TSD Early Childhood Program
April Newsletter
A Note From Our Administrator...
Dear Parents/Guardians,
I hope that you have a wonderful Spring Break with your child!
I can't thank each and everyone of you for your support with symptom checking with your child each day. With your support, our intent is to keep everyone healthy and everyone at school!
Early Childhood Applications for 2021-2022. We are currently accepting applications for our Early Childhood Programs for the 2021-2022 school year. If you and/or you know someone who has a child ready for preschool, send them our way! For further information visit our Thompson Integrated Early Childhood web page or call 613-5052 or 613-5761 for more information.
Weather Delays. With spring being here, we can get a variety of weather: sun, snow, rain, and everything in between. In the event of a 2 hour delay, the morning sessions will be canceled. The afternoon session will continue as scheduled at the regular time. The full day class will start 2 hours later than the original start time. Any delays/cancellations will be shared on the school district website as well as through phone calls and emails. If you have any questions, please contact us at 970-613-5052.
“I am going to pay attention to the spring. I am going to look around at all the trees. I am going to close my eyes and listen.”
-Ann Lamott
Happy spring,
Lamb Caro
Early Childhood Administrator
We Read!
We Draw and Write!
"Learning...is about coloring outside the lines" - Oliver DeMille
We Learn through Play!
"Play is our brain's favorite way of learning." - Diane Ackerman
Stansberry Early Childhood
Education Corner
Week of the Young Child
Each year we celebrate the Week of the Young Child during the month of April. This year this falls on the week of April 10-16. Since we are unable to have our traditional program Literacy Fair, our community partners Read Aloud Loveland and Elevations Credit Union have generously donated a book for each student in our program. We are very grateful for their continued support of literacy development in our young learners! We hope that you enjoy reading these to your children and make time in your daily routine to share your love of books. Research shows that reading aloud to children increases their literacy skills and their language development.
Amy Gerhard
Education Coordinator
Social Emotional Learning
Here’s a fun chant that can help your child identify their feelings, practice breathing and calm their body.
Step 1: You say the words and model the action.
Step 2: You say the words and your child does the action with you.
Step 3: Use this chant when you see your child needs to calm their body.
The Calm-Down Chant
Let’s do our Calm-Down Chant!
Hands on my tummy (Child: put hands on tummy)
Then say “Stop” (Child: Say “Stop”)
Name my feeling (Child: I feel sad, angry, scared, frustrated, or worried)
Take a belly breath (Take a belly breath together)
Let’s do it one more time!
Hands on my tummy (Together: Put hands on tummy)
Then say “Stop” (Say together: “Stop”)
Name my feeling ( Together: I feel sad, mad, scared . . .)
Take a belly breath (Together: Take a belly breath)
Health & Safety
Healthy Habits: How to Be Safe When You're in the Sun
Taken/adapted from KidsHealth.org
The weather is warming up, the days are longer and there's more time to be outside doing all kinds of fun things! But if you're going to be out in the sun, especially on a hot day, you need to stay safe.
Don't Feel the Burn
Some people get a sunburn faster than others because of their coloring. If you have blond or red hair, light-colored skin, and light-colored eyes, you'll tend to get a sunburn more quickly than someone with dark eyes and skin. That's because you have less melanin. Melanin is a chemical in the skin that protects it from sun damage by reflecting and absorbing UV rays. People with darker skin have more melanin, but even if you have dark hair, dark eyes, or darker-toned skin, you can still get a sunburn. It will just take a little bit longer.
Prime Time
You don't need to hide from the sun completely or wrap up like a mummy to protect yourself. But you should take these two steps:
1. Always wear sunscreen.
2. Take frequent breaks from the sun by going indoors or moving into the shade.
These steps are especially important between 10:00 in the morning and 4:00 in the afternoon, when the sun's rays are strongest.
Use sunscreen with an SPF rating of 30 or higher. Put on sunscreen 15 to 20 minutes before going out in the sun. The letters SPF stand for sun protection factor, and the number rating tells you how much longer you can stay in the sun without getting sunburned. But this isn't always true, so reapply sunscreen at least every 2 hours, just to be safe. Do this more often if you've been swimming or sweating a lot — even if the sunscreen is waterproof. And remember that you can get sunburned more quickly when you're swimming or boating because the reflection from the water intensifies the sun's rays.
Be sure to put sunscreen all over your body. This includes some places you might not think of, like the tops of your ears, the back of your neck, the part in your hair, your face, and the tops of your feet. You may need some help reaching the back of your body so ask your parents or friends to give you a hand. If you want to block the sun's rays, wear clothing that you can't see your hand through. You may still get burned through more sheer fabrics. Wear a baseball cap or other fun hat to block your face from the sun.
Don't forget that your eyes need protection from ultraviolet rays, too. Always wear sunglasses in the bright sun, and make sure they have a label saying that they block UV rays.
Visit the Nemours Web site.Note: All information on KidsHealth® is for educational purposes only. For specific medical advice, diagnoses, and treatment, consult your doctor.
© 1995-2017 The Nemours Foundation. All rights reserved.
Christiana Shorten ND, NP, RN, CCHC
EC Health Coordinator (970)613-5063
Family Engagement
Be Ready Family Fun and Preschool Fair
This has been such a strange year without all of our fun family events, such as Hug’s Health and Safety Night, the Literacy Fair and Family Game Night. We hope to be able to continue these popular family events next year. As an alternative, we hope you enjoyed the drive-thru event during conferences, Hug’s Caring Caravan, with your bag of goodies including the little “Hugs” for your preschooler.
Every year, our Early Childhood Program collaborates with The Matthews House, United Way, Loveland Public Library, Thompson Valley Preschool, Early Childhood Council of Larimer County, KidsPak and Read Aloud Loveland to host the Be Ready family fun and preschool fair. This year, we are hosting a drive-thru event on Saturday, April 24th from 9 - 11 a.m. at Zion Lutheran Church in Loveland. Participants will receive the “Ready, Set, Kindergarten” guide from Be Ready, a free book, make-and-take preschool learning activities, free burritos, free snacks from KidsPak, community resource brochures, and information about area preschools. We may even have some community vehicles, such as a fire truck and police car for kids to see!
This is a FREE community-wide event, and slots may fill up quickly. Families may sign-up via this link:
Families may also sign up through Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/228891765634416/
The Be Ready campaign’s vision is for all children in Larimer County to be successful in school. To learn more about Be Ready, visit: https://bereadylarimercounty.org/
Julie Lindsay
Family & Community Partnership Coordinator
English Language Development
A strong partnership between you and your ECE child’s teacher is an important part of education in the United States and will help your child succeed in school. But...what if you do not speak English? Some parents are reluctant to talk with teachers if they cannot speak English very well. Please do not let the language barrier stop you from talking with your child’s teacher. What you have to say is more important than the language you say it in! Here are some ways you can talk to your child’s teacher even if you do not speak English very well.
Find out if someone at the school can interpret for you.
There may be a teacher or other parent who speaks your language and can help.
Bring a friend or relative with you to meet your child’s teacher or other school staff.
The Colorin’ Colorado website has several resources to help parents talk to their child’s ECE teacher. CLICK HERE for more information. Enjoy the month of April. Please email me (in any language) if you have questions about supporting your multilingual ECE student or if you need any help creating a partnership with your child’s teacher.
-Julie Sullivan, ELD teacher
julie.sullivan@thompsonschools.org
(970) 613-6885