First Church Preschool
MAY 2009 NEWSLETTER
Dear Parents,
It is hard to believe that May is here and next month school will be over. Don’t the flowers look lovely? Thank you for
your donations of bulbs this past fall. It is always so exciting and rewarding to see the beauty and color they bring us in
the spring. Along with flowers, spring also means it is clean up time! Thanks so much to the many parents who helped
us out, before the work day and this past Saturday, with the playground. It was a beautiful and warm day, with so many
friends and scouts volunteering, we were able to get most of it done. We have to thank our 5 year old daisy girls,
Emma Blake and Brianna Atwater, along with their troop and moms for donating and planting the azaleas in the front of
the playground.
The t-shirts will hopefully be ready the last week of May. An order sheet with the price and sizes available will be taped
to the sign-in desk. As with everything else, the cost for us went up.. Please pay with your order, $13.00 per shirt.
Checks can be made out to “1st Church Preschool”. Orders must be submitted by Thursday May 14th. Children’s
original self-portraits for the t-shirts are displayed on our hallway wall. You will be able to see the children’s continual
drawing progress and the developmental differences between each group. A sample of this year’s shirt color will also
be displayed once I get it.
We plan to be spending a lot of time outside over the next weeks, painting, gardening, picnicking, blowing bubbles, and
using water, so please keep extra summer/lightweight clothes available in change of clothes bags, and let us know of
any allergies especially to bee stings. You may want to apply bug spray and/or sunscreen to your child before they
come to school in the a.m. As the weather becomes hotter and children thirstier, we’d also like to keep water readily
available and as hygienic as possible, so having individual, labeled water bottles in cubbies is suggested. If you can,
please provide for your child a labeled water bottle (with a manageable cap) full of cold water each day. We will add
additional water as needed.
As the year is rapidly drawing to a close, we will be sending out our Spring update of the Preschool Assessment of
Performance Standards that chart your child’s growth and changes over the school year. Conferences will be starting
for parents who would like to meet with teachers to wrap things up. Sign up sheets will be posted for those of you who
are interested. Conferences are not required so if your questions have been answered please do not feel that you are
obligated to sign up. We are happy to meet with one or both parents if babysitting can be arranged but we request that
children not be present since we will be speaking about them and their performance.
Despite the last few cold nights, summer is just around the corner. Our Summer Program begins on Monday, June
22nd. You should have received the Summer Program information and registration forms. If you are interested in
participating, please complete and return the forms to me by June 1st. Three’s and Four’s and Pre-K children may sign
up for 2 - 8 weeks and for a regular schedule of days. The weeks do not need to be consecutive but your child must be
signed up for at least 2 days in a week. It is helpful to know our enrollment status as soon as possible so we can
schedule the appropriate number of teachers.
An herb garden was started by Marilyn (our Founder’s) a few years ago, and we would like to keep it going. One of her
former students revamped the garden last year as part of his Eagle Scout project. We would like to dedicate the
garden to Marilyn at our Goodbye Picnic for her many years of creativity, hard work, dedication, and for her
commitment to ensuring that parents and children have a safe and happy place to be and to learn. Any parent and
child that is interested may bring in and plant, with their child’s help, an herb (of their choice), that smells good or is
tactilely or visually interesting. Be sure to include a labeled marker with the child’s name and the plant’s name. We will
have fun watching our “smell and touch garden”, as it takes shape and grows!
We are closed on Monday, May 25th for Memorial Day. The last day of school here at 1st Church is Thursday, June
18th. The Goodbye Picnic, which provides closure for all groups, will be that evening at 5:30 p.m. If the weather forces
us to forego the picnic portion of the evening, we will meet in the Parish Hall at 6:00 p.m. We will have more details on
Field Day and the picnic as time draws closer.
We are closed the, Friday, June 19th, for Teacher-Clean-Up-Day. The Cheshire Public Schools’ last day will be
Tuesday, June 23rd. Kindergarteners may sign up for extra care hours for Monday, June 22nd and Tuesday, June
23rd, if needed.
Our enrollment for next year keeps fluctuating as families are forced to face the challenges of our current economy.
We have a 5 –day a week morning or full-day “boys” spot available in our 3’s room. If you know anyone who might be
interested in 2-5 days, please have them contact me. We also have an afternoon spot available in the 5’s room.
Thank you again for the many, many things all of you do to help keep our school running.
Dawn DeFeo