Children’s Center Chronicle

Arroyo Grande United Methodist Children's Center www.worshipweekly.com May 2025

Dates to remember

• May 5-9 Teacher Appreciation

Week

• Sunday, May 11- Mother’s Day!

• Monday, May 26- School is Closed

for Memorial Day

• Thursday, June 26– Last Day of

School. It’s a Minimum Day

school closes at Noon.

• Thursday, June 26—Promotion in

The sanctuary at Noon.

• Friday, June 27- School is Closed

for Staff Development.

• June 30 to July 4—School is

Closed for Summer Break

• Friday, July 4—Independence Day

• Monday, July 7—First Day of

School for 2025-2026 School

Message From Ms. Maddy

Thank you to all the families staying with us for the 2025-2026 to start our 20th year on Mon-

day, July 7, 2025. AGUMCC has openings!! If you know someone who desires and needs quality

child care, please tell them about us. Children who enroll now will be ensured a spot in the next

session beginning in July.

Also, thank you to those who came and supported our Open House, and Children’s Center Sun-

day Singing, Art Show, and Silent Auction in April. These wonderful events showcased the

quality of childcare for the children and families the staff serves.

National Teacher Appreciation Week is May 5-9 2025.

Let’s show our outstanding teachers how we appreciate their love, care, and dedication they have

given your child by completing the attached THANK YOU NOTE(s). Please return your THANK

YOU(s) by Tues, May 6, 2025, so I can make a special THANK YOU booklet for each staff

member. Also, let me know if you want to help me with this project. I will have a collection box on

the Check-In/Out counter for you to drop off your THANK YOU NOTE(s). If you need more

copies of the attached THANK YOU, extras will be in the collection box.

Spring Family Survey is out! Please complete your Spring Survey online or return the attached

survey to the envelope at the Check-In counter by Thursday, May 15th. The surveys provide in-

formation regarding what you, our families, think about our program and how we can improve it. I

look forward to reviewing the survey feedback and sharing the information in the June newslet-

ter.

BIBLE STORY TIME

Children will hear the story of “Hannah's

Prayer”, from 1 Samuel 1 & 2, in the Begin-

ning Bible. “Fruit of the Spirit” teaching is on

“Patience”. The Bible Verse is ...Be Patient bearing

with one another in love. Ephesians 4:2

Show your School Spirit!

Order your T- shirt ($15)

or sweatshirt ($20) now.

Don’t delay! Order by Friday, May 23, 2025

Children are going to Tie Dying their School Shirt

for a Keepsake of their time at AGUMCC.

Thank you to our May

Friends of the Children’s Center Sponsor

Bob Underwood

Ms. Swati’s TK Class

We officially finished the alphabet and the children

are thrilled that we have completed this big task.

The children have done a fantastic job coming up

with words that begin with our letter of the week

and counting the syllables as we clap out the word.

The children loved learning about X-rays and exam-

ining a few X-ray pictures of ocean animals on the

light table. April was the month to honor various

artists. We have been discussing various famous

artists, such as Kandinsky and Claude Monet, and

examining the paintings they created through books

and videos. Children worked on a collaborative art

piece, the Waterlily Pond, inspired by Claude Monet.

We have been working on various open-ended art-

works, including fold-over and collage art. Thank you

to all the families that attended our Open House

and the Children’s Center Sunday Art Show. It was

great seeing your family at these two wonderful

events. I know your child enjoyed showing you all

their learning while they are at school. Thank you

all for your support; it’s greatly appreciated!

For May, we will focus on bugs/insects, and the

classroom will be displayed with many bug activities.

Our Bible story is Hannah’s Prayer, about how she

prayed and patiently waited for a baby. We will

read books about patience and discuss how we need

to be patient with ourselves and others. I will also

introduce the concept of subtraction to the children

and discuss an octagon's various sides and angles.

We will work on site words as we sound out the

word, spell it together, and write their names. It's

so wonderful to see these children grow and blos-

som. ~ Ms. Swati

Ms. Liz and Ms. Yanina’s Preschool Class

We can almost feel Spring vibes with sunshine and

lots of seasonal blooms. I want to start with an ex-

tra special thank you to our families for supporting

our Open House and The Children's Center Art

Show. We had a wonderful time learning about Piet

Mondrian and being inspired to make our own art as

a class. We enjoyed visiting our preschool families

and sharing our classroom home with you. It was also

a great joy to see all of our families join Arroyo

Grande United Methodist Church for our

annual Art Show and Ice Cream Social. I

also want to welcome our newest staff mem-

ber, Yanina Mazza. She will join me in the

preschool room on Tuesday, Wednesday, and

Thursday to finish the rest of this year!

In April, we learned about different artists and

about different fruits and vegetables in our dra-

matic play area. They could sort the fruit and vege-

tables by color and purchase them with dollars and

coins. We used visual aids like timers and name lists

to help them be successful. The children continue to

water our vegetables growing outside and express

their excitement when they see growth. This was a

great way to learn about the plant's life cycle.

In May, the weather change may start out overcast

and end warm, so please make sure your child has an

extra change of clothes and layers for the day. We

are working especially hard to put our jackets on all

by ourselves, starting with turning the sleeves right

side out . Practice with your child at home, and you

will see how proud they are to do it all by them-

selves. Children have also shown a special interest in

bugs, especially as our wall of flowers blooms and

attracts caterpillars in the school’s backyard. We

will still be reviewing the life cycle of the

butterfly. In May, we will take this inter-

est and do fun art activities like bug

painting, color sorting with bugs, etc. May

is the month to acknowledge the love of

all moms, grandmothers, and aunties.

Children will work on a special art project

to show their love for the wonderful ladies. I want

to wish all the class moms, grandmas, and aunties…

A Very Blessed Mother’s Day. ~Ms. Liz

Ms.Sibyl and Mrs. Cindy Bo’s Toddler Class

April flew by quickly with all the special events and

activities that took place at AGUMCC and in the

toddler room. We enjoyed having families visit their

children’s current and soon-to-be classrooms during

Open House, had an Easter egg hunt, a wonderful

Children’s Center Sunday, an Art Show, and an Ice

Cream Social. We were so happy to share these spe-

cial events with those of you who were able to join

us. The toddlers were also very busy planting and

watering their wheat grass baskets so they could

take them home with them for Easter. They also

had fun singing songs and learning about Jesus being

alive. “God’s not dead. No! He is alive” was one of the

songs we sang again and again. Of course, they also

learned how to splatter paint as they worked on our

cooperative Jackson Pollock art piece for the art

show and auction.

Most of our toddlers are currently working on toilet

learning, so they will be ready to transition to the

preschool class in July. Those children already out

of diapers encourage their friends as they model

using the toilet for them. We will change these chil-

dren while standing in the bathroom unless they

have a BM and need to be changed on the diaper ta-

ble. We are mindful not to push the children and try

to make going to the bathroom a positive and fun

experience for them. We let them pick out what

colors they would like on the tiny lights in the bath-

room, sing songs or count as they sit patiently on

the toilet, and join them in their excitement when

they are successful.

Please review our Toilet Learning Policy as a remind-

er of what to expect and how to support them in

this process. You can also arrange a time to meet

with us to discuss your child’s individual needs if you

would like.

Miss Sibyl and I will continue to be attentive to the

interests of the children as we plan our classroom

environment and curriculum. They have all become

skilled at exploring independently and enjoy regular

interactions with others. ~ Cindy Bo