Needed: Volunteer readers for Read Across America for week of February 27 through March 2.

Come and read a book out loud to one of our ECM Preschool Classes. This is bound to make you smile! Call Christine at 873-3232 or ecm@zionsvillelutheran.org.

ECM Preschool Usborne Book Fair coming Sunday, Feb, 26 between services. Free shipping and handling. The Rep will be here to accept your orders and will accept cash, checks and credit cards. This Book Fair will benefit our preschool and add to your child’s library at the same time. Thank you for supporting our ECM Preschool.

Christ Church ECM Preschool has achieved a Level 2 rating in Paths to QUALITY.  Paths to Quality is Indidna’s quality rating and improvement system for child care and early childhood education programs.  It is a consistent set of standards to help parents identify preschools that have met state requirements for safe and happy learning and growing environments for young children.

This is one more step we are taking here at ECM Preschool to constantly improve the quality of our program.  We offer a Christ-centered and age-appropriate early childhood education, promoting the physical, social, spiritual, emotional and cognitive development of each child through an integrated curriculum approach. 

• We are thankful to God for the many wonderful ways He has blessed us as we have gone through the process of reaching this goal.  We want to do all we can with the gifts God gives us to provide the best preschool we can for our congregation and community.

• Paths to Quality is a voluntary statewide system created to improve the quality of child care and early childhood education.  The system has been studied and validated by the Child Development and Family Studies experts at Purdue University.

ECM Preschool delivered 56 shoeboxes to the Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child project on Nov 17. We also delivered checks in the amount of $160 to help with the shipping of these shoeboxes of love. Thank you Christ Church members for your noisy offering gifts of $83 that was included in this $160.

We do not send these shoeboxes with little toys and toothbrushes, soap and pencils, just to bring a smile to a child’s face. We send these shoeboxes to share with children (anywhere in the world, including the USA) the reassuring word that God loves them and has sent His only Son, Jesus, to die and rise again for them, and for us! This Gospel story is written in the language of each recipient and tucked inside each shoebox. What a great way to spread the love of God! Thank you for working with us on this.

The Early Childhood Ministry (ECM) of Christ Lutheran Church, Zionsville, a preschool which serves children ages 18 months to 5 years, has successfully completed the Voluntary Certification Program (VCP) of the Family and social Services Administration, Division of Family Resources, Bureau of Child Care. The Voluntary Certification Program requires unlicensed registered ministries to meet specific standards regarding food and nutrition, health, safety and special requirements for programs offering infant and toddler care.

"We decided to access the extra support and guidance of the Indiana Association for Child Care Resource and Referral because it is a recognized way to improve standards and challenge ourselves to provide higher quality early childhood education," says Christine Felde, Director of the ECM program.

We hope that through our developmentally-appropriate Christ-centered program for learning, all the children here will experience unconditional love for who they are as children of God, and that they will learn to love others as God loves them. Our preschool helps accustom each child to a varied social environment that helps them learn to share, to respect the rights of others and to respond positively to authority. Activities include music, math, reading, worship, science, arts and crafts, learning centers, large motor play, social interaction and free play. Our Pre-Kindergarten classes use Zoo-phonics to teach children their letters and sounds in a fun and brain-efficient process.

Christ Church ECM (Early Childhood Ministry) Preschool is now enrolled in the Paths to Quality program. Learn more about this program at www.childcareindiana.org.

The children of our Christ Church Early Childhood Ministry continue to have a busy and wonderful time here at school.  Please enjoy these photos and the points of growth, learning and development that are happening, largely through play!  As always, thank you for your support as ECM continues to grow the kingdom of God.
When I practice static and active balancing, I learn...
strength, balance, and large muscle coordination;
to solve problems;
to express myself physically;
to use my energy in a constructive way;
self-confidence, as I master new skills.

Here is a pan of ice.  Let’s see what would slide on ice.  Do you think a rubber band would?  How about a lima bean?  Or a paperclip? (etc) Let’s guess first and then let’s graph what really happens.
When I look at objects in nature (ice), I learn...
new vocabulary;
to make a hypothesis;
to test a hypothesis;
to graph the results;
to observe likenesses and differences;
to appreciate God’s creation and develop a sense of wonder;
concepts of weight and size and texture;
to notice details and to form categories, essential reading and math skills.

When I cut with scissors I learn....
to control the small muscles in my hand;
concepts of shape, size, color and location;
to exercise my imagination and creativity.

ECM Pop’s Night was held each classroom on March 7 and 8 in the evening.

All the fathers and their children enjoyed a “condensed” day doing all the things the children do during each day.  We had singing, alphabet games, coloring, crafts, snacks, large muscle play, prayer, stories, counting and  fine motor paper cutting/writing/folding.  We have had a slide show showing in the entry area each morning this week—it shows some of the fun the fathers and their children had in each classroom.