Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful, relaxing winter break with your little ones.

Students’ first day back will be January 7th, 2025 – I can’t wait to see them! We will spend this day reviewing and reinforcing our expectations for preschool—almost like it’s the first day of the school year. You would be amazed how much children can forget over a longer break, and this would ensure that everyone is aware of the routines and expectations in place. Please also talk to them about the importance of making good choices about safety and respect: we must function in an environment where everyone feels safe, respected, and cared about. 

We will then delve into our new Buildings unit, which we’ve decided to combine with our upcoming Wheels. I am sure you’ve noticed that children often ask questions about buildings. They are fascinated with how tall they are, what houses are made of, and how strong they are. Their ongoing interest in buildings helped us realize that buildings would make a good study topic. As we study buildings, we will learn essential concepts in science, social studies, technology, literacy, math, and the arts. The big idea regarding Buildings and Wheels is that children will practice being part of a community by building houses and repairing vehicles needed for commuting/work. 

We could also use your help as we gather pictures and models of all kinds of buildings! If you have a picture of a building or a model of a building you think we could use for our study, please send those when you can. We welcome photos from any source, such as newspapers, magazines, postcards, the Internet, or your family’s photo collection. Please include pictures of buildings in other parts of the world, too. You might also want to support us by providing some of the following: 

• Children can use toy (or other child-friendly) tools in our new dramatic play area called the ‘Vehicle Repair Shop.’ This area is designed to encourage imaginative play and teach children about the importance of vehicle maintenance. In this repair shop, children will act out repairing various vehicles, including a bike and, ideally, some ride-on toy cars or other larger vehicles. If you have one of these and don’t mind letting us borrow it for the duration of the unit, we’d love to have it. It doesn’t have to be in working condition – I know children would have a lot of fun pretend-repair it and pretend-drive it, regardless.
• We are also looking for safe building material components and protective clothing equipment children can play with, such as tubes, wires, helmets, etc. Don’t worry, we will make sure that all materials are child-friendly and safe for play. 
• Samples of wheels/tires – even a car one. 🙂 
• Toy buildings – anything from a car wash to a princess castle is welcome! We already have an amazing Fire Station thanks to our wonderful Kirsten Taylor.  
• You may also want to check out our Amazon Wish List for items we would love to have, such as a peg board. You can find the list at https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3YQM5P9UYWVC?ref_=wl_share

As always, your support is beyond appreciation. Thank you for your partnership and care!

Kindly,

Annie