October PreK-4 Newsletter
October 1. 2025
A Note From Mr. B.
School/Home Partnerships
Water Bottles- Parents, please only send water in water bottles. This helps keep our classrooms clean and our students hydrated. Please do not send juice, Koolaid, milk, pop, or beverages other than water.
Drop off/Pickup- Please use the drop off loop in front of the school for dropping off and picking up. Feel free to park in the front lot if you plan to walk up and meet your child. Please do not park or pick kids up in the center lot as this is a safety concern for both traffic and supervision.
Fire Safety Week
Fire Safety week is next week. Students will visit the emergency services building, and we will have a fire truck parade at the elementary. On Wednesday evening, fire trucks will go around town with lights and sirens on. This is a great time to practice exiting your home and going to your "safe place." A safe place is a meeting place outside the home like a tree, the curb, a neighbors yard, etc that would be used in the case of needing to evacuate your home.
Grandparents Day
October 20 will be Grandparents Day at Windom Area Elementary. Grandparents or Special Friends are invited to the school to see your child's classroom, possibly do an activity with the students, and enjoy some cookies and coffee with them. Be on the lookout for a signup/permission slip. For safety reasons, students will not be allowed to leave with their grandparent or special friend without a signed permission slip.
Escape Rooms!
On Tuesday, October 28, Windom Area Elementary will host Escape rooms for families. These escape rooms will be leveled for littles, mediums, and older elementary kids and their families. There will be a free meal from 5:45-6:15 and activities from 6:15-7:00 or whenever you escape! Please sign your family up here if you plan to attend. Watch for more information via SeeSaw and social media.
Tips to Decrease Screen Time
An article on EdSource describes how screen time affects children. Here are a few tips to limit screen time.
- The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends having a family media use plan that outlines when phones can be used and when they can’t.
- Initiate screen-free times before bedtime so that children get enough sleep. Parents could consider prohibiting screens in the bedroom and turning off devices and notifications at night.
- Establish that dinner and social times are screen-free times to better promote conversation and socialization.
- Parents should have regular conversations with their children about screen use and find opportunities for children to put away their phones and do nonscreen activities with friends.
- Parents should try to work with the parents of their children’s friends to institute similar rules on social media and screen use to make implementation easier.
- Parents should adhere to the family media plan and model good cellphone practices.
Reading With Preschoolers
Ways a Parent Can Help with Reading in Pre-school:
Read to your child regularly and make it a positive experience.
Run your index finger under the line of print to help your child understand words and their meanings.
Discuss signs and other print materials around you and the home.
Encourage vocabulary development by reading good literature with rich and interesting words.
Talk to your child about the books and stories you read to build comprehension and critical thinking skills.
Math Activities You Can Do At Home
Building math skills doesn't have to be complicated. Having your child help with laundry introduces the skills of sorting (who gets what, colors, etc), grouping (shirts, pajamas, pants), matching (socks), and classifying (long/short, red, blue). These skills are basic functions that we use in math that can easily be transferred to other activities. Having your child count out ingredients in a recipe, or find numbers on signs and license plates helps build number recognition, one-to-one correspondence, and counting. Older kids can estimate totals at the store by rounding. They can figure out a tip at a restaurant (hint: 10% is moving the decimal one place to the left, double that number for 20%) Even if you can't help with homework, these skills help kids learn math concepts too.