March 30-April 3

Dear Sunshine Families, Last week: The library field trip was great! I hope everyone enjoyed it. We have been signing a few of the songs we learned during story time, including Rolly Polly and Go Bananas. In class we worked on our auction art piece. We will continue working on it this week and hope to have it completed by Friday. This week: This is the last week before spring break. We will not have class next week, April 6-10. We will continue talking about spring weather and flowers. We will also discuss what art is; I'm looking forward to hearing the kids' ideas about art. We will take their lead on this and provide many materials to create art with! Park Playdate: As the weather gets nicer a few parents have expressed interest in getting together at Shumway Park to play after school. I wanted to extend the invitation to everyone. Weather permitting we could go to Shumway Park; across the street at VSAA on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Families can pack picnic lunches and enjoy some time together. Fundraisers: Tickets go on sale this week! Please plan to come enjoy a grownups night out! The auction will be held at Big Al’s and is an adult only event. Ticket prices are $18 a person or $34 or a couple. The auction runs from 5:00-8:00 pm! We would like to have all auction basket donations turned in this week so we can begin putting together the baskets. If you would like to help put the baskets together for volunteer hours let me know. Volunteer Hours: If you would like to stay during class time to help with die cutting or laminating let me know! Classroom Donations: We are in need of a few items. Baby wipes, lysol wipes and hand sanitizer. Thank you for any contributions! Word Wall: The letter this week is ‘Q’. Kids can bring in things that begin with the letter ‘Q’. Teacher Tasha April 6-10 Spring Break April 18 Auction at Big Al's (5-8pm) May 19 Journey Theater presents "Suessical Jr. @ 9:30 May 25 Memorial Day- No School

March 16-20

Dear Sunshine Families, Hough Saint Paddy's Parade: Tuesday we will be participating in the Hough Saint Paddy's Parade. We will release from class at 11:45. We will be serving a hearty snack in class but it's probably good idea to pack a lunch. We will meet at Hough Elementary (1900 Daniels St) after school. The parade route is an easy walk, strollers and wagons are welcome. Even if Tuesday isn't a school day for you please plan to join us for the parade, it's a great community event! Last week: We had so much fun making all of our yummy snacks and reading Laura Numeroff books. We even listened to some stories on tape and danced to "The Mouse Cookie"! This week: We will jump into Eric Carle! We will read The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Tiny Sees, Brown Bear, Brown Bear and The Very Busy Spider. Last week the kids painted with mixed colors, we will use these to create our Eric Carle art! Family Pancake Breakast: We will be hosting a pancake breakfast for our families! Come enjoy breakfast made by your teachers and check out the art show the kids are working on putting together! We will be serving breakfast at 8:00 this Saturday!! The book fair will also start on Saturday. This is another great way to support our school; every book purchased brings new book into the classrooms! Fundraisers: The next scholastic bookfair starts on Saturday, during our pancake breakfast. It will run all week long before, after and during school hours. If you are unable to come to the breakfast make sure to check out the bookfair during the week. The Usborne Book fair is still going on, they have great books available and every order helps bring new books to the classrooms. Look in cubbies this week for a flier with the online ordering informations. Tickets go on sale this week! Please plan to come enjoy a grownups night out! The auction will be held at Big Al’s and is an adult only event. Ticket prices are $18 a person or $34 or a couple. We will begin collecting basket items this week! The sign up sheets are out for the auctions baskets, I will start collecting items at any time. Our goal is to have the baskets put together before we leave for spring break. Donations for these baskets are voluntary, but they are really fun to put together. If anyone is interested in helping to put the baskets together once the donated item are brought in let me know! Word Wall: The letter this week is ‘T’. Kids can bring in things that begin with the letter ‘T’. Teacher Tasha Dates to remember March 17 Hough St Paddy's Day Parade March 21st Family pancake breakfast March 21-27 Book Fair April 6-10 Spring Break April 18 Auction at Big Al's

March 9-13

Dear Sunshine Families, Last week: Dr. Suess was a hit! Most kids liked green eggs and ham and enjoyed reading all the silly stories! We painted feet but still have some to work on the week so we will continue that. This week: We will be reading Laura Numeroff, the author of "If you give a Mouse a Cookie". We will read a different story each day and will have an activity for each one, some days will be a cooking project and others will be non-food. Monday- If you give a Moose a Muffin, we will make muffins Tuesday- If you give a Dog a Donut, non-food doggy donuts Wednesday- If you take a Mouse to the Movies, we will have popcorn Thursday-If you give a Pig a Pancake, we will make pancakes Friday- If you give a Mouse a Cookie, make cookies The kids will each have an opportunity to tell a story similar to the Laura Numeroff stories; this will be an open ended story telling experience. I'm excited to hear their ideas! Family Pancake Breakast: We will be hosting a pancake breakfast for our families! Come enjoy breakfast made by your teachers and check out the art show the kids are working on putting together! We will be serving breakfast at 8:00 Book Bags: If books that are brought home are on need of repair let us know, we try to keep them in good shape but they get a lot of use and sometimes need some help! And if you have any extra books you are needing to clear of your shelf we always take book donations! Fundraisers: The Usborne Book fair is still going on, they have great books available and every order helps bring new books to the classrooms. Look in cubbies this week for a flier with the online ordering informations=. The preschool auction is coming up in April and it’s time to start planning for it! The auction will be held at Big Al’s and is an adult only event. Ticket prices are $18 a person or $34 or a couple. Tickets go on sale next week, March 16th! We will begin collecting basket items this week!The sign up sheets are out for the auctions baskets, I will start collecting items at any time. Our goal is to have the baskets put together before we leave for spring break. Donations for these baskets are voluntary, but they are really fun to put together. If anyone is interested in helping to put the baskets together once the donated item are brought in let me know! Word Wall: The letter this week is ‘S’. Kids can bring in things that begin with the letter ‘S’. Teacher Tasha Dates to remember March 17 Hough St Paddy's Day Parade March 21st Family pancake breakfast March 21-27 Book Fair April 6-10 Spring Break April 18 Auction at Big Al's

March 2-6

Dear Sunshine Families, Last week: We were so busy with Leo Lioni! We read two books each day; he has so many great ones so we squeezed in an extra book each day so we could read them all! The kids' Leo Lioni illustrations are out on the hall; they look so great! This week: This week we will read Dr. Suess. Also known as Theodore Geisel, Dr. Suess celebrated his birthday on March 2nd, so to celebrate we will have green eggs and ham in class on Monday. We will spend the week reading his silly stories and coming up with some of our own. The kids will make their own Cat in the Hat hat's and help design an new hat for the cat. Family Fun Night: Family Fun Night was a huge success! It was great to see so many families there as we celebrated Dr. Suess's birthday! We will continue the celebration this week as we read Dr. Suess books and do fun activities. Outdoor Play: The weather looks great for much of this week! We will play outside each day that it is not raining! Please send kids in clothes that can get dirty because they play hard out there! Also, close toed shoes are best or keeping rocks and gravel out! It can be very uncomfortable to have a shoe full of rocks. Book Bags: If books that are brought home are on need of repair let us know, we try to keep them in good shape but they get a lot of use and sometimes need some help! And if you have any extra books you are needing to clear of your shelf we always take book donations! Fundraisers: The preschool auction is coming up in April and it’s time to start planning for it! The auction will be held at Big Al’s and is an adult only event. Ticket prices are $18 a person or $34 or a couple. The sign up sheets are out for the auctions baskets, I will start collecting items at any time. Our goal is to have the baskets put together before we leave for spring break. Donations for these baskets are voluntary, but they are really fun to put together. If anyone is interested in helping to put the baskets together once the donated item are brought in let me know! Work Wall: The letter this week is ‘R’. Kids can bring in things that begin with the letter ‘R’. Teacher Tasha

Feb 23-27

Dear Sunshine Families, Last week: The kids had so much fun finishing up the Mo Willems unit! I know they did great while I was out last week, I will be back this week and we will start reading Leo Lioni. This week: We will start reading Leo Lioni. This beloved children's author uses torn paper collage to illustrate many of his books. His stories are about friendship and community; which we will talk about this week. The kids will have opportunities to recreate some of the characters in the Leo Lioni stories we read including Frederick, Swimmy, A Color of His Own and Little Yellow and Little Blue. They will also work to create their own torn paper collage. Family Fun Night: Our next family fun night is this Friday from 5:30-7:00! Come join us as we celebrate Dr. Suess's birthday! We will have fun crafts, games and a dance party. We will not be serving any food at this event. I hope to see you there! 2015-2016 Registration: Registration is in full swing, if you haven’t registered for next school year you can do that at any time. Also, if you know any other preschool age children looking for preschool for next year send them our way! Book Bags: Book bags need to be brought back each day if kids want to check out a new book! Outdoor Play: The weather looks great for much of this week! We will be out for playtime each day, it is a good idea to dress kids in layers. Sometimes the heavy winter jackets are too much to wear on the warmer days and kids take them off, if they have a sweatshirt or light jacket on also then they will still be comfortable outdoors! I don't think bikes will be out just yet so helmets don't need to be brought. Fundraisers: The preschool auction is coming up in April and it’s time to start planning for it! The auction will be held at Big Al’s and is an adult only event. Ticket prices are $18 a person or $34 or a couple. It is a tradition to make a classroom basket that will be auctioned off, this year we would like to put together a beach bag and an ice cream basket. Donations for these baskets are voluntary, but they are really fun to put together. I will have a sign up out for them this week. If anyone is interested in helping to put the baskets together once the donated item are brought in let me know! Work Wall: The letter this week is ‘Q’. Kids can bring in things that begin with the letter ‘Q’. Teacher Tasha Dates to remember Feb 27 Family Fun Night March 17 Hough St Paddy's Day Parade March 21st Family pancake breakfast March 21-27 Book Fair April 6-10 Spring Break April 18 Auction at Big Al's

Feb 16-20

Dear Sunshine Families, Reminder: There is no school this Monday, Feb 16th in honor of President's Day! Last week: We had so much at our pj parties! We watched Dont Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and Pigeon Finds a Hotdog. We also make really cute handprint pigeons and the kids came up with their own idea about what the pigeon can't do! This week: We will continue reading Mo Willems books, this week we will read Knuffle Bunny and Elephant and Piggie. We have a fun Piggie project and hot dog craft. We are also working on handprints to add to a school wide handprint quilt that will be on display in the library area. I will be out of the classroom Wednesday-Friday, Teacher Shannon will be in class with Vanessa while I am out. Laps for LAPSK: We had a great turn out for this event and boy was there a lot of energy! It was so fun to get in some exercise as we raised money for our school! Our next family fun night is coming up next week, February 27th. Mark your calendars, we will have fun celebrating Dr. Suess's bday! 2015-2016 Registration: Registration is in full swing, if you haven’t registered for next school year you can do that at any time. Also, if you know any other preschool age children looking for preschool for next year send them our way! Book Bags: Book bags need to be brought back each day if kids want to check out a new book! Outdoor Play: The weather looks great for much of this week! We will be out for playtime each day, it is a good idea to dress kids in layers. Sometimes the heavy winter jackets are too much to wear on the warmer days and kids take them off, if they have a sweatshirt or light jacket on also then they will still be comfortable outdoors! I don't think bikes will be out just yet so helmets dont need to be brought. Fundraisers: The preschool auction is coming up in April and it’s time to start planning for it! The auction will be held at Big Al’s and is an adult only event. Ticket prices are $18 a person or $34 or a couple. This is going to be a fun night; I hope everyone can make it! It is a tradition to make a classroom basket that will be auctioned off, if anyone has a great basket idea we’d love to hear it! In class will create a work of art to be auctioned off as well! Work Wall: The letter this week is ‘P’. Kids can bring in things that begin with the letter ‘P’. Teacher Tasha Dates to remember Feb 16th No School Feb 27 Family Fun Night March 21st Family pancake breakfast March 21-27 Book Fair April 6-10 Spring Break

Feb 2-6

Dear Sunshine Families, Last week: We finished our winter and snow/ice themes last week. The kids had so much fun exploring insta-snow, make mirror paint mittens and using ice paint! This year we haven’t seen much snow and ice so it was really fun to explore those things in class! This week: Each week for the next 2 month we will learn about a different author! This is one of my favorite learning units to do with kids; we will read books from many different authors and create works of art based on the illustrations. The kids will lots opportunities for storytelling and writing throughout this unit! We will start the Pete the Cat Books! We’ll read Pete the Cat: I love My White Shoes, Pete the Cat: Rockin in My School Shoes and Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons. We have some really fun crafts to go along with these stories and a story telling opportunity for the kids. It’s going to be a fun week! 2015-2016 Registration: Registration begins this week, on Wednesday. We have a first come, first served number drawing starting at 8:45. Registration isn’t usually to overwhelming but if you are particular about the class and days you’d like I recommend getting there on time to register. If you still have questions about classroom placement for next year please let me know! I’d be happy to discuss with you the classroom options available. Fundraisers: Laps for LASPK pledge sheets are in cubbies. This is our next fundraiser, we will set up a lap course that the kids will walk, run, hop or skip around. It's a great way to incorporate fitness and raise money our school! Laps for LAPSK will be held on February 12. The preschool auction is coming up in April and it’s time to start planning for it! The auction will be held at Big Al’s and is an adult only event. Ticket prices are $18 a person or $34 or a couple. This is going to be a fun night; I hope everyone can make it! It is a tradition to make a classroom basket that will be auctioned off, if anyone has a great basket idea we’d love to hear it! In class will create a work of art to be auctioned off as well! Work Wall: The letter this week is ‘N’. Kids can bring in things that begin with the letter ‘N’. Teacher Tasha Dates to remember Feb 4th In house registration Feb 6th Open registration Feb 12 Laps for LAPSK Feb 16th No School Feb 27 Family Fun Night March 21st Family pancake breakfast March 21-27 Book Fair