Group art fall lessons in Savannah for the pre-K set!

Savannah artist Carrie Christian is now hosting Saturday Pre-K art classes.
10:30-11:30AM
10 classes offered
$10 a class (includes all supplies)
Sign up now!

Lessons are designed to help create a foundation on which your child’s artistic education will grow and blossom. Students will learn basic concepts such as color, composition, and perspective, while creating drawings, paintings, sculptures, and mixed media projects.

Students will work with a variety of materials, including colored pencils, oil pastels, acrylic, watercolor, and collage.

Dates:
Sept. 11-Nov. 6. Please call or email with any questions!

Carrie’s studio – pictured here flooded with natural light and some extremely busy preschoolers – is located at 212 E. 37th St., directly behind Bella Mia (bridal shop) at the corner of 37th and Abercorn Streets.
Phone: 912-323-0123
Email: carrieachristian@hotmail.com

Artist Carrie Christian

Carrie Christian received her MFA in Painting and her BFA in Illustration from Savannah Collage of Art and Design. Her works have been exhibited nationally and internationally.

She was included in the 2007 & 2009 Southern Editions of New American Paintings publication. Her work has been exhibited both in the Mobile Museum of Art and the Ogden Museum in New Orleans and included among many private collections.

Lots of Lowcountry fall workshops for children offered at the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina, 14 Shelter Cove Lane, Hilton Head Is., S.C.

Here are the highlights. For details, click here.

• After-school art club for ages 6-10. Oct. 18-Nov. 22. Culminates with an exhibit at the Arts Center.
• Fall home-school art for ages 5-12.
• Fall home-school art for ages 13-17. Sept. 21-Oct. 19.
• Beginner acrylics for ages 11-15. Oct. 7-28.
• Puppet sculpting for ages 9-14. Nov. 11-Dec. 9.
• Nutty Nature Drawing: Using natural objects, kids ages 8-12 create original work of art using chalk pastels and colored pencils.
• Artstart classes designed to help children ages 2-5 (accompanied by an adult) develop fine motor skills and encourage creativity while creating one-of-a-kind artworks.
• Suzuki Violin Classes  for ages 3-5. Sept. 14-Oct. 26.
• Juggle Stuff for children ages 8-12 to learn basic and advanced three-ball juggling patterns and tricks, as well as the foundations for four and five-ball juggling.

Pre-registration is required for all classes and must be made at least 48 hours in advance. Instructor bios can be found by clicking here. To register, contact the Education Office at 843.686.3945 Ext. 233 or email jrichey@artshhi.com. Or download a registration form from the Website here.

Below is a guest post by Jane Madison, an early childhood education expert and pre-K teacher at Saint Peter the Apostle School on Wilmington Island:

Many parents wonder how to prepare their child for preschool. The answer is,simply, by doing anything that helps your child develop emotionally, cognitively, and physically.

Research shows there are certain times when the brain is becoming wired for specific skills at an optimum level. The development of social and emotional intelligences, motor and vision skills, thinking and reasoning skills and even the foundation skills needed for reading begin at the moment your child is born.

This article will focus on language development. Sound discrimination and vocabulary development, which are two indicators of reading success, begin developing at birth, with the optimum opportunity being 0-24 months. The greatest enhancement of these two skills occurs from 2-7years for sound discrimination and 2-5 years for vocabulary development. (To view the complete chart, go to www.pamschiller.com.

Children learn sounds by hearing them, and develop language by being spoken to. Talk to your child about everything that is going on around you all day long. When he asks questions, answer him. When he asks the same question over and over again try to rephrase your answer, so he hears different vocabulary. Turn the tables on him by saying,”You tell me what it is?” Have conversations with your child and resist the temptation to answer for him when he seems stuck. Forming the words in his mind and then saying them takes time, and letting him go through this process will seal the new vocabulary in his mind.

Also, it is important to stay on top of any infections or fluid build-up in the ears. Children who cannot hear sounds cannot learn them!
Read to your child 15 to 20 minutes every day. This can be at more than one session, but gradually build time as your child learns to sit still longer. Reading helps develop vocabulary, comprehension and gives you and your child more opportunities to converse.

Talking to and reading with your child is an easy way to help him develop some of the skills he will need for school success.

Jane Madison graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Early Childhood Education. She has been teaching pre-school in Savannah for over 20 years. In addition to teaching, she has worked as a consultant training teachers working in the Georgia State Funded Pre-Kindergarten program as well as presenting workshops at local, state and national Early Childhood conferences. Jane is currently teaching pre-kindergarten at Saint Peter the Apostle School on Wilmington Island. She is married and the mother of two grown children.

Deciding where to send your kids to school is tough, whether you’re talking about preschool or elementary school.

Pooler MOPS (Mother of Preschoolers) is helping us figure it out by hosting a School Fair for the Savannah area.

The Feb. 17 event will include representatives from a variety of schools- preschools and elementary- public, private, religious and home school. ALL are welcome to come.

This is a great chance to get some information about the schools you’re interested in and talk to the representatives.

There is no fee for parents (or for schools who might be interested in being part of the School Fair). Pooler MOPS members recognize the challenge for parents to find the right school for their children and hope this will be a valuable planning tool.

Pooler MOPS School Fair is 9:30-11:30 AM Wed. Feb. 17 at First Presbyterian Church of Pooler
305 HWY 80SE, Pooler. Check the growing list of confirmed schools that will have representatives by clicking here.

Bad news for those of you eager to take advantage of the the FREE Georgia pre-k program , a full-day program available at some public and private schools.

The application process was initially supposed to start in February, but has been delayed until April due to ongoing changes in the Savannah-Chatham Public Schools’ attendance zones. Children will be selected through a lottery process, which now won’t happen until May. 

The lottery was initially scheduled for March, allowing for parents to enroll their children in a private program if they didn’t get their first choice in the lottery.

Now the application process will be Monday, April 12, 2010 through Friday, May 7, 2010, making it difficult for those of you who want to make back-up plans in case you don’t get your first choice school. We’re guessing most private free pre-k and other pre-k programs will be full by May.

Applications are expected to be available April 12 at the Savannah-Chatham public schools that offer the free, full-day program and at 208 Bull St.

Children 4-years-old prior to or on Sept. 1, 2010 are eligible for funded (i.e. FREE) pre-K in Georgia.  You can only apply to TWO different schools and your first choice must be the school in your public school attendance zone.

To get a list of the designated attendance zone, click on this school locator and put in your address. But these zones are changing. If you have any questions, call the Savannah-Chatham School’s pre-K program director LaWanda Ransom @ 912. 395.1154 or 912. 395.5635 or email her @ lawanda.ransom@sccpss.com.

Private schools also offer the free pre-K program including Maggies’ Morning School, Savannah Youth University, Candler’s  The Children’s House, and  YMCA Childcare Plus: but many have a different application process. If you’re interested in a private child care that has it, call the school to find out when their applications are due.  Many are on a first-come, first-serve basis.

With the application and lottery delays, perhaps the private schools offering free pre-k will also move back their application processes to correlate with the public school system’s.  What’s your take on these changes? Will you opt not to take advantage of the free program through the public school system because the lottery will be so late?

Savannah Christian Church’s Growing in the Son Preschool will open enrollment for the 2010-2011 school year on Mon. Feb. 1.

Growing in the Son Preschool is a weekday morning preschool program, offering classes for children ages 18 months to Pre-K.

The goal is to build strong foundations of faith for young children while promoting spiritual, academic, social, physical and emotional development; enabling them to make a life changing connection with Jesus Christ. Growing in the Son utilizes a diverse theme-based curriculum including Handwriting Without Tears and Scholastic’s Building Language for Literacy, while providing a Christ-centered nurturing environment.

For more information, click here. For additional information and registration forms or call 912.629.7494.

 Let the madness begin.

The confusing and nerve-wrecking  application process for the FREE Georgia pre-k program is not expected to start until April. It was intially supposed to start in February. But now the Savannah-Chatham Board of Education BOE Web site reads the application process will be Monday, April 12, 2010 through Friday, May 7, 2010.

Applications are expected to be available April 12 at the Savannah-Chatham public schools that offer the free, full-day program and at 208 Bull St.

Children 4-years-old prior to or on Sept. 1, 2010 are eligible for funded (i.e. FREE) pre-K in Georgia. (Did we mention it’s free?) You can only apply to TWO different schools and your first choice must be the school in your public school attendance zone.

Children will be selected through a lottery process, which will be held May.

To get a list of the designated attendance zone, click on this school locator and put in your address. If you have any questions, call the Savannah-Chatham School’s pre-K program director LaWanda Ransom @ 912. 395.1154 or 912. 395.5635 or email her @ lawanda.ransom@sccpss.com.

Private schools also offer the free pre-K program including Maggies’ Morning School, Savannah Youth University, Candler’s  The Children’s House, and  YMCA Childcare Plus: but many have a different application process. If you’re interested in a private child care that has it, call the school to find out when their applications are due.  Many are on a first-come, first-serve basis.

A slew of open houses at schools happening this season. If you are looking into schools for the 2010-2011 school year, below are a few open houses to check out. If you’d like to have a school included in this list, please email the info to anne@southernmamas.com:

Open houses at Savannah Christian Preparatory School
10 AM Thurs. Dec. 3 at the Lower School (preK-5th), Chatham
Parkway Campus, 1599 Chatham Parkway
10 AM Wed. Dec. 2 at The Lower School (K-5th) at DeRenne Avenue Campus,
2415 E. DeRenne Ave.
912.234.1653 ext 106

Emily Moody!

Emily wins a page-a-day pre-k readiness skills calendar that focuses on the parent’s needs FIRST. The Ready To Learn Calendar was developed to equip the caregiver/parent with a way to impart needed skills to their child during normal household routine (laundry, household chores, fixing dinner, or going to the grocery store.)

Each calendar gives the parent 2 or 3 simple daily exercises (10-15 minute total) for pre-k readiness. readytolearncalendar@gmail.com”

To order, call 865-429-2627 or email  readytolearncalendar@gmail.com. The calendar is sold as a wholesale item at $5.00/calendar and there is a minimum order of 64. The shipping runs from $.50 to $1.00 per calendar. Orders can be taken to assure that calendars are presold. For more info, click here.

A slew of open houses at schools happening this month. If you are looking into schools for the 2010-2011 school year, below are a few open houses to check out. If you’d like to have a school included in this list, please email the info to anne@southernmamas.com:

Open House for Prospective Families @ at St. Andrew’s School
noon-3 PM Sun. Nov 15
St. Andrew’s, a college prep school for Pre K3 through Grade 12, is hosting an Open House at the school at 601 Penn Waller Road on Wilmington Island.
897.4941.

Open houses at Savannah Christian Preparatory School
2:30 PM Sun. Nov. 15 at the Lower School (preK-5th), Chatham
Parkway Campus, 1599 Chatham Parkway
10 AM Thurs. Dec. 3 at the Lower School (preK-5th), Chatham
Parkway Campus, 1599 Chatham Parkway
7 PM Mon. Nov. 9 at The Lower School (K-5th) at DeRenne Avenue Campus,
2415 E. DeRenne Ave.
10 AM Wed. Dec. 2 at The Lower School (K-5th) at DeRenne Avenue Campus,
2415 E. DeRenne Ave.
912.234.1653 ext 106

Does back-to-school season have you depressed about your kids’ public education options in our area? Not to mention reading those intimidating private school tuitions in the current issue of Savannah Magazine?

Good news: there’s a new tuition scholarship program targeted towards low to moderate income families who are looking for an alternative to public education. St. Andrew’s School, an independent college prep school on Wilmington Island for Pre-K through 12th grade, participates in this program.

The Georgia GOAL Scholarship Program provides qualified Georgian children from low-and moderate income families with the opportunity to attend the private K-12 schools. The scholarships are available to any child entering kindergarten and any student in grades 1-12 who is transferring from public school.

GOAL Scholarships are awarded on a sliding scale based on the availability of funds, the annual household income of applicant families, and household size. In order for a child to receive a GOAL Scholarship in any amount, total household income cannot exceed $85,000.

Click here to see a list of participating schools in the Savannah-area. For more info on St. Andrew’s scholarship program, click here.

All I can say is I am relieved my son has two more years until he’s eligible for Georgia’s free pre-k program because it’s going to take me that long to figure out the application process.

We continue to receive questions from SouthernMamas readers about the free pre-k application process, currently under way @ Savannah-Chatham public schools until March 16. Children 4-years-old prior to or on Sept. 1, 2009 are eligible for free pre-K in Georgia.

Private child-care facilities also offer the free pre-k, but many have a different application process. If, for example, you are interested in a private child care that has it, call the school to find out when their applications are due.  Savannah Youth University and The Children’s House take applications around mid-February. YMCA Childcare Plus starts accepting applications Feb. 15.

Many are on a first-come, first-serve basis, such as Maggies’ Morning School ,which is already full and only accepting waiting-list applications now.

Perhaps the most confusing is Charles Ellis Montessori Academy, part of the Savannah-Chatham public school system. Although Ellis doesn’t have a designated attendance zone for its higher grades, it does for free pre-k. That means they have TWO pre-k lotteries. One for those fortunate people living in the attendance zone and another for those of us outside the zone. The first lottery group gets first dibs on free pre-k slots. Those in the second group don’t have much chance.

For more info on the free pre-k program, click here.  Good luck to those you immersed in the process.

Now that the application process is under way for the funded (i.e. FREE) Georgia Pre-K program (Feb. 2-March 16),  SouthernMamas.com is receiving scores of questions about how the pre-K lottery system works. We’re trying to figure it out, too.

Children 4-years-old prior to or on Sept. 1, 2009 are eligible for free pre-K in Georgia. You can only apply to TWO different schools and your first choice must be the school in your public school attendance zone – which is a real downer for those of us in a designated zone with a less than desirable elementary school.

SouthernMamas reader Jennifer Rodgers emails:  Where can I get a list of the designated attendance zone?

Answer: Click on this school locator and put in your address. If you have any questions, call the Savannah-Chatham School’s pre-K program director LaWanda Ransom @ 912. 395.1154 or 912. 395.5635 or email her @ lawanda.ransom@sccpss.com

Private schools also offer the free pre-K program including Maggies’ Morning School and Candler’s The Children’s House.

The lottery is held @ the school sites @ 10 am March 18. You can attend the lottery drawing to see if your child gets in to the pre-K program of your choice or wait to be notified in writing of acceptance or waiting list status during the week of March 23.

For more info, read past posts on this subject here and here