September 1-9 Newsletter

PRE-K NEWSLETTER FOR THE WEEK OF:

SEPTEMBER 1-9, 2011

Welcome all families to the first week of Pre-K!  We are so excited to be here with your children!  We have had a busy week discovering things about school and each other.  We have a fantastic group of young students this year, and we are looking forward to lots of fun and learning!

Important Reminders:
*  Food Policy- We have many children with allergies or special dietary needs. It is not practical for us to limit our snack to meet everyone’s dietary requirements, but we do avoid foods that are harmful for some children. We do not have any peanut-based products at IED. We offer children a variety of drinks; juice, cow’s milk, rice milk, and soy milk. There is always a non-lactose option for drinks. Fresh fruit is also available, provided by families. Other items offered at snack time include various kinds of crackers, usually wheat based. If your child has other special dietary requirements (no gluten, for example), please provide an appropriate snack for your child.  For lunch, please provide your child with a healthy, peanut-free meal.  Any other nut butter is fine (many students enjoy almond butter).  Please, no candy.  Thanks for your support!


* Milk Policy- Unless you notify us that your child has an allergy or intolerance to milk or you simply don’t want him or her to have any, we will be offering milk during lunch. If special circumstances arise–such as a cold or allergies–which are temporary but you would rather your child to refrain from ingesting milk, please let us know on the parent log. Also, please let us know when you’d like us to resume offering it. Thank you!

* Fruit for Snacks- There is a snack sign-up sheet for Full-Day and PM Half-Day parents located on the sign-in table. We are asking that each family provide a variety of fruits and vegetables for one week. This will take us through February, at which time we will create new sign-ups for the remainder of the year. If providing snack for a week at a time is a financial hardship, please let us know and we’ll work something out.  At this point, we have twenty children in the afternoon that will be having snack each day.

Just to give you general guidelines for portions, one day of an apple, pear, nectarine, peach or orange snack would roughly equal twelve whole fruits. The kids can usually eat a whole tangerine. One whole cantaloupe or honeydew or small watermelon would provide a day’s snack. We usually give ½ of a banana, although some children will ask for seconds, so 12-14 bananas would be enough. Other fruits, such as cherries or berries, require 4 pints for one day, and grapes, one large bunch. One bag of small carrots usually covers one snack and fruit leathers are high-density, so one per student is enough. If you have questions about portions for other fruits, feel free to ask Candice or Laura. Thanks!

* Celebrating Birthdays- Our birthday ritual starts with a “crowning” of the birthday child at the beginning of their day. We ask, if possible, for a parent or special person to bring in photos of their child from birth, one, two, three, four (for children turning five). The Special Person will sit in the teacher chair and will be asked to show each photo and tell the group what that child was like at that age, i.e. what they were able to/liked to do, what kind of disposition he or she had, etc. The children in the circle and the birthday child will do a little song, and then we’ll look at the next photo. This repeats until we reach the current age of the child.
If your child’s birthday falls on a weekday, we celebrate it then. If, however, it falls on a weekend or holiday please schedule with us. To avoid the crunch at the end of the year, we will celebrate all the August birthdays at the beginning of the year and all the late June and July birthdays in May and June. If a birthday falls when a child is not present please see Candice or Laura to schedule the celebration; usually we will celebrate the child’s half-birthday.
If you would like to come in to celebrate at the beginning of your child’s day, whether morning or afternoon, you are welcome.  We’ll try not to take up more than 10-15 minutes of your time. If your child has younger siblings, we’ve found that it’s easier to keep the focus on the special person and keep brothers and sister’s at home that morning.

* Family Pictures- if you have not had a chance to do so, please bring in a family picture as soon as possible- the students love to see their families throughout the day.

* Shoes- please make sure that students wear shoes appropriate for running and climbing- no flip-flops or Crocs.

The Week!

On Thursday of last week we had our first official day of school!  The young students were so excited and ready to learn!  We practiced walking in lines, remembering each other’s names, and we got acquainted with the classroom.  We also read How I Spent My Summer Vacation, Ella Sarah Gets Dressed, and A Color of His Own.  We went around in a circle and shared our names, our age, and our favorite food.  (pancakes are quite popular)  We talked about some of our classroom and playground safety rules.  Mir did two magic shows, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, which amazed the students!  We also went on an “imagination” walk with Mir, around the playground, which was silly fun!

On Tuesday, we shared a fun activity we did over summer vacation, and some students drew pictures of their favorite parts of summer.  We read I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More!, Naughty Little Monkeys, and Scaredy Mouse. We played with lots of toys, like our big legos, the dollhouse, and in our kitchen.  The students enjoyed cooking for each other and buying food from the cashier.  We also talked about our stories from the summer, and went over our classroom and playground safety rules.  They are learning quickly!

On Wednesday, we talked more about our playground and classroom safety rules, and discussed our circle time expectations- eyes on the teacher, ears open, mouth closed, sitting “criss-cross applesauce”.  The students are learning very quickly and doing a fantastic job with all these new rules and ideas! We played with manipulative beads, our blocks, the moving gears, and our animals, and we read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom again, Cows in the Kitchen and Whoever You Are.

On Thursday, we began work on our handprints!  The handprints are fun because the students get to pick their own colors.  We will do this again towards the end of the year.  This is a fun way to see how each student has grown during the year.  We also had our first fire drill!  The students did a wonderful job of listening to the teacher’s directions, walking quickly and quietly in line, and waiting quietly for the “all clear.”  At circle we answered questions about the fire drill and other safety concerns, and went over our classroom rules for playtime.  We played in our sensory table, with foam blocks, the fairy dress set and the pattern blocks.  We read Butterflies in My Stomach, My School’s a Zoo, and Boom Chicka Rock.

On Friday, we finished our hand prints and enjoyed the beautiful day.  We read I Am NOT Going to School, First Day Jitters, and Our Big Home.  We played with the Playmobile people, play-dough, the felt play sets, legos, the chicky-boom board game, and the marble block run.  Also, today we are sending homework- “Life in a Bag.”  Please help your child prepare this tool for sharing next week.  These help us get to know each other better, and learn about others.

Next week we begin our curriculum, our job helpers, and sharing!  We are learning about ourselves this coming week.  Some projects include doing self-portraits and hand drawings, and we will be talking about and reading books about who we are.

Thanks for a great first week, families!