Dear Park’s Edge Preschool Families:

Who does not love this time of year? PEP’s third annual Trunk or Treat was spooktacular and well attended due to the weather… I hope your family had lots of Halloween fun…and candy too! Thanks to all our families that contributed candy for the trunk or treat…we appreciated the yummy donations! In case you missed it the 2022 staff car themes were: Love bugs (infant 1)—Oh the Places You will Glow; Beautiful Butterflies (infant 2)—Baby Shark; Darling Dragonflies (toddlers)—It’s a Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!; Busy Bees (2’s)—Candyland; Sunshine Room (2½-3’s)— Disney’s Inside Out; Fantastic Frogs (3½-4’s)—We Shine For Jesus; Shining Stars (4-5’s)— Witch’s Cabin; Slithering Snakes (school-age) Snakes and I Spy Spiders!; PEP Office Staff—Black Cat; Kitchen – Frankenstein; and Emanuel Church’s VBS—We are a ‘Pizza’ God’s Plan. Thank you for attending this Spooktacular night and bringing nonperishable foods for Milwaukee’s Hunger Task Force!

Speaking of ‘community service’… children learned that ‘Love of Neighbor’ feels good by taking care of others! Thank you PEP children and families for returning the colored lunch bags filled with ‘non-perishable foods’ to donate to Milwaukee’s Hunger Task Force. Food and service to the community convey love! Love thy neighbor!

Friday, November 4, 2022, PEP will be closed to families/children at noon so all staff can participate in professional development training pertinent to their craft in meeting continuing education requirements for licensing/ NAC Accreditation/ YoungStar. This training opportunity allows PEP staff to emphasize our mission and goals. This semester’s training is on PEP’s 5-core Values: Children First, Professionalism, Teamwork, Positivity, and Commitment. The emphasis will be on Teamwork in meeting classroom staffing goals.

Sloppy Joe’s-to-go please…is on the menu for the Frazzled Family Dinner to go this year! Please be sure to sign up for Emanuel Church’s Mission Group’s ‘Frazzled Family Dinner’ scheduled for Wednesday, November 18th. Please look for the sign-up sheet which will be located on Park’s Edge Preschool’s front desk, by Wednesday, November 9th. Sloppy Joe’s-to-go is the perfect way to reach out to frazzled families to support them in finding time to reconnect with each other through a prayer and conversation card too. ‘Food is love’…treat yourself to a Frazzled Family Dinner.

NEW Playground Environment Coming to Park’s Edge Preschool Spring 2023! In case you haven’t heard, the new playground design features a village-like atmosphere with a riding track accessing each area; three raised garden beds, a large sandbox area, a mud kitchen, a writing board, a musical instrument wall, block area; a council ring; a clubhouse and two other sheltered areas for imaginative extended play. In the center of it all is a wooden climbing structure for graduated growth and development. I am especially thankful for the stabilization quality funding that PEP received in allowing for the update to the playground. The PEP Board met in late September, with John LaPointe from GRG PlayScapes, Gene Detert, Emanuel Church’s Trustee, in giving PEP permission to build the new playground on Emanuel Church’s property, and myself on behalf of PEP, to sign the contract to commence construction between November 2022 and June 2023. The new outdoor environment will offer creative, extended, imaginative, early childhood play to our little ones for many years to come. Thank you ‘shout out’ the Zacher Family for a $5000.00 donation towards the playground in support of making dreams come true at PEP. A future ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new playground will be scheduled upon completion.

I am thankful to the families that supported our staffing request in making other arrangements the week of Thanksgiving and to those that will be using our services that week. I appreciate the many blessings that come our way at PEP…big and small. PEP is closed Thursday, November 24, and Friday, November 25, regular charges are applied for staff holiday benefits.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving Weekend with loved ones!

Sincerely,

Ellen M. Kvalheim