PK4 Newsletter- Week 1

Dear PK4 Families,

Thank you so much for attending our Parent Night! It was such a pleasure welcoming families into our classroom. If you would like to review the presentation, I posted the slides on Seesaw on Thursday morning.

This week, we took big steps in setting up routines that will help our classroom function as a caring, supportive community all year long! Here is a peek at what we’ve been up to:

• Building Community & Connection: We introduced our Wish Well ritual to practice sending caring thoughts to friends who are absent or need extra support. We also proudly displayed our family photos and got to meet our Chapel Buddies for the first time!

• Practicing Our Commitments: We spent time thinking practically about how and when we use our classroom commitments to keep ourselves and our friends safe, kind, and ready to learn.

• Fine Motor & First Portfolio Entry: Hands-on activities kept our small hand muscles busy as we strengthened fine motor skills. The children also completed their self-portraits, marking our very first official entry into their learning portfolios!

• Learner-Centered Rest Time: To honor every child's unique needs, we introduced rest time choices—allowing students to select a stuffy, a book, or a fidget tool to make rest time accessible and comfortable for all types of learners and resters :)

Math Focus for Next Week:

We will turn our names into measurement and graphing tools! Hands-on activities include building Unifix cube towers to represent the length of each student's name, creating a whole-class floor graph to compare letter counts, and measuring name strips using link chains. What a perfect vehicle to practice counting, comparing quantities (more, less, equal), and notice patterns!

ELAR Focus for Next Week:

We will be diving deep into literacy using our favorite subject—our own names! Children will practice identifying initial letters, building their names with tactile materials like playdough and popsicle sticks, assembling name puzzles and making nature name collages. Alongside literacy, we will focus on SEL and community building by exploring how our names make us unique

List of Important Events

Sept 1- Parent Council Coffee 8:30

Sept 7- School Holiday (Labor Day)

Sept 7- Aliya's Birthday

Sept 8 - Well's Birthday

Sept 9- Blake's Birthday

Sept 15- Dot Day (wear dot clothing)

Sept 16- Sept Monthly Birthday Celebration

Sept 14- 17- Ms. Pikla's class will be acolyting at Little Chapel

Mon/ Wed: Amelie, Wells, Charlotte, Blake, Rory, Alice, Nora, Palmer

Tu/Th: Jameson, Margret, Conrad, Franny, Carolina, Chloe, Aliya, August, Alba

Sept 25- Spirit Dress Day (SLES T-shirt, jeans/uniform bottoms, and tennis shoes.

A huge Hilltop THANK YOU to our wonderful parent volunteers for serving as your grade-level Class Captains! Please be sure to join the PK4 Group on the St. Luke’s App to stay connected and receive important updates and communication throughout the year.

Mario Moreno - maoxandre@gmail.com