Parent Letter

It was an exciting week here with your little one. I hope the visit from a Saratoga Springs Police Officer and all the accoutrement that went with it: lights, sirens, a brief ride and an honorary badge had them talking a million miles an hour when they got home. It was my first time in a squad car! So many buttons, computers and switches. Lance Funn was a fantastic volunteer for this enrichment activity, I hope your child enjoyed it.

I will email a few photos I took of the children with the police officer to you. This is the first time I’ve taken pictures at preschool and will only do so on rare occasions like this visit. If you have any concerns, please let me know. Please check your email for some sweet smiles.

Your child continues to become familiar with identifying the numbers on the phone keypad. I feel it is not enough for our children to know the number to dial is 9-1-1 if they can’t find the buttons on the phones themselves. We practiced on their paper photo copied phones and on an uncharged real phone for both their home phone number and 9-1-1. I encourage you to find some time to practice at home. It could very well save a life!

While nothing could really top a real live policeman, the latter half of the week found our class learning about taking care of our teeth. We watched a short clip from PBS’s Sid the Science kid (pbskids.org), tried to brush pretend teeth (boiled eggs) that had been stained by soda and for snack time ate different food to see not only which snacks helped clean our teeth, but which snacks stuck in between them. Yuck!

We have added the letters Aa, and Tt to Mm, Nn, Cc, Rr this week if you’d like to practice at home. I’m including our optional homework again.

There are a couple students who are very, very close to earning their Alphabet Crowns. It is very likely that a classmate doing so will get your child even more excited to learn at home. I test on their ability to name a lower case letter as they will encounter far more words in lowercase than upper in early readers (or in any book for that matter!) Once your child can identify the letter, I ask them “what does it say?” A child only need identify single sounds (no soft “g” or “c” at this point) for consonants and the long and short sound of vowels.

Next week we’re moving on to manners, table setting, etc.

Megan Millington