Some Pictures from Big Wheels 2012!

Parades for the Summer!

I would like to start thinking about parades for the summer.  We had a float in last year's Fall Festival Parade and it went over very well!  If there are people who are interested in being a part of the float (decorating and riding) let me know!  The kids who were in the parade last year had a lot of fun!  I think all of the adults did as well!  We would be representing Parkers Prairie Early Childhood (ECFE, School Readiness and 3's).  There are a few parades throughout the summer that we could potentially be in; Fall Festival, Miltona Tornado (?) Days, Urbank Dairy Festival.  We could do one, two or all of them.  I would need to know what kind of participation we are looking before committing to any parades.  Let me know if you have thoughts on this! 
hplasek@pp.k12.mn.us

Thanks!!  Have a great summer everyone! 

Registrations

If you haven't turned in registration forms for School Readiness (4-5 yr olds) or the 3 yr old program or ECFE please get them in soon!  We only have a few families registered right now for ECFE.  If you have any questions, please contact anyone in Early Childhood or the Elementary Office!
Staff:
ECFE - Heidi Plasek, Deanna Lipinski, Ramona Wippler
School Readiness (4-5) - Deanna Lipiniski
Preschool (3's) - Heidi Plasek
ECSE - Melisa Brever

Changes at Parkers Prairie

There are going to be some exciting changes at Parkers Prairie Elementary this year!  Specifically in the Early Childhood programs!  I will now be teaching a preschool class for 3's on Tuesdays and Thursdays morning and afternoon as well as ECFE 1 night and 2 days/week.  I am very excited about starting this new program for 3's.  I will not be doing an at-home preschool but I assure you that the program I planned for home will only be better at the school.  In addition to this new program, our School Readiness program has been extended!  We are now offering 4- 1/2 day sessions morning and afternoon.  This is such an exciting change!  We will be able to offer so much more to our 4-5 year olds plus this schedule will better prepare them for all day-every day Kindergarten!  If you have any questions about any of the exciting changes at PPECC, please feel free to contact anyone from Early Childhood!

CANCELLED

Our ECFE potluck picnic at city park has been cancelled!  Please pass this along to anyone who you know in ECFE who may not get the message!
Thanks!

An Introduction to ECFE

Early Childhood Family Education

Welcome to ECFE!  We are excited that you have enrolled your child in our program!  We would like to take a moment to introduce you to Family Ed.  Each class will follow the same schedule:

45 minutes of Parent-Child interaction time

During this time you are encouraged to spend time playing with your child.  There will be some activities out that your child may choose to do.  These activities may include painting, cutting, markers, crayons, construction paper, play-dough, tape and spray bottles.  You are encouraged to sit with your child at these activities and help them with their project.  These activities all promote the use of fine motor skills (small muscles).  This is important muscle development of the hands.  These are the same muscles that are used in writing.  None of our activities were designed for children to do entirely independently.  As the parent, you need to work with your child and help them in learning how to use these materials appropriately. The teachers are there to assist you in teaching your child these skills. 

Every activity has a purpose that is important for the development of your child in one of the 8 domains of learning:

1.    Language (pre-writing, pre-reading, vocabulary)

2.    Math (patterning, rote counting, graphing, colors and shape recognition, number identification, one-to-one correspondence

3.    Science and Nature (exploring living things i.e. leaves, branches, rocks, grass, snow etc.)

4.    Creative Arts (expressing oneself using the art, music and movement)

5.    Social-Emotional Development (sharing, working with others, listening)

6.  Reasoning and Problem Solving

7.    Gross Motor Skills (using large muscles i.e. running, jumping, walking, skipping, dancing, stretching)

8.   Fine Motor Skills (using small muscles i.e. coloring, cutting, playing with play-dough, squeezing, writing etc.)

Circle Time (10-20 minutes)

       During this time, parents and children are at the carpet and participating in songs, stories and games.  Please be fully engaged with your child during this time.  We are teaching your child several of the 8 domains of learning.  Without your help, we can’t do this. 

Snack Time (10-15 minutes)

       Parents are expected to take turns providing a healthy snack to share with the entire class.  We will share any allergies that we are aware of.  During this time, we are teaching your child to say please and thank you, sit nicely, wait patiently, make choices etc.  Parents are more than welcome to stay until their child is set up at the table.  Separation issues are very common at this time.  We will help you to work through them as they arise. 

Parent Talk Time (30 Minutes)

       Once your child is set up with a snack, you go back to the parent ed. room with our parent educator.  Your child(ren) will stay back with the child educator and para.  During parent ed. time you will discuss various topics that are pertinent to raising children.  If you have concerns that you would like addressed, please feel free to share those concerns. 

Thank you for a great year!

Wow!  I can't believe that the ECFE year is over!  (well except for the end-of-year picnic on MAY 1!)
We have reviewed all of the evaluations that we recieved and will do our best to accomodate any concerns that were expressed.  The blog will continue to go as per everyone's request.  I understand that there have been some difficulties with navigating the blog and that will be taken care of with an "introduction to the Blog" class right away in the fall.  I have also put a brief intro into using the blog into everyone's hanging files.  I hope that you all find it helpful!  If there is something specific that you want to know about or how to find on the blog, let me know!  I will summarize the findings of the evaluations ( I apologize in advance if I miss something, that doesn't mean we didn't talk about it or read it, it just means that I have a horrible memory!)


Blog - calendars are wanted on the blog - I will post a picture of the calendar each month with the entire year being available in one post.  I really can't update it any more than I already do but, if there is something that you want to see on the blog...let me know and I can certainly try and add it! Any other concerns will be addressed in our intro to the blog class.


Parent-Talk time - some wanted topics to be shorter, other's wanted the topics to be longer, some wanted workbooks/sheets, others didn't want the hand-outs.  We will do our best to accommodate the diverse needs!  If you have a specific topic that you want addressed please let us know!  Ramona will make a monthly calendar of topics.  I will post the topics on the blog when I get them. 
Some felt they were shorted on parent talk time, some wanted less - what has happened in the past is when families come late, we try to accommodate them and give them extra time to play/do activities thus throwing off our entire schedule.  The way we are going to work it is:  Class starts at either 5:30 pm or 9:00am.  regardless of when families arrive, we will begin clean-up/circle time after 45 minutes of parent/child time.  That will be followed by a 10-15 minute circle time (I will address this in a moment) followed by snack/parent time.  As soon as you feel your child is set, you are free to go back to talk time.  There may be a few exceptions to that rule but, we will do our best to stay on schedule. 


Circle Time - Some wanted more songs, different songs, more books, less books, more activities - I usually do what the kids seem to be ready for.  There have been times when the kids would have sat there for 30 minutes playing games and reading stories.  Other times, they are just too squirrely (as kids will be) my job is to judge how far to push it.  With your help, we should be able to add more to circle time next year. ( I will post our new hand-out that explains this further).


Activities - See posted hand-out


OH, tooty-ta - no, we will not be doing tooty ta next year (at least not every week).  Please refer to the blog post titled "Sing it again Sam, and again and again" to learn why I do what I do with the songs :)


I'm sure that I have forgotten something...if I have, feel free to email me!  :)  I can't wait for what next year will bring and I look forward to seeing you all again!