They were asked to dress up as their favorite Disney character on Monday, their favorite book character on Tuesday and their favorite superhero on Wednesday. Thursday was designated as Decades Day and they dressed up in gear that reflected their favorite decade. Friday was reserved for them to dress up as to what they want to be when they grow up.

Preschool Administrator Lenora “Ponie” Mojado said they saw lots of princesses on Monday and Spider-Man lookalikes on Wednesday. Dressing up as a favorite book character showed their interest in many of the book titles that were being offered at the fair. From Paw Patrol to Bluey, there were a lot of book characters represented. The decades spanned from the 1970s to the 2000s among the students who attended school on Thursday.

Preschoolers, who are three to four years old, were encouraged by their teacher Julissa Garcia and aide Jess Thompson to participate in the different activities. Professional sports is the future goal of a few of the boys in the class with one wanting to play for the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL, two for major league baseball teams and one on the motocross track. 

Garcia said the children have been learning about the importance of community helpers such as firefighters, police officers, doctors and veterinarians, so it was not a big surprise to see many of the students donning white coats and stethoscopes on March 14.

“We took a poll as to who their favorite community helper is between police and doctors and it was a tie,” she said. “We had the firefighters visit our classroom a few months ago so it was nice to circle back to that as a conversation starter.”

Pre-K students in the classroom with teacher Ana Garcia and aide Alaina Adkins range from four to five years old and they got to discuss their career decisions during carpet time first thing in the morning. There was chef Marcie Brane, firefighter Kut Vega-Castello, veterinarian Love Salgado-Flores, rock star Mav Vega, a police officer, and even a make-up artist among others.

Ana Garcia said the teachers and staff got into the spirit of Silly Week as well. She said she wore a Disney shirt and Mickey Mouse ears on Monday, joined her aides as ladybugs on Tuesday and wore a T-shirt on Wednesday that said “Pre-K teacher of superheroes” – something she can wear anytime. She threw herself back into the 80s on Thursday and wore a fancy dress on Friday to convey being a sophisticated teacher.

Teacher Laura Aldrete and aide Elena Vega-Castello kept kindergartners busy with a pre-St. Patrick’s Day activity of building leprechaun traps. The traps will be left out over the weekend and on March 17, the kids will get to see if they had any luck capturing one of the diminutive, mischievous fairy-like creatures of Irish folklore.

The five- to six-year-olds really got into the career day theme as they are already looking toward graduation in just a couple of months. Although Loovi Burton came dressed as a chef, she said she also wants to be a ballerina who teaches children how to dance. Jeffrey Vallez likes to play video games but plans to become an astronaut when he grows up. Jensen Hamilton wore a Winco hat, apron and name badge to depict the fact he wants to be a butcher one day, just like his father.

Lupitah Miranda has her sights set on being a veterinarian and Notoowish Velazquez wants to take dirt bike riding to the professional level. “They are always kind of talking with their friends about what they want to do when they grow up,” Vega-Castello said.

Laura Aldrete shared the fact she had intended to become an artist and wore an appropriate outfit to show that. She also majored in psychology before switching to early childhood development to become a teacher. Now she can use what she learned in all those fields as she continues to prepare her students for first grade. Her aide, Elena, always wanted to be a teacher so she’s right where she always hoped to be.

Mojado loves animals and recalls wanting to be a veterinarian when she was little and Preschool Administrative Assistant Maria Hernandez thought she would have a nursing career. Preschool teacher Julissa and her aide Jess both recall wanting to be either a pediatrician or teacher. Pre-K’s Ana Garcia thought she’d become a secretary, and her aide Alaina was eyeing a career as a doctor when she was her students’ age.

Mojado said the Scholastic Book Fair, which is held in the fall and spring, is very popular with students and their families, which is also a benefit to the school.

“The preschool benefits from the Book Fair, as we receive a portion of the proceeds, which goes back to the preschool to help teachers to get books for their classrooms,” she said. “Occasionally, the book fair generates a significant amount of funds, allowing us to purchase books for the end of the year. This past fall, teachers were able to get books for their students as Christmas gifts. Overall, the book fair is successful and enables us to provide classroom books and gifts for the children.”

A wide variety of titles are offered, laid out on tables in the school’s hallway. There are chapter books for older siblings that are in first and second grade on display at the register, should parents want to buy those too. Mojado said that some of the most sought-after titles are the “Paw Patrol” books which often feature pop-up elements, squishy textures, and rolling features that engage children’s senses.

“These interactive features make these books popular purchases,” Mojado said.

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The youngest preschoolers did some creative finger painting on paper plates using green to represent green eggs and orange as ham. After hearing the Seuss story, they were asked what they thought it would taste like. Answers ranged from “plants” to “just weird” and most said they wouldn’t eat it.

Like the other classes, Lucky Charms cereal was utilized quite a bit for several fun activities that also taught important lessons to the children. The youngest students filled in the letters of their printed names with the cereal shapes and all of them were encouraged to wear something green to celebrate the holiday.

Pre-K students were also welcoming springtime with a billboard stating “We are blooming” surrounded by colorful flowers created by the students. After interacting with a read-along story on the big screen about catching a leprechaun, they were asked if they thought they could catch one, unlike the unsuccessful main character in the story. Azalea MacDonald said she runs very fast and could catch him while Notoowish Velazquez said, “I run fast like Sonic (the Hedgehog).”

Activities for the day included Instructional Aide Julissa Garcia teaching them how to make a shamrock hat with pieces of different shades of green construction paper they had to tear into little pieces and glue onto a clover cutout. Using different colored Froot Loops, Instructional Aide Elena Arambula had the children string together a rainbow necklace after sorting the cereal circles by color.

Pre-K teacher Ana Garcia worked with students to sort, count and chart their findings on a graph using, you guessed it, Lucky Charms.

Kindergartners got to enjoy many different treats, creatively curated by Instructional Aide Mayra Campos. They included Good Luck cucumber slices, Pot of Gold applesauce cups, Leprechaun (lime) Jello cups, over the rainbow cupcakes, green Shamrock lemonade and Shamrock kabobs made from honeydew melon chunks, green grapes and kiwi fruit pieces. They were also given a take-home treat with the message, “You’re the pot of gold at the end of my rainbow.”

Using Lucky Charms cereal pieces, teacher Laura Aldrete guided her students to sort and match marshmallow shapes to the ones on their worksheets and then count up each one and write the amount on their papers. The exercise also allowed them to learn about the concept of less and more as they compared their charts to those of their classmates since all of them had different amounts for each shape.

Earlier that morning, the children had made rainbow hats with cutouts of leprechauns and shamrocks they had colored.

Friday also marked the end of a weeklong Scholastic Book Fair. Preschool Director Benita Torres said the drive was very successful with lots of parents buying popular titles for their children to have at home. A percentage of book sales is returned to the school that allows them to purchase books for classrooms to be enjoyed year-round.

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Theodor Seuss Geisel, known as Dr. Seuss, was born on March 2, 1904, and his first children’s book “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” was published in 1937. The author and illustrator, a favorite among young readers for his deft use of nonsense words, playful rhymes, and unusual characters, was celebrated by Soboba’s young students on Friday, March 1.

The preschoolers did crafts centered around “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” which was released in 1960. Pre-kindergarten students listened to a book edited by Dr. Seuss and written by Robert Lopshire called “Put Me In the Zoo” about a polka dotted leopard who could change his spots. Afterwards they broke into small groups to do crafts. One was to make their own spotted leopard. Another group make Truffula trees out of marshmallows, similar to the ones found in “The Lorax” and the final group colored red and white striped hats just like the one worn by “The Cat in the Hat.”

Kindergarten students were kept busy with many STEM activities that involved mathematics and building. There was a table full of outlines of characters from various Seuss books for the children to color and they had to cut out red and white rectangles of different sizes to create their own hats.

Snacks fit right into the theme as they enjoyed Dr. Seuss juice, Lorax oranges, green Grinch grapes, and Cat in the Hat kabobs made with layers of white bananas and red strawberry slices.

The Dr. Seuss Silly Week promises to be very entertaining as the students are asked to participate in the following ways. Monday, March 11, is “I Am Not Going to Get Up Today” where kids are encouraged to wear their pajamas to school.  Tuesday will celebrate “Fox in Socks” while kids wear whatever silly socks they want to wear. Wednesday will be “Wacky Wednesday” and kids can wear mismatched clothes, fix their hair in a crazy style or express themselves in whatever creative way they want. Thursday is all things “Cat In the Hat” and students are encouraged to wear something with stripes or a favorite hat. For “Green Eggs and Ham” Friday kids will wear something colored green and be treated to actual green eggs and ham by the school chef during their nutrition break.

For more information on the upcoming book fair, please visit, https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/content/fairs/home.html. More on the Soboba Tribal Preschool can be found at https://preschool.soboba-nsn.gov.

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