Christmas is coming!

  Yes that title is correct Christmas is coming soon! We here at IPS are super excited like the kids about the upcoming holiday season and we have a lot of fun planned for you and your children.

  Outdoors we have some games planned and everything we do outside is now dependent on the weather. As you all know the season is changing and so if its raining hard we will be inside. On those days we will be playing a lot indoors. But if its just cold we will still play outside so everyone (Mom's, Dad's, Grandma's and Grandpa's too) should bring a jacket!

 Its also that time of year that we think of gifts for our kids. I want everyone to remember that outdoor toys make great Christmas gifts too! Physical activity at home and at school helps to develop motor skills and self confidence. I know outdoor toys are always a hit in my house! Some of my favorites are playground balls, hula hoops, sidewalk chalk, bikes, and scooters are all fun. Even outdoor games like bean bag toss, ladderball, bocce ball, and bowling are all fun.

 We will also be on Christmas break this month which means the kids will be home with us for a little over 2 weeks. I know for me when the weather is nice its easy to keep my kids busy we can play outside, take walks, and enjoy each other's company. But when it rains and we are trapped inside its tough to keep them from getting bored. On those days we try to play some indoor games to keep the bodies moving and the eyes off the TV. Some times we play ......

• We freeze dance which is always more fun when Mom and Dad play too.
• We build pillow forts
• We play minute to win it games (you can find a lot of ideas for them on pintrest)
• We build with non traditional items
• We make playdough
• We picnic in different areas of the house
• We play twister
• We play mother may I
• We do mirror movements
• Bean bag games (you can make beanbags yourself with old socks bean or rice and a good rubber band)
• Scavenger hunts
• Hop scotch (you can make a grid using masking tape or painters tape)
• Balloon games (ping pong, 4 square, and others)
• Paper airplanes (tons of instructions available online)
• Stringing pasta or cheerios
• Marshmallow toothpick building

 I could go on for a long time but this is just a spring board for you. You can google rainy day activities or even check pintrest for lots of fun age appropriate ideas! Remember busy kids are happy kids.

 I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas season and please remember the true reason for the holiday is the Birth of Jesus Christ our savior and share that special story and truth with your children. I hope you all carve out a little time to spend time together as a family and do something out of the ordinary to have fun this season. I appreciate all the parent helpers that come to school and especially those that help outside I know some days it can be a big challenge. I love getting to know your children and help guide them on their journey into learning.

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Some changes outside

   I know I am a bit behind on blogging but I wanted to make sure all you parents were aware of some changes that are taking place in the outdoor classroom, now and in the coming weeks.

  First off fall is here and the weather is cool in the mornings and half the playground is in the shade in the morning so a light weight jacket in your child's backpack is something they could relay use. Unless its pouring rain, blowing wind so hard we can't play or there is a crazy weather catastrophe we have the outdoors open for play time. I have a lot of friends who love to be outside and will stay out all morning so if your little one is one of those kiddos I would defiantly make sure they have a jacket. This goes for parent helpers too! If you think you may end up outside bring a jacket as well I personally always have one in my car for emergencies so I am never without one. Also some mornings the playground is a little wet so if you work outside please help me check the slides, plastic cars and picnic benches to see if we need to wipe them down.

  We have made some schedule changes in how our mornings run after free play is over and the the Orange Owl's and Green Dragonflies are separated into their small groups. Then snack begins for the first half of the children. After they are finished eating the children will be allowed to do activities at the tables. There will no longer be extra free play time after snack. There will be 2 activities set up at each group of tables for them to choose from. Some will be art, some will be math, some will be play dough and so on.This is to help aide in the transition from the outdoor time to the group time inside, and help the children to have a more productive small group time when its their turn. So parent helpers will stay at the tables and help with these activities when they are outside.

  There have also been some changes made to snacks. Beginning in October the state has placed new regulations on schools as a part of their campaign to encourage healthy eating and proper portion sizes being served. From here on out there are portion sizes posted on the snack calendars and there are no exceptions to those sizes we are held accountable to make sure your little ones are eating proper portion sizes for their ages. We have also stopped putting the milk in the containers for the kids to pour a lot of our friends love to pour drinks and we were tossing a lot of milk down the drain. So from here on the water will be self serve and the milk will be served by a parent helper, with a limit of one half cup of milk per child. If they are still thirsty we can assist them to rinse out their cup and they can have water.

  We have also designated 2 days a week as bike days. The bikes will be out for sure on Thursday's and Friday's unless there is a special event taking place those days. This will help some of our friends to visit more centers during free choice time. You can encourage your child visit different centers each morning before school. I always talk to my daughter every morning about what centers she likes and what ones she likes to visit and I also encourage her to visit the centers she doesn't visit often(like science and math) I talk it up over the breakfast table or on the ride to school. On days you work let them know whats going on in each center and encourage them to visit your center you are working as well as others. As the year goes on I know the kids will all adjust to this center rotation and they will get a lot of enjoyment and a lot of learning from visiting different centers and different classrooms as well as teachers. I encourage you as parents to do the same if you always work the art center venture out of your comfort zone and try cooking or blocks who knows you may learn something new as well!

  I want to thank everyone staff, parents and kiddos for all your support, encouragement, kind words and the fantastic poster! The MS ride was a great success and once all the donations clear I raised $1575 for the fight against MS! And my husband raised over $2600 for MS as well. We are already looking forward to training for next years ride!

  As always if you ever have any questions or suggestions for outside feel free to visit or send me an email I love new ideas!

Ms. Charlee's ride for MS

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/CASBikeEvents?px=10005872&pg=personal&fr_id=18684

I know several of you have seen the link on facebook and the Inland Preschool website about possibly donating to my charity ride for the MS society. I wanted to share a little more about that ride and how my wonderful families at IPS can support me.

My husband we will call him Mr. Brad was diagnosed at age 31 with MS which means Multiple Sclerosis its an autoimmune disorder in which the body attacks the covering of ones nerves along the nervous system. Mostly in the brain and spinal cord but it can go to other areas of the body as the disease progresses. There is no cure for MS, but there is treatment to help slow the progression and symptoms. My husband (Aubree's Dad) is lucky it was caught early and he only has 4 lesions visible on MRI. He was told to make major lifestyle changes which meant diet and exercise. He discovered that his usual forms of exercise were no longer an option as they hurt his joints or caused him to over heat(a very difficult thing with MS is overheating can cause symptoms to be worsened) so he started cycling. Through his employer we found out that they participate in the MS Bay to Bay tour as a team and he joined and started riding in 2011 and finished the 2 day 100 mile event last year.

When he was diagnosed the MS society was right there with assistance for us in dealing with the diagnosis. I wanted to help the society that has helped us so that they can continue to do what they do. I decided in January 2012 to train myself and join the event in 2012. Which I have done.

On October 20th I along with my team and thousands of others will leave the starting line in Irvine and pedal a little over 50 miles to our day 1 stop in Carlsbad. The next morning I will get up again and pedal another 50 miles to the finish line in Mission Bay San Diego.

I am issuing a challenge to my fellow Inland Preschool Families. If you can help me out by donating $100 dollars(school wide) I will wear an Inland Preschool Play button shirt for a part of the ride. If you can help me raise $200 I will add a tutu yup you heard me I will have a custom made grown up tutu in honor of all my little friends who helped me raise the funds necessary to participate in the event. I have to raise $400 just to ride! So with $200 you would have helped me with half of that requirement and that would be amazing!

How else can you help me? On Thursday and Friday October 18th and 19th wear orange to school! Show me your moral support. If I make the $200 dollar mark I will preview the tutu at school.

Thank you to everyone in advance for all your help.

If you wonder what your kids are learning outside

A lot of Parent's ask what is my child learning by just playing outside during free time? Well here is a very cool list of things we learn while playing outdoors :)

First day of school!

The first day of school for our Monday, Wednesday, Friday friends was a great success! Thank you to everyone for getting your kiddos to school and for helping us to have a great first day! Thank you to the parent workers who all came in today and did all the tasks we needed done so that we could play today. I saw a lot of fun and growing taking place and without you that would not be possible!

Interesting reading

Sometimes I like to post things I have found online that make me think or relate to our school. I think sharing knowledge about early childhood development and education are an important part of our program at IPS.

This blogger wrote about how some times early academics can actually hurt the learning process in the long run. I have had this happen to me personally with my older child so I feel this is important to share with everyone as we start off our year.

http://prekandksharing.blogspot.com/2012/08/overly-academic-preschool-experiences.html

Welcome to my blog

My Name is Charlee Pensak and I am the outdoor teacher at Inland Preschool. I have been married to my husband Bradley an Electrical Service Planner for Southern California Edison for 10 years. Together we have two wacky children. Breven is 7 years old and a second grader in Beaumont schools, and Aubree is 4 years old and a student at Inland Preschool.

I received my Associates Degree's in Humanities and Social/Behavioral Sciences from MSJC in 2005. God called me to spend 6 years as a stay at home mom so that I could be home during my children's formative years. At that time we attended the early childhood programs at the library, I ran a mom's group, I taught Sunday school for ages 2-5, and I worked at the local Jazzercise. Now in my spare time I continue to work for my local Jazzercise, I road bike with my husband, I knit with my mom and I spend a lot of time on pintrest (as I bet most of you enjoy doing as well.) I also spend a lot of time in the kitchen cooking and preparing healthy meals and snacks for my family as my son and I have high cholesterol and my husband has Multiple Sclerosis. I have found that a healthy lifestyle helps us to manage our health issues and improve our lives.

I came to Inland Preschool first as a parent I was looking for a different kind of preschool program after a disheartening experience at an academically charged preschool. I found an article in the paper and signed up for a tour the next day, and registered my daughter for the fall of 2011. I loved the idea of parent involvement I never got to participate in school activities at the last program and I spent one day week volunteering at my son's school and loved it. I began doing my parent work hours in my daughters classroom and found myself loving it and looking forward to my in class working days. When the opportunity came up to work for Inland Preschool I prayed about it and immediately said yes and began working and being a parent helper in February 2012.

This school year I am teaching outdoors which is going to be so much fun I have a lot of ideas and activities floating around in my head and my pintrest boards! I also will be with you and your children every day for snack which is another fun thing for me as well I love to see what creativity and food can bring to our school experience. I also will be working in the extended care program and enjoying some time with those that stay for a longer school day.

Visit the blog often for updates on outdoor happenings, snack ideas for home or lunches, general school updates and whatever fun things come into my head or heart and show up on this blog. I look forward to meeting all the parents and children soon. We are going to have a great school year!