Wow, can you believe that summer is over and fall is here?  I am sad the summertime flew by so quickly, but I am glad that fall is here!  I hope that you are as excited for fall as I am, because with the fall season also brings us back to school, and we are in for a fun filled year of discovery and learning.

Again, I would like to welcome you and your child to First Steps and the Onteora Universal Pre-K Program.  Along with me, there are a few other teachers in the classroom, Miss Donna, Miss sherry and Mrs. Harvey. We are delighted to have your child in my class this year.  As the school year progresses, I look forward to getting to know both you and your child.  Pre-K students will achieve much this year in terms of academic growth, greater self-confidence, and improved social skills.  I feel good communication between parent, teacher, and student is very important. 

I would like to briefly outline my plans for the month of September. During the first week I will focus on welcoming the students to Pre-K.  We will be discovering that school is a fun place to be.  The children will get to know the rules and routines of school through some fun activities and teacher modeling.

Once the children are comfortable with the routines, I will focus on the social aspect of Pre-K.  We will emerge ourselves in getting to know one another as individuals and as a class.  We will learn that we are special, that our families are special, and that our classmates are special. We will also learn about our emotions and our feeling and how to express them. 

Towards the end of September, we will wrap up our “everyone is special” unit and begin our “Having fun with apples” unit.  I have many fun and exciting activities planned.  We will paint with apples, taste and cook them, as well as some sorting activities, math and science activities.  We will analyze the seeds and the skin and learn what the different parts of apples are called (the skin, the seed and the flesh.) It will be a very exciting unit that the children will enjoy!

We are going to have a fun and productive month of September.  It will be a great start to a wonderful school year.  I hope to not only have an enjoyable and successful first month, but to continue that trend through the entire school year.  Let's have a great month and, and a great school year!

If you have any question please don't hesitate to ask. 
You can call me at First Steps, or email me at
Jshaloiko@gmail.com.

Sincerely,  

Miss Jessica

Welcome to preschool!  The start of school is an exciting, joyful time as well as an anxious, apprehensive time for you and your child.  Some children enter this new adventure without a backwards glance. Others need a helping hand.  Smooth transitions are as important to us as they are to you, so if your child needs an extra hug and kiss, or needs a bit more time to say goodbye, please feel free to stay awhile and participate with your child.  When the time comes for you to leave, we encourage you to firmly say “Goodbye” to your child and then, without hesitation, leave promptly.  Lingering separations are difficult for all of us because of the lack of clarity and insecurity it fosters.  Establishing a routine like waving and blowing kisses at the window helps.  If you are finding separations difficult, please share your concerns with me and we will problem-solve together to establish a routine that works for you and your child.

During the first weeks of school the focus will be on school routines, being part of the First Steps’ community and friendships.  Through the game “I Spy”, we will discover all the learning center areas of the classroom.  We will develop class rules together through review of behavior expectations and safety considerations.  We will work on name recognition as we hang our name up on the Sign In board.  We will make new friends and get to know each other a little better through our ‘I Am Special’ unit.  Our world opens up as we begin developing self-control and the vocabulary necessary to label our feelings.  It is quite a discovery to recognize that other’s feelings might be very different than our own!  Finally, at the end of the month we will enjoy a field trip to the apple orchard and lots of fun apple activities. 

We weave these thematic ideas into our daily activities through literature, art, discovery (science and math), dramatic play, gross motor and small motor play, snack, along with small group activities and circle times (where more directed learning happens).  You can expect your child to play with large and small blocks, cars and trucks, puzzles, Mr. Potato Head and other manipulatives, magnifying glasses, stories on tape at the listening center, the dollhouse, dress ups and housekeeping play.  Each day there will be process oriented art projects planned for the children.  The paint easel and the art supply shelves are always open during center time for the children to pursue their own creative ideas.  We will begin the hard process of learning to take turns – with toys, job choices, seating choices, talking, teachers’ attention, etc.  Hang on, here we go!

We are a team, and good communication makes for a winning team!   Please let us know about your child’s morning, any changes in your child’s life, your questions, concerns, etc.  You can also email me at vworkstus.firststeps@hvc.rr.com.  The rest of our preschool staff includes:  Ms. Sue, Ms. Sherry, and Mrs. Harvey.

Ginny Workstus