RF4C News

October 5 - NO SCHOOL ALL District - Teacher Inservice

November 2 - NO SCHOOL ALL District - Teacher Inservice

• Family Outreach calendar of activities. Please take a look at the calendar. Print it off and enjoy some of the short suggested activities.

October Calendar / View October Calendar in Spanish

Family Storytime at the River Falls Public Library (Lower Level)

Welcome to playtime for parents with children ages 0-5! This is a great opportunity to network with other toddler and preschool parents in the community, while giving your child time to build key motor and social skills with other children their age. A snack will be provided each week.

Start Date: 9/29/2026 thru 12/22/2026

Days: Tu

Time: 9:15 AM to 10:15 AM

Sessions: 13

Age: 0-5

Location: Hoffman Park Storm Shelter (650 Hanson Dr)

Instructor: Kelly Hueman

Online Registration Link

Enjoy a special night out in the forest with family or friends and join us for an autumn evening hike, illuminated by flameless candle luminaries. Explore the trails at the adjoining School Forest (School District of River Falls) and Community Forest (Kinnickinnic River Land Trust) properties. Enjoy cocoa, cider, and popcorn provided by Whole Earth Market Co-Op.

This is a free event offered through a partnership with River Falls Community Education and Kinnickinnic River Land Trust. Registration is requested, but not required.

Register for Candlelight Hike. October 22, 6-8pm

In person only at the River Falls Public Library on Saturday, November 21. Join us at noon for a performance by some of the cast members of the River Falls High School Theater department's Frozen, the Musical!
Stay after for meet and greet, photos, crafts and maybe even a warm hug!

This event is in the "Everyone" group

Live at the Library: The Music from Frozen

12:00pm–1:00pm

Everyone

Assessments in RF4C are conducted two times throughout the school year. Our goal is to track and support each child's growth and development across key learning areas.

Our observations, anecdotal notes, and assessments look at the "whole child" across 5 key developmental areas listed below.

Examples are as follows:

• Social-emotional skills: How the child interacts with peers, shares, cooperates, and manages their emotions.
• Physical development: Including both gross motor skills (large movements like running and jumping) and fine motor skills (small movements like drawing and using scissors).
• Cognitive skills: Such as basic math, problem-solving, and understanding concepts like colors and shapes.
• Language and communication: Expressing thoughts, understanding instructions, and building vocabulary.
• Academic knowledge: Recognizing letters and numbers.

The information gathered helps teachers tailor the curriculum and activities to each child's individual needs and interests. This makes learning more engaging and effective.

For children who may need extra support, the assessment can help identify developmental delays early on. This allows timely intervention, which can make a big difference in a child's long-term success.

The assessment also tracks a child's growth over time. For example, comparing a child's artwork from the beginning of the year to later work, helps everyone see how their skills have developed.

Assessment also creates an opportunity for teachers and parents to work together to support the students growth. One way is through Parent/Teacher Conferences that will be scheduled later this FALL.

Early reading screening is a brief assessment that teachers administer to our students two times throughout the school year.

The aimswebPlus is a universal screener that the School District of River Falls teachers administers to the students.

Please take a look at the letter explaining the assessment that will be administered to the RF4C students.

Attending a parent-teacher conference for a preschooler is essential because it builds a strong, collaborative foundation between home and school during a child's most rapid developmental years.

Connecting Two Worlds: Children often act differently at home than they do in a classroom. Teachers share how your child behaves in group settings, while you provide context about their personality at home.

Tracking Development: These meetings review crucial social, language, and cognitive milestones, helping to spot if a child is thriving or needs extra support.

Preparing for Kindergarten: A 4-year-old is on the doorstep of formal schooling. Conferences help align expectations and routines so the transition to kindergarten is smooth.

Creating Consistency: When parents and teachers use the same strategies for emotional regulation, sharing, or potty training, the child feels more secure and understood.

NOTE: All of the RF4C classrooms hold parent-teacher conferences twice a year, with each meeting lasting about 15 to 30 minutes. FALL Parent/Teacher Conferences are typically held in October and November. While the SPRING Parent/Teacher Conferences are typically held in February and March. Your child's teacher will reach out to schedule a conference with you.

Sources: PreKPages, Brightwheel, and Kidsworld

Welcome to We Thinkers! Volume 1 Social Explorers, a Social Thinking ™ Curriculum for RF4C! Your child is beginning an exciting adventure in learning more about the social world. Ms Becky will be visiting once a month to deliver this curriculum to each of the RF4C classrooms.

The aim of We Thinkers! series is to help young verbal learners develop the skills they need to be flexible social thinkers and social problem solvers. Through the experiences of four characters in the storybooks and the accompanying curriculum units, children will learn about the social mind and social expectations. They will also learn about their own thinking (and that of others) to help them make better decisions when in the midst of social play and interaction.

In September, Ms Becky visited all of the RF4C classrooms for the first time to deliver the start of the WE Thinkers! curriculum with the book, "Thinking Thoughts and Feelings Feelings". We only did the first half of the book which focused on the brain and thinking thoughts in their thought bubble. In October we will finish reading the 1st book in the series and do some more activities. Please read on for more information about the first book in the series.

Social learning is all about thoughts and feelings. The ability to think about others, play collaboratively, and establish friendships is all about thoughts; knowing our own, sharing them with others and taking others’ thoughts into account as we act and react. We introduce these concepts first because all subsequent concepts and vocabulary are tied back to thoughts. (What are you thinking? What am I thinking? What is the group thinking about?) We make the connection to feelings because what we think and what we feel are inseparable.

In exploring thoughts and feelings, we begin by establishing a connection to body parts. Children are familiar with their bodies and we are able to use what they know: that we all have many body parts and each body part has a job to do. In most cases, we can see these parts and watch them do their jobs. For example, we can see hands, clap, hold, and touch, and feet tap, jump, and run. We then connect that information to the more abstract concepts of thoughts and emotions. That is, there are others inside our bodies that have important jobs too. Our brain and heart are two of those parts we use when we are around other people. Our brain is our thought maker. We define a thought as an idea, picture, or words you have in your brain To help us talk about thoughts we use words like think and know. Our heart is our feelings keeper. A feeling is something we feel in our body. To help us talk about our feelings we use words like happy, sad, mad and scared.

In the first storybook in the We Thinkers! series, we meet the main characters, Evan, Ellie, Jesse, and Molly. These four children go on many adventures to introduce and explore Social Thinking Vocabulary and concepts. In their first adventure, they learn all about two important concepts: thoughts and feelings. Ask your student about their thought bubble.

RF4C educators know play is best for kids. And that’s not just something we say because it sounds nice. It’s based on evidence and research. Kids need play for learning, for growth, for health, for happiness.

Each month you will find 2-3 notes (1 sheet per note) to help educate our classroom communities about the power of play! Open the links up and take a look!

Why We Play… for Long Term Gains!

Why We Play… for Soft Skills!

Why We Play ... for Development!

Source: Amanda Morgan, MS, Not Just Cute, Why We Play Letters

Fail-A-Bration

Written and illustrated by: Brad Montague and Kristi Montague

The beginning of a school year is full of new routines, new relationships, and inevitably a few mistakes along the way. InFail-a-bration, Brad and Kristi Montague invite us to celebrate those mistakes by throwing a huge party. Since everyone messes up, everyone is invited. Why throw a party to celebrate all the things you’ve done wrong? “Maybe if there were more Fail-A-brations, the world would feel a whole lot less alone.”

Indeed, moments of failure and friction are necessary for human development, and for strengthening our relationships. Both our skills and our relationships get stronger from trying, failing, and trying again, with supportive others. This feels especially resonant with Simple Interactions and our work to build communities of practice. In a community of practice, some of our richest learning comes not from seeing someone else do something perfectly, but from bringing our own challenges and problems of practice to the group and working through them together. We learn by trying, reflecting, wondering, and trying again—with others alongside us. In that sense, the “failures” in our practice are not something to hide; they become opportunities for collective learning. As the authors write, “At a Fail-A-Bration, we listen. We learn. We raise our hands and cheer. We help each other find new ways to see: We are all better because you are here.”

Now that your student has started school, it is time to set up your Infinite Campus family portal. The portal is used minimally in RF4C but will be needed to register for K in the spring and do annual updates in continuing years. You are also able to request (enter) sick days or planned days off for your students via the portal. In order to set up the portal, an activation key is required. Please reach out to RF4C Coordinator, Becky McAleavey, for this code. If you have older children in the district and already have an active portal, no further updating is needed as your child is automatically connected to your account.

RF4C Program Handbook

2025-26 RFSD Calendar Espanol

Backpack Program

Basic for Local Kids

Hunger Prevention Council of Pierce County

River Falls Food Pantry

Our Neighbors Place

If you have recently moved, changed your email address or phone number, please make sure you alert us of those changes. You can reach out to either;

Becky McAleavey (becky.mcaleavey@rfsd.k12.wi.us)

Sara Flatten (Sara.flatten@rfsd.k12.wi.us)

in the RF4C main office (also the RF Public Montessori main office) and we can make changes for you.

-- Thank you!