Butterfly Tales
Parish Day School
Director's Corner
Once again, we have been blessed with a wonderful PTA team under the leadership of Stacie Kite and Lauren Faisant. They have been planning over summer and have already helped our teachers during teacher training week by providing breakfast and a gift card for "start up" supplies. They have sponsored Parent's Night Out and have two restaurant fundraisers at The Baker's Crust, and Chipotle scheduled.
They are now busy at work preparing for the Fall Festival on Saturday, October 28th from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. We will have crafts, games, activities and a costume parade followed by Trunk-or-Treat at 12:00 pm. Tickets are $10.00 and are on sale now. Please see a PTA member in the hallway or any of our administrators if you would like to purchase tickets (Kristen, Jeanie, Libby, or Donna). The tickets will also be on sale at the event for $12.00. Each classroom has made a beautiful basket to be raffled during the festival, raffle tickets are one for $5.00, or five tickets for $20.00. We hope that everyone has a chance to come to the Fall Festival and/or participate in the raffle! Thank you to the PTA team led by Molly Vaughn who has put so much time and energy into preparing what looks to be the best Fall Festival yet!
As the winter months approach, please remember to bring a weather-appropriate change of clothes for your child's cubby, as well as a jacket, hat, and mittens or gloves. We want to make sure they are ready to explore the great outdoors in the cold weather.
We would like to remind everyone about a few of our policies. For the safety of our children, please remember to refrain from parking in the bus loop in front of our building from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm. Also, hold your child's hand as you enter and exit our preschool through the hallways.
Thank you for all the love, support, and prayers that you have poured into our school, we truly have the most amazing parents. We do not take it lightly that you have entrusted the care of your child to us. We are so thankful for the opportunity to teach them and watch them grow spiritually, academically, and emotionally. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.
Blessings,
Kristen Whalen & Jeanie Leaverton
CLASSROOM NEWS!
News From the Twos by Vicki Kirby
Ms. Gross, Mr. Dutzer, and I feel we have had a wonderful start to our school year! We have had some tears but they are happening less and less as we get into our routine. Music with Mrs. Woodall , and library has just begun with Mrs. Greaves. We are learning to share and make friends. Sometimes that is hard to do, and takes time and practice to realize others are “people” too! This is a very normal two-year-old perspective!
We will be having fun with several different themes in October and November, such as; Fire safety, Farm life, Halloween and Families. Please make sure to read your child’s class newsletters for more specific details about that particular class!
The Thriving Threes by Susie Fleenor
Our first month of school has been exciting! We have learned about different centers and routines in our classrooms, and have met many new friends. We love our playground where Ms. Berkley keeps us safe, and Mrs. Woodall and Mrs. Macedo have already taught us a lot about music and movement.
We have shared stories and drawings about ourselves and our families and talked about similarities and differences. Many of our friends are learning how to identify their names when they sign in each morning and when they look for their name on the job chart.
This month, we will explore all of the wonderful characteristics of Fall. We will notice the weather will start to change, the leaves will be falling and we will explore pumpkins in a variety of ways. Each class went on a field trip to Flanagan Farm where we met a real farmer and learned how crops grow.
Thanks to all of you for arriving promptly every morning, signing in and out each day, taking your child to the bathroom and washing hands before entering the class. We love how you show your support for our PTA by bringing in Box Tops, logging you receipts with Shoparoo, attending "Spirit Nights" and participating in the many other fundraisers they host! We are looking forward to watching all of the children bloom and grow this year!
The Fabulous Fours by Jennie Lutz
The fours have had a great start to the year! We have spent a lot of time getting to know each other, our teachers and our school. We have been exploring our new classrooms and enjoying all of the fun activities planned for us. In October, we worked on letters and letter sounds. We learned the letters B, M, P and H. We have been working on how to print the letters, identify the letters and learn the sounds the letters make. Some of the themes we will touch on this Fall are Apples, Pumpkins, Spiders, Bats, Halloween, Giving Thanks, Indian/Pilgrims and Thanksgiving. We look forward to our four-year-old Thanksgiving show and hope everyone can make it. We know this is going to be an amazing year and we look forward to getting to know you and your child!!!
Awesome A.S.K. by Tracey DeLasAlas
We are off to a great start this school year! The children are becoming accustomed to ASK, have made new friends, and have settled into our routine. During October and November, we are going to explore themes such as Fire Safety, Fall, Apples, and the life cycles of various insects and animals. We are also working on supplementary topics for our younger ASK students such as letter sounds, practicing writing upper and lower case letters and sight word recognition. Our older ASK students get to release some of their energy by playing out on the playground and getting time to unwind by doing activities in the classroom with the ASK staff. We are looking forward to a fun and exciting year with all of our ASK students!
The Lending Library By Linda Greaves
Lending Library
The Lending Library started October 2nd and your child has, or will, come home with a book in a PDS bag. The bag also contains information about the importance of reading to your child. Please keep the information but return the book each week in the PDS bag. Your child will then be able to check out a new book to bring home and share with the family. Remember, children who are read to beginning at an early age are more successful in school!
Parent Lending Library
The Parent Lending Library is located in the hall by the small chapel. On the shelves are a collection of books that we hope will inform and assist you in parenting your child. Please feel free to check these books out and take them home. Instructions for checking out these books can be found on the shelves. If you have questions concerning our Parent Lending Library please see a staff member and they will be happy to assist you.
Music Class By Carol Woodall
Children LOVE music!! The exciting part about music is that they learn so much from participating in music. This fall we will learn how to ‘keep a beat’, develop language and dexterity skills using lyrics and instruments, increase listening abilities - all while we are having fun!
My goal is to help your child appreciate music—whether it is singing silly songs, listening to pretty tunes, or wondering what instruments make those particular sounds. I want to open their minds to a variety of different kinds of music. This month in music class, we will begin by listening to different ‘melodies’ and try to ‘name that tune’. We will be learning new words to express our music and playing some of our percussion rhythm instruments.
One of our favorites has been the “Itsy Bitsy Monkey” - (the same melody as “Itsy Bitsy Spider”) who climbed up the coconut tree? Down came a coconut – and bopped him on the knee! OWWWW! (favorite part!!) Along came Momma, who gave him a great big hug! And the itsy bitsy monkey climbed up the tree again.
These days, everyone has access to music in some fashion, so I thought I would mention some of my favorite children’s musicians to check out; Dr. Jean, Laurie Berkner, Mr. Eric & Mr. Michael, Alison Faith Levy, Caspar Babypants, and The Learning Concepts Station. If you are looking for some short, fun videos that teach music concepts, check out www.MusicK8.com Plank Road Publishing channel.
Be sure to ask your child what was new this week! And as always, feel free to stop in and visit me in the music room!
Movement Class By Kristen Macedo
We have been moving in our Movement Class! We have spent the last four weeks working on our balancing, jumping, skipping, catching and throwing skills. We have navigated an obstacle course, climbed a beanstalk, gone apple picking, danced, popped popcorn and washed clothes in a parachute, performed animal yoga and introduced guided meditation to the children. For the month of October, we will be having fun with dinosaurs, pumpkins and celebrating all things Fall with a focus on improving our gross motor skills!
Events At A Glance
Oct. 28th— PTA Fall Festival 10am-12pm
Oct. 30th & 31st--Wear Orange and Black
Nov. 2nd & 3rd—PDS Spirit Days, wear your PDS t-shirt!
Nov. 7th– Election Day, PDS OPEN! (VBCPS Closed)
Nov. 9th– PDS Spirit Night at Chick-Fil-A, 5pm-8pm
Nov. 10th-Veteran’s Day, PDS Closed (VBCPS Closed)
Nov. 16th– PDS Spirit Night at Panera Bread, 5pm-8pm.
Nov. 17th– Parent’s Night Out, 6pm—8:30pm
Nov. 22nd– PDS Closing at 12:20 pm, for all students
Nov. 23rd & 24th– PDS closed for Thanksgiving Break
Nov. 27th– PDS resumes classes
Dec. 7th and 8th- PDS Spirit Days, wear your PDS t-shirt!