OCTOBER 5, 2009IN THIS ISSUE
"Teaching Tolerance"
ABOUT OUR AUTHORS
- Debbie Boileve is Cherry Preschool's Executive Director. She was a member of the founding Board and staff as well as a teacher prior to becoming Director.
- Kendra Morrill is Cherry Preschool's Board President. She has served on the Cherry Board for three years.
Rhonda Cohen is
the Inclusion Director for Cherry Preschool. She also facilitates a
parent support grouop for families of children with special needs and
is available to consult on child development issues.
- Alissa Chung is a Cherry parent and former Board member. She holds a Ph.D. in clinical and developmental child psychology and has been a newsletter columnist for eight years.
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CHERRY PARENT NIGHT
OUT KICK-OFF!
Saturday, October 24
8:00 PM
Rhythm Room of
Century Theatres
1215 Maple, Evanston
Line
up your baby sitter for a fun evening...meet other Cherry parents...more
details to follow!
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PARENT EDUCATION EVENING
The Value of Play in Preschool & Kindergarten
Thursday, Nov.5 7:30-9:00 PM
In the "Cherry Town" gym at Cherry Preschool
We are excited to announce a parent education event coming up on November 5. We will have a panel of experts including a few Cherry teachers and administrators, as well as two kindergarten teachers from District 65, speaking about the value of play. This discussion will include how the value of play is supported through theory and research, how our teachers help prepare children for kindergarten using play, and how kindergarten teachers view play in a child's readiness journey. There will be time set aside for your questions about play and going to kindergarten.
Please mark your calendars now for this event. We are looking forward to an enriching panel discussion and plenty of time for Q & A. This event is intended for adults only.
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- Chris Roberson for donating a hot water kettle to the kitchen.
- Cara Lawson bringing "food goodies" every Monday for the staff.
- Katie Kniffen and Stephanie Layden for sharing their first-hand knowledge of Mr. Cherry with our 4-5 day classes. They helped us keep his memory and values alive!
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A FALL REMINDER
Please dress your child warmly enough for outdoor play,
especially in the morning when it can be rather cool out. Since the
weather is so variable at this time of year, dressing your child in
layers is a good way to go! Finally, please remember to label all of your child's outerwear with his/her name.
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1418 Lake Street
Evanston, IL 60201
(847) 492-1213
cherrysch@aol.com
www.cherrypreschool.org
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FROM OUR DIRECTOR
By Debbie Boileve
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 OUR SCHOOL IS A BEAUTIFUL TAPESTRY... A RICH AND WONDROUS WOVEN MAGIC Cultivating, celebrating and supporting diversity has always been an integral part of Cherry Preschool's mission. We believe it is very important for children to learn tolerance, understanding, and acceptance so they can begin to celebrate and appreciate each other's differences. Several years ago, our founding director, Laurie Levy, wrote an article about seen and unseen diversity in our school. I often think about her words when I hear people discuss diversity as if it were a narrow issue, involving race alone. The richness of Cherry's diversity runs so much deeper.
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FROM CHERRY'S BOARD PRESIDENT
By Kendra Morrill
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TWO GOALS FOR 2009-10Community Building & Fundraising
Community-building
We want every family to feel welcome and included at Cherry, and the best way to do this is for us all to get to know each other. Our kids do it naturally every day in the classroom. I remember how my older son would come home from those first days of school saying, "Mama, I made a new friend today!" And I would say, "Great! What's his name?" And he would invariably respond, "I don't know, but we had so much fun!" It's so much harder for us adults than our kids; we actually have to try to learn and remember each other's names.
Fundraising
In a nutshell, fundraising is vital to our school. All of our scholarships are funded entirely by our fundraising programs. Over the past five years, the financial need of our families has increased dramatically; the number of families receiving financial aid has increased 75 percent, and amount of money given has doubled. We would like never to turn a family away because of need, which means our fundraising efforts have to remain strong.
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INCLUSION PROGRAM NEWS
By Rhonda Cohen
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WE'RE ALL SPECIAL AT CHERRY!
The definition of the word include is "to contain, embrace or comprise." It's easy to see how perfect this definition is when we talk about the fact that Cherry Preschool includes children with special needs. The walls of Cherry Preschool lovingly contain 246 children (all of whom are special!). Children with identified special needs comprise approximately 10% of our school population and we embrace each and every child at Cherry as a unique individual...
WELCOME TO OUR PARK SCHOOL PALS!
On Friday, October 9, children from Park School's early childhood class will be coming to Cherry Preschool to spend an hour playing with the children in our 5 Morning Pre-K Purple and Blue Room classes. Park School serves children ages 3-21 with learning and physical challenges...
INCLUSION SUPPORT GROUP
Do you have a child with special needs? - Does your child receive speech, occupational, physical or any other kind of therapy?
- Would you like to meet and talk with other parents in the same situation?
PLEASE JOIN US FOR OUR FIRST MEETING OF THE YEAR
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14
7:00 P.M.
KAELAN'S COMMUNITY ROOM
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PARENT EDUCATION COLUMN
By Alissa Chung
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TOLERANCE & ACCEPTANCE FOR OUR CHILDREN, FOR OURSELVES, AND FOR EACH OTHER The topic of tolerance usually applies to our feelings about others, most typically others who somehow seem "different" from us. But I think it is also important to consider the tolerance that we need to have within our families and even within ourselves.
When a child is born, parents bestow a host of expectations upon this tiny new being. Perhaps they hope for an athlete, a scholar, an artist, an explorer, or a helper. Parents say that they just want a child who is happy and healthy, and for the most part, this is true. But as children develop and go to school or outside activities, the hopes and expectations that parents have begin to emerge. There are disappointments when a child is not a natural athlete or cannot carry a tune. There are more profound disappointments when a child has special needs that were not anticipated.
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LATINO PROGRAM NEWS
By Maggie Hessler
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BIENVENIDOS!
To New and Returning Latino Families
We are excited to continue our Latino program, now in its seventh year at Cherry Preschool. This year we welcome new families to our Latino Parent/Child Class, which we offer in Spanish for Spanish-dominant families who are new to the preschool experience. This class has helped to infuse our preschool community with added diversity. As we all know, you are taking a great leap of faith when you entrust your children to their teachers and their school. We are grateful to all our parents and appreciate the added difficulty of a language barrier. Thank you for your faith in us.
A strong sense of community is one of Cherry's greatest attributes. At the core of Cherry's philosophy is the belief that in order to be a true community within, we must do our best to reflect the world outside our doors. As hard as Cherry works to reach out to Evanston's diverse community, nothing is more valuable than the recommendation of a friend. Please keep this in mind during the registration season.
If you have any suggestions or would like more information about our program, please stop by the office or call Maria Martinez Hain, Latino Parent/Child teacher and Latino Program Coordinator, at (847) 869-3770. |
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