Preschool Postings by Connie James-Gililland

January promises to bring a bit of calm to the preschool. We feel like we have been moving at lightning speed since September. We are happy to have a bit of a break to “recharge” and come back to school with renewed energy and enthusiasm. January is the month with no programs, holidays or special events. It is before the registration period for next year starts. We look forward to coming back from break and just enjoying school with little or no pressure. That is at least our hope for the new year. We know that when you work with children, things don’t always unfold the way you expect but the hope for “calm” springs eternal!

December was a flurry of activity starting of course with the hurricane force winds, which forced the school closure for a few days. When we reopened we had much “wind talk” among the children. It became very important for our children to have a safe place to talk about their fears and concerns. We know that even the shortest among us have real fears and not always the cognitive skills to deal with them yet. One family in our school experienced a fire as a tree fell in their yard. That is pretty scary stuff in the middle of the night for a three-year-old. Other children realized for the first time how even parents get really frightened.

We have spent a fair amount of time helping children prepare priceless gifts for their parents for Christmas or Hanukkah. We have also made a variety of different ornaments and cards and clever holiday crafts. We have read many holiday, winter and wind stories.

We offered the parents an opportunity for a “date night”. The staff volunteered their time on a Friday night so the parents could drop off their pajama-clad children at school. The children had fun decorating cookies, doing plaster painting, making ornaments and holiday crafts as well as enjoying a pizza dinner, holiday movies and a “Bear Hunt” in our dark play yard. A great time was had by all, especially the parents, I think!

We enjoyed a visit from our science guy, Polymer Pat, who did an informative lesson on our wonderful planet earth and all it’s layers. The children who participate in the Stardreams dance and gymnastics program did a program for their parents. They were absolutely darling, of course. We also endured “round two” of our photo day, as two of the three group pictures originally taken just weren’t “good” enough to print!

We continue to feel the blessing and the “curse” of a very full school. We are blessed with a wonderful group of children and parents but find ourselves working harder than ever to make sure that we are offering a vibrant and full program for all our 60+ students including more than a few children with special needs. We look forward to continued success in the new year with a full school of busy, energetic, wonderful children and staff!

Happy New Year to all!

-Connie Gililland, Preschool Director