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ALBERTVILLE PRIMARY SCHOOL
MAY 2024 - KINDERGARTEN NEWSLETTER
THANK YOU FOR A WONDERFUL YEAR!
I want to thank all of you for making this year at Albertville Primary a truly marvelous experience. It has been a tremendous year! As the school year draws to a close, I hope that your minds and hearts are filled with great memories of kindergarten. I hope these memories will remain with you for years to come. Together we have learned a lot and I am very proud of each of you. Thank you parents for sharing your children with us. We hope that you have enjoyed the school year as much as we have. Thank you for providing rich and engaging, well-rounded experiences for your children. Thank you too for your belief that education is about joy, wonder and fostering curiosity, along with the development of social skills, which are needed in order to succeed. For this, we are truly grateful.
As you begin to look ahead to first grade, I have some words of advice and wisdom from Dr. Seuss, one of my favorite childhood authors. In his book, Oh, the Places You’ll Go! Dr. Seuss says, “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go…” His book is all about possibilities and though you may meet challenges along the way, if you work hard, you can get to where you want to be.
Our motto at STMA Schools is Excellence is Our Tradition. At Albertville Primary, we like to say that “Excellence Starts Here.” Your student’s successes, academically, socially and emotionally this year have made this a true statement.
I am proud to have been a small part of your child’s educational journey and look forward to hearing about her/his future success. Enjoy your summer and I wish you the best of luck in your future.
Sincerely, John McDonald—Albertville Primary Principal
“You're off to Great Places! You're off and away!” - Dr. Seuss
IMPORTANT DATES
May 6-10: Screen Free Week
May 9: Children's Mental Health Day-Wear GREEN to support Children's Mental Health
May 9: 2024-2025 Kindergarten Open House 4:30-6:30 PM
May 15 & 16: MN Zoo Field Trips
May 23: Wear LIGHT BLUE for the Character Strong Trait of CREATIVITY
May 27: No School - Memorial Day
May 30: Track & Field Day
May 31: Last Day of School
SCREEN FREE WEEK - MAY 6-10
Screen-Free Week (formerly known as TV Turn-Off) is an annual event where families and schools are encouraged to turn off screens and turn on life for even part of the week. Instead of relying on television programming, computers, and hand-held devices for entertainment, participants read, explore, enjoy nature, and spend time with family and friends. Albertville Primary will observe screen-free week May 6 - May 10. Your child’s teacher will send home a flyer with more information.
Some interesting statistics from the University of California:
· On average, children in the U.S. will spend more time in front of the TV (1500 hours) than in school this year (900 hours).
· 66% of Americans frequently or always watch television during dinner.
· The proportion of overweight children has doubled since 1978 due, in part, to sedentary activities such as television viewing.
NATIONAL SPEECH-LANGUAGE-HEARING MONTH - MAY 2024
May is National Speech-Language-Hearing Month. This is a time to raise awareness about speech and language disorders, which are among the most common disabilities that school-aged children experience. This is also a time to help all students, no matter how they communicate, to feel included in their school community.
More than 1 million children nationwide receive treatment services for speech and language
disorders each year through the school system. Left unaddressed, speech and language disorders can affect a child’s academic and social success. Speech-language pathologists in schools work with children who have difficulties in the following areas:
Speech sounds—A child may substitute one sound for another, leave sounds out, add
sounds, or change a sound. It may be hard for others to understand them.
Spoken and written language—A student may have trouble understanding what others are
communicating to them and may have problems explaining what they are thinking or feeling.
They may also have difficulty with reading and writing.
Stuttering (fluency)—A child may get stuck on certain sounds or words. They also may
have tension or negative feelings about talking. This tension can get in the way of how they
talk to others.
Cognition—A child may have problems with long- or short-term memory, attention, problem
solving, or organization.
Social communication—A student may have difficulty understanding how others feel or
following the rules of conversation, such as knowing how to take turns.
Voice—A child may lose their voice frequently or use a hoarse or breathy voice. They may
also speak with strain or effort.
Augmentative and alternative communication—A child may need to find other ways to
communicate besides talking, such as using a picture board or a speech-generating device.
Feeding and swallowing—Problems with feeding and swallowing can make it hard for a
student to participate in the school day. Speech-language pathologists help students eat and
drink safely during the school day so that they have the energy to learn.
Whether or not your child has a speech, language, and/or swallowing disorder, it’s important for
everyone to reflect on how we can be respectful and supportive to those who do. Encourage your
child to give people time to get their message out, to focus on what a person is saying rather than
how they’re saying it, and to never bully someone for how they communicate.
KINDERGARTEN TRACK & FIELD DAY - MAY 30
Each year our kindergarten students look forward to Track & Field Day. It is a culmination of the skills that students have learned and practiced in phy ed throughout the school year. Spectators are welcome to watch their child participate in Track & Field Day. To help keep the attention on our little athletes, spectators will be asked to stay within the designated spectator area. Thank you!
Each kindergarten classroom will participate in one of two 90 minute sessions. Please see the schedule below to find your child’s Track and Field Day session time.
We hope the students thoroughly enjoy this day!
Session one will be from 8:20 - 9:50am (Johnson, Christiansen, Bramos, Swanson, Eull, Totzke, Onerheim/Rossing, Frauendienst, Ward, Huggins)
Session two will be from 12:15 - 1:45pm (DuChene, Hazen, Achman, Steier, Evenson, Hanson, Wiese, Laubach, Hoelscher, Ryan)
*Due to this event being scheduled so late in the school year, we will be unable to reschedule Track & Field Day, if the weather does not permit us to hold it on this day.
ALBERTVILLE PRIMARY - KINDERGARTEN YEARBOOK
Thanks to your generosity and supporting our school fundraiser this fall, we will be able to provide each kindergarten student with a FREE Kindergarten Yearbook this year! Watch for yearbook to come home with your child at the end of the school year. Thank you families!
Clothes Donations Needed
Our nurse needs your help. She is looking for donations of Boys & Girls pants, sizes 4 - 8. She is looking for pants with elastic waistbands. No JEANS, please. She is also in need of some shirts for both boys and girls. These do NOT need to be new, gently used is great. THANK YOU!
NOTE FROM THE HEALTH OFFICE
If your child will have medication remaining in the Health Office at the end of the school year, you will receive a permission slip, asking for your permission to send the medication home with your child in his/her backpack. If your child is unable to bring the medication home in the backpack, families will need to pick up any remaining medication in the health office on Monday, June 3. Staff will be in the office all day June 3, which is a workshop day.
If you have any questions, please call me at 763-497-6520.
Chelsie Steffens
Elementary Nurse
THE BEST ACTIVITY........
The best activity you can do over the summer to help your child retain information learned over the year is to READ!
Read to self, partner read, & listening to someone read are great ways to grow as a reader.