SASD 4K Family Newsletter
Grow. Play. Learn.
December 1st, 2023
When parents learn about activities and routines that occur at school, they can continue them at home, which strengthens a child's brain development.
Familiar activities can provide comfort for both adults and children. Just like adults, children feel more confident and secure when their daily activities are predictable and familiar. A consistent daily schedule and step-by-step routines give children a predictable day. Schedules and routines in the group care setting and at home help children:
- Feel in control of their environment
- Feel safe, secure, and comfortable
- Know what is happening now and what comes next
- Know how to do an activity or task
- Engage in learning
For more information click on the link: The Importance of Schedules and Routines
Have a safe and healthy holiday season,
Erin Conrad, 4K Principal
Sara Jane Lee, 4K Coordinator
Mindy Holverson, 4K Educational Assistant
SASD 4K Mission
Our 4K mission as a collaborative community is to ensure quality early learning experiences that will positively impact the Stoughton area four-year-old children now and in the future.
Learning through Play: The Key to Child Development
Tactile play develops fine and gross motor skills, physical play stimulates growth, and make-believe play accelerates social-emotional learning. Most importantly for us, all kinds of play foster a love of learning that young children will carry with them as they move through school.
For more information click on the link: 4K FAQ
Mark Your Calendars
4K Friday, December 8th
No School December 15th
Winter Break December 21st-January 1st
*School resumes on Tuesday, January 2nd
4K Assessment
Students will participate in the FastBridge Assessment again this winter from December 11th-21st.
Here is an overview of what is assessed throughout the year:
Fall-
Concepts of Print
Onset Sounds
Letter Names
Winter-
Concepts of Print
Onset Sounds
Letter Names
Spring-
Onset Sounds
Letter Names
Letter Sounds
INCLEMENT WEATHER
This year SASD will be implementing a new practice for snow days by utilizing a 2-hour delay when needed. If a 2-hour delays occurs there will be no AM 4K. Please check the SASD Inclement Weather site for more information.
Heggerty Phonemic Awareness
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
At school your child is engaging in Heggerty Phonological Awareness lessons. Over the next 6 weeks, your child will be working with syllables. A syllable is a part of a word with a vowel sound in it. For example, the word pencil has 2 syllables: pen - cil. Each part has one vowel sound. Your child will learn to blend and segment with syllables, and these two skills will help students as they learn to read and write words.
Daily phonemic awareness instruction is critical to becoming a successful reader. “Phonemic
awareness is central to learning to read and spell.” (L. Ehri, 1984). The phonemic awareness activities below are oral and auditory language play, and none of the words would be written out or shown in print to the students. When having conversations with your child, consider using some of these activities with words and language they are familiar with:
★ Name Game: Choose a sound and ask your child to name people, places or things that begin
with that sound. For example, say “can you name some things that begin with the sound /m/?”
★ Categories: Think of a category (animals, sports, things at school). Ask your child to blend (put together) the syllables to make the word. For example , say “I am thinking of some pets, can you tell me what they are...?”
ham - ster, hamster pup - y , puppy kitt - en, kitten
★ Ask your child to listen for the sound they hear at the end of a word you say aloud.
○ What is the last sound we hear in the word dog? Answer: /g/
○ What is the last sound we hear in the names of friends, pets, or family members?
★ Be a Ninja: Say a word and have your child act like a ninja by “chopping” words into syllables. For example, say “Be a ninja! Chop ‘frozen’ into syllables!” (fro - zen). See below for more words to practice: elbow (el - bow), candle (can - dle) recess (re - cess)
★ Books to enjoy together: Listen for the rhyming words!
○ Little Red Rhyming Hood by Sue Fliess
○ Mary Had a Little Jam and Other Silly Rhymes by Bruce Lansky
○ Rhyme Crime by Jon Burgerman
Visit our website: https://www.heggerty.org
View lesson demonstrations: Heggerty Phonemic Awareness - YouTube
STOP: Print is everywhere!
You’re driving down the road with your kids in the car, on the way to soccer, piano, karate or whatnot, and you see a familiar red, octagonal sign. What do you do? STOP. That red octagon means “stop,” of course, but it is also means, “Stop, phonological awareness opportunity!” OK, so that’s a mouthful. And what is phonological awareness? Simply put, it is the ability to work with sounds in spoken language. Children do this naturally, and you can encourage their experiments with sound by showing them that print is everywhere. All those squiggly shapes are letters, that stand for sounds, that come together to make words.
Inclusive Supports
What to Read: Instructional Practices for Students
What to Use: 20 Ways to Provide Invisible or Silent Support and Academic Supports On the Fly
OWL Curriculum
December OWL Unit 4: Life on a Farm
Week 1: Welcome to the Farm
Week 2: Out in the Fields
Week 3: In the Barnyard
December 21st-January 1st Winter Break
Opening the World of Learning: Pearson Research Overview
Why are PATTERNS important?
Even babies learn math concepts early on, and it all starts with patterns. Patterns are arrangements of things that repeat in a logical way. Those arrangements of colors, shapes, gestures, sounds, images, and numbers are a crucial concept for young kids and contributes heavily to their early math understanding.
Patterns help children make predictions because they begin to understand what comes next. They also help children learn how to make logical connections and use reasoning skills.
For more information go to: Cool Ways to Teach Your Preschooler Patterns
Developing Body Awareness: Building and Drawing with Mat Man
Children can bring Mat Man to life!
Check out the video here where children learn body awareness, drawing skills and number awareness.
The Pyramid Model
The goals of the National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations (NCPMI) are to assist states and programs in their implementation of sustainable systems for the implementation of the Pyramid Model for Supporting Social Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children (Pyramid Model) within early intervention and early education programs with a focus on promoting the social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes of young children birth to five, reducing the use of inappropriate discipline practices, promoting family engagement, using data for decision-making, integrating early childhood and infant mental health consultation and fostering inclusion.
To learn more about The Pyramid Model START HERE
Tucker the Turtle
A scripted story to assist with teaching the “Turtle Technique”
By Rochelle Lentini, Lindsay N. Giroux and Mary Louise Hemmeter
Tucker the Turtle Takes Time to Tuck and Think at HomeStory: I Am A Super Friend
Self Regulation Skills: Relaxation Thermometer
Children who learn to regulate their emotions:
►Have an easier time making friends
►Handle disappointment better
►Relate more successfully with peers and adults
►Are less impulsive
How You Can Help Children Self-Regulate?
►Model and discuss reasons for desired behaviors.
►Validate feelings.
►Assist with language through labeling actions, feelings, and emotions.
►Provide opportunities for developmentally appropriate play.
►Promote children’s independence across the day.
►Provide a place child can go to take a break and calm down.
►Provide positive feedback in response to the child regulating their behavior and help child regulate by modeling ways to calm down when needed.
National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations | ChallengingBehavior.org
NURTURED HEART APPROACH
The Nurtured Heart Approach Vocabulary for December:
Cooperative "I show my greatness by playing, sharing and taking turns with friends."
Creative "I show my greatness by drawing, painting and creating new things."
Patient "I show my greatness by quietly raising my hand and waiting my turn for the teacher to call on me."
SASD Antiracism Project
Antiracism Resources by Month:
FAMILY RESOURCES
Stoughton Food Pantry
520 S. 4th Street, Stoughton
Hours: Monday-Wednesday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Thursdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and 4 to 6 p.m.
Closed Fridays
First Saturday of the month 9 to 11 a.m.
*Call for an appointment: 608-873-8103
Winter Break
School Resumes Tuesday, January 2nd
Enjoy the break!!
Contact us!
Kate Ahlgren, Director of Curriculum and Instruction kate.ahlgren@stoughton.k12.wi.us
Sara Jane Lee, 4K Coordinator sarajane.lee@stoughton.k12.wi.us
Mindy Holverson, 4K Educational Assistant mindy.holverson@stoughton.k12.wi.us
Website: https://www.stoughton.k12.wi.us/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stoughtonschools/