Playground changes

Our little school has been at its current location for over 50 years. Hundreds of children over the years have enjoyed Cherry Lane both inside and out.
In September our state licensing director came to us with some difficult news.....according to the state of Michigan our playground needs to have some major changes in order to meet current safety standards. Of course we want our play yard to be as safe as possible for our children....... but a few of the items we will be bidding farewell have been part of Cherry Lane landscape since 1958, (and actually are probably built better than equipment half the age!)
Our little horses will be leaving us as well as our arch climber. Modifications will be made to our wooden structure and our swings will have to be relocated.
All of these modifications are going to take a lot of volunteer hours. Whether you are a parent, grandparent, friend or alumni, if you are willing to chip in and help we would be so thankful.
Give us a call if you can lend a helping hand.
We will keep you posted and will share pictures of our work in progress!

zoo phonics

This month at Cherry Lane we in the M-W-F classes met some new friends,
The Zoo Phonics animals that is!
The children have enjoyed learning the Zoo Phonics song, the signals and have already mastered many of the letter sounds.
Each week we will focus on a different animal, letter, and sound. The children are having great fun finding items in the classroom that begin with the letter of the week.
Parents, look for items in your child's environment that begin with the letter of the week...you will be surprised to see how quickly they are learning letter sounds.
We are focusing on sound rather than letter name at this point as phonic is the first step in learning to read.

great pumpkin!

Mrs. Brigham and friends enjoyed themselves at the pumpkin patch last Tuesday in spite of some pretty threatening weather. Before heading out the skies had changed from sunny to rainy more than once. The T-Th class decided to take their chances since our sweet threes would have been mighty disappointed if the trip had to be postponed. They were glad they decided to go! The rains held off...pumpkins and gourds were picked, and a fun wagon ride through the fields was enjoyed by everyone.

Grandparents welcome

From time to time I've given thought to having a Grandparent's Day at Cherry Lane. This thought passes quickly however when I think of the size of our rooms, as it would be difficult to enjoy the company of our Grandparents with so many extra people in our classroom.
But...the cool thing about a co-op preschool is that our assistants in the classroom are our parents. Quite often Grandparents will take the spot of the parent helper and they get a first hand look at what goes on at Cherry Lane. This time is so special for the child as Grandma and Grandpa are there for the full class time. We had just such a time yesterday with Zoe's grandparents. As you can see from the pictures it wasn't just Zoe who enjoyed the visit, the other children reaped the benefit as well. I also might add that though it might be a bit tiring for an adult who's not use to being with 18 4-5 year olds, they are also blessed by the event.
So......if you have a Grandparent who might be interested in working your co-op day, just fill out the appropriate "FIA" form and have them come and join in the Cherry Lane fun!