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Early Childhood Families,
We are excited to offer you a monthly newsletter with information about upcoming events and other news at the Early Childhood Center. The EC Family Newsletter will be electronically distributed during the first week of every month.
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News from Miss Misty
Thank you to all the EC families for all your support of our programs!
Just a few reminders to keep our students and families safe during drop off and pick up:
1) Please make sure you hold your younger child(ren)'s hand in the hallway especially at dismissal time. The front doors are opening often and we have had a few close calls of students and/or their siblings going out the door without a parent or caregiver.
2) Please stay in line when signing in/out and at the classroom doors. We try to be efficient with our dismissal procedures while making sure the students are being released to approved person(s). Please keep siblings with you in the hallway as we are working on routines and independence in the classroom.
3) Please enter the parking lot off of Main Avenue and exit onto Hwy 174. Just follow the arrows in the parking lot. This keeps the traffic flow going in the right direction. Also, please drive slowly as we have little ones that tend to dart out without looking. That being said, please continue to hold your child(ren)'s hand in the parking lot.
Thank you for your understanding and assistance in making EC a safe environment for all our children.
We would like to invite all pre-kindergarten parents (MWF, M-F, and M-TH classes) to join us on the field trip October 21st. Permission slips were sent home and are due October 7th. All adults, including parents, must have a cleared background screening on file in order to attend with our group. This form must be completed each school year. Forms can be found on the EC website under the Preschool Tab or we have forms at the front office. We would also like to invite all parents to attend the Fall Parties on October 20th and 22nd. Again, all adults attending must have a cleared background screening. Sign up for activities, snacks, and volunteers will be send via email. Starting on November 1st, all classroom newsletters will be sent home via email and will be posted on the EC building website. If you do not have access to the internet, please notify your child's teacher so we can get you a paper copy. At the Early Childhood Center, our goal is to create a positive learning environment for all our students. Please don't hesitate to contact me with questions or concerns, and always feel free to let us know your successes as well! misty.kinsey@republicschools.org or 417-735-3736 Thank you, Miss Misty
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Curriculum
There are five curriculum components identified in the High/Scope curriculum;
- Active Learning: Initiative, KDIs
- Daily Routine: Plan/Do/Review, Small Group Time, Large Group Times
- Learning Environment: Areas, Materials, Storage
- Adult-Child Interaction: Interaction Strategies, Encouragement, Problem-Solving Approach to Conflict
- Assessment: Teamwork, Daily Anecdotal Notes, Daily Planning, Child Assessment
There are also five important learning areas that we refer to as Key Developmental Indicators (KDIs).
These curriculum content areas are:
- Approaches to Learning: Initiative and Planning, Problem Solving with Materials, Reflection
- Language, Literacy, & Communication: Speaking, Listening and Comprehension, Phonological Awareness, Alphabetic Knowledge, Reading, Book Enjoyment and Knowledge, Writing
- Social & Emotional Development: Emotions, Building Relationships with Adults, Building Relationships with Other Children, Community, Conflict Resolution
- Physical Development, Health, & Well-being: Gross Motor Skills, Fine Motor Skills, Personal Care and Healthy Behavior
- Arts & Sciences: Mathematics, Creative Arts, Science and Technology, Social Studies
Instead of teaching young children reading,writing, math, science, and social studies through drills, workbooks, or other "school-like"activities, in High/Scope settings we provide experiences and materials to help children
develop the abilities they need for tackling these subjects in elementary school. For example; to set the stage for reading and writing, we offer children many opportunities throughout the day to listen to stories, look at
books and other printed materials, and work with writing tools. To promote math abilities, we offer materials that encourage children to use their beginning skills in counting objects and comparing numbers. We also use numbers and number concepts in our general conversations with children. To help children develop their interest in science, we encourage them to use (and compare) different materials and to explore the outside world. To give children an understanding of the community they live in, we give them opportunities to work with others and to participate in making group decisions.
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Developmental Stages Spotlight
Developmental Stages of Writing
Learning to write involves much more than forming letters of the alphabet. It includes understanding why people write and how words are organized on a page. Your child will go through stages of development while learning to write just as he did when learning to talk. Your child will need many opportunities to experiment with different materials. Finger and hand muscles must be developed and strengthened in order to have the skills needed for writing. Having your child write letters over and over before the hand and finger muscles are ready may be frustrating and your child may lose interest.
Click on the following link to view the 11 stages of writing:
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Tips from Nurse Cindy
October - Eye Safety Month
Common signs of vision troubles in children include: frequently rubbing eyes, squinting, tilting or turning the head to look at objects, wandering eyes, avoiding close activities, frequent headaches, holding materials close to the face, or frequently covering one eye. If your child displays any of these symptoms, please schedule an appointment to have their eyes checked.
Eye safety is just as important as eye health. From sports and recreation, to toys and fireworks, an eye injury can happen at any time. You can help protect you child from injury by wearing protective eye-wear when appropriate, supervise your child's use of pencils and scissors, provide only age-appropriate toys, and eliminate hazards that may cause falls. If your child should experience an eye injury seek medical attention immediately.
We all want our children to be happy and healthy, and we want to protect them from harm. We can best achieve this goal by providing safe toys, environments, and always have adult supervision.
I can be reached at (417) 735-3742 if you have any questions or concerns. Cindy Thompson RN, BSN
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Motor Development
Tummy Time
In order for our students to learn good hand skills, how to control a crayon, and how to sit in a chair, they must first have good core and shoulder stability and strength. An easy way to do this is by incorporating "tummy time" into daily routines. By lying on their stomachs supported by their elbows, children specifically strengthen their core, neck, and shoulders. This can be accomplished during story time, when watching T.V., or while playing a game.
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Speech and Language
Your child's speech begins with early vocalizations at 2 or 3 months, followed by babbling (playful, vocal sound) around 5 to 7 months, and then jargon (strings of sounds or syllables produces with a variety of stress and intonation) from 8-24 months. Jargon typically disappears by the age of 3. These various types of vocalizations usually continue through the child's first 50 words. By 12 months, the child is starting to string the sounds together to form "true" words.
How intelligible is your child's speech to a stranger during his early years? There is a broad range of normal, but typically a child at 24 months of age is 25% to 50% intelligible to strangers. At 2-3 years, the child is 50% to 75% intelligible. At 3 to 4 years, the child is 80% intelligible. At 4 to 5 years, the child is 90% to 100% intelligible to a stranger, though a few articulation errors may be present. You can help your child speak more clearly if you:
- Use short sentences but don't use baby talk.
- Model correct speech for your child.
- Pronounce words slowly and correctly to the child to hear and imitate.
- Look at your child when you are talking.
- Let the child watch your face, lips, and tongue as you form sounds and words, prolonging the speech sound the child has difficulty saying (for example, "Where is your ssssock?")
- Repeat new words and sounds over and over, and use them often in your conversation with the child.
- Make a scrapbook with your child, cut out and paste pictures of objects the child learns to say or recognize.
- Give cues or prompts, such as "Try that name again," or "It's not 'boap,' it's 'ssssoap'."
- Praise your child when sounds are correct, especially if the sounds were previously difficult for the child.
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Building Improvement Plan
The Early Childhood Leadership team developed goals for our Building School Improvement Plan based upon each age group/class option that reflects the foundational skills needed for readiness. The team selected three goals; one addressing literacy, one for numeracy, and one for social interaction skills for the 2015-16 school year.
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Literacy
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Book Knowledge and Enjoyment
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Numeracy
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Observing and Classifying
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Social/Emotional
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Building Relationships with Other Children
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Teachers are currently collecting anecdotal data for the three goal areas. The baseline for those goals will follow after our first quarter assessment.
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Mark Your Calendar
October 5 & 6 Republic Library Visits
October 20 Parent/Teacher Conferences (PK) 4-7:30pm
October 21 Fall Field Trip for PK students
October 22 Parent/Teacher Conferences (PK) 4-7:30pm
October 28 Fall Parties (MWF and M-F Classes)
10:30-11:30am and 2:30-3:30pm
October 29 Fall Parties (T/TH and M-TH Classes)
10:30-11:30am and 2:30-3:30pm
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Thank you for taking time to check out our building updates this month. Please contact us with any questions, or if we can help you in any way.
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