Grace Parent Newsletter
News About Grace Early Childhood
Greetings Grace Families,
Grace in the News: The Storytelling Project
In the Grace library, students develop a foundation for robust literacy through immersion in a rich oral language environment. In addition to enjoying chants, songs, stories, and fingerplays, students regularly participate in a story writing and acting experience known as the Storytelling Project. The Storytelling Project is a powerful language arts program that strengthens literacy and communication skills while empowering students to speak out, be heard, and listen to each other. To introduce the storytelling process, a teacher models by telling a personal story, often about her family or an experience that evoked strong feelings. Students are then cast as characters in the tale, and re-enact the story in the center of the circle. Finally, children are invited to tell their own stories and act them out in the center “stage”. Each preschool class gathers regularly to dramatize and share their stories. As audience members, children listen carefully to each others’ thoughts, often developing themes which share common threads. Over time, children use the stories to share important ideas, re-experience difficult moments, express their feelings, and even envision different endings.
One of the great strengths of the Storytelling Project is its ability to foster belonging and social connections. Through regular participation in this group experience, young children gain perspective. Because each student knows that he may be called on to play a part, he is invested and engaged in his friends’ stories, intrinsically motivated to listen carefully. When a student’s narrative strikes a familiar chord, his friends’ eyes light up and their faces glow in anticipation of the moment when they can share their knowledge of a similar experience. The practice of taking turns, listening to each other, and discovering common bonds creates a foundation for emerging empathy. Through the lens of story, young children develop compassion and tolerance for others.
Child Care Center
Spring is finally here, and the Child Care Center has sprung into action!
The Infant room is active with rollers, crawlers, and walkers. They have been having fun with colorful, baby safe "paint”and colored noodles. To make the "paint," they combined applesauce; food coloring; corn starch; and as always, they added a dash or two of fun!
Toddler I has been a hoppin with a unit on Frogs. Circle time is a favorite when reading “The Wide-Mouth Bullfrog” from our Music with Mar trainings.
Toddler II has been a whirl-wind of action with exposure to many science activities. They experimented with air movement of different objects with our new wind tunnel, were introduced to a homemade tornado, played with static electricity, and looked at shadows with rainbow lights. They enjoyed inviting their friends from Toddler I to join in on the experiments.
Ocean week was a real splash in Room 5. The children had fun learning about different ocean animals, making jellyfish, and playing with real beach sand and shells Ms. Lana brought back from her Myrtle Beach spring break trip.
Rooms 11 & 12- 2 Day Community Program
Thanks to the support and generosity of our families, we will be holding an egg hunt on the grounds of the outdoor classroom on Wednesday April 16th and Thursday April 17th. Parents and younger siblings are welcome to attend.
With only a few class days left, our preschool year is quickly coming to a close. Kindergarten screenings are underway and the Kindergarten Tour is scheduled for May 13th. The tour is a great opportunity to prepare your child for the next step in their educational life. Hope you can make it!
Rooms 2, 3, & 4- Preschool Program
Room 3 children read several books by Jon Klassen about hats and hunted around the classroom to make their own silly hats. Over the past few weeks, they enjoyed a literature study of books by Mo Willems featuring the characters Piggie & Elephant which quickly became classroom favorites as children memorized the familiar text and developed dramatic retellings of the story sequences.
Children in Room 4 participated in a variety of activities during Wacky Week as they practiced using observations skills to notice their peers that were wearing clothing backwards or inside out and exploring the classroom to discover twenty “wacky” things that were out of place. Students read several books that encouraged critical thinking as children came up with multiple ways to solve problems and think outside the box.
Enjoy the clip below from another one of our favorite authors as he reads an excerpt from his book “Stuck” about a little boy’s kite that gets stuck in a tree. Encourage your child to notice ways that the character tries to problem solve and see if your child can come up with his or her own unique ways to get the kite down.Room 6 & 7- Title I Preschool
Rooms 8, 9, & 10- Early Childhood Special Education
Welcome Spring!
Parents as Teachers
2014-2015 Preschool Screenings
Birth to Three Screenings
Success By Six Library
We will be up and running again by the end of August and hope to see you then. Thanks for your continued support.
Upcoming Events
April 18 & 21 Easter Break-No Classes - CCC closed / PAC open
April 22-25 Scholastic Book Fair
April 24 Messy Night
May 1 Field Day
May 6 Rain Date for Field Day
May 9 Grace Carnival
May 12-15 Grace Graduations - Check with teacher for date, location & time
May 13 Kindergarten Tours
May 15 Grace Last Day of Classes
May 16-30 CCC & PAC open
May 26 - Memorial Day - CCC & PAC closed
May 28 & 29 Preschool Screenings