Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Volunteer Opportunity

Next week, during our Thanksgiving break, we will be having a cleaning day. Please come help us freshen up the preschool rooms from 10-12 on Tuesday, Nov 25. There will be supervised gym time for your children to run off some energy while you help out.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Raising Creative Kids at the Walker Art Center

There is a free workshop, Talking to Kids about Tough Art, for parents at the Walker Art Center on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 6-7:30. In this informal discussion, parents will exchange ideas and feedback on the challenges and opportunities that come with looking at contemporary art with kids. After touring the exhibition Tetsumi Kudo: Garden of Metamorphosis, join Family Programs staff to talk openly about encountering mature subject matter in the galleries with kids in tow. Limited childcare is available for children ages 5-10.

Registration is required, for more information please call 612.375.7600.

For additional opportunities and experiences related to Raising Creative Kids, visit
http://blogs.walkerart.org/ecp/.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Target Free Family Concert this Saturday

Orchestra hall will be presenting The Tin Forest this Saturday, Nov 8 at 2 & 4. This is part of their Target free family concert series. Ticket office opens at noon that day and there usually are tickets available for both concerts. You can call 612.371.5656 for more information about tickets.

Find more information on the Minnesota Orchestra Website:
http://http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/season/event_detail.cfm?id_event=8090083

Target Free Sunday at MIA this Sunday!

Art Masala

SUNDAY, November 9
11 A.M. TO 5 P.M.
ALL ACTIVITIES ARE FREE


Target Family Days are free monthly events for families, kids, and the young at heart. At November's celebration of India, delight in a creative mixture of art, music, dance, and more!

Find out more information at the MIA website:
http://http://www.artsmia.org/index.php?section_id=9

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Thanksgiving Break

Please note the correct Thanskgiving Break dates of November 24 ~ 28.

Dress Warm

The boiler at the church has not been in working order this fall. It is expected to be fixed by the end of next week. Please dress your child in layers, the early mornings can be cold in the preschool room.

Enjoy some pictures from this fall.











Monday, October 6, 2008

Fall Festival THIS Thusday!

Please join preschool families and your child's teacher this Thursday, Oct. 9, from 5-6:30 for our fall festival. The children have been creating special art work to display during the festival. This will be a potluck, please bring a food item to share. Food sign-up is next to the sign up book at the top of the stairs.

Hope to see you there!

Artist of the Month- Alexander Calder

Here is some information found on the blog http://www.artsmartforkids.blogspot.com/ regarding Alexander Calder:

Alexander Calder invented the mobile. Because of Calder, babies all over the world are lulled to sleep by colorful dangling shapes. Calder also created an entire miniature circus which could be packed into briefcases and carried back and forth between America and Europe. He was certainly a unique artist.Calder was born in Pennsylvania in 1898. His parents were both artists. His father was a sculptor and his mother painted portraits. They knew it was difficult to earn money as an artist so, though they encouraged Calder to create art, they did not want him to choose to art as a job.Alexander Calder’s talent could be seen even in his first sculpture, which he created when he was four years old. As he continued to sculpt, Calder became interested in sculpture that moved. He created a duck that rocked when tapped and a train that ran down a track.He followed his parents’ advice and studied engineering in college. Calder wasn’t happy in any of the jobs he worked after college, though, and decided to become an artist after all.While he studied at the Artist Students’ League in New York, Calder sketched for the National Police Gazette. One of his assignments marked the beginning with a love and fascination for the circus: he sketched scenes from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus.Calder moved to Paris in 1926 where he began to build toys that moved. These toys eventually became his own miniature circus. He packed his circus into suitcases and performed in the U.S. and in Europe. You can see a video clip of Cirque Calder at YouTube. Calder seems like quite a character.Calder’s interest in movable art led him to create mobiles. Air currents caused the mobiles to move. Calder also created sculptures that didn’t move. He called them “stabiles.” Most of them were made out of painted wood or metal. Check out the official Alexander Calder website to see pictures of these mobiles and stabiles.In 1973 Calder painted a plane for Braniff International Airways. The plane became a “flying canvas.” He painted one more plane and began a third before he died in 1976.

Visit http://artsmarts4kids.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html to make a mobile at home. The activity can be found on the April 15, 2008 entry.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

More Fun Free Family Events

"The Minnesota Orchestra’s popular family concerts are FREE, thanks to generous support from Target. These concerts, many of which feature the Minnesota Orchestra and other great artists, present the world’s finest music in programs sure to delight—as well as teach."

These concerts are fun and a great way to experience the orchestra with young children.

Here's the website to sign up for tickets:
http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/target/enter.cfm

More fun free activities can be found at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts also sponsored by Target. The MIA has a wonderful family room near the D'Amico coffee shop on the ground floor. You can find cozy couches, story books, and blocks there.

Here's the website for more information about the upcoming events:
http//www.artsmia.org/index.php?section_id=44

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Children's Theater Tickets for $1

Children's Theater is offering tickets to Peter Pan for $1 on Friday evenings in September! Their box office number is 612.874-0400. You may need to tell the box office you received the information from the Urban Arts Academy.

A former preschool parent and UAA artist is in the production and e-mailed this letter to alert our staff of this great deal:

Friends,> Children's Theatre is offering $1 tickets for Peter Pan Friday evenings in September. It should be a great show with shadow puppets from Italy. If you're interested call the box office ASAP, they went on sale today. ciao -j

Find more information about Peter Pan at the Children's Theater website: http://http//www.childrenstheatre.org/2009/peterpan.html

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Fun Activities for Preschoolers

I just learned about free classes at the Bell Museum of Natural History for 2 and 3 year olds. The classes are the first Thursday of the month and cover a range of fun, interesting topics. They are geared for the younger preschooler. You do need to pay for admission to the museum unless you can secure a library pass which will get 4 people in for free. I plan to attend the class this Thursday.

This month the topic is "Why do Leaves Change Color" on Sept. 4 from 9:30-11:00. In October the topic is Squirrels. You do need to call and register for classes.

Here is more information at their website.
http://www.bellmuseum.org/calendar.html

If you know of any fun activities that you and your preschooler enjoy around the cities please post a comment about the experience.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Getting Ready for the 1st Days of Kindergarten

Kindergarten, what a bittersweet time in a parent's life. Some parents may be experiencing kindergarten for the first time this year. Maybe it's an older sibling of a preschooler or a preschooler from last year, but, as you know, kindergarten is a big step in your child's life and your families' as well.

The first few weeks of kindergarten are very tiring both emotionally and physically for new kindergartners. All of the new transitions and concentration that is needed to become accustom to new surroundings often exhaust kindergartners. Tears are very common for the first few weeks. What is amazing is how quickly children adapt and become experts in their new surroundings.

Here are some resources filled with ideas to help with the many transitions kindergarten will bring to your family in the next few weeks.



http://www.education.com/reference/kindergartenreadiness/

http://http//www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=7186

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/collection.jsp?id=83



Books about first days of school:

http://www.tcpl.lib.in.us/youth/firstdaykind.htm

If you have any ideas for the first days of school, please share them with us by posting a comment. All comments can be viewed by all who visit the blog.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

1st Payment due Sept 1st

Payments for this preschool year will be due on the first of each month. (The newsletter recently e-mailed had the incorrect date.) Watch for a September invoice in your Welcome Packet.

Here is a quick reference chart for payment amounts.

Morning or Afternoon Preschool
Cost PER MONTH
1 day a week $78.00
2 days a week $156.00
3 days a week $222.00
4 days a week $280.00
5 days a week $329.00

Full Day Preschool
Cost PER MONTH
1 day a week $136.00
2 days a week $272.00
3 days a week $396.00
4 days a week $512.00
5 days a week $619.00

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

July Summer Camps


In Vivan los Animales Preschool Camp we explored the animal kingdom and learned dozens of new Spanish words. We made colorful pinatas and turned them into chicks (pollitos) and tigers (tigres). We made the caterpillars and butterflies from the book 'La Orga Hambrienta' (The Very Hungry Caterpillar). We also decorated the scales of the giant rainbow fish that we read about int El Pez Arco Iris (The Rainbow Fish). To help us even more with our Spanish, we sang many songs in Spanish during circle time. It was great!



In Print It - Environmental Camp we made prints with whatever we could get our hands on: giant leaves, rubber fish, grass, bug stamps...
We met live worms, watched caterpillars disappear into cocoons and painted with real dirt! What a fun, messy, earthy week!

Monday, August 4, 2008

Preschool Open House

We hope to see you at our Open House on Wednesday, Sept. 3 from 4-6. Check out the preschool room and meet our teachers.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Summer Preschool Camps




We've had a busy and fun summer at the Urban Arts Preschool. Here are some highlights from our June Summer camps.

Under the Sea
In Under the Sea Preschool Camp we swam to the depth of the ocean to learn about the animals that live there. We made fish prints, Atlantis Sculptures , and a giant whale that swallowed us whole! On our last day we became pirates, made treasure chests, and went for a treasure hunt for jewels. At our closing Pirate Party we made floating boats and enjoyed a watermelon treat.


Nuestro Mundo
In Nuestro Mundo Preschool Camp we traveled around the world to explore the art and culture of Ecuadore, Peru, and Mexico. We learned to cook tortillas, sang Spanish songs, and created Maracas to accompany our music. The week ended with a big Pinata Party in the courtyard!



Outer Space
The preschoolers had a blast with Outer Space Art Camp. We made alienships, rocket kites, and a kid-sized spaceship to the moon! We became aliens, read about sheep in space, and celebrated our week with a Rocket Party!

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Art Supplies Needed

The Urban Arts Academy will be accepting any unneeded art and building supplies you may have around the house during our Takin it to the Streets event. Useful supplies: yarn, buttons, cloth, tin cans, tools, wood, glue, paper, paints, brushes, hot glue guns, etc... If you have items around the house that you aren't using and you want to find a home where they will get used, please bring them Thursday, May 22 to our end of the year celebration. There will be a receptacle with a sign for donations. Thank you and hope to see you there!

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Affordable Family Fun

If you have any fun activities that you enjoy doing with your family that are cost friendly, please feel free to post a comment and it will be put on the blog.

Here is a link to Arty Pants. The Tuesday Play Date at the Walker Art Center for 2-5 year olds. They are from 11-1 a couple Tuesdays each month. Children and activities are free with adult admission.

http://calendar.walkerart.org/event.wac?id=3541

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Summer Preschool Camps

Summer Preschool Camps are filling quickly! Print-It, week 7, is now closed. We are excited about the huge response we have received for our camps. What a fun summer this will be!

A Message From Lisa

Mondays at preschool have been focused on nature, bugs, water, and frogs this session. We have been preparing for our class video of 5 Green and Speckled Frogs. We will continue this nature focus as we watch for the many changes and new growth that Spring will bring to our environment.

We are in the middle of a clay project. The children enjoyed going down to the clay room and getting dirty as they began the work on their projects a few weeks ago.

We will have show and tell this coming Monday, May 5. Your child is invited to bring an item to show the class during our circle time.

End of the Year Celebration

Please mark your calendar and plan to attend our end of the year celebration for all Urban Arts children!

Takin' It To The Streets
Thursday, May 22 from 5-7 in the Calvary Parking Lot

Come share hot dogs, performances, and art with the preschool and urban arts students.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

A Message From JoAnne

Hello Preschool Families! As you may have noticed, we are making movies this spring. Each day of the week will be represented by a short film to be unveiled at our end-of-the-year family night. For my three days, we'll be producing "There Was an Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe" (Tuesday), "Urban Arts Had a Farm" (Thursday) and "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" (Friday). We're making props, sets, costumes, puppets. . .everything we need for some top-rate productions!

There seems to be so few weeks left all of a sudden (and so much fun art still to try!). We'll fill in the rest of our weeks with more spring art (animals, plants, wind and rain). As part of our exploration of spring, I'd like to make a wind sculpture out of paper-covered dry-cleaner hangers. On a recent trip to Washington D.C., I saw an interesting sculpture made out of hangers at an art museum on the National Mall. I appreciated it for the reasons art museum patrons are supposed to, but my strongest reaction was: I could try this with preschoolers! So, if you have any paper-covered wire hangers around, or any connections at an area dry cleaner, we could use at least 15 - I've got two already. We'll paint on the paper and then connect them into a hanging sculpture that moves in a breeze.

I'm also interested in collecting large empty oatmeal cartons and plastic tubs with lids (the kind jumbo packs of pretzels and animal crackers come in). I'll use them this summer to make drums in our Shake It! Make It! camp.

When the weather improves (think warm thoughts everyone) I'd love to get us outside to make kites, sidewalk chalk and paint in the courtyard. Any day now. . . .

JoAnne

Summer Arts Camps

You can now register for our Summer Arts Camps. More information about camp offerings can be found at http://urbanartsacademy.org/summer_preschool_camps_2008_90441.html

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Welcome

Thank you for visiting our new preschool blog. This was designed to be a place for us to communicate with parents and share what is going on at preschool. The blog will be updated weekly with new information from the teachers as well as some photos of children's work from time to time. We will have a calendar of events to help you stay informed. It would also be nice if parents would share family friendly activities they know about that are happening around the cities. You can do this by posting comments after a weekly entry. Please feel free to leave comments or ideas of other things you would like to see included on the blog. We hope you find this a useful communication tool.

Information about the Summer Preschool Art Camps will be coming very soon!

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Registration Now Open for Fall 2008

We will be offering full day, morning, and afternoon preschool 5 days a week this fall. Morning sessions will be from 9:00 to 12:30 p.m. Afternoon sessions will be from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Full day preschool is from 9:00 to 4:30 with supervised large motor activities from 12:30-1:00 for children signed up in our full day program.

Please join us at one of our open houses to learn more about our preschool program.
To register for preschool please go to our website at http://urbanartsacademy.org/register_for_preschool_now_88257.html

Family Night Potluck

Winter Preschool Families, please join us for food, fun, and a see our cities on Thursday, March 27 from 5-7. This is a great opportunity to meet other preschool families!
The children had fun creating and painting their cities.

Open House

Please come meet our teachers and tour our classroom at our Annual Open Houses on Thursday, April 17 at 7 pm or Thursday, April 24 at 1pm.