Ice Castle for Kindergarten

Mrs. Zarycki had a great idea!  She enlisted parents to help and students froze ice at home in various sizes, shapes, and colors!  

When students arrived at school, the ice was collected.  As the students' first activity of they day, they began work on their ice castle. 

First the ice was sorted into small, medium, and large sizes.  During the lesson, students reviewed previously learned information on states of matter and symmetry.  In the end, they had a magnificent ice castle, complete with a flag on the top!

 

 

 

 

Sactity of Life Chapel

All PCA chapels focused on Sanctity of Life.  How we do that is different at our different age divisions.  For our Lower School students, we focused on being created in God's image.  

Mrs. Steen did a fabulous job presenting to us.  She made things so concrete for our students by bringing a copy of the PCA Lion's Roar publication.  Several students were pictured in the magazine.  Students could easily understand that they were looking at an image of the person - not THE person.  After several more tangible examples, students could understand that, though we are certainly NOT God, we are created in His image.

We discussed our differences and how we are ALL created in God's image - reminding us to appreciate our differences.  

 

 

 

Thank you, Mrs. Steen, for reminded us that we are created in God's image and that we are to nurture and care for each other.   Like the entire chapel, the bubbles were a very tangible example!

Pajama Day with PreK 3

I love how teachers make learning so interactive.  New letters and sounds call for fun activities.  Who wouldn't love a good pajama day?  I wouldn't mind having one for the office staff soon!  

 

50's Day at PCA North!

We love to celebrate at PCA North!  Today, we celebrated our students meeting their goal when they brought Operation Christmas Child boxes before Christmas!  Since it was so busy before the Christmas break, we decided it would be more fun to "save" some of the hoopla for January.  Wow...was that ever a great decision!  Our entire school enjoyed dressing in '50's attire, eating lunch together, enjoying popcorn and coke floats, having a hoola hoop contest, and learning some hand jive!  It was the perfect day to provide a little sunshine to the dreary January weather we are experiencing in North Texas.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

SERVICE WITH A SMILE FROM MRS. DYSART

MRS. NOEL DEMONSTRATING THE ART OF THE HOOLA HOOP

 

OUR HAND JIVE TEACHERS

When I'm asked what I love most about our school, it is always a hard question to answer because, in reality...there are SO MANY THINGS!  However, the relationships formed between younger and older students is precious to watch.  I saw several hugs such as this at the conclusion of the 50's Day activities and before students headed back to class.  Ahhh...better than a coke float!

January the 6th is a special day in Mexico. Known as 'El Dia de Reyes' (Three Kings Day), this holiday represents the height of the Christmas season. The date marks the culmination of the twelve days of Christmas and commemorates the wise men who traveled to bring gifts for baby Jesus. The children of Mexico look forward to this holiday as traditionally, gifts are exchanged on this date, not on Christmas day.

El Dia de Reyes remains an important holiday for the people of Mexico. In addition to the gift-giving aspect of the day, there is also a cake that is specific to the holiday. Known as 'Rosca de Reyes' (King's Cake), this holiday dessert offers much in the way of symbolism. Shaped in the round to signify a king's crown, this sweet bread holds a special surprise. Baked inside is a small plastic figurine representing the baby Jesus.

Mrs. Arredondo made several cakes this week, as each class celebrated El Dia de Rayes.

Students also had fun leaving one of their shoes outside the classroom door and waiting for it to be filled with a surprise gift!  The shoes were even laid on a bed of hay to feed the camels of the wise men. 

In addition to the fun of this lesson, students were able to learn and practice many new Spanish vocabulary words and phrases. 

estrella - star
los zapatos - shoes
el nacimento - the birth
el Nino Jesus - the baby Jesus
la rosca de reyes - King's ring (King's cake)
los camellos - the camels
los Tres Reyes Magos - the three wise men

Northern Lights

There is no way to capture the excitement of Prestonwood's Northern Lights in a short blog post! 

I love the heart of our church campus!  After much strategic planning, we opened our doors to over 14,000 people!  The entire purpose of Northern Lights was to be a light to our community and follow up with those visiting our campus.  Each person who visited received a follow-up email inviting them to our Christmas Eve service.  We pray many are drawn to the Savior whose birth we celebrate.  

Here are some interesting statistics from the week!

• 14,000 people in attendance
• 600 families were visited by our membership to invite them to Prestonwood
• 3,000+ photos with Santa
• 5,400 cookies decorated
• 3,600 crafts created
• 540+ volunteers
• 8 years old – youngest volunteer (not counting baby Jesus)
• 78 years old – oldest volunteer (as far as we know)
• 100+ volunteers from Student Ministry
• 33 Living Nativity performances
• 61 adult choir members volunteered their time to perform
• 240 PBC North students and children performed
• 2,573 cups of hot cocoa sold 

I'm sure you've heard by now - PCA ran the hot cocoa booth!  We sold 2,573 cups of hot chocolate and had the opportunity to tell many about our school campus.  We bought every bulk container of Swiss Miss mix we could find and by the last night, we opened individual packets to make our large batches!  We ran out of marshmallows after 51 large bags!  Whew...lots of volunteer help from the North staff and parents as well as from our good friends from the Plano campus!  This was definitely a school-wide effort. 

Enjoy a few pictures of a very special eight days!,

Hot Chocolate Booth

Robert and Ginger Weeks and Tamara Daugherty built and decorated our booth!  It was FABULOUS!  
A special shout-out to my "right arm," Anslie Dysart!  This woman had us organized and worked tirelessly to make sure things ran smoothly!  Her nickname isn't "Dazzling Dysart" for nothing! 

 

Thanks to our many, many volunteers!

 

On two nights, we sold out - running out of marshmallows, whipped topping and cocoa!

Here are some pictures of our students enjoying other Northern Lights activities! 

 

What a great week!  This really makes us look forward to next year!