**Room For Growing Newsletter**

 

Welcome to Room For Growing Educational Child Care’s 2010-2011 Fall Program.  Over the past couple of years of using Zoo Phonics we have seen great results in the children’s all around development. The children show a true interest in the alphabet and their phonemic awareness is outstanding.

Some parents are pleasantly surprised and happy to know that their child is enrolled in an accredited preschool program. We have found that many parents are confused about whether or not Room For Growing is a preschool, we are overjoyed to inform you that we are, and have been for over twenty –five years.

Why does Room For Growing choose to use Zoo Phonics? After much research and debate there are many reasons Zoo Phonics stood out from the crowd.

The animals help the children remember the shapes of the letters. For example Bubba b only looks like the letter “b” when he is right side up and facing left.

The animals also help the children remember the sounds of the letters.

Letter sounds are taught before letter names.

Lowercase letters are taught before uppercase letters.

The animal body movements for each letter helps “cement” the phonemic information into the children’s memory.

The alphabet is taught sequentially, and as a whole entity, a-z. Each letter in the alphabet is reviewed every day.

Zoo Phonics also promotes full immersion of the letter, we try to involve the letter of the week in many of the structured activities and environmental components as possible.

We knew we wanted to choose a literacy program that was appropriate for children of all ages, this way we could keep the curriculum consistent between the age groups, and give them something familiar to connect with. We also wanted a program that helped develop the whole child, Zoo Phonics fulfilled skills in cognition, physical development & social emotional skills.

Room For Growing’s fall preschool and kindergarten programs continuously have focus in literacy, math, science, social studies, large motor, self-help, sensory & cooking. These concepts are not only taught through structured learning centers, but through the enriched classroom environments as well.

We will continue to introduce Spanish vocabulary words and a yoga pose of the week to the children. We are also eager to begin our new and improved “social discoveries” concept area. Through this concept we hope to develop the children’s awareness of the places and people in our world.

Room For Growing’s infants and toddlers will have a focus in language, cognitive development, social & emotional development, self-help skills, sensory and baby sign. These concepts are taught in all aspects of the children’s day, from a structured group time to changing a diaper.

Similar to years in the past families will receive program packets customized to your family on a quarterly basis. It is very important to read through and keep the packets. The calendar will list special days to remember, and what letter we are focusing on for the week. Concept grids will list the letter, math, science, social, physical and sensory concepts we will be working on. The concepts listed are what the teachers base their lesson plans and classroom environment on. Once September starts you will notice that each week is dedicated to a single letter, and then each concept taught that week coincides with that letter. During holiday weeks we will take breaks and review. Holiday weeks will be theme based. Room For Growing will also continue to incorporate a book, song, Spanish vocabulary word and yoga pose of the week.

All Room For Growing’s classroom environments are created to be comfortable, stimulating and packed with interest that will peak the children’s curiosity, as well as foster their self-esteem. All of the classroom environments found at Room For Growing are designed to allow the children to learn developmental concepts through manipulating the interest areas in the classroom. The classroom environments are designed for children to learn through play by experiencing child selected and directed activities.

We simply want to take this time to remind all parents how important it is to check your child’s classroom parent board. An abundance of important information can be found there, such as monthly calendar, fieldtrip & visitor sign ups, interest articles, weekly schedule grids, the current concept grid, plus much more.

Building a strong parent partnership between parents and our teachers is key to making your child’s experience a successful one. Daily verbal communication, written notes, phone calls, or just stopping in to visit are more than welcomed, it is encouraged. Parents can volunteer their time by reading story at group, stopping in for lunch, chaperoning on a fieldtrip, or even just a couple of minutes to stop and play. Please chat with your child’s teacher on how you can get involved, we would greatly appreciate it. Room For Growing recognizes that each child is an individual with unique needs. It is Room For Growing’s goal to meet those needs as best as we can, by kindling each child’s growth and development in a cheerful, healthy, and nurturing environment.

We would also like to remind everyone that Room For Growing is a peanut free environment. We do have children in the program that do have moderate to severe peanut allergies. Many snack foods and cereals do contain peanuts, please be careful when sending breakfast or packing snacks and lunches that the foods you are sending do not contain peanut. Any food products brought into the building will be placed in your child’s parent pocket, we cannot under any circumstances allow children to have peanut products in the building.

The State of Minnesota requires that all children need to have updated health care summaries and immunization records when they move from infants to toddlers, toddlers to preschool and preschool to school age. If you need any of this paperwork for your child’s transition please see a Room For Growing staff member.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask your child’s teacher, Sarah or Jill. We look forward to a fall program complete with fresh experiences, growth, love and learning.