Welcome to Bethlehem Lutheran Church

Preschool Director's Newsletter

February 2010

   “A friend loves you all the time.”       

Proverbs: 17:17

Dear Parents,

I am so excited that February is here!  It means that winter will soon be over (we hope!), friendships are celebrated and the hectic preparation for our annual Spaghetti Dinner/Silent Auction/Raffle Night will keep all of us too busy to notice the high amount of snow that is still out there.

Despite January’s cold weather, teachers here were able to make it enjoyable for the children.  In the All-Day Preschool rooms, the children made “love bugs” and painted with white finger paint to create winter scenes. In the Large Preschool room, the children graphed “who wears mittens and who wears gloves?”.  The Pre-K and 4-5’s Mixed-Age enjoyed creating penguin collages. Besides keeping the children engaged, these fun activities also promote many areas of development.

Many more fun activities are planned for the month of February.  Children have started making special Valentine’s Day boxes or bags to collect all those fun cards they will be receiving from friends, and are also working on special friendship and Chinese New Year’s crafts. In addition, the Kane County Forest Preserve will be here to do an onsite field trip on “insects”.  Before we know it, February will be over and spring will finally be here!

As the weather gets warmer and the chances that we will go outside more often increase, please make sure that your child comes to school with boots, snow pants, hats, and gloves/mittens. Playing outside is so much more fun when they are dressed for it.  Children missing snow pants or boots may be required to play on the blacktop to prevent them from becoming wet and uncomfortable.

Vision and hearing screenings, scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 23rd, and Wed, Feb. 24th will also be fun days for the children.  The testers will play “matching” games with the children for the vision screening, and “listening” games for the hearing screening.  If you have not done so, please turn in your payments for these state mandated screenings as soon as possible.  For our part-time children in the All-Day Preschool program, your child will be screened on the day that he/she is here, even if his/her class is not scheduled to have the screenings done that day.

 

Closing reminder: Half-Day Preschool will CLOSE on Monday,

February 15th for President’s Day.  All-Day Preschool will remained Open.

 

REGISTRATION FOR SCHOOL YEAR 2010-2011 has started.  If you have not done so, please register your child as soon as possible.  We want to make sure our currently enrolled students have priority.  Limited openings are still available in our morning classes.  Hurry!  If you know any friends or neighbors who are looking to enroll their children in preschool, please pass the word. We do offer a referral program here. If the referred family enrolls, you will receive a $100 tuition credit after that family’s has been enrolled for one month. Thank you to those who have been giving great referrals!  We value your support! (Scholarships are also available for families needing financial assistance. Please come to the office for more information and to pick up an application.)

Spaghetti Dinner/Silent Auction & Raffle Fundraiser Night

Friday, March 19th, 2010

4:30-7:30 pm

A letter from the Ministry Team has gone out, but you will be getting more reminders about opportunities to volunteer as the event gets closer. Volunteer sign-up sheets are now posted on the entrance bulletin board (and parents are already signing up! Thanks!). The funds we raise will go toward our Scholarship Fund. With the way the economy is, Bethlehem wants to make sure that children are given the gift of learning during these hard times.  If you have any items/services/certificates that you wish to donate, please let me know.  In the past, we have always asked parents to donate pasta and/sauce, and/or desserts to assist with the event.  However, a generous company, Ricanto, has offered to supply all the sauce and pasta for this event. We will only need desserts or “cake walk” items this year. We are so grateful!  If you wish to help with the donations or volunteer, please sign up on the board.  We appreciate any help we received.

The classrooms are also busy putting together their “themed baskets” to be auctioned off at the event.  Letters have gone out from the teachers.  If you did not get the information, please see your child’s teachers.   Last year, we raised over $7,000 to help with our scholarship fund.  Much of the funds have been used and will need to be raised again.

Classroom “Themed Basket” this year: (Donation sign-up sheets are outside your child’s classroom.)

4’s ADPS: Picnic Basket

5’s ADPS & Pre-K: Kitchen Basket

3’s Large: Summer Fun

3-4’s Mixed-Age: Fun & Games

4-5’s Mixed-Age: Crafts & Art

4’s Large: Movie Night

Donation of items/services received so far:

Pheasant Run: 1 night deluxe accommodation stay

Museum of Science & Industry: Family passes for 4

St. Charles Park District: “A day at Pottawatomie Park” (pool & miniature golf passes, hot dogs & drinks for 4)

Wok-n-Fire: Gift certificate

Heinz Brothers Greenhouse: Flower, plaque, consultation time, gift card

Classic Cinema: 4 movie admission passes

Grimm’s Hallmark: Gift certificates

Shedd Aquarium: 4 VIP passes

Aldi Corporation: Variety of home goods, kitchen gadgets, appliances, toys, chocolates, etc.

St. Charles Heritage Museum: Basket of items from the museum

Naperville Heritage Society: Family Admission passes

Lori Smerz & family: Little Tikes Cozy Coupe II

Funway Entertainment: Family passes for 4

...and many, many more!

Again, thank you for your support and involvement in our preschool.  The children, staff, Preschool Ministry Team members, and I truly appreciate all your help!

Love & Laughter,

Pong Sayasane

Director

 

 

Contact the Preschool at (630)584-6027