So much has happened this spring and we’re glad you could be part of it!

You’ve probably seen a couple new faces in our classrooms; Miss Hema and Miss Pannaga have joined our teaching team as Teacher Assistants. We are thrilled to have them as part of the Abigail Adams Preschool community. Be sure to say “hi”!

In April, we officially opened the Blue Classroom! Led by Miss Cheryll, the classroom is open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays through our Summer Session and will increase to 5 days in the Fall.

Can you believe Summer is already here? The Summer Experience Program kicks off on July 1 and lasts through August 30. We’re excited to think, create, and play this summer! We have a few spaces available for students during Summer and are still enrolling for Fall (tell your friends!) If you haven’t already confirmed your plans for the School Year with Valerie, please do so ASAP.

Here are some important dates to remember this summer:

AAP Summer Calendar

June 28 Graduation and Potluck starting at 2:15Ju
July 1 Summer Experience Program begins
July 4 Fourth of July – School Closed
July 5 School Closed
August 30 Summer Experience Program ends
September 2 Labor Day – School Closed
September 3-6 School Closed for teacher training/preparation/maintenance
September 9 First Day of School

We’re excited that Nakia is working hard to continue her education to reach her academic and professional goals! While this means that she will be away from AAP during July and August, she will be back in September for the School Year!

Abigail Adams Preschool is celebrating our first graduates! We’ll have a short graduation ceremony at 2:15 on Friday, June 28 for our students headed to Kindergarten in the fall! We’re following this with a school-wide potluck! Please remember: no nuts. Hope to see you there!

The Yellow Classroom has devoted the month of June into an in-depth study of Indian culture, tradition, and history. Through hands-on discovery, our students have learned about traditional Indian dress, music, holidays, and stories—called Panchatantra. Come see some of our students perform The Mouse and the Lion, one of the favorite Panchatantra stories, at the graduation ceremony! The Yellow Classroom is working hard collecting milk jugs for a milk jug igloo this winter—send in your rinsed bottles 

The Blue Classroom has been busy discovering water, sunlight, and rainbows–all the pretty things that make our gardens grow! Students planted sunflower seeds and observed them as they began to sprout. The Blue Classroom students have been working on rainbow collages for their art gallery—take a walk around and see what they’ve designed!

Yoga with Mrs. Varti has been a wonderful experience for all! Our students have learned danced and learned yoga all while having a great time!

Last, but certainly not least, we are all very grateful to the parent and preschool community volunteers who have taken the time to help out in the classroom, paint, install fixtures, and keep our school a thriving community! If you’re interested in lending a hand, let us know!

Valerie

Consistent with Dr. Howard Gardner’s notion of schooling for multiple intelligences, the Reggio approach calls for the integration of the graphic arts as tools for cognitive, linguistic, and social development.

Presentation of concepts and hypotheses in multiple forms such as print, art, construction, drama, music, puppetry, and shadow play. These are viewed as essential to children’s understanding of experience.

By Andrew Loh, Dec 2006

Why should I make a portfolio?

For educators following a play-based approach, creating a portfolio is a great system to make learning visible. They tell the story of your classroom: the routines, traditions, teacher creativity, and children’s joy—all in one. A portfolio maps the interests of the children for teachers following an emergent curriculum while giving teachers feedback to reflect on. The process of building a portfolio organically assesses what did or did not work in the classroom; it shows the strengths and areas for improvement. A current and organized portfolio brings credibility to the teacher and demonstrates consistency in the classroom curriculum.

So I want to make a portfolio, now what?

• Purposeful portfolios. The first step is determining what story you want your portfolio to tell. Do you want to it highlight creativity? Project learning? Educational standards?

• Routine information. The day to day operations of your classroom should be part of your portfolio from the curriculum to daily schedule to hand washing routines to birthday traditions. Preschool handbook policies related to the classroom environment should be included, as well as parent newsletters, samples of your curriculum planning, and classroom expectations.

• A picture says a thousand words. Building a portfolio is a great time to remember that old adage “show, don’t tell.” Technology has made it possible for most of us to carry around a pretty great digital camera on our mobile phones. Snap pictures of classroom activities, project work during the process, and its completion.

• Keep it organized. While taking pictures and documenting projects and activities, note the educational standards being met. There are, sadly, many teachers and parents who differentiate the ideas of playing and learning. By indication of early learning standards through organization and labeling, a teacher can create a credible journal of learning through play.

• Putting it all together. By now, you have all the information you need to start your portfolio. Assemble it and prepare to tell the story of your classroom!

Similar to the portfolio approach, documentation of children’s work in progress is viewed as an important tool in the learning process for children, teachers, and parents.

Pictures of children engaged in experiences, their words as they discuss what they are doing, feeling and thinking, and the children’s interpretation of experience through the visual media are displayed as a graphic presentation of the dynamics of learning.

Teachers act as recorders (documenters) for the children, helping them trace and revisit their words and actions and thereby making the learning visible.

By Andrew Loh, Dec 2006

Projects are child-centered, following their interest, returning again and again to add new insights.

Throughout a project, teachers help children make decisions about the direction of study, the ways in which the group will research the topic, the representational medium that will demonstrate and showcase the topic.

By Andrew Loh, Dec 2006

Within such a teacher-researcher role, educators carefully listen, observe, and document children’s work and the growth of community in their classroom and are to provoke and stimulate thinking

Teachers are committed to reflection about their own teaching and learning.

Classroom teachers working in pairs and collaboration, sharing information and mentoring between personnel.

By Andrew Loh, Dec 2006

Programs in Reggio are family centered. Loris’s vision of an “education based on relationships” focuses on each child in relation to others and seeks to activate and support children’s reciprocal relationships with other children, family, teachers, society, and the environment.

By Andrew Loh, Dec 2006

Our open houses are designed to give parents and children an understanding of the environment, curriculum, and community at Abigail Adams Preschool.

There will be activities to engage your child and knowledgeable people to answer your questions.

Join us tomorrow, Wednesday, January 30th to tour Abigail Adams Preschool and learn about our Summer Experience program and Admissions for the Fall 2013-2014 school year. We enroll children as young as 2.9 and no potty training is required. RSVP here.

Welcome / Upcoming Events

We extend a warm welcome to Cheryll Coveney, who is joining us as Educational Director. Ms. Cheryll joins the Abigail Adams Preschool community with much classroom and directorial experience.

We’d also like to welcome students Emily and Laura and their families to the Abigail Adams Preschool community.

We’re planning a potluck Valentine’s Day Party for February 14 at 2:00. Parents. grandparents, and siblings are all invited to share in the festivities. Please feel free to bring any sort of food, but please no nuts. If your child has allergies, please send him or her with a safe snack to eat.

Abigail Adams Preschool is holding an Open House on Wednesday, January 30 and Thursday, March 7. We’ll have activities for children and it’s a great opportunity for parents thinking about preschool to learn about our school and what we have to offer.

January Highlights

The children came back from vacation and enjoyed a special visit from the dentist, Sam, who showed us all the right way to brush our teeth. He explained why it’s important to brush and take good care of our dental health. We practice brushing our teeth each day after lunch. If you’d like to share your occupation, skill, or other information with the children, please let us know!

Nakia shared her family of pet snails with the class. We got to know the snails, who have names like Sophie and Beef, observing them and learning what they like to eat.

Our first birthday party of the year was very fun! We will be celebrating all the birthdays from each month on the last Friday of every month. Special thanks go to Nakia and Laura, who made delicious cupcakes, and Renee, who took a break from art school to do face painting.

Vacation Dates

Abigail Adams Preschool will be closed for the February 18 – 23 for vacation week.

Special Programs

- Beginning this February, our teachers will introduce the Spanish language to our students. Throughout the year, we will be learning greetings and polite phrases, words for independent skills, numbers and colors to name a few.

- We’re also bringing in a Montessori-inspired Grace & Courtesy program to Abigail Adams Preschool. Curriculum items include introducing one’s self, when to say please, and proper ways to interrupt a conversation.

- We’re continuing with Yoga with Miss Valerie on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1:45.

- You can see our actual curriculum for Spanish, Grace and Courtesy, and Yoga in our Special Programs binder in the front office. Please feel free to review.

Ideas to support your child’s independence

- We can help children gain greater independence by providing them with items that suit their size and little hands. Appropriately sized school bags, child-manageable snack boxes, shoes and clothing help greatly in this regard.

- Due to limited space in the cubby area, may we request small pillows and blankets as well?

- Let your child bring in at least one change of clothes (more if they are “accident” prone). Elasticised waistbands without difficult belts or buckles would be great for the children’s independence and self esteem as they learn to manage themselves while using the toilet.

Gentle Reminders

- Morning circles are an important part of the day where we introduce new materials / activities / songs and Grace and Courtesy lessons that help children develop pro-social skills. Please arrive in time for children to gain the benefits of morning circles.

- Please note that your child does not need to have a water bottle in school. We have drinking glasses and jugs of water for children throughout the day.

- We appreciate if your child is picked up on time at the end of the Full Day session. We have snack with the extended day children so that we can encourage polite conversations and table manners by being good role models. We would prefer not to have any child feeling “left out” or anxious while everyone else is having snack.

- Thanks to parents who reviewed and signed off the Parent Handbook. A printed copy is in the Front Office in the bookcase. Please feel free to review, sign and date your acceptance for the handbook if you have not already done so. Our Parent Handbook is available on our website or via email by request.

Slippers and lost property

As part of our Grace and Courtesy program, Abigail Adams Preschool asks that you you’re your child to school with a pair of soft soled shoes such as ballet slippers. Please leave your child’s indoor slippers in school every day. Labeling all your child’s property such as snack and lunch boxes, clothes, sunscreen bottles, shoes and slippers will help to avoid the accumulation of lost property.

Thank you for being part of the Abigail Adams Preschool community!

Loris Malaguzzi (1920-1994) founded the ‘Reggio Emilia’ approach at a city in northern Italy called Reggio Emilia. The ‘Reggio’ approach was developed for municipal child-care and education programs serving children below six. The approach requires children to be seen as competent, resourceful, curious, imaginative, inventive and possess a desire to interact and communicate with others.

The ‘Reggio’ vision of the child as a competent learner has produced a strong child-directed curriculum model. The curriculum has purposive progression but not scope and sequence. Teachers follow the children’s interests and do not provide focused instruction in reading and writing. Reggio approach has a strong belief that children learn through interaction with others, including parents, staff and peers in a friendly learning environment.

By Andrew Loh, Dec 2006