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Early Years Newsletter #3 Click here to read the words to our alphabet song Rest Time: Our days have been so busy that we haven’t been using our towels and blankets for some time now. Since we will no longer be having a rest time at school, would you please remove your child’s towel or blanket from his or her backpack. Nutrition We will soon be starting a unit on nutrition. We have already made it a habit to eat our healthiest snacks first ( you may have already heard about this!) and to save our "treats" for our last snack of the day. When we are looking through our lunchpails to find the healthiest snack, we talk about finding the snack that has the least amount of sugar in it. I would ask that you please refrain from sending large amounts of Hallowe’en candy to school with your child. Consider perhaps 1 or 2 small treats along with a healthy choice to start the day.Your help in teaching your child to make healthy eating a habit is appreciated. Outdoor Activity Times: We spend a large portion of time outdoors each day, including 40 minutes after lunch. The children need to be dressed for the weather every day that they come to school. This includes splash pants or snow pants (depending upon the temperature), hats and mittens. If these are not needed, then we will leave them in the backpack, but please always send them just in case. As we get into the very cold weather and snow, you may wish to consider sending a spare pair of mittens with your child in case the first pair gets wet. Also, please consider independence when purchasing winter boots for your child this year and look for some that your child can put on without assistance. Containers: If anyone has empty plastic jars or wide mouth bottles (such as empty peonut butter jars or gatorade bottles) that they could send in, it would be greatly appreciated. We need them for some "I Spy" activities that I am planning to do. At Home We have been working hard at school towards dressing independently. You can assist our efforts at home by allowing your child to put on his/her shoes and coat without assistance - ask him or her to show you the "flip trick"! I know that this sometimes takes extra time but in the long run it is well worth it for all concerned. A rule of thumb that I have found that works well as you work towards your child’s independence is: "Never do something for a child that you think he or she may be able to do for themselves". We have also learned a song to help us remember the sounds that each letter makes. I will attach a copy and although the tune may be difficult if you are not familiar with it, you can always do it as a chant with your child. Every day that the children come to school we have a "morning message" for them to read. This "message" always uses the same format and before long the children are able to read it independently. Through this we begin to identify high frequency words which are the "stepping stones" of reading. We have started with the word "is" which we identify by drawing a green triangle around it. You can assist our efforts at home by helping your child to identify the word ‘is" in picture books and library books or any other text that you may share together We are currently learning a new number each day that we come to school. Please find attached a list of the rhymes that we use to learn how to form each number. Feel free to practice these at home with your child. Making numbers (and letters) in sand, sugar on a plate, bubbles, pudding, a ziploc filled with pudding...etc. etc. are great ways for children to learn while having fun. Please also find attached the recipe that I use for making playdough. Many of you also have great recipes that you use at home, but I have had requests for this one so I thought I would attach it. Our playdough sees a lot of use, so any "donated" batches are greatly appreciated.Christmas: Christmas is fast approaching and we will soon be rehearsing for a little performance in the last week of school during the carol sings. You will see these performances noted on the December calendar. This will not be a large production but just be a few songs. You are welcome to join us to see the children on stage if you are able. In the past, parents have been extremely generous and I have received many beautiful cards and gifts for Christmas. It is sometimes difficult though, as some of the children do not understand why I am opening presents and I have frequently been asked, "Where’s my presents?" or "When do I get to open presents?" With this in mind, I wondered if you might perhaps consider an alternative. In lieu of teacher gifts, would you consider purchasing one of the many items that we frequently use in our classroom? This way, the children will see the gift as something for all of us. We have tried this for the past couple of years and it has been an amazing success. We have received so many wonderful things for the classroom that have really added to our program. The children have not only enjoyed seeing the presents opened, but they have also been able to see their items being used throughout the year. I am attaching a list of some of the items that we could use in case you would like to consider this option. You may notice that some of the items are different than previous years and some have been omitted completely (in this case, parents have been so generous that we have enough to last for this year!). Please do not feel any compulsion to partake, I just wanted to give parents an alternative idea.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me at the school. Sincerely, Carol Hayward
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