Holly Tree Christian Preschool

At Holly Tree, we believe in good health!

Part of establishing healthy habits and a 

healthy lifestyles depends on exercise; 

and the sooner the start the better.

That's why our January theme is 

Fitness Fanatics! Your're never too

young (or too old!) to be healthy!

Because exercise for children involves lots of fun activities, 

we're happy to announce that

Soccer Shots 

is coming to Holly Tree!

Soccer Shots is a kid-friendly, non-competitive, indoor/outdoor

soccer program for children. We're excited to partner with this

fabulous organization in our Fitness Fanatics quest!

They came by and hosted a Fun Day and 

lots of fun was certainly had by all:

Soccer Shots will be on site for Holly Tree students every Tuesday during

the winter season starting January 13th. For more information contact

Michael Lewis at: mlewis@soccershots.org

Healthy habits for our very own Fitness Fanatics 

also include one of our favorite things...food!

Our teachers are up to the task of  building healthy 

eating habits with a special lunch break at

Subway:

Hey, if Jared can do it--so can they!

Find out more about Fitness Fanatics and our 

Holly Tree Preschool and School Age Programs

by clicking the link below:

HollyTreeChildcare.com

Have a Happy 

(and healthy!)

New Year!

Santa Baby!

Santa and babies--what could be better

(or cuter!) for Christmas!

Santa made us all happy when 

he visited last week. 

Now hurry down the chimney, Santa!

Click the link for fun and interesting

Santa facts! 

Fun Christmas Facts

Christmastime is great for making fun art projects.

Check out a few of ours below, and check out this article:

Christmas Crafts and Recipes

for fun ideas to make at home!

Nothing rings in Christmas like a school Christmas Program,

and ours was fabulous! 

It brought teachers, family, and friends 

together for some Christmas joy! 

Shout out to our friends at

HOMESTYLE BAKERY

for the Christmas treats! We love you!

Please check them out at:

http://www.homestylebakery.com/

Merry Christmas, peace, and joy to you all!

Find out more about Holly Tree at:

www.hollytreechildcare.com

Blessings to you and yours!

This Week At Holly Tree

Every day is special at Holly Tree,

even when we're doing simple things!

Sharing time with friends in a 

fun and caring environment 

makes it that way! 

Building a gingerbread house, 

reading a book, or waiting for Santa

 are all special and relaxing moments to enjoy now

and to remember forever!

Enjoy our pictures of a typical Holly Tree day, 

and to find out more go to:

www.HollyTreeChildcare.com

 

Along with all the fun, we focus on learning!

Our Preschool 1 Class found working on letters

(creatively, of course!) very interesting.

And our Pre-K class loved doing mock interviews!

(Check out this article on language development from

Get Ready To Read.org to see how activities like this

promote literacy and language for preschoolers!)

Sometimes the simple things are the best things,

like hanging out with friends--big and small! 

According to The National Institutes of Health:

"When learners are relaxed, thinking becomes eminent. 

Authoritative and tense environment hinders thinking."

That's here at Holly Tree why we believe in love, 

and fun, and lots of smiles, as you can see!

Come visit us and see why Holly Tree is a great

place to relax--and learn!

The Blessing of Family

HollyTreeChildCare.com

Our Holly Tree family celebrated our blessings together

with a fabulous Thanksgiving feast and fellowship!

See some of our fun and smiles below:

We've said it before and we'll say it again;

Holly Tree is all about family. We're a diverse

family community that works together--

and that certainly "works" for us!

The National Association For The Education Of Young Children, 

found at www.naeyc.org,

has this to say about diverse Early Childhood communities:

"The intercultural approach realizes that no one individual 

fully represents an ethnicity or a race. Each person 

represents his or her own experience as a member of a 

group and within his or her cultural context. The phrase 

cultural context within the early childhood education 

setting is inclusive of all aspects of a child’s cultural 

identity that are unique and influential: ethnicity and 

race, primary language, family composition, socioeconomic status, 

and special needs. Each individual can simultaneously 

contribute in multiple ways to the richness of the cultural context.  

Even in classrooms where children 

appear to be homogeneous in terms 

of ethnicity and socioeconomic status, they may 

have a variety of special needs and are likely 

being raised in a variety of different family structures. 

The varieties of family compositions, 

for example, bring unique experiences 

into children’s lives and, thus, their 

cultural context. "

We couldn't agree more! 

Why do we succeed at Holly Tree?

We value individuals. And so do our teachers. In our

classrooms you'll find Early Childhood professionals

who care about teaching individual children, 

as well as their classroom groups, 

along with welcoming families of all kinds.

Come see how comfortable Early Childhood care can be!

Visit us at Holly Tree today!

www.hollytreechildcare.com

Blessings!

Family Fun!

At Holly Tree we know the key to success

is partnering with families! We offer many

opportunities for families and teachers to come 

together, both individually, and in groups. 

Not only do we enjoy these times, we know they 

are valuable to children's development. 

Early Childhood News experts agree:

Importance of the Family-Teacher Relationship

"Family-teacher relationships can be complex and include many different areas such as the teacher’s relationships with the children; the teacher’s relationships with the children’s families; the teacher’s relationships with colleagues; and the teacher’s relationship with the community. Often, early childhood teachers attend only to their relationships with the children. Yet, our ability to teach children expands past the children and includes family, colleagues, and our own community. By involving all of these components we create a rich environment for our children and serve as models for the children to create positive relationships with other people."

You can access the article in its entirety

by clicking the link below:

EarlyChildhoodNews.com

The fabulous photos you see are just one example of how

we brought Holly Tree families together, with our bi-annual 

Spaghetti Dinner and Scholastic Book Fair! We had a lot of fun, 

and most importantly, our Holly Tree children did, too!

Fun and fellowship are important at Holly Tree. We believe that 

parents are their children's first teachers, and that we're here to provide

support and promote early childhood development--in a variety of ways! 

We enjoy what we do, and would love to show you just how special Holly Tree can be!

Click the link below to find out more!

www.hollytreechildcare.com

Also, we want to give a shout out to Scholastic! 

We love Book Fairs and they are the best! 

Scholastic provides many resources for parents, as well.

Please check out all Scholastic has to offer at:

Scholastic.com

Many Blessings!

Learning!

Holly Tree is about learning!

Daily activities develop and reinforce 

important skills -- which leads to learning!

Pictured below are important concepts in action; 

things like:

Mathematical thinking (even geometry!)

and social development occur while building with a friend!

Fine motor development, spatial awareness, 

and creative thinking skills develop while

playing lone with blocks!

Dressing up and carrying out "scenarios" 

develop social and emotional skills, respect for others,

creativity, memory, love of learning, and literacy!

Dramatic play even helps us think about the future!

"What do I want to be when I grow up....?"

At the sand table, negotiation skills, scientific 

skills, and persistence develop! 

When teachers share interactive stories with 

their classes, communication, listening, and speaking

skills develop, as well as, alphabet recognition,

book concepts, imagination, and literacy!

So much learning takes place through daily

activities like those pictured above, 

but much develop occurs also through daily routines.

TeachPreschool.org says:

"In the preschool classroom, teachers are always planning 

and evaluating their student’s cognitive, social, emotional, and physical skills 

but we are going to take a look at what many refer to as “life skills…”

The development of life skills often happen naturally as preschoolers 

spend each day doing daily tasks such as putting jackets away, 

pouring cups of juice, or washing hands and getting ready for snack…"

At Holly tree, we believe that for young children,

everything is curriculum! That's why we use every opportunity,

including daily routines, to help your child develop his or

her full potential. For more about what you can do at home

to focus on routines as learning experiences check out

this article from the Hanen Center:

The Power of Using Everyday Routines For Learning

And for more about about our fabulous program

here at Holly Tree, click:

www.HollyTreeChildCare.com

Many Blessings!

Something For Everyone!

Here at Holly Tree,

there's something for everyone.

From Infants to Pre-K, we offer 

a variety of fun and interesting 

activities to promote healthy child

development for the "whole child".

And we top it off with lots of love!

Check out some of our classes

learning and having fun, and 

Find out more at:

www.HollyTreeChildCare.com

In our Infant 2 class, our sweet babies begin to

learn emotional, social and physical development. 

They also begin to develop (cognitive) thinking 

skills, and even independence! With very young children,

everything that happens is curriculum. Our fabulous infant

teachers will help your child learn daily, and most

importantly, feel loved while they're doing it!

For more information about your infant's development,

including expectations, safety, health, and parenting tips,

check out this link from the Centers For Disease Control (CDC. Gov).

Age appropriate activities promote positive development. 

We call this Developmentally Appropriate Practice, also known as DAP. 

Since parents are their children's first teachers, 

we've included a link for the National Association 

for the Education of Young Children, so you can learn more about DAP, 

and what it all means for your child's development. The following 

pictures reveal some fun and important 

DAP aspects in our Holly Tree classrooms!

Using hands and thinking creatively are 

developmentally appropriate for toddlers.

Listening to an interactive story with a group is 

developmentally appropriate for Pre-K.

Using a sensory bin with a friend is 

developmentally appropriate for Preschoolers.

Outside play is developmentally appropriate for 

everyone, even very young children! 

To get a real view of how we put DAP 

into practice here at Holly Tree, come by and pay 

us a visit! We'll show you how valuable positive

Early Childhood Education can be!

Please visit our link to find out more

about our program, where, along with learning,

 we stand for Faith, Family, and Fun!

www.HollyTreeChildCare.com

~Many Blessings~

Fabulous Friends!

Philippians 2:4

"Let each of you look not only to his own 

interests, but also to the interests of others."

That's just what these special friends do!

We are very thankful for our friends at the 

Lion's Club (pictured above)! 

They payed us a visit and checked our vision.

This is a yearly event for us here at Holly Tree,

and we couldn't be happier to be involved with

such a fabulous organization. To find out more

about their valuable work in the vision 

field click the link below the picture:

Lions Club Vision Screenings

For other areas of volunteerism involved in

 the work of the Lions

 Club check out: 

LionsClub.org

____________________________________

We're also happy to announce the winner of

our "How Many Candy Corn?" guessing

contest! The lucky lady is pictured with her

family below! Enjoy your gift Ms. Kristin!

For a fun and interesting guessing game 

for your older preschoolers, check out this link

from ZOOM (PBS.kids):

Guess Who?

It's fun for the family!

In fact, games are a great way to help 

children develop a variety of skills.

The article below gives some great 

information about the "hows' and "whys"

playing games with your preschooler

is not only fun, but valuable!

The Value Of Playing Games With Preschoolers

________________________________________

For more about our play-based learning program 

here at Holly Tree, click our link at:

www.hollytreechildcare.com