Tarrytown United Methodist Church

Children’s Day Out

Class News

Hand In HandMay 2014 Volume 21 Issue 4

Ms. Alexi & Ms. Linda’s Babies It has been a fantastic year in the Nursery! All of our precious babies have beautiful personalities, quick wits, and brilliant minds. They have made us laugh and kept us entertained each day. It has been a pleasure to watch them grow. We have also enjoyed getting to know all of our sweet parents. We have appreciated all of their support this year. We will remember this year for all of the smiles, hugs, and love that the children, parents, and fellow teachers have given us! !Ms. Kara’s Toddlers This has been such a wonderful year and it has been amazing to have watched how much all of our sweet toddlers have transformed. It is always a great privilege to have the chance to play a part in helping that growth. We are all so proud each of our friends! !Ms. Conor’s Toddlers This year in the Toddler Room has been amazing. Watching all our little ones grow from tiny babies to incredible little human beings has been so special. All four of us loved being there to teach them and love them as they started running miles around us and speaking in paragraphs telling us all their stories. We can’t believe that it is already May and that our time with them in the Toddler Room is almost over. We are so excited to spend a couple more weeks in summer with each of them and then send them off to do such fun things in the 2’s. It has truly been a great year! !Ms. Penny’s Young Twos The class celebrated Mother's Day with a Tea Party and invited the mothers to join us for Music with Miss Mollie. The children made vases

and cards for their mothers. The last two weeks of school we are talking about summer fun and just having a good time. Yesterday the children made little kites and we flew a big kite on the front lawn. Next week we will have a Splash Day on Tu and have Happy Meals the last day of school. !

Ms. Kristin & Ms. Kyle’s Twos This year the 2-year old class has been amazing!! We have watched your beautiful children grow and develop so beautifully in our class, and it has been a super fun journey. Along the way, we have enjoyed splash days, costume days and trick-or-treating at Halloween, thankful days around Thanksgiving, a lovely craft-filled holiday season, and lots of love and blessings throughout! Spring time joys included watching our caterpillars grow big and fat, forming chrysalides, and then seeing the emerging butterflies! Especially exciting was releasing them outside and watching them fly!! We were also fortunate to witness the miracle of birth as our incubated eggs hatched into baby chicks! Some favorite books of the year were "The Mouse, the Bear, and the Red Ripe Strawberry," all of the "Froggy" books and his many adventures, and our most favorite of all was "Trashytown!" Ask your child about Mr. Gilley, and wave to "him" as he collects your trash!! All in all, it has been a joyful, successful year in Ms. Kristin and Ms. Kyle's 2-year old class! We have loved being part of your children's lives, and we wish you the best summer ever filled with sweet family memories! !Ms. Jessica’s Twos As we approach summer, our class has had so much fun wrapping up the year. We also had such a great time at Last Blast, thanks to everyone who put that on! As the year ends, I want our kids to remember to always have fun! Some of my favorite memories of this

year have been whenever the kids are just truly enjoying themselves with big smiles on their faces, especially when we are doing ART projects! Doing crafts and making things with them has been my favorite part of this year, because I think that's when they have a perfect balance of learning and playing! I really loved the lion craft we did and when we made trains out of construction paper shapes. I also loved the Mother's Day Tea because it was so nice to share how our kids can sing and enjoy themselves so much at school. They also were so excited to show their moms what they made and it's so nice to hear them share what they have learned and how we made planted our flowers and painted pots! It's amazing to see how much my wonderful class has grown this year and I hope they all have a wonderful summer! !Ms. Cindy’s Threes Recently one of the children in my class, pretending to be a "Guest Reader," held up a book and said, "We're going to read a book. It''s called 'I Like School"(this was not the actual title). It is always my hope that each child feels that way about school. As I sort though photos from this year, I am constantly reminded of the fun, the learning, the excitement, and the joy I have been privileged to share with your amazing children! I am truly blessed to have a part in this magical time in their young lives. Thanks to all of our wonderful parents who were supportive, flexible, and involved over the year! !Ms. Pam & Ms. Beenie’s Threes "There are so many things that you really should know, And that's why I'm bothering telling you so."--Oh, Say can You Say? !"Young cat! If you keep your eyes open enough, of, the stuff you will learn! The most wonderful stuff! --I Can Read With My Eyes Shut !"Congratulations!! Today is your day.! You're off to Great Places!! You're off and away!"! --Oh the Places You'll Go! !Ms. Margit’s Fours Wow, It's hard to believe that we are at the end of the school year. We have made many, many good memories in Ms. Margit's and Ms. Judy's class. It is always a little different in our class, because the "BIG" kids are not coming back to CDO and we'll miss seeing their new adventures. As our friends move on to their new schools, we hope that they can take a little part of CDO with them, always in their hearts. It is a place of love, comfort, and feeling welcomed and part of something special. We hope that each child will remember bits and pieces of their time at CDO and can confidently go into the world and show them what THEY'VE GOT. We will miss our friends but hope you come by and visit often. Thank you to all of you wonderful parents for putting so much into your child’s happiness, for in the end...that is what it is ALL about! !Ms. Fleming’s Fours

Ms. Celie’s Corner Email: cdodirector@yahoo.com !This year went by really fast! What a great way to wrap things up by celebrating our “graduates” in the Fours classes with “Last Blast!” This year’s fundraiser was the most successful ever. CDO will use the money raised by funding our Tenure Bonus Plan for all staff, purchasing new classroom rugs, picnic tables for the big playground, other outdoor equipment, and much more. We are so grateful for these opportunities. Thank you to Sarah Wilson and Misty Bray, and ALL of their committee members for their hard work through the year. !

Thank you to all of the parents that volunteered throughout the year, and especially to those who subbed in different classes. Sometimes teacher absences can be stressful, and knowing that we can count on the wonderful parents to generously offer their time to sub lessens the stress. I recommend that those of you who have never subbed before, try it out! It’s eye-opening, FUN, and gives you a first hand look at how our teachers work through the day. You will appreciate and love them even more! !Thank you wonderful parents, precious children, and my fabulous staff for making my second year as Director a great one! Wishing my big kids in the 4s classes much success and fun as they move on to their “Bigger” schools. I hope everyone has a fantastic summer! !Love, Ms. Celie

Happy Birthday!Toddlers MacKenzie Sink May 29 Henry Rubio May 30 !Twos Teddie Gish May 11 Miles Denison May 23!Threes Jackson Hight May 15 Alice Vaughn May 16 Campbell Hertel May 24 !Fours Flora Harper May 5Finley Darby May 15 Charles Rice May 29

Housekeeping... A few "housekeeping" items, here at the end of the year... !1. Come by the office and check out the "Bow Basket". They are waiting to be reunited with you! !

2. There are also sweaters, jackets, hats, gloves, etc etc etc in my Lost and Found. !3 Summer school begins Tuesday, June 3rd-27th. We dismiss at 1:00pm. Please make sure that you notify anyone that picks up your child about the different pick up time. !4. Footwear...even though the weather is warming and there's nothing cuter than a little pair of sandals, our policy stands firm on children being required to wear "closed" shoes, i.e., tennis shoes! Trust me.....it's a safety issue. !5. PLEASE apply sunscreen to your children BEFORE they arrive at school. CDO is happy to re-apply, however we must have a note from you, and sunscreen, that gives us permission. !6. You will receive a large envelope around the second week of July that information, consent forms, etc.that will need to be completed, and returned to the CDO office by August 15, 2014. !

Welcome to the Family! Ms. Celie’s awesome assistant, Jennifer Parker, had her second child on April 25th. Teagan Lawrence Parker is beautiful and perfect, and Jennifer is getting lots of help from the proud big sister, Cameron. Jennifer is planning on returning to CDO late next fall and resume her position. Lots of love and congratulations to the Parker family. If you would like to send Jennifer an email, she can be reached at: jenniferjparker@gmail.com

!Chapel We have had a great time in Chapel with Rev. Margot Perez-Greene, Rev. Dennis Wilkinson and JJ Lloyd giving us stories about Shepherds and the care of their sheep, how much God loves us, the first story in the Bible about creating the world and the light from Jesus that we carry in our heart. We have managed to blow out all the candles several times and are singing our songs with great joy and enthusiasm. It has been a great year of listening to wonderful stories, singing new and old songs and learning to listen with our hearts, ears and minds to what God and Jesus say to us.

Music Music has been full of giggles, squirms, laughter and joyful noises all year. We ended the year with a singing of songs by the 2's for our Mother's. The 4's demonstrated their square dancing expertise and several favorite songs. The 3's ended with learning some dances and playing the glockenspiels and hand bells (we hope to learn some songs to play next year). All in all we had a really rocking time!

Motor SkillsWow you kids have come a long way this year. It has been very exiting watching the 2's, the 3's and 4's change and grow this year. We have been working on so many skills including: balance, galloping, ball bouncing and catching, tossing, jumping, scooters and many, many more. The kids have also been learning how to successfully participate in relay races. Be sure and have your kids teach you how to bear or crab walk or go outside and see how well they can toss, bounce and catch a ball! You may learn something new. !Farewell from a 4-year-old Mom Time is a cruel mistress. When Charles was born, someone told me “the days will be long but the years will be short.” So far, the days have been short too. I can’t believe my little 4 pound bug is now 10 times that size and staring kindergarten square in the face. What a bittersweet moment, as we watch our babies transition into “big kids.” These last 3 years at CDO have been the utmost blessing to my child and our family, and I know I speak for all of us when I say, “THANK YOU” to the CDO family, for serving as guardian angels to

our children. This is my last Hand in Hand - it has been a delight to bring these updates to you over the last couple years, and helped me feel closer to Charles and his daily activities at school. I hope these updates have been useful and heart-warming to you as well. As the end of another school year draws to a close, as well as our time at CDO, I wish you all the best, most fun summer ever; and an amazing and successful school year next year. To our friends who will remain at CDO - savor every moment, enjoy every day, live intentionally, be present, and practice gratitude. We have been blessed with these tiny humans and with the opportunity to rear them in the way of righteousness, through their time here at CDO. !Thank you for this opportunity to serve our school. And farewell. - Jennifer Rice, Editor

News published by TUMC CDO

Director, Celie Tijerina - 512.478.2276 Editor, Jennifer Ransom Rice - 512.917.8045

2014 Memories

Last Blast!

Oh the places you will go!