“Over April vacation the playground at the elementary school wasn’t used, so we walked the kids over to play for a little while. A few of the kids were hanging upside down on the parallel bars so I took a picture. When the other kids saw I was taking pictures they all wanted to be in it!” – Ashley Clough, PSA teacher

Children pass a nest around to study how spring birds live.

A PSA student concentrates on drawing a bird.

Click photos to view larger.

[Photos by PSA teacher Megan McPherson.]

We are bombarded daily with information about the importance of achievement by our children on  tests once they enter school. Consequently, we are experiencing that “trickle-down” influence of the testing craze in education.  As far as preschool education, I believe that we can get lost in trying to do the best for our children that we forget some of the basic things that children should experience in their early years.

Sometimes we want to make sure that Johnny is learning his alphabet or that because neighbor Jasmine can count to 100 and Johnny only can count to 10, he is “failing”.  We feel we must need to do more drilling to make sure that Johnny keeps up with his peers.  WRONG!

Children play princesses in a playhouse turned castle. Shiny paper crowns add to their eagerness.

We should be giving children many varied opportunities to experience things in the real world on the level that they can understand.  Dramatic play is a perfect vehicle for many kinds of learning.

If we would like them to learn about fire safety, one way is to create a fire station where they can act out situations that might occur and learn about the help that may come from the fire department.

Math skills incorporate many different concepts such as patterning, sorting, counting, and understanding shapes and sizes.  During dramatic play, children may have a restaurant where they sort foods by vegetables, meats, or breads. They may have to count how many people they will have to serve, so they become aware of matching items served with the number of people they are serving.  (Did you know that it is important for children to have the concept of one to one correspondence? That is when they are able to see items and count each one accurately.)  That skill is much more important than a child being able to count to 100 by rote.

Children engaged in dramatic play are using their imaginations, expressing inner feelings, experiencing walking in someone else’s shoes, recreating situations they experienced which may  have troubled them, learning about cooperation, sharing, and developing language skills.

Dramatic play often starts in very young children  by merely imitating something they have observed.  This may be using the hairbrush as a telephone or a broom as a guitar.  My grandson, at age 2, had seen a wonderful video of Peter and the Wolf many times.  His dramatic play was a reenactment of the story of the ballet while he paraded around the house singing the hunter’s theme using the long wand of the vacuum cleaner as the hunter’s rifle.  He was not just pretending, he was also developing gross motor skills and musical skills.  My granddaughter, at three, made a video (with Dad’s help, of course!) while she sang Darth Vader’s theme from Star Wars.  She used a pencil as her baton and conducted while she sang.  She was definitely working on memory, hand-eye coordination as well as her musical skills.

What are your stories of your child’s dramatic play?  Please know that you are giving them a wonderful gift when you help them engage in dramatic play.  It is one of the most age-appropriate kinds of education that a child can have.  The child can be anything he wants, and can be in control of the situation which may seemingly be impossible in the real world.

Please know that at PSA we encourage this very much—the kids are not just playing, they are learning a great deal.

Children play 'house keeping' - a simple yet valuable form of dramatic play.

Click on photos to enlarge.

[Photos by PSA teacher Megan McPherson.]

The evening promises to be an exciting event with a catered dinner, a silent auction, and a live auction.  Patrick Soucy, auctioneer, will auction many exciting items that include a 2005 Toyota Corolla with 57K miles, a plane ride to Martha’s Vineyard (and back!), many gift certificates for restaurants, retail establishments, and museums.  There are even tickets to Disney World as well as many tangible items such as jewelry, furniture, sports items and much, much more.

During the evening, there will be a presentation by Mark and Amy Coats from Team Honduras.  They are the family which will be administering the Children’s Home in El Progreso.  This is an opportunity for people to meet the ones directly involved with this ongoing project that Jeff dreamed of many years ago.  His dream is coming true and you will have a chance to speak with the people who will be in charge of this magnificent project.  The multi-purpose building is nearing completion and construction on the first cottage to house orphan children will begin this spring.

For information about the auction or dinner, please contact Sue or John at 860 487-3765; Karen at 860 684-5295; or by visiting our website JeffsDream.com.

The concert, An Evening of Traditional Spirituals, will be held at the First United Methodist Church in Stafford Springs on Friday, April 9, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.

A Free Will offering will be taken to support the Jeff Braun Children’s Home Foundation.

Treble Troubadours is a group of nine young, auditioned boys and girls who join together weekly for a class to help them develop their vocal and musical skills while learning aspects of music history and theory.  The chorus, under the direction of Susan B. Leavitt, was founded in 1997 and has helped nurture the love of fine music for many young singers.  The goal of Family Academy of Music is to encourage families and young children to make music an integral part of their lives.

LadySong was founded by Mrs. Leavitt in 2000 as an outgrowth of the Stafford Community Chorus begun in 1970.  The chorus, now under the sponsorship of Family Academy of Music is a volunteer chorus of women who love to sing major choral literature in quality performances. This spring the opportunity to sing some of the great spirituals of our musical heritage has been an exciting journey.

The concert on April 9^th will also feature a presentation by Mark and Amy Coats.  They are the directors of the Children’s Home in El Progreso, Honduras.  This will allow many people in the Stafford Area who have been supporting this project for the past six years to hear about the progress and the future of the Children’s Home, which was first started because of the dream of a young man, Jeff Braun, from Stafford who wanted to give back to the land of his birth.  For more information on the Jeff Braun Foundation please visit www.jeffsdream.com.

Concert information: Susan Leavitt, 860.487.3765, SusanLeavitt@sbcglobal.net

“At Preschool of the Arts we have been concerned for some time about the lack of restricted access to our schools.  Early in this school year we began to look for a system which offered the flexible features, ease of use and affordability that we need.

After talking about a variety of systems with several vendors, we settled on American made Alarm Lock keypads.  Each family and staff member has their own 6 digit code for access. All other visitors must ring a doorbell and be granted access.

Is this absolute security for our families and staff?  No.  But it is already causing a major decrease in the number of strangers wanting directions and other unknown visitors who do not have business with us.

This is a major step for the safety of the children in our care.”

– John Leavitt, Owner

Concerts builds confidence, strengthens social skills and fosters the love of music and togetherness, said Sue Leavitt.

The concerts are called “informances” instead of performances, informing parents of their children’s growth and abilities.

Samples of the students’ artwork displayed creativity and progress and added to the cheery atmosphere.

Students sit ready for their next song.

Ellington's Art on Display

Arms Up during the "Hokey Pokey!"

Photos by John Leavitt

Discover who is whom!

The Tolland School was recently awarded The Business Growth Award from the Tolland County Chamber of Commerce.  This was in recognition of a 70% growth since 2007.   The award is directly attributable to Jennifer Serra, director, the hard working staff, not only in Tolland, but also in Ellington as well as the parents of our present students.  You all have played a significant part in assuring that PSA will be around to serve more children in the future.  John and Sue say THANK YOU

 To further guard against the spread of germs we are asking that the children bring their sleep stuff in a small cloth bag, not just their pillow case.  Each child should have a SMALL blanket, SMALL pillow and crib sheet that will all fit in a cloth or canvas bag.  We have found that the recyclable grocery bags work well.  We store all the sleep stuff in the back of the school on shelves out of children’s reach.  We will put their sleep bags in their cubbies on the last day of their week.  Please wash and return them the next week.   .  If your child has a cherished item they bring back and forth they can have that in their backpacks to take out at nap time.  Again we ask that everything be labeled- on tags or seams.  Please help us so we can return lost items to their owners.

The H1N1 Flu Virus is of great concern for all of us.  We at Preschool of the Arts are monitoring the websites frequently and are participating in conference calls specifically geared toward day care centers and providers of services for young children.

As we mentioned in our letter to all of you, it is imperative that when your child is sick, you keep them home until they have been fever and symptom free for 24 hours.  (They must not be on any medication that reduces temperature or inhibits vomiting during that 24 hours.)

The nasal misting vaccine to replace the flu shot vaccine is presently available and the shots will be available in the very near future.  Anyone with asthma or other respiratory illnesses is not a candidate for the misting version.  They are discovering that the target population of people who are greatly at risk with this H1N1 Flu are children under 5, chronically ill, the elderly and pregnant women. 

The best way to receive up-to-date information is to go to:www.ct.gov/ctfluwatch;

www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu; or www.flu.gov.

There you will find the best information available.  We also urge you to visit your doctor if you suspect you or your child may have the flu.  There has been evidence that Thera-flu is helpful reducing at least the severity of the flu, but it must be administered by prescription  and it must be done early in the onset. 

Remember that some of the most important things you can do as a parent is to:

• Wash hands and surfaces that may hold or carry germs frequently.  (Bleach water (1-10 ratio) is the best disinfectant you can use.)
• Keep your child home when sick
• Tell the school if you suspect the flu
• Keep in touch with your doctor