All events will be held outside around the back and side of the building. Please see schedule below as to when your child will be participating in field day. Children MUST stay with with assigned class.

Due to this being our first field day, we are requesting that parents/guardians be the only guests at this time. We ask that extended family and siblings not attend this event so that we can learn the ropes and will perhaps expand in the future.

Please park on the side of the building and walk to the back to join teachers.

Morning Classes:

Yellow/Orange: 8:40 to 10:30

Green/Blue: 8:40 to 10:30

Purple/Red: 8:40 to 10:30

Gray: 8:20 to 10:10

Afternoon Classes:

Yellow/Orange: 1:20 to 3:20

Green/Blue: 1:20 to 3:20

Purple/Red: 1:20 to 3:20

Gray: 1:00 to 2:50

Please note - if it rains, field day will be cancelled for guests but we will be recreating the fun indoors for kiddos!

Congratulations to Laura Lucier, an early childhood teacher at Cedar Trails Exploration Center, for being named the USD 232 Making a Difference Award winner for February 2022!

Laura joined USD 232 in 1999. With a combined 32 years of teaching experience, both in the district and Kansas City Kansas Public Schools, she has spent a majority of that time as a preschool special education teacher. She has taught in several buildings in the district, including: Countryside Preschool, Woodsonia, Starside, Prairie Ridge, Belmont, and now in the new Cedar Trails Exploration Center. She has spent time training early childhood staff on the importance of play in child development and, in addition, has tailored classroom instruction to meet individual learner needs.

Here is an excerpt from one of her nominations:

I would love to nominate my son’s special education preschool teacher, Mrs. Laura Lucier for “Making A Difference.” She makes learning fun by providing different learning strategies. Her students love her because of her gentleness and patience towards them. My son wouldn’t be where he is at today (academically) without her help. She teaches with love and guidance and makes every child feel loved.

The USD 232 Making a Difference award was created to celebrate the exceptional teachers and staff at USD 232 who are truly “making a difference in the lives of young people. The school district and the USD 232 Education Foundation present the monthly Making a Difference Award cooperatively with the program being sponsored by Great American Bank in De Soto.

Previous fundraiser profits allowed this presentation - thank you to all parents for your support!

Fees for second semester have been added to Skyward family access. If you would like to take advantage of the 10% discount for paying for the semester in advance, please pay the discounted rate of $810 (4 year old students) and $648 (3 year old students) in family access by January 15th 2021. At that time, if the advance payment has been made, we will subtract the discount from your account.

Enrollment Fees:

All students, except grant funded students, will have the yearly enrollment fee of $50. This fee is added each year in August.

Payments:

Payments may be made in the Cedar Trails office (check or exact cash) or online via efunds. Additional information on efunds (online payments), can be found at https://www.usd232.org/site/Default.aspx?PageID=192. You will need your child's student number to make an online payment. This 6-digit number is available through skyward family access. If you have questions regarding online payments or your balance, please contact Tiffany Lewis at tlewis@usd232.org or 913-667-1820.

Ms. Andrea enjoyed reading this year's selected book titled The Grumpy Bird in the Green Classroom on Thursday.

Families can view an online book reading at (available in English, Spanish, ASL): https://kslib.info/1477/2021-Storytime-Videos

Morning Class (Gray Team)

• Leave Cedar Trails @ 8:50am
• Arrive back to Cedar Trails @ 10:50am

Afternoon Class (All Classes)

• Leave Cedar Trails @ 12:45pm
• Arrive back to Cedar Trails @ 2:45pm

Important Information:

• Students must ride to and from the pumpkin patch on the school bus
• Parents may follow the bus to the patch and will be responsible for entry fee (Student entry fees were paid for by Change Drive Proceeds!)
• Unfortunately, siblings are not permitted on field trip.
• Students will bring home a pumpkin from the patch later this week following fun fall activities in their classrooms.
• School start/end times remain the same

TUESDAY (10/26/21): Fall activities happening in all classrooms

WEDNESDAY (10/27/21): Big Pumpkin Play and Truck or Treat

• During school, students will watch the play "The Big Pumpkin" (put on by staff).
• Truck or Treat is from 5pm to 7pm in the BACK of Cedar Trails. Parking will be available in the side lot. We would love to see all EC families for some fun and treats! (More information on flyer below).

THURSDAY (10/28/21): Fall Parties and Costume Parade

• Fall Parties will occur in the preschool classrooms. Unfortunately, we are not inviting visitors at this time, due to COVID-19 pandemic. However, we would love to see parents at our costume parade (info below)
• Students may bring costumes to school or bring costume to change in to for Costume Parade. Please leave any weapons (e.g. swords), masks or anything that will be difficult for the child to manage independently. Also, please no scary costumes as we want all children to feel safe.
• Parade Route: Students will parade out the back doors around the playground, through the bus loop and enter through the other set of back doors. Parents may park in the back or side lots and walk around, no need to check in at the office.
• Parade Times: Morning classes at 10:15am and Afternoon classes at 2:45pm (parents plan to arrive a few minutes early as you may have to walk a bit to get to the parade route.)

Check out the Cedar Trails Early Childhood PTO Facebook Page to enter.

Staff will be providing the trunks and most of the activities; however, we do have a few outstanding needs (including the treats for the kiddos!). If you are interested or able to help, here is the sign up genius with our needed items: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4DAFAF22AAFA7-trunk

If you wish to prepay prior to picture day the web address below (black button below that says click here!) should ONLY be used for pictures taken on the date above. Online ordering is available before and after picture day. Shipping and handling charges may apply to orders placed after picture day.

If you have any additional questions or concerns regarding picture day or the ordering process please visit our information page https://interstatesupport.zendesk.com/ if you cannot find your answers here please feel free to contact our local office at 816-600-2454.

1) your child is displaying symptoms (e.g. cough, runny nose) but has not been exposed to COVID-19

2) someone in the home has tested positive for COVID-19

(see image and handout below)

Please don't hesitate to call Noelle Drabek, CTEC Nurse, with questions at 913-667-1820.

Fire Prevention Week is Oct 3-9, 2021. This year's FPW campaign, “Learn the Sounds of Fire Safety!” works to educate everyone about the different sounds the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms make. Knowing what to do when an alarm sounds will keep you and your family safe. When an alarm makes noises – a beeping sound or a chirping sound – you must take action. Read more here: https://www.nfpa.org/Events/Events/Fire-Prevention-Week/About.

The Shawnee FD would like to help teach this and other fire safety lessons to your students and families. We have put together a video and homework assignment on our website. The homework can be taken to Firehouse Subs for a free meal! Please find our video, letter to parents, and homework on our website here: https://cityofshawnee.org/Departments/Fire/Prevention.

We did it!!! We reached our goal of $2,100 and in fact we raised just over $2,400. Hooray! These gifts will provide students with many fun activities and experiences in preschool this year, including our Fall Fest Week (more information coming soon.) Thank you for your generosity and support.

Along those very same lines- our greater community was also blessed by the numerous donations for the food pantry. We were able to restock their shelves and I was blown away at the sheer number of donations. Thank you so much!

We are lucky to have such supportive EC families,

Andrea

PS - All students will get to enjoy a popsicle party next Tuesday (after it warms up a bit!).

Thank you so much for your support of both our community and Cedar Trails - EC! We will send out additional information next week with more details of our SUCCESSFUL Change Drives.

What fun we have had with our spirit, week with lots more fun to have! I have included an update below. Remember, our goal is for each class to raise $150 dollars to support our field trip fund and student/teacher material funds. Thank you so much for your support!

Also, I wanted to include a photo of the items collected for the De Soto Food Bank. My heart is so happy seeing such generosity and kindness for our neighbors. Thank you families!

We still have the rest of the week. Keep sending in those donations and we look forward to Tired Thursday (wear your PJs) and wear your Favorite Sports Team Friday!

Andrea West, Principal

PS - The Family Newsletter will arrive in your inbox over this weekend (vs Friday of this week!)

Next week is a BIG week at Cedar Trails. We will have TWO change drives and a spirit week. Our first change drive, has a goal of positively impacting our community by providing donations to our local food shelter. Please see calendar above for specific day plans for food pantry and spirit week.

We are also having a FUNdraiser to support our Field Trip Fund as well as our Student/Teacher Supply Funds. We have found that students love to bring in change to support their classrooms (hence the change drive); however, we will also gladly accept cash and checks as well (checks can be made out to Cedar Trails.). Each classroom that raises $150 will celebrate with a popsicle party the following week.

Top Need Food Pantry Items:

• Fruit - canned, applesauce
• Dried Beans
• Cereal
• Peanut Butter
• Jelly
• Spaghetti Sauce
• Boxed Meals (e.g. Hamburger Helper)
• Tuna or other Canned Meat)
• Personal Care Items (e.g. razors. shampoo)
• Toilet Paper

1. Keep car folders in window for drop off AND pick up. (Change from original guidance. Apologies!). This allows staff to see what classroom the student belongs to and helps keep less crossover between staff/students from different rooms. Other staff can help out but as much as possible we will try to have staff from your child's classroom meet you for carloop.
2. Wait for staff member to come to you. Please wait for a staff member to come to you (verses sending the student to walk up the sidewalk.). With traffic so close, we want to make 100% sure our students are safe.
3. Pull all the way up. Please use the entire sidewalk for car loop by pulling all the way up if you are first.

The preschool years are very important. We want your child to be as ready as possible for kindergarten. This is not just about knowing letters and numbers. It’s also about knowing how to learn and get along with others. We will be using the Second Step early learning program in your child’s classroom to teach these important skills.

The Second Step program teaches skills in the following four areas:

1. Skills for Learning: Children gain skills to help them be better learners, including how to focus their attention, listen carefully, and ask for help.

2. Empathy: Children learn to identify and understand their own and others’ feelings. Children also learn how to show care for others.

3. Emotion Management: Children learn how to calm down when they have strong feelings, such as worry or anger.

4. Friendship Skills and Problem Solving: Children learn how to make and keep friends and to solve problems with others in a positive way.

P.S. Make sure to join www.secondstep.org with the activation key SSPE FAMI LY68 to get information about what your child is learning in the Second Step early learning program!

Also, thank you for everyone that came to our Family Welcome Night. Having collaboration between home and school is a priority for USD 232 Early Childhood and we love to have our families at school.

2) PTO Information Sign up (LINK FIXED): If you would like to receive information regarding PTO events and meetings, please sign up here. https://forms.gle/cDrKph7tsf1mGQJe6.

(If you signed up on Family Welcome Night, there is no need to sign up again.)

3) Classroom Helper Sign up (LINK FIXED): If we are able to have class parties and fun events, we will need your help. Classrooms also need help with copies and cutting items from time to time. If you are interested in being contacted IF help is needed in your child's classroom, please sign up here: https://forms.gle/AxeSkrtjpqLw41Jm8

(If you signed up on Family Welcome Night, there is no need to sign up again.)

4.) Carloop Folder: Please have carloop folders visible during dismissal carloop. Thank you!

5.) Carloop Procedure Video: Great Job Parents! We had a very successful first car loop. If you have questions, please watch this video or contact us at 913-667-1820: https://youtu.be/tEpCR0YtpOw.

We hope to see you there! Please enter through the front office doors.

The first day for 4-year-olds is Friday, August 13th 2021.

The first day for 3-year-olds is Tuesday, August 17th 2021.

Parents may walk their student down on the first day only. Parents/students will need to go through the front entrance and wear a mask. Parking will be available on the side of the building. Additional information on carloop procedures will be sent out next week. Basic carloop information is attached below.

Please make sure enrollment is completed ASAP! Staff are currently contacting parents with missing items. If you have questions regarding your child's enrollment please call the Cedar Trails Office at 913-667-1820 (our phones are now working!)

The following is needed to complete student enrollment:

- Immunization records,

- Birth certificate,

- Proof of residency (utility bill with name and address),

- Health Form (copy of information from most recent well child visit),

- Completion of online enrollment through skyward family access,

- $50.00 enrollment fee (cash/check accepted in person/mail and online payments are available through your Skyward Family Access - eFunds). There is no tuition for students receiving special education services. The enrollment fee is a yearly fee only. Grant Funded Spots do not pay fees.

Documents may be scanned or emailed (pictures of documents accepted) to trwilson@usd232.org.

Directions for accessing your Skyward Family Access account and paying via eFunds are below. Please note: you will need your child's student ID from Skyward Family Access to pay online via eFunds.