Preschool Newsletter

Welcome back to school in the new year! I hope that everyone had a wonderful and relaxing break. I know that I was ready for a break, but I missed all the kids. Thank you for all the treats and gifts before break, they made me feel really spoiled.

Preschool fun is half-way done. I am so excited to see how much everyone grows in the last 5 months of school. For these first three days back, we are going to get back in to the groove of our classroom routines and talk about how our breaks went.

Next week we will jump back into our Frog Street units, with our second week of Safe and Healthy Me. Week 2 will be on Healthy Me.

For our calm down strategies, we will review our Balloon breathing strategy.

On the 27th there are Parent/Teacher Conferences, I will contact you if I need to meet with you. If you don't hear from me about conferences, that means that your child is doing great and I have zero concerns. If you would like to meet with me, please let me know.

With the weather getting very unpredictable, please dress in layers and a coat. We will go outside if it is above a feel like temp of 27 degrees Fahrenheit and it is not too wet/icy.

January 4 - Student's 1st Day Back After Back

January 6 - Early Release

January 16 - Martin Luther King Jr. - NO SCHOOL

January 20 - Early Release

January 27 - Parent/Teacher Conferences - 8:00am - 3:30pm - NO SCHOOL

February 3 - Early Release

February 17 - Early Release

February 20 - Presidents' Day - NO SCHOOL

March 3 - Early Release

March 10 - 1/2 Day School - NO PRESCHOOL

This quarter we are starting to use scissors with more independence, on adult provided paper only. Strengthening their fine motor muscles is even more important. They have loved using scissors and cutting different materials. We are working on making sure that their fingers go in the correct holes to keep the blades away from their body and their thumb on top. If you have junk mail at home, that would be great practice for them to just cut away on.

We are continuing to practice self help skills in the classroom to work on independence. They are getting so great at putting their own coats on, that we are starting to work on putting their own masks on by themselves.

• Uses drawing, scribbling, letter like forms, random letter strings and/or dictation to express thought and ideas.
  
• Understands and uses some questions words (e.g., who, what, where, when, why, how)
• Recognizes letters in their name
• Begins to make letter like forms and print some letters in their name.
• Correctly names shapes
• Uses number words to indicate the quantity in small sets of objects (e.g., 2, 3)
• Places objects in one to one correspondence
• Counts in sequence to 10.
• With support, follows classroom routines and manages transitions
• Begins to display socially competent behavior with peers
• Follows common safety rules that have been discussed and taught with reminders
• Recognizes, identifies, and manages own emotions and starts to recognize emotions of others with adult support.
• Moves with increasing coordination and balance (e.g. kicks a ball, jumps, uses alternating feet when climbing stairs).
• Uses classroom tools independently (e.g. scissors to cut paper).

Bradley - 913-651-6915, 1 Bradley Circle

Ike - 913-651-6663, 1 Eisenhower Circle

Email: jgerecke@usd207.org
Website: https://eisenhower.usd207.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=517799&type=u&pREC_ID=770691
Location: 1 Eisenhower Circle, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 66027
Phone: 9136516663