The Children’s School

A Montessori-based preschool established in 1965

What's special about TCS?    

• ·      We are child-centered in our approach and environment.
• ·      We strive to maintain a teacher-to-student ratio of 1-to-4.
• ·      We employ exceptionally qualified, talented teachers.
• ·      We are skilled in using Montessori best practices to teach.
• ·      We develop creative, enriching, themed curriculum.
• ·      We focus on safety and preparedness.
• ·      We learn, play, and inspire – all within a spirit of fun!! 

The Children's School has been educating children and serving families for nearly 50 years. Emphasizing a healthy and caring environment, we offer a developmentally balanced preschool and pre-kindergarten program that meets each child’s unique needs.

Check out our Registration Information for 2014 school year.

Follow us on FaceBook at https://www.facebook.com/thechildrensschoolseattle.  

Snow update December 20, 2013

The Children School will be closed today.  When Seattle  Schools are running two hours late on a a Friday we will be closed. Have a great holiday and we will see you in January.

The Elves and The Shoemaker "Play"

Our M-F AM and PreK class were busy in music this week acting out the story, "The Elves and The Shoemaker" (one of Mrs. McArthur's favorites). They sure all had fun doing it!

The first day the kids heard the story via this cassette tape (from 1975!)
















and then chose their part in the play






















but, to add to the suspense, they had to wait until their next music class to start acting.

The story was broken into 10 acts and, with very little direction, they used their imaginations and creative minds and got into character.

Elves' Song:

M-F AM Cast
(1st Group)
ELVES:
Lexie
Leila
Aida
Lucy
SHOEMAKER:
Mrs. McArthur
CUSTOMERS:
Evan
Connor
(2nd Group)
ELVES:
Matilda
Henry
SHOEMAKERS:
Yumi
Piero
CUSTOMER (KID)
Kai

PreK Cast
(1st Group)
ELVES:
Bethany
Daisy
Claire
SHOEMAKER:
Tate
CUSTOMERS:
Elsa
Zoe
AUDIENCE:
Calix
(2nd Group)
ELVES:
AJ
Teacher Cinda
SHOEMAKERS:
Adelyn
Zach
Max
CUSTOMERS:
Zadie
Emily
Roslyn
DIRECTOR:
Teacher Jen

With huge eyes and smiles on their faces, they were fascinated by this story and enjoyed watching their friends pretend. Some groups chose to perform the play more than once, each time, choosing to be a different character and coming up with new ideas. It was fantastic!

Two elves, Max and Roslyn, and Teacher Jen during the Elves Song





















What a fun week full of holiday spirit!

Mealworm Family

Our new mealworm family has sure been teaching us a lot!
The Life Cycle:

-the full life cycle can take up to a year!

Here is their home set up with a bedding of rolled oats, they also eat the whole grains. We started with 500 mealworms purchased from the pet store:

They also eat carrots, lettuce and cucumber (this is where they get all the water they need):

With a magnifying glass, the kids were eager to take a look:

After studying the mealworm family, it was their job to create a dictionary entry:

AM class

PM class

As with most things in life, you learn as you go!

Pets require a lot of responsibility, attention and care. There has been much discussion about this with the kids during their small group mealworm time. Even tiny creatures like these require upkeep! I have shared my adventures in "cleaning of the mealworm home" with the kids. This gets their attention and some are even surprised how much care is required. See book: Everybody Poops (My Body Science Series), by Taro Gomi and Amanda Mayer Stinchecum

Now that we have all three phases:

Mealworm, Pupa, Darkling Beetle:

The kids can really inspect close up the changes that have occurred. A few even pointed out how they can see characteristics of both the mealworm and the Darkling Beetle in the pupa stage.

Next comes a new home for the adult beetles. After they lay eggs in the current home, they need to be removed. This will be in another week or so. 

We will keep you posted!

-Teacher Jen

Put Together Again!

Our children have had hours of taking apart and putting together with the voice recorder Zadie donated! Thanks to many participants!

The Purpose of Reading to Pre-Schooler’s

“Pre-schooler’s are extremely curious about everything around them, and at this age, adults often refuse to give them complete… answers, assuming that they are too young to understand.” 

- Margaret Read MacDonald

by Teacher Joan

At The Children’s School (TCS), teachers believe in fostering pre-schooler’s innate curiosity! Reading and books are an integral part of our daily curriculum. 

Here are six pivotal pre-reading skills we as teachers strive to integrate:

• Narrative Skills - Questioning about events and things, and telling stories.
• Print motivation - Teachers are interested in, and enjoy reading, books.
• Vocabulary - Knowing the accurate names of things.
• Print Awareness - Noticing print, knowing how to handle a book, knowing how to follow words on a page.
• Letter Knowledge - Knowing distinct letters, their sounds, and recognizing letters everywhere.
• Sounds of Speech (Phonological Awareness) - The smaller sounds that make up words. For instance, “rat” “cat” “hat”.        

Moreover, we understand that nothing substitutes for a parent’s involvement in reading readiness. You are your child’s first teacher.

The Seattle Public Library offers tips for parents when reading aloud with pre-schooler’s. Among them are:

• Make it a special time.
• Have your child turn the pages.
• Be expressive!
• Let your child choose.
• Read rhyming and counting books.
• Let your child hold the book.

It’s the most important 20 minutes of your day. Read aloud to your child. 

Resource: 

Booksharing:101 Program to Use With Pre-schooler’s, 

by Margaret Read MacDonald

Here are some favorite books from your teachers at TCS!

Mrs. Banks: 

Winnie the Pooh and the House at Pooh Corner, by A. A. Milne

Teacher Cinda:  

Pancakes for Breakfast, by Tomie dePaola

Mrs. McArthur: 

Blueberries for Sal, by Robert McCloskey

The Little Engine that Could, by Wally Piper and Loren Long

Teacher Lisa Eve:

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, by Judi Barrett

Teacher Joan:

Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice SendakTeacher 

Teacher Maureen:  

Rainbow Fish, by Marcus Pfister

Ms. Tierney:

Hester in the Wild, by Sandra Boynton

Marvin K. Mooney will you Please Go Now, by Dr. Seuss

Teacher Julie:

Heidi, by Johanna Spyri

Teacher BJ:

Everybody Poops (My Body Science Series), by Taro Gomi and Amanda Mayer Stinchecum

Teacher Theresa:  

Are You My Mother?, by P. D. Eastman

Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, by Virginia Lee Burton

Mrs. Coleman:  

Fairy Tales—I loved Rapunzel, especially.

Baby Island by Carol R. Brink

Teacher Shelby

The Sweet Touch, by Lorna Balian

Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Siverstein

Ping, by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese

Pre-3 Classes

The apples of our eyes...

Our Pre-3 friends are having fun with, and getting to know, their classmates. We are learning names, playing games, and singing songs, along with lots of paint, glue, and stickers of course!

WE'RE PREPARED at TCS

Over the past weeks, 

we’ve practiced our 

emergency preparedness 

for earthquakes, fires, and 

the potential volcano eruption.  

Stop, Drop, Cover, and Hold!

Mt Vesuvius by Evan!

Some of our supplies were ready for the Great WA State Shakeup

MWF Class

The MWF Class has been busy drawing, stenciling, and 

painting colorful leaves.  

Autumn Leaves

Morning (M-F) Class

We have been busy doing many orange activities; paint at the easel, play dough, orange water pouring, pumpkin decorating, scooping seeds from a squash, and making orange paper chains. We have also had lots of fun playing charades with Halloween costumes to spur ideas, and making creepy crawly spiders!

Take Apart Project 2013

The great learning in this project is that we sort, we handle tools, examine, problem solve, and we have a joyous time popping the screws out! Soon we will count them as well. In the picture below Calix and Tate are identifying  the items pulled from a bucket by our giant magnets. Thank you TCS Parents for generously sending things to take apart! 

Add caption

Wonderful News!

Happy Birthday to The Children’s School!!!

We are delighted to be celebrating our 49th year serving children and families; and what a FUN year do we have planned! Not only are we reflecting upon our legacy and all the growing up that we have done, but we are also anticipating some exciting changes on the horizon…

TCS is pleased to announce that Mary Lloyd will be our new Associate Director. Ms. Lloyd has been involved with TCS for almost 20 years – she taught the Pre-3 (MW) class with Barb Friedhoff back in 1994. She also helped start, and is still an active member of, the TCS Board of Directors.

Ms. Lloyd attended Seattle University where she earned her master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction and her doctorate in Educational Leadership. Along with teaching both children and adults, she has operated her own consulting firm, providing professional and instructional services for a myriad of organizations (including TCS) –www.marylloydconsulting.com .

Ms. Lloyd lives in Ballard with her husband Gary Meikle and their pooch Finley. Gary too has been busy creating change, having recently launched his own local business Red Grotto, where he is building and selling outdoor pizza ovens. Together they enjoy good food and libation, chasing surf along the northwest coast, and spending time with close friends.

We have already put Ms. Lloyd to work at TCS, and we’re looking forward to the ideas and energy she will bring to the school and community.

In Celebration of March 14th (Pi Day!!)

Does this remind you of ...PI?

My friend, Alexander created this beautiful horse on The Children's School Lite Brite (circa 1975), but when Mrs. Coleman saw it all she could think of was 3.14, which many of our area schools will celebrate as "Pi Day" this Thursday (3/14)!!   Of course, Mrs. Banks, Alexander's classroom teacher recognized it right away as the colorful and extraordinary horse that it is!  Great Lite Brite work, today, Alexander.

Tablet Applications Being Used at School

Applications for Tablets - a Great Addition to our classroom.

The following information is shared and written by Ms. Lloyd.

  A big shout out and thank you to those who attended TCS Tablet Application evening!!! User-friendly, educational resources and techniques were shared by both parents and teachers. What a group effort. It was a fun, learning experience for all of us; and one we hope to continue to build upon. A few things we gleaned from the night:

•       A tablet offers effective and innovative ways to help preschool children practice letters, numbers, colors, and shapes, as well as reading, writing, counting, listening, and more.
•       A tablet creates oodles of opportunities for adults to learn alongside your child. Children seem to intuitively get how to maneuver a tablet, however, adults provide the guidance to delve deeper and “expand the pages” for them.
•       A tablet is just one teaching tool; certainly not the end-all, and only as good as the humans using it. When combined with traditional strategies, it’s a stellar way to reinforce concepts and content.
• See a list of our favorite applications and websites in the links section of this blog!!

If future projections are correct…hand-held devices will soon be replacing conventional computers…who knows? What we can say now, though, is that these handy devices are all-the-rage, especially with our children! So we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of our recommended applications to help get you started. Please don’t hesitate to ask TCS, or share your insights, as we all navigate the uncharted waters ahead.