On Tuesday, May 15th, Joyce Preschool celebrated with families at its All School Picnic at Veterans Memorial Park in Richfield.

The picnic, which is an annual tradition, brought together Joyce Preschool staff, students, families, and volunteers to celebrate year-end student successes and our unique bilingual and multicultural community. At the picnic, which was a potluck, we enjoyed dishes from around the world. One long table boasted diverse cuisine - from gourmet macaroni and cheese to arroz con pollo - and everything in between!

The picnic gave families a chance to connect with one another and make play dates for upcoming summer vacation. Most of the children ate their dinners with lightning speed, then ran off together to play at the park’s playground. Rounds a-plenty of pato, pato, ganso were relished under the warm afternoon sun, and Joyce Preschool staff enjoyed learning about families’ summer plans (some of which included a Spanish Immersion Summer Camps at Joyce!). “Where are you going to kindergarten in the fall?” was the question of the evening. Joyce’s families come from all over the metro area and surrounding suburbs, and this diversity was also reflected in graduating students’ kindergarten plans. Some families have chosen to enroll in a dual immersion kindergartens like Windom Dual Immersion Elementary, and were excited to learn that Joyce will be opening an additional classroom at Windom in the fall!

Earth Day is Sunday, April 22nd. As teachers and parents, we can help children to develop knowledge of the environment and how we protect it through a variety of hands-on activities.

1) Recycle your crayons

Maestra Riana is Joyce Preschool’s crayon recycling expert! She developed an activity which turns unusable crayon bits into fun-shaped, color-swirl creations. Children help to gather up old and broken crayon bits. Peel off the labels, and collect the crayon pieces into an oven-safe mold of your choosing (shaped baking molds work great!). Bake the crayons at a medium heat until completely melted. To speed up the process, place molds directly in the freezer, and allow to cool. Children will begin to understand how different recycling processes help us to reduce our waste and reuse materials that we thought were garbage!

2) Explore the water cycle

Create an atmosphere of discovery in your home or classroom with the following materials: sensory table or large plastic tub, ice, snow (if available), water, measuring cups, scale, popsicle sticks, mittens or gloves, spray bottles, etc. As children enjoy this sensory exploration, discuss the three states of water: liquid, solid, and gas. Introduce vocabulary for transforming from one state to the other (freezing, melting, evaporation, sublimation). Guide children’s learning by asking questions such as, ““How do you make ice?” “What happens when you squish the snow?” Spray a paper towel with water and leave it in the sun for an hour. Take pictures to record the evaporation. Discuss the water cycle in nature and the connection between rainwater, rivers, lakes.

3) Switch to compact fluorescent bulbs

Children can help to count all the lights in the classroom or in your home. You can make this abstract idea easier to understand by explaining that an incandescent bulb lasts about 2,000 hours, but a compact fluorescent bulb lasts 10,000 hours. You can estimate how much money your family would save over the life of a single bulb, or a whole room or house of bulbs. With your child, plan what to do with your savings!

4) Start a kitchen compost

Spring is the perfect time to start this project, as weather becomes more favorable for gardening and outdoor fun. Find a plastic, metal, or ceramic container with a lid. The size depends on the space available in your kitchen and the frequency with which you prefer to empty the bin. You can start by cleaning out your refrigerator! Over-ripened fruits and shriveled vegetables make great compost. Help your child to distinguish fruit and vegetable scraps from meat and dairy. Avoid adding vegetables that have been cooked in oils and fats. You may choose to line your bin with a compostable bag.

Outdoors, find a place where you collect a big pile of kitchen compost. This should be turned and exposed to fresh oxygen regularly. Over time, compost will turn to soil, and makes great “food” for your yard and garden. Local farms may also be interested in your donation of compost. Children will begin to understand how soil gets its nutrients, and how this type of kitchen waste can be repurposed.

En el Preescolar Joyce, trabajamos con los estudiantes y sus familias para asegurar que estén listos para el kínder. A través de actividades de lectura y escritura, les ayudamos a reconocer las letras, sus nombres, y algunas palabras en español y también en inglés.

Otro enfoque es el desarrollo personal y social de los niños. Aprenden a hacer amistades entre niños de distintas lenguas y culturas. Progresan en sus habilidades personales de ser independientes en la escuela, lavándose las manos, estando encargados de comer y limpiar después de su merienda, y jugar responsablemente y seguramente.

Para evaluar el desarrollo de los niños, los maestros del Preescolar Joyce usan el sistema Work Sampling, (“ejemplos de trabajos”). En los párrafos siguientes, voy a explicar algunos de los objetivos más importantes de este sistema.

1. Desarrollo personal y social. Ejemplos: Un niño que demuestra auto-confianza participa en cantar las canciones durante la hora del círculo. Podemos ver su auto-control cuando el niño espera con paciencia para tomar su turno para jugar con plastilina. El niño que sabe resolver problemas sociales pide ayuda de un adulto cuando otro niño quiere el mismo juguete, y usa palabras para expresar su frustración.

2. Lenguaje, lectura, y escritura. Ejemplos: A los cuatro años, los niños están empezando a reconocer rimas y aliteración. El niño demuestra conocimiento fonológico escuchando a una palabra que dice el maestro y encontrando otra palabra que tiene rima. En hablar, el niño habla claramente, y puede contar a niños y a adultos una experiencia personal, como un viaje a ver a los abuelos. Sabe por qué escribimos y cómo representamos ideas y mensajes en forma escrita, y por ejemplo, mientras juega, hace listas de compras con dibujos, garabato, símbolos, y letras.

3. Salud y desarrollo físico. Ejemplos: Es importante que el niño sepa usar el baño independientemente y lavarse las manos completamente. Vestirse independientemente y saber usar un pañuelo de papel despés de estornudar y tirarlo a la basura también son habilidades importantes para tener éxito en el kinder. Para la seguridad de su niño y sus amigos, es importante que siga las reglas de salud y seguridad. Por ejemplo, siguiendo las instrucciones durante un simulacro de incendio, cubriendo la boca cuando tose, y llevando lápices y tijeras con la punta hacia abajo para evitar accidentes.

Los maestros del Preescolar Joyce organizan conferencias particulares con cada familia para hablar sobre el progreso y desarrollo de cada niño individualmente. Esta es la mejor oportunidad para hacer un plan con el maestro de su hijo para asegurar que esté listo para el kínder.

¡Nunca se es muy joven para comenzar a bailar y ponerle color y sabor a nuestro currículo preescolar con Zumba!

Y ahora que hemos estado teniendo el gran privilegio de tener a Patricia, instructora de Zumba debemos de disfrutar, bailar, cantar y reír. Además es una buenísima y divertidísima manera de hacer ejercicio con los niños y aprender sobre otras culturas ya que se baila música multicultural. Los niños han estado disfrutando muchísimo de la música ya que entre las canciones se encuentra “chihuahua” en la cual usan orejitas especiales. ¡Muchísimas gracias a Patricia por su generosidad de ser voluntaria y traer la colorida música y movimiento sin igual de Zumba al Preescolar Joyce! ¡Y que viva Zumba!

What’s a great a way to add some color, excitement, and fun to a preschool classroom? Zumba dancing! Every week Patricia, a Zumba instructor, (who so generously volunteers) visits Joyce Preschool and brightens up the day by teaching the children Zumba dancing. Patricia features favorite songs (like the chihuahua dance) and also new dance moves, Salsa steps, surf dancing to the Beach Boys and many more dance moves! Children love to wear bright colored scarves and bracelets with bells. Preschoolers shake, jump, dance and sing. It’s always fun and a great way to incorporate music and movement into the curriculum.

¡El mes de marzo va a ser muy emocionante en el Preescolar Joyce! Además de las reuniones entre padres y maestros que se llevarán durante todo el mes (hablando del progreso de cada niño/a), vamos a disfrutar muchas actividades especiales:

El miércoles, 7 de marzo, viene el grupo PACER para hacer una presentación dramática con títeres. Los niños van a aprender acerca de personas con necesidades únicas a través de los títeres. Así los niños aprenden sobre personas que usan sillas de ruedas, personas que no videntes, y personas sordas. www.pacer.org

El Museo de Niños nos va a visitar el miércoles, 14 de marzo con el tema “Creciendo Globalmente,” lo cual queda muy bien con nuestro tema del mes, “Alrededor del Mundo.” Se necesita padres voluntarios ese día; si usted esta interesado en ser voluntario, por favor llámenos al 612-823-2447. http://www.mcm.org/

Las dos clases (de 3 días y también de 2 días) van a celebrar el tema del mes con nuestras fiestas de Alrededor del Mundo! La fiestas serán el miércoles, 21 de marzo para la clase de los 3 días, y el viernes, 23 de marzo para la clase de los 2 días. Durante las fiestas, vamos en un viaje imaginario por avión, parando en varios países del mundo. Si a usted le gustaría venir a Joyce y compartir con nosotros sobre un país que conoce, por favor llámenos al 612-823-2447. Buscamos voluntarios para todo el mes de marzo. Los voluntarios pueden llevar ropa, juguetes/juegos, fotos, bailes, libros, y otras cosas típicas del país para mostrar a los niños.

¡Fiestas de pijamas! El miércoles, 28 de marzo y el viernes, 30 de marzo serán nuestras fiestas de pijamas. Festejamos el fin del invierno con una película corta o cuento leído por el autor en internet, palomitas de maíz, y nuestros pijamas muy cómodos.

Today’s color was green! We mixed blue and yellow finger paint to make green, talked about green snacks (spinach, green muffins, lettuce, and celery were hot topics), and read the book My Colors, My World (Mis colores, mi mundo) by Maya Christina Gonzalez. Tomorrow’s color is brown.

Holiday cheer was in full swing at Joyce Preschool’s annual Holiday Fiesta, on Sat. Dec. 10^th. Kids and parents from one of Minneapolis’ only Spanish-English dual-immersion preschools gathered for a truly unique event. The staples were there: food, games, face painting, and Santa, and the merriment was expressed fluently in both English and Spanish. The students sang and danced for their parents – an adorable version of Feliz Navidad and of course the Itsy Bitsy Spider along with other preschool classics.

Come lunch time, lines formed quickly across Lyndale Public School’s large cafeteria for the ever popular pupusas, a Salvadoran flat bread with cheese and meat. Tasty Taco Taxi was equally popular, together with plenty of home-baked holiday sweets and horchata or the always delicious Peace Coffee to drink. Conversations in the room were continuous, parents taking time to catch up with other parents and their children’s teachers.

The fiesta naturally brought to life parent involvement in education - one of Joyce Preschool’s key values. “It was wonderful to see the great turnout of our current families,” Sarah Clyne, the Executive Director of Joyce said. “It’s events like this that display the commitment and sense of community that we work hard to nurture at Joyce.” Having one community full of so many cultures rang true as this Holiday Fiesta kicked off many families’ holiday season!

To all those who supported the event and made it a success, Joyce Preschool thanks you!

For more information on Joyce Preschool (a 501c3 non-profit), visit joycepreschool.org. We are located at 1219 W 31^st St., Mpls.

El 21 de Octubre tuvimos nuestra celebración de nuestra Fiesta de Otoño, donde nuestras familias fueron invitadas, tuvimos disfraces de naturaleza o de la granja, compartimos una merienda, jugamos, y platicamos de los colores de otoño y las hojas. Por último, tuvimos una piñata hecha por nuestros niños que disfrutaron en familia.

Last Thursday, Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom Tour made a stop at Joyce Preschool! Peter Gros, host of the original television program, introduced Joyce students and families to some wild animals.

Crowd favorites included the alligator (Joyce alumnus Thomas got to hold it!) and the adorable honey bear, also known as a kinkajou. The creepiest creature was the first to be introduced: a scorpion. Children loved seeing the owl flap its massive wings, and there were lots of cheers when several Joyce staff and volunteers got to hold an enormous snake! Perhaps the most unusual animal of the day was the binturong, which smelled like popcorn and loved to eat marshmallows.

In the classroom that day, children drew pictures of their favorite animals and talked about which animals they liked and why. Check out our album on PhotoBucket for more pictures! [Images here courtesy of Bruce Cochran of the Uptown Neighborhood News.]

Many thanks to Mutual of Omaha, Peter Gros, and Joyce Board Member Dayana Zanaska for bringing this unique opportunity to our families!

We had a fantastic first week of school! It was fun to see how much the returning students have grown and developed since last spring, and it was wonderful to meet new students and their families. Our classroom themes for September are Welcome to School and All About Me! One of the ways we are celebrating these themes is by posting family photos and All About Me sheets on the bulletin boards in the hallway. It’s fun to look at all the photos and learn about the activities the children like to do with their families.

Children started to learn each other’s names by playing the game “Como te llamas?” in which a ball is passed from child to child during circle time and each has chance to present him or herself through song. “Vamos a jugar un juego divertido. El juego se llama como te llamas?” The child then says his or her name and passes the ball again. We also read the book Margaret and Margarita, in which two friends who speak different languages learn to play together at the park.

We look forward to getting to know each child and helping them develop friendships and confidence at school this month. We also look forward to helping our families get to know one another at our Classroom Connections meetings later this month. Parents, there will be more information about these meetings coming home in your child’s school bag this week and next. Thanks to everyone for a great first week of preschool!