REGISTRATION HAS BEGUN FOR THE 2014- 2015 SCHOOL YEAR

REGISTRATION HAS BEGUN for 2014-2015 school year!! All registration forms are online at http://www.shepherdofpeace.com/ourpreschool.html If you click on the link at the top of the page it will bring up the pdf documents. Registration fees are discounted until April 15!!! 

If you have an almost 3 (born between September 1 and December 31, please contact the church office and ask to speak with Beth Simonelli, our director... we will take children that were born after the cut off, as long as they are potty trained (with minimal accidents), and it is understood that they will not be able to go to Kindergarten a year sooner! We will work with what's best for you and your family!

To register, please fill out the first pre-registration form and return that with your non-refundable registration fee of $75 ($100 per family if more than one child is enrolled.) This will guarantee your child’s spot in the class of your choice and will also be applied for snacks for the school year.  If you register by April 15^th, take $25 off of this registration fee ($50 per child or $75 per family.)  After April 15^th, the regular registration fees apply.

The additional white forms in the folder may be filled out and returned when we have Open House in the fall.  Please include with these forms a copy of your child’s birth certificate and an immunization record. 

As in years past, we are also offering a referral incentive.  Any family that refers a new student to our preschool will get a $15 discount off of the October tuition (which is the second tuition payment of the year.)  If you know of a family that is interested in our preschool, please let me know.  If they decide that our preschool is a good fit and they register, you will receive the referral credit. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at the church office 815-458-9445. 

REGISTRATION ROUND-UP is coming soon!!!

Shepherd's Flock Monthly Newsletter ~ March 2014

Important Dates

· Friday, March 7, 2014—Exploration Station Field Trip

· Monday, March 10, 2014—Registration Round-up

· Monday, March 24 –Friday, March 28, 2014 –No School, Spring Break

· Monday, March 31, 2014—School Resumes

February at Shepherd’s Flock

The past month at Shepherd's Flock has been very busy! Besides the few snow days we have had, we have been working on several things. We celebrated Valentine's day, learned a lot about Jesus love for us, celebrated our dad's at our annual Dad's Night with our 4 year old friends, talked about the cold weather and penguins, learned about outer space, and most importantly learned a few new bible stories, including Mary and Martha, the widows offering, and the healings of Jesus.
We are so excited to welcome as our new three's teacher, Jessica Powell. And we are also so blessed to have Deona Walsh as her aide. With both these ladies in the classroom, our students are not only learning, but having a wonderful and loving time doing it!
The Month Ahead!

For March we are looking forward to warmer weather... we want to play outside! We are also looking forward to visiting Exploration Station in Bourbonnais on March 7.  March 10 is out first registration round up, where parents and students can visit our facility, meet our staff, and sign up for our summer and fall sessions! This will be from 6 pm to 7 pm and all are invited and encouraged to visit us!  We will have discounted registration fees as well as raffle for a free registration! Spring break for us is at the end of March... and again we are going for spring to come quickly! 

Chapel Offerings

For the month of February and March we are collecting to give to the Community Care Center, also known as the Braidwood Food Pantry.   They have a lot of offerings given to them during the holiday season, but when that season ends they still have needs for food and money to buy food without as much coming in.  We are digging deep in our pockets to help this wonderful organization right in our own neighborhood. 

A Few Reminders

· Scholastic Book orders are due on March 15th.  I am not sure why for the month of February we didn’t have any new book orders come in, but hopefully you can find something in this months for your little one’s Easter Basket! 

· Daylight Savings Time starts on March 9 at 2 am.  Don’t forget to SPRING FORWARD! 

· We hope to see you at our REGISTRATION ROUND-UP!!!! Summer Camps and Fall Registration will be available to you there!

-Shepherd’s Flock Preschool Staff-

Art Enrichment Class

Art Enrichment was a blast! We looked at art from Andy Warhol, Picasso, Michelangelo, Piet Mondrian, and Georges Seurat.  We ended up creating Paper Mache masks after looking at African masks and even fancy ones as well.  The whole four weeks flew by as we learned and created completely inspired by some of the world’s most famous artists! 

Our finished Paper Mache masks... All dry and painted... The kids love putting them up to their faces and pretending to be someone else! 

Painting just like Michelangelo did the Sistine Chapel... On our backs! 

Piet Mondrian inspired these awesome paintings!  They turned out so great and so original.  The kids loved choosing the colors and creating the squares and rectangles! 

Our Picasso Paintings... First we drew "normal faces" on various colors of construction paper, then we cut them apart.  After that we created a background using drops of paint and then rolled the paper with a rolling pin (making an awesome creation!) Finally, we chose out of all the cut apart pieces, which parts to make our Picasso Painting!  Didn't they turn out amazing! 

Monthly Newsletter - February 2014

Chapel Offerings

           For the month of January we collected money to donate to the victims of the tornado that hit Coal City and Diamond.  We ended up collecting just over $25 and that donation will be made along with the money that was made at the Shepherd of Peace Dinner Dance on the 31st of January.  Thank you so much to everyone who made donations, gave change to your child for chapel or came to the dance. 

 For the months of February and March we will be doing a collection for The Food Pantry in Braidwood.  They get several donations during the holiday months, but after the holidays, donations do slow down.  Any change that you have laying around can help them feed and give to the needy in our community.  Please note that the first week of February we do not have chapel because Pastor will be out of town.  If you child does bring in offering, we will do a collection anyway :) 

A Few Reminders

¨  Valentine’s Day is coming up fast!  If you signed up to help with the party, please see your child’s teacher so that we can begin planning the party. 

¨  We had a fantastic time visiting Raceway Pizza last month.  I know that the kids really enjoyed it because they loved telling us all about it when we got back in the classroom!

¨  Scholastic Book orders are due on February 25th.  Don’t forget to use your $5 gift certificates…This is the last month to be able to use them!  The book order forms will be in the cubbies this next week.

¨ REGISTRATION FOR THE 2014-2015 SCHOOL YEAR is coming very soon!  We will be having a “Registration Roundup” on Monday night, March 10.  This will be an opportunity for prospective students to visit our preschool, meet our staff, and get a discounted registration fee.  We will also be having a raffle that night for all who attend to have the registration fee waived.  More information will be out after mid-February. 

-Shepherd’s Flock Preschool Staff-

Winter Ice Is Nice!

Well it has been one of those winters... But if you can't beat 'em.... then join 'em!  We brought snow inside (we can bring lots of it in!)  made icicle paintings, made melted snowmen, talked about what snowmen do at night (did you know they played a snowball baseball game?!) and we even made colorful snowman (sometimes the white snow is just so BORING to look at!!)  We also had a fake snowball fight with loofah's and the kids LOVED it... who doesn't need to get some of this winter energy out!!  
After reading "The Mitten" we were able to sequence the story on paper and also act it out with our giant mitten... How many preschoolers can you fit into a 6 foot mitten???  We tried as hard as we could, but ended up with only 4 or 5... Not too bad!  At least they were warm and snuggly!  

January 2014 Monthly Newsletter

Important Dates

· Tuesday, January 7, 2014– Classes resume… We hope you had a peaceful Christmas with your families!  (There is no school Monday, January 6)

· Monday, January 20, 2014-No School, Martin Luther King Jr. Day

· Date to be determined—Raceway Pizza Field trip.  We are waiting to see what will work out best with the pizza place, but it will be on a Friday toward the end of the month.  All classes will attend together.  We will let you know the date and send out a permission slip as soon as we know. 

Chapel Offerings

For the month of December we collected money for a 5 year old through Family Care in Braidwood.   We used all of the money that was collected towards the gifts for the little boy for Christmas. 

 For January our chapel offerings will be going to help the Diamond and Coal City Tornado Victims.  We know that they have had a lot of help, but monetary donations are always appreciated.  This will coincide with Shepherd of Peace’s Benefit Dinner for the tornado victims that is going to be held on January 31 from 6 to 11 pm.  Tickets are on sale now, if you are interested in coming to support our neighbors in need, please let me know.   Tickets for adults cost $25 and for children ages 4-11 are $10 There will be silent auctions, tons of raffles, great food, dancing, music, and plenty of good friends.  All are invited and we would love to make this event something that really helps the victims of the tornados.  

A Few Reminders

Scholastic Book orders are due on January 24th.  Don’t forget to use your $5 gift certificates that were attached to your child’s Christmas Book from Shepherd’s Flock!  Books make great gifts!  Don’t forget that you can order and pay online! 

Market Day is still a wonderful fundraiser for our preschool and church.  Look for your Market Day order forms in the cubbies or the back hallway.

We have not done much with counting our Campbell’s Labels for Education (in fact, if you would like to help count them, we would so appreciate it, just see Mrs. Simonelli) but we still are collecting them.  We get a lot of wonderful things for our classrooms for FREE just for clipping and bringing them in!  Check some of your favorite brands.. These labels are not just on soup!  

On a sadder note, we want to let you know about the passing of a very important man to our Preschool.  Art Rohr (the children know him as Mr. Art) passed away peacefully in his sleep just before Christmas.  Mr. Art was seen almost daily helping fix things in the church and classroom, talking with our students, and he is most remembered for sharing his knowledge of insects and animals with our classes.  We were blessed to spend time with him just a few months ago when he brought in his snake Rosie to visit our four year old class.  He was a wonderful, helpful man and will be truly missed.  Thanks be to God that we have the promise to be able to see Mr. Art again in heaven! 

-Shepherd’s Flock Preschool Staff-