First Church Preschool
December 2009 Newsletter
Happy December! It will be a month of change for us as we bid farewell to Ms. Cristina. We will all miss her and
wish her the best. I know she will be visiting and will remain in touch. We are also happy to welcome our new 3’s
teacher, Dawn Cestaro, who started today. Hopefully you will have an opportunity to meet her. I truly believe the
transition will be smooth but we are here to support you and your children, in whatever way is needed.
It is time for another lengthy newsletter. Our pie sale was successful and certainly much easier than previous
fundraisers. Hopefully yours was as good as ours. Thanks so much to all those who bought, sold, unloaded,
bagged and delivered what was purchased! We sold enough pies to net a profit of $1400 for our program! A
portion of that will be added to the Marilyn Donovan Scholarship Fund that we are working hard to build. The
purpose of this fund is to eventually have enough reserve built up to use interest earned to assist families in need
with tuition costs. All contributions are tax deductible, so if know anyone in need of a tax write-off tell them about
us.
We really appreciated the wonderful variety of fruits, vegetables, breads and muffins for our sharing tables before
Thanksgiving. Thank you moms and dads for your help with the set up, serving, and cleaning. Children enjoyed
choosing and trying new foods, as well as things they were familiar with. They also enjoyed singing, sharing our
thankful thoughts, and eating together in the Thanksgiving spirit.
It is starting to feel like winter out there. In order not to get caught by surprise and thus unprepared for any early
SNOW, please try to get a backup plan ready now for that possibility. I wanted to remind you of our snow policy
as stated in the Handbook. We follow the Cheshire Public School schedule, and are closed when they are closed
for snow days for reasons of safety and liability. Please listen to your radio or television (WELI 960 and Channel
30 are very efficient) in the early morning for announcements about Cheshire public schools.
There is a 90-minute delayed opening for Cheshire schools. However, our delay is only 1-hour. On days when
school is delayed we will open at 8:30 a.m. for the children normally scheduled to arrive between 7:30 and 8:30,
and 9:30 for the morning program children. Morning Kindergarten at Darcey is cancelled when there is a delayed
opening. We try to accommodate families with morning kindergarteners in need of childcare. It helps to know in
advance. Please make arrangements with me or Miss Cindy if you think you will need us.
We attempt to run the rest of the day as usual.
If public school has an early dismissal because of severe weather expected later in the day, we will be calling
parents to come, as soon as they can, so everyone will be able to travel home safely. When the public schools
dismiss early, afternoon kindergarten will be cancelled. Parents should arrange to pick up their children as soon
as possible. We do have a refund policy if more than 3 snow days are used.
We hope there will be some enjoyable snow again this winter (just not too much). We go outside everyday (even
if only for a short while), except in severe cold (below 10° F) or rain. We are requesting that in preparation of the
cold and mud, you send in labeled hats, snow pants and mittens, each day. Gloves can be frustrating, especially
when fully dressed, and are not always as warm as mittens). Please be sure to send in separate outside shoes or
boots, regardless of whether or not there is snow on the ground. Full gear keeps children drier and warmer
outside. In the interest of convenience and safety, it is best to have slip on snow boots or heavy outside shoes
that are warm and can get dirty for use on the playground. Upon entrance back into the building we all change
from our outside footwear into easy slip on shoes and should be something that children can put on themselves
(Velcro sneakers are best). We are asking for shoes, not slippers for inside use, as slippers proved somewhat
dangerous and slippery here. These are only worn inside, hopefully keeping sand, salt and mud to a minimum,
and socks dry.
Please try to keep all your child’s things labeled. 50 pairs of boots or sneakers and mittens can all look amazingly
alike in the hubbub of getting dressed. Also, younger children often do not recognize what is theirs. It is a
formidable task to dress and undress 36 children daily, but outside playtime remains very important and exciting,
especially if we have snow. Please try to keep change of clothes bags stocked, especially with lots of dry socks
and extra pants for the winter days ahead.
We all know ‘tis the season … for illness. State health regulations require a strict illness policy, both to keep sick
children home to more quickly recuperate, and to keep the spread of germs down, so we will not continue to re-
infect each other. Please remember children must be home for 24 hours after beginning antibiotics for infections.
Also, children should be fever and diarrhea free for 24 hours or 1 day home, before returning to school. Staff,
are not invincible from all of these germs, as we wipe noses etc., and substitutes cannot fully fill our shoes, so
please try to follow these guidelines. If your child is not yet up to managing in a full group please keep them
home. It will keep us all healthier and happier!
Parent conferences have been going on this month in all classes. You will also be receiving performance
standards for your child. These are the standards that are set as part of the Connecticut Preschool Framework
Assessment. It is meant to provide benchmarks. We recognize that the information provided is simply a snapshot
of your child’s time here and know that we often do not see the same child you see at home. There are skills that
you have the pleasure of watching your child develop and master that are not always demonstrated during an
assessment. So please, don’t get intimidated by these forms or the information. Use them and the conferences
as an opportunity to share information about your child’s growth and development!
Reminder, regular December tuitions are all due by the 10th to avoid a late fee. Our last day of school is
Tuesday, December 23rd with a 4:00 closing time. We are closed for the holiday break December 24th through
January 4h. It is an extra long time, so be ready, we may go through some separation struggles when we return.
Some thoughts about these next weeks ahead; this can be a very hectic and exciting holiday time. Children do
respond to all that is going on around them. We will slowly let some of the December excitement into our
classrooms, with the symbols of the season and songs, and provide some special art activities as a way to focus
the excitement, but generally try to keep things as calm as possible -- a sort of refuge from the storm. This in
itself is a challenge, as energy and excitement, and even anxiety, mount daily the closer we get. We do plan to
cook potato latkes and make gingerbread, recognizing the events surrounding us as we move closer to the
holidays. Children in the 4’s Room will be sharing their own family’s holiday traditions as we explore differences in
beliefs and celebrations among us in this season.
Finally, looking to the future, you should have received our new application. I am accepting next year’s request
from our current 1st Church Community this month, and from new families beginning January 4th, on a first come
basis, so please get your application in as soon as possible. If your child will be participating in the 5’s program,
please let me know if they will also need to be put on the bus at 8am or will be returning to First Church after
attending Darcey for p.m. kindergarten.
Cindy, Maura, Karen, Brenda, Caryl, Kimberly, Renee, Lisa, Cristina, Dawn C. and I wish you all a warm and
loving holiday season and a happy, healthy New Year!
Dawn