St. John Lutheran Church: PRESCHOOL

Preschool website: www.sjlpwaverly.com

Interview with Melissa

Once again, I took the time to talk to Melissa about St. John’s Preschool. This time I asked her several questions about the summer preschool which just concluded at the end of July.

I first asked her to tell us a little about the sessions.

Melissa replied, “We had seven summer sessions, each one week long. We did science, gardening, nature, bugs, art, music and the Olympics. We spent a lot of time outside and it was pretty relaxed.

Melissa then said, “It (the class size) varied on the week, but the average number of kids was around six.”

I also asked her if she had any new kids at the summer preschool.

Melissa said, “I had four new children that attended some of the summer sessions. Two of them are students starting in the fall and the other two were relatives of current students.”

I then asked what Melissa’s and the kids’ favorite session was. Melissa responded, “My favorite sessions were science, music and Olympics. I would have to guess that science, bugs, music and Olympics were the kids’ favorites.”

I then asked if she had anything new or exciting coming up for the new school year. She responded, “The big ‘new thing’ is the addition of the afternoon pre-kindergarten class. I’m excited to have many returning kids for that class and continue building on the knowledge they gained last year.”

Finally I asked if she thought she would do the summer preschool sessions again next summer. Melissa replied by saying, “There is a definite possibility I will do summer preschool again next year. I’m not saying for sure right now because I don’t know what next summer will bring yet.”

End of the Year Interview with Melissa Haugo

Now that the first year of St. John’s preschool is over, I decided to ask Melissa some questions about this past year and about next year.

I first asked her what the most challenging part of this year was.

Melissa answered, “My biggest challenge this year was time management. My to-do list always seemed to require more time than I had! I constantly had to remind myself that I didn’t need to get everything accomplished in the first year of preschool. I was forced to learn how to do some serious prioritizing in order to not spend every waking moment working on preschool stuff.”

Next I asked her what her favorite memory from the year was.

She replied, “This is a tough question! I have so many memories from this year! One particular memory does stick out in my mind though. At the beginning of the year I told the kids about my family including that my mom is an angel that lives in heaven. Once in a while the kids would ask about my mom and we would have the same conversation over and over about how my mom was very sick and she died and now she lives with Jesus in heaven. This spring I was sitting at the writing center with one of the little girls while she was making invitations to a party. There was an old cell phone that the kids play with sitting on the table besides the little girl. All of a sudden she stopped what she was doing and said, ‘The phone’s ringing,’ and answered the play cell phone. Then she handed the phone to me and said, ‘Here Miss Melissa, it’s your mom. She says she misses you.’ I was speechless! I don’t know if the little girl remembered my mom died or not at that particular moment, but I thought it was pretty awesome!”

I then asked if she was doing anything preschool related this summer.

She responded, “I am teaching seven weeks of summer preschool sessions. I also plan to go to an early childhood conference in August.”

I then continued by asking for a little more information on the summer preschool sessions.

She explained, “The summer preschool sessions are each a week long and we will focus on one specific topic. The daily schedule will be a little more relaxed and hopefully we will spend nearly the whole time outside. The classes are limited to eight children and run from 9–11:30 a.m. This year’s summer sessions are Spectacular Science, Gardening with God, Neato Nature, Buggy About Bugs, Awesome Art, Music Magic, and Going for the Gold (Sports).

I then asked her if she had any thoughts already for field trips or projects for next year.

Melissa answered, “We will definitely go to the fire station in the fall. In February or March we will have our Community Helpers unit and there will be many field trips with that. I have some new ideas floating around in my head but I don’t have anything decided for sure yet.”

Finally, I asked her if she wanted to share anything about the 4-year-old afternoon school that is starting up next year.

Melissa replied, “I’m very excited to have the 4-year-old class next year! Many of the students are returning from this year and I can’t wait to watch them grow.”

St. John Lutheran Preschool
Trivia Night
Saturday March 10

St John Lutheran Preschool
Trivia Night

Saturday, March 10 6:30 pm

St. John Fellowship Hall

Form a team!

$80/table - groups of 5-8 players

$10 - individual players (will be placed on a team)

Register by March 4

Contact sjlpwaverly@gmail.com or 319-352-2314 with

team name, contact person, and number of people on team

Silent auction

Popcorn, coffee, hot chocolate provided.

Pizza-by-the-slice, dessert, and pop for sale.

Bring your own snacks if desired.

Prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place tables.

Questions from categories like:

music

sports

riddles

food

and more

All proceeds go to St. John Preschool classroom needs.

CHECK OUT VIDEO OF PRESCHOOL

Interview with Melissa Haugo

With St. John’s Preschool having opened this past September, I decided to interview Melissa Haugo and find how the year has been so going so far.

First I ask her how full they were with students. She responded, “We currently have 18 students. 13 on Monday, Wednesday Friday and 14 on Tuesday and Thursday. We have room for 3 more 5 day kids and 1 more MWF kid.”

Next I inquired what the kids favorite part of preschool has been. Melissa said, “Funny you ask because I just ask the kids that too! Quite a few liked going to the Waverly Fire Station in October, a couple said the playground and once sweet little boy said his favorite part was seeing me!”

I continued by asking her if she had any favorite memory since beginning to teach at the preschool and her is what she said. “It’s hard to narrow it down to just one favorite memory! Let’s see…during the second week of preschool I was bending down to trace a little girl’s foot for an art project and a little boy was standing next to me with a pair of scissors. I felt a gently tug on my hair and then heard, ‘SNIP!’ I quickly stood up and calmly took the scissors from the boy and led him to another place to play. I don’t think he even realized he cut my hair! He cut a good chunk of my hair off but luckily it wasn’t noticeable.”

She also said, “IT’s not really a memory yet because it happens every morning, but I have about four kids who come up to me every morning right after I sit down to start Morning Circle and give me ‘good morning hugs.”

I then asked her if the kids had done something that had really made her laugh; her is what she said. “There have been so many things that have made me laugh! Here’s a couple for you. While we were discussing pilgrims this conversation took place. One girl said, ‘Why didn’t the Pilgrims go to school?’ One of the boys answered her, ‘Because they didn’t have backpacks.

First Day to use the new playground equipment. A temporary fence was put up until we can have a

chain-link one in place.