Mushroom Family
Learning Center
1240 Washington Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15228
(412) 531-1225
[email protected]
mushroomfamily.org
APRIL 2012
A Big Thank-You to…
- To all the volunteers (and ticket buyers!) who helped our Mushroom
Madness raffle to be such a success.
- Aaron Dembosky and family for their donation of clothes and toys.
- Auggie Umbras and family for their donation of clothes.
- The MFLC Board of Directors who work tirelessly to make this the
wonderful school that it is.
IMPORTANT DATES / INFO
From the director...
TUITION WAS DUE APRIL 1
W
CLASSES RESUME
AFTER SPRING BREAK
ON TUESDAY, APRIL 10
STAFF MEETING
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25
Early dismissal at 11:00am; late
arrival at 1:00pm.
PROPER PLAY SHOES FOR
OUTDOOR PLAY
As the weather gets nicer, please
remember proper play shoes for
school. It is still best to wear gym
shoes or closed shoes. Thank
you for your support.
e hope spring has sprung and will really stay. This is the first me in many
years that I can recall not having a delay or closing due to weather.
It was a marvelous March here at Mushroom. The month flew by so quickly and
was filled with so many acvies...school pictures, Mushroom Madness raffle,
parent-teacher conferences, vision screening, and open houses. We had parents
sharing their jobs with the students, penny and egg hunts, musical theater,
McMushroom Day parades, planng, baking and singing. Towns were constructed
and electric houses were built. No ma'er what me of day I walked into a classroom, excitement was in the air. The wonderful weather provided opportunies
for a lot of outdoor play. We could not have asked for a more perfect month.
I look forward to an awesome April. Happy Spring!!
- Joan
Joan Harrison
WAYS TO HELP MUSHROOM
- United Way agency # is 885339.
- Giant Eagle's Apples for the
Students program # is 5245.
- Save Labels for Education (bin in
the stairwell).
- Help other families by donating
to the MFLC Scholarship Fund.
UPCOMING DATES IN MAY
7 Ice Cream Social 6-7:30pm
9 Ice Cream Social Rain Date
22 Last day of school for children
23 Teachers’ in-service (9-11am)
Family picnic at Mt. Lebanon
Park 11:00-1:00 (no rain date)
24 Teachers’ in-service and
meeting (9am-3pm)
P.S. You should have received in the mail a le'er, coupon book, directory lisng,
and immunizaon form for the 2012-2013 school year. Please note that first month's
tuion for September 2012 is due by May 1. This payment will secure your child's space
in the class. Also all previous balances must be paid to hold your child's space in next
year's class.
Please return the directory lisng also by May 1. This will help us get a jump on
providing the directory to you sooner in the fall. If you have any quesons please
let me know.
When I Play I Learn …
When working with paste, glue, and collage materials I am learning:
We would like to know how well
we are doing as a preschool.
Parent quesonnaires will be in the
children's cubbies the week of April
23. Please take a few minutes to fill
one out and return to us by May 1.
Thank you for your help!
•
•
•
•
•
concepts of shape, size location, and design, all relevant to learning to read.
about things that are sticky and things that have different textures.
how to create patterns and designs, a math skill.
to distinguish patterns from the background, a reading skill.
to exercise my imagination and creativity.
Mushroom Family
Learning Center
1240 Washington Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15228
(412) 531-1225
[email protected]
mushroomfamily.org
From the president of the board...
I had a hard me coming up with a topic this month...I’m an
engineering major, not an English major! But, when I thought
about this year, and all that we’ve been through, it suddenly
came to me!! I’m going to do my “thank yous” for the year a
month early! Then I can procrasnate my worrying about what
to write…unl next month!
Where to begin?! How about at the top...our director, Miss
Joan! I’m not sure if you all realize how lucky we are, but in the
past year, I have come to love this woman sooo much! She has
the kindest heart of anyone I know. She truly has your children
at the top of her priority list. Anyme an issue has arisen,
whether in the classroom, with registraon, staffing, etc., her
decision is focused on what is best for our children. She is fair,
considerate, gracious, generous, and so many more
other things that I can’t come up with words for at
the moment! Just know that your children could not
possibly be loved any more than they are at Mushroom. I love you Joan!
Second, our wonderful staff! From the lead teachers, assists,
substutes, specialty classes…all of you! Each and every one of
you bring a special quality to the classroom that makes you so
special. I am excited to tell prospecve families about our
classes and the teachers that make them what they are. You
are all so paent, creave, compassionate, imaginave people.
It takes a special person to be a preschool teacher and you all
were born for this job! Yes, even you Mr. Brian! Thank you for
being you and for the dedicaon you bring to the school.
Next, my wonderful board of directors! My first year as president has been amazing! And the number one reason is because of all of YOU! I have never had to beg, plead or grovel to
get volunteers for the various fundraisers or events. We implemented the new fundraising fee with great success and minimal aggravaon. Our fundraisers went smoothly. I would say
we had a really GREAT year! A couple of honorable menons I
would like to add:
Amy C/D: Thank you for your guidance this year. You helped
build my confidence, and your support was essenal to
geEng me through the year.
APRIL 2012
Page 2
Mushroom Wish List ~ If you or someone you know may
be able to contribute, please let Joan know!
- Little Tykes ride-on fire truck
- Clothes: underwear, socks, pants, tops, gloves and hats
- Any adult musical instruments for Miss Theresa's music class
- Dress-up clothes for boys
Kelly: You have been such a wonderful VP! I can always count
on you to be there when I need you, give me a li'le push
when I need it and you bring new ideas and I’ve never ONCE
had to ask twice for anything…even when I forgot that I
asked you to do something. And our newsle'ers and other
graphics have been INCREDIBLE!
Melanie: You are the woman behind the numbers…alllll the
numbers! From fundraisers, tuion, budgeng, reimbursing
expenses, etc. I don’t know how you do it all, but you do a
fantasc job! The introducon of the fundraising fee created
more work for you and you handled it so well!
Diane: We have been friends for years. Thank you for being
there (oJen at my kitchen table) when I need someone to
vent to, bounce ideas off of, hand last minute work off to,
and just help me in any way I need you to!
And lastly, and most importantly…the parents at our
wonderful school! Thank you for trusng Mushroom
with your children. I really don’t believe you could have
chosen a be'er place for your children. I have made so
many wonderful friends among you and hope that you
have made friends as well. Also please know that if you ever
need to talk about anything having to do with school, or something going on outside of school, you not only can talk to me,
but to any of the other staff or board members.
This year has gone so much be'er than I expected! I truly cannot wait to start next year and see what new adventures we
have together! Thank you all for being YOU!
- Erin
Erin Bignell
News from the Early Learners class from
Theresa, Debbie and Marlene…
O
ur class did just what the month told us to do — we
marched! All our pracce culminated in another fantasc
McMushroom Day parade! Lucky for us we found Paddy, our
leprechaun, in me to lead the parade. The children observed
firsthand just what a mischief maker a leprechaun could be.
Paddy was always hiding and playing tricks on us. He kept us
busy looking around the room trying to find him and using our
Mushroom Family
Learning Center
1240 Washington Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15228
(412) 531-1225
[email protected]
mushroomfamily.org
APRIL 2012
Page 3
Is your child asking to stay longer
at Mushroom?
Sign up for enrichment
and/or “Munchin’ Lunchin!”
Supervised lunchtime is $6 per day for kids 3+. In enrichment, the
children have fun making crafts, cooking, learning Spanish and reading new stories. Classes are available for those 4+ on Mondays and/or
Fridays each month; $14 per class. Sign up for however many you
like! Contact Jamie for more info at [email protected].
memories to recall just what that silly leprechaun had changed
in the room. Not surprising to us that the children could pick
out the changes each week. Great observaon skills!
With spring officially arriving, we got busy and brightened up
our room with spring decoraons. Beauful rainbow kites are
flying in our kite-eang tree, and lovely spring bouquets adorn
our walls. With all the greenery coming up, we
have been able to watch as our Li'le Sprout—
now a big sprout—is outgrowing its vase. We
discovered the roots at the bo'om of Lil’ Sprout
and now we are excited to see if a flower will pop up out of the
top. We would like to send a big shout-out of “Thank you!” to
Abram in the Wednesday/Friday class for bringing Lil’ Sprout to
our class.
We will begin our own planng in April. We’ll make some Lil’
Drips and watch their hair grow. We are always using our
sense of sight so now we’ll be trying out our other senses as
we taste and smell and try to guess “What in the world is
that?!” April will also find us taking a “staycaon” as we go on
a field trip to the beach.
As we enter into the final months of school we would like to
thank all of you for entrusng your children to us. We see the
friendships the children have made and watch the special interacon they have with each other and with us and the only
word to describe it is “family.” We are truly grateful that we
have had this wonderful opportunity to share in the growth
and development of your Early Learners.
News from the 3s class from Jamie, Betsy
and Liz…
W
e were so fortunate this month to have beauful
weather to play outside. Going outside is one of our
favorite things to do. We love playing in the sandbox. The children think they are at the beach. They enjoy taking off their
shoes and socks and feeling the cool sand beneath their feet.
We like to dig for buried treasure. In fact, I had to dig deep
down into the sand to find someone’s shoe! We also build
beauful castles, make delicious cakes and pracce sharing the
shovels and buckets.
We also enjoy riding the bikes. Many of the children have
grown from using their feet to push to using the pedals. I enjoy
watching the creave play that takes place outside. At any given me we will have superheroes chasing the bad guys, princesses planning a party, crazy monsters running aJer the princesses and children that just run for the fun of it. I can’t forget
to menon the many students who could swing all day if we let
them!
In March, the three-year-olds focused on the theme “Who Are
the People in Your Neighborhood?” We listened to stories on
different types of jobs. We discussed what type of jobs the
students wanted to do in the future. Mr. Reddy came into our
classroom to discuss what it is like to be a police officer. The
children were very impressed and enjoyed touching his real
badge and handcuffs.
During this me we also focused on compleng work samples
for their porNolios. The children drew self-portraits, wrote
stories about castles, and even showed off their knowledge of
le'ers and numbers. All of this informaon was shared at our
conferences. I really enjoyed sharing the growth of each individual student with his/her parents. When I look around the
classroom I see children who were once shy becoming so confident, students who cried each morning running to their first
acvity, and children who played by themselves searching for
friends to create imaginary play. Yes, they all grow in one way
or another.
We started our “Pets” theme in March. We
even added two new addions to our
classroom: frogs. We listed many ideas for
names and narrowed them down to Annie
and Aggle, Flaggle, Blabble. The second name is from one of
our favorite books, Knuffle Bunny. Next month the children will
be adopng stuffed animals to care for. We will end the unit
with our Pet Show which will take place on April 18 from 6:00
– 7:00pm.
As the final days approach, we will connue to focus on
posive social interacons, strong communicaon skills
and having fun.
Mushroom Family
Learning Center
1240 Washington Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15228
(412) 531-1225
[email protected]
mushroomfamily.org
APRIL 2012
Page 4
SNACK TIME REMINDERS
W
e appreciate the contribution our families make by
providing snacks. As a parent community, we are all
interested in providing healthy, nutritious ones. A few things
to keep in mind: snacks need to be nut free; please be attentive to your
individual class’s restrictions and read food labels; try to avoid extremely
colorful processed foods with lots of food dye; snacks must be in their
original packaging with a complete ingredient list and expiration date; and
consider fruits, vegetables and foods low in sugar. Simple is great!
News from the 3/4s class from Liz, Brian,
Marlene and Sheila…
News from the 4s class from Cathy, Melanie
and Kim…
T
M
his month we focused on the concept of community, looking at how groups of people (towns, families, classrooms,
etc.) work together to help each other meet their needs. We
learned that all people, even children, do important work to
help their communies.
As part of our exploraon, we constructed our very own town.
We began by brainstorming what goods and services the people in our town would need. We came up with so many ideas!
Some were praccal, such as grocery stores, pet shops, restaurants, libraries, and toy stores. Others were unique to our special, vibrant, and diverse town. We had a magical forest for
unicorns and fairies, a haunted forest for monsters, and alligators in the Allegheny River. We brought our ideas to life with
boxes, paint, pictures from magazines, a canvas drop cloth,
and whatever else we could find.
We learned about a variety of jobs through books, play
experiences, and visits from special guests. Thanks to our
parent volunteers, we learned about being a TV producer/
reporter, a pilot, and an arst. We even learned to make our
own paper! We set up our own post office. The children have
been having so much fun creang le'ers for each other and
taking a turn as the le'er carrier to deliver the mail. It is amazing to see their literacy skills grow by leaps and
bounds when they are movated by a praccal
reason to decode print and write le'ers.
We also got to work with classroom jobs.
Everyone has a job every day, and we rotate so
that everyone gets a chance to try all the jobs. Whether they
are line leaders, cabooses, weather reporters, queson readers, table wipers, servers, garbage collectors, or cleaners, they
know they are performing important work to help our class.
The weather was beauful. We were fortunate to be able to
spend lots of me outside using our muscles to ride the bikes
and climb on the equipment. The sandbox, a perennial favorite, was the site of several amazing volcanic erupons.
Our theme for April will be “Over in the Meadow.” We will
explore the many ways spring brings new life to nature.
arch started out with much excitement and ancipaon
for the Open House! Before that, we fit in our acvies
and items for Q week and had a special guest dad, Dave Cavenaugh, who entertained with his guitar. Any willing parents are
more than welcome to visit our class to share a story, a job, a
talent, or whatever! We also welcomed our friend Aaron back
from his long trip and got to learn about my shy leprechaun
friend, Seamus, who comes around this me of year.
The following week brought a few changes with a
couple of teachers out; a big thanks to Chrisne
Barne' and Karen Frank for filling in and doing a
great job. AJer moving to the music a bit, we
learned about ROY G BIV along with listening to
some rainbow stories and doing related projects. Then, finally,
it was Open House night! The kids were so excited and we
were happy to have such a great turnout.
Sheila took the reins during St. Patrick’s week and led the class
in lots of spring things in ancipaon of the coming S week and
the first day of spring. Special guest mom Rose Blatz helped
with a really fun science experiment and we also made snakes,
painted seashells, learned some new spring songs, and made
beauful sand painngs.
The month finished up with T week, starng with music with
Theresa and on to e dyes, Tootsie Roll flowers, a turtle poem,
ssue paper flowers, es, and a trip to the zoo in movement.
“Spring has sprung; flowers have ris’; I wonder where the
birdie is?” We sing that all the me now that spring is here.
It was so nice to talk to all the parents at conference me –
the children are so proud of what they’ve done and we
certainly are proud of them. They have come so far!
Please note that April brings our fabulous field trip to the
SpringHouse working dairy farm and market, which will be on
Wednesday, April 25. Details will be available in class as we get
closer to the day. It is a very special morning so please be sure
to make it!
Mushroom Family
Learning Center
1240 Washington Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15228
(412) 531-1225
[email protected]
mushroomfamily.org
News from the Pre-K morning class from
Jane, Debbie and Brian…
C
an you believe we only have 6½ weeks of school leJ?! I
think the unexpected theme of our March was “Parent
Involvement!” We had so may wonderful, le'er-coordinated
presentaons this month!
As a Pi'sburgh police officer, Michael Reddy came, then Sheri
brought pizza for P day, which turned into P week due to St.
Patrick’s Day! We also went on a penny hunt and Michael
Fichtenmayer taught us how to make pinch pots out of clay.
Bobby McKerracher taught us all about Scotland. April Walker
organized our egg hunt, and Michael F. returned to help the
children sculpt statues! We were absolutely delighted with the
a'enon the children gave these classroom guests and the
wonderful informaon these parents presented!
We also completed school pictures and vision screening in
March. Of course we carried on with our alphabet acvies
and are working hard on our pre-reading, prinng, and math
skills. Your children have been thrilled that we have been able
to spend some me outside almost every single day. When I
was recently reading a story, in the middle of it all, one child
asked, “Are we going outside today?!?!” Yes, yes, yes!!!
Also, I wanted to menon how very much Debbie, Brian and I
enjoyed the parent/teacher conferences. Thanks to all!
AJer what I hope is a fun, relaxing spring break for all of you,
we will carry on in April with SPRING acvies and the alphabet, as well as maybe some early Mother's Day surprises!
For T day we will be e dyeing T-shirts, so please be sure to
bring in a white T-shirt when we return to school on Tuesday,
4/10, if you have not already done so.
Also in April, we will play host to Ms. Jamie’s
3s class, and share our space with them. The
“big kids” invite the 3s kids up to our rooms,
help them create a craJ, then share snack
with them, all the while trying to remember
to do exactly what the younger children want! We will divide
into groups for this acvity, with half of the class going down
APRIL 2012
Page 5
Illness: When to Keep Your Child Home
While fever is a good indication of sickness, it is not the only one. If
your child is “not himself,” has vomited or had diarrhea within the last
24 hours, has a green nasal discharge, or is tired and irritable, something more than a cold is likely to blame. In addition to potentially infecting others, children are also less resistant to other germs when ill.
If you have any doubts, it’s best to have the child stay home. Of
course, a big way to help prevent illness is to make sure children wash
their hands upon entering the classroom every day.
to Jamie's space to play. We have done this acvity annually
for the past few years and it proves to be a great “hands-on”
lesson in leadership and cooperaon! We are also excited to
be working on our family trees this month.
As you can tell from the first paragraph, we love visitors. So, if
you would like to play an instrument, sing a song, read a story,
supervise a craJ, or share your occupaon with us, please be
sure to let me know! Thanks again for sharing your kids with
us. We appreciate each one’s individuality!
News from the Pre-K afternoon class from
Cathy and Melanie…
T
o start the month, we wrote invitaons and drew pictures
of our families in preparaon for the Open House. Q week
was a li'le more challenging than other le'ers but we made a
Q book which involved lots of skills, from coloring to folding to
cuEng. We detoured from that a bit when the kids found a
ladybug in the room, so we read a story about
ladybugs since they were so interested. At the
end of the week, the kids were really proud of
the great job they did with the number quiz
game which they love to play.
There were lots of items and acvies for R
week! We had a story about ROY G BIV and all the colors that
go into his hat and make a rainbow, sang the “Unicorn Song”
by the Irish Rovers, and made red playdough, Rorschach artwork, and a raccoon puppet to go along with a story we read.
The Open House was a big hit and we were glad to have so
many people a'end.
While I was out the following week, Sheila filled in and worked
with the kids on lots of springme acvies like planng, a
science project, and learning about the water cycle. Of course
we couldn’t forget St. Patrick’s Day! They finished up the week
with a special craJ and treat leJ for them by my shy li'le leprechaun friend, Seamus.
S week was short but special! Snakes, shaving cream, sand and
seashells in the spring: what more could you ask for?! A surprise treat in music class with Theresa provided all the kids
Mushroom Family
Learning Center
1240 Washington Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15228
(412) 531-1225
[email protected]
mushroomfamily.org
APRIL 2012
Dropoff and Pickup Reminders
Thank you for your diligence in following our parking lot rules
and keeping our school families safe. A reminder of the key info:
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with a wooden slide whistle to play and paint. The month ended on T week which involved ssue paper and family tree
projects, a turtle poem, and a li'le e dyeing. Also, one of the
spring songs we like to sing starts like this: “Spring has sprung;
flowers have ris’; I wonder where the birdie is?”
Thanks to all the parents for coming in for conferences – we
have enjoyed your kids and they have developed so much. It’s
hard to believe that we are coming up on day 100 of school on
April 10. A special treat that day will be making ice cream to
celebrate! We have waited a VERY long me for this day and
it’s going to be excing!
April also brings our awesome field trip to the
SpringHouse working dairy farm and market,
which will be on the morning of Wednesday, April
25. More details to come in class. Please be sure to mark your
calendar as this trip is really a good one.
News from the K-Too class from Marilyn…
M
arch was electric! We spent much of the month disassembling broken CD players, hair dryers, and a toaster.
The children gained small motor control with screwdrivers as
well as paence. Some of the screws were very small! They
also had to figure out how the components were connected in
order to get them apart. Once opened, the children saw how
incredibly complex these outwardly simple boxes are. There
were mother boards, transistors, speakers with magnec
backs, transducers, LED screens, and
lasers. The mother boards enabled the
children to trace the myriad metal pathways for the electric current.
Page 6
Our lot is one way, entering from Washington and exiting onto Sunnyhill.
Drive slowly and carefully, especially when backing out, and be observant
of the cars and people around you.
Don’t leave other children unattended in the vehicle during dropoff or
pickup. Stay alert and keep kids close to you when walking in the lot.
Please be sure that your children are properly secured in the back seat
before moving.
small motor challenge, but they soldiered through and were
delighted by the bright results. We painted, glued, and
constructed furniture, all from materials the children collected
from home, recyclables, and some Mushroom art supplies. The
final touch was a creature to live in our houses; of course it had
to be the mouse the children made themselves. This project
allowed the children to be creave, solve problems, observe
cause and effect, and parcipate in a long-term effort that
required paence and planning. They were extremely proud of
the results.
We will conclude our electricity unit when school resumes in
April by following the path of electricity into Mushroom school.
Outside, we will find the school’s wire, meter box, and transformer topping the telephone pole.
April will also be full of spring projects and our
unit on me and money. We will experience
actual commerce on our field trip to Shop’n
Save. The children will decide what kind of
store we want to “open” in our classroom.
They will then bring in items from home to price and put on
the shelves. We have a real cash register the children will be
able to use to take money and make change. This unit familiarizes the children with coins and their values, fracons,
counng by fives and tens, cooperaon, and organizing and
maintaining an imaginave play area. We will also cover telling
me for the hour and half-hour.
A Slice of Summer
Dates: June 11 through July 20 (except July 4 and 5)
Where: Mushroom Family Learning Center
We also did experiments with stac
electricity using balloons, wool
sweaters, combs, and ssue paper. We made our own mini
power plant with copper wire, a magnet, and a compass.
We also built on a snap circuit board which enabled us to see
circuitry for a motor, a light, and a sound acvator.
The children really got their creave juices going as we put
together their electric houses. The wiring was a significant
Time: 9:30 a.m. to noon, Monday-Friday (three-, four-, or five-day
program, depending on age and parent choice)
Ages: 2½ to 6
Cost: $14.00/day
Registration: There is a $15.00 non-refundable, non-transferable
registration fee. Registration is now open to all. If you haven’t
done so already, please act fast as spots fill quickly.
Questions: Theresa Rosenberg 412-531-5298