School for Young Children
Inquiring Minds February 2018
From the Director, Sue O'Donnell
During the past 4 years SYC staff have received professional development training on a social emotional program developed by Yale's Center for Emotional Intelligence. RULER stands for Recognizing, Understanding, Labeling, Expressing, and Regulating emotions. Teachers have learned how to incorporate RULER teaching practices, routines, and strategies into all aspects of their day. This practice has allowed children to become more connected with their emotions. SYC staff have embraced the model and integrate aspects of RULER throughout the day.
Preschool children are learning how to navigate their world and create social relationships with peers and other adults. During the preschool years, children develop a greater awareness to recognize and identify their own emotions. A more challenging aspect of RULER is understanding how others might be feeling. The concept of empathy and recognizing how others feel is difficult within the persona which is still very egocentric. The intentional focus on Recognizing, Understanding, Labeling, Expressing, and Regulating emotions brings awareness to social emotional skills that develop throughout the course of a lifetime. SYC staff strive to provide children with foundational skills in this area allowing them to have a beginning understanding of this very complex topic.
Three SYC parents are attending two RULER workshops specifically designed for families. After the next workshop in February, we will be working to organize an evening event for SYC families to learn more about RULER and ways to incorporate the strategies at home. I hope you will consider attending this family workshop to learn more about RULER!
Winter Gear and Weather
It's that time of year..snow, rain, and yes, mud! Our playground stays wet through to the spring so please send your child to school with the right gear for outdoor play. We go outside in most weather. Please LABEL all of your child's boots, hats, jackets, snow pants, and mittens. Also, please use your SYC bag to hold all the gear.
If your child is in backpack, please send in extra mittens and socks for the afternoon.
If your child has borrowed any boots, mittens, socks etc from SYC, please return them to your classroom teacher.
Thank you!
Valentine's Day at SYC
We will celebrate Valentine's Day at SYC in classrooms by exploring the concepts of friendship and caring. Cards will not be distributed in the classrooms. Rather we will think of ways to demonstrate caring towards others within the school and community.
Dates to Remember:
Feb 2nd: Movie Night
Feb 5th-Feb 6th: Paul Cryan Photos
Feb 19th-20th: Winter Break: NO Preschool/Backpack is OPEN
Paul Cryan Photos Feb 2, 5,6
Once again Paul Cryan will be coming to SYC to photograph children.
Here is the schedule:
Friday Feb 2nd:
Rm 7: 9:30-10:15
Rm 3: 10:15-11
Rm 2: 11-11:45
Rm 5: 11:45-12:30
Monday Feb 5th:
Rm 1: 9:30-10:15
Rm 6: 10:15-11
Rm 4: 11-11:45
Rm 7: 11:45-12:30
Tuesday Feb 6th
Rm 1: 9:30-10:15
Rm 6: 10:15-11
Rm 2: 11-11:45
Rm 3: 11:45-12:30
Please note that some classes are having their pictures taken on 2 days. Please refer to your class list to see which day your child is being photographed on. Lists will be posted outside of your child's classroom.
PAC NEWS
Thank you to all of the families who brought in snacks for the teachers and staff on Family Conference Day. All the food was much appreciated and helped to keep the teachers going all day! Many thanks to Maggie and Kate Roberts for coordinating!
Planning for the biggest fundraiser of the year is officially underway! This year's theme will be Fiesta and will be held on Saturday April 28th at 6pm at the school. It's a fun night out for parents with food, drinks, raffles, and silent and live auctions! Thank you to those who have already volunteered for the committees. Spots still remain for some of our auction committees including, Vendor Relations, Clean-Up, and Check Out, which are all very important to our auction's success. There will be many more opportunities to be involved, so keep an eye out for more information or contact us to find out more.
The next PAC meeting is scheduled for March 7th at 6:30pm. As always, childcare will be provided and everyone is encouraged to attend!
Emily Safino and Melissa Bowman PAC Co-Chairs
Meaningful Art Actvities Parents Can Fit Into a Busy Day
Art activities offer children and families many benefits. Child development and pediatric experts agree that even short spurts of creative time greatly impact social, cognitive, and emotional development of children in their earliest formal years and create long-lasting memories. It's important to remember that a meaningful art activity doesn't need to take a lot of parental preparation time.
Here are a few tips to help busy families engage in meaningful art activities.
1. Eliminate the pressure to make art activities difficult.
Art activities don't need to take a lot of parent prep time. Use items that you already have around the house-like paper towel rolls or cotton balls-to eliminate time needed to go to the store and purchase special supplies. And keep staple items on hand that can be used for a variety of art activities-such as paper, paint, tape, crayons, and glue.
2. Let children take the creative lead.
Parents promote creativity, thinking, planning and other important skills when they let children take on art activities. The creative spark is lit when children try to figure out how things work on their own. A number of recent studies have shown that young children display more advanced cognitive skills when adults use less instruction. One of the key reasons is that this allows children to practice what's known as " counterfactual" reasoning, the process of mental "trial and error" that is an emerging aspect of innovative thinking. For example, "What happens if I paste this piece of fabric here instead of there?' or "What if I paint this dog green?" By hanging back and encouraging children to try out their own ideas versus giving a strict patterns to follow, parents can support the roots of innovation.
3. Allow children to use their hands to create their project.
Art projects also offer many ways for children to build their small muscles and improve their fine motor development. When children use scissors, squeeze a glue bottle or mold clay they strengthen the muscles needed to master using a pencil at school later on.
4. Support but don't take over.
The benefits from doing art activities independently are critical for academic readiness.
Parents can support their children by encouraging them, helping with suggestions, and stepping in only when needed. While it might take longer to open a glue bottle or paint tube, these are important ways children develop the muscles they need for school.
5. Praise their efforts, not the product itself.
It's clear from research that praising children for their effort, not the quality of the final product, supports the future mindsets that underlie success in academics, sports, and arts.
6. Remember ~ you're creating happy memories.
The fact that you're supporting your child's creativity and spending time together is important. One of the most important benefits children and parents both reap from arts and crafts is that, years from now, it won't matter what was created, just that it was created as children and parents spent time together.
Interesting materials, smile, laughs, and some silliness keeps children engaged. Not only will this lead to cognitive benefits, but also bonding time with parents. Children will form lasting memories that will stay with them for years to come.
by Richard Rende, PhD developmental psychologist, researcher, author, and educator
Room 7
Room 4
Room 6
Room 2
Room 3
Room 1
THANK YOU!
The SYC staff would like to thank all families who donated food for our conference day! The treats were delicious and kept us energized throughout the day!
Thank you for your generosity!
SUMMER CAMP 2018 IS COMING!!
SYC will be offering Summer Camp in 4 sessions:
Session 1: June 18th-June 29th
Session 2: July 2nd-July 13th (no camp 7/4/18)
Session 3: July 16th-July 27th
Session 4: July 30th-August 11th
Brochures and registration forms will be available March 1st.
Please see Jackie Sanderson if you have any questions
jsanderson @usj.edu 860.231.6669
Exploring the Nature Trail!
Friday Ice Cream Treat Day!
Slip and Slide Fun!
The School for Young Children at The University of Saint Joseph
Website: usj.edu/syc
Location: 238 Steele Road, West Hartford, CT, United States
Phone: 860.231.5561
Facebook: facebook.com/schoolforyoungchildren