Ms. Tori’s Update 1-20-2020

Hello Preschool Families!!

     We hope that you are enjoying your long weekend! 

A Week in Review:

·  We continued to work on our Robotics unit. We talked more about where we see robots in our environment and how they help us. We found that they have many robots at hospitals to help make people feel better. We also found that they take robots into outer-space to go into areas that humans can’t go yet.

·  Twiggle, the turtle, came and talked to us about the sharing. We learned that sharing is caring and that it is a win-win situation for everyone when we share. In our classroom, we view sharing more like taking turns unless we have a lot of something.

·  We worked with letter, b and f. We practiced writing the letter, b and f, with dry erase boards and markers. Baby Echo also came and helped us practice saying all the letters and their sounds at circle time.

What to Expect:

·  STEM Unit 3: Robotics – Design Challenge. We will be designing robots that can help solve a problem in our classroom. I will post pictures on Seesaw of our progress. Please let me know if you have any trouble viewing it.

·  Our letters of the week are n and m.

·  Our Color of the week is Color Mixing Red and Yellow

·  Our Shape of the Week is trapezoid

Thank you for your support! Working with your preschooler at home really makes a difference.

A reminder that as the weather starts to get warmer, Please make sure that your child comes with a coat/ jacket / sweater (please put their name on the inside tag) because we also value getting kids outside to play and it can still be chilly! If you child doesn’t know how to put on their coat or work their zippers, it’s something to start actively teaching and practicing. Now is also the time to check the 2nd set of clothes in your child’s backpack.  They also may have grown too.

School News/District News:

Please register Spark as your designated school for the King Sooper’s/City Market Rewards Program! You can do so by logging in and then registering at https://www.kingsoopers.com/. Search for “Spark Discovery Preschool PTO” or by entering the code “HE297” and enroll. It’s as simple as that! Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions about this.

Volunteering at Spark!:

We welcome parent, guardian, and grandparent volunteers and want you to be involved.  For preschool, it is required by licensing that volunteer training be offered and attended to volunteer in classrooms or the school.  This is a session where children over the age of 6 months should not be present.

Speaking of volunteering, we are looking for an office squad of volunteers this school year to better assist our teachers in clerical ways (copying, laminating, stapling, sorting, etc).  Sometimes, children have a difficult time at this age having a family member volunteer in the classroom, as it can be difficult with separation, anxiety, or behaviors. If you’d like to volunteer but know the classroom will be a difficult space, we are looking for a volunteer in the office for each session of preschool in the AM and PM Monday through Thursday, for a total of eight dependable, reliable volunteers each week. This will help teachers across the school make the best use of their planning time during the week and on Fridays. We already have a volunteer on Monday and Wednesday mornings! Please consider assisting our staff in this manner if the idea of being in the classroom doesn’t appeal to you. The below training is required. If you are interested, please email me at [email protected].

 

·      Monday, August 26th – completed

·      Friday, Sept 20th  – completed

·      Tuesday, Oct 22nd, 4:00 – 5:30 pm – completed

·      Friday, November 15th, 9:30 – 11 am – completed

·      Friday, January 10th,  9:30-11:00 am – completed

·      Friday, Feb 28th, 9:30 – 11 am

·      Tuesday, March 10th, 4:00 – 5:30 pm

Important Dates:

·      Dec. 2nd – Jan. 24th: STEM Unit 3 Starts: Robotics

·      January STEM profile focus:  CURIOUS! 

·      January Mathematical focus:  PATTERNING

·      Mon, Jan 20th: Martin Luther King Jr. Day –  No preschool or childcare

·      Tues, Jan 21th: 9:30 am – School Tour

·      Wed, Jan 22th: 11:35 am – Irish Dance Enrichment class

·      Jan 23th & 24th – PJ Days

o   sponsored by the PTO – $1.00 donation requested

·      Thurs, Jan 23 – 8:30 am – School Tour

·      Mon – Tues, January 27-28 – Hearing and Vision re-checks 

·      Mon, Jan 27 – Letters of acceptance/denial for enrollment sent home in US Mail for ’20-’21 for students (exception: those students with special needs — those will come at a later time from the SVVSD Special education / Early Childhood office).

·      Mon, Jan 27 – 11:35 am – T-Ball Enrichment class 

·      Mon, Jan 27 – 3:05 pm – T-Ball Enrichment class

·      Tues, Jan 28 – 9:30 am – School Tour

·      Wed, Jan 29 – 11:35 am – Irish Dance Enrichment class

·      Thurs – Fri, Jan 30-31 – PBIS – STAR-POWER Positive Behavior Recognition for individual classes who met the January goal — Superhero day! More information to come.

·      Fri, Jan 31 – Non-student contact day for preschool (preschool teachers are working on finalizing assessment data for each student).  Childcare will be offered.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mrs. Tori & Ms. JJ

 

Spark! Discovery Preschool