12.18.2008

One More Time!

Public schools are closed Friday, Dec. 19th. Have a wonderful holiday and we will see you all in January.

Finally!

Seattle Public Schools are closed today due to actual snow! Children's School morning classes are cancelled, and the Northwest Puppet Center is closed today. We will do our best to reschedule our Pre-K puppet show.

See you all in January!

12.17.2008

And Again!

The schools are closed today in anticipation of snow and ice. TCS will also be closed today. Stay safe and warm and if this doesn't let up we will see you in January.

12.16.2008

Again!?

Once more, Seattle schools are delayed two hours today. Sorry morning friends, I hope we get to see you before winter break starts! We will be starting at 11:30 today for Lunch Bunch and Pre-K.

See you at school!

12.15.2008

Late Start

The public schools are opening 2 hours late today. The Children's School will not hold morning classes, but will be open for Pre-K this afternoon.

12.14.2008

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

Hi everyone! Just a short reminder that we do follow the Seattle Public Schools policy in regards to snow. This means that if the public schools are closed, we will also close. If the schools are two hours late, we will not have morning classes, but will open for Lunch Bunch and Pre-K. I will do my best to post any news as early as possible. Another good place to check for early info is the SPS website: www.seattleschools.org.

See you at school!

12.03.2008

Parent Lunch Bunch

Our next Parent Lunch Bunch is set for Friday, December 12th at 11:30am to 1pm.
We will be discussing the recent news that the tent community known as Nickelsville is moving to a parking lot behind our building. Some of our teachers will share with you what is happening in their classrooms around this event.
We are also diligently working to gather accurate information, and even working on finding folks who will come to answer questions and share what they know. If you have questions now, feel free to forward them so that we can do our best to make sure we have answers for you.
If you are the parent of a Pre-K student, and would like to attend, please do.
RSVP'ing to this event is very important, so that we may adequately prepare a room and be staffed appropriately.
As with other Parent Lunch Bunch Programs, please let us know if you can attend, and if you will be bringing a child who cannot attend the children's lunch bunch that day.
We look forward to hearing from you!
lisa coleman

11.30.2008

Nickelsville

Dear Children School Families:

I am writing to you tonight on behalf of Sallie McArthur and The Children's School -- to inform you that the University Congregational UCC membership voted today (Sunday, Nov. 30th) to allow the homeless community, known as Nickelsville, currently residing in the parking lot of University Christian Church at the SE corner of 15th Ave. NE and NE 50th Street, to a parking lot owned by the congregation of UCUCC (Lot A). This move will take place some time in the next week. Should you come to school this coming week with questions about this community, we will have some initial information available for you. We also understand that it may be beneficial to our school community to have a chance to discuss this together, and we, as a staff, are committed to providing that opportunity, via a Parent Lunch Bunch, sometime in the next couple of weeks.
In the meantime, if you would like to explore additional information about Nickelsville on your own, here is the Nickelsville, website:
and here is the website for University Christian, where their experience with this community is discussed in their newsletter, The Visitor:

See you at school!

Sincerely,
Lisa Coleman
Administrator
The Children's School

11.25.2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope you all have a wonderful holiday. Good luck to those of you who are travelling this week. This turkey and several of her friends will soon be making the trip to Iraq to be with our friend Tyler's dad. Mrs. Coleman is always full of good ideas like this. Thanks Mrs. C.!

When we come back to school it will be December (can you believe it?) and we will be gearing up for Christmas and Hannukah. Come check out the Pre-K Graham Cracker Houses on Dec. 1. They may inspire you to create some of your own!

See you at school!

11.05.2008

Some of our favorite books

As many of you know, I will become a Nana in November. As my son, Owen, and I began our shopping a few weeks ago we ordered our favorite books from his childhood. He remembered all of them. When he said, "Mom, we have to get 'Blueberries for Sal'", I had to work hard not to cry. Here are our favorites:
  • The Very Hungry Caterpillar
  • I'll Love You Forever
  • Runaway Bunny
  • Blueberries for Sal
  • Make Way For Ducklings
  • Too Noisy
  • Pat The Bunny
  • Goodnight Moon
  • Brown Bear, Brown Bear
  • The Little Engine That Could
  • Green Eggs and Ham
  • Hop on Pop
  • Go Dog Go
  • Caps for Sale
Thanks to Mrs. Jaques for sharing her experience. Do you and your children have any favorites? Feel free to leave us a comment.

We Voted Too!

Thank you to Mrs. Banks for organizing our own small community this week. We had ballots and everything! Granted, it may not have been as exciting as the national process, but our election was highly contested. I still don't know who won. Will it be Batman? or Tinkerbell? We'll all find out later this morning. What a great way for our kids to experience what they've probably been hearing about for the last year.

See you at school!

**UPDATE**
Batman wins by 2 votes!! With just 4 write-in votes, it was a really close race. Congrats to Tink for coming so close. Maybe next time.

10.22.2008

Hey-Ho Halloween's Here!

That's right, it's coming! With all the talk about ghosts, witches, and monsters, comes an excellent opportunity to discuss the difference between fantasy and reality. What's real? What's pretend? What scares us and how do we handle those scary things?

Don't forget that our parties are next week, at regular class times.

Wednesday:
  • Teacher Cinda, M-W-F
  • Mrs. Friedhoff, Pre-3
Thursday:

  • Mrs. Banks' class, M-F (If this is not your child's usual day, come anyway. All are invited!)
  • Miss Tierney, Pre-3
  • Mrs. Jaques, Pre-K
To avoid scaring our younger children, all morning classes are invited to wear their party clothes. Pre-K, don't forget your costumes, but please leave masks and weapons at home!

10.16.2008

Look what I can do!


At TCS we are big fans of independence. One of the ways we encourage this is to ask our children to try hanging up their own coats, backpacks, etc. Also, when the weather starts to get chilly, we try to put on our own coat(ask your teacher about the "preschool flip"). It's always nice to know you can do something yourself. Of course, this is a process, and takes longer for some than it does for others. So we also make sure everyone knows that they can always ask for help.

10.10.2008

Author Studies

Mrs. Jaques will begin author studies with the Pre-K class after studying a map of Seattle to locate each child's house. We won't be 100% accurate but it will be fun to see where we all live.

An author study is a closer look at an author's "voice" and characters. With an author who is also the illustrator, we will look for similarities between books and try to determine the medium used. This is a wonderful way to increase literacy. Our first author will be Eric Carle.

So stay tuned, it's bound to be a lot of fun!

10.07.2008

Reminders!

Two things to keep in mind this week.
  • There will be no Lunch Bunch on Friday, Oct. 10th. We will be having a teacher's meeting at this time.
  • Many of our teachers have posted sign-up sheets for our Halloween parties that are coming at the end of the month. We love to have your help! If you don't get a chance to sign-up this time, there's always another party.
See you at school!

9.14.2008

Here we go!

Big thanks to everyone for making our first week such a great one. As we begin our second week, please remember to get emergency packets and paperwork to your teachers.
Lunch Bunch and pre-3 classes are starting this week, so get ready for busier hallways. And if you have any questions please let us know. With your help we're gonna have a lot of fun this year!

8.10.2008

The Children's School Fall 2008

Here at The Children's School, our teachers are planning for the fall open houses. At your child's open house event, you will see your child's classroom, meet other children (and their parents) in the class and have a snack.
We will have games to play, puzzles to try, books to look at and new things to explore!

M-F Class
September 4
9:15 to 10:15
10:30 to 11:30

PreK Class
12:30 to 1:30
2:00 to 3:00

MWF Class
September 5
9:15 to10:15


Pre3 Classes
September 11
9:15 to 10:15

10:30 to 11:30
Monday, September 8 will be our first day of school.
The Lunch Bunch program will start on September 15th.

1.29.2008

TUESDAY, JAN. 29TH - AND WE'RE OPEN!!

Don't touch that dial!! You're in the right spot!
January's weather has been unpredictable and confusing, has it not?!
All around us there is snow, and difficulty driving, but here in Seattle, we have bare streets and open schools! We are looking forward to seeing your children with us at The Children's School for class!