It's a Good Day in Pre-K

Welcome to Pre-K! My name is Mike Burns and I am the Early Learning Principal with Questar III BOCES. I oversee all of our Pre-K classrooms at East Greenbush, Ichabod Crane, Berlin, Cairo Durham, and Catskill. I often visit the classrooms so you will probably be hearing your kids talk about Mr. Mike! We all look forward to meeting you and your kids! Have a great school year! If you ever have any questions or concerns, please feel free to call me at (518) 479-6898 or email me at michael.burns@questar.org

For some of you this will be your child's first experience in a school setting. Anxiety and worry are totally normal, for both you and your children. Our teachers and teaching assistants are professionals and work very hard to make sure everyone feels safe and welcome.

The first day of school is a lot and your children will be tired! They will be learning about their classrooms, the rules and routines and getting to know each other. They will start building trusting relationships with their teachers and with each other. I am very proud of our Pre-K program and what we provide your children. It is our goal that come September 2025 your child will be ready for kindergarten and beyond!

Attached also find "13 Tips for Starting Preschool" https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/13-tips-starting-preschool which has a list of great read aloud books to share with your children.

We follow the NYS Early Learning Standards for our students. To address those standards we use a program called "Learning Without Tears." We also supplement this with 35 weeks of phonological and phonemic awareness lessons with Heggerty Phonemic Awareness. Your children are assessed three times a year in early literacy and early numeracy skills. The teachers will share this data with you during parent conferences and throughout the year. And while academics is important, so is play! Much of what we do in Pre-K is based on play which is extremely important for your child's development. According to research, "play is an essential aspect of the development; key skills including social, behavioral, language, and cognitive are all experienced through play opportunities." These opportunities will grow as they do!

Pre-K is very routine based. Research shows, " routines support healthy social emotional development in early childhood. In particular, children with regular routines at home have self-regulation skills, the building blocks of good mental health."

So how can you do this at home? I have spoken to parents that struggle with this, especially with busy family schedules or work. If you are struggling with routines take a look at the attached article. https://zerotothrive.org/routines-for-kids/

I love to stay ahead with trends in education and expose our early learners to as much as I can. Last year, we piloted 3D printers in two of our classrooms. This year, I hope to add more to our classrooms. This was a very exciting opportunity for our students to foster creativity and their critical thinking skills. They were able to create items that they used in the classroom and/or donated to those in need. This was a fidget toy created by our 3D printer. "Flexy Rexy" was our first toy and helps those that needed to release tension or stay focused.

This year we also introduced our Pre-schoolers to robotics and coding! Partnering with Model Schools, we have brought in robots such as Sphero Indi, which introduces the students to world of robotics and coding! We will continue this program this year. Kasey Labarge, a school improvement specialist with Questar III BOCES, will be bringing Spero and other fun and exciting STEM activities into your children's classrooms! Want to see Indi? Take a look! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWo3QBNPRRE

This is just a small taste of the fun and rewarding experiences your child will have and why I call my newsletters, "It's a Good Day in Pre-K." I wish you and your children a successful and fun year and look forward to working with your kids.

-Mike