Hello PreKPals and Families-

Welcome to 2024! I am not sure how we got to the beginning of the second semester – but here we are! We hope each of you have had a lovely vacation and that you have stayed healthy! We have missed all of you and cannot wait to see you on Thursday, January 4, 2024! Mrs. Dunn and I will report back on January 2 for a citywide PreK meeting. On the 3^rd we will be getting the room ready for all things New Year and winter! As always, we will have some amazing and engaging things ready for you! This semester is going to FLY!

As a reminder, we kept binders and library books over the break so don’t think you’ve lost them. This week would be a good time to wash those lunch boxes and sanitize those water bottles.

Mrs. Dunn and I want to thank each of you again for all of the lovely gifts! It warmed our hearts that you thought of us at Christmas! Your children are our very best gifts everyday!

Right before Christmas, we got word that the grant I wrote for taxi trikes to the Tuscaloosa Education Foundation had been fully funded! We were awarded $3000 (and with a $100 gift from a business in the area, we will have $3100 to purchase new taxi trikes!) We are so thankful to the Tuscaloosa Education Foundation and our community for this grant that will make Trike Day even more amazing! Go PreK!

For Thursday and Friday, we will be getting back into the swing of things and we will start back with our Literacy, Math and Science on January 8^th. Look for the January calendar coming home on Thursday.

Weekly Reminders:

• A JACKET/COAT DAILY! We go outdoors to play EVERY MORNING at 8:15. Even if it warms up later, it is still cold at 8:15. PLEASE JUST SEND THE COATS! There is not an option to miss PE because a child is not adequately clothed. PLEASE JUST SEND THE COATS!
• A water cup with a valve, already filled with water (flavored water must be clear!), labeled with your child’s name. Make sure your child can drink from it at home before coming to school. NO OPEN POUR CUPS. NO JUICE!!!
• Your child’s backpack and lunch box (if they will not eat from the cafeteria).
• A bag with 5 snacks (that do not need to be refrigerated!) labeled with your child’s name. Please do not pack snacks in the lunchboxes.
• Nap Mat

NEW Links for practice at home:

• https://youtu.be/AWM0XHhObLk?si=iSgOZujnlA5P7F_h This semester, we will encourage PreKPals to tie their shoes themselves. This method is foolproof! Try it at home!

• PreK Jacket flip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73qom9IueV8  This is why we ask for jackets that zip or button. This technique is so easy and so empowering for our little ones!
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT3PCQTBdeM (Learn to cut: everyone needs to practice cutting and scissor safety!)

• https://i.pinimg.com/originals/df/e7/a6/dfe7a6ef5554adac1dbf9f23fcdace5c.jpg (Hold the pencil correctly. Nip, Flip, Grip)
• The Easiest Homemade Playdough Recipe {Lasts for Months!} (livingwellmom.com)

Dates to Remember:

January:

4- First Day Back! Welcome to 2024!

15- MLK Day: NO SCHOOL

February:

9: International Day

2: Begin Cupid for a Day (Just like Santa for a Day except with Valentine Cards)

14: Valentine Party

19-20 NO SCHOOL

March:

9-17 SPRING BREAK

April:

4-5 NO SCHOOL

May:

22-23 Early Dismissal (11:10 for PreK)

23- LAST DAY OF PREK

Year Book Ordering! See Link below

2023-2024 Rock Quarry Yearbooks

Relive the best moments at The Rock! You can purchase your yearbook at Balfour.com. Deadline to order is January 31st.

Please email or message on ClassDojo if you have any questions! Thank you for sharing your children with us! They are precious!!

Alicia Jenne: ajenne@tusc.k12.al.us

Whitney Dunn: wdunn@tusc.k12.al.us

Thank you so much for the donations we have received from our wish list! We appreciate every bit!

Here are the links for our class wishlist if you would like to contribute. Participation is optional!

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/dl/invite/cmCXG7d?ref_=wl_share

We are so happy you are here!

Alicia Jenne’

 

 

Hello PreKPals and Families-

This is a busy Merry Merry week in PreK! We have so much to do in 4 whole days. Remember that Friday is an 11:10 dismissal day for PreK. Mrs. Jockisch sent out a Smore newsletter on Friday detailing some changes in our party and Sing a Long plans. This was news to the faculty as well! We are limiting guests to 2 per student for both the party and the Sing a Long (no siblings please). We have over 650 students and unfortunately, we are outgrowing our meeting space to accommodate such large crowds. However! Don’t dismay! The Sing a Long will be live streamed and there will be a link for watching later. That way you can share all of the fun and merriment with friends and family, far and wide!

In Heggerty phonics this week we are learning Three Blind Mice. We will work on the letters Hh and Uu this week. In math we are working on and comparing sets. We are learning about Holiday Traditions again this week. We are still loving and excited for our Santa for a Day time and the PreKPals are loving watching the stockings grow! They cannot wait to open their stockings at our party Friday morning!

STUDENTS WILL NEED TO BRING THEIR BAKPACKS TO SCHOOL ON FRIDAY! THERE WILL BE A LOT TO CARRY HOME!

We are keeping binders and library books over the break. We will send nap mats home on Thursday of this week.

The parent gifts will be coming home in backpacks this week! They are heavy so beware! We hope you will love them!

Sing a Long song reminder! At the school wide Sing Along, all of PreK will be singing this song! Here’s the link for practice: https://youtu.be/E48dJsivx7s Reindeer Pokey

When practicing at home, just know that we will not actually be “turning all around” on the day of the Sing Along because we will be crowded on stage. We will be circling our fingers around in front of us so that we don’t fall off the risers! We will be making reindeer handprint headbands with big red noses to wear during the song. No special attire is needed. You can wear holiday colors if you’d like.

Links for practice at home:

• PreK Jacket flip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73qom9IueV8  This is why we ask for jackets that zip or button. This technique is so easy and so empowering for our little ones!
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT3PCQTBdeM (Learn to cut: everyone needs to practice cutting and scissor safety!)

• https://i.pinimg.com/originals/df/e7/a6/dfe7a6ef5554adac1dbf9f23fcdace5c.jpg (Hold the pencil correctly. Nip, Flip, Grip)
• The Easiest Homemade Playdough Recipe {Lasts for Months!} (livingwellmom.com)

Weekly Reminders:

• A water cup with a valve, already filled with water (flavored water must be clear!), labeled with your child’s name. Make sure your child can drink from it at home before coming to school. NO OPEN POUR CUPS. NO JUICE!!!
• A JACKET DAILY
• Your child’s backpack and lunch box (if they will not eat from the cafeteria).
• A bag with 4 snacks (that do not need to be refrigerated!) labeled with your child’s name. Please do not pack snacks in the lunchboxes. On Friday the snack will be provided by our wonderful, creative and amazing room moms!
• Nap Mat
• PreK binder

Dates to Remember:

Year Book Ordering! See Link below

2023-2024 Rock Quarry Yearbooks

Relive the best moments at The Rock! You can purchase your yearbook at Balfour.com. Deadline to order is January 31st.

December

11 Santa for a Day continues!  Stockings are provided by the teachers!

Santa for a Day is our holiday plan that gives the children a great, fun-filled way to share with each other.  This is how it works:

• We will display each child’s stocking in our classroom. (Stockings are provided by the teachers)
• Each child is assigned a day to be “Santa” (see schedule below).
• On the assigned day, each “Santa” will 1) bring small toys (no edibles, please) for each classroom friend; 2) wear a Santa hat (if desired); and 3) make jolly deliveries to each friend’s bag.  (Examples of small toys:  pencils/pens, matchbox cars, and very small stuffed animals).  It will be best if Santa delivers the toys from a bag that hides the items inside.
• By the end of the schedule, the stockings will bulge with goodies, and the children are so excited they can’t stand it!
• The children will dig into their stockings during the holiday party (December 15).
• Everyone is happy!

Please follow a few guidelines:  1) Choose small toys.  The stockings must hold 17 deliveries.  2) Choose something that all children will enjoy OR an item for boys and another for girls.  We have 8 girls and 9 boys.  3) There is no need to write student names on gifts nor do gifts need to be wrapped.  This will cause Santa much trouble with finding/matching names with stockings.  Then, it becomes a CHORE instead of a fun-filled activity.  However, you may write FROM whom the gifts come. 

15 Dismissal at 11:10 for PreK. This is our class party day and the school wide sing along day.

January 

4: First Day back for students in 2024

15: No School! MLK Day

Please email or message on ClassDojo if you have any questions! Thank you for sharing your children with us! They are precious!!

Alicia Jenne: ajenne@tusc.k12.al.us

Whitney Dunn: wdunn@tusc.k12.al.us

Thank you so much for the donations we have received from our wish list! We appreciate every bit!

Here are the links for our class wishlist if you would like to contribute. Participation is optional!

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/dl/invite/cmCXG7d?ref_=wl_share

We are so happy you are here!

Alicia Jenne’

 

 

Hello PreKPals and Families-

I am back among the living now! Food poisoning is NO JOKE. We are so blessed to have Mrs. Dunn who just rolls with the punches and never lets one little thing worry her! I am so thankful that when I have to be out I know she has our children and she knows that I have them when she is out. We have some pretty great subs, too!

In other news ROLL TIDE! How about that big win and that spot in the playoffs? All is well with the Bama Nation. If you cheer for another team…….maybe next year! 😊

In Heggerty phonics this week we are learning It’s Raining It’s Pouring. We will work on the letters Rr  and Ww this week. In math we are still working on making 5 and identifying all of the missing parts of 5. That means we will learn that 5+0, 1+4, 2+3, and the opposite of those equations equals 5. We are learning about Holiday Traditions this week. We are loving our Santa for a Day time and the PreKPals are loving watching the stockings grow! Some friends have been super tempted to peek…….but we are encouraging them to stay away!

This week on Thursday at 1:00 we will have a parent family engagement workshop if you would like to come. It will be short and sweet. Please do not think you need to take off work to attend! We can send the information home. We are required to have the meeting but you are not required to attend. All that being said, we’d love to have you if you can make it. Just sign in at the office.

At the school wide Sing Along, all of PreK will be singing this song! Here’s the link for practice: https://youtu.be/E48dJsivx7s Reindeer Pokey

When practicing at home, just know that we will not actually be “turning all around” on the day of the Sing Along because we will be crowded on stage. We will be circling our fingers around in front of us so that we don’t fall off the risers! We will be making reindeer handprint headbands with big red noses to wear during the song. No special attire is needed. You can wear holiday colors if you’d like.

Links for practice at home:

• PreK Jacket flip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73qom9IueV8  This is why we ask for jackets that zip or button. This technique is so easy and so empowering for our little ones!
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT3PCQTBdeM (Learn to cut: everyone needs to practice cutting and scissor safety!)

• https://i.pinimg.com/originals/df/e7/a6/dfe7a6ef5554adac1dbf9f23fcdace5c.jpg (Hold the pencil correctly. Nip, Flip, Grip)
• The Easiest Homemade Playdough Recipe {Lasts for Months!} (livingwellmom.com)

Weekly Reminders:

• A water cup with a valve, already filled with water (flavored water must be clear!), labeled with your child’s name. Make sure your child can drink from it at home before coming to school. NO OPEN POUR CUPS. NO JUICE!!!
• A JACKET DAILY
• Your child’s backpack and lunch box (if they will not eat from the cafeteria).
• A bag with 5 snacks (that do not need to be refrigerated!) labeled with your child’s name. Please do not pack snacks in the lunchboxes.
• Nap Mat
• PreK binder (We kept these over the holiday so they will come home to you today)

Dates to Remember:

Year Book Ordering! See Link below

2023-2024 Rock Quarry Yearbooks

Relive the best moments at The Rock! You can purchase your yearbook at Balfour.com. Deadline to order is January 31st.

December

4 Santa for a Day continues!  Stockings are provided by the teachers!

Santa for a Day is our holiday plan that gives the children a great, fun-filled way to share with each other.  This is how it works:

• We will display each child’s stocking in our classroom. (Stockings are provided by the teachers)
• Each child is assigned a day to be “Santa” (see schedule below).
• On the assigned day, each “Santa” will 1) bring small toys (no edibles, please) for each classroom friend; 2) wear a Santa hat (if desired); and 3) make jolly deliveries to each friend’s bag.  (Examples of small toys:  pencils/pens, matchbox cars, and very small stuffed animals).  It will be best if Santa delivers the toys from a bag that hides the items inside.
• By the end of the schedule, the stockings will bulge with goodies, and the children are so excited they can’t stand it!
• The children will dig into their stockings during the holiday party (December 15).
• Everyone is happy!

Please follow a few guidelines:  1) Choose small toys.  The stockings must hold 17 deliveries.  2) Choose something that all children will enjoy OR an item for boys and another for girls.  We have 8 girls and 9 boys.  3) There is no need to write student names on gifts nor do gifts need to be wrapped.  This will cause Santa much trouble with finding/matching names with stockings.  Then, it becomes a CHORE instead of a fun-filled activity.  However, you may write FROM whom the gifts come.

7: Parent Engagement workshop at 1:00

15 Dismissal at 11:10 for PreK. This is our class party day and the school wide sing along day.

Please email or message on ClassDojo if you have any questions! Thank you for sharing your children with us! They are precious!!

Alicia Jenne: ajenne@tusc.k12.al.us

Whitney Dunn: wdunn@tusc.k12.al.us

Thank you so much for the donations we have received from our wish list! We appreciate every bit!

Here are the links for our class wishlist and our DonorsChoose project if you would like to contribute. Participation is optional!

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/dl/invite/cmCXG7d?ref_=wl_share

Little Authors….Lots of Books! | DonorsChoose project by Mrs. J.

We are so happy you are here!

Alicia Jenne’