ECE Connection

Inside this edition you will find:

• Director's Message
• HECAC Winter Survey
• My Child Is Sick Now What?: January's Virtual Parent Workshop *January 14th*
• MLK Day of Service *January 20th*
• What's Happening In Early Childhood?
• PIRS Corner
• Nurses Nook
• Communication Flow Chart
• Director Mara's Book of the Week
• Change is Hard
• HMS Middle School Show: Alice in Wonderland *February 6th, 7th, and 8th*

Dear Early Childhood Families,

Winter has surely made itself known this week. I know the excitement of seeing snow falling was a big hit in our classrooms. Any preschool teacher can tell you that there are two types of amazing days for our Preschool students. The first is if they can mark off snowy on their weather chart and the second is if they can see snow falling from the window. It is always fun to check off the weather each day, but even more fun if it is one that is not so common to check off! If you haven't had the chance to fill out the HECAC winter parent survey, you can find it below. Be sure to sign up for our virtual January woprkshop next week with our preschool nurse. Sign up information can be found below as well. Just a reminder that Monday, January 20th, 2025 the Hoboken Public School District will be closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. School will resume on Tuesday, January 21st, 2025.

I wanted to share a few important upcoming dates with you to put on your radar:

Thursday, February 13th, 2025 there will be a 1:00 PM dismissal. There will be no Wrap services on this day.

Friday, February 14th, 2025 and Monday, February 17th, 2025 the Hoboken Public School District will be closed for President's Day. School will resume on Tuesday, February 18th, 2025.

Friday, April 11th, 2025 there will be a 1:00 PM dismissal. There will be no Wrap services on this day.

Monday, April 14th to Friday, April 18th the Hoboken Public School District will be closed for Spring Break. School will resume on Monday, April 21st, 2025.

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Our travel policy has gone through some updates. Please be aware that after 9 consecutive absences, your child's seat will not be held for them. When you return from traveling, you will have to provide an updated lease and secondary residency documentation. Once this is received your child will be placed in an open seat. This does not mean that they will be able to be placed in the same classroom as they were in before they left. We can not hold seats for students.

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Remember, our HOPES and MSELC school day starts at 8:30 and dismissal is at 2:30. These drop off and pickup times do not apply for students in morning or afternoon WRAP programs. If you are going to be late dropping off in the morning or picking up in the afternoon, please make sure to call or email your family advocate.

As a friendly reminder, please remember to call your family advocate and let them know the reason for your child being absent no later than 9:15 am. If you can not call your family advocate, please email dbrookes@hoboken.k12.nj.us. In your email, please state:

• your child's name
• provider
• site
• teacher
• reason for absence
• when we can expect them back in school

There are so many wonderful things happening in our Pre-K classrooms! Please continue reading below to see updates from each site and more.

Kind regards,

Kimberly Mara

Director of Early Childhood Education

One of the many lessons we have learned from Rev. Dr. King is the importance of service to others. This year, we will engage the entire community in a Day of Service in Honor of Dr. MLK's Legacy. Our families and community members may take a moment during the observance of Dr. King's birthday to give back to their communities. Faculty, staff, students, and families may capture their individual or collective service to the community and share pictures and videos on social media tagging #dayofservice and #HPShelpinghands to create a montage showing the value of service through our social media outlets. Here is how you can participate:

1. Highlight this important day of service via photos, videos, drawings, poetry, artwork, etc.;

2. Identify a need for your community. Here are some examples:

1. Send a note/card to The Hoboken Senior Services-Senior Center, 124 Grand Street;

2. Make a donation of clothes or household items to The Hoboken Shelter, 300 Bloomfield Street;

3. Make a donation of food to the Hoboken Food Pantry, 1301 Washington Street;

4. Help to beautify our Hoboken neighborhood by picking up litter in our parks.

5. Donate a new or slightly used book or volunteer to be a reader at the Hoboken Library;

6. Write letters to frontline helpers like our partners at Hoboken University Medical Center, Hoboken Fire Department, Hoboken Volunteer Ambulance Corps, or the Hoboken Police Department.

3. Take a picture of you and your family participating in the act of giving;

4. Share a picture or video of your service with sdickerson@hoboken.k12.nj.us or christopher.munoz@hoboken.k12.nj.us so we can create our district montage.

1. If posting to social media, please tag and use the hashtags #HPSdayofservice & #HPShelpinghands

1. @HobokenSchools

2. @HPSHighlights

3. @CityofHoboken

4. @HudsonCoNJDOE

5. @NewJerseyDOE

Students in Ms. Lanza's class have been taking their time to review all the important classroom rules this week as well as the schedule. Small group lessons are a class favorite, but the part of the day that students love the best is center time. They enjoying playing in the kitchen and building with blocks!

In Ms. Allende's PSD clasroom students continue discussing winter and made melted snowman. They are also exploring different winter animals and read “Animals in Winter” by Henrietta Bancroft. Students have been excited to start their restaurant theme and have been working on their props for the centers. The students made personal pizzas and donuts. Dramatic play will now be the pizzeria and art will be Dunkin Donuts.

Students in classroom 121 made "SNOW!"

First, students gathered their supplies, which included a bin to place the items in, baking soda, shaving cream, a spoon, and their hands for mixing.

Next, they placed the bin at the center of the table for all to see. Students added the baking soda and then they added the shaving cream. They mixed and mixed!

While students were mixing, they noticed that the texture changed and much to the students surprise, the snow was cold! It was so cool.

Everyone had fun making snowballs and discussing the findings.

The children in classroom 022 have been hard at work practicing their spirals during graphics practice. Teachers love to hear their private speech (out, out, out) while they draw their spirals. They also have been working on their venger drawings which is a super fun math activity. The children brainstormed all the things they see shaped like a rectangle. Then added to a rectangle shape on their paper. Students had houses, castles, robots, race cars, and many other things shaped like a rectangle! Students are enjoying playing the super fun game of "I Have Who Has" with upper case letters. The children love this game the most and are practically playing without any teacher support!

In Room 200, students were introduced to a special Wishing Tree as part of a New Year’s celebration. Each student had the opportunity to make a wish and share it with the class before placing it on the tree. During the "Share the News" time, students excitedly exchanged their wishes with one another, sparking conversations filled with hope and imagination. Wishes ranged from "rainbows" and "snow" to "playdates," each one reflecting the students’ unique dreams for the year ahead. The magic continued during storytime as the class read T"he Wish Tree" by Kao, further inspiring their creativity and sense of wonder. The Wishing Tree became a beautiful symbol of the students’ shared hopes and a reminder of the power of dreams.

Today, students experimented with salt water paintings! Together, they compared their paintings from earlier in the week, discussed how much salt and water they might need to make a salt water paste, and whether it would show up the second time they painted. They were very pleased with their results.

In room J100 with Ms. Adela, Ms Cynthia, and Ms. Beatris, the children are working on their math skills and how to tally the most liked ice cream flavors from a variety of given flavors. They learned that in the classroom the two most favorite flavors are strawberry and vanilla and the least favorite was pineapple flavored ice cream.

This week the students in Room 100 began to learn about Chinese New Year. We read a book titled Happy Chinese New Year. The book taught us about what foods are eaten, what types of clothing are worn, and what type of decorations are made during The Chinese New Year. The students also learned that numbers are written as symbols in Chinese. After students read the story the students got to work creating their own fans and lanterns for the Chinese New Year. The class is looking forward to learning more about this holiday.

In class the students read the book "A Silly Snow Day". After the story, they conducted a science experiment and made predictions to see if they could make snow with insta-snow powder. The students watched the powder absorb the water quickly and expand, mimicking the texture and appearance of real snow without the cold temperature. The children enjoyed playing in the snow on their silly snow day in the classroom.

Students in room 001 are practicing their letter formation during Graphics Practice with snakes in the grass to represent letter S. Students used their private speech (curve in, curve out) for each letter.

New Year, New Routines

As many of us have been inspired to take on a new year’s resolution, we also might be looking to create new habits within our family circle. The beginning of the year can be a good time to establish new routines with your children. They have been learning about the new year and have had loads of practice establishing routines in school.

When daily activities are predictable and familiar, we all tend to feel more confident and secure. Telling children specifically what they should be doing rather than what they should not do increases the likelihood of reaching goals such as smooth sailing during bedtime routines or getting out the door on time in the morning. Many parents have successfully created visual schedules with their children using pictures, drawings or charts to help communicate expectations. Setting up new routines and a consistent daily schedule help children know what they should be doing, how long (and how well) they are doing the expected activity, and what will happen next. Celebrating positive outcomes with children can help build and nurture relationships with them. These experiences can also benefit their sense of belonging, self-confidence and overall behavior. As children gain more skills through their routines, they start to become more independent and also learn to adjust to change more easily.

Tips on establishing new routines and schedules:

• Think about the things your family does every day. You don’t necessarily need to do anything new. Keeping it simple is a great way to start. Choose a difficult time of day (i.e. getting ready for school, bedtime, etc.) to begin. Once it becomes routine, you can easily expand the schedule to include your entire day.

• Involve your child in the creation of new routines. These conversations may provide insight regarding what your child needs or finds difficult to accomplish.

• Break down one or more scheduled tasks into steps to create a routine. Once the routine is established, let your child “take charge” of the parts of the routine that they can do on their own or with a little assistance.

• Reviewing the schedule every morning and throughout the day with your child helps them know what is going to happen next.

• Consistency is key - Try to keep the routine and schedule as similar as possible each day.

• Flexibility is important too. If something happens or plans have changed, let your child know ahead of time. Providing warning that things are going to be different will let them know what is going to happen and increases the likelihood of success.

• When possible, offer a choice in activities or the steps of a routine.

• It takes time to learn to do things differently, so give your new routine time to work.

For more information:

• How to Help Your Child Have a Successful Morning

• How to Use Visual Schedules to Help Your Child Understand Expectations

Staying Healthy Activities:

Physical Edition: More exercise or treat yourself to a gadget-free day.

Mind Edition: Take time to look after your mental health; practice any

technique that works for you.

Bedtime Edition: Create a relaxing bedtime routine, including putting on

pajamas, brushing teeth, and reading stories.

Q: What should be included in an acceptable religious exemption?

A: The parent/guardian’s handwritten statement must be signed and dated. A

type-written statement must include the parent/guardian’s

handwritten signature and date.

Q. Is an emailed religious exemption statement acceptable? Updated:

October 2024

A: An emailed religious exemption without a parent’s signature would not

be acceptable in NJ. A religious exemption must identify the exempted

child, be dated, and be signed by the student’s parent/guardian. A

type-written statement must include the parent/guardian’s

handwritten signature and date and can be given to the school as a

printed document or scanned and sent electronically to the school

In the Early Childhood Program we operate using an upward communication procedure. If you have any questions, concerns, etc. please refer to the chart linked below when sending an email. When in doubt please send your email to your child's Family Advocate and he/she will escalate it to the appropriate person.

Another school week behind us means another favorite book to share with all of you!

There is one rule when listening to this weeks book. It is really quite simple. You can NOT think about tigers. Not even a little bit! In "Don't Think of Tigers" by Alex Latimer the author is really good at drawing what you are thinking, he just can not draw tigers. So please, do not think of them while you are reading the book. Can you think of a cow doing ballet? Great! Oh boy, you keep thinking of tigers! How many silly tigers can the author draw? Count and let me know. Happy reading!

Email: kmara@hoboken.k12.nj.us
Location: 1115 Clinton Street, Hoboken, NJ, USA
Phone: 201-356-3695