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Primary Curriculum Night(K- 2)
September 9,2010
The Family and School Relationship
• We value your involvement and invite you to join in the learning process with your child.
• Open door policy: You are welcome to visit and volunteer throughout the school day. Room parents and teachers will let you know of these opportunities.
• Conferences are scheduled in October and April. Individual conferences can be scheduled as needed.
Communication
• Parent and Teacher Partnership – Your classroom teachers will always be your best resource. Questions and concerns should be addressed with your teachers first before going to the Division Head or the Head of School.
Sheila Abio816.268.6543
Please Remember:
• If your child is going to be absent, notify the front desk by calling 931-8614, or by emailing bothyour classroom teacher and Mrs. van Thullenar at [email protected] by 8:30 AM.
• If your child has a contagious illness: Pink Eye, Strep Throat, Lice, etc., please notify both your classroom teacher and Mrs. van asap.
• Stay off your cell phone at carpool and PLEASE relay this message to anyone else who will be picking up your child.
Class Blogs
• Brand new communication tool for us this year.• Goal – Improve communication with our parent community. So
much happens in a day at St. Paul’s and we want you to be informed!
• While we are pleased with the interactive capabilities offered by the blogs, they are only to be used for educational purposes. Parents, teachers and anyone else who may have access, are not to use the blog for social or marketing purposes, or for forwarding jokes or stories unrelated to school.
• Concerns and/or questions are best settled through direct communication with the parties involved, not in the blogs.
No Nuts Please!
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• We have students with food allergies.• New policy and procedures can be found in this year’s
student and parent handbook.• While we cannot declare any part of the school “Nut
Free”, please make every effort to keep peanut butter and nuts out of the classrooms and teaching spaces.
• PreK -8th grade students can have peanut butter in their lunches because they eat in the cafeteria.
Tip: Sun Butter (made with sunflower seeds) is a good peanut butter substitute.
ScreeningsThe Children’s Spot• Speech Therapy – Celeste HaasSpeech/Hearing Screenings: Sep. 22, 23• Occupational Therapy – Teri TankelOT Screenings – September 20, 21
Information has been mailed home. Your teachers may suggest a screening as well. If
services are needed, Teri and Celeste will work, for an additional fee, with your child at
St. Paul’s during her school day.
Class Parties
• Your help is genuinely needed and appreciated.
• Work with your classroom teachers and room parents in order to be as helpful as possible.
• Please keep siblings home; the teachers need your help supervising students.
• The focus during the parties should be on the students.
• Allow the teachers to handle any student conflict or problems.
Parent Events & Student Events
• Teachers will provide you with several opportunities to join classroom events and activities.
• Please understand that some events are just for the children. School experiences play a crucial part in developing independence and self-esteem.
• Examples: Halloween Ball & International Festival
The Music ProgramMrs. HaskampToddler – 2nd Grade
• Creative Movement- Kindergarten and First grade students – 30 minutes on Tuesdays
• Music - Kindergarten - 2nd grades - Two 30 minute classes/week
Objective: To provide each child at St. Paul’s with anexciting and inviting opportunity to explore and createin a supportive and nurturing environment. Based onthe Orff-Schoolwork approach, students learn throughsong, movement, speech and instrument-playing,while working together to produce a quality musicalexperience.
2010/2011 Musical PerformancesMultipurpose Room
Christmas Performances
Toddler/Preschool: December 10th, 9:00 AM
Pre-K/Kindergarten: December 15th, 9:00 AM
First/Second Grade: December 16th, 9:00 AM
Grade Level Musical Performances
Kindergarten: September 29th – 9:00 AM
Theme: Folk Tales For Fall
First Grade: October 21st – 9:00 AM
Theme: Fall & Halloween
Second Grade: May 19th – 9:00 AM
Theme: Spring/Culminating Themes
Why Grade Level Performances?
• Students in each grade level will encounter more performance/stage opportunities.
• Richer content with added time to devote to skills and concepts.
• Emphasis can be placed on more developmentally appropriate skills and concepts.
• Less crowded audiences allowing all spectators to see the children perform.
• Reduce May commitments for families and faculty.
Physical EducationMrs. Shurtleff
Toddler – 4th grade
Objective: To provide a positive, safe andenjoyable environment that engages eachchild to be actively involved and equallysuccessful through physical movement.
Kindergarten and First Grade – 30 minute classes twice a week.Second Grade: 30 minute classes three times a week.
SpanishSra. LaMartina
Preschool – 5th Grade
Objective: To provide students a foundation for foreign languagestudy. To provide students with comprehensible input in Spanish,using gestures, illustrations, everyday objects and artwork.Grammar is taught in the context of oral communication.
Method: Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling
(TPRS). This is an introductory foreign language program.
Kindergarten -2nd grade: Two 30 minute classes weekly
LibraryMr. NerstheimerSchool Librarian
• Goal: To develop life-long lovers of reading by exposing students to a variety of books and genres.
• First and Second Grade students will participate in a “Reading Passport” program that takes them through the various genres of the library.
• Show Me Readers Award Program: Mr. Nerstheimer will read all the nominated books to the students and then they will vote for their favorite. Their votes help choose the Show Me Readers Award-winning book for the year.
• Kindergarten: One 30 minute class weekly• First Grade: One 40 minute class weekly• Second Grade: One 45 minute class weekly
ArtMrs. Crumpecker
K – 3rd GradeMost people quit creating art during their primary years if their artistic skills are not supported and encouraged as a child. By focusing on the study of the elements and principles of art, students are able to discuss and appreciate their artworks and those of others.
• “Students come to St. Paul’s believing they are artists and my goal for them is to leave here still feeling that way.” Mrs. Crumpecker
• Kindergarten – Second Grade: 30 minutes/weekly
K – 8th Grade Art FairApril 20th, 2010
Reading SupportMrs. Pink
• Mrs. Pink is here on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays to work with students needing extra help with reading and literacy skills.
• All referrals come directly from the classroom teacher and are approved by Sheila. Classroom teachers will contact you if they determine your child needs reading support.
• If your child needs extra support – please take advantage of this service.
Handwriting Support and EnrichmentMs. Linn
• Ms. Linn will be here on Mondays. • She will provide Kindergarten
handwriting/fine motor support. • 1st and 2nd Grades – Enrichment support will
be offered to groups of students quarterly, as determined by classroom teachers.
• Referrals are made by teachers and approved by Sheila.
Life Skill Focus• August and September: Responsibility and Effort
• October: Sense of Humor & Problem Solving
• November: Friendship & Common Sense
• December: Caring and Sharing
• January: Patience & Perseverance
• February: Respect and Integrity --
Celebrate Diversity
• March: Flexibility & Curiosity
• April: Cooperation & Taking Initiative
• May: Sense of Humor
Book Ideas
1.) Nurture Shock by Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman
2.) Drive by Daniel Pink
3.) The Hurried Child by David Elkind
4.) Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
5.) Mindset by Carol Dweck
Nurture Shock Highlights
The inverse power of praise – Many of ourmodern strategies for nurturing children arebackfiring. How to give praise:• Praise effort! Stop over-praising.• Teach that intelligence can be developed.• The brain is a muscle. Give it a harder workout to make you
smarter.• Give specific praise.• Discuss mistakes and allow children to make them.• Teach children the way to bounce back from failure is to
work harder. Hard wire their brain to be persistent.
The Lost Hour
• Kids who sleep less than eight hours a night have about a 300% higher rate of obesity than those who get ten hours.
• Children get an hour less of sleep each night than they did 30 years ago.
• The lost hour appears to have an exponential impact on children that it doesn’t have on adults.
• The performance gap caused by an hour’s difference was bigger than the gap between a normal fourth grader and a normal sixth grader.
• Sleep disorders can impair children’s IQ as much as lead exposure.
Closing
“Many of our greatest thinkers locate their capacity for original and profound thought in their imaginative abilities, first developed through creative play in early childhood.”
Sharna Olfman – Psychology Professor
“In childhood development, the space between anxiety and boredom is where creativity flourishes.”
KCPT – Charlie Rose
