March is a month of cheer that brings many changes and Spring weather. Your children are blossoming just like the flowers of the season. This month is filled with family activities, literacy, celebrations, announcements and the return of daylight savings time. Let's leap into this month's news

The Family Literacy Project is a family reading program for parents of infants, toddlers and preschoolers presented by the Education department staff. Participants will gain knowledge, receive free books and create a child album! See flyer information below or ask your child's teacher for more information.

Join us as we celebrate the love of reading the week of March 17th to March 21st. See the flyer information below and be prepared to participate in the theme filled week sure to create learning experiences a ton of fun for all!

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We hope this message finds you well. We would like to make you aware of the updated tentative date for a solar panel project at Ramona that will impact parking, specifically for Early Head Start families. Solar panel canopies will be installed in two main sections of the parking lot beginning June 2nd, 2025 for fencing installation with panel installation beginning shortly after. During this time, parking will be available on the outer perimeter spaces of the parking lot.

Additionally, street parking on Dinard and Mapedale streets will be allowed, as the city of Norwalk has given the district permission to park Monday through Friday along those streets. Please remember not to block driveways or the red loading zone designated for the school bus.

The contractors have provided us with a tentative completion date in late August, 2025. We will continue to send updates throughout the project installation, so you are aware of parking impacts. We want to thank you in advance for your cooperation as we strive to ensure the safety of our students, parents, and staff.

• Parent volunteers are essential to our program success! Part of the requirement of Head Start is to have parents volunteer as part of matching federal funds received to implement our amazing Early Education programs. Every year we recognize parent volunteers at a luncheon. To be invited to the luncheon, Early Head Start parents need to have 130 hours and Head Start parents need to have 100 hours of volunteer hours. The deadline to submit hours to be recognized at the luncheon is APRIL 11th, 2025. Please ask your child's teacher how you can volunteer, as we need volunteers at all times during the school year.

The Early Education Toddler and Preschool classroom environment is guided by The Creative Curriculum for Preschool and Toddlers which is a comprehensive, research-based curriculum that features exploration and discovery as a way of learning, enabling children to develop confidence, creativity, and lifelong critical thinking skills. It is designed to support teachers to plan and implement a developmentally appropriate, content-rich program for children with diverse backgrounds and skill levels.

The children have begun to show an interest in plants and the fruits and vegetables that grow on them. For example, whenever we go outside, the children are curious about the plants they see around them, and, during mealtimes, they have shared their observations about the fruits and vegetables we eat. These interests have inspired us to begin a study of gardening. We will use children’s questions as the basis of our investigations and learn how to plan and care for a garden, how gardens grow, who helps gardens grow, how gardens help people and the environment, and how to harvest a garden.

As we study balls, we will learn concepts and skills in literacy, math, science, social studies, the arts, and technology. We’ll also be using thinking skills to investigate, ask questions, solve problems, make predictions, and test our ideas

The annual parent survey will be sent out to all parents in April. Please check your email for the survey or ask your child's teacher for a paper survey next month. Each child who returns the survey will receive a small academic gift for completed surveys submitted electronically or directly to a teacher.

Sanchez ST/Pre 1: 92.99% Teacher: Christine Najar

Sanchez ST/Pre 21: 90.26% Teacher: Marcella Perez

Glazier 101: 90.20% Teacher: Yolanda DeVilla FSW: Johanna Rubio

Glazier 100: 90.46% Teacher: Rosa Carillo FSW: Johanna Rubio

Johnston Full Day: 92.16% Teacher: Laura Perez FSW: Brenda Robledo

Ramona EHS Room 12: 94.21% Teachers: Saida Rangel & Aurora Texpan FSW: Adriana Romero

Kudos to the classes with 90% or more attendance in the month of February! Keep up the good work, attendance counts! Miss school and you miss out!

Ms. Laurel Parker, Director, has announced her retirement effective May 1, 2025. She has been the Program Director for 20 years and worked in other positions in the Program for four years prior to that. Before coming to the Early Education Program, she was a special education teacher at Nuffer and elementary teacher at Hargitt, Moffitt, and Chavez Schools. In total, she has served NLMUSD for 38 years. Her position is currently flying, and the District's goal is to have a new Director in place prior to her departure. We will all miss her greatly, her impact on the lives of staff, students and families is immeasurable.

-Monday March 10th, 2025 No School Staff Development Day

-1st Day of Spring March 20th, 2025

-Daylight Savings Time (clocks spring forward one hour) March 9th, 2025

Leprechaun Hats

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cucumber
• ¼ yellow bell pepper
• 4 ounces low-fat cheese (such as mozzarella, provolone, cheddar, or Monterey Jack)

Directions

• Cut ½ of the cucumber crosswise into three 1-inch sections.
• Stand the cucumber sections up, and cut each section in half to make the top of the hat.
• Cut the other ½ cucumber into thin strips that are a little longer than the cucumber sections to make the brim of the hat.
• Cut the pepper into 6 small squares.
• Cut the cheese into 6 thin strips.6.
• Take one cucumber section, one strip of cheese, one cucumber strip, and one pepper square to form a hat.

Makes 6 servings

**peeling and cutting will need to be completed by an adult**

If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the program office at (562) 210-4205 to speak with an administrator.

Early Education Program Administration Team

• Director: Laurel Parker
• Assistant Directors: Amie Wilson Bird, Loretta Gallegos, and Marisol Martinez-Garcia