The Wintonbury Peeper
Wintonbury Early Childhood Magnet School
February, 2023
In This Issue
Principal's Message
Prosocial Behavior
Parent Teacher Organization Updates and important Information
PJ Literacy Night
We are Builders
Flour at Auerfarm
Growing in the Greenhouse
Guiding Your Child's Behavior
Community Connections
Important Dates
Feb 10 School Spirit Day Wear your a shirt with your favorite team or sport!
Feb 15 Early Dismissal Teacher Professional Development
Feb 20 No School President's Day
Feb 21 Second Cup of Coffee Front Lobby, 8:45-9:15 Join Mrs. Straker, Mrs. Smith-Horn and Ms. Whyte for a second cup of coffee, a breakfast treat and discussion.
March 1,2,3 Early Dismissal Parent/Teacher Conferences
Summer Extension Registration
The Summer Extension Program is a seven week program that is a hands-on enrichment program for Preschool and Kindergarten age children. Students engage in exploratory activities which promote positive learning experiences. Any child that attended Wintonbury during the 2022-2023 school year may attend Summer Extension. Parents can choose any or all of the seven weeks. Options include three, four or five days. The program operates at the Wintonbury Magnet School with a tentative start date of June 20 – August 4, 2023. If you are interested in learning more, please contact Kristine Johnson at kjohnson@blmfld.org
Principal's Message
By Samantha Straker
This newsletter is full of ideas and information on supporting, understanding, and responding to children's behavior. At Wintonbury we start with relationships and environments that support self-regulation. In our Parent/Student Handbook you can read our school-wide expectations and how we approach discipline (see excerpt from the handbook below).
Guidance, not discipline - If a student becomes dysregulated, teachers encourage using a “Peace Place”or “Alone Spot” for the student to take time to regulate. Students are taught how to use the “Peace Place” and students often learn and choose to go there on their own to self-regulate until they are ready to approach the issue and work with a coach to guide the student(s) to solve the problem.
Children are taught how to maintain a calm body and quiet voice. They are taught to listen and to
watch with their eyes in order to observe and learn from others.
For most children “discipline” in the traditional sense is not necessary and it is not used at Wintonbury. The word “discipline” comes from the word “disciple,” which means “to learn.” The teaching of self-regulation skills is a necessary step to avoiding what is usually thought of as traditional discipline or punishment.
Here is what we do:
1. Build trusting relationships.
2. Set-up environments (classroom) for self-regulation.
3. Teach school-wide expectations (with classroom promises/expectations).
4. Teach social and emotional skills.
5. Engage with children to solve problems using tools like CPS (Collaborative and Proactive Solutions). Behavior is communication. When the problem is identified, together (staff and child) come up with solutions.
6. Engage with colleagues and parents using collaborative systems such as SBRI (Scientific Researched Based Interventions...a team approach to understanding and responding to challenges which can also be used for academic skills). You will know if/when SRBI is necessary because we will reach out to you!
7. Parent Meetings & Positive Behavior Support Plans.
You can find the Parent/Student Handbook online in our website in the virtual backpack (or click below for a direct link).
From our Social Worker
By Natasha Whyte
Promoting Prosocial Behavior in Early Childhood
Positive peer relationships are essential to social and emotional development and academic success. When students develop strong relationships, they feel a sense of belonging and confidence, which increases their engagement at school. To foster these relationships, Wintonbury students are actively practicing prosocial behaviors such as sharing, helping, and comforting others through our Second Steps curriculum, cooperative play, and volunteer projects, creating a nurturing school environment. To encourage prosocial behaviors at home, explore the following recommendations:
- Acknowledge your child's feelings and experiences, and respond to them in a sensitive manner. When your child feels understood and cared for, they are likely to believe that others are deserving of the same treatment.
- Provide opportunities for your child to help others. For example, if your child has a younger sibling, encourage them to assist their sibling in completing tasks. Or, help your child to gather clothes, books and toys to donate to other children.
- Provide opportunities for your child to engage in cooperative play. When playing with other children, your child will learn to consider how their behavior affects others, share, and collaborate.·
- Use role play to help your child practice prosocial behaviors. Children often enjoy pretend play such as house and doctor, which involve showing empathy and kindness towards others. Children can then utilize these skills in their daily interactions.
- Praise your child when you see them engaging in prosocial behaviors and discuss how these behaviors make a difference in the world and make others feel.
For more information on prosocial behavior, visit https://ceed.umn.edu/gratitude-sympathy-sharing-helping-children-practice-prosocial-skills-at-home/
PTO News
It was so great to see so many families come out for PJ literacy night! We hope you enjoyed the evening and are looking forward to more in person events.
Thank you to everyone who so generously donated to the staff appreciation hot cocoa bar, it was a great treat for all the hard working teachers and staff at Wintonbury.
Please look out for a flyer coming home next week for the Munson’s Chocolates Fundraiser. Funds raised with this fundraiser will go towards purchasing items for the school courtyard to improve the space and increase opportunities for learning and play. As always, please email wintonburypto@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.
Please join us at the next PTO meeting on February 8 at 6 pm in the Wintonbury conference room or via Zoom.
Join The Wintonbury PTO Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6588099102?pwd=d2xscDlzZ25PVys3RmdxK0NzVkUxZz09
Meeting ID: 658 809 9102
Passcode: PTO
For any questions, comments, and volunteer opportunities please email us @ mailto:wintonburypto@gmail.com
Thank you so much for your continued support of the PTO!
PJ Literacy Family Night
Wintonbury was thrilled to welcome back our annual tradition of PJ Literacy Night. We hosted 330 members of the community who came adorned in their most snuggle night wear. Prior to the event, each classroom selected a favorite book to represent on their classroom door. Families participated in a scavenger hunt to match doors to book covers. Families also participated in story time with Bloomfield Public Libraries, book writing, rhyming activities, story retelling, eating pizza and of course conversing with friends and staff members.
- Thank you to Bloomfield librarians, Elizabeth Lane, Carol Walters and Nicole Dolat.
- Thank you to the PTO for providing pizza and dinner to the staff who stayed for the event.
- Thank you to all the staff who volunteered their time to set up the building and run the event.
Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Clifford, the Big Red Dog!
Little Miss Muffet
Book Making
Story Telling with Puppets
Special Reading Moments
All children left with a new BOOK!
Librarian Carol Walters from Bloomfield Public Library
Curriculum Corner
We are Builders
Adapted from Teaching Strategies Gold
When children begin to build with blocks, they begin to understand math concepts. For example, they learn about volume when they find the number of blocks that filla certain space. They compare the heights of their buildings and learn about geometric shapes (triangles, squares, and rectangles). When they lift, shove, stack and move blocks, they explore weight and size. Each time they use blocks, children make decisions about how to build structures and solve construction problems.
Children often use blocks to represent the world around them, perhaps a road, a house or a zoo. As they work together, they learn to cooperate and begin to understand friendship. To promote language development and expand children's play, encourage them to talk about what they are doing. Here are some examples of what you might say and ask:
- I see that you made a tall apartment building. How do people get to their floors?
- Where do people park their cars when they come to the shopping center?
- Would you like to make a sign for our building?
These questions and comments make children more aware of what they are doing and encourage them to try new ideas.
What You Can do at Home:
You can encourage your child to learn through block play at home by purchasing table blocks, colored wooden cube blocks, or cardboard brick blocks. You can also make a set out of milk cartons or cardboard boxes, which come in different sizes. Store them in shoe boxes or plastic tubs and put a picture and word label on the container so you child knows where the materials belong.
Identify a place where your child can build and play with bocks safely. Props such as clothespins, small plastic animals and cars and trucks will extend your child's play and inspire new ideas. The settings you child creates can also be used for pretend play.
Watch the video below for building examples from Rooms 103, 105, 106, 302, and 306!
Auerfarm: Flour
During this farm visit, students were first presented with a dilemma that the gingerbread man ran away. Students were encouraged to look for clues (cookie crumbs) as they walked the premises. The gingerbread man was finally discovered hiding in a shed! The gingerbread was trying to discover what he was made from.
Children learned that flour is made from seeds and is an ingredient in many foods that we eat. In the classroom, students used a hand mill to grind flour from seeds. They also followed a recipe to make gingerbread cookies!
Room 305 discovers some cookie crumbs.
Could the gingerbread man be close?
A field of winter wheat
Flour is made from seeds from wheat and other plants.
Room 106 students pour seeds into the "hopper".
Then the crank is turned and flour sprinkles out hte bottom.
Flour is used to make gingerbread dough.
Strong muscles are needed to mix and stir.
Time to roll the dough.
The best part - eating the cookie!
Growing in the Greenhouse
By Mary Munson
The New Year sparked a new planting opportunity at Wintonbury. The Go Green Committee set the greenhouse for a school-wide planting experience! Raised garden beds were created to grow: carrots, peas, green beans, radishes, herbs and flowers. Students were taught about seeds, sun and soil. Classes had a chance to plant a seed, water it and wish it well! We are proud to say that in a week we discovered many shoots popping out of the soil! Students are documenting their observations by drawing the changes they see, taking pictures, and measuring the growth with unifix cubes and rulers! It is a very exciting time in our warm and sunny greenhouse to watch the new plants grow. Stay tuned for future greenhouse updates!
Room 105 pokes holes in the soil for the seeds.
The seeds need water.
Students draw and write their observations.
Room 101 looks closely at seeds...
...and takes care of plants.
Students in 101 document their observations.
Other Classroom Highlights
Room 206 Masters the Obstacle Course
Room 206 navigated an obstacle course in the multipurpose room. Using large muscles, students crawled through, jumped over, jumped off, jumped in, walked on, and more!
Parent Resource
Guiding Your Child's Behavior
Your preschooler is learning positive behaviors just like she’s learning new words and skills. Challenging behaviors often happen when children feel they don’t have another way to express their feelings or another way to get what they need. It’s important to stay calm, patient, and consistent as you help your child understand your expectations.
Your child is very upset and having a temper tantrum.
Try This:
- Think about what might be connected to the tantrum. Is he hungry or tired, or does he need to go to the bathroom? Address those needs first.
- Encourage your child to take deep breaths; you can do them together.
- Speak quietly and bend down to your child’s level.
- Develop logical consequences related to the undesired behavior, promise them, and follow through on using them. (“If you can’t wait for your turn on the swing, we’ll go over to the slides.”)
When your child is calm and relaxed, it is a good time to put some things in place to encourage positive behavior.
Try This:
- Talk about family rules and expectations. Your child can help come up with rules and the consequences for not following them.
- Reinforce positive behaviors (“You’re using your words to explain what you want!”).
- Help children with behaviors they’re struggling to learn, such as waiting for their turn. Practice them together.
- Be supportive by modeling positive behaviors.
Resources / Publications / Teaching Young Children / Summer 2021 / Message in a Backpack™ Guiding Your Child’s Behavior
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