Ms. Nicky’s update 9-2-18

We are off to a great start to the school year! The students are getting used tothe schedule and routines, and seem to be enjoying preschool. Hopefully you arehearing good things at home! We have started our social-emotional curriculum,PATHS, and students loved meeting the puppets we will be using throughout theyear to teach the lessons in the curriculum. We have also started having our Kid ofthe Day, so be looking for a compliment sheet to come home with your child withinthe next couple of weeks if they haven’t already come home with one. We areencouraging students to work hard each day to receive STARPOWER, and moststudents have already done so. We are giving students many opportunities to identify their name in ourenvironment, and they have practiced writing their name several times during ourwriting time. We are practicing our phonological skills each day by working onisolating the beginning and ending sounds in words, reciting rhyming pairs, andblending words together to form compound words. We have also been exploring alot of math concepts, such as counting, numeral identification, patterning, andsorting. We have started using the Fundations curriculum to introduce letters andletter sounds, and we will start our Building Blocks math curriculum next week.We will also start our first STEM unit next week, which is Buildings. We will talkabout what the buildings in our neighborhood look like, what people do inside thebuildings, what buildings in other places look like, who builds buildings and whattools do they use, and what buildings are made of. If you know anything about thistopic, or know anybody else who does, we would love to have you come in and shareyour knowledge with us! In the coming weeks, we will start visiting the library,computer lab, and MakerSpace, as well. Health FormsFrom Samantha Gibbs, Health Clerk: Each child’s General Health Appraisal form isdue no later than Monday, Sept 17. This form is mandated by the Code of ColoradoRegulations. The school can refuse to have a child continue enrollment if the formis not submitted. We would prefer to keep all students enrolled, and yourcooperation is appreciated. Doctors can fax the form to us at 720-652-7910.Samantha can email you an additional copy if needed; her email [email protected]. School SafetyPlease make sure your child is waiting in line with you in the morning before schoolstarts. We do not want anyone getting injured by running around, climbing thetree, or jumping off of the benches by the door. Thank you for your support withthis! Volunteer training​ ​(from the desk of Paige Gordon, Principal)We welcome parent, guardian, and grandparent volunteers and want you to beinvolved. For preschool, it is required by licensing that volunteer training beoffered and attended to volunteer in classrooms or the school. This is a sessionwhere children over the age of 6 months should not be present. The next sessionfor training, offered by two teachers, will be on Friday, September 21st from 9:00am to 10:30 am. After that, there will be a training in October, January, February,and March offered at various times. Speaking of volunteering, we are looking for an office squad of volunteers thisschool year to better assist our teachers in clerical ways (copying, laminating,stapling, sorting, etc). Sometimes, children have a difficult time at this age havinga 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 adifficult space, we are looking for a volunteer in the office for each session ofpreschool in the AM and PM Monday through Thursday, for a total of eightdependable, reliable volunteers each week. This will help teachers across theschool 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 considerassisting our staff in this manner if the idea of being in the classroom doesn’tappeal to you. The above training is required. If you are interested, please emailPaige at [email protected].