Dear Families,
Welcome
to a new school year! We are very
excited to get to know all of our new families and can’t wait to let the
children explore in the classroom. We
look forward to a busy school year.
We
wanted to start off by inviting our families to bring in a family picture. These will be displayed in the classroom and
will give the children an opportunity to see their family when they are at
school. Sometimes it gives the children
comfort knowing they can look at their families while they are at school.
We
will have two early childhood student teachers in our classroom this term. They are students at U of M who are towards
the end of their teaching program. Maya
will be with us on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Sherrell will be with us on
Thursdays and Fridays. You will see them
around the classroom and they will be working collaboratively with Charlene and
I on explorations and learning groups with the children.
One
of the important aspects about our program is the documenting that we do. We take photographs, video clips, and write
down notes about what the children are saying and doing. This helps us to find out what the children
are thinking so we can help scaffold them to the next level of thinking and
learning. You will see documentation
around the classroom and notice webs of thinking, which children are in which
learning groups, and documentation regarding specific things happening around
the classroom. Please feel free to take a minute at drop off or pick up to
check these out. We would also love if
you wanted to write down on our communication board interesting things you may
have seen at home related to what we are talking about at school, or something
you think we could expand on at school.
We would love for our families to be as much a part of this process as
possible.
Please
know that we have some severe allergies in our classroom this semester. For this reason, we ask that parents refrain
from bringing in food from home other than what is in your child’s lunch. Any breakfast from home or snack a child had
in the car should be finished before entering the classroom. We know you will join us in maintaining the
safety of our children, which is our first priority.
We
know that starting your child at school for the first time can be stressful and
exciting at the same time. One of the
strategies we usually talk to parents about is maintaining consistency. After signing your child in for the day, hang
up coats, and put lunches away, we would invite you in to get your child acclimated
to the classroom. You are welcome to
spend some time playing with them in the classroom. When you are ready to leave, we will make
sure to continue extending that play with your child. We recommend letting your child know you are
going to leave, telling them you will be back in a little while, and then
leaving. If a parent seems anxious at
drop off time, their child will sense that and feed off of it. You are welcome to call the front desk and
they will transfer you down to the classroom so we can give up an update on
your child. We want parents to feel
secure having their child with us at school, so if there is ever anything else
we can do to help, please let us know.
Some
parents have asked us about donations to the classroom. At the beginning of the school year, we would
be interested in non-toxic house plants.
Some examples of these are: African Violets, Bamboo, Begonia, Jade,
Spider Plant, or a Boston Fern. As we
get to know the children and their interests, we will let you know if there are
any types of recycled materials we might be interested in incorporating into
the classroom.
We
will also start to update our classroom blog in the next few weeks. We will post documentation from the classroom.
It will be another neat way for families to keep track of what is happening,
and something you can share with your family and friends.
This
school year should be exciting and we are very excited to get to know the
children and all of our families. If you
ever have any questions, comments, or concerns, please do not hesitate to
ask. Thank you in advance for all of
your support this school year!
Catie
Stone and Charlene Rodegher
