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St. Stephen’s Preschool has its own blog. This enables us to keep all the communications of the preschool in one place. By looking at this site, you can keep up not only with what your children are doing in the classroom, but also with what is happening in the school and with the families of the preschool.

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St. Stephen's Preschool

THANK YOU!!

Thank you one and all for being part of the St. Stephen’s Preschool community this year! We look forward to seeing many of you in a week for camp, but we couldn’t let this day pass without a big hug and a big thank you. Happy Summer!

St. Stephen's Summer Camp

Calling all Campers! Camp begins Monday, June 4 at 9:00. No carpool for camp. See you then, let's have fun!!!

Atrium Update

Monday May 20th, marks the last day for the children in the Atrium of "The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd." During this school year, I have been so blessed to be in the Atrium with them, getting to know them and offering God's Word to them through Scripture readings and working with the materials. God sends us many gifts throughout our lives and one of the greatest gifts that I have received is listening to God with them. Some call me teacher, but as any Catechists will tell you, the only teacher is God and He teaches us in wonderful and mysterious ways. Thank you so much for sharing your children with me. I look forward to seeing them during the summer in and around the church.

Peace of the Good Shepherd, "Miss Sandy"

"But, Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me; for of such is the kingdom of
heaven." Matthew 19:14

5 Day Update: May 21st-25th

It is hard to believe that our last week of school is here!!! What a busy year it has been!!!

Friday was an exciting day for our 5 Day students…. Yes, we released our beautiful butterflies. It was really exciting to see them take off and be free. Like our butterfly friends, we have been discussing the transitions we will all be making for next year. This week we will be talking about our favorite things from the year.

Just a few reminders for you…

1. Our end of the year program will be held on Thursday, May 24^th starting at 10:00am. Marion will share a few words with us and then we will be serenaded by the Red, Blue, Green and Yellow rooms. The program will end around 11:00. PLEASE come to your child’s classroom after the program to pick up your child and then you can return upstairs together for the reception. There will be NO CARPOOL pick up on Thursday for any student!!!

2. Our final day of the school year will be on Friday, May 25^th. We will have a regular dismissal time at 12:00. Because we will be handing out bags with your child’s work from the year, PLEASE let us know if your child will not be at school on Friday!!!

All of us from the 5 Day classes would like to express our sincere thanks to all of our room mothers and volunteers who so generously gave their time this year and helped us out in so many ways! You truly make our jobs so much easier and we greatly appreciate it!!!

Finally, for those of you who will be leaving St. Stephen’s for kindergarten, we wish you every success in the coming years. Please come back and visit!!! For those of you that we will see again next year, we look forward to working with you.

Have a wonderful summer!!!

Fondly, Your 5-Day Teachers

Summer Supplies Drive for Peter Paul Development Center (PPDC) May 10th -24th

This summer, PPDC will host 60 children aged 2^nd grade through 7^th grade for summer camp. PPDC is within a one-mile radius of the city’s four largest public housing projects where the average income in these four communities is less than $8,000 per year. The children will have the opportunity to swim at Roslyn and St. Catherine’s for several weeks and are greatly in need of the following:

- new or like-new goggles

- sunscreen spf 15 or 30

- new or like-new water bottles

Bins will be located in the main hallway of St. Stephen’s Preschool, or send in items during carpool. Also
appreciated: lotion for post swimming (any size including hotel-size), new or like-new flip flops, sunglasses, beach towels, and visors.

TMO Th, F Update: May 17th-25th

It's hard to believe we're down to just a couple of weeks of school. We have been very busy. Spirit Day was a huge success. The children did a great job marching in the parade with the 5-day children. Each child created his/her own flag and waved it proudly. They have so much more confidence!

Your children are quite the gardeners. They enjoyed planting their flowers and they have thoroughly enjoyed watering them over and over again - sorry about the wet clothes! The children remember where they planted their flower and are very proud to show you exactly where they are.

Our caterpillars have arrived and they are getting FAT!! We have made egg carton caterpillars and will wrap them in their own cocoons. We are reading the VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR by Eric Carle and we have plastic replicas of each stage to complement the story. It's very exciting to see them in the chrysalis stage (their "sleeping bags") and to then watch them hatch and emerge as beautiful butterflies. The children will be thrilled when we release them in the garden - especially if they land on one of their flowers - I'm sure you will hear all about it.

We are also continuing our talk about different kinds of babies and their mothers. There are so many new ones in our families to talk about (great timing!) In honor of Mother's Day, we are reading "IS YOUR MAMA A LLAMA?" and "THE RUNAWAY BUNNY." The children have enjoyed playing with our finger puppets of a mother blue bird and her nest of babies. They all want to pretend to feed them.

Our classroom has definitely become more lively. It is filled with the children's energetic interactions. The conversations are so funny and we have loved watching friendships develop. Your children have grown up so much. We thank you for sharing your precious ones with us.

Nancy and Christine

5 Day Update: May 14th-18th

Happy Mother’s Day! We hope all the mothers enjoyed their special gift. The children enjoyed the process of picking out the colors that mom would like and then using their thumbs to stamp the
petals of the flower.

The live caterpillars are hanging out in their chrysalis in the yellow room just as we have read in Waiting for Wings (a book by Lois Ehlert). We expect their arrival very soon! Several weeks ago each child made a clothespin caterpillar that is now wrapped in a “chrysalis.” When the butterflies emerge the children will each get to unwrap their caterpillars and turn them into a butterfly.

At the large art table, in the Green Room, children are making wings using dot dot markers filled with watercolors to decorate their coffee filter wings. Each child will add his/her wings to the clothespins to complete the metamorphosis. Remember to ask your child for updates on the butterflies this week. Make predictions about what day they think they will emerge from their chrysalis.

Just like the caterpillars are getting ready for a big change so are the 5 day students. Everyone will be in a different class next year and many in a new school. We will begin talking about where we will all be next year and the feelings associated with that change. The Green and Yellow Rooms will also get to learn about school bus safety on Thursday when a Richmond City school bus will come to SSP!

Reminders

The End of the Year Program is Thursday, May 24^th at 10:00 am. There will be a reception with light refreshments afterwards.

Last day of lunch bunch is Wednesday, May 23^rd!!!

Our Condolences

Our sympathy is with Leslie Bien and her entire family as they deal with the death of her father, Dr. Manuel Mendez on May 12, 2012.

END OF THE YEAR PROGRAM - MAY 24

The end of the year program for the Red, Green, Blue and Yellow rooms will be Thursday, May 24^th at 10 a.m.  You won’t want to miss seeing your child sing and please join us for an end of the year reception that will follow. Hope to see you then.

Videographer Needed

Amateur videographers needed now!  If you could help produce a video of the St. Stephen’s program, please let me know.  I am working with Dale Edmondson to create a video highlighting choice as a tool for early childhood programs and need help!