Director Monthly Updates
Progress Delayed Isn't Progress Denied! May 01, 2017
Our Best Year Ever!
Learning from Experience!
Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength" M. Gandhi
2016 - 17 Goals
- Improve communication between admin, staff and parents.
Every classroom should have a Remind 101 for your class. See Cindy if you need assistance.
- Cultivate a climate where we support each others efforts, ideas and hard work, while holding each other accountable for program excellence.
- We each established goals and are holding each other accountable. If you have not made a written growth plan with Washea, please stop by this week to schedule a time to do so.
- Thank you our Language, Literacy and Communication Scores on the COR and Ages and Stages have improved.
Please stop in the Office and sign the Thank you card for all the Parents who sent food in for our Teacher Appreciation week. The Card will be under my calendar on the front desk. Thanks Cindy
Early Release
- Reminder: Early Release day May 26th(contact your families and document your discussions on your communication log)
- No School OELC is closed May 29th
Celebrating May is Mothers day! and Memorial Day!
First Bulletin Board at OELC needs to be completed by the
Transition board will stay up for May
The Second Bulletin Board is done by Toddlers
June will be done by the Office
Staff Meeting/Committee Meetings/Board Meetings
- Committee Meeting ~ no committee meetings for May
Dates to remember
- May 5th Spring Concert
- May 9th Board Meeting all must attend
- May 11th GSRP 3rd period Cor is due
- May 18th Spring Fair -
- May Cor Due May 19th for tuition based programs.
- May 15th and 16th Parent teacher conferences for GSRP
- May 22nd and 23rd Parent teacher conferences for tutition based
- May 29th no school
- May 31st is the kindergarten Open House at each Elementary School
Parent teacher Conference for tuition Based Programs Details below...
Tuition Based program teachers will report from 12 - 8 on May 22nd and 23rd
GSRP teachers will report in the assigned classrooms from 8 - 4 on May 22nd and 23rd
GSRP Lakeville will cover the Dinosaur room
GSRP Daniel Axford will cover the Perky penguin room
GSRP Leonard will cover the Toddler Room
GSRP OELC FD will cover the Infant Room
GSRP OELC HD will cover the Panda Room
Wildcats work your normal hours in the Panda Room
OELC is Happy to announce our classrooms are almost Full
Please remind your parents to enroll ASAP
When discussing age eligibility for our classrooms, please use the following guidelines below. September 1, 2017 is the date to determine a students' age. Waivers are not offered.
Infants = 0-12 months
Toddler 1 = 12-18 months
Toddler 2 = 19-33 months
3 year olds Full Day = 33-47 months
4 year olds Full Day = 48+ months
Messages From Sue's Corner
Enrollment
Began 3/6/16 ~ Contact your families and make the appropriate
documentation on your communication log.
Skyward
- Enter your time into Skyward daily: when you arrive and depart.
- Submit your payroll on Wednesday.
- If you are not working your scheduled hours, get prior permission, and put a note in the explanation box.
- Use the mileage form. You can no longer type your miles into the description box.
- Submit mileage within the month traveled.
- Skyward Questions If you have questions about True Time or Time Off Request, please contact Sue first before contacting Angie.
Time Off
- April ~
- March ~ 32 people were off
- February ~ 16 people were off
- January ~ 14 people were off
- December ~ 12 people were off
- November ~ 15 people were off
- October ~ 22 people were off
- September ~ 6 people were off
Pat's Corner
Language and Literacy Initiative
Check out the Survey for Fee, Fie, Phonemic Awareness Literacy Initiative Survey
The Language and Literacy Committee has been working to improve our student’s skills in letter recognition, sounds, writing, reading, speaking, and listening. These efforts have really paid off. Our COR Data indicates that our Language, Literacy and Communication Scores among preschoolers began the year at an average of 3.28; in February, these same students scored and average of 4.09, this is .81 gain in a very short amount of time! Further our students showed the highest gain in Phonological Awareness with a gain in this one item of 1.24 – this is a stellar gain. In fact, it is our highest gain.
Transition Guidance
As the Transition Committee has set out some general guidelines for activities that will support children’s transition between classrooms and grade levels. The Committee will forward the plans they have developed this month. It is important to remember that effective transition activities include:
- Time for children to meet their classmates, teachers and other adults in their school;
- Time for parents to meet these people who are important in their children’s lives.
- Orientation to the physical building and adjacent spaces.
- Face to face conversation about what to expect, reports back on how activities went and next steps.
- Sensitive interactions with of parents and children who will be exposed to new settings.
- Written and resource information about plans and activities and what parents and children can do.
Transition Resources for Parents
The Michigan Department of Education has published fact sheets for families (and teachers) this is information that we use to support children’s transitions from Early Childhood Programs and into Elementary School. Many of these strategies and handouts are appropriate for younger students as well. Please send the link out to your families:
- Moving between preschool and Kindergarten www.michigan.gov/mde/0,4615,7-140-6530_6809-152726--,00.html
- Moving between two through four years old www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/Transition_at_Age_3_Final_522390_7.pdf
Pat B's Corner
Knowledge Of Self
Last month the infant and toddlers got together to experience knowledge of self, with body tracings. The toddlers made cookies to help them learn body part placement with Mirrors and M and M's. The toddlers used yardsticks and the growth chart for measurement, and then the teachers and students made a graph to chart the data results.
Thinking out of the box, keeping our infants and toddlers challenged with an interactive curriculum.
Messages from Karen Corner
Karen’s Corner.
Important Dates:
May 10th OELC is participating in the Summer Preschool Fair at the Oxford Public Library.
Karen will be there from 4 -7
We will be advertising our summer program at the Fair.
May 13th the Lake Orion Flower Show
Support the “Playhouse for a Purpose” Auction
We NEED VOLUNTEERS on May 13th, 9 am to 11 am and 1 pm to 3 pm
Please let your families know to come out to the Lake Orion Flower Show on Saturday, May 13th
3:00 pm on Saturday under the traffic lights at Broadway and Flint Street.
Keep your fingers crossed for a BIG bid!
June 7th OELC’s last Data and Parent Advisory meeting
The Data meeting is from 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm.
A light supper will be provided from 6:00 pm – 6:30 pm.
The Parent Advisory meeting is from 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm.
We would like to see at least one parent from each class attend so; please encourage your families to attend this meeting. Childcare will be provided. There will be a sign-up sheet available closer to the day of the meeting
SPRING CONCERT
Finally! The Spring Concert is almost here. The Songs we will be singing at the concert this year. Please, please, please have an open mind! We are going to try singing 1 song acapella this year! Trust me it will all be okay!
Songs:
1. Friends, Friends 1-2-3 (Same edited version as last year) - This song showcases cultural inclusion and support for the foreign language programs that are such an integral part of Oxford Schools. (approx. 3 minutes)
2. I have Got a Song in My Tummy by Laurie Berkner - This song is fun, upbeat and encourages children to move in not-so-specific ways, so they have some choice). You can find this song on Youtube. I will put all the songs on the share drive as soon as I can. (approx. 3.15 minutes)
3. ABCD Medley by Laurie Berkner - This song supports what our students have been learning thanks to our new language and literacy program! This is the acapella song so please do not play this one for your kiddos to sing along but look it up on Youtube for yourself to get a general idea.) All the teachers in the front row and on stage will sing the ABC part, with the kiddos (which is just the alphabet song and the "ba ba da da da ba ba" part - don't worry I will teach it to you!). In between the alphabet song and chorus the children will recite three nursery rhymes - Little Miss Muffett, Hickory Dickory Dock, and Jack Be Nimble. I will have a symbol to hold up representing each rhyme, so the kiddos know which one they are reciting when. Until I meet with everyone, just practice the alphabet song and these three rhymes which your kiddos probably already know. (approx. 3 minutes)
4. Miss Mary Mack - This supports alliteration - another Language and Literacy component. We will be using the version on Youtube from BabyTV. I have an easy way to teach our kiddos how to clap to this song. I will get that information to you. (approx. 2.00 minutes)
5. One Small Voice - Parents and preschoolers seem to love this song. It brings in a sign language component, and it has got a great message about unity and coming together. (approx. 2.03 minutes).
TRANSITION/CURRICULUM NIGHT
We are still waiting to get confirmation from 2 teachers as soon as we do I will let everyone know if there has been any changes to the schedule. Attached are copies of the permission slip. Pandas and Dino's please remind parents that students have to pay for hot lunch on this day. Also, please read over your permission slip to make sure I didn't mix up any classrooms when I was creating them.
Tuesday, May 9th
Group 1 – Half-Day Pre-School – 14 students
12:15-1:00pm – Lunch
1:00-1:30pm – Lawler
1:30pm – Francis
Wednesday, May 10th
Group 2 – Half-Day GSRP – 16 students
12:15-1:00pm – Lunch
1:00-1:30pm – Kussner
1:30pm – Dieters
Thursday, May 11th
Group 3 – Full Day GSRP – 15 students
12:15-1:00pm – Lunch
1:00-1:30pm – Francis
1:30pm – Kontry
Friday, May 12th
Group 4 – Dinos – 14 students
12:15-1:00pm – Lunch
1:00-1:30pm – Francis
1:30pm – Gould
Group 5 – Dinos Contd. – 14 students
12:15-1:00pm – Lunch
1:00-1:30pm – Dieters
1:30pm – Ribant
Thank you,
Ms. Melanie
Ambulance Visit
The Ambulance Visit is Wednesday May 10th, 2017. All the classes will get a half an hour to go out and go inside and see what they are all about. Here are the times that I have everyone at:
9:30-9:55 - Pandas
10:00-10:25 - Toddlers
10:30-10:55 - Dino's
11:00-11:25 - Learning Lions
11:30-11:55 - Wildcat preschool
12:00 - 12:25 - Perky Penguins
Where to Go For Help?
Sue Roeher, Program Coordinator cell 810-614-0070, office 248-969-5036
Pat Mueller, Education Coordinator cell 248-221-0920, office 248-969-5082
Karen Morris, Family Specialist cell 248-935-7541 office 248-969-5063
Cindy Peck Office Administrator office 248-969-5035
Organizaion Chart
Where to Go For Help ~ "True power comes when one empowers others". ~ Washea
I fully trust and depend on our team to make sound judgements that are made for the good of the collective group. If you are in need of help, have a question, please see our wonderful admin support!
Sue, Program Coordinator
- Billing, payroll, attendance sheets (only until December), ERD, enrollment, summer/spring break field trips, Summer Camp, schedules and Evaluations: staff attendance and schedules
Pat, Early Childhood Coordinator
- Enrollment, PQAs, sub plans, curriculum: HighScope and IB, assessments: COR and ASQ, Evaluations: monthly meetings, video feedback, lesson plans, assessments classroom visits and Accreditations
Karen, Family Specialist
- Staffing: Orientations, Licensing: PD Log, 1st Aid/CPR, Cleaning Checklist, Pest Logs, Carpet Cleaning, Binders, Community Outreach, Fliers, Marque, Parent Meetings, Communication Logs, Accreditations, Committees and Evaluations: health checklist, PD/Communication logs, committee meetings
Cindy, Admin. Assistance
- Answer phone, sort mail, visitor badges, maintain website, place orders, collect receipts, registration (starting in January), collect attendance sheets (starting in December), advertisement, Enviro-Clean, staff files ~ ICHAT AND DHS, birthday list, Keys ~ tech closet and storage building, and maintain allergy list without Permission to Publish
2016/2017 Approved Subs
Colleen Goodwin 248.568.3679 Not available until after Spring Break
Jan Garreston 248.628.4218
Denise Nicholas 248.672.4886
Sue Morrison 248.895.0263 Monday thru Friday 9:15 - 2:00
Help Desk-Jason French 969-1898
Maintenance Linda 969-5078
Reminders
May
May 9th -12th Transition activities – details to follow from Transition/Curriculum Night Committee
May 5 – Spring Concert at High School PAC 6-7:30 details to follow from Spring Concert Committee
May 13 – Playhouse with a Purpose at Lake Orion Flower Show at 3 pm, contact Karen Morris for more information
May 15 & 16 GSRP Parent/Teacher conferences (before/after school)
May 18 – Last day for GSRP; Spring Fair 6 – 8 – Spring Fair Committee
May 22 – 24 Parent/Teacher conferences 4 – 8 (GSRP staff to cover a.m.)
June 2017
The Office will be handling the bulletin boards in June ;-)
13th of June Staff Meeting
Last day of Tuition based care June 16th
NO after care offered on June 16th for the Extended day Programs
Closed for care from June 19th to June 23 Staff report TBD
Summer care starts June 26th