WILLIAM E. NORRIS PRESCHOOL

Ms.Roxie and Ms.Jennifer

The purpose of the page is to keep parents informed of monthly activities and up coming events.

NORRIS PRESCHOOL JANUARY 2012 NEWSLETTER

THEMES:  For the month of January we will focus on a winter theme.  All month our activities will be about winter weather, winter/arctic animals and the color white.  We will include topics such as snowmen, icicles, polar bears, igloos, and winter clothing.  We will paint with marshmallows, with ice cubes, and with marbles and white paint!  We will have some activities involving shapes and sequencing and cutting.  It’s that time of year!!

ILLNESS/HEALTH:   In our preschool handbook that we reviewed at the parent orientation meeting in September, it states:  “There will be times when your child is not feeling well.  In fairness to his/her classmates and teachers, please refrain from sending them to school until you feel that their good health has returned.”  In addition to that statement, we would like to add that parents be cognizant of the fact that three and four year olds often times do not yet know how to cover their coughs or blow their noses  and therefore spread their germs very easily.  They touch and share toys, have their hands on tabletops, hold hands with their friends and are in close proximity with everyone in the classroom.  If staff needs to spend a lot of time tending to an unhealthy child, it takes away from their work with children and impacts the quality of the school day. Please, please, please recognize the importance of your child’s health.  You would not want a sick child coming to school and infecting your child and we ask that you consider that when determining whether or not your child is well enough to be in school.

PROGRESS REPORTS:  Written progress reports will be sent home to all families at the end of the month.  This is the first of two progress reports, the other will be sent home at the end of the school year.  If you have any questions or concerns after reviewing your child’s report you should call and speak with your child’s teacher to see if you should schedule a parent/teacher conference.  The progress reports that we use are aligned with the Mass. State Frameworks and are similar to the new standards based progress reports that are being used by the entire district.  In March we will have our next parent/teacher conferences.

WINTER CLOTHING:  As another reminder, children should bring appropriate clothing for outdoor play.  This includes hats, mittens (we prefer mittens to gloves), snow pants and boots.  Also, CHILDREN SHOULD ALWAYS HAVE SHOES AND/OR SLIPPERS TO WEAR AT SCHOOL.  BOOTS SHOULD NOT BE WORN IN THE CLASSROOM.  You may choose to leave shoes or slippers in their cubby if you do not want to bring them back and forth from home.

ENCOURAGING CHILDREN’S INDEPENDENCE:  One way that you can help your children to be more independent is to encourage them to get themselves dressed and ready to go outside.  At school we have a sequence of visual pictures we use to show them the order in which to put their outdoor clothes on that is most effective in terms of time and organization.  We always prepare them for the process of getting ready by reminding them of the order in which to put their things on: 1. Pack your backpack, 2. Put on snow pants, 3.  Put on boots, 4.  Put on coat, 5. Put on hat and/or scarf and, finally, 6.  Put on mittens.  You would be surprised at how many times we get over to the cubbies and find children standing there with just their mittens on or just their coats and have no idea what they need to be doing.  It’s great to have times at home when they can practice this on their own so that they can get the hang of how this process works.  Even if you just have them practice their coats, hats and mittens it will help familiarize them with the process.  We don’t expect children to necessarily be able to zip or button, but you would be surprised that, once shown how to do these things and given the opportunity to practice a little, they often rise to the occasion and are so proud of themselves when they accomplish these tasks.  It’s also a great way to help develop organizational skills as well.  We are sending home a copy of the visual pictures that we use at school in hopes that they might be helpful to you as well. 

HOLIDAY CONCERT:  A huge thank you to everyone who took the time to bring your children to school to participate in the Holiday Concert.  The children did a fantastic job and we are so happy that once again they had the opportunity to participate in this very special event.  We realize that some of you are not able to re-arrange your work schedules in situations like this and we completely understand.

     We received so many thoughtful and generous gifts for our classroom as holiday gifts and we want you all to know how very truly grateful we are for your continuous support and commitment to our program.  THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH!!!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL!!!!!!!!!!