From the Desk of the Director by Dr. Mandy Medvin (email: medvinm@westminster.edu)

Our preschool advisory board meeting was held on Thursday, October 19. In brief, at the meeting we reviewed our NAEYC accreditation report from last year and discussed preschool staffing, ongoing projects at the preschool, college student involvement, and current preschool goals for 2017-2018. We also received some valuable ideas for questions to add to a survey that we send to all preschool alumni parents at the end of the kindergarten, particularly in the area of parent-school part-nerships. Our thanks to our T/Th representative-Joanna McClelland, our MWF representative-Michelle Dudash, an interested parent-Chris Kohler, and WC faculty for their support and suggestions.

M/W/F Class Head Teacher's Notes by Debi Roud (email: roudds@westminster.edu)

We look forward to meeting with families for Parent/Teacher Conferences. We know how busy you are and appreciate the time to touch base and talk about our favorite subject—your children! You will hear us talk about developmental milestones during conferences. Skills such as naming colors, showing affection, hopping on one foot, counting and alphabet recognition are called developmental milestones. Devel-opmental milestones are things most children can do by a certain age. As children grow and develop, their world begins to open up. They become more independent and begin to focus more on adults and children outside of the family. Many of you often ask during conferences for suggestions on positive parenting tips to

(See M/W/F continued on page 2)

T/Th Class Teacher's Notes by Melissa Moore (email: mooreml@westminster.edu)

Our Halloween party was a big success! Thank you to our parent party com-mittee of Joanna McClelland, Beth Coker, Gina Carrier, Alyssa Harcar, Jennifer Schehl and Jamie Kohler. Your time and creative efforts were greatly appreciated! As the T/Th class moves into the month of November, we’d like to take a mo-ment to comment on how well we think your children are coping with separation. For the most part, separation from mom, dad, or grandparent has gone smoothly. Your children are adjusting to the preschool and our routine. They feel comfortable and secure and are able to easily separate from the parent/caregiver. However, some-times you may see regression in the separation process. It's as if your child finally realizes this “preschool stuff” isn’t going to go away and they’ll have to do this all year!

(See T/Th continued on page 2)

N e w s l e t t e r

W E S T M I N S T E R C O L L E G E

www.westminster.edu/about/community/preschool/index.cfm

November 2017

Highlights

Parent Teacher Conferences

Friday, November 3 for BOTH clas-ses. A sign-up sheet will be posted

outside our preschool door. There will be no school that day.

M/W/F will continue creative movement classes

every Wednesday at Old ‘77 Gym!

Grandparent/Special Friend Day

November 20 and 21 10:30—11:30 a.m.

in the preschool room We would like to honor a Grandparent

or Special Friend at the preschool. On Monday, Nov. 20 (M/W/F class) and

Tuesday, Nov. 21 (T/Th class) will be having Grandparent/Special Friend Day!

For the last hour of the day (10:30-11:30) your preschooler will be able to

share a special time with their grandparent or special friend. An invitation will be going

home shortly for you to forward to that special person. Thank you!

November Birthdays

Eliza Hennon — Nov. 6 Luke DuBois—Nov. 30

Doreen Matune, Layout Editor

Preschool Lab Newsletter—page 2

help with healthy preschool development (especially when your patience is tested to the limits!). Following are some things that you, as a parent, can do to help your preschooler during this time:

Continue to read to your child. Nurture her love for books by taking her to the library or bookstore. Let your child help with simple chores. Give your child a limited number of simple choices (for example, deciding what to wear). Encourage your child to play with other children. This helps him to learn the value of sharing and friendship. Be clear and consistent when disciplining your child. Explain and show the behavior that you expect from her. When-

ever you tell her no, follow up with what she should be doing instead. Help your child develop good language skills by speaking to him in complete sentences and using “grown up” words.

Help him to use the correct words and phrases. Help your child through the steps to solve problems when she is upset.

The M/W/F class has been finding new ways to problem solve. This is happening especially during free play when the children are developing social competence. The four and five year olds are beginning to find power in their words in choosing friends and turning friends away. During center time play the children are encouraged to speak kindly to others. The teachers may observe your child's play and ask, "How could everyone play together? or “What kind words can you say to each other?” These types of open-ended questions challenge preschoolers to consider the words they choose and the way those words create healthy friendships. This is part of problem solving and especially important in the formative years of social development. We also offer children words to try if they need help verbalizing. “I’d like to play with the blocks.” or “Yes, you can play with us, too,” might be suggested. Please follow-up with your children at home by asking them what friends they played with at school and how they used words nicely with their friends. Halloween brought the month to a close with jack-o-lantern creations, the annual campus parade (Westminster staff and stu-dents love this!) and a terrific classroom party. Thank you to our parent volunteers Sararose Lynch, Amy Daugherty, Shelly Jackson, Amy Mansour, Julie Mohr, Deanne Tennant and Kirstan Tervo for sharing their time and creative talent with us!

(M/W/F continued from page 1)

Regression may be in the form of temper tantrums, refusal to go to school, ‘sick’ at their stomach, crying or just being quiet and sad. Please hang in there, parents! Every child goes through some form of separation anxiety, whether it’s immediate or delayed. We would like you to know this is perfectly normal. Our Parent Library, located in the back staff room, offers additional information on this and many other subjects concerning children and their development. Please feel free to browse through and check out any of our books, tapes or pamphlets. We’d also like to mention how well your children are learning to use their words to solve problems in play. For most of the class, this is their first exposure to group play. It's very difficult for a three-year-old to explain what they need. Their first impulse is to yell and cry, or to grab and push to get what they want. We would rather they use their words to explain to their friend(s) what they want or need. We also encourage the children to talk to their friends about their feelings. When they do this, children learn how to appropri-ately express their feelings and respond to each other in a positive manner. For example, we might encourage a child to say, “I’m mad you took that car from me. I’m playing with it. Give it back to me,” or, “You can have it when I’m done.” This takes a lot of time and ef-fort for both the children and teachers! So, if your child comes home and says, " The teachers told me to use my words today”, you'll know we are trying very hard to encourage positive social play.

(T/Th continued from page 1)

My Owlet (Kiowa Indian lullaby)

Owlet my owlet is sleeping Wee stars are twinkling in the sky,

Owlet my owlet is sleeping Father is singing a lullaby.

Proud Turkeys

Turkeys stretch their necks and strut Spread their feathers wide

All they say is gobble, gobble, gobble As they wobble from side to side

Ohh Ka La Lah Native American Chant

(This is an echo song. One person sings first, then the class repeats it. The chant begins very softly, as if two Native American tribes were far away from each other,

then as they get closer it becomes louder, then quieter as they move apart.)

Ohh Ka La Lah (echo)

A par a tik a tumba (echo) A masa masa masa (echo)

Ohh ala way ala wah ala way. (echo)

Preschool Lab Newsletter—page 3

HIGHLIGHTS-M/W/F CLASS:

Light and Sight This science unit will focus on things we see and how light contributes to the way we see things. Terms such as trans-parent, translucent, opaque, and optics will be introduced to your children along with a variety of art projects that highlight science concepts centered on light and sight. Turkeys They are birds that we love to eat around the holidays! We will look at the differences between wild and do-mestic turkeys as well as feather differences between male and female birds.

Pilgrims and Native American Indians The children will be introduced to the story of Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims’ trek to America will be discussed and we will talk about Native Americans and emphasize the use of natural elements during earlier times. Thanksgiving Thanksgiving family celebrations will be discussed with an emphasis on things we are thankful for! Grandparent / Special Friend Day On Monday November 20, we will be hosting a day in honor of a Grandparent or Special Friend. During the last hour of preschool (10:30 -11:30 a.m.) your child will share a special snack and make a craft with his/her Grandparent / Special Friend. .Yellow Day Wednesday, November 29th, is yellow day. Please have your child wear something yellow that day to school!

HIGHLIGHTS-T/TH CLASS:

Turkeys We will be learning all about this popular Thanksgiving ani-mal! We will learn what turkeys eat, where they live and what sounds they make. Turkey art, games and songs will round out our day! Yellow Day Tuesday, November 7th, will be Yellow Day. Wear something yellow to school and enjoy fun with the color yellow!

Pilgrims and Native Americans Our class looks forward to learning about Pilgrims and Native Americans during November. We will focus on the similarities and differences among these groups and how each one is important to our history. Grandparent / Special Friend Day On Tuesday, November 21, we will be hosting a day in honor of a Grandparent or Special Friend. During the last hour of preschool (10:30 -11:30 a.m.) your child will share a special snack and make a craft with his/her Grandparent / Special Friend. Thanksgiving Our class will be talking about family Thanksgiving traditions and healthy versus non-healthy food. We will discuss what “being thankful” means and each child will have a chance to say several things he or she is thankful for.

Recipe: Native American Fry Bread

1 cup yellow cornmeal 2 Tbsp. Butter 3/4 tsp. Salt 1/4 cup milk 2 tsp. Sugar Margarine & oil for frying 1 cup water Maple syrup

Combine cornmeal, salt, and sugar in a mixing bowl. In a saucepan, bring water and two table-spoons of butter to a boil. Slowly pour hot mix-ture over dry ingredients, stirring as you pour. When liquid has been absorbed, stir in milk. Cov-er surface of hot griddle with equal parts of mar-garine and oil. Drop batter onto griddle to make 4 inch cakes. Turn when browned. Serve with margarine and syrup.

Websites for the Month: www.kidzone.ws/animals/turkey.htm

www.beyondpesticides.org www.safecosmetics.org

www.healthytoys.org www.native-languages.org/kids.htm

Preschool Lab Newsletter--page 4

PICTURE PAGES

Addy, Carter and Jewelise cooking at preschool!

Lots of spiders in our classroom!

Thank you Neshannock Fire Department!

Preschool Lab Newsletter--page 5

PICTURE PAGES

Roman, David, and Annika are saving their friends from the spider web.

The play-doh table is always popular with Sydney, Jonas, and Mia.

Jason, Hanna, and Kendall are having fun building

with blocks.