Storyteller, June 2012

Observations

“Nature often holds up a mirror so we can see more clearly the ongoing processes of growth, renewal, and transformation in our lives.”

Dear Families and Friends,

In June we always seem to ask ourselves, “How did the school year pass so quickly?” We blinked at some point between Fall and Spring. . .and here we are. If we are wondering if the time has truly passed, all we have to do is take a look at the children. Their growth and development since September is quite evident.

During recent weeks we have observed caterpillars turn into butterflies and seeds the children planted sprout into tiny sunflower plants. In the Cherry Blossom room, children have created eggs from small treasures layered with wrappings of ribbon, wire and fabric and then sealed with a papier mache process. A new baby—Logan Walker—was born last week. Transformation is a fascinating topic for both children and adults.

In a few weeks we will watch many of our Dandelion and Sunflower friends walk out of our front doors, headed toward the world of elementary school. We will sure miss them—and their families—but I think they are ready to leave us. For them, the preschool phase of their development is almost complete.

Fortunately, the bittersweet emotions we experience at this time of year fade as we remember that returning and brand new children will be joining us in our classrooms in a couple of months–and we will have the great joy of being a part of the transformation process once more.

Thank you for sharing your beautiful children with us.

Wishing you all a happy, safe and relaxing summer vacation,

Nancy

Click on the links below or scroll down for this month’s topics:

Coming Events
Azzurra Raffle
Laurie
Studio News
Documentation Books
End-of Year Invoices and June, 2013 Tuition:
Catered Lunches
Pictures from School Events

Coming Events

New Parent Orientation:
June 1st from 10:00 to 12:30 in the Parish Hall. (We encourage returning parents of children who will be new to the school to attend this meeting, too.)

Teacher Appreciation Luncheon:
June 5th at 1:30. Thank you to Marika Spielman and committee members Kelli Haas, Katie Rosenfeld, Anne Collard, Tannaz Silkman, Kim Egan, Julie Cantor, Keirstin Uomoto, Stephanie Rocca, Allison Lovus, Catherine McGarvey and Luciana Souza for organizing and preparing such a lovely event for teachers and directors.

End of Year Celebration for Sunflower & Dandelion children and families:
Friday, June 8th from 9:15 to 10:15 a.m. in the Parish Hall. Teachers and directors, with help from Parker Bent, will present children with their Portfolio as a symbol of their graduation from PPS.

Heal the Bay Beach Clean-up:
Outreach Committee members Lisa and Hugh Fitzgerald have organized this morning activity for our community. This will be the third year we have held this event and we invite families to bring a picnic and enjoy a morning of community service and beach fun. Please look for the flyer with more information about the location and time.

PPS Carnival:
Tuesday, June 12th–This annual PPS event is held on our play yard and includes a Bounce House, snow cone cart, popcorn machine, magician, face painter and air brush tattoo artist. Cherry Blossom and Rosemary children participate from 9:00 to 10:30. Dandelion and Sunflower children enjoy the Carnival from 10:30 to 12:00. All children have a pizza lunch in their classrooms and go home at about 12:30 p.m. The Carnival Committee will help with set-up and clean-up and members are welcome to stay during the event. Children who do not usually come to school on a Tuesday are also welcome to participate.

top of page ↑

Azzurra Raffle

Please see the poster in our hallway for details about this exciting opportunity to win an excursion aboard the racing yacht, Azzurra. Tickets are $25 each and we encourage our families to purchase or sell 2 raffle tickets. Winners will be announced on Friday, June 8th.

top of page ↑

Laurie

On behalf of Laurie and her family, we would like to express our appreciation to so many PPS families who contributed to the fund to help pay for Laurie’s helper during her recuperation from surgery. We would also like to thank the Sunflower families who have been helping with Miller’s transportation in the afternoons and parents who have helped with meals for the Cornell family. Your generosity has been amazing.

top of page ↑

Studio News

We are very happy to share the news that Summer Jefferson will return in August as an atelierista, joining Craig and Valeria as part of the studio team. Summer plans to work with Cherry Blossom and Rosemary children during the week of June 4th—to bring closure to the year of studio work. We thank Sarah Bieda for her role as substitute teacher during Summer’s child care leave of absence.

top of page ↑

Documentation Books

Teachers from each class have created beautiful books of documentation of small group work from this school year. Valeria’s book is a story about the puppets she and the Dandelion/Sunflower children designed and sewed in the past year. Nicole and Nancy have also created books documenting their work with children over the course of the past several months. If you have ordered a book, please check with Karen during the last week of school. We expect the books to arrive at our school by June 12th.

top of page ↑

End-of Year Invoices and June, 2013 Tuition:

Karen is preparing final invoices for Stay & Play and other miscellaneous charges to be emailed to parents in early June. We appreciate prompt payment before June 13th. Tuition payments from new and returning parents for June, 2013 are due by June 7th. Thank you.

top of page ↑

Catered Lunches

We thank the families in the CB, Rosemary and Dandelion classes for their support of the pilot lunches during the past couple of months. Both children and adults sampled the lunches prepared by Paul Osher of Bean & Thyme and by Kelly Boyer of Paleta. Children seemed to enjoy the experience and parents also seemed pleased with the quality of the lunches and the menu selections. We plan to begin our catered lunch program when children return to school in mid-August and will share more information about the caterer selected in the August Storyteller. A separate catered lunch contract will be created for each family based upon the number of catered lunch days for each child. Contracts will be completed and mailed in July. Our Board of Trustees has suggested that we request partial payment for lunches in August, with the remainder due in January of 2013. Karen will include these amounts in the appropriate billing periods.

The preschool will close on Thursday, June 14th and reopen on the first day of school–Wednesday, August 15th. Teachers and directors will be working at the school on June 14th if you need to speak with us. We will be back in our offices again on August 1st, preparing for the new school year. If you need to reach Nancy or Karen during the summer vacation, please email us. Happy Summer!!