San Marino Congregational Church Pre School

Our 2010-11 school year is off to a good start. We began the year with ten more children than last year, which is encouraging, and I continue to get calls and visits from parents who are interested in filling the spots we still have open.

We have a great group of children and parents this year. After a week of preparations and visitations, we were happy to have the real start of school when the children attend without their parent. A few tears continue to be shed, (mostly by children, but always a mom or two) but all in all, its a good start.

This is our second year of having two year olds, so at least we knew what to expect. They sure are cute! I must say, it was quite nice to have a school year start without the temperature being in the triple digits. We have definitely en-joyed the moderate weather this year.

Our staff this year consists of Avelinda Stewart, Barbara Sanchez and Hazel Domantay as lead teachers; Natalie Olivares, Jessica Stewart and Lety Pallares as our assistants; and yours truly as Director.

Our staff started school rested and refreshed from the summer break. Fri-day, September 17, we had our Family Pizza Day where everyone enjoyed pizza lunch together and parents had a chance to meet other parents and see which child goes with which parents. We had most of our families attend, in fact we ran out of pizza! It was lots of fun.

We will have our Back to School Night on Tuesday, October 5th- another opportunity for parents to interact with each other as well as with the staff.

Avelinda and I recently attended a luncheon sponsored by the Consortium of Independent schools and Integrated Learning Systems. They educated us in the process of children testing and being admitted to the private kindergartens in our area.

I also was fortunate to attend an informational Directors meeting with a lo-cal pediatrician who spoke to us regarding health issues children face and how we in the Preschool setting deal with them.

The Foothill Association for the Education of Young Children will have their annual fall tour of schools coming up in mid October which the staff will attend. In addition, the entire Preschool staff will attend a Church Related Early Childhood Fellowship workshop on Thursday, October 21. As always, fall is a busy time for us.

Please know that the Preschool is an outreach of your church and we welcome any questions from church members and friends. Please also feel free to drop by and visit if you would ever like to know more about what we do up here. If you ever have the urge to read a story, sing songs or if you just enjoy the company of young children, please talk to me about how you might volun-teer in our program sometime. It is truly a rewarding and worthwhile experi-ence.

Child Ages:

2 years - 5 years

Licenses & Accreditations:

California Department of Social Services: Community Care Licensing Division

Preschool:

Yes

Hours of Operation:

9:30-5:00 p.m.