Unity Preschool News

November 2022 Newsletter

Ms. Linda's Letter

Ms. Linda's Letter

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever. Psalm 107:1 - NRSV


Dear Preschool Families,


Thank you so much for donating food items for the Fort Mill Care Center to provide a Thanksgiving meal for Fort Mill families. Unity donated over 1300 pounds of food to the Care Center. Your donations are greatly appreciated. During our October Chapel time with our Pastor, Dr. Matt, the children had the opportunity to place the donations in our gathering area as you can see from the pictures below.


Although November seems to be the start of holiday stress, I hope you find some time to

contemplate your blessings and find gratitude in your daily life. Unity Preschool is especially grateful that you share your delightful children with us and we look forward to enjoying many Thanksgiving and Christmas traditions with them in the coming weeks. From our Unity Preschool family to yours, we wish you a safe and blessed Thanksgiving holiday.


Blessings,

Ms. Linda

Director - Unity Preschool


P.S. Please remember our "No School" days this month: November 8, 23 and 24!

Ms. Linda's Letter

Spirit Day - Thanksgiving Feast - Tuesday, November 22

Our Spirit day for November will be Tuesday, November 22! We will be celebrating with a delicious Thanksgiving Feast in our classrooms. Mr. and Mrs. Ronnie Dunn, two of our Preschool VIPs ("Volunteers Impacting Preschool"), will be helping us in the kitchen. If you are interested in providing either an item or a monetary donation to help cover our costs, please use the sign-up genius link below.


https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D49AEAB28A02-unity


Next Spirit Day is December 15: PJ Day - We will ALL (yes, Staff too) wear our pajamas and enjoy some Christmas fun. This is our last school day before the Christmas holiday.


Below are some pics from our Halloween Celebration Spirit Day in October.

Color Day - Go BROWN

Please wear BROWN next Thursday, November 10.


Our December color day is RED DAY on Thursday, December 8.

Teacher Feature

Teacher Feature

This month we are featuring one of our Three's teams: Ms. Becca and Ms. Brandi who teach the Monkey Class.


Ms. Becca Haltiwanger is in her third year at Unity Preschool. She is currently our Lead Teacher in our Three’s (Monkey) class and works with Ms. Brandi. Ms. Becca is a former second-grade teacher, turned stay-at-home mom, until rejoining the teaching world here at Unity!


Ms. Becca and her husband, Jeremy, have three children: Skylar, Reece, and Hattie who attend Fort Mill Elementary School. All three children are Unity Preschool graduates. Ms. Becca and her family are actively involved in the ministry of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Rock Hill.


Here are a few of Ms. Becca’s favorites:

Favorite Foods: Mexican and dark chocolate

Favorite Music: Country and Contemporary Christian

Favorite Book: “Redeeming Love” by Francine Rivers. This book shows God’s redeeming love and His grace towards us in a powerful way.

Favorite Movie: “Steel Magnolias”

Favorite Activities: Reading any chance I get, spending time with family, soaking up the sun, shopping, and getting manicures!


Ms. Brandi Laughter (rhymes with "daughter') and her husband, Brentley, relocated to Fort Mill a few years ago from the South Asheville area. They have three busy boys: Brent (16 - Fort Mill High School), Jack (11 - Tega Cay Elementary), and Will (9 - Tega Cay Elementary). All three boys enjoy baseball so Ms. Brandi's family can be found at the ball fields on most weekends. Ms. Brandi taught Preschool at Arden Presbyterian Preschool for four years and prior to that was a Pharmacy Technician. Ms. Brandi was a former Four's teacher at Unity Preschool but took last year off to courageously battle breast cancer. Now she is actively involved with the Nothing Pink organization serving as Prayer and Support Director. We are thrilled to have her return this year to help Ms. Becca in the Three's (Monkey) classroom.


Here are a few of Ms. Brandi’s favorites:

Favorite Foods: Salads, salmon and Mexican food

Favorite Music: Very little that she does not enjoy dancing to.

Favorite Book: "It's Not Supposed to be This Way" - Lisa TerKeurst

Favorite Movie: Hocus Pocus, Sand Lot, and a good comedy.

Favorite Activities: Doing activities with my family - kayaking, ball games, and family movie nights.

Teacher Feature
Unity Preschool VIPS - Doris and Ronnie Dunn

Unity Preschool VIPS - Doris and Ronnie Dunn

Unity Preschool has a VIP (Volunteers Impacting Preschool) program where members of Unity volunteer to help at the preschool. Some of our VIPS help in the Four's classroom each week during Center Time. Others help us with various projects including laminating, cutting, die cutting, etc. These are very special folks who make our jobs easier.


Two of our special VIPS are Ronnie and Doris Dunn, long-time Unity members. Doris is an organization queen and helps me brainstorm various ways to maximize our storage space in the preschool. She also helps with various special projects that we have. Ronnie has been our Feast Chef for several years. We are grateful for these special Unity Preschool Helpers.

Unity Preschool VIPS - Doris and Ronnie Dunn

Keeping Unity Preschool Healthy

We are seeing an increase in children's respiratory illnesses in our area, including flu and RSV. While we understand that runny noses and slight coughs are common this time of year, please keep your child home if they have the following:


*Extreme Congestion: If your child is having a hard time eating and/or sleeping due to a stuffed-up nose or has yellow or green mucus.

*Chronic Coughing: If your child is coughing frequently and or the coughing is causing your child to gag.

*Fever

*Diarrhea

*Vomiting


Unity Preschool follows the 24-hour rule. Please do not send your child to Preschool until they are symptom-free without medication for 24 hours. Masking a fever with Tylenol in the morning is not permitted. If your child has a fever and it breaks at 9 pm at night, your child should remain home the next day. If your child throws up at preschool and is sent home, they should not attend preschool the next day. If you are on the fence about whether your child should attend, err on the side of caution and please keep them home. They will likely enjoy spending the day more with you.

Preschool Needs

Preschool Needs

We treated our Staff to a coffee bar this year. If you have extra Keurig cups of your favorite coffee, tea or hot chocolate that you would like to share with us, we would be grateful.
Preschool Needs
Scholastic Book Order Update

Scholastic Book Order Update

Scholastic is back on track this year. We received our first book order within a week of closing out the order. Thanks so much for your orders. We were able to purchase several books for our Preschool Library. Holiday flyers will be sent home next week. We ask that orders be placed by Monday, November 21 so that we will receive them in time before we break for Christmas.


We had a great response to our Book Fairy campaign from our preschool families and friends and Unity congregation members! We will be able to purchase 8 books for each child this year, so watch for Thanksgiving and Christmas books coming home in backpacks this month and next.

Scholastic Book Order Update
Favorite Things Lists

Favorite Things Lists

Some of you have asked for gift ideas for your child's teachers. We have "Favorite Things" lists available for you. Simply send us an e-mail (preschoolatunity@gmail.com) and we will include a list in your child's folder. Holiday gifts are very much appreciated by our hard-working Staff, but are certainly not expected.
Favorite Things Lists
No School November 8, 23, and 24

No School November 8, 23, and 24

Just a reminder that we do not have school on Tuesday, November 8 (FMSD Election Holiday), Wednesday, November 23, and Thursday, November 24 (Thanksgiving Holiday).
No School November 8, 23, and 24

Miscellaneous

*Cooler Weather: Unless it is raining or really cold, we try to spend some time outdoors every day. Please send warm coats to school with your children so they can enjoy the outdoor time. You may also want to send fall/winter back-up clothes that we will happily change out if your child currently has shorts/t-shirts in their bag.


*Fall Back: Remember to set your clocks back an hour this weekend. Enjoy the extra hour of sleep:)!


*Tuition: Our next tuition withdrawal date will be Thursday, December 1.


*Newsletter Update: Our next and final Newsletter for 2022 will be Thursday, December 1

Unity Preschool Staff 2022-23

Big picture

Front Row - Left to Right:

Ms. Danielle (Twos), Ms. Brandi (Threes), Ms. Jen (Twos)

Back Row - Left to Right:

Ms. Kellie (Fours), Ms. Sarah (Fours), Ms. Linda (Director)

Ms. Maureen (Fours), Ms. Beth (Threes), Ms. Laura (Threes)

Ms. Becca (Threes) and Ms. Elizabeth (Fours)


**In the picture above, we are celebrating Ms. Brandi's cancer-free CT and bone scan!!

Unity Preschool

Unity Preschool

Unity Preschool
Unity Preschool does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship programs, and other school-administered programs.
303 Tom Hall Street, Fort Mill, SC, USA preschoolatunity@gmail.com 803-396-8454 preschoolatunity.com/