Week 1- Halloween and Fall

Spoede Pre-K Bulletin Board

Hello Spoede Pre-K Families,

We have had fun transitioning our Pre-K learning space into a Haunted Halloween Classroom. We have been making fall and Halloween themed artwork for our walls and bulletin boards, both teacher led and student inspired projects, all benefiting fine motor strengthening. As always, we have also incorporated the Halloween and fall theme with the story books we read, academic work we complete and sensory table experiences. Our sensory table is filled with spooky pretend spiders, bats, pumpkin jewels, eye balls, and pom pom balls. The students have enjoyed trying to scare Ms. D. with spiders (my dislike is true but exaggerated for the benefit of the students' entertainment) and they have stayed entertained sorting the different items by color, size and type of creature/object.

Heggerty Phonemic Awareness Curriculum update

Here is what we are working on in Heggerty for the next several weeks!

*Students will hear and repeat rhyming word pairs, and begin to recognize rhyming words and non-rhyming words.

*Students will isolate the initial sound in spoken words.

*Students will learn to blend two syllables into a spoken word. When we blend, we put two syllables together to make one word.

*Students will learn to isolate the final phoneme in a spoken word.

*Students will learn to segment a spoken word into two syllables. When we segment, we listen to a whole word and separate it into two syllables.

*Students are introduced to manipulating parts of a word when two new skills, Adding and Deleting Syllables, are introduced.

Donation Requests

We are asking for a donation of medium to large pumpkins for a classroom activity of hammering golf tees into the pumpkins. We only need a few. The hammers and mallets are made for kids and the activity will be well supervised and performed in a safe, orderly manner. The pumpkins can be as inexpensive as you can find and the do not need good for carving or unflawed. You can save a lonely, unhappy pumpkin who wont become a child's a jack-o-lantern :). (Popular theme of unwanted pumpkins in several halloween books, including The Ugly Pumpkin; and Spookley, the Square Pumpkin.) Maybe as we get closer to Halloween, pumpkins will go on sale. Thank you in advance.

Another donation we are requesting is masking tape, as much as you would be willing to donate. "Scotch Tape" is hard for the students to use independently and the "teeth" to cut the tape sometime causes scratches. Masking tape is easy for the students to use independently and is easier to get off of walls, tables, carpet, etc. Your children LOVE tape and I am quickly running our of what I ordered for this year. This is an amazingly creative class and they love to cut, create, engineer, color, tape. They use masking tape to tape the hot wheels track to tables, walls and white board, etc. to help their cars roll with speed. And they use tape to make their projects and to tape their creative projects to our classroom walls to decorate our room. Thank you in advance.

Here is what we have done this week.

Monday - We went around the circle and shared our weekend activities with each student participating. Every week the students gain confidence talking in front of the class. We have a couple students who enjoy sharing their imaginary activities rather than real events. Maybe they have a future as fantasy authors or comedians. :). On Monday I introduced Zero the Hero, a counting to 100 interactive exercise video by Jack Hartman, who is well known educational music videos on letters, sounds, numbers, etc. Practicing counting to 100 an important skill to introduce and is not very fun in a rote fashion. However, when you add a catchy tune with singable lyrics and some great movements, it becomes a wonderful teaching tool. Every time we have a date ending in zero, we will work out to Zero the hero. This helps learning those decade transitions that students have trouble with such as 29/30; 39/40; 49/50 etc. In early February, we will be celebrating the 100th day of Pre-K. Parents will be invited to help with centers focused around the number 100. More information and the exact date we will celebrate will be shared when we get closer to the event. Students painted a large piece of white paper with yellow and orange colors mixed together last week with the purpose to use to make a pumpkin. Today, we had the students make a big circle on the back of their orange paper to help them cut out a pumpkin shape. The students chose precut facial pieces and glued them onto their pumpkin to make a jack-o-lantern. Finally, they added a stem and leaves.

We also made a Candy Corn Name craft. Each candy corn had a letter from the students name. The Jack-O-Lantern Bowl and candy corn pieces required careful cutting. The students glued the letters in order to make their name and glue it in the jack-o-lantern bowl. Some of the longer names needed some teacher assistance helping them fit in the bowls.

Tuesday - We colored and folded a Jack-O-Lantern halloween cat surprise. We dot painted a lowercase letter h, working on recognizing the difference between h, n and u. Individual students worked with Ms, Davenport on assessment for conferences. We enjoyed music with Ms. Li, where I have noticed much growth at following the music class routines and following the directions during Ms. Li's class. We did movement with plush pumpkins, placing them all over our bodies, and used scarves to represent the wind and falling leaves.

Wednesday - Worked on color by number Jack-o-lantern during morning work. Matched numerals on fall leaves to numbered boxes on a leafless tree. We painted fold over fall leaves, introducing symmetry. We painted one half of a leaf with bright fall colors and then folded the paper over to create a symmetrical picture. Symmetry is a fundamental concept in geometry. Early exposure helps children build a foundational understanding of shapes and spatial relationships.

Thursday - We colored a Candy Corn color by number for morning work. Tim, our Westminster service student, read books to my class as I finished cutting up apples into little pieces. For centers, we used the apple pieces to make structures, connecting the pieces with toothpicks. We started making simple 2-d shapes like a triangle and a square. Then we moved on to taller or wider structures. We worked on what it might take to make the designs more sturdy. Lots of great hands on structural experimentation and engineering trial and error.

Friday - Enjoyed Art with Ms. Tara, making musical shakers in celebration to Hispanic Cultural month. The instruments were a big hit. The students love to make noise and show real talent with rhythm. We worked on the letter T and I in the Handwriting without tears workbooks. We also cut out our symmetry leaves we painted on Wednesday to add to our pumpkins sitting on a gate bulletin board.

Upcoming Events and Reminders

Mon., Oct. 19. Sending in Scholastic Book Order. My class Code for ordering books is HCQK7

Tues., Oct. 20 Parent/Teacher Conferences. 4:20 - 8:20 pm

Wed., Oct. 21 Parent/Teacher Conferences. 4:20 - 7:20 pm

Thurs. Oct. 22. Early Release Day. Cars can arrive in Carpool line at 1:00. Carpool will begin loading around 1:07.

Fri. Oct. 23. No School for Students and Teachers

Fri. Oct. 23. LECC - Halloween at the Magic House (See information below)

Mon. Oct. 26 - 30. Red Ribbon Week. (See below for Themes for the week)

Thurs. Oct. 28. Picture Retake Day

Fri. Oct. 30 Halloween Parade and Classroom Parties. 2:15 -3:15 pm. (Parents are welcome to watch the parade and volunteer to help at the party. More information to come)

Fri. Oc. 30. Trunk or Treat @ Spoede. 6:00 pm (More details below)

Tues. Nov. 3 Voting Day: No School for students. Professional Development for Teachers

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RED RIBBON WEEK:
Red Ribbon Week is the week of October 26th! Themes for each day are:

Mon., Oct. 26th - Dream of Healthy Choices (Pajama Day)
Tues., Oct. 27th - Team Up Against Bad Choices (Jersey Day)
Wed., Oct. 28th - Give Bad Choices the Boot (Western Day)
Thurs., Oct. 29th - Hats Off to Being a Role Model (Hat Day)
Fri., Oct. 30th - Say Boo to Bad Choices (Halloween Costumes)

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Right at School (RAS) will be providing free childcare supervision to Spoede families during Parent/Teacher Conferences the evenings of October 20 and 21! That said, RAS has asked that we provide them with an accurate estimate of the number of families and students looking to utilize this service.

If you are interested in utilizing this free service and dropping your child(ren) off in the cafeteria while you attend your scheduled P/T Conference(s), please complete this quick survey prior to 4pm on Sunday, October 18.

Please also note that childcare is for school-aged children only (Grades PreK-4). Thank you!

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News from the LECC

Halloween at the Magic House will be Friday, October 23rd, from 6-8pm. The LPA rented out the entire Magic House for a private LECC Halloween event. Bring your whole crew - siblings, cousins, and neighbors are all welcome - and costumes are encouraged. More details and ticket sales here.

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Friday, October 30 | 6:00–7:30 PM | Spoede Back Circle Lot

Join us for a spooktacular night of Trunk or Treat, a photo booth, prizes for the best decorated trunks, and more!

Want to decorate a trunk? Only 35 spots are available, so register here and register early! Participating trunks should bring enough candy for approximately 300–400 kids.

Not decorating a trunk? Register here and join the fun! Please bring a bag of candy to the front office to help keep our trick-or-treaters stocked!

Pre-order dinner: Large Costco cheese pizzas are available for $15 each. Order here!

A bathroom will be available onsite.

Important: Participating vehicles must be parked by 6:00 PM and cannot leave until the event concludes at 7:30 PM.

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Visitor Aware & Background Checks

an image of the Visitor Aware iPad screen

Visitor Aware Sign-In

All visitors - parents, grandparents, and/or other family members - who plan on attending a school function during the school day this year will be required to sign in via our Visitor Aware System. These events include Halloween Parties, Valentine's Day Parties, Chorus and Grade-Level Performances, the Spelling Bee, and other school functions that occur during school hours.

If you have never registered with the Visitor Aware System, we encourage you to complete your registration before Classroom Halloween Parties on October 30, 2026, in order to expedite your check-in.

WHAT IS VISITOR AWARE?

Visitor Aware is the system we use to sign visitors in when they attend events at Spoede Elementary School. Your first registration takes a few extra minutes. Once you have registered, signing in for future school events is super quick and easy!

NEW TO VISITOR AWARE? Here's what you can do:

1. REGISTER - Stop by the Spoede main office anytime during the school day to register in Visitor Aware.

2. GET SET UP AHEAD OF TIME - Complete your registration before Halloween Parties so you don't have to spend extra time doing it when you arrive. Stop by the Spoede main office during regular office hours to pre-register!

3. YOU'RE READY! - When you come to future school events, you can quickly sign in using your Visitor Aware account.

If you have already used Visitor Aware, you do NOT need to complete this first-time registration again.

Parent Participation on Field Trips

clipart image of a magnifying glass and person's photo

This year, any parent or family member seeking to attend a school-sponsored field trip with Spoede students MUST have completed, signed, and turned in the Volunteer Registration Form (linked HERE) as well as completed the subsequent background check process.

If you have any questions about that process or would like to confirm that you or another member of your family has completed that process, please reach out to the Spoede office at (314) 432-4438.

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Panorama Climate/ Culture Survey

for Spoede Family

Dear Spoede Pre-K Families,
Please take a moment to fill out the Panorama Survey being sent out by the Ladue School District. Your feedback helps us - as a district and, moreover, as your local, community elementary school - learn how we can be the best school for you and your child(ren). Our biannual climate/culture survey is now open through 11:59 p.m. on Friday, October 30.

Your responses directly help us:

Identify strengths and celebrate what's working.
Guide school improvement plans to address areas for growth.
Make data-informed decisions that positively impact our community.
Track our progress over time.

Thank you in advance for your participation.

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Our students and staff are excited to celebrate this coming Veterans Day (Wednesday, Nov. 11) with those who have served and/or who are currently serving our country! Please share the invite below with any military individuals you may know so that we can honor them in our Veterans Day Parade.

Please make sure to RSVP via the link immediately following (also linked on the flyer that is attached to this message).

LINK RSVP HERE

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We hope you enjoy the pictures from the week.

Monday

Morning Recess. I am excited when students share recess tricks and I take as many pictures as I can to document all of the crazy activities!

Students painted the orange /yellow pumpkin background last week. On Monday, students turned over their paper and made a large circle which they cut out and turned into a Jack-O-Lantern using pre-cut face pieces of their choice. Finally added a step and a leaf or two.

Handwriting Without Tears Workbooks working on the letters T and I.

Candy Corn Names in Jack-O-Lanterns bowls. Students did all of the cutting and ordering the names. The long names needed teacher assistance to gluing to help the letters all fit.

Tuesday

Morning recess playing under Ms. D.s umbrella used to keep off the sun.

Jack-O-Lantern folding surprise.

Lowercase h dot painting. Learning the difference between a lowercase h and a lowercase n or u. Learning the structure of letters and being able to tell them apart is important.

Music with Ms. Li. Started out with the warm-up song.

Learned and sang with a version of a 5 Little pumpkin song. Each student had a stuffed pumpkin to do movement actions. Each student got to pick a place for the pumpkin to balance on while they sang (head, elbow, knee, wrist, etc.