The last day for the school year is Wednesday, June 6, 2011. It is hard to believe that the entire school year is just about over! We do have an optional eight-week summer program that begins June 11 and is attended by about 30% of the school year students. This program runs two to five days per week and up to eleven hours per day, just as our regular school year program, and is open for preschoolers 3 years through 5 years in age. We have a few student openings if you know of anyone who might be interested. Our summer staff includes Maya Ayers, Suzie Jasper, Katie Nice, Debbie Spurlock, and Lynley Turkelson. Darla Thomas will also be substitute teaching and helping in the preschool office. Darlena Cain will be working in the preschool office.

The month of May was full of activities. One of our preschool fathers, Jeremy Jay, who drives a bus for Columbus Public Schools, arranged for two school buses and four drivers to come to the preschool recently. They taught the children about school bus safety and the kids also got to sit inside the school buses! They look so tiny, but some of them will be riding a bus to and from school in the fall when they go to kindergarten, so this was a great experience for them!

The entire school visited the zoo in May. Each class raised funds to adopt a zoo animal. Animals adopted by the preschoolers were the Panamanian Golden Frog, the Colobus Monkey, the Red Panda, the Asian Elephant, the River Otter and the Flying Fox. The children read books and collected donations for all the reading they did to contribute toward these adoptions. They raised over $500 and read many books (or had the books read to them). The adoptions benefit the zoo’s animal care and enrichment programs. Of course, each class visited the animal they adopted while at the zoo! They also participated in special classes about animals and their habitats while at the zoo. As a result, they all slept soundly for a nap in the afternoon after returning from the zoo, even the children who don’t normally sleep!

Other events that will help us to finish this school year in a fun way are Field Day and Graduation. 30 preschoolers will be graduating and moving on to kindergarten in the upcoming year. We are so appreciative that we have been able to teach them and get to know them and their families while they have been with us, some of them since they were two and a half. We will miss them and wish them God’s blessings as they continue their school careers. Most of the other children will be returning to Mountview Christian Preschool in the fall. We have a few spots open for next school year, so if you are thinking of enrolling your child, get the application in as soon as possible.

Blessings,

Pamela Larson, Director