Woodstock Day School

WDS Nursery School Newsletter / May 21st, 2012

Greetings Nursery School Parents and Friends!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our field trip to Forsyth Nature Center was lovely! The questionable early morning weather broke through into a beautiful sunny day. The children enjoyed a tour of the animals and were invited to feed them. We received a special show from the peacocks, who opened their beautiful feathered wings and put on an extended display for us! The children were given a unique opportunity to meet, touch, and/or hold the Center’s resident corn snake. Some of the children were surprisingly very brave and allowed the snake to be wrapped around their neck and shoulders… as if they were throwing on a scarf for dress-up in Dramatic Play Area! Following the animal tour we enjoyed a picnic lunch and some fabulous play time at the nearby playground. We thank all parents who were able to attend, chaperone and drive. If you’d like to have a look at some pictures from the field trip, please come into the classroom and check out the photo poster we’ve created. I will also soon have photo pages up within the Nursery School section on this website as well… I’ll keep you posted!

 

 

 

 

 

In our class we have several May birthdays, and we also have many summer birthdays. Parents of summer babies have been invited to celebrate their child’s birthday any time between now and the end of the school year. This month we’ve wished happy birthdays to Guinness, Will, and Macey, and a happy summer birthday to Madeline. We thank all of the birthday parents for coming in to read special stories to the children and for bringing yummy birthday treats for all to enjoy! We also celebrated our dear friend Katia’s birthday together this past Friday. For those who may not know her, Katia is in 9th Grade at WDS and she has become a great friend to our Nursery School class this year while volunteering to help out and be with our class two times a week. The children have gotten to know & love her this year, as have the teachers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve started a new growing project following the success of our egg heads. The children have now painted their own pots and planted a surprise seed in them. We’ll be nurturing our growing seedlings from now through the end of the school year and we’ll hope to observe some growing plants before taking them home on our last day of school! We are also anxiously awaiting to see a change in our caterpillars. We’ve observed the change from small caterpillar to large and then saw the chrysalis formed.. now we await the change to butterfly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lower School Spring Concert is June 6th at 1pm in the cafe. Here are some words from Cassie regarding the Nursery School’s role in the concert:

Your child is going to be singing the Beatles song “I’d Like To Be Under the Sea.” Please start gathering and dropping off at school (labeled!) suitable sea-inspired constume for your child. Jelly fish, star fish, ish, octopi, mermaids, pirates….. Please could you email me at cmahoney@woodstockdayschool.org to let me know the status of your child’s costume. Thank you very much! If you get a moment please could you run through the words of the song with your child. You can find versions on You Tube but I’ve included the lyrics (hard copies in your children’s cubby baskets).

All children in the Nursery School are welcome to participate in the concert regardless of their regular school schedule, and all parents are welcome to come and watch. Cassie has asked our “campus choreographer
Stacy Eccleston to choreograph some moves for the performance, and it s all coming along “swimmingly!” (Don’t be surprised if you see your child playing air guitar around your home!!) Once the concert has ended, please plan to make your way up to the Art Building for the All School Art Show where you may find your child;s artwork on display! The Art Show Opening is from 2:30-4:00 on Wednesday, June 6th. Refreshments will be served!

While the school-year winds down we are putting social skills emphasis on being able to help one another. A good many of the children, especially the older ones, have grown independent enough at this point to be able to accomplish daily skills on their own including getting dressed & undressed for outside/inside activities, setting up & putting away lunches and snack, and clean-up in the classroom. We are asking children to be helpers to one another, so if a child needs assistance with something we often will help facilitate another friend in the class coming to that child’s aide. We are helping children learn to (politely!) ask one another for help, and we are now already hearing unsolicited offers being called out, ie. “I can help you!” followed by a child running over to help a friend. It is heartwarming to see & hear!

We have time left for one more Scholastic Book Order. Book order brochures went out in cubbies last week and your orders with payment are due back by this Thursday, May 24th so that we can be assured that you get your books back before the last day of school!

Important dates:

This Thursday, May 24th Scholastic Book Orders are Due!

This Friday, May 25th and Monday, May 28th SCHOOL CLOSED in observance of Memorial Day. Have a great 4-day weekend!

Wednesday, June 6th; 1:00 Lower School Concert and 2:30 Art Gallery Opening

Have a wonderful week!

 

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WDS Nursery School Newsletter / May 6th, 2012

Greetings Nursery School Parents and Friends!

 

We have had some exciting and fun learning adventures over the last couple of weeks! We honored Earth Day with activities such as taking nature walks, painting rocks, learning about recycling, creating sculpture art with recycled materials, picking up garbage around campus, (ie., feeding our hungry “garbage-monster bags” that we made),  and, painting “the world!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By week’s end our fabulous egg-heads had grown some hair! The children had been excitedly watering their eggheads each morning at arrival, and soon saw the first bits of grass pop through the soil, and then watched over the days that followed as the grass continued to grow into a full head of “hair!”

We celebrated May Day last week with dances around our classroom maypole while listening to traditional English/Irish music, and honoring flowers and the arrival of spring in full bloom. We played “floral arrangers” in the sensory table, made flowery May Day crowns, and created May baskets to give to special people we love and to wish them Happy Spring!

 

 

 

 

 

In the midst of all this, the WDS Book Fair had a grand opening, and was open all week long. This was an amazing event created by our beloved Library Teacher Robin, and I hope that many of you were able to stop in and enjoy it. This year’s theme was “mythical creatures,” and the decor was truly fabulous. The children got to mingle with fairies and were so excited to see the big dragon in the middle, and to touch the magical dragon egg! All of Robin’s library classes were held in the book fair all week, and for our class’s turn, we also got to celebrate Asher’s birthday there. Asher will turn 3-years old just after the school year ends, and we celebrated in our classroom on the actual day of his Mom Courtney’s birthday, May 2nd. Happy Birthday wishes to Asher and Courtney!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last week ended on a purely high note with Friday’s Grandparents & Special Friends Day event. We thank those Special Friends of our Nursery School who were able to join us for the afternoon. Children were so excited to have their grandparents in school with them and to show them their classroom and cubbies and do activities together. Grandparents created art with their grandchild, made puzzles together, and played ring-around-the rosie! And grandparents were kind enough to share themselves with their granchild’s friend(s) who may not have had a special friend there that day. Our Nursery School children did a great job performing “Skidamarinkydoo” at the Lower School gathering for all of the NS-6th graders and their Special Friends to see and hear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’d like to thank those parents who were able to reschedule their parent conferences and come to meet with us over the past few weeks. If anyone did not have a conference yet and would like one, please email me so that we can set up a specific time.

This Thursday May 10th is our field trip to Forsyth Nature Center. I will email a detailed information sheet to you. I’m keeping an eye on the weather forecast, and, I will let you know about a raindate if we wind up needing it. In the meantime, I know that several of you have said you will meet us there, while others will meet at WDS and depart caravan style from the parking lot. I am going to post a form on the bulletin board and I ask that you please fill in your transportation plans so that I can have all the information I need on one piece of paper.

We’d love to plan a final field trip and/or picnic that could potentially be hosted at a Nursery School family’s home… please let me know as soon as possible if you would like to host such an event.

Mark Your Calendars….

Thursday, May 10th FIELD TRIP to FORSYTH NATURE CENTER

Friday, May 29th Faculty Work Day – NO SCHOOL for children

Monday, May 31st MEMORIAL DAY – NO SCHOOL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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WDS Nursery School Newsletter / April 23rd, 2012

Greetings Nursery School Parents and Friends!

 

Last week we engaged in some creative learning fun with eggs and oval shapes!:

• We had a circle time discussion about bird’s eggs and learned about why birds build nests, what various materials they may use to build their nests, and why they build them in trees. The children then fashioned their own bird’s nests out of a brown paper bag, grass and other materials. The children loved making their own nests and caring for their baby birds & small eggs!
• We created sculptures with egg/oval-shaped balloons.The children created designs with yarn and glue and ended up with some interesting and fun lantern-style hanging decorations.
• We used eggshells to design egg-heads, and we planted grass seeds. Children are being asked to care for their own plant by watering it and checking it each morning when they arrive in school. The children are very proud of their eggheads! Please be sure to come into the classroom so that your child can show you their egg and how they water their plant. We will be monitoring our seeds and watching for growth and measuring how tall our grass grows, and the children will be discovering that their egg-heads have some pretty cool hair-dos!
• Children shared their impressions of how an oval shape differs from a circle shape, offering such comments as “the oval is flat” and “the circle is round and round,” and they excitedly played our “Circle or Oval” game at morning circle times.

 

 

 

 

 

At the start of last week we marked our two April birthdays with crowns, cards and cupcakes as we wished Debbie and Caitlin happy birthdays!

Yesterday (Sunday) was Earth Day, and, every day this week we will be doing an activity that acknowledges and teaches us about our earth and/or that takes care of our environment in some way.

IMPORTANT: The day of our field trip to Forsyth Nature Center is Thursday, May 10th, not Tuesday May 8th as was stated in last week’s email. Please adjust your calendars! Parent driver forms went into cubby baskets on Friday. If you are volunteering to drive and/or chaperone, please fill out forms and return to us at your earliest convenience. While on the topic of field trips, it is time for us to start putting thought into planning our final end-of-year picnic field trip in early June. We ask if any family would like to volunteer to host at their home or if any other suggestions, please be in touch with me about it.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, April 24th I will be away from the classroom for a day of faculty professional development. Together with WDS Preschool Teacher Pam Lord-Camara and WDS NS-3 Director Adrian Hood we are going to visit an Early Childhood Education Center in New York City, where we will observe classes and meet with and exchange conversation with other teachers of young children. Mariel will be subbing in our classroom for the day… thank you Mariel!

Parent-Teacher Conferences are happening over the next few weeks. If you have not signed up but would like a conference, please check the bulletin board and find a time that works for you. Here is what we have so far:

Thursday, April 26th:

3:20-3:40 Ava Colette

3:45-4:05 Henry

4:10-4:30 Lucas

4:35-4:55 (open)

5:00- 5:20 (open)

5:25-5:45 (open)

Monday, April 30th

3:20-3:40 Adelaide

3:45-4:05 (open)

4:10-4:30 (open)

4:35-4:55 (open)

5:00- 5:20 Maia

5:25-5:45 Will

Thursday, May 3rd:

3:20-3:40 Ben

3:45-4:05 Emme

4:10-4:30 (open)

4:35-4:55 (open)

5:00- 5:20 (open)

5:25-5:45 (open)

This Friday, April 27th, is opening day of the WDS Book Fair! This is a fabulous week-long WDS event that you will definitely want to attend and be a part of. Here are a few words from our beloved Library Teacher/Librarian Robin Shornstein:
It’s almost time for the Book Fair…. and we need your help! Everyone loves lunch at The Book Nook Café. Please donate food during the week of April 30 – May 4 Along with the baked goods, we will need Hearty Fare, Sandwiches, Salads, Pastas, etc. Please deliver food to the gym. Thank you in advance for your support.♥

Special Book Fair Event Opening Day Friday, April 27
Decorate a one layer cake to look like your favorite book cover. We will put all the cakes together to make one big table of cakes. A literary gastronomic quilt! Please bring your cakes to the gym Friday morning 4/27. All proceeds benefit our library and our school.
Thank you!
Robin

Grandparents/Special Friends Day is coming up on Friday, May 4th at 1:00. Please email me to let me know if your child has a grandparent or special friend attending this event, and include the guest’s name and what their relationship to your child is. There will be various activities planned for guests to take part in, including attending our Friday Lower School gathering. We will plan to have our Nursery Schoolers perform a song at the gathering! To RSVP, or if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email the Parent Association at: wds-pa@woodstockdayschool.org or call the school at 845-246-3744 and leave a message for Adrienne Zabriskie, head of the Parent Association.

Music Teacher Cassie Mahoney is putting together a spring music concert for all her students on June 6th. Following is  a letter from her regarding the Nursery School’s part in the performance:

Dear Parents of Nursery School, 

Our spring concert is to be held as a matinee performance on 6th June in the Bridge Building on campus. The exact time will be confirmed. Nursery school – with Pre-School – will be singing a Beatles song ‘We like to be under the sea in an octopus’ garden’. We would very much like to create a wonderful stage setting  for this song. We’d  love it if students could dress up for the performance in the theme of ‘The Sea’  eg pirate or sea outfit………some fish and octopi outfits would be great too! If you could let me know what your child will be wearing and deliver it, named, to Nursery School,  I’d be very grateful. Please do contact me via email should you have any questions. 

 Many thanks, Cassie 

cmahoney@woodstockdayschool.org

 

General Reminders…

This and every every Wednesday pita & hummus lunchtime side dish for $1.00! Order with teachers at morning drop-off.

Please continue layering clothing for your child during the spring months, continue to check your child’s extra clothing bin and refill as needed, and also bring back to us any WDS-NS borrowed items that you have at home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you!

 

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WDS Nursery School Newsletter / April 15th, 2012

Greetings Nursery School Parents and Friends!

The children arrived back at school last week after the spring break full of excitement and enthusiasm, and very happy to see and play with their friends once more. We are also noticing a new level of eagerness and confidence in our Nursery Schoolers…. they have all grown so much this school year! I can’t believe I am writing this, but, the school year is actually beginning to wind down… with only a couple months left until summer.

Last week we introduced our new month April along with our color of the month Purple and shape of the month Oval. The children have been enjoying hiding and finding eggs in our sensory table, mixing blue & red together to discover purple, making purple play-doh, finding color / shape of the month items throughout our classroom, and creating art and playing with manipulatives and other various items incorporating these elements. In Spanish class Karin brought many “canejos” for children to hold and follow along Spanish action commands with. The children loved holding an taking great care of their stuffed luvvies for the whole class!

Coming up this week and next we’ll be talking about Earth Day and learning about how we can help to take care of our great planet earth. Also within the upcoming few weeks we will be exploring some of spring’s natural wonders and examining  life-cycles of plants and of butterflies.

Please save the date for an upcoming field trip to Forsyth Nature Center: Tuesday, May 8th (rain date May 9th). More information and parent-driver forms will be forthcoming.

The new sign-up sheets for Parent Conferences are now up on the bulletin board, with various after-school options over the next few weeks. Please take a look and sign up for a time that works for you. Here is what we have so far:

Thursday, April 26th:

3:20-3:40 Ava Colette

3:45-4:05 (open)

4:10-4:30 Lucas

4:35-4:55 (open)

5:00- 5:20 (open)

5:25-5:45 (open)

Monday, April 30th

3:20-3:40 Adelaide

3:45-4:05 (open)

4:10-4:30 (open)

4:35-4:55 Maia

5:00- 5:20 (open)

5:25-5:45 (open)

Thursday, May 3rd:

3:20-3:40 (open)

3:45-4:05 (open)

4:10-4:30 (open)

4:35-4:55 (open)

5:00- 5:20 (open)

5:25-5:45 (open)

We will add on as many more days & times as needed until everyone who would like a conference will have one. Please let us know if none of the times above work for you so that we can coordinate a specific time that works with your schedule.

The WDS Annual Book Faire starts Friday, April 27th, and our fabulous Librarian and Library Teacher Robin Shornstein has been hard at work creating a magical and fantastic event for all to enjoy. This is a large-scale week-long event, and Robin will welcome volunteers who would like to help out in various ways. Please contact her at rshornstein@woodstockdayschool.org . Below are details from Robin:

The Book Fair is coming!
in the WDS gym

Opening Day – Friday, April 27th
(watch for Grand Opening details)

Book Fair Hours:
Friday, April 27th – Grand Opening, 2:00
Sunday, April 29th:  3:30 – 6:30
Monday thru Friday, April 30 – May 4: 7:45a.m. – 5:30 p.m.

The Book Nook Cafe will be open during Book Fair hours
Stay tuned for some exciting author visits and Book Fair events.

Grandparents/Special Friends Day is coming up on Friday, May 4th. This is a unique opportunity for extended family to spend an afternoon at Woodstock Day School and see first-hand what your children are doing. If you have not already filled out and returned to us the green Grandparents/Special Friend form please do so as soon as possible. Also, I ask that, if you do have a guest attending, please email me and let me know the name and relationship.  Below is copy off the invitation from the WDS Parent Association:

Hello Grandparents’ and Special Friends’,

The Woodstock Day School community is very excited to invite you to spend an afternoon with us at our wonderful school. Please join us on campus on Friday, May 4th at 1:00pm in the Bridge Building. We have activities planned for the whole school as well as for individual classes. This is also the time of year that the school hosts its fabulous book fair, which is the highlight of the spring semester. If you arrive before the scheduled 1:00pm please take the time to peruse the book fair and the cafe, as, all of the classes will still be in session.

To RSVP, or if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email us (the Parent Association) at
wds-pa@woodstockdayschool.org or call the school at 845-246-3744 and leave a message for Adrienne Zabriskie, head of the Parent Association. Many thanks and we look forward to seeing you there!

Final notes…

A reminder for you that every Wednesday the 4th graders continue to offer a pita hummus lunchtime snack for just $1.00! Let us know at morning drop-off if you’d like an order for your child.

Please continue to check weather.com each morning so that you can dress your child appropriately for that day. Layers that can best serve the varying spring temperatures are best. On the warmer/sunnier days, we will be applying sunscreen on your child; if you prefer us not to please tell us. If you have a specific brand that you would like us to use, please bring in a labeled bottle and leave it in your child’s cubby basket. Also we recommend a sun hat. Please continue to check your child’s extra clothing bin and refill as needed, and also bring back to us any WDS-NS borrowed items that went home.

Thank you!!

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WDS Nursery School Newsletter / March 28th, 2012

 

Greetings WDS Nursery School Parents and Friends!

Great news to pass along as we extend our warmest congratulations to Jasper and his family on the birth of baby brother Alexander Apollo, born last Wednesday March 21^st. All our best to Lana, Basil, Jasper, and baby Alexander… we’re so happy for them all  and can’t wait to meet our class’ newest baby sibling!

As our calendar welcomed the first official day of spring last week, the children embraced the freedom of being without winter clothing and the feel of the warm sun and air. Our children loved the spring weather we were gifted with last week, with some days actually being more unseasonably summer-like!  For our science class with Mary we took a walk in the woods, using our senses to observe various signs of spring. We listened to birds singing, spotted some green buds and stopped to smell some spring flowers.

In class we talked about weather and season changes, and, we’d been hoping for a windy day all week as we worked with our shape of the month creating diamond-shaped kites. Early on in the week we made a “teamwork” picture of many kites flying in the sky, and by week’s end we created our own actual kites from plastic bags. It proved to be the perfect day to try them out as we finally had a breezy day. We headed over to the center of campus, where we were greeted by 4^th-6^th graders who happened to be having their recess at the same time, and they were thrilled to join us and help our little ones give their kites a go.

 

This time of year can bring with it some crazy weather! Last week’s hot days made it hard to remember that we are still likely to have some cold days ahead of us in the mix. We ask that you please take a moment each day to check weather.com so you can appropriately select clothing for your child(ren) for the day. This past Monday’s unexpected bone-chilling wind got the best of us, and all the children were asking for mittens. For now, it may be best to just keep a pair of mittens and a hat in your child’s cubby basket, OR in the their extra clothing bag so that they have something on the colder days. A good rule of thumb for this time of years is layering… mornings are chilly so it’s wise to have a warm jacket…we can always go down to the next layer as needed in the afternoons. Again we must ask that you please take a moment to check your child’s extra clothing bag in the green cabinet in the cubby room. Each bag should contain the following: a light jacket or sweater, a long- AND a short-sleeved shirt, a pair of pants, tights for girls, socks and underwear. Please bring to school any of these items are missing from your child’s bag, and continue to regularly restock what is needed. And remember to please check at home for any items that may have have wound up going home with your child inadvertently such as mittens, hats, sweaters or (snow/)pants and please bring them in to us, as they may belong to another classmate, or they may be a classroom extra that we need returned to our bin.

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Parent-Teacher Conferences are this Friday, March 30^th, and there is no school for children. If you’ve not yet signed up for a timeslot, there are still some left! Here is how the schedule looks at this point:

9:00-9:15            Calder
9:20-9:35            Ike

9:40-9:55            Will

10:00-10:15        Guinness

10:20-10:35        Ben & Emme

10:40-10:55        Ava Colette

11:0011:15         Shea

11:20-11:35       Adelaide

1:40-1:55       Available

2:00-2:15            Henry

2:20-2:35       Available

2:40-2:55       Available

3:00-3:15       Available

3:20-3:35            Lucas

3:40-3:55            Lux

4:00-4:15            Mira

 If you have not yet signed up, feel free to sign up for one of the available timeslots above, or, to contact me to set up an alternative day and time that would work better for you.

We encourage you to arrange childcare together with the family signed up before or after you on the list above, such that you can watch each other’s child (outside on the playground weather permitting), while you are in the conference. Conferences are a mere 15 minutes long, and we would like to use our time to its capacity. We encourage you to bring any particular questions or thoughts, or, if there is anything in particular that you would like to discuss feel free to email me ahead of time. If you would like to connect with NS-3 Director Adrian Hood, or, and of our “Specials” teachers, let me know and I can try to arrange for a drop-by during your conference window or I can pass on questions and have answers for you at the time of conference. Fyi, our Adrian will be making rounds and dropping by periodically throughout the day and it could fall at a time when you are in conference.

WDS Summer Adventure

We hope that many of you are considering being part of our amazing summer camp experience, WDS Summer Adventure. WDS Families receive a 10% discount! In addition, for those WDS Families who have already returned their contract for next year, March 30^th is the last day to receive an additional 10% for a total 20% discount on WDS Summer Adventure. Please try to take advantage of this financial break by getting your paperwork in ASAP! If you need a new registration form, go to the Woodstock Day School website and click on Summer Programs / Registration, or, register by phone at 246-3744 X120 (where you will speak to Debbie!) and ask any questions you may have. Her camp office hours are on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-3. By the way, Julie, Caitlin and Lena will all be counselors within the 3’s / 4’s groups in camp!

Calendar

Wednesday March 28^th: Pita & Hummus Fundraiser every Wednesday. Purchase an order for $1.00 at morning drop-off and it will be delivered to your child at lunch time. Prepared fresh each week by the 4^th grade class.

Friday, March 30^th: Parent Teacher Conferences

Friday March 30^th: last day for “early registration” additional 10% discount to WDS Families for Summer Adventure program

Monday, April 2^nd-Friday, April 6^th: Spring Break SCHOOL CLOSED

 

 

 

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WDS Nursery School Newsletter / March 19th, 2012

 

Greetings Nursery School Parents and Friends!

Greetings Nursery School Parents and Friends!

In our classroom:

Last week was a fun-filled and very greeen week! We learned a little about Ireland, leprechauns, and St. Patrick’s Day while listening and dancing to traditional Irish music, having a look at maps and globes, learning about and making various art projects with a shamrock shape, reading books about St. Patrick’s Day, examining a clover plant, and making Irish Soda Bread. We were treated to Irish step dancing demos in class by our very own Caitlin Gallagher. On Friday Caitin wowed the entire lower school with a complete Irish step dance performance toghether with Upper School student Lanie Ecclesten. Caitlin also played us a beautiful Irish tune on her flute together with Cassie on violin. The children performed a brief last-minute shamrock poem at the gathering as well, using the puppets they had made.

We also explored our actual shape of the month, “diamond,” including discussions about how it differs from a square or rectangle, and we made collage, crowns abd paintings with diamond shapes. We even made diamond shapes with our bodies! We’ll be working a little more with diamond shapes this coming week….

Parent-Teacher Conferences

It is once again time for Parent-Teacher Conferences! Please mark your calendars as follows: Friday, March 30th, and note that there is no regular school for children that day in lieu of the conferences. This week you will find a sign-up sheet on the cubby room bulletin board… please sign up for a time slot that works best for you. We encourage you to arrange childcare together with the family who signs up before or after you, such that you can watch each other’s child while you are in the conference. Conferences are a mere 15 minutes long, and we would like to use our time to its capacity. You may want to begin thinking about any particular questions, or, if there is anything in particular that you would like to discuss feel free to email me ahead of time. Likewise, if there are any “Specials” teachers you would like to connect with let me know. I can either arrange for that teacher to come by during your conference or I can pass on questions and have answers for you at the time of conference. Fyi, our NS-3 Director Adrian Hood will be dropping by periodically throughout the day and it could fall at a time when you are in conference.

Reminders
A reminder… next time you are in the cubby room, please be sure to check your child’s extra clothing bag in the green cabinet, and, continue to check it periodically to see what it needs and refill it accordingly. Every bag should have: a short- and long-sleeved shirt, an extra pair of pants and/or leggings or tights, a sweater or sweatshirt, and extra socks and underwear. With temperatures expected to get quite warm this week, you may want to throw a pair of shorts in as well!

On this note, we ask you to please check at home for any items that may have gotten mixed up along the way during the busy winter months. If you have wound up with mittens or hats that aren’t yours, please bring them in, as they may belong to another classmate, or they may be a classroom extra that we need returned to our bin.

Friendship Tree
Have you seen our Friendship Tree in our classroom? It is located on top of the circle time bookshelf. It is a place for us to hang special information about “being a friend” in school. When we spot a child doing something special for a friend, we acknowledge it to that child as well as to the rest of the class, then we write about it on a small paper cut in that month’s shape of the month to hang on the tree as a “friendship ornament”. It could be something as simple as picking up something that a friend dropped and giving it to them, or something involving a deeper sense of recognition and empathy such as putting a gentle arm around a friend when that friend is feeling sad. Children need to practice in order to develop social skills, and it is through their daily interactions with other children that they can gain such practice. One of our roles as teachers is to help facilitate and encourage prosocial behaviors; we provide activities that help children identify various social skills, understand why the skill is needed, and that nurture that skill. Our friendship tree is a tangible example of how we reiterate to children the significance of prosocial behaviors in our community.

WDS Summer Adventure|
We hope that many of you are considering being part of our amazing summer camp experience, WDS Summer Adventure. WDS Families receive a 10% discount! In addition, for WDS Families who have already returned their contract for next year only, March 30th is the last day to receive an additional 10% for a total 20% discount on WDS Summer Adventure. Please try to take advantage of this financial break by getting your paperwork in ASAP! If you need a new registration form, go to the Woodstock Day School website and click on Summer Programs / Registration, or, register by phone at 246-3744 X120 (where you will speak to Debbie!) and ask any questions you may have. Her camp office hours are on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-3. By the way, Julie, Caitlin and Lena will all be counselors within the 3’s / 4’s groups in camp!

Calendar
Wednesdays, March 21st and 28th: Pita & Hummus Fundraiser every Wednesday. Purchase an order for $1.00 at morning drop-off and it will be delivered to your child at lunch time. Prepared fresh each week by the 4th grade class.

Friday, March 30th: Parent Teacher Conferences

Friday March 30th: last day for “early registration” additional 10% discount to WDS Families for Summer Adventure program

Monday, April 2nd-Monday, April 9th: Spring Break SCHOOL CLOSED

 

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WDS Nursery School Newsletter / March 11th, 2012

 

Greetings Nursery School Parents and Friends!

Classroom News:

Over the last week we were exploring and creating with our color of the month GREEN, and we introduced our new shape of the month diamond. Come on into the classroom to see the fabulously decorated walls of our back bathroom with your child’s artwork, and also, be sure to ask your child what two colors mix together to make green! This coming week be taking a look at Ireland, Irish culture and St. Patrick’s Day traditions. Even though St. Patrick’s Day is on Saturday this year, we encourage you to have your child wear something green to school on Friday just to be in the spirit of it!

We had our first school snow-closing days of the winter season the previous week, and, who knows… they may just well be the last! The children truly enjoyed this rare experience of playing, running and romping on our snow covered campus!

On that note, please be sure to check your child’s extra clothing bag in the green cabinet to see what it needs. We appreciate you periodically checking and refilling it as needed. At this point it looks like we are in for a nice spring-like week, though it is too soon to say if we’ve felt the last of winter-like temperatures all together, so, best to make sure there is both a short- and long-sleeved shirt as well as an extra pair of pants and/or tights or leggings. And as always, extra socks and underwear!

Each day our Nursery School is a different, wonderful and fun learning adventure! The children are learning through their exploration, play and use of senses within varied experiences in our classroom and on our campus. Social learning and development are woven throughout this daily learning, and are intertwined within other areas of development including cognitive, physical, emotional and linguistic. A recent pro-social behavior focus in our classroom is that of self-control, which includes learning to control impulses and tolerate frustration. This is a skill that evolves over time, and we teachers help to facilitate its development throughout the year using explanation, redirection, and modeling while providing repeated experiences for children to practice self-regulation and behavior adjustments. Research has shown children benefit greatly from effective, positive social play situations! Please feel free to ask any questions about this or any other topics that are on your mind, and note that parent-teacher conferences are coming up at the end of this month. A sign-up sheet will be posted on the parent bulletin board soon.

Some of you may have noticed our teacher schedule shifting. As we mentioned at the start of the school year, after the winter break Debbie would start wearing her other WDS hat as summer camp administrator more & more, and, in addition, Caitlin’s school schedule would be shifting in a way that would allow her to be in our classroom more. At this point through the end of the year the assistant teacher schedule is:
Caitlin M-F full days; Debbie Mondays full day; Lena T-F full days.

By now WDS contracts for next school year will have been filled and returned. Also within your contract packet that you received in the mail was a letter and registration form for WDS Summer Adventure camp. We hope that many of you are considering being part of this amazing summer camp experience. WDS Families receive a 10% discount! In addition, for WDS Families who have already returned their contract for next year only, March 30^th is the last day to receive an additional 10% for a total 20% discount on WDS Summer Adventure. Please try to take advantage of this financial break by getting your paperwork in ASAP! If you need a new registration form, go to the Woodstock Day School website and click on Summer Programs / Registration, or, register by phone at 246-3744 X120 (where you will speak to Debbie!) and ask any questions you may have. Her camp office hours are on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-3.

Calendar

Wednesdays, March 14^th, 21^st and 28^th: Pita & Hummus Fundraiser every Wednesday. Purchase an order for $1.00 at morning drop-off and it will be delivered to your child at lunch time. Prepared fresh each week by the 4^th grade class.  Thursday, March 30^th: Parent Teacher Conferences

Friday March 29^th: last day for “early registration” additional 10% discount to WDS Families for Summer Adventure program

Friday, March 31^st-Friday, April 7^th: Spring Break SCHOOL CLOSED

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February 25^th, 2012

 

 Woodstock Day School Nursery School Newsletter

 

Greetings Nursery School Parents and Friends!

 

We hope you all have enjoyed lovely “mid-winter” break time with your families!

 

The last week of school before the break was quite eventful, including a Valentine’s Day family brunch on Tuesday and an African drum/dance performance on Friday. Many, many thanks again to all of you who could attend either or both of these events, as well as for your brunch contributions. Huge thanks also to Guinness’s Dad Tom for taking over and manning the pancake-making station!! And thanks to all the children from all of us teachers for their delightful valentine’s to us. We enjoyed so much opening our own bags filled with special valentine’s, kind words, cookies, chocolates, and artistic creations. We feel so thankful to have such special jobs here in the WDS Nursery School, that shower us with so much love!

The drumming performance was wonderful, and whether your child was able to make it to performance day or not, every child had a chance to take part in the residency in some way. From the fall classes to the more recent winter classes, the children had become quite comfortable with the drums, and began showing real enthusiasm and enjoyment when playing them. They truly did a fabulous job in classes and at the performance.  Click on the following links for videos taken on performance day:

 

Drum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfNz56N7K_U

 

Dance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_La4N9r11gw

 

Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frhenj1dUzQ

 

(by the way these videos are available for viewing via youtube, but only to those who have the links above… they are not searchable on youtube…videos courtesy of my husband Dave Cook and his iphone!)

In our classroom before the break following our Valentine’s exchanges we began to explore “the mail,” and letter-writing. The children are so excited about“writing letters” to each other, putting their creations in envelopes, sealing them with “stamps” and delivering them to each other’s cubby baskets. They have also been writing to parents and grandparents, so don’t be surprised if you find an envelope or two in your child’s cubby as we continue our mail theme into this week. Children will also be encouraged to write to friends and teachers elsewhere on campus that they may know, and we can mail these letters in our campus mailbox. The mail gets picked up there & delivered every day throughout campus by the WDS first-grade class. This week we plan to write a class letter to Brooke, which we’ll bring to the main office for mailing to Florida. Later this week we will be welcoming in our new month, color and shape!

 

BLINDS

The most exciting news for us teachers is that, thanks to many of the parents of our classroom… we have BLINDS!!!!! We teachers are absolutely thrilled to have our new blinds up on our classroom windows. They are FABULOUS. We are sooo happy to no longer have to tumbtack six blankets on our windows in order to darken the room for rest-time! Special thanks to Sonya, Susy and Jen for spearheading this project, and to all parents for your financial and creative contributions, support and vision. We feel so blessed to have not only an amazing group of children in our class, but on top of that, to have parents who are so caring and generous… thank you all so very much!

 

Seed Orders

Last week you received catalogs from the Hudson Valley Seed Library. Here is a message about your orders from our campus Gardening Queen / 3^rd Grade Teacher Allison Mitchell:

 

It’s that time again.  Time to think green.  Time to think seeds.  Time for the third annual GREEN $EED$ FUNDRAISER to benefit the Children’s Garden at Woodstock Day School.

 

It’s very simple.  For every Art Pack that you buy directly from a student, 40% of that sale goes directly to our garden fund.  For every Seed Library Membership and/or Art/Library/Garden seed pack that you purchase on-line, we receive 25% of the sale for our garden fund.  Just be sure to enter WDS when prompted to for the GREEN $EED Fundraiser code.

 

It’s a win-win-win situation.  We get seeds.  You get seeds.  Another local business is supported.  We will be sending home the catalogs with the youngest child in each family.  There will also be extra catalogs in the Main Office.  We will be submitting our order on Wednesday, February 29^th.  Please have any Art Pack orders back to Allison in the 2/3 by then.

 

For extra information about the Seed Library, or to order online, go to seedlibrary.org

Playground and Pick-Up

This is a reminder to all parents regarding full day pick-up. Pick-up time is 3:00, and we are being asked by administration to put all the outdoor play items “away” by that time. Therefore, at 2:55, together with the children we’ll be putting smaller toys into the sandboxes, and the tricycles and larger trucks into the fenced / inset area outside of our art & nature room’s window. Children who are not picked up by 3:00 will be brought inside to start packing up, and after 3:05 they will be brought to aftercare in the bridge building. If you decide to play on the playground with your child after 3:00, we ask that you please put away whatever toys they were playing with before you leave campus. Playground toy request: Many of the buckets and shovels for the sand box break easily and need to be thrown away. We greatly appreciate any donations for sturdy buckets & shovels for our sandboxes.

 

Additional reminders….

 

Don’t forget about pita & hummus Wednesdays! This week and every Wednesday at morning drop-off you may purchase an order for $1.00 that will be delivered to your child at lunch time!

 

And please don’t forget the deadline for WDS contract submission is this Thursday, March 1^st. If you have any question about what class your child should be going into for next year, please feel free to speak with me or contact Adrian at ahood@woodstockdayschool.org .