It's hard to believe it's already October! One month in and your children are learning rules and routines. From what I have seen there are a lot of smiles. Some of your children will be coming home tired, which is completely normal but may also mean you have to adjust their bedtimes. Some may also still have separation anxiety, which is normal as well. If this still continues as we move into October make sure to reach out to your child's teacher for tips and suggestions.

One of the things your children are already working on this year is phonemic awareness. We use a program called Heggerty to provide our students with exposure and practice with the phoneme or sounds of the language through daily phonemic awareness activities. The purpose of this is so that students better understand the relationship between letters and sounds, which is crucial for reading!

You should have already received an introduction to Heggerty newsletter which gives tips and activities you can do to support phonological awareness at home.

Our students in Genet started the school year cutting and pasting badges. Badges are a series of skills and concepts identified in the NYS standards and Mrs. L's classroom which are embedded throughout their daily teaching throughout the year. Once the students master a certain skill they receive their badge in that area. This activity also helps build our students' fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Fine motor skills are the fine and precise movements our preschoolers make with their hands and fingers while cutting. The more work they get, the stronger they become!

In Mrs. Heath's classroom in Berlin, the students did an apple study where they tasted, compared and even painted with them. Our Pre-K students begin to develop early math skills by doing these types of activities. According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children Position Statement on Early Childhood Mathematics, “Mathematics helps children make sense of their world outside of school and help them construct a solid foundation for success in school.” Not only do they learn math skills but also healthy eating habits!

More apple fun in Berlin in Mrs. Lavoo's class!

Our Green Meadow students had their first field trip to Windy Hill Orchard. The students learned about the importance of bees to the production of plants, such as apple trees! They visited the apple orchard, learned about the life cycle of the apple and how the plant is produced. They also went on a hay ride with their friends and family members and ate lunch together as a great first community building field trip of the school year

Mrs. Welch's Pre-K students visited the Kinderhook library.The students were able to get their first library card, check out their first book, and learn about all the programs and events the community library has to offer.

In Mrs. MacGiffert's Pre-K classroom in Cairo Durham students had fun with glue and glitter! While fun, these activities help develop fine motor skills, creativity, sensor concepts such as the stickiness of glue, concentration and can be quite calming. I had a lasting memory from all the glitter that was on my clothes when I left!

One of the best parts of my month was being invited to read to our preschoolers at Green Meadow. There is a hidden power to read louds; read more with attached article. Not only does it build vocabulary, but it improves comprehension, and inquiry skills. If you haven't already, build this into your nightly routines!

https://ascd.org/el/articles/the-hidden-power-of-read-alouds

Starting this month we will start Model Schools at all of our sites. This is a supplemental offering through Questar for our students to work on coding and robotics. More to come next month!

Feel free to reach me if you have any questions or concerns.

michael.burns@questar.org

(518) 479-6898