words and sounds each letter makes. The students have also learned the shapes rectangle and oval, and the numbers 3 and 4 this month. 

Crayon grip is very important as we are learning to write. We focus on holding and squeezing our crayon before we begin tracing our letters. Formation is also very important. Before we write our letters we either build them with our wood pieces or draw them on the white board. We also enjoy using our Roll a Doh to roll out lines and curves to form our letters. The children practiced writing the cross, square, and rectangle shapes as well as the letters L, F, E, and H. They begin writing letters with straight lines before getting into the more difficult curves. 

During language and literacy, we have been practicing recognizing the letters in the alphabet as we sing the ABC song while flipping through our alphabet deck. We’ve also been focusing on the difference between pictures and words as well as differentiating between different words. The students have begun to recognize the initial letter of their name as well as that of their classmates as we play alphabet games. We have gone on letter and picture searches around our classroom. 

In math, the students have compared objects as we talk about length. We compared pasta noodles and learned to use “shorter than” and “longer than” as we discussed the noodles. We’ve been practicing counting as we make lines of tag bags and compare them with our friends' lines. We also compared different size shapes. We worked on matching up numbers, first using flashcards, then by building a string of beads to match a written number. 

Our vocabulary curriculum helps the students learn and apply two words per day. Squawker, the parrot, stops by our class each day to relay these words. It is a favorite time of our day!

During our PATHS lesson, Twiggle the turtle and Henrietta the hedgehog comes to visit us to help us learn the importance of feelings. This month, we learned to make the OK sign giving a thumbs up. Children discovered that everyone has feelings and that feelings are OK to have, even sad and mad. We learned that when we feel scared, it is our body’s way of telling us that we need to change something. We also learned that it is not OK to hit, or hurt, or push someone when we are feeling mad. 

We enjoyed our annual trip to Wright Family Farm as well as trick or treating at The Promenade. 

Amanda Rabolli
Carole Cleary


Preschool Five Day
Dear Parents:

October is such a spectacular time of year...the landscape painted with vibrant colors, pumpkin picking at the Wright Farm, and children dressed up in their favorite Halloween costumes.

Our students accomplished a lot during their time at school:

Word Time: We finished the category My Body and started a new category Sky. The children learn the spelling, pronunciation and definition of words.

Penmanship: The children continued practicing their pencil skills. They started writing their Frog Jump Capital Letters - F, E, D, P, B, R, and N.

Language and Literacy: We continued with our chapter on Phonological Awareness. Students distinguish words that are the same and different. They learn to identify rhyming words. Children are taught to put a group of words into a sentence. They were introduced to compound words and how two separate words make a one word. We had lots of fun making "silly" compound words.

Math: The students finished their I Know My Numbers 1 and 2 booklets. We continued our chapter on Number and Operations. Children learn to tell a person's position in line using "ordinal" numbers. They compare sets of objects using more and fewer. Children connect numerals to the quantities they represent using their 1-2-3 Touch & Flip Cards. They learned to count and label sets of objects up to 10.

PATHS: With the help of our PATHS animals, the students learn what a compliment is and how and when to give a compliment. We discussed the feelings happy and sad and how to identify a person with those emotions by their words and facial expressions.

Chapel: We always look forward to spending time with Father Rick on Wednesdays in the Chapel. He shares a bible story and sings songs with the children.

We would like to thank Susan Babcock from the Tuxedo Library for stopping by to read to the students and do a craft.

Ida Payne
Cynthia Dinan
Calendar Of Events
November 9 -Grandparents Event

November 10 - Veterans Day
School Closed

November 13 - Collections Ends for Operation Christmas Child

November 22-24 Thanksgiving Recces, School Closed

St. Mary's Community Preschool
PHONE: 845-351-2389
FAX: 845-351-2433
EMAIL: ipayne@stmarysintuxedo.org