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Pet Week 1 (End of Family Theme)

Dear Spoede Pre-K Families,

We have made it through week three of school with a lot of positive interactions and cooperative learning going on. We have started our SEL learning through a Second Steps Curriculum. Below is a some information about the program.

Introduction to Second Steps Social Emotional Skills and Early Learning Curriculum:

"The preschool years are very important. We want your child to be as ready as possible for kindergarten. This is not just about knowing letters and numbers. It's also about knowing how to learn and get along with others. We will be using the Second Step Early Learning program in your child's classroom to teach these important skills."

"The Second Step program teaches skills in the following four areas:

1. Skills for Learning: Children gain skills to help them be better listeners, including how to focus their attention, listen carefully, and ask for help.

2. Empathy: Children learn to identify and understand their own and others' feelings. Children also learn how to show care for others.

3. Emotion Management: Children learn how to calm down when they have strong feelings, such as worry or anger.

4. Friendship Skills and Problems Solving: Children learn to make and keep friends and to solve problems with others in a positive way."

Last week in Spoede Pre-K we learned about welcoming people. We did authentic practice introducing ourselves to Tim, our Westminster Student last Thursday. Earlier in the week, we also introduced ourselves to Mabel, our Elephant that we pass around for class discussions. This week we have learned about listening skills. Every day we sing our Listening Song during circle time, which we have been learning since day one of Pre-K: "Eyes are Watching; Ears are Listening; Voices Quiet; Body is Calm. This is how we listen, This is how we listen, At group time. At group time." Next week we will be learning about Focusing Attention.

Monday - No School - Labor Day

Tuesday: Shared with the class what we did over the three day weekend with our families. Read the book, Our Class is a Family and talked about different types people that can make up a family. Worked on adding colorful feathers with glue to a bird image. Illustrated a journal page telling what we liked to do with our families. Colored and cut apart a dog puzzle picture, then put the puzzle back together in numerical order 1 - 5. Had our first day of two outside recesses in over a week. Enjoyed music with Ms. Li. We danced with Shakira to her Half-Time Show during the FIFA World Cup Final with wrist scarves. We also played Hickety, Pickety, Bumble Bee name game with Hopper the Frog.

Wednesday: Introduced our Handwriting without Tears workbooks. We worked in our workbooks, practicing our fine motor skills and strengthening our fine motor muscles. We introduced the Letter L, the sound it makes, and practiced tracing on the white board. In the Handwriting Without Tears Curriculum, we will work on correctly gripping our writing utensils, such as crayons, pencils, and markers. We will also focus on how to start our letters at the top. We learned and sang along with a song that describes starting the letters at the top, not the bottom, not the middle, but the top. We also discussed the letter L and how it has a big line down and a little line across. We will model and learn that all letters are made up of little/big lines and little/big curves and the combinations of both. We will practice the letters, usually one letter a week throughout the year, with wooden curves and line pieces, tracing and drawing on the white board, writing in our workbooks, and decorating letters with dot paints, Q-tips, etc. We reviewed our shapes as we made a house out precut squares, triangles, rectangles and circles. We also provided precut shapes to add detail to our houses, such as clouds, tree trunks and tree tops. Finally, we tried out some cool new Tempera Paint Sticks to free draw/paint great pictures.

Thursday: We enjoyed our visit with Tim, our Westminster Senior Service Student. We made the letter L with wooden pieces, with one big line and one tittle line. We focused on starting letters at the top. We worked in our Handwriting Without Tears Workbooks on making the Letter Ll. We used lots of great colors to dot paint a cat or a dog. Practice tracing our names. We matched the pet to its shadow by practicing crossing the mid line.

Friday: Made a "This is My Letter Book Ll". We enjoyed Art Class with Ms. Tara. We learned about Textures and then made textures in Model Magic, using markers for color and texture tools to make the different textures. We painted with water colors. These free form water color pictures will be cut up into parts of a dog that we will then glue onto paper to make dog collages during week 2 of Pets Theme. We did a cutting assessment and started a rhyming assessment with Ms. Davenport.

Upcoming Events

(I will update and modify, in necessary, with my weekly blog)

Sept. 15 - Picture Day (See flyer below)

Sept. 20 - Back to School Luau 10:00 - 12:00. (See information below)

Sept. 21 - Dance-a-thon Kickoff (SSA Fundraiser - More information to come)

Sept. 22 - Curriculum Night -

5:00 - 5:30pm - Pre-K, Kindergarten, & 1st Grade Classroom Presentations
5:45 - 6:15pm - 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Grade Classroom Presentations

Sept. 26 - 'Due Run 4 Education (See information below)

Sept. 28 - Oct. 2. Dance-a-thon Spirit Week

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The SSA is encouraging all families to sign up for Membership Toolkit. Signing up helps ensure families are included in the Buzz Book and receive important information from the SSA, including class parties, events, and other communication. Here is the link to signing up if you have not done so.

https://spoedeschoolassociation.membershiptoolkit.com/Open_Forms

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Picture Day is Tuesday, September 15

Picture Day is almost here! This is your opportunity to capture a special school memory of your child and receive high-quality portraits you’ll treasure for years to come.

Spoede Elementary School Picture Day: Tuesday, September 15

Pre-Order Online: www.WagnerPortraitGroup.com

Pre-Order Password: 3C9T9X8S

When families participate in Picture Day, your purchase directly helps provide our school with safety and security tools, student recognition programs, and other valuable photography services.

To ensure your child is photographed and included in these school resources:

Pre-order online using the link and password above

Send your child ready for photos on Picture Day

Thank you for supporting our school and helping us make Picture Day a success.

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SAVE THE DATE: Spoede Back to School Luau

Sunday, September 20

10:00 AM - 12:00 Noon

Spoede Backyard

All Spoede Turtles and Families are invited to the Back to School Luau community event hosted by the SSA!

Join all the FREE fun we have planned, including a bubble bus, inflatable slide and obstacle course, crafts, book-mobile, and airbrush tattoos, and more!

Kona Ice and Joe's Coffee trucks will be there with treats and drinks for purchase!

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Save the Date: The 'Due Run is Back!

Mark your calendars for Saturday, September 26, for the 14th Annual 'Due Run 4 Education! Join your neighbors and friends at the LHWHS stadium for a morning of fitness and community fun.

Starting at 8:00 AM, enjoy a live DJ and refreshments before heading to the track for the 8:30 AM shotgun start. Keep an eye out for your favorite teachers and administrators, who will be joining us on McKenna Plaza to celebrate our wonderful Ladue community! Participants of all ages can choose between the 5K or the 1-mile fun run/walk. This event is a vital "friendraiser" for our district, with proceeds directly benefiting classroom grants and student success.

Register now at LadueFoundation.org/Due-Run to take advantage of early-bird pricing and ensure you get your race T-shirt!

Strollers are welcome; no pets, please.

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We hope you enjoy the photographs from this week!

Monday

No school - Labor Day

Tuesday

Gluing feathers on a bird outline.

Dog puzzle involving coloring, cutting, and reassembling each puzzle piece in numerical order. Great fine motor and working on number order 1 -5.

Journal writing about what "I like to do with my family".

Some afternoon Free Choice Time

Music with Ms. Li.

Hickety Pickety Bumble Bee Name Song

Hopping like Froggy the Frog

Dancing with wrist scarves and singing with Shakira's World Cup Halftime Show

Wednesday

Fun times out at morning recess

Sharing Families with Pre-K friends

Working in our Handwriting Workbooks

Building House with premade shapes.

Free process drawing with a new medium, Tempra Paint Sticks.

Thursday

Morning work coloring page of a pet rabit to get our fine motor skills working to get us ready for the day.

Graphing our favorite pet and discussing the data we collected. Dog won as favorite pet, followed by a three way tie for second with cats, rabbits and birds.