yeeeehaaaaaaawwwww!

HOWDY! haha. Today was Tumblestar day as well as our friend Yaz's last day. =0( So sad to see her go. But best wishes to her in her adventures to come. It was an awesome day today. After Tumblstars Miss Shona and I brought in the Sea Stars and Seahorses for a group art activity and free inside play. Our art activity was marble painting on cattle. At our crescent table was play dough, which Donovan made tacos and Hunter made dump trucks. hahahaha. On the carpet, with me, was building blocks and cars. We made curved roads for a race track out of masking tape and built a parking house for all the racers. Elijah made is own straight race track on the side for trucks with the big blocks. We had tons of fun.

Outside, Benson and I used super long jump ropes as "snakesssssss" and took him for a walk. We went to the beach and swam and then built a sand castle (out of woodchips). We also went to the jungle and ha saw monkeys and I saw baboons. Next we went to a bubble gum store and saw green, red, yellow, orange, and pink bubble gum. THEN WE ATE IT ALL! haha. Last, but not least, we went to work. HA. HA. HA. Our work was running around the play structures because "that's what Miss Kat" does. So adorable. Some of the other kids dug for beatles and worms while the rest of the kids either made a web with ropes or raced dump trucks. The usual.

All the Sea Stars, Sea horses, and Jellyfish were soooooooooo super sad to say goodbye to Miss Shona. But we are more excited that she will be back soon. We talked about how she is taking some vacation time and will be back with them for good after summer. It made them very happy.

Today's Comment: Elijah - "Miss Kat. I built a race track for my trucks. You can drive too. Next to it." ;0) I would just to be next to the little bugger. haha.

Hope you all had a fantastic night! I will see you in the morning. Thanks!
Miss Kat

On Vacation

Hi there Seahorse families!

I am on a mini vaction Tuesday and Wednesday and will be back on Thursday. Miss Shona is taking good care of my class while I am gone. Please see me with any questions or concerns you have regarding your child when I return.

See you soon,
Miss Laura

Eeeaarrttthhhqquuuaaakkeee!!!!!

Today was an exciting day for everyone! yup you read right, We had quite a day! This EARTHQUAKE was the highlight for the kiddies. (WHO KNEW?) LOL!!!! Not really quite sure if the kids really felt the quake but they did really great going under the table for cover. (Glad that I insisted on those monthly drills, even if the children were not sure why were doing such a thing.) Some of the younger children we're scared but still ....... NO TEARS! I just wanted to let you know that everything was great and both the children and teachers were AWESOME! =)To all the parents, thanks for the call of concern, you guys are the BEST!!!!!

Holy earthquake Coastal!!!

WOWEEEE!!! That was a shocker. All is good on the home front, though. The children were more curious than anything. But we had them go under their tables to protect their bodies and Miss Katrina came to tell them what an earthquake is. Jackson had his own explanation. He said, "Miss Kat. I saw that a dinosaur was in the yard and his BIIIIIIG foot is what made the school shake. I know it!" hahahahaha. oh that Jackson.

Today was super fun. Our circle time went as usual; calendar, weather, story. Our groups today were, at the crescent table was pom pom painting, table one was foot print horshue's, and at table two was shapes and colors bingo! There wasn't enough time to get to all the feet, so tomorrow we shall finish. We are going to use our horshue's to play a game instead of putting them up on the wall. But shhhhh...it's a surprise for the Sea Stars.

Out side Miss Eileen made snakes and snake eggs out of noodles and garbanzo beans. They dug right in. These little cowboys and cowgirls aren't scared of nuttin! ;0) Anything slimy, messy, and not ice cold...THEY LOOOOOOOOVVVVE! Thanks Miss Eileen for a fun, but icky activity. LOL.

Today's comment: Jacob "ummmm, because the Crackin Squid will shake you up and the school will go down in a crack." Have a fantastic rest of your day and night and I will see you all tomorrow.

Thanks,

Miss Kat

western week!

Hi Everyone! I hope you all had a FANTASTIC weekend. Mine was awesome. Super fun, but mellow. I got to hang out with Christopher on Saturday night. Always a blast with him. Welcome to Western Week Ya'll! I'm kicking it off by listening to a little Hank Williams Sr. on vinyl. hahaha.

Today we made cactus' using green glitter and short, colored sticks as the prickles. As part of the group rotation we had play dough at our crescent table, large puzzles on the carpet, and of course the cactus at table one. Outside we did our usual bug hunting and "crackin squid monster" tag. (Oh that Jacob). haha.

A funny comment for the day: Emilu - "Miss Kat. Why are you washing your hands? Well, don't wash off your tattoo. Just be careful!"

The Sea Stars and Seahorses were soooooooo excited today when they found out that Miss Shona is going to be with us Tuesday and Wednesday this week. OH HOW WE MISS AND LOVER HER!!!!!!!!!!!! We even called her to tell her so.

Hope you all had a good first day of the week and we shall see ya'll tomorrow mornin.

yehawwww...Miss Kat

P.S. I finally downloaded the pics and added them to a blog. Some are from last week, but you should enjoy them anyways. Thanks all.

MONDAY MEMO

Happy Monday Everyone! Hope everyone had a relaxing weekend. I just wanted to say Thank you Ms. Laura for ALOHA week and thank you teachers for making it fun and exciting for the kiddies. They had a blast! For this week.............. we're calling all cowboys & cowgirls! Dust off your boots and get ready for WESTERN WEEK! Ms. Eileen has planned a fun filled week of all sorts of activities and games. To start off, the children will be making a cactus and will"pan for gold".
On tuesday, its WATERPLAY w/ snakes (YIKES!) & some horshoe printing.
Wednesday will be Tumble Stars as usual & some cattle marble painting(can't wait to see how that turns out).
Thursday, Children will be designing their own bandanas and will participate in
"musical cowboy hat game" and of course Friday will be the "BIG HOE DOWN". For lunch
the kids will have ribs, corn, corn bread & some mouthwatering watermelon. Yum Yum!!!!!!
We're all set for the WILD WEST! YeeeeHaawww!!!!!! Have a Great Week!!!!! =)

I'm a day late.

It's the weekend! woot woot. Friday was suuuuuuper wet and fun. The Coastal kids did water slide and dump trucks! Always a good mix. And what a perfect day for it, too. It was hot to trot. Jackson and I played a racing game with dump trucks. We started at the wall and ran around the driveway and back. Whewww! Tiring game. lol. Benson and I got in our car, drove to the beach, pulled out our surfboards, and paddled out. Wooooo Hooooo, we got up on our board and caught our first wave. CRASH! BAM! BOOM! we went down. haha. so we got back up. This was fun for a whopping 20 mins. haha. Oh that Benson.

Luke and Jack played "Chicken" with Miss Krystal and the water hose. haha. They would run up to her, stop, and then run, run, run as fast as they could. What giggles you can imagine came from those two. Jordan's new game is to run as fast as he can, pretend to hit a jump, and BOOOOOM...go crashing down and rolling. What a silly goose! on a more quiet note. Bennett has become the king of nap time set up. He enjoys helping to set up the mats for all his friends as well as helping to clean up at snack and lunch. Such a big boy helper. We love it!

The Sea Star and Seahorse groups got to picnic luau style on the driveway. Each child brought out their lunch, sat criss-cross-apple-sauce, and ate their lunches. It's always fun to mix it up a bit by eating outside with nature. We also shared brightly colored cupcakes to say goodbye to our friends Kendra and Megan. Sad to see them go, but happy for them too. Kendra will be off to kindergarten in September. yaaaaaaaaaaaaay! We'll see them on our field trip to the aquarium, though.

Hope all our families are having a fantastic weekend and we'll see you next week!

Miss Kat
Miss Krystal

End of Hawaii week

Hello everyone! The jellyfish had such a blast this week making pineapples, tiki masks and little leis. On top of our fun summer activities we have also been working on counting and our ABC's in sign language. It's really fun watching them try to move their little fingers and they are working really hard to get the signs down.

Sorry this post is so late, i thought it got deleted but i found it. Better late then never.=p

more to come on friday.

~Miss Krystal

lei day!

Aloha! Today was pretty mellow. We did A LOT of water color painting and made lei's for tomorrows luau. Joseph wanted to give back the flowers because "flowers are for girls and I don't want my friends to see me wearing them"...hahahaha. What a great comment. (He ended up making it anyways and put it in his cubby).

We had a crazy outside play day. Jacob and Donovan and I played "crackin squid monster"...guess who the monster was?? ME!!! lol. They really know how to wear out a gal. who knew kids could have so much energy?? ;0) Anyways, our day of running, chasing, creating, and building was AWESOME. I am totally looking forward to tomorrows luau. Hope you all had a great night and we'll chat soon.

p.s. Dane, Sydni, and I built the coooooolest house and coooooolest ramp for Dane's skater toy. When I learn how to post pictures...you'll see what I'm talking about.

Woot Woot!
Miss Kat

wednesday's run-down of what the haps is!

HAHAHA! Hello parents and friends. today was awesome. The Sea Stars had fun "coconut bowling" in the classroom. Super exciting. We also played a mean game of YAHTZEE and created shapes and pictures with rubber bands. Eli showed me how to make squares and Stephan wondered why my house that i made had a chimney and not a doorknob. lol. i said they were rubber bands and there was no room for a doorknob and he told me that it was a house and i should be able to put one there. hahaha. That kid cracks me up!

This afternoon our new volunteer, Erica, helped the boys catch ladybugs in the trees. Stephan wanted to keep the ladybug to take home, but we decided together that maybe leaving her in nature would be better for her and that we could see her tomorrow. So sweet! The new house that was donated by Maggie and family was a HUGE hit. Sea Stars, Seahorses, and Jellyfish went in and didn't want to come out. (Especially Bennett) All in all...it was a good day.

Hope all you parents had as good a day as we did! See you all at school. Chat with you guys soon.

Miss Kat

Seahorses Class Blog

WELCOME SEAHORSE FAMILIES TO OUR CLASS BLOG!

Hi there families and welcome! My name is Miss Laura and I am the teacher for the Seahorse class. I am excited to be sharing with you all the activities, accomplishments, work in progress, and special moments the Seahorses have during the week. All of your children are so special to me and I plan to transition them into our preschool class with love and encouragement.

We already have had a fantastic summer camp so far and this week's theme of Hawaii has brought us many opportunities to have fun such as: we made pineapples with, tiki masks, and even played a bowling game with a coconut! On Friday we will be having a luau and students are encouraged to come dressed in a Hawaiian shirt or anything similar that might be fun to wear!

Miss Laura :)

Sea Star Group From Monday

july 21, 2008
Hi Sea star friends and families! I am super excited to start this new blogging communication. It will be nice to be able to let you know whats been going on, since we don't always get to chat at school. Just to start us off...today was a fun day. We made pineapples, tikki masks, played number matching, and counted sea shells after using four of our senses. We used touch, smell, hearing, and sight. They examined the shapes and textures as well as the colors. It was a mellow and fun day. Tomorrow is water limbo day, so we shall see how low we can go! hahahaa.

I am so happy that i get to spend the summer with the soon to be kindergartners and the new sea stars! Just so everyone knows, I am not the permanent pre-k teacher. Miss Shona will be back for the start of the new school year! WOOT WOOT! I am so excited for her to come back. She is amazing with the kids and the phonics program. I will be going back in with the jellyfish to help prepare them for Miss Laura's class for 2009! hahaha. Crazy to think that far ahead but, I like by kiddles to be prepared. So Happy Summer to you all and please be sure to log in and check out what the hap's is with Coastal CLC right here on my blog site. If you ever have any suggestions, comments, or concerns...please, please, please come and chat with me or email me. I LOVE FEEDBACK! It's the only way i can grow.

Thanks Everyone!

Miss Kat

aloha coastal families! today was awesome. we welcomed a new seahorse who's name is Cody. all the kids were super helpful in showing him around. we made blue tropical jello fishes in a cup. woot woot! the sea stars had fun making that as a group. after that activity they rotated between shaving cream art, which they painted the table with shaving cream and then drew pictures with their fingers, Lego's, and blocks with dinosaurs. Jackson painted his arms with shaving cream and then showed me the "right" way to clean up and that having a wet paper towel was the way his mom showed him to clean his shirt. haha. funny guy that Jackson. Jacob and Donovan wrote their names while Joseph erased. lol.

Tomorrow is TUMBLESTARS! and then we get to make lei's. I'm super stoked for that activity. I haven't made one since i was actually in Hawaii. Well, I hope you all had a fantastic day and I will see you all tomorrow.

Goodnight,
Miss Kat

Hawaii Week

Here's a picture of Stephan showing off his Tiki Mask on Monday - kicking off Hawaii Week! Too cute...Colter B and the Jellyfish class did Pineapples instead...Chris gets a little help from Miss Laura

Parent Teacher Communication

Another of our goals for this 2008-2009 preschool year is improving our Parent - Teacher communication. Coastal will implement a DAILY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY and SEMESTER plan. We will begin at the start of the September preschool year.

DAILY: You will be handed an index size card at pick up with a topic from the day and a suggestion for communication with your child. "Johnny really liked the book we read about Farm Animals today. Ask him about the cows in particular! He was a little antsy at cirlcle time, but did much better efter he ate!"

WEEKLY: Check the Coastal CLC blog for teacher posts about each classroom and highlights from the week. Examples will include books read at story time which involved the monthly or weekly theme, activities and particular untis your child enjoyed.

MONTHLY: I will be printing and distributing a monthly newsletter talking about highlights from the past month, and things to look forward to in the month ahead - this will include guest speakers, field trips and other upcoming events.

SEMESTER: Coastal will be doing two parent teacher conferences per year, one in January and one in June. You are always welcome and encouraged to schedule more should you require more personal attention! This will include a checklist of learning objectives and developmental milestones involving your particular child.

ONGOING: You can always take a moment and look around your child's classroom. The current artwork is a great way to see what your child is up to! Also, each child at Coastal has an art folder with their name on it. Check that daily to see what's available to take home.

THE PARENT INFO BOARD: This is located directly above the sign in books. You will find the weekly curriculum plan, the daily schedule, the snack menu and any other pertinent information. The door to Katrina's office that faces the classroom also has a wipe off board and posted information for the Seahorses and Sea Stars, and the Jellyfish classroom also has separate parent info board. Be sure to stop and take a look!

I hope that in this way we can develop strong relationships between our parents and teachers, and have our parents become more aware and involved with the ins and outs of their child's day.

Website Updates Themes, Schedules & More!

YAH! I'm very excited -- Coastal is really going technological now! This weekend I posted the daily schedules, yearly themes and enrollment forms to the website in PDF format. This way you can view them at your convenience! Daily school schedules are posted in the "Services" section by class, Yearly Themes are posted in the "Services" section at the very top of the page, Enrollment Docs, including the PARENT HANDBOOK, ENROLLMENT CONTRACT, TUITION EXPRESS APPLICATION and all the LIC FORMS are on the "Forms" page. You can find our holiday closures under the "Schedule & Events" tab. There's a lot of information on the website, check it out!

Coastal is going GREEN

One of our goals for 2009 is to get Coastal as GREEN as we can, environmentally friendly, that is! You will notice recycling bins going into the classrooms and an emphasis on reusable items. Fewer paper towels, paper plates and cups and we will encourage all the parents to use re-usable containers for lunches, snacks and drinks. We will keep track of the level of the dumpster each week and see how much waste we can reduce! We may even try a compost pile and see if, by next spring, we will have enough fertilizer to grow our own little organic garden. We have always used fresh fruit and 100% juice in the snacks that we serve, but we will try to add in as much natural and organic foods as possible and whole grains where available. Earth conscience and healthy habits begin NOW! GO GREEN COASTAL!

Summer Program in Full Swing

The summer program got off to a great start this year… kick off week began with Crazy Dress Up & Hair Day, Sports Day, Backwards Day, Stripes & Polka Dots Day and finally the Pajama Day Pizza Party. Great job Miss. Shona! That was a silly and FUN way to officially start the summer! Then we rolled into Red, White & Blue Week – all celebrating the 4th of July . The kids made headbands and flags, ate snow cones and all dressed in R, W & B for the Patriotic Parade and hotdog picnic. We’re in the thick of Pirate Week and all the Coastal Matey’s are working on pirate murals, telescopes and treasure maps as they lead up to the big “Dress like a Pirate Friday” and prepare for their Treasure Hunt. Thanks Miss. Eilleen for a great Pirate Week!
Look forward to Miss. Kat hosting Beaches Theme the week of 7/14 – 7/18 – activities will include plastic baggie jelly fish, painting surfboards, swimming fish science bowl, coral reef’s ocean in a bag, sand paper prints and the Friday Beach Party Boogie – make sure your child has a bathing suit for water play! More themes will include Miss. Laura’s Hawaii Week the 21st – 25th, Under the Sea with Miss. Krystal the week of the 28th, Western Week with Miss. Eilleen, Camping Week with Miss. Kat and lastly Zoo Week with Miss. Laura. The school year starts officially on September 2nd (Tuesday after Labor Day)

Welcome to the Coastal CLC Blog

Hello Coastal Families and all others!

I thought it would be nice if we all had a place to meet in the virtual world to get to know each other better! This is a great spot to discuss the wonderful moments as well as challenges in raising our preschoolers. Maybe we can discuss new ideas on dealing with some of those challenges and rewarding those accomplishments. We can learn how other Coastal parents and families make their living, what we all like to do for fun. Where are the best local spots? Did you see the latest animated film with your child? Do you vacation at the beach? The mountains? What outside activities have you treid with your child? Gymnastics? Ballet? Soccer? T-Ball? Art? Theatre?

Also, it's difficult for busy moms, dads and caregivers to stop and chat with each other at drop off and pick up times. We want to see our kids and catch up with them about their exciting days, but we miss out on really meeting the other parents. This is a way we can connect when it's convenient for each of us. Did you know that our Coastal Families own local restaurants, websites, brew beer, have owned race tracks and other entrepreneurial ventures? Some at big companies, some small, some self employed. Perhaps each of us has more to offer than we know!

With children similar ages it's just possible that we all have something more in common...let's find out!!

Thank you everyone!
Kristin