Happy February! Time continues to fly by for us here at Open Arms!

It’s hard to believe that January is over, and we are already halfway through February! January is usually a rather quiet month where the kiddos are so happy to see their friends after Christmas break and they settle back into the routine of preschool. One of our highlights of January was during Community Helpers week when Office Dane Stratton came to tell both classes about Police Officers and how they are always here to help and protect us. He even let us take a close look at his car, which the kids loved, of course! At the end of January we had a booth at the Preschool Fair where we talked with many new families. I want to thank Rob Marschke for being so kind and generous by bringing lunch to us at the Fair! It was much needed and appreciated after we spent hours talking to numerous families. Thank you, also, to Joyce Hart for putting together our Family Night baskets, Open House decorations and cookies and for stopping by to say hi at our booth!

Now that we are already into a new month, we are speeding ahead to spring! We hosted an Open House on February 8 in our classroom for new families to come see what we are all about. It was a successful evening and more students enrolled for the fall! As of now, we have a full morning Pre-K (four-year-olds) class and six registered in the new afternoon class. Our Preschool (three-year-olds) class only has three openings left at this time. So that’s 33 little students for the fall of 2018 already! This is exciting and very busy times here at Open Arms! I want to thank June Donaldson for taking her time to be here with us at our Open House. She welcomed every family who entered our doors with a smile and kind words and directed them where they needed to go. This was a huge help to us—thank you June! We are so grateful to our current parents who also willingly gave their time to come to the Open House to visit with prospective parents and give them insight to our school. We believe it’s helpful for new families to visit with other parents of students currently enrolled, rather than only listening to the teachers!

In class, we have had a great February so far, with our “Children Around the World” week and Valentine’s Day parties. We talked about Africa, South America and the USA, and we even learned the Pledge of Allegiance on USA day. We say it every day now in the Pre-K class. Since we just added it to our routine, I almost forgot yesterday—but the kids reminded me! We will be visiting the Fort Collins museum tomorrow, where we will not only explore the exhibits, but we will also participate in a science lab experiment led by the museum staff! The third week of February will be about Doctors and Dentists, complete with a field trip to a Dental Office and an in-classroom presentation by a Physician Assistant. The last week will be Dr. Seuss week, so we’re expecting green eggs and ham for a snack and a journey about “the places we will go”. I also have a super crazy sensory table idea that will be a great surprise for the kids!

Now, as I think ahead to March, my mind starts spinning at the thought that we are only days away from Spring Break, followed quickly by Easter, and then spring is upon us! This sends us speeding near the end of another school year before we know it! We will enjoy March as we start learning about insects, animals, plants and many more fun things.

On the note of “spring”: I would like to mention that we will be having our Mother’s Day Tea once again in May, and if anyone would be willing to make and share a sweet or savory “afternoon tea” item with our moms on this day, please let me know! This is the day we help the kiddos spoil and serve their moms. Many of you brought items for our event last year and it was a HUGE blessing! We would also love to have the fellowship and extra helping hands, if you’re so inclined to join us on that morning. We have a lot of fun with this one as we use the fancy silver, crystal dishes and the beautiful collection of teacups and saucers we’ve collected at Open Arms!

As always, feel free to stop in to say hi if you’re around while we’re in class! Happy March!

Kandy Wise is the Director of Open Arms Preschool, a ministry of Saint John’s Lutheran Church. You may reach her at 482-1357 or OpenArms@StJohnsFC.org with any questions about the Preschool.