St Paul Lutheran School, Aurora
On Tuesday, March 3rd, Saint Paul Lutheran Church and School
in Aurora hosted our NID Early Childhood Network Meeting. Teachers Frances
Honess-Grab and Tammy Agnello brought us to their gym to show us some of the
large motor materials that they use for their preschool gym time. Big Wheels
from Walgreens, a variety of balance beams, and even a small, blow up bouncy
house draw young ones towards physical activities.
Attendees shared ideas for some inexpensive physical
activities:
Julie Klopke from Saint Peter, Arlington Heights brought us
photos of some new, cool large motor materials that promote body balance. A
favorite resource for her is Lakeshore Learning (check out their liquid floor
tiles).
Chrissy Heiss from Trinity in Huntley uses pool noodles for
tag, and suggested some fun, you tube videos that get children moving.
Doreen Peterson from Christ the Rock in Rockford has
recently celebrated National Pig Day at her school. Pink balloons with pig
faces drawn on give children an opportunity to corral pigs with pool noodles.
Amy Cimarusti from Saint Paul, Mt. Prospect shared their
Busy Bodies Gym For Tots program that was started last November. Community
members are invited in once a month for a tot gym. In a few short months they
grew from 12 young guests (and their adults) to 25 guests. Saint Paul is going
after that 'under 3-years-old' crowd to gain some potential students.
Principal Judy Schaeter from Immanuel, Belvidere supports
her early childhood teachers by designating some of the money from their
athletic fundraiser to go to new preschool equipment. Thank you to our
principals who support our wild and crazy ideas to keep children moving and
grooving.
Principal Diane Katz from St. Paul, Aurora shared with us a
special whole-school activity called Faith Friday. At the beginning of
each Friday, all students meet in the gym upon arrival. Children are grouped
into Faith Families that include students from various grade levels. The groups
say the pledges together, hear a little Hero talk (this month they are talking
about Esther), listen to announcements/shout outs about St. Paul's students, do
a little activity together (like a plank challenge), hand out H.E.R.O awards,
and end in prayer. H.E.R.O stands for Helpful, Excellence, Responsibility, and
Outstanding Attitude. Don't we all want students who exhibit these qualities?
Our time together ended with a tour of St. Paul's older
classrooms, and then a move into their new wing. The group collectively loved
the classroom tables that had dry erase boards as the table top. Can you
imagine a whole table top that was dry erase? We all could see the love, care,
and attention that our hostesses put into the environments that they are
creating for their little ones.
Upcoming Early Childhood Events:
Monday, April 20th 9:00 - 1:00 p.m. a joint meeting of early
childhood professionals and NID Leadership meeting at Concordia University
Concordia University's Early Childhood Conference will be on
August 7th this year.
The McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership will
host a Leadership Connections conference at the end of April. This is an
excellent conference for early childhood directors/administrators.
The NID will host and All Worker's Conferences at Concordia
University on October 16th.
Don't forget about NAEYC's Week of the Young Child this
April 11 - 17. How will you celebrate?
