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The Early Childhood Encourager
Northwest District LCMS - Education Services
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June 28, 2010
Shepherd of the Hills Church and Preschool
Snohomish, Washington
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 Shepherd of the Hills Preschool is in Snohomish (Maltby) Washington. It has a long history (25 years) of being a play based learning environment for children. The children we serve come to school for about 10 hours a week. A person may ask "What can they really accomplish in that length of time?" Well, there is so much going on it is almost hard to comprehend. Yes, you will find the ABC's and 123's and like many of you we have lots of fun with great events such as Kids In Parents Out, Valentine Disco, and The St. Jude's Trike-A-Thon but at the heart of it all, is relationships!  Setting the stage for successful interactions is part of our job description as preschool teachers here. If a child stands holding a toy he had just pulled from the hands of a classmate a teacher may ask him to look at the other child's face and tell us how they might be feeling. You may hear us whispering "forgotten lines" to a child attempting to join in a game. Hopefully the advice "Use your words" takes on a more concrete feeling.  While building relationships between the kids is a great beginning there are so many more relationships involved. When a concerned parent comes to a teacher they may be looking for words of wisdom and may get some great advice but more importantly comfort and support are in order as a parent increases their confidence in the relationship they have with their child.  Then there are the times you cherish as you see relationships develop between families. In our preschool parents that have met and become friends when their children were in preschool together have also together prayed for their children as they sent them off to college. They have also supported each other through difficult journeys such as a cancer diagnoses even when that diagnoses ultimately lead to a lost life.  Truly the relationship we are most hoping to strengthen for our students and their families is their relationship with Christ. By the grace of God this happens in those few hours a week as well. A professed agnostic parent gave this surprising compliment "You teach the love of God and that is what I like about this school." It is our prayer that teaching the love of Christ is something we are able to do in all our relationships!
 Heidi Haack, Director/Preschool Teacher 9225 212th St SE
Snohomish, WA. 98296
(360) 485-8171
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