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Questions? Please contact Jill Babb at [email protected] or Krissy Thomas at [email protected].

In This Issue Upcoming Events Spring Social – Splash Into Spring! Playground Update FPCNS Garden Is Planted! Thank you to our Special Events Hosts BYOBG (Bring Your Old Baby Gear) Event – A Great Success! Volunteers Needed for Preschool Graduation Teacher Appreciation Teacher Spotlight #1 – Ms. Rosemary Griffin and Ms. Juliann Schwartz Teacher Spotlight #2 – Ms. Kathy Altomaro and Ms. Mindy Ostrowski Birth Announcements Parent’s Corner – Starting Your Own Home Garden

Upcoming Events • May 13th – Annual SPRING SOCIAL – “Splash Into Spring” at the Riverside Yacht Club. • May 13th – Teacher Appreciation responses are due. Please drop them off • May 26th – Last Day of Extended Day and Enrichment for the 3 and 4 year olds. • May 30th – No School (Memorial Day) • June 2nd – Last Day of School for 2 ½, 3 and 4’s • June 3rd: Graduation and Last Day of School for 2x2

Spring Social – Splash Into Spring! The annual FPCNS spring social is taking place this Friday at the Riverside Yacht Club. Please join us for cocktails. If you haven’t RSVP’d yet, please email Jill Babb at [email protected]. The proceeds from the evening will go towards the playground renovation.

Playground Update The 2x2 and 2 ½ Play area was recently resurfaced and looks incredible! The mail fundraising campaign helped us raise half of the $30,000 needed to complete the renovation. A big thank you to all the families who have generously contributed to date. If you haven’t donated yet, please consider doing so to help us reach our goal!

Laying the foundation for your child’s successful future

First Families

First Presbyterian Church Nursery School

Volume 5, Issue 9, May 2011


FPCNS Garden is Planted! On April 21st, a group of First Presbyterian Church Nursery School (FPCNS) mothers and preschoolers gathered together to begin building a garden for the nursery school. The gardening and cooking program called “Little Sprouts” will be a central part of the curriculum of the preschoolers next year.

The volunteers helped build the organic beds, layout the netting and shovel the dirt. The children loved getting their hands dirty and worked hard to put the garden together.

In the next few weeks, the FPCNS four-year-old classes will be “testing” ground and will be the first students to plant seeds and begin the growing process. During the summer, the Artscampers, FPCNS’s summer camp, will help with the maintenance of the garden as well as with the planting of the late summer crops. This newest addition to the FPCNS curriculum will help create lifelong healthy eating habits and a connection to the natural world. Thanks to all the volunteers, led by Karen and Charlotte Oh: Katie and Charlie Nogaki, Rachel, Mason and Morgan Kelly, Jill, James, and Caroline Babb, Christine, James and Callum Walker, Nida and Elena Schmedlen and MariaSole and Olivia Kaine.


Thank you to our Special Event Hosts

We would like to thank Melissa Fillipone for hosting the Mom’s Night Out Cooking Fairy Event. Another big thank you to Wendy Hearn for hosting our annual Dinner with the Director dinner. Both events were a great success thanks in part to the wonderful settings.

THANK YOU for Making the BYOBG Event a Great Success!

Our annual Bring Your Old Baby Gear (BYOBG) Event was a smashing success thanks to all the wonderful donations from our FPCNS community. We altered this year's event format to focus exclusively on new and expecting mothers, thus targeting our donations to a smaller group of nearly 25 families who were in great need of baby gear essentials for their newborn and infant children. These essential items included high chairs, strollers, bassinets and car seats, as well as consumables such as diapers, wipes, and bottles, all of which was donated by the FPCNS community. As a result of this targeted approach, we were able to meet almost all of the families' needs. Thanks to everyone who donated and volunteered to make BYOBG a success once again.

THE BYOBG Chair Jenny Levin (second from left) with volunteers: Christine Lavin, Trisha Estill, Christine Walker and Rachel Kelly.


Calling All 2 and 3 Year-Old Parent Volunteers to Help With the Graduation Celebration On June 3rd, the 4-year-olds will invite their family and friends into their classrooms for the last time to attend a Graduation Ceremony led by Pat Case and their teachers. Following the ceremonies, a Graduation Lunch is hosted by families of the 2 and 3-year-olds in Fellowship Hall at the First Presbyterian Church. We need a few more volunteers to assure that the 4-year-olds and their families enjoy this special day together. Please contact MariaSole Kaine at [email protected] if you are interested in helping.

Teacher Appreciation Week Is Coming

FPCNS will celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week the week of May 16th. All families should have received an envelope with a special project to show our appreciation to our teachers. Please return your envelope in the Teacher Appreciation box outside of Pat Case’s office by Friday, May 13th. If you have any questions, please contact Christine Walker at [email protected].

Teacher Spotlight #1: Ms. Rosemary Griffin and Ms. Juliann Schwartz

This month we are featuring two pairs of teachers in our Teacher’s Spotlight. We begin with Ms. Rosemary Griffin and Ms. Juliann Scwartz who co-teach one of the Three-Year-Old morning classes. Although they have both been at FPCNS for many years (Ms. Griffin for 24 years and Ms. Schwartz for 10 years) this is the first year they are teaching together.

We asked Ms. Griffin and Ms. Schwartz to answer a few “Proust style” questionnaire questions and here are their responses.

What is your favorite part about working with children everyday? Ms. Griffin: Seeing the changes in them from September to June, physically and socially. Ms. Schwartz: The smiles on their faces and the excitement and joy they bring to the classroom.


What is your favorite part about working with each other? Ms. Griffin: Juli has a great sense of humor, tons of energy and enthusiasm and she so genuinely cares about the children. Ms. Schwartz: She is always open to new ideas and laughs at my jokes. What is your idea of perfect happiness? Ms. Griffin: To love and be loved! Ms. Schwartz: My son scoring a 2300 on his SAT! At this stage in my life, I’m very happy, my children are healthy and happy and I have a great man in my life who makes me feel special everyday. What is your favorite children’s book? Ms. Griffin: The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein Ms. Schwartz: Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White If you died and came back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be? Ms. Griffin: Maybe a performer in a Broadway musical. Ms. Schwartz: A nurse, I love helping people. What talent (that you do not possess) would you most like to have? Ms. Griffin: The ability to play a musical instrument – piano or guitar. Ms. Schwartz: I always wanted to play a musical instrument. What is/are your most treasured possession? Ms. Griffin: Obviously, friends and family, but also good health. Being a cancer survivor makes life so much more precious to me. Ms. Schwartz: My family and friends. They have helped me through the tough times and have celebrated the good times.

Teacher Spotlight #2: Ms. Kathy Altomaro and Ms. Mindy Ostrowski

Our next teaching pair is Ms. Altomaro and Ms.

Ostrowski. These four-year-old teachers have also been at FPCNS many years (8 years for Ms. Altomaro and 9 years for Ms. Ostrowski. They have been co-teaching classes the last four years. What is your favorite part about working with children everyday? Ms. Altomaro: With children everyday is a new beginning – their potential is endless and their joy and enthusiasm for life is infectious! They are the best teachers. Ms. Ostrowski: I love the excitement that our children have for learning. I relish their sense of wonder and adventure. I find I learn more about life through my children than they learn from me!


What is your favorite part about working with each other? Ms. Altomaro: Mindy is a wealth of talents. She is the bigger ½ of my brain! She is eagerly ready for the next challenge. She is always there for me as a dear friend, sounding board, advisor and critic as only your good friends can be! Ms. Ostrowski: Kathy loves children and they lover her. She is warm and loving with them and has a great sense of humor. She is excited everyday to teach with an endless commitment to creating the greatest possible environment for learning. She is so responsive to the dynamic energy that every child brings to school everyday. She is always eager and enthusiastic to try new things and carry them to an even higher level. What is your idea of perfect happiness? Ms. Altomaro: Peace in the world, in my family and friends and good health! Ms. Ostrowski: Living on a beach in a house with a pool surrounded by my family. What is your favorite children’s book? Ms. Altomaro: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. Ms. Ostrowski: Oh the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss If you died and came back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be? Ms. Altomaro: Someone who could solve or heal some of the world’s problems. Ms. Ostrowski: A great golfer. What talent (that you do not possess) would you most like to have? Ms. Altomaro: To play the piano or speak Italian. Ms. Ostrowski: Being multilingual. What is/are your most treasured possession? Ms. Altomaro: Videos and pictures of my family and friends. Ms. Ostrowski: My family.

Welcome to the FPCNS Family! We welcome one new member to the FPCNS Family: ♥ Maya Toczydlowska– Born April 29th to Kasia Toczydlowska and Marcin Toczydlowski. Big sisters are Natalia (4AO) and Klara (2x2).


Parent’s Corner – Starting Your Own Home Garden One of our amazing moms, Karen Oh has been devoting much of her time and energy to help FPCNS set up a school garden. Karen is the mom of three girls – two alumnae Penny (9) and Madeline (6) and current student Charlotte (4AO). Karen will be teaching the “Little Sprouts” gardening and cooking program, which will be a central part of the curriculum of the preschoolers next year. Since many of our families have been so impressed with the organic garden beds that are on the school’s front lawn, we asked Karen to give us a few good beginner gardening book suggestions as well as the websites where she purchased the actual beds. RAISED GARDEN BEDS http://www.naturalyards.com/raisedbeds/ http://www.earthsolutions.com/Raised-Planter-Beds_c_215.html REFERENCE BOOKS The two best books for getting stated are below- Starter Vegetable Gardens: 24 No Fail Plans for Small Organic Gardens by Barbara Pleasant All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew The other really good reference once you get started is the Vegetable Gardeners Bible by Edward C. Smith and this great paperback book called The Veggie Gardeners Answer Book by Barbara Ellis If you have a clever rainy day activity, healthy snack or fun destination to go with the kids, we would love to hear about it! Please email [email protected] to share your tips.

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