Happy Autumn, everyone! We’re officially back in the rhythm of preschool here at Open Arms! We’ve had a great start to the year with some great kiddos and families. We are happy to see familiar faces of families returning with little siblings, along with all the new faces. We are looking forward to a new year!

The first couple of weeks are all about getting to know the children and learning the ropes of preschool. We spent week one with the books The Kissing Hand ¹ and Llama Llama Misses Mama ² as these are good ones to put any fears or worries of missing mom and dad at ease. Luckily, we had very minimal tears that only lasted for ten minutes from two kiddos on the first day and that was it! The three-year-old class is where that tends to happen, and to only have a few tears is amazing!

We also spend a lot of time talking about hand washing and germs. Germs are not allowed here! Once again, those kid-sized sinks in the classroom are a huge blessing for us! We are so grateful for them and the ability to send children over to wash their hands every time we see the need! The kiddos are fascinated with the science experiment we do with the “germ lotion” we put on our hands. It’s a substance invisible to the naked eye but visible under black light. They can see the “germs” on their hands and how they transfer to toys and all the other things we touch. We look at their hands again after they’ve washed them to see how many germs are still left behind—then they go back and wash again to get all of them off! It really is a great visual for them to see and better understand how important it is to wash their hands well!

We also had a week talking about friends and emotions. This is a great way to set expectations and boundaries while talking about how we must treat each other at preschool. We are very fortunate to have children and families who talk about this subject at home, but it’s always good to keep talking about it in the classroom. After the craziness of the last several months, we are prepared to talk a lot about emotions and feelings. If you think about it, these little people have spent roughly half of their lives in these crazy times we’ve been in since March 2020. This is a crucial time for that social and emotional development, so we do not lose sight of the importance of it.

I must admit, it’s been a little strange getting “back in the saddle” of having our normal activities and events once again after not being allowed to do any of it last year. We will have “Apple Week” where we will have an “apple orchard” in the classroom for the entire week. We learn about the life cycle of an apple, do more fun science experiments and make fun art projects. We are also happy to say that we can have our Bike Rodeo Fundraiser again this year!

Mrs. Walsh and Mrs. Cole are getting in their new groove as the new staff members at Open Arms. After being here with their children for several years and volunteering in class, they are great additions to our program and I’m happy to have them on board. We know how to laugh and have fun every day with the kiddos, even when most people would run instead of laugh.

Now that we’ve gotten a great start to the year, we will do all we can to keep the good times rolling! I do hope everyone at Saint John’s is healthy and doing well! Have a blessed and beautiful autumn season!

1. Audrey Penn, The Kissing Hand (Tanglewood Press, 1993).
2. Anna Dewdney, Llama Llama Misses Mama (Viking Books for Young Readers, 2009).

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.