I just can’t seem to get over how flamboyantly gorgeous our season is right now! Not only do the colors seem so alive, but hearts full of sharing as a community have also warmed these colors from within.

I wish thank so many of you for sharing this season with our nursery school!

 It started a few weeks ago when a ‘sunflower fairy’ put the biggest, tallest, sunflower in our play yard one night.  They kindly strapped it to the climber with gardeners tape and the children climbed up and down all morning. They asked if I grew it and of course, that led to more info and questions.  Then, it was gone almost as quickly as it had arrived.  Thank you Sunflower Fairy.  Since that share, we have received so much more!

People have shared apples, apple orchards, Chinese apples (pomegranates), figs, gorgeous leaves, ornamental corn, gourds galore and beyond!

Our week of school with a shared beautiful, wooden apple press was also soooooo delightful!   This is a most delicious time of year that includes healthy food AND eye candy in all sorts of colors and textures.

The classes all made spicy apple cake, apple sauce, and dried apples.  The MWF class continued the sharing by serving it to their guests at Saturday School.    Saturday School was a joy and many extended families were able to see why we keep so busy supporting our little school. 

The sharing continued.  Each class gave so much food to the Salvation Army where the children see that the sharing and giving continues beyond NVNS.  The most joy for me was watching the sweet efforts of the children as they navigated the full, awkward, wagons of food through the school and across the street, crunching leaves and greeting neighbors as we passed on our way.

NVNS families are still busy. As we speak, they are working together building the parade float to kick off yet another season!

Please enjoy your children and family time as well as the harvest of a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner.

I am ever so thankful for NVNS families and alumni that continue to hold hands and stick together.

Together we are better.                                

With a warm heart, Mz. Lori

A harvest Hey Lo Di O Doh to All!

It was lovely to see alumni and new NVNS families at our annual Fall Frolic picnic. We frolicked, ate, laughed and played. If you didn’t get a chance to ‘kick off’ the season with us, plan ahead as we do it again in the Spring!

The warm autumn days and cold nights are adding color all over town and the nursery school play yard trees are also changing. Autumn is full of many wonderful sensory items for our preschoolers. The sights, the smells, the sounds, the autumn ‘crunch’, can be enjoyed just by taking a neighborhood walk, slowly, and with a bag for treasures. Many children have already been collecting ‘treasures’ through their neighborhoods (as have I) and they are filling our science center. Many items are also being used at the build center. It’s a lovely season to slow down and take a look/touch/smell.

We are delighted to have Connolly Ranch sharing their apple press with us this month! Many of you have been sharing your harvested apples and we will press many! Mmmmm! Apples and other autumn harvested foods will be pressed, dried, peeled, cut, tasted and you will also see math taste tests on our school walls. Take a look.

Thanksgiving is best understood by a preschooler as the sharing of our harvested foods. As the holiday approaches, we will have turkey talk, drama and songs. We will also dramatize sharing the harvest with big feasts and the gathering of relatives. Vocabularies will increase with words like feast, cornucopia, relatives, wattle, and scamper. We will leave the pilgrim/Indian themes for elementary school.

To further explain the sharing of harvest and food at Thanksgiving, we will be walking to the Salvation Army’s kitchen (across the street) to deliver canned food. On Mon. and Tues., November 21st and 22nd, please send a can of food with your child to assist with the learning process of giving and sharing. Extra cans, dried goods, and turkeys are always welcome! We will fill our preschool wagons! Alumni, please feel free to drop items by our school for extra giving!

I am very thankful for Napa Valley Nursery School families and wish you happy Thanksgiving gatherings! I recall so many of my own great memories of gathering with family for the holidays. We told stories, made up silly languages, played till late hours outside or football in the mud. Sitting round the table together will encourage the passing down of family traditions. Have your children create a fun list of things to ask grandparents!
Enjoy your family time TOGETHER.

Thankful that we are also TOGETHER at NVNS,
Mz. Lori

Plate Making Day
Mark your calendars for Wed. Nov. 9th. Anytime between noon and 4pm, you may come into class to draw pictures on special paper to be made into plates or bowls. These are wonderful keepsakes and also make nice gifts.

The bowl or plate processing fee is $7.50. Everyone from students, alumni, and neighbors are welcome to attend this major drawing event.

Younger children may like to avoid the elementary afterschool rush by coming in as early as possible to draw.

Dr. Louise Hart at NVNS!   Tues. Nov.8th, 7pm.

Don’t miss!  We are delighted to have Dr. Hart come into our program to share her expertise and wisdom on parenting, parenting styles and much, much more. As a parent, you will leave with new ‘tools’ and techniques to assist you with your ever important role. You will also have a chance to purchase her books. Please invite a friend if you’d like. Dr. Hart will be speaking on parenting of all ages of children.

Recycle Recycle Recycle–Calling all Laserjet ink cartridges!

We are still collecting ink cartridges both large and small for their recycling points.  We are trying to purchase another overhead projector for our science center with our recycling ‘points’.  Please remember to bring them into class with you. If you can, ask your place of work, or your dentist office, or or or.   The more we recycle, the more points we will have to receive great items for our classrooms.  

1.2 million People diagnosed with skin cancer every year and melanoma kills one person every hour.
Improving public awareness will help reduce skin cancer rates by informing people on the ways that they can protect themselves from overexposure and help bring the statistics down. Unfortunately, in some older adults, the damage has already been done. However, it is never too late to start practicing sun safety, and it is especially important that parents keep their children informed and protected.
Important tips for being sun-safe
• Remember that the sun is strongest between 10:00AM and 4:00 PM.
• Wear a wide-brimmed hat and UV protective sunglasses
• Remember that UV rays bounce off of sand, snow, concrete, and water
• Do not use tanning beds or sun lamps
• Keep very young children (6 months or less) out of the sun
• Provide complete sunscreen coverage for your skin (including neck, ears, and lips)
• Sunscreen should be applied liberally and evenly over all exposed areas
• Use sunscreen SPF 30 or higher
• Use lip balm with SPF 15 or higher
• Apply sunscreen before going outdoors and reapply often
• Reapply sunscreen after swimming, perspiring, and toweling off
• Stay in the shade whenever possible
Learn, don’t burn!

Summer Sun Safety Tip:
Summertime can mean fun in the sun with family vacations, outdoor sports and activities, and summer trips. Be sure to “block the sun, not the fun” by applying sunscreen SPF 30+ about 20 minutes before going outdoors and by reapplying often! Remember, the sun is at its highest and strongest between 10:00 AM-4:00 PM.

The SSA encourages parents to lead by example. If you practice sun safety, your children are likely to model those sun safe habits. Teach your children at an early age to wear hats, sunglasses, and sunscreen outdoors.

Hey lo di o doh Summer Salutations!
Our school was sweetly cleaned and buttoned up for summer, by your community efforts, hopefully quite painless and maybe even socially enjoyable, as many hands made for light work. Although closed for the summer, our new Board is rallying with great meetings, ideas and prep for another great school year ahead. Many small projects have also begun. Painting and new water play ideas are underway as well as other growth ideas and TLC for NVNS.

I am enjoying the slower pace of the morning routine and taking in the sweet smells of the yard while having morning coffee. I have also been enjoying the amazingly thoughtful summer baskets, overflowing with summer play, that were given to me at the end of the year by our classes. I am loving all the summer yummies included within and the gardening/play items. Thank you all so much! Gardening items and a new kumquat tree for my citrus collection has also made for lovely summer days of play and planting for me. I have also seen many children at the Tues. Farmers Markets and I am delighted for hugs, catch up, and yummy sharing of berries, cherries, music and beyond.

I hope you have all been enjoying your family time, vacations or staycations. Our summer weather has been extreme. I hope your summer days have also been an extreme change from our school days. The slower pace of summer certainly matches with the preschoolers desire for long hours of uninterrupted play. The summer weather is also conducive to modeling creativity as we adults take some of our daily chores outside where children will of course follow. Eating, playing and sleeping outdoors brings on a whole new excitement to our usual daily routines. Outdoor eating of meals also means less worry about spills and messes. Your children will love to assist with the set up both of mealtimes or hauling their play items outside! It takes great energy and creativity for kids to make new play spaces outdoors. The set up and hauling is the most important part of the play, rather than the actual play. One of our families shared a story of her children building their own drive-through McDonalds. Again the hours of set-up were the best part. (By the way, these children don’t ever go to McDonalds but they were certainly figuring out the ‘Happy Meal’ toy idea.) That all said, I cannot pass up any lemonade stand along my drives as I love the promotion of such great play. Yesterday I actually stopped at a lemonade stand (now 1.00 per glass rather than the old days of .10  ), and an alumni family saw me and stopped as well! They too remembered how I appreciate these great kid efforts.

Summer also pleases the sensory system as we play water, water, water! Whether swimming or hoses, summer is the time to let it flow. I’ll list some fun water ideas and then let your children take it from there.

Summer is a special time. Enjoy the sweet pace, sip lemonade and enjoy your family. Summer play and vacations whether distant or in your own back yard, make lovely memories.

Enjoy your days together,
Mz. Lori

Summer water play ideas:

• Paint the sidewalk with water and watch the evaporation science
• Spray bottles can water, splash and clean
• Let your children wash the car….talk about their set up time!
• Freeze small toys in water and have children spend time melting and retrieving their items
• Play ice hockey on the driveway or sidewalk with big ice cubes and a broom
• Make a spraychestra using a spray bottle and assorted metal, tin pans or other items. Spray to play!
• Use sidewalk chalk and then paint with water
• Rather than water balloons, use small nerf balls soaked in a bucket of water to toss and splash
• Use an umbrella in the sprinkler
• If you have many more ideas, be sure to post them below!

Have fun!