PARENT OCTOBER 2015 FROM:LEE NEWSLETTER

PARENTNEWSLETTEROCTOBER 2015FROM:LEEFROM : LEE WA LS H, DI RECTO RLWA LSH@CHEVY CHASE UM C .O RGChevy Chase United Methodist Church PreschoolUpcoming Events October 1: Co-op Sign-ups available via Sign-up Genius for all 3’s and 4’s classes October 5: Co-op Sign-ups available via Sign-up Genius for all 2’s classes October 6: Flu Clinic (see sidebar) October 7: Weekly French lessons with Mrs. Khenissi begin for pre-K classes October 9: Scholastic book orders due (online only) October 12: NO SCHOOL (Columbus Day—Open House at MCPS) October 14: Advisory Council meeting (12:30 pm in Wesley Room) October 21: NO SCHOOL (Staff attends PACT Conference)AVOID THE FLU October 26: 3’s Field Trip to Homestead Farms for pumpkin picking (10:00am) October 28: Tour of Preschool for Prospective Parents (9:30am) October 30: Halloween Parade for 3’s & Pre-K classes (11:15am) (see page 7) November 14: Wine & Cheese Social from 7-10pm at the home of Karina Lynchand David Bohley, parent of Anders who is a ChickadeeFLU SHOT CLINICOCTOBER 6 (Tuesday)8:00 –10:00A.M.ROOM 107SIGN UP IN THE PRESCHOOLOFFICECost: 35 per personENRICHMENT CLASSESIf you have not yet signed up your childfor one of our afternoon enrichmentprograms, there is room available insome of them. Now that all of the children are settled into their routines atschool, it is a good time to introducean afternoon activity if so desired. Youcan sign up your child for an entire semester’s worth of classes or attendonce in a while when the mood hits(called drop-in). Drop-ins must bescheduled through the office. Yourchild must be 3 years old and pottytrained in order to join in the afternoon activities.teachers in Afternoon Adventure nities we also offer early morning drop-off daily at 8:30am in Leigh Hamilton’swhich is always an adventure in itself.classroom (211) if you are in need ofAfternoon enrichment classes are aan earlier day either every day or spogreat way to introduce your child to a radically. This is open to all childrenslightly longer day which is good prac- regardless of age or potty trainingtice for kindergarten. In addition, itgives children the opportunity to work stage.with different teachers and childrenthan those that they encounter duringthe morning. This helps children toadapt to new settings and expand theirhorizons to include new friends.In addition to these popular offerings,this year we are offering Spanish Immersion classes on Monday and Thursday afternoons and a French Immersion class on Thursdays until 2:00p.m.These classes, taught (as implied by thename) entirely in the language understudy, offers your child the chance tobe introduced in a systematic way toanother language.Each day of the week we offer Afternoon Adventure until 2:30pm. Led bya teacher and an assistant, it is usuallycentered around a theme (see themonthly calendar for details). Teachershave arts and crafts and/or other special activities planned as well as outsideplay time and some free choice play.Children frequently cook with their Apart from these enrichment opportu-Be on the lookout for some excitingmini-session opportunities that willbecome available throughout the yearas well. The next opportunity will befor a 2’s mini-session led by LeighHamilton and a Tae Kwon Do minisession offered by Flying Kick of Bethesda. Later on in the year you’ll beable to sign up for yoga, gymnastics,cooking, music, and perhaps even ballet.I encourage you to consider enrollingyour child into one or more of thesespecial opportunities. Contact the preschool office with questions or to enroll your child.

Page 2PARENT NEWSLETTERMUSIC CURRICULUM NEWSBY MS.MARIBETH GOWENHickory Dickory DockHickory Dickory Dock, [clickyour tongue two times]The mouse ran up the clock [runyour fingers up your arm]The clock struck one [click yourtongue one time]The mouse ran down [run yourfingers down your arm]Hickory Dickory Dock [click yourtongue two times]Hop Old SquirrelSongs for 2’sI am looking forward to working withthe Two’s! We will spend time gettingto know each other and having fun withmusic. We will be singing many songsand dancing and playing instrumentseach week. Here is just a sampling ofsome of the songs for September andOctober.I Had a Little PonyI had a little pony, his name wasMacaroniHe trots and trots and then hestops [big pause]My funny little macaroni pony[Repeat the verse and substitute He gallopsand gallops or He walks and walks while wedo a different body motion for each verse]Icky Sticky Bubblegum[sung to a beat] Icky stickyicky sticky bubblegum, bubblegum, bubblegum.Icky sticky icky sticky bubblegum, My hands are stuck to my: head,tummy, knee, toes or any other bodypartOn the count of 3 let’s unstickthem 1 2 3 uuhhThen the song repeats whilewe: clap or stomp or rock or tap legs,etc.dumdumHop old Squirrel, Eidel-dum EidelHop old Squirrel, Eidel-dum DeeSwish your tail, Eidel-dum Eidel-Swish your tail, Eidel-dum DeeRun up a tree, Eidel-dum Etc.repeat as in the verses abovePick a nut, etc.Run down the tree, etc.Hop old SquirrelI’m a PumpkinI’m a pumpkin large and round,sitting on the cold cold ground.Now it’s time to leave this place;Take me home and carve a face.Make some eyes (click tongue 2times and draw some eyes)And a nose (click again and drawa nose)And a mouth (click again anddraw a mouth)I’m a jack-o-lantern now, not apumpkin on the groundPut a candle in for light (hold upone finger for the light),I will glow through out the night.Halloween (click again 2 times)REPEAT THIS 4 TIMES(Continued on page 3)Songs for 3’sI am looking forward to sharing music withmy 3 year olds! We will have a lotof fun moving to music, playing instruments to music and singingmany songs. It has been a pleasureto meet new friends and oldfriends. Everyone seems comfortable expressing themselves in songsand dance. We will have fun pretending to be all kinds of thingswhile moving to music. This includes a Halloween dance pretending to be Bats, Spiders, Monsters,Skeletons, Black Cats and Ghostsand acting out all of the charactersin rhythm with the music. I lookforward to music with your children every week!Apple TreeI’m a great big apple tree.I stretch my branches tothe sun.When the sun shines downon me,red.My apples get so big andThe children come to picksome apples—they shake and theyshake (wiggle your branch armsand body),‘Til the apples fall (on theword “fall”, everyone drops his/herpaper apples).Miss Lucy Had a BabyMiss Lucy had a baby, shenamed him Tiny Tim.She put him in the bathtub,to see if he could swim.He drank up all the water,He ate up all the soap. He tried toeat the bathtub but it wouldn’t godown his throat!Miss Lucy called the doctor, Miss Lucy called the nurse, MissLucy called the lady with the alligator purse.Mumps said the doctor,Measles said the nurse, NONSENSE said the lady with the alliga-

MUSIC CURRICULUM NEWSBY MS.MARIBETH GOWENtor purse.Penicillin said the doctor, CastorOil said the nurse, PIZZA said the ladywith the alligator purse.[we act out the entire song as wesing it]Fire Stop, Drop and Rollrock n’ roll SongStop, [push hands out] Drop[drop down to the floor squatting ]and Roll [roll your hands in front of you]REPEAT this 6 times as we gothrough a rock n’ roll chord progression.The music stops when we sing Stop anddoesn’t begin again until the word Roll.This helps to illustrate how important it isto be still and not move if you are on fire.Brown SquirrelBrown Squirrel, brown squirrel swish yourbushy tail, repeat.Brown Squirrel, brown squirrel wrinkleyour nose like this“““ make asound like this: ch ch ch“““ swish yourbushy tail, then sit down on the ground.Hop Old Squirrel (see lyrics under “Songs for 2’s”)Five Little PumpkinsFive little pumpkins sitting on afence. (hold up one hand with each fingerbeing one pumpkin)The first one said “Oh my it’sgetting late”The second one said “There arewitches in the air”The third one said “But we don’tcare”The fourth one said “Let’s runand run and run”The fifth one said “I’m ready forsome fun”Oooohh went the wind and Out(clap hands) went the lightAnd the five little pumpkins rolledout of sight (roll hands around)Songs for 4’sMusic will be full of fun and finding patternsfor the Pre-K Class. We will listen of funsinging, listening, moving and playing instruments in music class. We will listen to several recordings of classical music whilelooking at a paintings to find sounds in themusic that correlate to images in the pictures. Our listening ears will grow. A visitwith the trumpet is also on our agenda!Down by the BayDown by the bay, where the watermelon grows, back to my home, I darenot go. For if I do, my mother will sayDid you ever see a whale combinghis tale, Down by the bay[Then the song repeats, changing the wordsto:Did you ever see a fly wearing atieDid you ever see a llama wearingpajamas [children continue to share theirown made up rhymes]Fire Stop, Drop and Rollrock n’ roll Song (see lyricsunder “Songs for 3’s”)say WHEE!There’s a spider on mySHOULDER, I wish I had aBOULDER!There’s a spider on myHEAD, I wish I could jump inBED!Then I ask the children to volunteer other body parts and to addtheir own rhymes!Rattlebone RockWe take a repetitive, expressiveuse of our voices visit to all kindsof sounds in the classic Halloween book, Rattlebone RockSCHOLASTIC BOOK ORDE RSTeachers will send home Scholasticbook order forms with your childrenearly next week. All orders shouldbe placed online by the due datelisted. This month’s orders are dueby Oct. 9.The instructions for doingso are as follows:1.There’s a Spider on theFloor(acted out with plastic spiders,crawling up all of the body parts)There’s a spider on the floor onthe floor,There’s a spider on the floor onthe floor.Who could ask for any MOREthan a spider on the FLOOR,There’s a spider on the floor.(we modulate to a higher and higher key as the spider moves up our bodies)There’s a spider on my shoe onmy shoe,There’s a spider on my shoe onmy shoeOh I’m going to say BOO! There’sa spider on my SHOE,There’s a spider on my shoe onmy shoe.(Repeat this format adding) –There’s a spider on my KNEE, I’m going toAccess the scholastic websiteat www.scholasticbooks.com2. Register yourself by followingthe instructions online.3. Go under the order tab and useactivation code: HMGXM4. Place your order by the datelisted.5. Books will be delivered to yourchild’s classroom.Please know that in addition to ordering from the flyers that are senthome, you may also shop the extended bookstore atwww.scholasticbooks.comWe havedecided to go to online ordering onlybecause it is easier for everyoneand because we earn more pointsthis way. The points that we earnare used to purchase books for ourstudents and their classrooms. Wehope that you will support us byordering books for your child. Asyou know, the best way to encourage the development of readingskills is to read to your child and tohave a library of books at their disposal.