Inside this edition you will find:

• Director's Message
• Spring Parent Survey
• SEPAG Meeting Information (May 23rd, virtual)
• Directories for HOPES, Mile Square, and Wallace Preschool Wildcats
  
• Weekly Site Updates
• PIRT Corner
• Nurse's Nook
• Ms. Mara's Book of the Week
• Spongebob the Musical, May 19th-21st (Tonight and this weekend!)
• Sprongebob the Musical Movie Night, June 7th

Dear Early Childhood Families,

Another fun filled week of Preschool is behind us. The warm weather brings such joy to the students. They love it and I have to agree with them. Some of my favorite memories of being in the classroom invovled having a read aloud outside on the grass. The thought of it just makes me smile. Tonight and this weekend is the infamous District Musical! I had to give our newsletter a little Spongebob makeover for it. I hope to see some of you this weekend at the high school. Stop and say hello if you see me! Just a reminder, Friday, May 26th we will be having a 1:00 PM dismissal. There are no Wrap services on this day. Monday, May 29th, 2023 there will be No School. The Hoboken Public School District will be closed for Memorial Day.

Our HOPES and MSELC school day starts at 8:30 and dismissal is at 2:30. This drop off and pickup times do not apply for students in WRAP programs. If you are going to be late dropping off in the morning or picking up in the afternoon, please make sure to call or email your family advocate. Their information can be found in the directories below.

As a friendly reminder, please remember to call your family advocate and let them know the reason for your child being absent no later than 9:15 am. If you can not call your family advocate, please email dbrookes@hoboken.k12.nj.us. In your email, please state:

• your child's name
• provider
• site
• teacher
• reason for absence
• when we can expect them back in school

Important Upcoming Dates to add to your calendars:

Friday, June 16th we will be having a 1:00 PM dismissal. There are no Wrap services on this day.

Monday, June 19th, 2023 there will be No School. The Hoboken Public School District will be closed for Juneteenth.

We will have 1:00 PM dismissal days on June 20th, June 21st, and June 22nd. There are no WRAP services on these days.

The Last Day of School will be on June 22nd, 2023. We have a 1:00 PM dismissal that day.

Please continue reading below to see information for our Spring Parent Survey, SEPAG Meeting information, Directories for HOPES, Mile Square, and our Wallace Preschool Wildcats, Weekly Updates from each site, PIRT Corner, Nurse's Nook, My Book's of the Week, information to see Spongebob the Musical this weekend, and a chance to see the recording in June. Have a wonderful weekend.

Kind regards,

Kimberly Mara

Director of Early Childhood Education

Mr. Mautone’s class has been working on their fine motor skills by using their artistic talent to paint a candle holder for Mother’s Day gift. The students were able to choose from a few candle vessels to paint that were in the form of shapes they learned this year. The class also was introduced to the holiday, Memorial Day. The students worked to create a red,white, and blue star. This was a multiple-step craft project that required the students tear the tissue paper, glue, and stick the tissue paper to the star outline.

In Ms. Aleah and Mrs. Susan’s class this week, the class was doing a study on one of their favorite children’s authors, Mo Willems. Since he is one of our favorites, it made sense for the class to have a whole unit dedicated to him!

Mo Willems has an impressive series of about 73 books and it is our goal to read them all! The students are already so inspired by Mo Willems that they decided to write their own book titled, “A Duck Went For a Walk.”

The students are so excited to read more of his stories as well as engage in more fun activities! Here is a snapshot of some photos we have taken during our author study. Enjoy!

Room 102, Ms. Maria’s and Ms. Mildred’s class, visited Bagels on the Hudson on Washington St. The students learned so much about bagels and how they are made. They even took turns to prepare and bake their own bagels. The class had a quick snack while they waited until their bagels were ready. Such a fun and yummy trip!

Room 300 at Calabro was very creative this week! PlayDay, an art-focused after school program in Hoboken, came to host some fun art activities for the children. The students listened to a book called, "Let It Grow," and then each child made their own cactus and garden using various art materials.

In Ms. Kate and Ms. Denise's classroom, the students were talking about the signs and stages of spring/summer they were seeing outside in nature. One day, while walking to the field, the students stopped to pick different wildflowers they saw growing outside. They brought the wildflowers back to the classroom and the students investigated them for Science Eyes! The students had fun comparing and contrasting the different flowers they had picked. At the end of the activity, they made a drawing representing details of their observation.

Recently in Jubilee 101, the class has been introduced Venger Collage, an activity where students use various shape cutouts and their imagination to create art. This activity not only strengthens math, social, fine motor, and phonemic skills, but most importantly - creativity! The class really enjoys Venger Collage!

In Classroom 2 at the Rue Site, Ms.Juana and Ms.Jennie’s class theme is community

helpers. Ms.Jennie’s brother-in-law, who is a Port Authority Police Officer/ Fireman, came to visit the students in the classroom to talk about his job title and gear he uses as a fireman and police officer. The class learned that Port Authority Firemen make sure the airplanes are safe to fly and put out fires. They were also able to try on the Fireman gear he brought and feel how heavy the gear is. Police Officer Torres then gave the children coloring books, fire hats, and stickers. The class enjoyed coloring the booklet and wearing their fire hats while learning about fire safety at the airport.

In Rm 101 the class learned about a shape that has two names. A diamond is also known as a rhombus. They drew some rhombuses and used some fine motor skills cutting them out. The students then decorated them and decided to make their very own kites! The calss was very excited to transform the rhombus into a kite.

Room 404, Mile Square Early Learning Center, located at the St. Francis students are really enjoying their Carnival Theme! The class transformed their Science Center into a Game Area where the students can play ring & ping-pong ball toss, catch the balloon, and Skee-Ball. Each of these games incorporates elements of sociodramatic play, gross-motor, math, and science skills. To extend the students’ science knowledge they used their Skee-Ball game to create a Balls and Ramp Experiment. The students were making predictions of what would happen when they roll the ball up the ramp. Afterwards, everyone had a turn rolling the balls and observed the results. The class also learned the definitions of incline, velocity, and force and how each of these play a role in how the ball travels up and down the ramp.

Room 104 has been busy taking care of their caterpillars! The class learned about and observed first hand the life cycle of butterflies! For science eyes, students observed the butterflies in the net, then documented their observations on scaffolded writing paper! Before they new it, it was time to release the butterflies into nature! It was so exciting watching them fly out of the net and into the sky! The class even spotted one of their butterflies sunbathing in the grass!

Labeling and Expressing Emotions Appropriately

We all want our children to grow up to be emotionally intelligent individuals. One of the crucial skills for emotional intelligence is the ability to label and express emotions appropriately. Young children deal with many of the same emotions as adults but often have not learned the words to verbalize how they are feeling. Caregivers can help their children understand and express their emotions. The following information are strategies to help your child express their feelings:

1. Identify Emotions

• Start by helping your child recognize and label different emotions using age appropriate terms (ex. sad rather than depressed). This can be done by pointing out different emotions in books, TV, or movies and asking your child how you think the characters feel.

• Remember, it's okay to talk about ALL feelings; labeling these feelings allows children to understand what it is that they are experiencing and enables them to develop a vocabulary for talking about feelings.

2. Model Emotional Expression

• Talk about your own feelings with your children. Children learn by observing adults, so make sure you model appropriate emotional expression. It can be as easy as saying things like, "I'm feeling frustrated right now because I can't find my keys," or "I'm feeling happy because we're going to the park."

• You can also encourage your child to interact by saying things like “Remember yesterday when the water in the bathtub would not go down the drain? Mommy got so mad, and do you remember what my face looked like when I got mad? Can you make a mad face like Mommy’s?”

• Talk with your children about different ways you deal with specific feelings. “When I get mad I take a deep breath, count to three, and then try to think of the best way to deal with my problem.”

3. Encourage communication

• Give children opportunities to identify feelings in themselves and others. For example, you might say to your child, “Riding your bike is so much fun. I see you smiling. Are you happy?” Or you might point out a situation and ask your child to reflect on what someone else may be feeling: “Joey bumped his head on the slide. How do you think Joey feels?”

• Create a safe space for your child to express their emotions. Encourage them to talk and validate their feelings: “It’s okay to feel angry sometimes.”

4. Teach coping strategies

• Help your child develop healthy coping strategies to manage their emotions. This can include taking deep breaths, counting to ten, or taking a break to calm down.

• Anytime you model emotional expression, follow up with modeling how you cope!

Like any skill, learning to label and express emotions takes practice. Encourage your child to express their emotions and validate their efforts. Remember to be patient and supportive.

Summer is quickly approaching! As you may be thinking about summer childcare, below is a link to a great article by the American Academy of Pediatrics for your reference about choosing a summer camp, preparing your child, and keeping them safe!

Choosing a Summer Camp and Preparing Your Child: AAP Safety Tips

Action Plans

If your child has a medical condition requiring an action plan for school (i.e. asthma, food allergy, seizure disorder), please be advised that their current action plan will expire on July 1, 2023 and they will need a new action plan for the 2023-2024 school year dated July 1, 2023 or later. Below are copies of the Food Allergy Action Plan and the Asthma Action Plan. Please arrange for these forms to be filled out by your child’s doctor during summer break, as they will need to be turned in by the first day of school in September. *Please note that these forms must be filled out in their entirety, including the parent section and the doctor section.

If your child is a PreK 4 student moving on to Kindergarten next year, updated action plans can be turned into the nurse at their respective Kindergarten location by the first day of school in September.

Another Friday, and another favorite book!

Color Blocked by Ashley Sorenson is a really neat book about mixing colors. I was always a fan of putting colors together when I was younger to see what new color they made. I must have passed that onto my son Tyler because he does the same thing! Do you see your favorite color in this book? I know I saw both of mine. I hope you enjoy this color fun book as much as I do!

The District Musical is finally here! Come out tonight, tomorrow, or Sunday to catch a great group of kids put on a funny musical featuring everyones favorite sponge!

In the Early Childhood Program we operate using an upward communication procedure. If you have any questions, concerns, etc. please refer to the chart linked below when sending an email. When in doubt, please send your email to your child's Family Advocate and he/she will escalate it to the appropriate person.