Three year old News: After a much deserved Christmas recess, the children were very excited to be back in school. The Audubon Society of RI visited our school and presented a program called The Mitten based on the book by Jan Brett. The children enjoyed the presentation very much and were treated to a special visit by a real live screech owl. We made winter bird feeders and enjoy watching the birds come and feed from these bird feeders. We had a special “Hat Day” where we were able to wear our favorite hat to school and share with our friends why our hat was special to us. We learned about bears and hibernation and celebrated this week with a Teddy Bear Picnic Day and brought in our own favorite teddy bears to join us. We finished up the month with a unit on snow and ice and penguins. We watched snow melt throughout the day as the classroom got warmer. We experimented with some snow in our sensory boxes. We painted with ice cubes and learned some new penguin songs and finger plays. January was a busy month.

Four Year Old News: The first week back to school we spent time reviewing what we had learned during the fall. Then we began our Signs of Winter unit and will continue that unit until Groundhog Day. We continued our number unit learning about the numbers 8 and 9. We began the alphabet unit which is my personal favorite. On Show and Tell days the children must find something at home that begins with the letter of the day and bring it to school to share with the class. Great reinforcement for the letter and letter sounds. During January we also began our Physical Education Program upstairs in the big room. This gives the children an opportunity to work their large muscles and move around in a larger space, this is very important especially in the winter months when we are unable to go out side as often. Child Outreach came to screen the children for hearing, vision, gross motor, speech and developmental growth. These screenings are free and a requirement for our children at St. Paul’s. SORICO will be coming in February to screen the children who do not live in North Kingstown.

Registrations are in full swing and we are now accepting deposits for September’s enrollment. We should know by the beginning of February how many spots are available for next year. Hope this New Year brings Peace to all.

God Bless, Linda