I don’t say enough here about how great our preschool teacher is. I might be a little biased, but if you or anyone you know has preschoolers, or a mom of a preschooler who would like a morning or two free, you could not find a better teacher than Cate Marks.
Please Check out the preschool tab.
Call for tour so you can see also: 585.334.4130
Or drop her an email: catiemarks at yahoo dot com (I’ll avoid creating a bunch of spam for her.)
We had a busy May at St. Mark’s! Early in May, we finished up our Community Helpers theme. The highlight was when the fantastic Henrietta 
firefighters brought their truck to our parking lot, and the kids got to learn all about it and climb into the driver’s seat. They had a ball! Then, we did our Ocean theme. We read great books, including “Swimmy” and “Rainbow Fish,” manipulated aquarium gravel and seashells in our sensory table, made seashell photo frames and bubble wrap seascapes, and had some fun ocean-related snacks. We’re lucky enough to have tadpoles in our classroom, so we’ve been watching them grow and waiting not-so-patiently for the day when they sprout legs. Feel free to take a peek at them in the preschool room, and cross your fingers that it happens before school ends!
This week, we began our Summer theme. We’ll be learning about the season of summer and how it’s different from the other 3 seasons. We’ll also discuss all the fun activities we can do in the summer and, of course, do some fun crafts and outdoor activities of our own. We already have a tent in our classroom, which the kids are enjoying very much! It’s a great place to read and play, and the zipper is good for their fine motor development! We’ll finish off the school year with our Vacation theme. It’s so hard to believe we only have a handful of weeks left in the school year!
Don’t forget to take a look at our Facebook page for more photos!
Exciting times at St. Mark’s Preschool, the firetruck and the firemen came to visit
We’ve been incredibly busy this spring at St. Mark’s Preschool! We completed a Caterpillar to Butterfly theme. We made pom pom caterpillar magnets and toilet paper roll butterflies and played with butterfly wings and nets. We read The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and the kids even had their own caterpillar made out of a Pringles can they could “feed.” The kids loved how their caterpillars came out of a paper bag “cocoon” as butterflies on the last day! We also spent a week learning about Easter. We learned the Easter Story, made stained glass crosses and finger paint crosses, made Easter baskets, and had an Easter egg hunt.
After that, we had our Farm theme. We learned about a variety of farm animals, including cows, pigs, horses, chickens, and sheep. The kids got to play with farm toys, and they created their own Veterinarian’s Office in the dramatic play center. The kids’ favorite activity seemed to be the day they learned how cows were milked and got a chance to “milk” a Latex glove filled with cream. They also enjoyed shaking the cream to make it into whipped cream! We also did some art projects, including painting with toy tractors and making Muddy Pigs out of brown fingerpaint mixed with oats. We even took a day to celebrate Earth Day. We made spin-painted Earths (on display on the bulletin board outside the preschool room) and discussed the importance of preserving our planet.
Today, we started our Community Helpers theme. We’ll be learning about some of the people who play important roles in our community, such as doctors, firefighters, police officers, postal workers, and more!
I’ve been lax about posting the last couple of weeks, but we’ve been having a lot of fun at the preschool! We spent two weeks learning about our five senses. We went on a listening walk, identified sounds in nature, guessed foods by their smells, did texture explorations and texture painting, and had a blindfolded taste test! The kids did a great job learning which body part is responsible for each of our senses.
For the past week, we’ve been learning about Spring! We read some books about seeds and flowers, “planted” our own garden in the dramatic play center, and made hand print tulips and coffee filter flowers.
Today, we took a break from our Spring theme to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day! The kids had tons of fun listening to Irish music and doing a jig, eating cupcakes with green frosting, and making St. Patrick’s Day Shakers. We had a big surprise when we came back into our room after visiting Mindy, only to find that a leprechaun had ransacked the place! Luckily, he left a trail of clues that we could follow to find his hidden treasure… some chocolate coins in the Pastor’s office!
Next week, we’ll be finishing up our Spring theme. It will be especially fun, since each child will get a chance to plant their own seeds in a baggie and watch them grow over the coming weeks.
Happy Spring!
Today, we finished up our Zoo Animals theme at the preschool. We had a great couple of weeks learning about our ferocious friends! We painted stripes on zebras, finger painted spots on giraffes, and sang Raffi’s “Going to the Zoo.” The children especially liked playing with their own “zoo” in the sand table and singing and moving along with a special version of “If You’re Happy and You Know It” featuring zoo animals! Pastor Mark also taught us about Noah’s Ark; imagine fitting all those animals in one boat! We finished off our theme today by having the children bring in their favorite stuffed zoo animal and doing a zoo animal show-and-tell.
Of course, earlier this week we took a break to learn about Valentine’s Day. We talked about love: who we love and how much God loves us! The children also made Valentines for their families. As you can see, Valentine’s Day was a big hit!
Next week is Winter Break, but when the children return, we’ll start learning about the Five Senses!
Today, we started our new Zoo Animals theme at the preschool. I pulled some different stuffed zoo animals out of a bag, and the kids figured out where they might all live together… at the zoo! We read some stories about zoo animals and discussed our experiences at the zoo.
The children had a great time doing some dramatic play with animals masks. For a while, our room was filled with a lion, an elephant, a bobcat, and a bear. It was definitely a zoo in here!
Now the children have gone home and the room is ready for them to come in again tomorrow. I wonder what they’ll find when they get here…
We did something fun and different in the preschool this morning! Mindy came in and read “Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type” to the children. They enjoyed repeating the tagline, “Click, clack, moooooo.” It’s a great book if you want to check it out!
Then, Mindy brought in the church’s old typewriter, and the children got a chance to play around with it and see how a typewriter works! It’s strange to think that most kids their age have never even seen a typewriter before.
It was a great blast from the past, and we really enjoyed it! Thanks, Mindy!
We’ve been singing a song this week in the preschool, and the kids have really been enjoying the actions. It’s from The Mailbox website. I wanted to share it in case you want to sing it with your children!
To play this entertaining game, give each child a small piece of cotton batting to represent snow (we used cotton balls). Lead students in singing the song while they hold the batting on their heads as indicated in the first line. Sing repeated verses of the song, changing the name of the body part and encouraging youngsters to place their snow accordingly.
(Sung to the tune of “The Farmer in the Dell”)
The snow is on my [head].
It landed there, you see.
I went outdoors to play
And snowflakes fell on me!