Preschool Newsletter

January 9, 2023

Week 20

Welcome to the only full week in January without any early outs, 5 full days of fun! I hope that everyone had a wonderful and relaxing weekend.

This week is the second week of our Safe and Healthy Me theme, this week is over Healthy Me. Our word of the week is Germs. We will be talking about why it is important to wash our hand, cover our mouths/noses when we cough or sneeze, brush our teeth, and more.

Vocabulary this week: germs, healthy practices, unhealthy practices

Photo cards: crossing the street, visiting the doctor

Our math focus will to continue to be on AB patterns. We will keep making patterns with our manipulatives, calendar, and more.

For our calm down strategies, we have a new strategy to introduce this week. Our new strategy is call the Drain. To do the Drain strategy, put both arms out in front of your body and parallel to the floor. As you inhale, tighten your fists, arms and face. Exhale slowly as if to release the water from a faucet by making a "ssshhh" sound as you open your fists.

Parent/Teacher Conferences

On the 27th there are Parent/Teacher Conferences, I will send home a request to schedule a conference time on Monday. 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.

I will be at Ike for the conferences as I will be leaving at 11:30 to go out of town. If any Bradley families would like a conference and aren't able to come to Ike, I can set up a zoom conference if needed. If Friday doesn't work, please let me know and we can reschedule.

Scholastic Book Orders!

I am sending home a Scholastic Book Order, the afternoon class had them go home last Friday and the morning class will get them Monday morning. Ordering books is a fun way to encourage a love of reading at home and help build points for our classroom library books.

You can order books online or send the flyer back in with your order. If you have any questions, please let me know.

With a $25 order, you can pick a FREE $5 Book (use code: READS).

Class Order Due Date: 01/20/23

Shop Our Class Page: https://orders.scholastic.com/P96GL

Shop Digital Flyers for Our Grade with Your Child: https://clubs.scholastic.com/prek

Cold Weather Is Here!

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.

Dates to Remember

January 16 - Martin Luther King Jr. - NO SCHOOL

January 20 - Early Release

January 27 - Parent/Teacher Conferences - 8:00am - 11:30am** - 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

Fine motor and Self Help Skills

This quarter we are starting to use scissors with more independence, on adult provided materials 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. Or if you don't want to worry about scissors at home, having them tear paper with their pincher fingers. Junk mail has many uses to help with fine motor muscle building.

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.

*IF you would like a fine motor packet, I can provide you with one. A fine motor packet has OT provided materials and tips that will help strengthen their muscles at home.

3 YEAR OLD LEARNING GOALS FOR QUARTER 3

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).