Orientation Information

  

For all who missed it (it was a scintillating speech on my part,lol!!!) and 
those who wanted to review the information, here is what we covered during 
Orientation on Tuesday, August 29th.


A little information about the Green Sailboat Teachers:

Mrs. Sening....I am the proud mother (most of the time!) of three boys: my 
eldest, Erich is 17 and a senior at Blue Ridge School near Charlottesville, 
my middle son, Matthew is 16 and will be a sophmore at Blue Ridge (Blue Ridge 
is a small, boys boarding school....enables both boys to get alot of one on 
one attention), my youngest, Nicholas, is an eighth grader at St. Tim's.  I 
practiced law for 5 years, before deciding to stay at home with my boys when 
Matt was born.  I have worked for quite a few years subbing at St. Tim's, and 
teaching Bible School primarily to preschoolers. I began teaching last year 
in the Blue Sailboats, and taught two classes..the morning Sailboats and the 
afternoon Sailboats on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  It was a BLAST!!!

Mrs. Spurr is a seasoned St. Timothy's teacher.  She taught preschool at St. 
Tim's for eight years before "retiring". (She's back!!!) She has worked with 
the 3's and 4's.  After deciding retirement wasn't all it was cracked up to 
be, she decided to return to us and is my aide with the Sailboats! I couldn't 
be more fortunate, nor could you all! She is the mother of two children, 
Andrew is 23 and Stephanie is 21.

GOAL: Our primary goal is to prepare each and everyone of your children for 
kindergarden.  In doing so, we emphasize learning in a Christian environment 
and having FUN!!! We want your children to LOVE coming to school, be happy 
and comfortable!! Feel free to contact us if you ever have any concerns or 
questions!

Information goes home in their green folders generally at the end of the 
week.  But, please, please, please, check their folders daily as we somtimes 
need to send important notices or homework home more often.  If you don't 
check....you might miss something important!

My webpage is updated weekly...generally on Friday evenings, Saturday, or 
Sunday.  It provides a wealth of information and will let you know what is 
going on in the class and school.  MAKE SURE you subscribe to the webpage, 
this will ensure you get email updates and newsflashes.  Also, check in every 
so often to look for updates....just in case!

Soooooooooooo, what do we do all day??
School hours for our class are from 8:15-to 10:45 on Mondays, and then from 
8:15-11:15 Tuesday through Friday.  PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE (pretty please!) 
have your child here on time...we often start projects right away in the 
morning, and if they are late they will miss out! It is exceedingly difficult 
to catch them up with 20 kids in class! And we don't want them to miss any of 
the fun!

The lesson plan is posted on the web and just outside my door, weekly.  We do 
Centers first thing in the morning and these usually vary depending on what 
we are studying.  I include activities that help them with fine motor 
activities, letter and number recognition, social skills, sharing, using 
their imaginations and all the while learning!! (They are usually having so 
much FUN they don't realize this is happening!!)

BASICS of what we learning: Shapes, colors, numbers, abc's (we use the Letter 
People and try and study a letter a week)...we are also learning about our 
bodies, emotions, community helpers, a variety of science and social studies 
themes, from plants, to the solar system, to President's Day and Martin 
Luther King Day. This year we are hoping to incorporate specials where the 
children visit with the Spanish and Music teachers, as well as the librarian 
for reading time.

We do ALOT of art projects!!(I love art...you'll be able to tell!!) Don't be 
suprised if you see paint coming home on them....it means we had a good 
time!! (And it should be washable!) We also do alot of different music, 
preschool songs and finger plays, as well as some music even you parents 
might recognize (can you say Macarena!!)

We try and go outside every day.  We have free play on the playground, and 
often run on the field.  We play ball as well and use sidewalk chalk, 
bubbbles and play cooperative games designed to help them with listening 
skills.  

Everyone rotates helping out in the class! We assign jobs weekly.  Our jobs 
include line leader, caboose, lights out/on, messenger, pledge/flag holder, 
and door holder.  We also have them practice self help skills such as 
learning to sit quietly, waiting turns, sharing, using words to express 
themselves, cleaning up after themselves, putting on their own coats 
(buttoning and zipping) and packing up their things.

EACH WEEK:

Each week we will have the following:

Mondays: our guessing bag, we send a bag with a note home.  Parents are to 
put something in the bag without telling their child (corresponding to what 
we are studying!) and we take turns guessing what is in the bag!
........Where did Mo go?? Mo is our class monkey! We will send Mo home on 
Fridays with someone, take him everywhere you go!! (He might cry if you leave 
him alone!!), take pictures and then give us a report about where you all 
went!!
.......Star of the Week, again we rotate, and we will send home a sheet for 
your child to do (we send it home Fridays), then they can report on it to the 
class and be our Star for that upcoming week!

Tuesdays: we work on specials, such as science, history, music, art, etc.

Wednesdays: our religion lesson from seeds, also library in our room, book 
check out

Thursdays: more specials

Fridays: show and tell corresponding with the letter of the week or what we 
are working on
.....we go to the gym in the morning
.....drive in movie day!!

Other Important Info!!

1. Supplies..the list is in the hand book, please bring them the first day, 
and we will replinish as needed...check out the wish list link for things 
needed
2. Snacks..PARENTS provide daily for their child.  Please try and make them 
healthy.  NO milk or eggs (we have an allergy in the class), NO NUTS, NO 
PEANUT BUTTER, NO NUT BUTTERS, etc.  ALL snacks must be LABELED..meaning, put 
a strip of masking tape in your childs lunch bag, with the date the snack is 
provided.
3. Drop off/Pick up: Parents may walk their child into class on the FIRST 
DAY....AFTER THAT, you should go through the morning car pool line to drop 
off your child.  The school will have teachers to help bring them in to 
class.  AFTERNOON pick-up.  PARK your car in the PARKING LOTS.  Come to the 
front doors/sidewalk (depends on the weather) to pick up your child directly 
from us...we can't "send" them to you for safety reasons.
4. Potty training....ABSOLUTE MUST!! Everyone is expected to be potty 
trained.  NO pullups..send in an extra set of clothes.  If they have a 
wetting accident we will give them clothes to change in to....however, if 
they have a bowel movement, we are NOT able to change them...we will call you 
to come and do so.
5. Birthdays: celebrations are fine, but we have to make sure we address 
allergy issues in the class and also coordinate with the class schedule.
6. Please have them wear Sneakers to school!! These are best and safest for 
outdoor play at their age.
7. OFFICE FORMS MUST BE UP TO DATE!!! This includes health forms, and 
emergency forms.  If in doubt, check in with the staff. 

CONTACT INFO:

my emails: ysening@sainttimothyschool.org, sening9@aol.com
phone: 703-378-6932(ext.228)(work), 703-266-7049 (home), 703-216-5148 (cell)

Lastly,

****please remember: send in the forms we sent home on orientation day the 
first day of class, we need this info for a variety of things...if you  
weren't here, we'll get it to you***

***also, remember to put you GREEN SAILBOAT in your passenger side window, 
this way the carpool line knows which class your child is in and can help 
them get to class!****

Our room mom is Cary Benz (Logan's mom)
Our Scholastic mom is Mrs. Rickard(Delaney's mom)