Grace United Methodist Church

GRACE READINESS
August-September 2010 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

We are so glad that you and your child will be sharing this school year with us here at Grace. For many, this is the first exposure to school, others are already old pros. Whatever the case, all of you are excited and maybe a little anxious about what the future holds. In order to ease some of the anxieties and satisfy the excitement, we will be spending August 23rd-27th, discovering This is My School. The children will be learning about their classmates, environment and activities that will fill up their school days!

August 31st- September 3rd, we will be ready to do some exploring of the question Who am I? Included in this unit will be identification of body parts, discussion of emotions and the myriad of characteristics that make us similar and yet unique. The children always enjoy sharing about themselves and may bring a favorite picture from home to display on our bulletin board. Please help us insure that the pictures get properly returned by clearly labeling them. These two weeks will also mark the beginning of our letter and number learning. We will start with the letters Mm, Bb, Dd, and Tt. You can reinforce our teaching by emphasizing these letters and their sounds at home. We use the terms “upper case” and “lower case” to distinguish the letters. We will also begin working with the numerals 0-5, learning to identify them and understand their value. Show and Tell will be Thursday, September 2nd and Friday, September 3rd.

September 7th-17th, we will encourage your child to recognize, and the importance of their family unit as we discuss My Family. We will be paying special attention to the importance of belonging to and caring for one another. We will also emphasize the responsibilities shared and contributions made by each family member. Our letter for this week will be Ff and Ss. We will continue working with the numbers 0-5.

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The two weeks of September 20th – October 1st, will be a fun
unit, Colors Around Us. The unit will focus on the primary colors (red, blue, and yellow) as well as the secondary colors (green, orange, and purple). During this time, the color words will be introduced. We would appreciate your help by emphasizing color at home as well. The letters for this unit are Rr, Ee, Gg, and Ii.

Please remember that our children are at various stages of development and while for some children, the letter and number work
will be primarily review, for others it is a first introduction. The children can benefit regardless of their level if you help develop their awareness of letters and numbers in their daily life. Not everyone will achieve mastery at this point which is certainly to be expected. Any gain or accomplishment is worthwhile and commendable. Also, name recognition is taught using upper and lower case letters. The children become confused if you use only uppercase at home.

Please encourage your child to share his/her school experiences with you. We want to make our days together fun and develop positive attitudes about school. We appreciate your comments and suggestions and desire your active participation.

Important dates to remember:
September 2nd -3rd Show and Tell
September 6th No School Labor Day
September Pictures


Sincerely,
Mrs. Candy English
Mrs. Holly Black










July 20, 2010

Dear Parents,

Your child is currently enrolled in our Readiness program for the upcoming year. We have planned our parent orientation meeting for Sunday, August 22nd at 7:00 p.m. This short meeting is for parents only. We will meet in Fellowship Hall at Grace United Methodist Church, 615 N. 22nd Street. You will have an opportunity to see the room and facilities the children will use, and to ask questions at this time. You also may pay the August /September fee. Please make checks payable to Grace Readiness. The MWF AM/PM fee is $95.00. The TT AM/PM fee is $85.00.

This packet contains very important papers to fill out. The Physical Form, Getting to Know Your Child, and Field Trip Permission Forms (only MWF classes), are to be turned in on or before the August 22nd meeting. (If necessary, you have until October 15th to return the Physical Form.) If you were in Readiness last year, you need not get another physical this year. We will keep your form from last year. If you are at Grace Day Care, please return the physical form with your name on it and put Day Care on the top of the form and we will make a copy of the one on file in the Day Care Office.

If for any reason you will not be in our program, please let us know as soon as possible. Call the school at 447-2204 or me at home 447-4221, and leave a message. We have openings in all of our classes. Please call if you have friends interested. We are in particular need of 3 year old children. Children that were 3 before August 1st . Please encourage your neighbors or friends to use our program. The neighborhoods around our facility don’t offer as many children as some of your neighborhoods. You are our only advertisement. Thank-you. We will offer a one time break on your August-September monthly fee if someone signs up per your suggestion. Please have them use your name when they call or register. They can check out the web site GraceReadiness.org.

I am looking forward to seeing you on Sunday, August 22nd, at 7:00 p.m. Please bring with you your “Physical Form”, “Getting To Know Your Child Form”, and “Field Trip Permission Form” to turn in that night. If you cannot attend, please bring in the forms on the first day of school.

Sincerely,
Candy English
Director




Dear Parents,
We will be collecting tabs from beverage cans this year for Ronald McDonald Houses. They recycle the tabs and turn them into money to be used for housing for families of sick children. We are in need of a parent to take our tabs to McDonald’s. If you are interested please contact us.
The church has been collecting labels from Campbell Soups and other products and sends them to a mission in Kentucky. We have attached a flyer about this also.
If you wish to help with any of these projects please just leave them on our desk.
Thank you.

Candy English
Holly Black



FIELD TRIP PERMISSION (only for MWF classes)

I give my child, _____________________________, permission to go on any field trip taken by Grace Readiness. I realize private cars will be used for transportation needs and adequate supervision will be provided. Every child must have a seatbelt, and a booster seat.

Signed_________________________
Parent or Guardian

If you are interested in driving on our field trips, please indicate here. Yes_____No_____

How many seatbelts are available for children?

Sign up sheets for each individual trip will be posted. Notice of field trips will be in the monthly newsletters and also on the bulletin board outside the Readiness room prior to the day of the trip.