The Patrick Henry Post

Patrick Henry Elementary starts at the very foundations with our students in preschool. We accept students from the age of 3 and help mold and shape their young minds into curious, creative thinkers who love to learn. We also help guide their social, emotional, and physical growth through fine and gross motor activities, collaborative learning, and a play-based curriculum. This week's Patrick Henry Post celebrates all things PRE-K! Take a look below for some of the great things that our four Early Childhood classrooms have been exploring in the first month of school.

The students have been learning non-stop in Pre-K! Over the last four weeks, the students have been learning how to follow classroom rules, procedures, and routines. They have even practiced a fire drill and tornado drill! During literacy circle, the students have been studying letters and letter sounds. We also focused on first name recognition. During math circle, the students have been exploring counting and graphing. I look forward to seeing the students grow and have fun. We are off to a great start!

Hello Families! Your Pre-K students have been busy learning and mastering the routines in the classroom. I cannot believe we just finished our fourth week of school! During the past four weeks, we have been busy getting to know each other and making friends. Every week we focus on a new theme in our classroom. This past week we learned about colors. Some of the highlights from the week were sorting colors with fruit loops, painting with their favorite color and mixing colors. We are also focusing on recognizing and reading our names, learning our letters, and counting. All year long, the students will be working hard and I look forward to watching your children learn and grow!

Welcome to Pre-K! This is the first time in a school setting for many of our preschoolers. We are busy learning rules so we can stay safe and have fun. In the first few weeks of school, our preschoolers have become familiar with their routine, love their morning circle time-which includes a good morning song, days of the week, and counting to 100-and love their center time! Over the next few weeks, we will open a medical dramatic play center, we will focus on our letters, and we will begin to make connections between stories we are reading. There is so much to learn, and we still have so much to cover from learning the correct way to walk in line, to pushing our chairs in, to learning to take turns and share, to regulating our emotions. I have big plans for this class, and I am excited to watch the kids grow!

We had so much fun reading our first book together - "The More We Get Together". It was all about working, playing, singing and learning together as friends at school. We really enjoyed reading from our small books of our own too! We even were able to make a collage of our school - Patrick Henry Elementary - where we work and play all day as friends.

We also enjoyed a group art project in our room - finger painting with whipped cream! We used this sensory experience to practice our circles while we worked on our pre writing. School and learning is so much fun!!

Preschool could never run smoothly without our Support Staff. In Early Childhood, we have two types of support staff - Teaching Assistants and Special Education Instructional Care Aides. We currently have five full-time staff members who are working tirelessly every day to support our students academically, socially, and emotionally. Thank you to Ms. Tierra Bankhead, Ms. Barbara Hill, Ms. Qiarra Blue, Mr. Malik Easley, and Mr. Edmund Darris for all that you do to keep preschool a calm, happy place full of joy and learning!

Are you the parent of a 3 or 4-year old who keeps your house alive with energy and excitement? Are you ready for a nap yourself?? Parents, we know you are working so hard to care for your child, the rest of your family, and yourself, and we know how hard that can be. You are not alone! We have a beautiful community of families who are here and ready to support one another! If you want to be a part of the Patrick Henry Parent Support Group, click here to register.

If you need some parenting resources, take a look below for preschool parenting tips:

• Looking for resources on everything about your preschooler? Check out this bank of resources through the National Association for the Education of Young Children that includes: behavior and development, play, math, literacy, creativity, digital media, outdoor learning, science, and school readiness
• Does your child struggle with self control? Check out the article "Help Your Preschooler Learn Self-Control"
• Does your child struggle to understand the world around them, or even their own actions? Check out the article "Guide Your Preschooler with Questions"
• Trying to stay connected with family and friends who live far away? Check out the Tips for Video Chats with Kids

This Monday, we invited Patrick Henry students to bring their grandparents to school. "Grandma," "Grandpa," "Paw Paw," "Mimi," "Granny," and so many other nicknamed individuals came through our doors to spend the morning with their grandchild. It was a beautiful day seeing the faces of our students light up when they saw their grandparent walk through their classroom door. Grandparents have such a special place in a child's life, and we are lucky to have the support of so many grandparents in the Patrick Henry community!

Our Related Arts teachers had hundreds of names to choose from this week to reward our students who are meeting all of their expectations in Art, Music, and PE class, and these were the lucky winners this week! Congrats to Olivia Deavault, Ayden Davis, Geremih Parris, Kerion Pawnell, Anthony Madison, Charley Massey-Thompson, and Olivia Dorsey!

Our goal this week was to clear the garden beds of the end of our summer growth season. Our students do all of the planting, tending, harvesting, and cooking of our produce, but there is always a part of the season where we need adult hands to help us remove our garden waste and turn it into mulch. Our US Bank partners helped us this year to make sure our students have beautiful and fresh garden beds for their fall and winter planting! Patrick Henry is one of the only sources of fresh produce for the 63106 area, and we are a true community garden. Our neighbors and students can grow and pick anything they want, and they use the garden as a true science lab every day to see what grows and what doesn't. This summer was a study in what happens when we get too much rain - some of our crops thrived and some were drowned! Our students learn so much in this space, and we are only able to maintain it because of volunteer groups and community partners. Thank you, US Bank!

After two long Covid years with no chess instruction, we are so happy to welcome St. Louis Chess Club back to Patrick Henry! Our 2nd and 3rd grade students will be introduced to chess this semester and learn the fundamentals of an ancient game that will challenge them mathematically, strategically, and socially. We cannot wait to see how much our students grow this school year!

This week on Wednesday, we invited the Patrick Henry families to an in-person meeting to discuss our school's status as a Title I school. Ms. Webb led us in schoolwide updates, procedures for parent communication, food, games, and prizes! Thank you to all Patrick Henry families who participated, we hope to see more at our next meeting!

All SLPS will be closed on Friday, September 23rd so that staff can have an in-service day of professional development. Enjoy your three-day weekend!

On Friday, October 14th, families will receive their child's 1st quarter Report Card via email. Please make sure you have updated your contact information if you do not have a current email address or phone number. You can update your contact information by calling the school at 314.231.7284 or by clicking here.

Parents are invited in person for Parent-Teacher Conferences the week of October 17th, Monday-Thursday. Please schedule your conference with your child's teacher. Available times are listed below:

• Monday, October 17th, 3:15-5:15pm
• Tuesday, October 18th, 3:15-5:15pm
• Wednesday, October 19th, 3:15-5:15pm
• Thursday, October 20th, 3:15-3:45pm

You should also receive a packet of interventions from your child's teacher this week. Every student will receive a one-pager to explain their current Reading and Math level, and what you can do at home with your child to make sure they are always challenged and growing as Readers and Mathematicians!

All SLPS schools will be closed on Friday, October 21st.

On Friday, October 28th, Patrick Henry will celebrate Halloween with our students through an amazing event at the school! We invite all students to bring or wear a costume to school that day, but please remember that all costumes must still be school-appropriate and cannot have any type of weapon, even as a part of the costume. We are always in need of family support for this event, so please see the ways you can contribute below:

• Donate candy to the school for our candy stations (all candy welcome!)
• Volunteer the day of the event (Friday, October 28th, 1:00-2:30pm) - We need people to help run our stations, walk with the students through the event, and support the teachers as they assist students with costumes and candy collection
• Donate bags for the students to use to collect and hold their candy

Parents must be a registered volunteer with the district in order to participate in this event. Please contact Shanice Webb for more details: shanice.webb@slps.org, 314.231.7284