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October 2018

NEWSLETTER

 

 
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Our year at the ECS is off to a terrific start!  It is difficult to believe that October is already upon us!

 

The ECS Open House is a wonderful opportunity for your child to share learning experiences with you that are a part of each school day!  The ECS Open House for students in Kindergarten and First Grade is Thursday, October 25th from 5:30-7:00 pm. During Open House, if you haven't already done so, please sign up for a parent/teacher conference on one of the following dates: November 29th, November, 30th or December 7th.  Evening Conferences will be offered on November 29th.  If you have questions specific to your child (i.e. adjustment to school or progress) please reserve them for a separate venue.  This will ensure your child's privacy.

 

The ECS Building Council recently met and established our goals for the year.  Next week you will receive an email inviting members for our subcommittees.  Building Council is a wonderful way to support initiatives in our building, so we hope you will consider joining one of the subcommittees once you receive this communication.  

 

Please note that Friday, October 26th there is no school for students.  The day will be devoted to professional development for staff. 

 

We hope you enjoy the beautiful fall days that are upon us and we look forward to seeing you at Open House! 

 

Dorothy DiAngelo                                   Melissa Goho

VECS Principal                                       VECS Assistant Principal

 

 
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Building your Child's Mathematical Mind

Mrs. Kim McConnell

K/1 Math Coordinator

 

Math should not be stressful or hard.  This month I want to encourage you to play games that help build your child's ability to SUBITIZE.  Subitize means the ability to know how many without counting.

 

Examples of Subitizing:

 

·       If you hold up 4 fingers on one hand, does your child know it is 4 without having to count each finger?

                                                           

·       When you are playing with dice and a five gets rolled, does your child know that it is 5 without having to count all the dots?

                                                      

The ability to tell "how many" without having to count each individual item is key to building your child's number sense and helping them understand addition and subtraction.  Kindergarten and first grade students will be working on subitizing throughout the school year.  Here are some fun and easy things you can do with your child so that they see math, and subitizing, outside of school.

 

1.        When giving your child a group of things at snack time, give them the items and say how many they are getting.  For example, give them 3 crackers and say, "Here, you get 3 crackers.  This is 3 crackers."  This way they start to see numbers are connected to a group of objects.

 

2.       Fast Finger Flash - hold up a number of fingers and then hide it behind your back.  Ask them if they could tell how many fingers you were holding up.  After they get good at doing it with only fingers on one hand, move to showing fingers using both hands so they can practice subitizing up to 10.

 

3.       Play the old card game of "war." Split a deck of cards in half, you get half and your child gets the other half.  Each person flips over one of their cards, whoever has the most on their card wins.  You can also play that whoever has the least on their card wins.  Most of the time, try to encourage your child not to count to tell how many, instead just look at the cards and tell who has more and who has less.

Subitizing Apps

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Subitize Tree

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Quick Images

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Math Rack

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Ten Frame Snap

 

 

COORDINATOR'S CORNER:

Establishing Routines in the Beginning of the School Year

Written By: ECS Coordinators

The month of September is full of new learning and exciting new beginnings. Parents, students, and teachers alike, enter the school year with hopeful hearts and open minds. In the vibrant month of September and into early October, ECS teachers find great value in establishing, modeling, and practicing important classroom routines. Although it may seem redundant and tedious at times, well modeled routines allow students to become more independent and confident with daily classroom tasks. Research reveals that it takes, on average, twenty-one days to learn a new routine or to create a new habit. Through patience and consistency, routines become the backbone to our daily classroom instruction. These cherished routines facilitate both our teaching and the students' learning. They save valuable classroom time and allow students to learn more. When routines and procedures are carefully taught, modeled, and established in the classroom, children know what is expected and begin to take control of their learning. Establishing these predictable patterns allows teachers to spend more time on meaningful instruction, fosters student independence and positively impacts student achievement.

 

Independent Problem Solvers

Being able to solve problems independently is an essential ready-for-school skill. As a parent, it is easy (and almost always quicker) to solve problems for your child. However, giving your child enough uninterrupted time to figure things out independently or with light intervention is an important skill for success in school and life. Using effective problem solving techniques will help children avoid conflict with others in a school setting and in their everyday lives. It will also strengthen children's beginning empathy skills and help them learn more positive attributions about another person's intentions. Effective problem solving skills are essential for academic and social success. Modeling the process outlined below for your child when you face a challenging situation will help him/her internalize the steps. Discuss your process as you move from problem discovery to successful solution. Keep your thinking fluid and flexible, communication open, and attitude positive. The lesson you're teaching your child will be memorable and increase the likelihood that he/she will utilize this approach. 

 

1. Understanding the problem: When your child is facing a challenge, allow him plenty of time to explore the problem in depth. Don't rush in with your own solution too quickly. Instead, let him consider causes of the problem and how those might be clues to fixing it.

2. Planning solutions: To spark creative thinking, ask your child open-ended questions vs. "yes-no" questions: "What could you do to make this solution work?"  Or "What other things can you think of?" There are no bad ideas - so keep the conversation positive and supportive.

3. Carrying out the plan: Enthusiastic explorers, many children will want to quickly try out their solutions. The resulting trial and error learning is invaluable. Even though you may know an idea won't work, it's important for your child to see that for him/herself. 

4. Reviewing the solution: Assist the learning process by reflecting together on what was tried and how the solution came to be. It is equally important to reflect on both what did and didn't work. "Which worked better to spread the peanut butter, the plastic knife or the metal knife?"  "Did you notice a difference between the white bread and the wheat bread?" At the same time, don't ask too many questions. If your child is ready to move on to a new challenge, allow him to do that. The whole problem-solving process may just take a matter of minutes or it could take quite a bit longer depending on the scenario, your child's interest in the problem, and the time available.

 

The Importance of Storytelling

 

Storytelling helps students to develop critical and active listening skills. While the teacher models storytelling students begin to develop a sense of story. Storytelling encourages students to use their imaginations and create visual images in their minds. During the storytelling process, students are invited to engage with the stories being told by orally joining in with repetitive phrases as well as acting out story parts. Storytelling is a cooperative journey as students transition from being a listener, to an active participant and finally becoming the storyteller themselves

 

Oral storytelling is one of the foundational skills that students need when they begin the writing process. Lucy Calkins states that "Storytelling is valuable. Writers need this sense of fullness, of readiness to write, of responsiveness. It can come from storytelling…it is terribly important." When students orally share stories they learn to organize their thoughts and create a story structure. They are practicing creating a beginning, middle and end for their story. They also develop a richness and fullness of their story when they share it with others. When students orally tell and listen to stories they become active participants in each other stories.

 

Students become emotionally vested in the stories they share. Then they begin writing their stories on paper to preserve and revisit the stories they have shared with others. One of the most powerful outcomes of storytelling is that it inspires young children to write and share their stories with others so these stories can be enjoyed over and over again.

 

 

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Victor Early Childhood School

953 High Street • Victor, NY 14564 • (585) 924-3252

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