Classroom Notes:Last week in preschool we focused on recognizing and writing names.  Twiggle taught us about the feelings of happy and sad.  Then Twiggle told us about the day he became friends with Henrietta, Duke, and Daphne.  That is when he learned the three important things friends do:  friends play, friends help, and friends share.  Our class was already quite good at playing!  We’ve spent all week getting better at helping clean up the toys and snack.  This week we’ll be focusing a great deal on how friends share.  First, we’ll talk about what things we should share like toys and ideas.  Then we’ll explore how some things shouldn’t be shared like school snacks and toothbrushes.  Starting this week, we’ll be diving into our Transportation STEM unit.  We’ll start  out by asking how people go places.  As you are enjoying the long weekend, take a few minutes to talk with your child about how you are getting around.  Is it by bike, in a car, or even a plane?  Maybe you’ll go on a boat.  We’ll be sharing some of our experiences this week.  For more information about our STEM unit, please read the attached letter.  ​​​

Dear Families, We are beginning our next STEM unit on Transportation. We have noticed that children get excited to play with toy cars, trucks, airplanes, and boats, and they spend time at school building roads out of blocks, putting together train tracks, and driving vehicles around on the playground. Children have become curious about different types of transportation they see, how they are made, how transportation works. Please let us know if someone in your family works in a job related to transportation and roads (e.g. delivery person, taxi or truck driver, or any job related to building or repairing roads) and would like to share his or her expertise with the class. We would love to arrange a time for you to join us in our investigations. We are also looking for donations of old license plates to use during the unit.   In this unit we have some main focuses: What are different forms of transportation? How does air travel help people in their everyday lives? How does water travel help people in their everyday lives? How does land travel help people in their everyday lives? What are some characteristics of land, water and air travel? As we study Transportation, we will learn concepts and skills in social studies, science, literacy, math, the arts, and technology. We will also be developing thinking skills to observe, investigate, ask questions, solve problems, make predictions and test our ideas. What You Can Do at Home Read the books on myOn about Transportation and Roads Talk about different kinds of transportation like cars, airplanes, boats and trains Point out interesting features such as traffic lights, signs, gutters, steel plates, crosswalks, ramps and overpasses. Notice the kinds of vehicles that travel on roads and ask children where they are going or what the vehicles might be carrying. Some Activities We Have Planned Building Bridges Sorting land, air, water travel Exploring and creating maps Making different types of transportation Thanks for playing an important role in our learning!

Nuts & Bolts:Please say goodbye to your child at the door before they come inside.  Having your child run back out of the door to give you a hug leads to them thinking it is ok to run out the door without teacher’s permission which is unsafe.Please return all forms as soon as possible.Tuition payments need to be turned into the office, not left in your child’s folder.

Dates to know:

Monday, Sept 4:    No schoolTuesday, Sept 5:  1st day of Makerspace                 Muffin with milk for snackWednesday, Sept 6  Late start for k-12, regular schedule for preschool                   Book orders are due                  Spark Spirit Orders (T-shirts) are due                  Fresh Veggie Patch with Ranch for snackThursday, Sept 7:  PBIS Recognition Celebration:  Parachute Party                  Parent-Teacher Organization meeting 6-8 pm                  Applesauce and Cheese Stick for snack From the Office:

Community Resources:  We have information to connect families with local agencies regarding mental health, child nutrition, physical fitness, food bank, child find, medical and dental resources, in several locations: 

1) In a notebook in the front office,

2) In our parent flyer stand at the front entrance

3) On our school website at http://sdpk.svvsd.org/community-resources.

4) The black table at the front of the school also has activity packets for parents to take in English and Spanish (when possible)

Use of Interpreters for Families Speaking a language other than English

Spark! Discovery Preschool takes reasonable steps to ensure families with limited English proficiency have meaningful access and an equal opportunity to participate in their child’s education, activities, and programs. Our district uses district-approved language translation services for translation of written communications, such as newsletters, Individual Education Plans, and so on.

Interpreters at Spark! Discovery Preschool will provide support for parents who may need this.  An interpreter is available daily in our school’s front office.  Additional interpreters are available for:

●      Ice Cream Social

●      Child Development parent classes (when requested)

●      Parenting classes (when requested)

●      Special Education meetings

●      Child-Find Meetings

●      Parent-Teacher Conferences

Referral Processes:  If families would like to make a referral to a specialist, please discuss this with the School Special Education Facilitator. We host a Child Find satellite office at Spark! Discovery Preschool, to handle questions or concerns about child development, behavior, or mental health.  If you have questions about your child’s health, you should call our health clerk.  She will answer your questions or forward you to a SVVSD nurse.

Child Find at Spark! Discovery Preschool:  For children ages birth to five (who are not attending a district preschool already), developmental screenings and evaluations are provided by a District Child Find Assessment Team at Spark! Discovery Preschool (555 8th St., Frederick).  This Child Find Assessment Team may be comprised of School Psychologists, Speech and Language Pathologists, Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, a School Nurse, and Early Childhood Special Education Teachers. Autism and Culturally/Linguistically Diverse Specialists consult as needed.

Other Plans for Academic or Behavioral Assistance:  A Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) is a systemic, continuous improvement framework in which data-based problem-solving and decision making is practiced across all levels of the educational system for supporting students. A Multi-Tiered System of Supports helps our school to organize resources through alignment of academic standards and behavioral expectations, implemented with fidelity and sustained over time, in order to accelerate the performance of every student to achieve. 

Learning ExtensionsThis week we are learning about the letters Ll and Ff.  Encourage your child to look for these letters on signs or build them with toys, pencils, etc.  You can also practice finding things that are red and counting to 0.  Yep, 0 is our number of the week.  I love to count how many dragons are in the room!  Have fun fun with this! Thank you again for sharing your child with me.  I hope your family had a great long weekend! Sincerely, Ms. Kiersten