Hello PreKPals Families!
Each Monday (and only being served on Monday), you can get 5 days of breakfast and lunches for your children (18 and younger) for free! No sign up is needed. No forms to fill out. Nothing to but drive up and get a grocery bag full of meals. Both city or county schools will have meals but not all schools are a pick up location. Here’s the TCS information. PLEASE take advantage of this opportunity. Annelise loves this as an outing and she loves all of the fresh fruit!
**For the summer months, I believe that food cards will be issued for those who qualify. I think the amount per cards is $300 per month. If you have never applied for free/reduced lunch and you would like to do so now (we know that circumstances may have changed during this time) please go to this link: https://www.tuscaloosacityschools.com/Page/124 and fill out the application on the right hand side of the page. Go ahead and do it now so that you can receive the food card once they are distributed. I believe they will be mailed to your home.
‒ The Alberta School of Performing Arts, 11 a.m. until noon
‒ Central High, 11 a.m. until noon
‒ Woodland Forrest Elementary, 11 a.m. until noon
‒ Northridge Middle, 11 a.m. until noon
‒ Skyland Elementary, 11 a.m. until noon
‒ Central Elementary 11 a.m. until noon
‒ Copper Creek, 11:30 a.m.-11:50 a.m.
‒ Creekwood, 11:30 a.m.-11:50 a.m.
‒ Forester Gardens, 11 a.m.-11:20 a.m.
‒ Hay Court, 11 a.m.-11:20 a.m.
‒ McKenzie Court, 11 a.m.-11:20 a.m.
‒ Rosedale, 11:30 a.m.-11:50 a.m.
‒ University Manor, 11 a.m.-11:20 a.m.
‒ Wood Village, 11:30 a.m.-11:50 a.m.
I just want all of you to remember that our online activities are optional. We hope you take a look and enjoy doing some or all of them, but we know this is a stressful/changing day by day time for all of us. If it is too much- pick and choose. That’s what we do at our house. If your child is at their grandparents and online learning is out of the realm of possibility- don’t stress. They will learn far more important skills and make precious memories with their grands. Someone posted this the other day and it really resonated with me: “ We are not homeschooling – we are crisis schooling.’ Our country is in crisis- but we do NOT want any activity we post to add to your plate. Just know we love you and we miss you!! Please let us know if you need help with ANYTHING.
First Class PreK sends out the Strengthening Families Newsletter. I am copying and pasting it here for your benefit.
Family Strong in Alabama (Strengthening Families Implementation Program)
Our Monthly Focus is Social and Emotional Competence of Children Definition: This factor looks at how well your child interacts with you and with their friends. It also looks at how well your child handles their emotions and can tell you about their feelings. Why It is Important: The ability to build strong relationships and express emotions effectively leads to a healthy family. Strong relationships build a strong family. Remember, we teach children to be calm by being calm. What It Looks Like: Children can have “huge” emotions and we need to support them when they are dealing with anger or sadness by giving them words to use. Helping them name their emotions and then teaching them how to express these emotions will be a skill they will use the rest of their life. Look around the world right now, wouldn’t it be great if we all handled our emotions better!
Activities to Do at Home:
- Talk with your child about red and green choices. Red choices we stop like hitting when angry and green we keep doing like asking for a turn.
- Talk about your child’s feelings and your feelings- label emotions with your child
- Give your child time to play with friends
- Give your child alternate ways to express negative emotions
- Let your child problem solve their own problems and support them as they try new solutions
- Try to look at situations through your child’s eyes. Why are they so frustrated? What help do they need to understand a situation? For example, why are they crying at WalMart? Have you been there too long? Did you remind them before you went in that you would not buy anything extra like candy or toys? Look at it through their eyes. They have only been in this world for 4 years, forgive them while they are learning to handle hard emotions or big days.
Here’s the RQES staff video for you! https://youtu.be/pst9YthoQ8I
Beginning Kindergarten Skills. Can you-
- Name uppercase letters in random order
- Name lowercase letters in random order
- Know numbers 0-10 in random order
- Count out items to match a number
- Identify basic shapes (circle, square, triangle, rectangle)
- Write name (uppercase letters ONLY where needed)
- Identify and name 8-10 basic colors
- Identify letter sounds
- If the student knows all letter sounds can he blend to read short CVC words? (can, sip, let, mop, etc?)
- Can you recognize/reproduce the FIRST sound in a word? (rug = R
- How high can you count without missing a number?
- When shown a set of objects (6 crayons) can the student touch and count each one and then write the correct number? (We call touching and counting “to count in an organized fashion)
Here’s a link to our TCS librarians reading stories. https://tuscaloosareads.org/category/tcs-reviews/read-aloud/
Need some music and movement in your day? https://www.gonoodle.com/
Engineering and math challenges for PreK http://www.mybrightfirefly.com/2016/05/fun-stem-challenges-in-block-center-for.html?spref=pi
Don’t forget to go outside and play! Use your imagination!!
Did you sign up for Born Ready? Go here! https://bornready.org/ Born Ready. This resource is from the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education is focused on raising awareness among Alabama parents of the importance of early brain development and high-quality early care and education. The mission of ADECE is to inspire, support, and deliver cohesive, comprehensive systems of high-quality education and care so that all Alabama children thrive and learn. Born Ready is not only developed to inform parents, it’s developed to empower them and give them access to the tools they need to be their children’s first and best teacher.
- Parents may sign up for weekly Vroom tips via text message by texting LEARN to 48258. (Available in English and Spanish)
- They willreceive a welcome text that will ask them to text NEXT to start receiving recurring brain building tips.
- They must follow all prompts that are sent via text.
- Message and data rates may apply.
Tumblebooks is FREE from the Tuscaloosa Public Library. We use Tumblebooks daily when we are waking up from nap. There are tons of books that will be read aloud, there are non-fiction videos about all kinds of things. This resource is usually available by using your library card- however it is now FREE for everyone. Check it out at https://www.tuscaloosa-library.org/
Some of our favorite science videos/stories can be found at http://peepandthebigwideworld.com/
https://www.tuscaloosacityschools.com/ Click this link and then look for the “Review, Reinforce and Practice” link that is in the scroll bar. Click that link and then you can select PreK.
Another great (and easier to get to) is our RQE PreK Resources Link on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/groups/571405880388043/
Links for learning to be independent and healthy-
- Do you need a visual about the importance of handwashing? Try this PreK teacher’s lesson and do it with your children. https://www.today.com/health/pre-k-teacher-s-hand-washing-demonstration-goes-viral-t176004
- This is the version with gloves and paint. It is a great visual. Please note! This link takes you to youtube. Be wary of ads when opening in front of children. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEzJ_QKjT14
- Do you notice that your child sits in the W-sit position? We do! We encourage a wide variety of sitting positions (criss cross, mountain, mermaid, on their knees) when we have carpet time. We do discourage W-sitting for long periods of time. Here’s why:
https://www.healthline.com/health/baby/w-sitting
- Practice opening your applesauce pouches. Hold the pouch in a tight squeeze just under the cap and twist! Don’t forget to save the ROUND caps for us for art projects.
- In PreK, we use the jacket flip. Practice this at home and your child will be an expert in no time!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wRKDeKbAcI
- Want to get a jump on shoe tying? This is the easiest way to do it and I have been teaching kiddos to tie their shoes for 26 years! Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJVR8hHBQyM
Ms. Hoffman and I cannot wait to see you on SeeSaw!
Take care and stay safe!!
