"Can I Tell You Something?"

Hello Yellow Duck Families,

“Can I tell you something?”

Have you heard that line at home? For the past few weeks, our ducks have been using that line with us. I (Ms. Shelly) realized that I say that a lot and they have picked up on it. I’m also reminded that these ducks are watching every move we make and listening to every word we say. We don’t take that responsibility lightly either. We have been singing and dancing alongside them, digging together in the sand, playing games, riding bikes, and listening to their stories from day one. They see and hear that we are 100% present. They have invited us into their world and we’ve accepted. Now we bring our worlds with us and expand their knowledge with all that we know, and BOOM, they’re off and running, oftentimes teaching us new things. Can I tell you something? Your children are amazing!

Who’s winning?

Let’s race!

We had a lot of F-words on Thursday. 😉

As a reward for reading the blog, I give you an adorable puppy picture. My dog, Lilja, had puppies five weeks ago. Here is one of them. Can you even?


THANKSGIVING BREAK - November 27-29. No school. Eat turkey 🦃!

Speaking of Thanksgiving, we are making apple pie, CCP style the day before our break. We will make applesauce and enjoy it with a graham cracker crust and some whipped cream. Because this is a celebration of sharing, would you please send in an apple of the crisp variety (Red Delicious, Pink Lady, Honeycrisp, etc.🍎) later next week or Monday the 25th or Tuesday the 26th? We will be ending our day Tuesday with this treat!

Please mark your December calendar…We will have our Preschool Christmas Concert on the last day of preschool before Christmas. It will be on Wednesday , December 18 at 9:30am in the Sanctuary. We will sing a few songs and tell the Christmas story. We will have our program at 9:30 and then everyone will go home with their families after the program. More details to come as we get closer, but for now, please mark your calendar for this special day.

Can I tell you one more thing? The year so far has been such a great one. As we look around our classroom on any given day, your children are excitedly engaged in whatever it is we’ve thrown at them. We are proud of how much they’ve all grown in our school garden so far this year!

Happy weekend!

Peace,

Ms. Shelly & Ms. Carina

Good Bye Pete...It's All Good!

Hello Yellow Duck Families,

Our Pete the Cat loft will be changing next week, but we had a good time celebrating the cool feline. We read his books, played a counting game with groovy buttons, and wrote a book. We took pictures of everyone’s “school shoes”, glued them on paper and everyone wrote their name under their shoes. There is a little “guess who” flap that hides their name so they can make a game out of reading it. The book is going home each day with a different duck to be read to their family. We hope you enjoy it!

We have been introducing shapes and solids to our Ducks. They are learning that a circle is a shape but a sphere is a solid. We have been looking at all of the everyday items that are solids. See if you can find some with your duck in your home. The next time you head to Target, don’t be surprised when your child points out the spheres at the front of the store!

ellipsoid, cube, circle, cone, ovoid, and cylinder

The letter D!

Letters, numbers, and reading will come, but we’ve been working on building a school family since September. This Conscious Discipline concept encourages intrinsic motivation, problem-solving, and connection. The following photo clearly demonstrates that this is now happening in the Duck class!

Connection!

NOVEMBER 11 - Preschool closed-Veterans’ Day. Thank you to all of our veterans for their sacrifice and willingness to protect our nation.

THANKSGIVING BREAK - November 27-29. No school. Eat turkey 🦃!

Please mark your December calendar…We will have our Preschool Christmas Concert on the last day of preschool before Christmas. It will be on Wednesday , December 18 at 9:30am in the Sanctuary. We will sing a few songs and tell the Christmas story. We will have our program at 9:30 and then everyone will go home with their families after the program. More details to come as we get closer, but for now, please mark your calendar for this special day.

Enjoy the long weekend!

Peace,

Ms. Shelly & Ms. Carina

Costumes and Parades!

Hello Yellow Duck Families,

Our Halloween parade on Thursday was so much fun! Everyone got to show off their costume all around Southern Village. It was good to see so many families join us. I know your children loved it! Thank you for coming.

After our parade we got to play some Halloween bingo. Everyone did such a good job of learning how to play it. We did have a winner who filled up their card first, but we then played until everyone’s card was filled. What an important lesson in losing gracefully and in patience.

It’s now November and as we head toward the holidays, the Yellow Duck classroom will be busy getting ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We have some “pies” to prepare, cards to make, and gifts to paint. Along the way we will be checking on the pumpkin seeds that we planted last week. We asked the children after carving the pumpkin what we should do with the seeds, and they wanted to plant some. So, we did! We planted seeds in a pot and placed it on the shelf near the window. Guess what? We have a pumpkin plant already! It came up so quickly and we didn’t even notice it until today.

A pumpkin plant!

We also observed the slow demise of a large pumpkin this week. We looked inside and saw mold growing and noticed that it was starting to smell. Someone actually wretched looking inside of it, so we knew it was time for it to go. We asked the children what we should do with it and we decided that it would go down to the playground to be monitored. It was very heavy so we had to get creative to get it down there. We retrieved a floor scooter and attached a string to it. They team-lifted the pumpkin onto it and rolled it out the front door and down the sidewalk, because everyone knew the wheels wouldn’t make it down the steps. All took a turn pulling it and we’re happy to say, it made it in one piece (it did fall over a couple of times 😊). We challenged these kiddos to think and do, instead of us doing it all for them. They can do hard things when given the chance!

“It smells like socks that have never been washed!” - Charlie

Pete the Cat has been hanging out in our loft area this week. He’s brought counting games and books on cds with him. Everyone is taking turns trying out the headphones or rolling Pete’s big dice. On Monday, we showed two of our friends how to make the cd player and cd work, and then each day they have passed on their knowledge to the next friends who wanted the experience too. What great teachers they have become and IT pros 😄!

“It’s all good!” - Pete the Cat

NOVEMBER 11 - Preschool closed-Veterans’ Day.

SCHOOL SPIRIT - On Wednesday, Nov. 6 we will celebrate “SCHOOL SPIRIT DAYS” at Christ Church Preschool! You can wear your CCP shirts or wear the class color - YELLOW!

NOVEMBER 3RD - It will happen in the cloak of darkness. It may steal your joy. It will be dark at 5 now. Don’t forget it’s daylight savings weekend. Yup, this is the best weekend isn’t it (said no parent ever)? May this go well for you all!

See you on the flip side!

Peace,

Ms. Shelly & Ms. Carina

Symmetry, Pumpkin Pounding, and a Fire Truck!

Hello Yellow Duck Families,

On Tuesday, the big, light blue Chapel Hill fire truck rolled into our parking lot. The firefighters taught us about 911, what to do in case of a fire, and what they looked like in all of their gear. We also got to peek in their firetruck and check out where they ride when they are going to help someone and see all of their equipment.

How do you keep a preschooler busy for more than 20 minutes? Place a pumpkin on the table and give them a small hammer and some “nails” (golf tees). What fun was had this week pounding on pumpkins and working our hand and finger muscles. As you can see by the faces in the pictures below, this was serious business!

We’ve started discussing symmetry is this week and how leaves and our bodies are built this way. We noticed that each side of our faces match, similar to how each side of a leaf does. On Wednesday, everyone got a small clipboard, some colored pencils, and a piece of paper with half of a leaf on it. They were asked to draw in the other side of the leaf to make it symmetrical. This was a difficult assignment, but everyone tried their best and we celebrated how well they did!

TRUNK OR TREAT will take place at the church office parking lot on this Sunday, Oct 27 beginning at 4:00. Bring your little ones by to enjoy a treat!

OCTOBER 31 🎾- We hope you can join us for our Halloween Costume Parade around Southern Village (inside if raining).  Please send your child to school in their costume and drop them off at the classroom at the regular time.  The Ducks will meet parents and special grown-ups outside in front of the church at 9:25 a.m. and start our parade with the Blue Whales class.  Families are welcome to dress up too.  Please help your child change out of their costume after the parade.  If you are OK with them wearing their costume all day that is fine too, but we will be our normal messy selves and play outside that day.

NOVEMBER 11 - Preschool closed-Veterans’ Day.

Cheers to another beautiful weekend! If you need me, I’ll be outside playing. 😁🍂

Peace,

Ms. Shelly Ms. Carina

The Art of Conversation

Hello Yellow Duck Families,


These past weeks we’ve spent time together as a large group practicing the fine art of conversation. Actually, the fine art of polite conversation. We placed an object (a toy hammer), that would provoke a story or comment from each child, inside a small gift bag. Then, we asked the children to take a turn peeking inside but not sharing what the object was. We made it all the way around the circle without anyone saying a word! Afterwards we passed the hammer around the circle and each child could tell something they knew about hammers. Everyone waited for their turn and everybody who wanted to share was able to do so respectfully. We heard:

“You can use it to pound in a screw.” (Don’t laugh, I’ve done it. Don’t tell me husband 😊)

“It has a handle.”

“You can hurt yourself with this part .” (The claw)

It was a beautiful site to behold. We will continue to practice having polite conversations both in large and small groups until the end of the year. It will be fun to watch how much they grow in this area.

Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.” - Emily Post

PUMPKINS! - Many thanks to those who brought in a pumpkin this past week 🎃. We made observations about the outside of a pumpkin such as its color, stem, and that it had lines on it. We made predictions about what we thought might be on the inside and all of them were correct. We also experienced how the democratic voting process works when everyone had an opportunity to vote on how to carve one of our pumpkins. The happy face won and no one was too disappointed when their choice wasn’t picked. There is that pivoting and flexibility in real time!

This week we have rolled out our whiteboard easel in our circle time area for some vertical writing practice. The children have access to dry-erase markers and have done a great job of making sure the caps are put back on. We’ve had some beautiful art and some letters! Writing or playing vertically improves a variety of different skills. It improves pencil grasp, shoulder/elbow stability, bilateral coordination, posture, hand/eye coordination, and the ability to naturally cross the midline. So much packed into this type of play! Here are some easy ideas for playing vertically at home:

Play with shaving cream on an easel or mirror Hang paper on the wall and put stickers on the paper Play with magnets on the refrigerator Coloring on all surfaces of a box, inside and out Squirting/wiping/squeegee-ing windows “Painting” a fence with water

Drawing a house

We worked on the letter L this week! How many things start with L in your house?

PHOTOS - Here is the link to view your child’s photos from Wednesday: https://davidgellatly.smugmug.com/SCHOOLS-2024. The password is pizza. There isn’t a bad picture in the bunch! We have such beautiful Ducks.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27TH - The Chapel Hill Fire Department will visit us next Tuesday and talk about fire safety and we may even get a close up look at their truck. This is all dependent on if they have no emergencies of course!

TRUNK OR TREAT will take place at the church office parking lot on Sunday, Oct 27 beginning at 4:00. Bring your little ones by to enjoy a treat!

OCTOBER 31 - We hope you can join us for our Halloween Costume Parade around Southern Village (inside if raining).  Please send your child to school in their costume and drop them off at the classroom at the regular time.  The Ducks will meet parents and special grown-ups outside in front of the church at 9:25 a.m. and start our parade with the Blue Whales class.  Families are welcome to dress up too.  Please help your child change out of their costume after the parade.  If you are OK with them wearing their costume all day that is fine too, but we will be our normal messy selves and play outside that day.

Bundle up baby, it’s getting colder out there! Enjoy this beautiful weekend.

Peace,

Ms. Shelly & Ms. Carina

Calling All Pumpkins!

Hello Yellow Duck Families,

Poof! Just like that, this week flew by. The Ducks enjoyed using our dollhouse, building with Magna Tiles on our light table, and scooping kinetic sand in the sensory table. We explored the letter S and thought of several words that start with it. We packed a lot of fun and learning into four days!

On Thursday, we took out our bikes and pedaled them round and round in our parking lot. Before the bikes could be ridden, they needed a good washing so out came the bucket and sponges. Soon, every bike was cleaned up and ready to go. Everyone did a good job of taking turns as we only have six bikes. Those who wanted to take a spin on a bike waited patiently for their turn. This was such a good lesson in teamwork and manners.

THE BIG BIKE WASH!

PUMPKINS - Next week we will be studying pumpkins. We will look at the outside, the slimy parts inside, and talk about all those seeds. If you’d like to send in a pumpkin, we’d be ever so grateful! Big, small, any color will do. Autumn gives us the best teaching materials, doesn’t it?

CONFERENCES - Thank you for making time in your schedules to chat about your child this week. I’m grateful for the kind words and encouragement you all shared with me. Know that Ms. Carina and I are enjoying each day we get to spend with your children, watching them bloom and grow.

NEXT WEEK…. We will have individual photos taken on October 16. The photos will be outdoors under the bell tower. We handle it all at school - you don’t have to be present. You will be sent a link to view the photos and to purchase them (optional.)

OCTOBER 31 - We hope you can join us for our Halloween Costume Parade around Southern Village (inside if raining).  Please send your child to school in their costume and drop them off at the classroom at the regular time.  The Ducks will meet parents and special grown-ups outside in front of the church at 9:25 a.m. and start our parade with the Blue Whales class.  Families are welcome to dress up too.  Please help your child change out of their costume after the parade.  If you are OK with them wearing their costume all day that is fine too, but we will be our normal messy selves and play outside that day.

COATS & CLOTHES - As the weather changes, remember to update your child’s change of clothes for the fall/winter. Also, we DO go outside everyday, so as jacket-weather approaches, please put your child’s name in the jacket and hat. Thank you!

Cheers to long weekends!

Peace.

Ms. Shelly & Ms. Carina

Welcome October!

Hello Yellow Duck Families,

We’ve seen some amazing things on the playground this week. Friends are inviting others around them to join them in their games and adventures. We’ve witnessed such patience while crossing our big building blocks. The monkey bars that have been daunting for some in the beginning of the year, no longer seem as difficult. We’ve had a couple of “ouchies” happen while running and when a child is in distress from it, our ducks coming running to see if that person is okay. We are noticing that they are forming a caring family and we love it!

Working together

We’ve had such fun with science this week! Thank you for your encouragement in this. We saw different leaves, sticks, pumpkins, flowers, an animal skull, and a frog. It has promoted such rich conversations during our circle time. It has also given those who are sharing, confidence about speaking in front of a group.

We’ve busted out the paints this week. Our easel now has tempera paint on it every day. Our friends have been painting families, houses, and rainbows and they are amazing! We also used watercolors when we painted our black crayon, leaf rubbings. They are hanging on our gallery wall outside our classroom.

Thank you to all who have generously purchased items off of our Amazon wish list. We, and the children are delighted by these surprises! It also helps stretch our budget during the year.

CONFERENCES take place next Tuesday/Wednesday, October 8th & 9th. We’ll meet in a small room across from the Duck hallway (there will be a sign). Ms. Carina and Ms. Melissa will be in the classroom with the children, and and I will be meeting with you. I look forward to chatting with you about your children! Here is the link to the sign-up if you still need to sign up: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080B4CAEAA2DA5F94-51503242-fall

LOOKING AHEAD…. We will have individual photos taken on October 16. The photos will be outdoors under the bell tower. We handle it all at school - you don’t have to be present. You will be sent a link to view the photos and to purchase them (optional.) The photographer, David Gellately, will also offer family photos on Saturday, Oct. 19. Debbie sent an email with more details & a link for you to sign up for family photos, but you can also see the sign up here.

OCTOBER 11 - Teacher training, preschool closed for students

OCTOBER 31 - We hope you can join us for our Halloween Costume Parade around Southern Village (inside if raining).  Please send your child to school in their costume and drop them off at the classroom at the regular time.  The Ducks will meet parents and special grown-ups outside in front of the church at 9:25 a.m. and start our parade with the Blue Whales class.  Families are welcome to dress up too.  Please help your child change out of their costume after the parade.  If you are OK with them wearing their costume all day that is fine too, but we will be our normal messy selves and play outside that day.

LOST & FOUND - We are trying to find the owner of this cute, navy blue sweater. It was found in our tunnel after school one day a few weeks ago. Please let us know if this looks familiar.

Is this your child’s sweater?

Congratulations if you made it to the end of this long blog.

Happy weekend!


Ms. Shelly & Ms. Carina

Lunch Bunch Begins!

Hello Yellow Duck Families,


Our first week of Lunch Bunch went very well! Everyone was able to distinguish their snack from their lunch easily. Thank you for your help with that. We’re hearing sweet conversations and new questions around the tables in our room each day we eat together. Never before have we seen such excitement about eating lunch!

Our collaborative art piece will be finished next week and will hang on our bulletin board above our writing table. It’s called “Layers of Leaves”. The children all painted a leaf a shade of blue and then pressed it onto blue poster board. Some children painted one leaf and others did several, and almost everyone had to wash the blue off of their hands. We also had a discussion about how leaves in nature are not blue, but in our imaginations they can be any color!

Carefully painting a leaf

Blue hands!

MATH

We traced our shoes this week and used squares of paper for measuring them. Each child glued the squares from the top of the shoe to the bottom. Then they counted up the squares and wrote the number on them. They are displayed proudly on our bulletin board by our book shelf!

Math is so much fun!

SCIENCE!

We would like to invite your child to bring in any science specimens they might find out in their corner of the world. Instead of a traditional show and tell, we prefer to do it this way. Everybody gets to play this way because most science is accessible and FREE! We learn about nature and your child gets a chance to share about what they brought. Last year, we had so much excitement about dead frogs, snake skins, butterflies, rocks, sticks, shells, flowers, and leaves, to name a few. We have a microscope for the tiny specimens if needed, and ways to creatively display some of the rare ones.

Some science that crawled into our room!

Hello Mr. Caterpillar!

ABCs

This year we will have many ways in which we will learn about the alphabet. We started with the letter A and will skip around the alphabet until we’ve finished. Recognition and sound will be practiced. The children will tell us what starts with the letter of the week and we will attempt to draw some pictures that start with that letter on our paper. They will be very badly drawn pictures but that’s part of the fun! The children will be able to use the white board throughout the day, writing vertically to help strengthen those hand and finger muscles. We also have a shelf that we will fill up with letters and the tiniest of objects that start with each letter. These can be held and then put back in their position when done. Auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners will hopefully, all be able to learn the alphabet better this way.

We learned about the letter A this week

CONFERENCES take place on October 9th & 10th. Each sign-up slot will be 30 minutes and we’ll meet in a small room across from the Duck hallway (there will be a sign). Ms. Carina and Ms. Melissa will be in the classroom with the children, and and I will be meeting with you. I look forward to chatting with you about your children! Here is the link to the sign-up if you still need to sign up: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080B4CAEAA2DA5F94-51503242-fall

LOOKING AHEAD…. We will have individual photos taken on October 15 & 16. The photos will be outdoors under the bell tower. We handle it all at school - you don’t have to be present. You will be sent a link to view the photos and to purchase them (optional.) The photographer, David Gellately, will also offer family photos on Saturday, Oct. 19. Debbie sent an email with more details & a link for you to sign up for family photos, but you can also see the sign up here.

OCTOBER 11 - Teacher training, preschool closed for students

Hopefully, you made it through today safely and are ready for some drier weather. I know we are! See you Monday.

Peace,

Ms. Shelly & Ms. Carina

Chapel and Music and Movement Begins!

Hello Yellow Duck Families,

What a busy week we’ve had! Each center is filled with Ducks taking turns building, creating, and thinking. Geometric rubber band boards made some interesting shapes. Scissors worked hands and fingers in our sensory bin filled with natural materials. Peg art boards had to be twisted and squeezed to make a duck, butterfly, or flower. Crayon rocks that encourage proper hand grip are in our writing center, and tempera paint sticks have made some beautiful art.

On Wednesday, Chapel started and we can now connect our brief bible readings in our classroom with our time with Pastor Lee! On Thursday, we enjoyed Music and Movement with Ms. Vicki. We moved and grooved for thirty minutes using our voices, bodies, and some instruments. There is never a dull moment at CCP!

LUNCH BUNCH - Next Monday, September 23rd, will be our first Lunch Bunch day. If your child will be staying with us on Mondays and Wednesdays for lunch, please remember to send in both a nut/sesame-free snack and a lunch. We have found that keeping the snack labeled as such, helps your child and us to know which is which. We will have lunch during this time much the same as we do our snack. Pick-up time will be an hour later at 1:00. If your child isn’t ready for lunch bunch (some may not be ready to stay longer and that’s ok), maybe try later in the year to start.

ART - Next week, we will come together to create a large collaborative art project. We’d love for you to collect a few leaves with your child and send them in to help with this creation. It will also involve paint. So, be sure to as always, send your Duck in clothing that can get messy!

CONFERENCES take place on October 9th & 10th. Each sign-up slot will be 30 minutes. Ms. Carina and Ms. Melissa will be in the classroom with the children, and and I will be meeting with you. We will let you know more details as we get closer to our conference days. I look forward to chatting with you about your children! Here is the link to the sign-up: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080B4CAEAA2DA5F94-51503242-fall I will send you an email with the link as well.

LOOKING AHEAD…. We will have individual photos taken on October 15 & 16. The photos will be outdoors under the bell tower. We handle it all at school - you don’t have to be present. You will be sent a link to view the photos and to purchase them (optional.) The photographer, David Gellately, will also offer family photos on Saturday, Oct. 19. Debbie sent an email with more details & a link for you to sign up for family photos, but you can also see the sign up here.

Friends at school are the BEST!

Enjoy some drier days this weekend!

Peace,

Ms. Shelly & Ms. Carina

International Dot Day

Hello Yellow Duck Families,

We had a wonderful first, full week together. We were very busy Ducks, exploring our classroom, checking out our outside play spaces, eating together, and beginning to get familiar with our new classroom routines. Everyone is doing a great job of learning everyone’s names and lining up to travel to all the places we go during our short time at school. Occasionally, you might see your child struggle to fit things into their little cubbies. Before you jump in to rescue them, encourage your child to try it themselves first. Almost every time, they will figure it out and beam with pride in their accomplishment! You will too! Often times, the opportunity to struggle is a gift.

International Dot Day is on Sunday. So, to celebrate we read the book, “The Dot”. Its beautiful message to children is that wherever they are with their art, it is a masterpiece. Dot art was made by all, and every child signed their masterpiece just like any famous artist would. They are hung on our bulletin board above our writing table as you enter our room. Focusing on dots was simple and helped even those who struggle with art, to step back and see value even in a dot!

Creating our dots!

Please check out the self portraits in the hallway by our room. The children used pencil and crayons to create them.

“A self-portrait is an intimate, bold declaration of identity. In her self-portrait, a child offers herself as both subject and artist. When we look at her self-portrait, we see a child as she sees herself. The story of self-portrait work is a tender story to tell."  - The Language of Art: Inquiry-Based Studio Practices in Early Childhood Settings by Ann Pelo.

A new tea set showed up this week from our Amazon wish list (thank you Karie)! We’ve been enjoying every kind of tea you can imagine. If you’d like to order something for the Duck class, feel free to use the QR code. No pressure to do so. It’s there for those who asked if we needed/wanted anything for our classroom. 😄

REMINDERS:

-Be sure to check out our class photos to see what we have been up to this week. You can access the ducks blog page in the parent portal on the school website using the password CCP-2024-25 (remember…our photos are password protected to keep our children safe. DO NOT copy & share any pictures that include children other than your own, please). We will continue to keep our play-based learning environment simple and welcoming for the next few weeks, focusing on providing each child with opportunities to move, discuss, sing, read, observe and create. Can you see these important areas of growth developing in the class photos of your child?

~Next week, we will join Pastor Lee for chapel time. He will give a short message, sing some songs and pray with us. We are grateful for the time he spends with us each week. This is also the week that we start our first music time with Ms. Vicki.

~September 23rd is our first Lunch Bunch! Please send in both a labeled snack and lunch with your child. Having them separate helps them (and us) know exactly what is supposed to be their lunch for that day. Please remember that we are a NUT/SESAME-FREE school when packing your snack and lunch.

-Near the end of the month we will practice our first fire drill. It will be very low key and non-threatening. First we will read a little book that we wrote about fire drills at CCP. Then, Ms. Debbie will ring a little bell in the hallway for our first practice. Typically, it’s not a big deal. We clap and praise the children’s efforts at knowing how to be safe.

-If you haven’t sent in your family photo yet, please do so. Our family tree is filling up. We have had several conversations about the people in our families this week and it helps us learn more about your duck.

Cheers to the weekend! Remember always to hit that read on link…

Peace,

Ms. Shelly & Ms. Carina

A New Beginning!

Hello Yellow Duck Families,

It was just wonderful to see our Yellow Duck friends together in our classroom this week. Each one of them did an amazing job of dealing with the big task of saying goodbye to their families and a new beginning with their teachers. Any first day nerves disappeared very quickly and each one of our yellow duck friends had a great time exploring their new classroom and saying hello to some new friends.

Each day you will be able to see new updated photos of our classroom fun if you click the classroom photo button on the Yellow Duck class blog page on the CCP website. Looking at these photos with your child is a great way of stimulating conversation about school, feelings and friendships.

DISMISSAL:

Thank you for waiting in the hallway until we bring your child to you. We work on last names, parents’ names, pet names, etc. to make it fun. Each child is noticed this way and it reinforces our desire to know them well.

FAMILY PHOTO:

Thank you to those who have sent in their family photos. If you haven’t done so yet, please send one in via email or a physical copy.

BLOG:

Some of you have asked how to add an email address to receive the blog posts from us and Ms. Debbie. You can add an address yourself! Here are the steps....

1 - Go to our website, www.christchurchpreschoolnc.com

2 - Click on parent portal and put in the password CCP-2024-25

3 Go to your class page and scroll down the right side of the page until you see "Subscribe to our mailing list"

4 - Put in the email address where you want to receive the blog post.

5 - Go to Debbie's page and do the same process to receive Debbie's Thursday night post.  NOTE:  You have to sign up on both Debbie's page AND your class page to receive both posts. 

GROUP EMAIL:

All emails should now be in our group email from the ccpyellowducks@gmail.com, as we put your addresses into that on our end.

This week we read the book, “ishi, simple tips from a solid friend”, by Akiko Yabuki. It is a book about a rock named ishi (rock in Japanese), that reminds readers to choose and share happiness. It’s an awesome way to spur conversations about different emotions and how to work through them. We all made our own ishis (with permanent markers 😉) and we sent them into the world to pass on kindness.

And speaking of kindness…thank you very much for all the love you showed me (Shelly) on my birthday. Gift cards, cards and sweet drawings, all made me feel special ❤️. What a sweet surprise for the first week of school!

Hoping your weekend is filled with kindness and rest!

Peace,

Ms. Shelly & Ms. Carina

Welcome!

Hello Yellow Duck Families,

What a great time we all had on our playground during our playdate! We got to meet new friends and start to learn names and faces. Promise to be patient with us as we become familiar with you all during drop-off and pick-up.😊

QUICK REMINDERS:

~ The first day may require a few more minutes together. Beyond that, try to make your drop-off time short but sweet. Give a quick affirmation of love and that you will return at the end of class, and a kiss or hug. After that, make your way to the door. If your child seriously struggles for a longer time, we will call you. We promise. Hopefully, struggles will be minimal and our morning will be filled with exploration and new adventures together.

~ At the end of every blog that is sent to your email, is a “read on” button. PRESS IT! You will be able to see the blog in its entirety that way. You can read it in your email but several things will not show up such as videos, photo galleries, etc.

~ If you need to respond through the blog, please use the “click here to email Shelly directly” button. If you don’t use that button, Ms. Debbie ends up getting the email and then has to forward it to us.

~Be aware that several of our families have elected to not share their children’s image publicly. If you download a photo from our album or snap a shot during a birthday celebration, please do not share it via social media or any other public venue. Please pass this information on to anyone you might privately share photos with (ie. grandparents). Thank you for your understanding with this matter.

~ We are nut/sesame seed-free school. Please do not send any food in that contains nuts (tree and peanut) or sesame seeds (ie. hummus) so we can keep all of our friends safe.

Visitation Information

Tuesday, 9/3 9:00am-12:00pm

Ivy Rose, Lucy, William, Charlie, Madeline, Reese, Jackson

Wednesday, 9/4 9:00am-12:00pm

Loen, Brooklynn, Wesley, Eloise, Micah, Zoe, Winnie

~Last, but not least, would you please send in a FAMILY PHOTO? You can either send it along via email or with your child next week. Having a picture of you really helps with the transition from home to school for those who might have difficulty do so.

 Thank you for your time last night at orientation. We hope you feel informed and have some peace of mind having your greatest treasure in our class.

Have a long and restful weekend and we look forward to seeing you all next week!

Peace,

Ms. Shelly & Ms. Carina