Parkside Children`s Learning Center July

Parkside Children’s Learning Center
July-August Newsletter
107 MAINE AVE. BANGOR MAINE
Telephone: (207) 941-2122
Welcome to our combined
July-August newsletter! We
decided that with vacations,
graduation, changes in schedule, etc. that we would only
have one newsletter this
month. Here are some updates:
We truly enjoyed having
Wildlife Adventures visit us
from New Hampshire during
the first week of June. They
had been a referral from
Keifer Mason’s family, as he
had enjoyed their show at his
most recent birthday. We
were enthralled and entertained by six wild animals:
the kangaroo, the Prehensile
Tailed Porcupine, the Black
Tailed Prairie Dog, the Fennec
Fox, the American Alligator,
and the African Pygmy
Hedgehog. The children
loved seeing and touching the
animals, as did the teachers!
We were so encouraged by
how well everything went, so
we’ll definitely have them
come again.
Soon after the animals came
graduation, a Parkside annual
highlight!
July-August 2012
E-mail [email protected]
A MESSAGE FROM OUR DIRECTOR
Hello Parkside Families!
WWW.PARKSIDECLC.COM
Two separate ceremonies graduated 36 PreK children from our program with nice fanfare.
Special thanks to Bangor Savings Bank for
their role in ensuring our
success that day! We
are so lucky to have
such a tech-savvy,
pleasantly air conditioned facility so close
by. The children did an
excellent job of singing
Kindergarten songs for
us and the videos were
definitely something to
cry about (thank you,
Lisa and Kiley!). We’re
thrilled that many parents and grandparents
were able to share the
afternoon with us.
Thank you to everyone
for your years of support for Parkside Children’s Learning Center.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Grand Teton
4
Glacier
6
Sequoia
8
Yellowstone
10
Zion
12
Big Sur
14
Yosemite
16
Olympic
18
Parkside Children’s Learning Center
July-August Newsletter
As well, thank you to Hope Beaulieu for suggesting and creating the beautiful yearbooks that
were photographed by her friend Megan Lakin;
they came out fantastically well! If you still want
to order a yearbook please contact the office.
Transitions are the event that always follow
graduation for all the obvious reasons: it’s a
domino effect when our Kindergarteners leave
us as we shuffle all the children forward to their
next classroom. While doing so we welcomed
Deborah Huff, Tammy Roussell, Caley Beal,
Amanda Cupps, and Amy Ripa. Sadly we have
to say goodbye to Chelsea Sullivan this week.
Summer seems to be a time of transition for
teachers as well as children! Though many children have already been moved, there are many
still to go forward; please contact the office with
any concerns or questions you may have. By
September we generally have all children in
their new classrooms and the changes have settled down, so let’s look forward to those days
ahead.
Our FIRST school bus field trip took place on
Wednesday, July 25th and was a fantastic success! Three preschool groups totaling almost 60
children were bused via Cyr Bus of Old Town to
the Maine Discovery Museum downtown Bangor.
The kids were greeted by their old friend Trudi
Plummer, Education Director and frequent visiting
teacher at Parkside. Once inside the groups split
into three, one per floor, and rotated between
all the exhibits so that all the children had an
opportunity to visit everything at least once!
Miss Trudi treated us to a wonderful “creature
feature” of snakes in three separate sessions
tailor-made for each group. Thanks, Miss Trudi!!
The kids had the time of their lives, though several teachers joked with me that we could have
just driven around Bangor on the school bus and
the kids would have been just as happy!
ASSESSMENTS:
Teachers have been working hard to complete the
last round of assessments for your children, and
we’re nearly there! (Children who have graduated
already received theirs) Please check your child’s
mailbox on Friday or Monday or thereabouts for
your copy of the assessment for your child. We
encourage every family to set up a conference with
a teacher from the classroom to discuss the results if
you have any questions whatsoever. As always,
please contact the office with any questions that
teachers cannot answer. The office is also where
you can stop by to set up the appointment to meet
with a teacher.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
TV COMMERCIAL for WABI-TV 5
Thank you to all the parents who agreed to have
their children’s faces on our first-ever television
commercial! Look for it during the news and other
times on Channel 5!
TOOLS FOR SCHOOL SUPPLY DRIVE:
Our annual Tools for School supply drive is under
way, driven by Elmo and our plastic yellow bus, of
course! Please join us in donating backpacks
(especially wanted) or school supplies for less fortunate children who might not start the school year
with a back pack or those crucial school supplies
that every teacher requests at this time of year.
Thanks in advance for filling our bus and making
Elmo happy; ends AUGUST 10th!
BOUNCING PARTY!
Our summer end celebration will take place either
on Thursday, August 23 or Friday, Aug. 24 (rain
date) with two gigantic bounce houses from The
Maine Jump brought here to Parkside! We’ll also
Special thanks to all the parents who helped out have games, a barbecue, water play, etc. on that
on the trip: Paul Kelley, Stephanie Heal, Angela day so it should be a fabulous day of fun for all.
Webber, Angie Allen, Linda Jurdak, Ben
Any children who attended Parkside for the 2011Mitchell, Ryan Kelley, Ali Jesiolowski, Scott Eaton, 12 school year are welcome to attend, so please
Mira Olson, Oscar Martinez and Crystal Favati. come on back to visit old friends and say a final
good bye before heading off to Kindergarten!
Watch our website for more details.
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(Continued on next page)
Parkside Children’s Learning Center
July-August Newsletter
6:30am Opening:
We recently put out a survey to see how
many families would take advantage of
dropping off their children earlier if Parkside opened its doors at 6:30 instead of
7:00. The response was enough for us to at
least give it a trial run. So, with that said,
we will be opening at 6:30 starting Monday,
August 6th. However, if it turns out that very
few families are dropping off between 6:30
and 7:00 than we may return to our normal
opening time of 7:00 am. Please let us
know if this is a particular need for your
family.
CURRENT OPENINGS:
6 weeks-12 months: 2
6 months-18 months: 1
18 months-2 years: 2
2 years-2.5 years: 1
2.5 years-3.5 years: 4
3 years-4 years: 2
4 years-5 years: 4
Have a great month everyone!
~Jen Montgomery-Rice, Director
SHUT DOWN ALERT!
Shut Down Day: Parents, we have our usual
end-of-summer shut-down on Friday, August
31st this year. This day enables us to clean
our classrooms more thoroughly, prepare the
rooms for new students, plan for the new
classes, and train teachers in our Conscious
Discipline, Creative Curriculum, Anti-Bias curriculum, etc. Please make other arrangements for your children on that day as our
classrooms will be CLOSED. Thanks!
CHILDREN LEFT IN CARS:
Please parents, we have observed children
being left in cars in our parking lot. In the
extreme summer heat even a few moments
are dangerous moments as the temperature
in the car can skyrocket!! Please DO NOT
leave children unattended in cars for a myriad of reasons, but heat concerns are #1
right now.
FACEBOOK:
We have recently been experimenting with
adding pictures to our Facebook site:
please “like” us on Facebook to get Parkside
updates frequently!! Don’t forget our website is also a fantastic place to get up to the
minute information at www.parksideclc.com .
Music Class with Miss Caroline
It has been a busy summer so far for myself
and my family at home so I have only been in Parkside a few times recently – in fact it looked like I may
not be able to continue teaching due to family circumstances, but I am happy to say we worked out a solution, and so I will be staying on in the fall as the music
teacher!
The children in all the classrooms have continued to show lots of enthusiasm for music and are all
becoming more confident and familiar with the songs
and activities that we do frequently. It’s really fun to
see them blossom from week to week. I think that one
of our most memorable sessions recently was when I
did a show and tell class for them – they were introduced to the violin, flute and clarinet and were absolutely fascinated! I hope to bring in many more instruments in the future and expose them as much as possible to the varied and wonderful world of music!
Please feel free to get in touch if you have
any questions about your own child in regards to music class.
Thanks!
~Miss Caroline
Parkside Children’s Learning Center
Grand Teton
Hello everyone! This month we want to welcome our new friend, Zoey, as we say
goodbye to Colin, who has joined our friends in Glacier. We are always sad to see our bigger friends
go, but we wave to them through the window every
chance we get.
Action seems to be the key word in Grand Teton
lately. Whether it's bouncing, rolling
creeping, crawling or pulling themselves up, the babies have been in constant motion this
summer. They love to practice pulling themselves up
on the jungle toy and the gate. This past month in our
physical education program, we have been practicing
horizontal
rolls like Danny the Dog and ball dribbling with
Marty the Mule. We have also been learning to
move our legs to hit the ball.
The babies have been experiencing different textures with touch and feel books and playing
with texture bags at the table with their friends. It
has been exciting to see them
learning to communicate through signing, too. They
are quickly picking up the signs for "more" and "all
done" while eating their lunch. They are so proud of
themselves in accomplishing this task. In addition,
they have been learning the concept of pretend conversations as they play with the toy phone. The babies continue to enjoy music and learning about
rhythms and to discriminate among sounds through
clapping, singing and using the shaker toys. These
past few months we have been singing songs like, "If
You're Happy and You Know It," Twinkle, Twinkle
Little Star," and "She'll be Coming Around the Mountain."
The babies like to stack the blocks on the truck
and take them off again; it helps them
begin to understand cause and effect. They like to
roll the ball to their friends and have begun to learn
to chase each other around the chair in a game of
hide and seek.
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This month we have been enjoying playtime on the deck since it’s been very nice outside. They like to ride the bike and go down the
slide. We continue to enjoy our buggy rides out
on the playground and we get to visit siblings
and other friends at the center while doing
so. We had a great time with the water table
and it was wonderful to hear all the happy giggles as they played with their toys in the water.
We had a couple special events this
month as well. The children enjoyed the “Wildlife
Encounters” presentation and they even got to
touch a real, live alligator! Also, we celebrated
our Dad’s with a Father’s Day luncheon. Having
the Dad’s visit was very nice. Thank you to all
who came!
As usual, the babies continue to enjoy story
time. This month we have read, Goodnight
Maine, Don't Wake the Bear, Baby Faces, Bubbles, Bubbles, and Laoveja Rizos, a Spanish
book that Miss Francisca read to us.
Reminders:
Friday is book share day. :)
Please continue to label everything.
Thursday, August 23rd:
(RAIN DATE IS THE 24th!)
Annual Parkside Farewell Event
Friday, August 31st:
Parkside is Closed for Shut Down Day
Parkside Children’s Learning Center
Grand Teton
Look What I Can Do!
Allie likes to climb the gross motor mat!
Hannah can sign "more" and "all done”!
Margot loves to play at the water table!
Olivia can stand alone and clap her hands!
Grace can crawl and pull herself to standing!
Hudson enjoys tummy time!
Joshua can sit up in the exersaucer!
Zoey smiles at her teachers!
Brendan, welcome to our room!
Just Me and My Dad
Parkside Children’s Learning Center
Glacier
We were all very anxious for our July vacation
so the week before we enjoyed a whole week celebrating the fourth of July and summer! We got our exercise
by dancing with red and blue streamers and sang the
song “Yankee Doodle” and read the book Yankee Doodle Dandy. We did some fun chalk drawing outside with
our friends to make fireworks on the tar!
The past two months have been very
busy for us! We have all enjoyed the nice weather
in June and July! We have done some very exciting activities the past two month. Some of our
favorites were during our very exciting ocean
week; we played in “ocean water” which included
sand, water, and spinach (which we used in place
of sea weed). Some of our kiddos loved it while
others weren’t so sure of the texture! We also
created an awesome bulletin board that’s a very
fun ocean theme with crab hand prints and lobster
hand and foot prints! Very cute!!
In addition, the children really enjoyed
color week. We played with two different colored ice cubes to make a new color in our water
table then we added water and created colored
water. We did a mess free painting in a bag
with yellow and blue to make green!
We all loved pet week because we
shared pictures of our pets and made some fun
animal sounds! We created a pet collage using
animal pictures as a class and sang some songs
such as “Three Little Kittens” as well as playing
with mittens and taking them on and off.
We did some veggie painting and got
messy in potato flakes the next week! We read
the books Eat, and LMNO Peas, and, one of our
favorites, Muncha, Muncha, Muncha. Also, our
very fun Librarian came and read us some stories
and sang some songs.
During jungle week, we got busy with songs such
as “Five Little Monkeys” and “Clap Hello.” We read
Hide and Seek in the Jungle and had a scavenger hunt to
find our jungle animals around the room. We stomped
around our room like an elephant, slithered like a snake,
and ran like a tiger!! We spiced up chalk coloring by
coloring with wet chalk to bring out more vibrant colors!
We also started a scribble book as a whole class-it will
be interesting to see once we finish!
Who doesn’t love camping?! The last week of
July we made some camping trail mix and had a picnic
on the deck with our friends. We made a tent using
blankets and pillows with our friends. We went for a
“nature walk” and created a nature collage with what
we found. We played in the water and pretended to
“go fishing.” We’ve been enjoying all the fun toys on the
playground and our back deck remembering to take a
sip of cold water since its been so hot outside!
Reminders
Please bring extra clothing for your child in
case they get messy or wet.
Please label all of your child’s belongings
that you bring into the classroom.
August 23rd is Parkside’s Farewell Event
(rain date is August 24th)
August 31st
Parkside is closed for Shutdown Day
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Parkside Children’s Learning Center
Glacier
Page 7
Parkside Children’s Learning Center
Sequoia
Hello Sequoia families! We hope you enjoyed
your Fourth of July break and got to spend some
quality time with your family! We have had a
busy June and July and now have many new
friends in our room!
Our themes we focused on through June
were “Dinosaurs,” “Opposites,” “Camping,” “All
About Me,” and “Hawaii!” July was filled with
themes like “Colors,” “Beach and Water,” and
“Friendship.”
As one may imagine, dinosaurs week was
a big hit with our toddlers. They used dinosaurs in
play dough, making dinosaur prints with paint,
building dino homes, and doing a dinosaur dance!
We enjoyed books about dinosaurs including The
Mine-O-Saur and Dinos To Go.
“Opposite” week included many activities
exploring the differences of opposites! Our friends
did a fantastic job gluing long and short strips of
paper and big and small circles onto construction
paper. We also got to experience the differences
between soft and hard by touching different items.
We also practiced our loud and quiet noises! Some
of our favorite books that week were Above Us in
the Sky and Below Us Under the Earth and Sea.
We did a lot of indoor camping activities
during “Camping” week due to the weather, but
still had a lot of fun! Our friends created a magnificent camp fire out of paper towel rolls, flashlights, and scarves. We also made some amazing
collages with items from nature and did some nature painting with pinecones, pine needles, leaves,
and flowers! We had fun playing in our tents,
making binoculars, and making a beautifully sounding marching band. We read books about camping like I Can Go Camping and Maisy Goes Camping.
“All About Me” week was all about learning about our fantastic selves! We participated in
activities such as tracing our hands, feet, and bodies, and looking at the differences. Our friends did
great at practicing with cutting and made some
neat self sculptures out of play dough. Our kidPage 8
does loved singing songs like “Name Game” and “Clap
Hello!” Some of our favorite books were Baby’s Busy
World and Welcome Baby.
During “Hawaii” week we celebrated the beautiful island by wearing colorful leis! We also had a
whole, fresh pineapple to touch and learn about. We
made some interesting art with coconut mixed with paint
and painted with the leaves from our pineapple! We
also loved playing with sand and water and made some
volcano sand castles. We enjoyed books like Hello
Ocean, Hola Mar and Rainbow Sea.
“Colors” week was bright, beautiful, and colorful! We experimented with mixing different colors of
paint and made some amazing pictures during out ballrolling-painting. We loved decorating our playground
pavement with chalk and did some impressive zippysponge painting! Our friends are doing great learning
about our movement cube and trying some new ways to
move our bodies! Some our favorite color books were
Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Shapes and Colors.
The weather was great for our “Beach and Water” week! We had fun getting wet outside with the hose
and sprinkler and even helped another class wash our
cars! We learned about shells by digging them out of
sand, painting with them, and using them with play
dough. We had a blast dancing to beach party music
and tossing beach balls around. Some of our favorite
books that week were Sea Monsters Googlies and Shh!
Don’t Wake the Baby.
During “Friendship” week we learned about our
new friends! We practiced learning names by looking at
pictures of our friends and playing games like “Cubby
Mix Up” and “Who’s Shoes?” We also talked about our
emotions and practiced using gentle touches. Our friends
had a blast playing “Ring-Around-the-Rosie” and throwing and rolling balls to one another. Our favorite books
that week were Owen and Mzee and Rainbow Fish.
Friendly Reminders:
Please remember to sun block your child in the morning; we will reapply it in the afternoon.
Please make sure your child has weather appropriate extra clothing including shorts, tees, socks, and a
light jacket or sweatshirt.
August 23rd is Parkside’s Farewell Event
(rain date is August 24th)
August 31st
Parkside is closed for Shutdown Day
Parkside Children’s Learning Center
Sequoia
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Parkside Children’s Learning Center
Yellowstone
Yellowstone friends got there hands
right in the seaweed! It was exciting to feel the
texture and smell the seaweed with our senses.
We were also able to see other types of seaweed from samples that Linus Parents brought
in for us to explore! Thank you very much.
As a reminder with summer in mind Yellowstone families should be sun blocking there
children before they arrive. This will help your
children be ready to go out in the morning and
Hello Yellowstone Families! Summer is fiplay on the playground with there friends. We
nally here and we are excited for the sunshine.
send a big thank you to all the families in helpYellowstone has had some changes in the months of ing us to make sure there child is sun screened
June and July. We have some new friends from the before they arrive.
old Zion room and we are happy to welcome
them. Yellowstone would also like to welcome two
Also with summer comes the hot
new friends to the center Arcisha and Izzetta. All
weather. Keeping this in mind please bring in a
of the teachers are excited to welcome everyone
water bottle for your child if possible and
to the room and can’t wait for a great summer.
please clearly label the bottle. Also please
bring in a swim suit for sprinkler play or water
June and July were fun months for curricu- play on hot days. While playing in the water
lum we learned about different authors, the beach, Yellowstone friends will need shoes that can get
summer fun, and the ocean. Yellowstone friends
wet. This could be sandals, crocks, and water
enjoyed the different author’s books that we read shoes. This will help keep our shoes dry. Also
in class. A few of there favorite author books were please label all swim wear, towels if brought
If you give a mouse a muffin and Barnyard Dance. from home and water bottles. Thank you.
We also enjoyed fun playing with magnet letters
in shaving cream in June and July. Our summer fun
and beach was learning all about the different
things we do in the summer time. One of the books
we enjoyed was Going to the Beach. It was great
fun to talk about what we can do at the beach and
who has been.
Reminders
Also Yellowstone would like to say a big
thank you to all the fathers who were able to
Please label all of your child’s belongings
make it to the Father’s Day luncheon. It was a
that come into the classroom.
great way to celebrate all of our wonderful fathers. Again please remember to bring in your
We are a NUT FREE school.
swim gear and sun block in the morning. Thank you
for all your help and Yellowstone can’t wait for the
August 23rd is Parkside’s Farewell Event
rest of the summer. They will help us have a wonderful and safe time out side in the sun. Another
(rain date is August 24th)
great activity we did was explore seaweed in the
classroom.
August 31st-Parkside will be closed for
Shutdown Day
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Parkside Children’s Learning Center
Yellowstone
Page 11
Parkside Children’s Learning Center
Zion
Two other songs we have been
singing together are:
I’m a Little Fish(sung to the tune of
I’m a little teapot)
I’m a little fishy, I can swim
Here is my tail, here is my fin
When I want to have fun with my friends
I wiggle my tail and jump right in!
Hello Zion Families and friends! Can
you believe that summer is already half
way over?! Neither can we! The past two
months have been full of changes and transitions in our room. We have had children
and teachers alike coming and going
throughout June and July! But now, we are
settling in and learning our new routine and
everyone seems very happy.
The children have had tons of fun
exploring their new space and toys. The
outside deck has become a fast favorite of
both the children and the teachers. Ms.
Stephanie and Ms. Peggy are working hard
to get everything up on the walls to make it
truly feel like a home away from home in
the room.
We learned about summer in Maine
during the month of June. We read Blueberries for Sal and sang “Five Green and
Speckled Frogs.” We had fun playing Lily
pad hop, bubble catch, and making sun
catchers. We even went on a pretend blueberry hunt!
We were on an ocean kick during
the month of July and thoroughly enjoyed
all of our lessons. We have been reading
Sheep on a Ship and Lighthouse Saves the
Day among other wonderful books. The
children have been singing along to “5 Little
Fish” and “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean”
They also made fish out of paper plates.
We celebrated the 4th of July by making
our own fireworks and American Flags as
well.
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Good Morning Friends(this is our circle
time start song)
Hi, Good morning friends.
How are you today?
Let’s all try to be a friend,
To everyone today!
Reminders
Please put sunscreen on your child before
they arrive at school and we will reapply
before lunch time. If you forget, just ask!
Please label all of your child’s belongings
that are brought into the classroom.
Please fill out a daily note everyday.
August 23rd is Parkside’s Farewell Event
(rain date is August 24th)
August 31st
Parkside is closed for Shutdown Day
Parkside Children’s Learning Center
Zion
Page 13
Parkside Children’s Learning Center
Big Sur
We kicked off July with a week all
about weather. We talked a lot about the water
cycle and how we get rain and snow, which of
course lead us into dressing for different types
of weather! The children also had fun making
rainy day pictures, and using puff paint to paint
clouds. Stella the Queen of Snow and Cloudy
With a Chance of Meatballs were two of Big
Sur’s favorite stories of the week.
Hello Big Sur family and friends! We
hope you all are staying cool on these hot summer days and having fun! Of course, here at
Parkside summer means transitions, and Big Sur
has had a lot of them! Let’s welcome our new
friends Abhinav, Adelaide, Anneka, Collin, Jackson, Jacob, Ryan, Ryanne and of course Miss
Tammy to Big Sur! We also would like to say
goodbye and good luck to those friends who
have moved up to the Pre-k with Miss Lisa and
Miss Caley or are gone to public Pre-k: Ada,
Allison, Brock, Brody, Connor, Emerson,
Mackenzie, Michael, Paige, and Pola.
Our themes during June were gardening, camping, and “If You Give a Mouse a
Cookie.” The children really enjoyed listening to
the story The Carrot Seed and then planting
their own in our starter kit. While playing a sorting game, the children learned all about where
different fruits and vegetables grow (some in
trees, on vines, or in the ground!). Big Sur friends
had a great time with our “If You Give a Mouse
a Cookie” theme. The children had a great time
acting out the story in the dramatic play area,
making playdough cookies, painting with cookie
cutters, and graphing their favorite cookies. During our camping week, we built our own tent in
the dramatic play area, did leaf rubbings, and
did a camping gear matching game.
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Next, Miss Tammy taught the children all
about barbeque. The children had a great time
making playdough kabobs, washing dishes in the
sensory table, sorting foods that can and cannot
be cooked on the grill, and making chef puppets.
The letter of the week was T and the children
practiced writing the letter on the white board
and also did a letter T collage.
Big Sur learned all about colors to finish
out the month of July. We did a lot of experimenting with mixing colors to see how they
change. The children mixed watercolors using
eye droppers, mixed paint by swirling it in a
salad spinner, and created golf ball paintings.
Our Big Sur friends also enjoyed sorting objects
by color and making a book about all of our
favorite color things. The favorite stories of the
week were Green Eggs and Ham, My Many Colored Days, and Little Blue, Little Yellow.
Reminders:
*Please bring in a labeled water bottle
for your child to keep at Parkside
*Please apply sunscreen in the mornings
before drop-off
August 23rd is Parkside’s Farewell
Event (rain date is Aug. 24th)
Parkside is CLOSED August 31st for
Shutdown Day
Parkside Children’s Learning Center
Big Sur
Page 15
Parkside Children’s Learning Center
Yosemite
Hello Yosemite families and friends!
We are hoping you are all enjoying your summer and staying cool! We have had lots of fun
and exciting things happening in the months of
June and July. First off, I would like to take this
opportunity to welcome Mrs. Deborah Huff as
the new Assistant Teacher in our Yosemite
Room. She’s been a great addition. :)
We had a visit from Wildlife Encounters during the month of June. We had the opportunity to meet and touch some pretty interesting creatures including: a kangaroo, crocodile, fox, and porcupine. The kids were so
excited to be able to see and touch them in
the comfort of our school.
We also had our Pre-K Graduation
that was held at the Bangor Savings Training
Facility just down the road from our school.
Our entire Pre-K classroom was able to attend
the event. For weeks, we practiced and prepared to sing, stand, and receive our diplomas. Thirteen of our fellow classmates graduated from our Pre-K program and are off to
Kindergarten in the Fall.
I would like to take a moment to say
goodbye and good luck to Alexis B., Jackson
B., Stella F., Alexandria G., Madeleine C.,
Andy M., Gabriel E., Sophie C., Lilly G., Lily R.,
Ainsley H., Gavin M., and Natalie F. We will
really miss you here at Parkside! This particular group of graduates is extra special because several of them have been here together at Parkside since they were babies.
Although we are sad to see them all go we
are so proud of each and every one of them
and are honored to be part of one of the first
milestones in their lives.
Page 16
July has been a very busy month for us
as well. We all had a great vacation week the
first week of July and are refreshed to start the
new school year off with a whole new group of
friends. Transitions have been the biggest event
within the last few weeks and they are going
very smoothly. We are pleased to announce
and welcome our newest friends Dresden S.,
Jonathan B., Grace M., Frederic W. and Sam S.
Our Curriculum topics for June and July
have included Camping, Graduation & Kindergarten, Welcome Summer, Summer/
Independence Day, Oceans and More Ocean
Fun. The kids have certainly enjoyed all the
topics and activities that we have done and
have learned lots of new things. We also
talked about special summer celebrations and
events like: The Fourth of July, bbq’s, family
gatherings, and swimming.
Reminders
Please renew medication forms every 30 days if
you store medication here
(ask your child’s teacher)
Please label your child’s water bottles, helmets, and
other belongings
August 23rd is Parkside’s Farewell Event (rain date
is August 24th)
August 31st
Parkside is CLOSED for Shutdown Day
Parkside Children’s Learning Center
Yosemite
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Parkside Children’s Learning Center
Olympic
We celebrated Independence Day
and had fun “exploring” the ocean in July. At
our science center, we had seaweed and seaJune and July have flown by in the Olym- shells for some hands on ocean fun; the kids
pic room! We have had lots of fun. :) We celeenjoyed the textures. We drew and labeled
brated summer, Dads, had a visit from Wildlife
many ocean pictures including our favorite
Encounters, and held our Pre-K graduation. Most
ocean animals in our journals. We painted
of the month of June was spent practicing our
with sea sponges, made mini books about
graduation songs and rehearsing how we would
sharks at our fine motor station and used our
stand and receive our diplomas. The kids did a
great job!! People from “The Wildlife Encounters” ocean stencils at the writing station.
came to visit us. They brought some very exciting
animals like: a kangaroo, a fox, a porcupine, and
an alligator!! I think the Alligator was the highlight!!
We went on a field trip to the Discovery Museum on July 25th; the bus was a wonderful
adventure and the kids had a great time at
the museum. Thank you to the parents that
came along to chaperone.
Some of the books we enjoyed during
June and July were: The Fourth of July Mice
Oceans, L is for Lobster, Just Me and My
Dad, Lottie’s Beach Towel, and Big Shark. We
continue to read Junie B Jones and Magic Tree
House books during rest time as well.
In June, we were sad to say goodbye to
Miss Jessica, but are happy to welcome Miss
Happy Birthday to Brooke and Josh B; they
Caley. We also said goodbye to many of our
both turned 5 in July! :)
Olympic kids. Some of our Big Sur and Yosemite
friends joined us as well in June. We wish all of
our Kindergarteners the absolute best in their new
Reminders
school!
We continued working at our workboard
Please label all of your child’s belongings.
stations reviewing our letters and numbers. We
also talked about the difference between letters,
Please renew medication forms every 30
words and sentences during our morning message
days if you store medication here.
time. The “old” Olympic kids did a great job
helping the new kids with the rules and routines of
August 23rd is Parkside’s Farewell Event
our classroom, including workboard stations, We
(rain date is August 24th)
did some estimating and graphing at our Math
station and we took a spoonful of macaroni and
August 31st
estimated how many pieces we had and then we
counted them and compared our guesses.
Parkside is CLOSED for Shutdown Day
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Parkside Children’s Learning Center
Olympic
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