Ice Cream Social 2022

Saturday was our Ice Cream Social and it was so fun to see all of our families enjoying themselves! This morning the children were so excited to come in and tell us all about their favorite parts of the event. Not being able to have our Ice Cream Social last year, it made it extra special to all be together this year!

Here is a glimpse into all of the fun we had!

We want to thank all of the people that worked hard to make sure this day was a success. Thank you to Julia Willhite and the rest of our board members who organized such a great day! Thank you for organizing all of our donations, scooping ice cream, setting everything up, and so much more. Thank you to our amazing Aldersgate staff for helping set up our activities and making sure the day ran smoothly. Thank you to everyone who provided baked goods for our bake sale. We sold a record number of goodies this year! Thank you to Stepping Stones KC for providing entertainment. Our preschoolers loved being musicians!  Thank you to the boy scouts for setting up an amazing box maze, serving ice cream, and cleaning up at the end of the day!

We also want to thank all of the wonderful people and organizations who donated to our event:

360 Gymnastics

Abbott Insurance
Amazeum
Andys Frozen Custard
Anonymous Aldersgate Family
AquaTots
B&B Theaters
Backyard Specialists
Blackbob Pet Hospital
Blade and Timber
Board and Brush
Bocks Steam Star
Botanica
Bret’s Automotive
Ceramic Cafe
Charlie’s Car Wash
Chick-Fil-A
Chicken N Pickle
CocoBolos
Cosentinos
Costco Lenexa
Crown Center
Culvers
Cyndi Mawhiney
Dairy Queen
Denver Museum of Nature and Science
Denver Zoo
Dick’s Sporting goods
Emery Sapp and Sons
Enterprise Bank
Exploration Place Wichita
Feeny’s Hallmark
Fetchers Play and Stay
Freddys
HyVee
Iowa Science Center
Jersey Mike’s
Johnson County Museum
Johnson County Parks and Rec
Junque Drawer
Lowes
Magic House St Louis
Main Event

MAK Management
Museum at Prairiefire
Museum of World Treasures
Nothing Bundt Cakes
Olathe Parks and Rec
Olathe Parks and Rec
Overland Park Arboretum
Paint Glaze and Fire
Paint Nail Bar
Powell Gardens
Purpose Play
QT
Rainbow Play
Rock N Brews
RoKC
Ryan Lawn
Scheels
Sedgwick Zoo
Silver Dollar City
Six Flags St Louis
Tanganyika
Tastebuds Kitchen
The Facial Bar
The Hewlett Family
The Peanut
The Roltgen Family
The Yellow Barn
Theater in the Park
Torchy’s Tacos
Tropical Smoothie
Union Station
Victory Auto Group KC
Well Wilderness
Wonderscope
Yellow Brick Bakery
Yogurtini

A Day at Preschool

My favorite parts of my day are when I get to walk around the classrooms and see what everyone is doing. I wanted to give you all a glimpse into what a day at our preschool looks like!

Discovery Days

When I walked into our Discovery Days class this morning, they were having their work time. This is a time where kids can play and explore everything that is set up in the room. The teachers regularly switch out the toys, so there is always something new! This is a perfect time for our kids to practice their social skills as well as develop language skills. Our teachers had also set out an activity that the kids could practice stringing objects. This is a perfect activity to enhance fine motor skills and strengthen their hand muscles!

After work time, our Discovery Days class had circle time. Each child has a spot with a symbol that they know is their own to sit on during story time. Our class read a fun story about a tractor and they even got to help act out the story!

Preschool Lite

Preschool Lite was learning about magnets today. Each child had an object and had to guess whether it was magnetic or not. Then they got to test their object to see if their prediction was correct. It was fun for them all to try a magnetic object so they could test out what a magnetic pull feels like!

After their magnet activity, Preschool Lite transitioned into snack time. They first said the “Superman Prayer” to thank God for their food. They all had to watch for their name to see when it was their time to wash their hands. Our two and three year olds are doing a great job with name recognition! When it was their turn, each child washed their hands and found a seat to have their snack. This helps to foster independence in our young kids. Ms. Michelle made delicious and healthy chocolate chip cookies that our kids all enjoyed!

Yellow

Our Yellow class has started their cooking unit. Last week they made chef hats, and this week our kids were able to make their own pizzas! Through this activity, our three and four year olds are able to practice following a recipe and following directions. It is also a lot of fun! Our kids loved getting to eat their own pizzas as a snack today!

Later in the morning, our Yellow class broke up into two small groups. While one group enjoyed eating their pizzas, the other group went to large motor. They used scooters to have a pizza relay!

Blue

When I first walked into the Blue class, they were in the middle of their morning circle time. This is the perfect time for our classes to build a strong community and empathy for each other. They also reinforce skills they have been working on during this time. Our four year olds graphed which art supplies they like to use.

After morning circle, they transitioned into two small groups. One group read the story for the day, while the other group worked on their journals. Both our Red and Blue class have writing journals that they work on throughout the whole school year. Today’s journal page went along with the book Coat of Many Colors by Dolly Parton. Our kids got to make a coat of many colors and decide who to give it to. We love to see what our kids come up with on their journal pages!

Red

Our Red class has just started their 5 senses unit. This unit is full of science experiments, so I was excited to witness one today! Our Red class was experimenting with dry ice today. They learned about how dry ice gives off carbon dioxide and they saw how dry ice reacts to different elements.

After their science experiment, our Red class broke into small groups. One group was reading a story about our five senses. The other two were playing different games to help them learn early reading and early math skills. The first game involved matching objects to the letter sound it starts with. The second game involved estimating how many beans were in an egg and then counting and writing the correct number of beans on a white board. Both of these games involved learning while playing and having fun!

Here are some more fun things that were happening at preschool today!

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins!

We have been having so much fun with pumpkins this fall. Our preschoolers have been enjoying being able to explore pumpkins in many different ways.

There are many great experiments to do with pumpkins. We enjoyed making a chemical reaction inside of a pumpkin and predicting if a pumpkin will sink or float.

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We can teach math through pumpkins by sorting them by small, medium, and large. We also measured the size of our pumpkins!

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Exploring the inside of a pumpkin is very exciting for our young scientists.

Our preschoolers have loved doing sensory activities with our pumpkins. Pumpkin pounding has been very popular at Aldersgate Preschool for many years. We love putting pumpkin items in our sensory tables too.

Of course, we have to do pumpkin art!

We love pumpkins in preschool! What are some fun things you have done with pumpkins this fall?

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Fall Festival Fun!

Last night we had our Fall Festival and it was wonderful to see so many preschool families having fun together! It was a beautiful night to be able to celebrate Fall! Here is a recap of the night:

Our teachers served a hot dog meal and families had a picnic all together.

We had carnival games where kids were able to win prizes!

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Our families had fun working on crafts and pumpkin pounding together!

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It was fun to see kids being active on our obstacle course and with the parachute.

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We even got to enjoy the pumpkin patch!

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Thank you to everyone who came to our Fall Festival! A special thanks to our teachers for helping make this a fun evening for everyone. It makes our hearts happy to see so much joy on our preschoolers’ faces!

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Summertime Fun!

It is hard to believe that summer is almost here! Here are some ideas to keep you busy while school is out.

Things to do Outside

• Ice Blocks– Freeze water with plastic toys in a clean milk carton (add food coloring optional) Allow child to use plastic hammer to chip ice to get the “goodies” out
• Wash the Dishes– Fill a plastic tub with water and have child wash plastic dishes outside. Provide soap, sponges, and towels to dry.
• Mining for Gold– Spray some small rocks with gold or silver paint and bury in your child’s sandbox or dirt in the yard. Using shovels, your child can dig for treasure.
• Transparent Painting– Hang a clear, plastic tablecloth to your fence and using washable tempera paints, your child can use the sheet as a canvas.
• Car Wash– Set up a car wash area for your child to wash their riding cars and tricycles using sponges and shallow dishes of soapy water
• Sheet Painting– With an old sheet and spray bottles full of colored water (liquid tempera paint works great), allow your child to spray paint their creations.
• Rock Collecting– Give your child empty egg cartons to hunt for rocks. Provide newspaper, small containers of water, washable tempera paint, and brushes for them to paint their rocks. (Parents can use clear nail polish as a top coat to make them shine)

Places to Visit

• The Regnier Family Wonderscope: https://wonderscope.org/
• Deanna Rose Farmstead: https://www.opkansas.org/recreation-fun/deanna-rose-childrens-farmstead/
• Overland Park Arboretum: https://www.opkansas.org/recreation-fun/arboretum-botanical-gardens/
• Kansas City Zoo: https://www.kansascityzoo.org/
• Farmers Markets: Overland Park, Olathe, Gardner, Spring Hill, City Market
• Gieringer’s Family Orchard and Berry Farm: https://goberryfarm.com/

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Favorite Parks

• Lake Olathe Park: https://www.olatheks.org/government/parks-recreation/parks-trails-bike-lanes/parks/lake-olathe-park
• Bull Creek Park: https://jcprd.com/facilities/facility/details/Big-Bull-Creek-Park-101
• Stilwell Community Park: https://www.jocogov.org/facility/stilwell-community-park
• Arbor Landing Park: https://www.olatheks.org/government/parks-recreation/parks-trails-bike-lanes/parks/arbor-landing-park
• Indian Creek Park (The Library Park): https://www.olathelibrary.org/Home/Components/News/News/2971/1040
• Aldersgate Preschool Playground 🙂

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Adjusting to a School Year of Change

Although many things are different this school year at Aldersgate Preschool, we have learned that not all change is bad. We are happy that our preschool has been able to remain open this school year and our kids are loving being able to play and learn with their friends!

Our children have been resilient to all of the changes, and we hope to be a place full of love and consistency for our kids and families during uncertain times.

We are so thankful for our wonderful teachers who have handled this year with such grace! The joy our teachers have while being with children is seen even under their masks.

We want to thank all of our families for being so supportive during this school year!

Social skills – a conversation with a parent

I’ve been communicating with a parent about options for her son, outside resources such as speech therapy and ideas for developing social skills.  As I was writing an email to her this morning I thought it might be a good thing to share here.

We are working with her son on how to approach others that have something he would like and how to handle it if another child wants a toy he has.  He just turned 3 years old but this could be any child and any of the ages we have here at Aldersgate.  Just think about it.  Your child has been alive for such a short time.  He has already learned to eat and feed himself, He has learned to talk, walk, play with toys and so much more.  It takes practice to  understand and handle social interactions.

The parent had explained that they were attending the Parents as Teachers playgroup and another group gathering.  Here is what I wrote;

All the exposure to play groups, etc. are great.  At his age I would try to stay a little more in the background and see if/how he is interacting with others.  This will give you an idea of how to work with him at home or at future gatherings.

For instance, you can actually practice the sharing and turn-taking involved in playing with others while you play with him at home.  I would get involved in some play that has multiple pieces (i.e. blocks) and then ask him for a turn with what he has.  If he says no or just ignores you I would encourage him to use words to say if he doesn’t want to. “I’m still using it.”  Or “When I am done.”  If he would try to take something you have (and I would make yours pretty exciting so it would be something he would want) then you can tell him to use the words, “Can I have that.”  I would give it to him sometimes when he asks but other times I would say those same things to him – explaining that he can wait and you will let him have a turn later.  This will give him the chance to feel what waiting is like and to learn how to manage the disappointment of not getting what he wants right away.

As parents we feel funny depriving our kids of toys (while we are playing with them) since we are the adults – but, when we give things to kids right away, they don’t have a chance to practice the skills they will need when playing with other children.

This can also be true with following directions, etc.  If, as parents, we do things that the child is capable of doing for them (because we love them) we are actually depriving him of a chance to grow independent and to practice listening and then following one or more directions.  I would say at this age he should be able to hang up his own coat (or if this is too high for him I would find a spot for him to put it), throw his trash away and put his dish on the kitchen counter after meals, he could help get himself dressed and put on his own shoes (this might need some help once he tries a little).  In February we are going to have a focus on Responsibility for these little guys.  There are real benefits in having kids do “chores” around the house.  It is hard to believe but at three years old kids should begin being a helpful member of the household.  Watch for more on that coming soon.

I thought I would share a few of our kids working on those social skills while they play.  We practice everyday!

  

Fun while learning – indoor play

It’s that time of year.  Time to think about indoor fun.  Time to think about new activities to keep the kids busy and stimulated.  I spent some time looking at the blog BUSY TODDLERS: making it to naps, one activity at a time.  I am linking to several of her posts.  WAIT!  If you have older preschoolers, don’t despair, there are lots of things in here that would interest them.  Simply click on the photo to link to the full blog post.

Post it notes!  These are great fun for kids.  In the activity above the goal is to match letters to the ones in your child’s name.  You could do this for all the alphabet – or even for those letters your child is less familiar with (our Pre-K families probably got this information on their recent conference form!)  I would also consider making this an active game by having your child run, hop, spin, crawl, etc. to put on the letter.  All that movement will further stimulate your child’s brain.

This is the same kind of idea as the one above but with numbers.  For the youngest children you could just write the numerals in the colors of the sticky notes.  Encourage your child to match the orange sticky note to the orange numeral 3, etc.  They will be matching colors but can also build some awareness of numbers.

There is a wide array of concepts this post it note idea could adapt to; colors, shapes, emotions, and even sight words, etc. as children begin working on those in Kindergarten.

Manipulating stickers is a wonderful fine motor activity.  This changes the typical sticker play a little by placing it on a vertical surface.  Imagine how this will strengthen the wrist muscles.  For children working on patterning this would be a great way to do that.

If you’ve never thought about play in the bathtub (even when your child is in there for getting clean) I’d encourage you to, especially in the winter!  There are so many ways to play.  I remember my nephew often putting on his swimsuit and playing with plastic animals in the tub for almost an hour at a time.   I’m sure a quick search on Pinterest for “bathtub play for kids” will offer you a wide array of options.

While this is a fairly traditional (read “old school”) game, it’s still a good one!  The Peak Performance Center has a website all about helping people improve their performance.  In it they explain that human memory is a process that involves three domains: encoding, storage and retrieval.  This fun game supports growth in all three areas.  By the way, this is a great alternative to smart phones while you are waiting at a restaurant, etc.

Very young children will love this activity.  Surprisingly I am confident our oldest kids would also enjoy this as well.  While this seems like a “just keep them busy” activity, children are actually building hand-eye coordination, building strength in their hands and even cementing knowledge in the physical make-up of some dry foods.  Remember, there is learning active in all play experiences.

We LOVE shaving cream at preschool.  This is actually an activity I’ve done with my grand kids, multiple times.  They love it and they ask for it, even the seven year old.  At a recent conference, we were also talking to a family about using shaving cream as a way to practice drawing shapes, letters and numbers.  You could even combine this with the previous idea for playing in the tub.

 

Colored ice is also a staple around here.  Often the church staff or members ask us about the ice trays with colored water stored in the freezer.  You can also freeze a popsicle stick standing up in the tray (just stick it through some cling wrap) and then children can use this for painting too.  Also, adding salt to the mix brings in some science experimentation.

Perhaps you remember doing this as a child.  It’s so fun to expose a “secret” message, picture, shapes, etc. while painting with water color.  Psst, it’s just white crayon drawn on white paper.  You and your child could take turns drawing or writing the secret part.

This blog had a ton of other ideas.  I’d encourage you to check it out.  Also we have some previous posts about indoor activities.  Some include much more active play.  I’ve linked to a few of those below:

INSIDE PLAY

INSIDE ENTERTAINMENT

WHAT CAN WE DO NOW?

Have fun playing!

 

Just a tub of pom poms

Who knew?  Fill a tub with an assortment of pom poms and watch the opportunities for play (read learning) develop.

The Yellow and Orange classes have their tub table filled with various sizes and colors of pom poms.  Also included are cups, bowls and the special “window” tongs.  (These are actually bug catcher/viewers but we use them for lots of things.)

Of course during play it’s a great time to label the colors and sizes.  I enjoyed listening to Ms. Katka’s interactions with the kids about their play.

Soon, this sweet girl showed me her tongs with A LOT of pom poms in it.  “Look what I have!”

“Wow,” I said, “You have a lot of pom poms in there.  I wonder how many are in there.   Can you guess?”  (That’s estimating!)  She guessed there to be four.  We counted them (one to one counting) and she actually had 10 in there.  You should have seen the surprise on her face.  (This shows she already has an understanding of quantity and numerals.)  She filled the tongs again and I asked her to guess again.  This time she guessed that there were 8 and after counting we found there were 9 inside.  This 3 year old girl was already adjusting her estimating skills due to experience and knowledge.  Amazing!

The fun thing about 3 year olds – what you do with one others will also want you to do with them.  So we counted a lot!  It was interesting to watch their concentration as we carefully counted each one.

Soon, the play extended to wondering how many pom poms you can hold in your hands.  We discovered some could hold quite a few.  I think the most anyone held was 17!

Another day, in another class, the children explored the pom poms with a different focus.  Today we talked about the colors.  Did you know that there are light and dark options of the same color?  We found lots of those today.

We also took some time to describe the pom poms.  We found big ones, little ones and even medium sized.  We also noticed that some were sparkly.  That’s a fun word.

 

“Hmmm, you have a couple of really big ones in your mix.  Do you think that makes a difference to how many you can hold?”

I just love this “playing!”

We’ve received so much!

At this season of gifts concludes, I am reminded of so many ways our preschool is blessed.  This school year is no exception.  We have truly received some wonderful gifts.

Early this fall Marcus Nameth (Ms. Robyn’s son) gifted us with two amazing magnet ball walls.  He made this for his final Eagle Scout project.  I know he spent hours researching the best balls, glue, etc. to make the project most successful.  And it is!  The kids on both playgrounds enjoy discovering how the balls will move through the pipe tracks, dependent on the way the tracks are positioned.  What a wonderfully thought provoking play experience.  Plus, they have fun too!  We are so grateful that Marcus chose us as his Eagle Scout recipient.  Thank you Marcus!

 

Yesterday our teachers got to have some great fun.  We visited Lakeshore Learning, an educational children’s toy store that you can find out about HERE, for a teacher training.  Then they “worked” hard playing “Santa” for our school.  Actually, they had a blast choosing just the right things that will fill a need we have.   It was also interesting to find out which of our staff members are good at math and could figure out how to make the most of our money with the coupon discount they were offering that day.  I just stood back and watched them getting so excited about it all.

All this is possible because of YOU!  We used fund raising money to make these purchases.  So, thank you!

And finally as we prepare to leave for our Christmas break I cannot help but think about the greatest gift we’ve ever received.  God chose to become human.  He chose to humble himself to our limitations so that he could give us the gift of salvation.  That sweet baby in a manger is truly our King.  I pray each of you feel surrounded by the love of Christ as you celebrate this Christmas!