The Villa Preschool is collecting gently used books for the local Ronald McDonald House.  The Ronald McDonald  House is located right here in our community. Families with an ill child, seeking medical treatment at Children’s Hospital,  stay at the house for extended periods of time, when they live too far away to commute to be near their child.

Many of the patients  at Children’s Hospital, and their siblings, are the same age as our preschool students, five years of age and younger. Donations of gently used books help families during the difficult transition to their new, but temporary home.

Our Book Drive will begin Monday, May 10 and continue through Friday, May 21. This is a great  opportunity for you and your child to get together to decide what book or  books you would like to donate from your shelves at home.

The  Ronald McDonald House is really looking forward to our donations.  Please look for our special book boxes  just outside each of the Preschool classrooms starting on May 10.

Thank you for your consideration.

The Preschool Team

Celebrate National Poem in Your Pocket Day!

Thursday, April 29th, is National “Put a Poem in Your Pocket” day. The idea is to carry a poem in your pocket to share with a colleague, a family member or a friend.

To celebrate Poem in Your Pocket Day, and as a fun activity related to the Sixth Grade’s current English unit, students will be handing out pocket-sized copies of their favorite poems during morning carpool.

Keep a Poem in Your Pocket
Keep a poem in your pocket
And a picture in your head
And you’ll never feel lonely
At night when you’re in bed.

The little poem will sing to you
The little picture bring to you
A dozen dreams to dance to you
At night when you’re in bed.

So-
Keep a poem in your pocket
And a picture in your head
And you’ll never feel lonely
At night when you’re in bed.
-Beatrice Schenk de Rogniers

Graduation pictures will be taken on Monday, May 3, at 8:30am. There are no make up times for this photo session, so we encourage you to have your eighth grader at school on time that morning. There will be a group picture taken, as well as individual pictures of the students in their caps and gowns.

For graduation pictures, students wear the attire outlined below. After the photo session, students will change into their regular Villa uniform.

Girls: white blouse, skirt, and black shoes. Shoes may be with heels, open toe, or flats.

Boys: white dress shirt, black pants, and black shoes.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact your student’s advisor.

Back in January, Villa’s Student Emergency Response Team (SERT) hosted a “Change for Haiti” coin drive.  Their efforts helped raise over $4,000 dollars to buy relief-kits for the victims of Haiti’s recent magnitude seven earthquake. All funds were donated to Catholic Relief Services and were pooled with donations from other schools across the country. Read more about the Power of Pennies, as children all over the United States take on the challenge of helping others in need, a few cents at a time.

The Villa Parent Association presents another hot topic parenting seminar!

Wednesday, April 28th, 8:30-10:00am in the Villa Parlor

As a registered dietician Toni Kohn has spent years developing strategies surrounding eating disorder prevention. We will explore ways that our children can grow up with a love of food that is not consuming and a respect for its nourishing qualities that is not obsessive. She encourages families to speak about, prepare, buy and serve food in ways that promote the family’s and individual’s health around food.

Grandparents have so much to share with younger generations and we are honored to have so many of them involved in the lives of our students.  Many Grandparents play a crucial role in their grandchild’s education.  Whether they are involved in a child’s daily schedule, or on a less frequent basis, a lot can be learned from the history, experience and life views of our Grandparents. It is truly a privilege to be able to share these experiences!

Grandparents, join us as we celebrate your contribution and influence on the lives of our students this Friday, May 7th.

Friday, May 7th
9am Mass at St. Bridget Church
10:15am Reception in Theatre, followed by classroom visits
Noon dismissal
RSVP to ncollora@thevilla.org or 206-729-0219 x 267

When: Saturday, April 24, 9:00am-1:00pm

Who: All Preschool Parents Past and Present and Middle School students looking for volunteer service opportunity

What: 4 BIG EARTH WEEK PROJECTS

• Heavy pruning of an old laurel hedge
• Serious weeding of terraced garden (with a statue of Mary)
• Mulch all Preschool garden beds
• Clean Up for green pick up!

Bring: Your own garden gloves and tools

PLEASE NOTE: This is not a young child friendly event. We will not be able to supervise children.

We are working hard to make our Preschool Garden an amazing outdoor space for our children NOW and for years to come!

Thank you for your help!

Questions: Please email P-5 teacher, Sara Olson