“The benefits of children’s having substantial control over the work undertaken extend beyond the early years. Marcon (1992, 1995) found that children from preschool classes that offered ample opportunity for child-initiated, as opposed to teacher-directed, activity showed the greatest mastery of basic reading, language, and mathematics skills” (Helm & Katz, 2001).

Dear Families and Friends,

Once more, the enrollment process taking place at our preschool and at public and private elementary schools at this time of year seems to be the subject of significant attention, consideration, anticipation—and even concern. For families whose children are eligible to start kindergarten in the fall, the question may be, “Is my child really ready for kindergarten?” For other families whose children have been impacted by the change in the age requirement for public kindergarten, the question might be, “What is the best placement for my child in the coming transitional year before kindergarten?” Parents of children who are headed for kindergarten in the fall of 2013 may also be wondering about how best to support their children in preparing for the kindergarten experience.”Which class at PPS will be the best fit for my child in terms of laying a foundation for the primary grades?”

To answer all of these questions, we first have to establish a general definition of kindergarten readiness—and this is not an easy task as parents and teachers learn more about the increasing emphasis on specific literacy/math knowledge and skills required in kindergarten classrooms. While many preschool educators focus on social-emotional development and the encouragement of children’s natural curiosity as preparation for the early elementary grades, many kindergarten teachers are concerned with children’s ability to write their name and recite numbers, letters and sounds of the alphabet at the time they enter kindergarten.

At Palisades Preschool, we have made the choice to support child-initiated learning through play as a channel for preparing children socially, emotionally and intellectually for their first years of elementary school—and to promote their development as life-long learners.

Early childhood researchers Judy Helm and Lilian Katz (2001), have this to say: “While academic goals address small units of knowledge and skills, intellectual goals address dispositions; that is, habits of mind that include a variety of tendencies to interpret experience (Katz, 1993). Some habits of mind that relate to intellectual goals include the disposition to

• Make sense of experience
• Theorize, analyze, hypothesize, and synthesize
• Predict and to check predictions
• Find things out
• Strive for accuracy
• Be empirical
• Grasp the consequence of actions
• Persist in seeking solutions to problems
• Speculate about cause-effect relationships
• Predict others’ wishes and feelings

Along with many others not mentioned, these dispositions are all intellectual rather than academic in focus.”

Katz and Helm (2001) also comment on the correlation between children’s active involvement in their learning and their social-emotional development:

“Research suggests that there is a relationship between the role that children have in determining their own learning experiences and the development of social skills. A study of kindergarten classes using three different teaching approaches (direct instruction, a constructivist approach based on child-initiated activities, and an eclectic approach) found that the children from the constructivist class were more interpersonally interactive. They exhibited a greater number and variety of negotiation strategies and shared more experiences (Devries, Reese-Learned, & Morgan, 1991).”

I believe that most parents in our community have selected PPS because they also value child-initiated learning through play—as well as children’s participation in small group work, the role of the environment as the third teacher, the role of the teacher as a co-researcher, and the importance of documentation to make children’s (and adults’) learning visible.

We appreciate your validation of our approach; however, we also understand that your children will leave our school and most often will join communities whose values relate strongly to teacher-directed (and district directed) instruction in specific knowledge and skills. I would like to reassure many of you that while supporting children’s social-emotional and intellectual growth, in most cases, our child-initiated curriculum prepares children to enter the more structured and “academic” environments, too.

The curriculum in our classrooms includes emergent literacy experiences with letters of the alphabet and the printed word in the environment, play with rhyming words, story-telling, and the utilization of many materials as languages for children’s expression of ideas, theories and feelings. Communication centers are present for message-sharing with friends and teachers; children dictate stories to their teachers, and, as children become interested in writing their names, teachers offer many opportunities to practice with special blocks, stamps, clay, wire and, yes, pencils and paper.

Laying the foundation for success with written language, teachers encourage children to listen to one another and to verbally express their feelings, ideas and experiences.

Mathematical thinking is supported in the many problem-solving experiences that evolve in the block room, the workshop, studios, and the classroom that include, for example, exploration of number, measurement, spatial concepts, symmetry, counting, and numeral recognition.

It may happen that some children need a little extra support at home in naming specific letters and numbers in order to pass kindergarten entrance interviews or to feel confident among other children who have had lots of explicit instruction prior to kindergarten. Since the alphabet, numerals and rules of punctuation are not generally learned through discovery, some direct instruction in these skills at home may be useful prior to kindergarten. We get it.

Nevertheless, we hope that you will continue to value children’s self-initiated learning through play—even in the face of Kindergarten, 2012. Children are, naturally, very curious, competent, meaning-seeking and relationship-seeking individuals who learn a great deal from their play with one another in small groups guided by caring, and equally curious, adults.

The teachers, Karen and I are available to help parents navigate the sometimes difficult choices connected with the transition to kindergarten.

For further reading, I suggest Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Skills Every Child Must Learn (Galinsky, 2010).

Thank you.

Warm wishes,

Nancy

Click on the links below or scroll down for this month’s topics:

• Enrollment Process for Fall 2012

• Financial Assistance

• Afternoons with Teachers

• Celebrations and Traditions

• Valentine’s Day Celebrations

• Poker Night!!

• Kindergarten: General Information Meeting

• Thank You

• February Calendar

Enrollment Process for Fall 2012

We thank all returning families for submitting their applications for the 2012-2013 school year. We are currently working on the Admission Agreements and plan to mail them out to all returning and new families by Feb. 6th.

The 3 day enrollments are intended for young children who are new to our school. 4 day enrollments are also for new children and for returning children who will be in the Rosemary room in the fall. A few children in the Sunflower and Dandelion rooms may also attend 4 days per week, depending upon parent work schedules, for example. Most children in those classes attend school 5 days per week. The signed Admission Agreements and nonrefundable registration fee of $500 will be due by Wed., Feb. 15th.

Thank you. Please let us know if you have any questions about this process.

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Financial Assistance

The time to apply for financial aid is now, during the enrollment period. Applications will be reviewed by our financial aid committee by Feb. 15th—when signed Agreements are due. All information is confidential and shared only with the members of the committee. Assistance is awarded based upon need and upon the reserves available in our PPS financial aid fund.

Families with 2 children enrolled at PPS in the same school year are eligible for a small amount of financial assistance without going through the application process. These families may also apply for an increased amount of assistance if needed.

All financial aid applications are due to Nancy by Friday, Feb. 10th. Thank you.

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Afternoons with Teachers

The teachers in the Cherry Blossom and Rosemary rooms, Craig, Sarah and Nancy really enjoyed the opportunity to meet with the parents in those classrooms last month. The teachers prepared slides of children’s daily transitional moments as they arrive at school in the morning. We chose to emphasize the children’s growth in the skill (and art) of self-regulation as part of the classroom Declaration of Intent for this school year and the slides and dialogue with parents helped us to better understand each child’s process. We look forward to our next meetings with the Sunflower room parents on Feb. 8th and with the Dandelion parents on Feb. 22nd. The topics, based upon classroom Declarations of Intent, will be communication and problem-solving.

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Celebrations and Traditions

We thank parents who have celebrated their family traditions and holiday celebrations with us already this school year. These celebrations are intended to build relationships between children and their families and to support children’s early understanding and appreciation of diversity. We do not necessarily expect for all holidays to be celebrated in each classroom and are not really trying to teach about any particular holiday. What makes the occasions special for the children is that their friends celebrate this tradition at home and are sharing their tradition with the rest of the class.

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Valentine’s Day Celebrations

Like Halloween, this is one holiday that we celebrate school-wide—and with an actual party. If you have signed up to help with this party, please be sure to collaborate with classroom teachers as you plan for Valentine’s Day. The parties are planned for Tuesday, Feb. 14th—the actual holiday. The timing of the celebration can be flexible, depending upon the food being served. Any sweet treats should be offered after lunch. Healthy foods could be served at Snack time. Teachers will be able to guide these plans.

We encourage children to bring Valentine cards from home for all of the children in the class on Valentine’s Day. In the Cherry Blossom and Rosemary rooms, it is best not to put children’s names on the envelopes (unless your child can read the names). Children can pass out their own Valentine cards to “mailboxes” independently if the names are not on the envelopes. In the Dandelion and Sunflower rooms, many children can read the names of their friends and it is fine to include names on each envelope.

We will follow our regular schedule for dismissal on Valentine’s Day.

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Poker Night!!

Please be sure you have responded to your evite to the First Annual PPS Poker Night on Friday, Feb. 24th!

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Kindergarten: General Information Meeting

For extended dialogue about kindergarten readiness and to share information about local public and private elementary schools, parents of returning children are invited to meet with Nancy on Thursday, March 22 at 9:15 a.m. in the Library.

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Thank You

We so appreciate the help of our Library and Housekeeping Committees. We would also like to thank parents who have been bringing the lovely fresh flowers to classrooms and taking home the children’s napkins to launder each week. Your participation in these simple, but essential responsibilities is so helpful!

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February Calendar

• Friday, Feb. 3—Melissa Idelson, Occupational Therapist to speak about sensory integration at 9:15 a.m.
• Monday, Feb. 6—Admission Agreements mailed to all new and returning families
• Wednesday, Feb. 8—Afternoon with Teachers, Sunflower parents
• Friday, Feb. 10—PPS Board sponsored Coffee held in the Parish Hall or in front of school at drop-off time
• Tuesday, Feb. 14—Valentine’s Day parties
• Wed., Feb. 15—Admission Agreement and registration fee due to Karen
• Friday, Feb. 17—Preschool closed for Professional Development
• Monday, Feb. 20—Preschool closed for President’s Day
• Wed., Feb. 22—Afternoon with Teachers, Dandelion parents
• Friday, Feb. 24—Poker Night!
  

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Preschool Mission Statement

Our mission is to serve our community by offering a preschool experience for children and families that celebrates diversity, creativity and kindness. These values are embedded within a rich child-centered curriculum that provides individuals and groups with opportunities to investigate, explore and express themselves through meaningful play.

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Pictures from School Events

Chinese New Year

Afternoon with Teachers

“If children perceive that you admire them for thinking, then that is what they will do.”
-Elena Giacopini, pedagogista, 2011

Dear Families and Friends,

With great enthusiasm and anticipation, we will very soon be welcoming you and the children back to our classrooms. It has been our experience each January that once children again feel comfortable in our settings after the holiday vacation, the growth that follows is both fascinating and astonishing. The curriculum, built primarily upon teachers’ observations of children’ s play, really takes off!

As the teachers and I reunite this month in our meetings to discuss our observations, our interpretations of the children’ s play, and our ideas for developing curriculum around children’ s, families’ and teachers’ interests, we have a good deal that we must thoughtfully consider. In addition to what we know about each child and the hopes we share for each child’ s development in all domains, we are also mindful of our declarations of intent for this school year and, especially, of the core values articulated in our hallway (our version of a piazza, a space where the school’ s identity and values are visible).

The start of the new year presents an opportunity for us to reflect upon these central values that guide our work with young children and their families at Palisades Preschool. At the core of our values and basic to our approach is the image of the “meaning-seeking” and “relationship-seeking” child. In each play scenario, we ask ourselves, “What are children seeking to know?” “What relationships are children seeking to establish?” (–There are usually many possible answers to these “what” questions.)

Next, because it is one of the central roles of adults to activate children’ s curiosity (Giacopini, 2011), we wonder together about how we will engineer experiences for children that will inspire them to explore, to ask, to theorize—and then continue this circular process of investigation. The many materials, or languages, are a significant part of the solutions to our “how” questions—and so is the small group work, fundamental to the theory of social constructivism. Environments play an additional role in supporting the play that takes place in small groups within classrooms and studios—and in our outdoor settings, as well.

Essential to how we keep the game of learning alive is the role of the teacher—not just in selecting materials and preparing settings, but also in listening and asking the right kinds of questions (trying not to give information, but to provoke a variety of answers or solutions). As teachers, we are always part of a learning process and we must develop our ability to know when to enter the children’ s explorations and when to stay back and observe. . .In this almost intuitive way of working, we learn more about how children carry out their research and we are able to construct our knowledge together with the children. We are all learning how to learn, developing a research attitude and creating “possible realities” (Giacopini, 2011).

We encourage parents, as children’ s first and most important teachers, to also engage in our game of learning, honoring children’ s—and adults’ —right to “meaning-seeking” and “meaning-making.”

Warm wishes for a healthy and happy New Year,

Nancy

Click on the links below or scroll down for this month’s topics:

• Thank You

• Food, Toy and “Warm Sock” Drives

• Music Committee Updates

• Welcome, Sarah and Lori!

• Lunch Possibilities at PPS in the 2012-2013 School Year

• Health Reminders

• 2012-2013 Preschool Year—Class Placement Information Meeting

• 2012-2013 Preschool Year—Tuition & Calendar Information

• An Afternoon with Teachers

• Sensory Processing

• CPK Day for PPS

• Winter Session Hundred Languages Small Groups

• Calendar

• Preschool Mission Statement

• Pictures from School Events

Thank You

The holiday celebrations in each classroom were wonderful! “Thank you” to the parents who shared their family traditions with us last month, bringing in lovely and interesting stories and photos, songs, candles, delicious foods and treats. Your participation in the classroom celebrations supports the children’ s developing sense of community and budding appreciation of diversity within each class.

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Food, Toy and “Warm Sock” Drives

The December Charity Committee members, the Westside Food Bank and Connections for Children would like to express appreciation to PPS families for your generous response in the form of food, toys and donations for the purchase of warm socks. These local organizations distributed our donations to less fortunate families in the greater Westside community. Committee chairperson, Mary Nadler, was able to place an order of about $300 for warm socks for residents of a shelter in our area! –Special thanks to Annaka Harris, Lisa Fitzgerald, Simona Patierno, Kristin Grannis, Dalit Toledano, and Luciana Souza.

In the early spring of this year, our Outreach Committee will be organizing opportunities for our community to help homeless families with children in cooperation with Upward Bound House, an organization located in our neighborhood, and to participate in a beach clean-up in partnership with Heal the Bay. Please look for more information about these two outreach initiatives.

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Music Committee Updates

Members of our PPS Music Committee met last month to share ideas for enriching children’ s musical experiences at our preschool. Led by Julie and Tim Smith, the committee is encouraging parents to make appointments with teachers in order to visit classrooms and share their musical talents with the children. Julie Cantor is planning to bring her flute to the Rosemary room in the coming weeks and Emily Chase will bring her guitar and beautiful singing voice to the Sunflower room. Luciana Souza and Larry Klein have offered to begin a catalogued music library for our community! Please let us know if you would like to participate in the musical life of our school. You can speak with Tim, Julie or Nancy. Thank you.

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Welcome, Sarah and Lori!

We are pleased to welcome Sarah Bieda to our faculty as a substitute atelierista while Summer Jefferson is on her maternity and childcare leave. Sarah has recently moved to Santa Monica from the East Coast where she was a working artist, showing her paintings in numerous galleries in New York and Maryland. She has a BFA from Pratt Institute, School of Art & Design, and held an independent studio residency in Florence, Italy—primarily in Painting and Film—a few years ago.

As part of her journey, Sarah developed a love of working with children. She has worked in the classroom setting, teaching art to children (ages 3 to 5) with a wide range of developmental disabilities including Autism, ADD/ADHD and expressive language disorders. Sarah also worked in private childcare for families with young children. In addition to art, she has studied psychology and cultural anthropology and is interested in taking more classes related to early childhood education.

We would also like to welcome Lori Gregorio to our faculty each Monday as a specialist teacher. Lori has numerous years of experience as a pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teacher and is currently finishing her Master of Human Development degree at Pacific Oaks in Pasadena. Lori will be sharing her love of music & movement in our classrooms. She also loves to bake and garden with young children. (Her thesis topic is about the benefits of gardening in early childhood education!) Lori has taught at the Pacific Oaks Children’ s School and at Bella Vita, a small Reggio inspired preschool in Los Gatos, California.

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Lunch Possibilities at PPS in the 2012-2013 School Year

As part of our continued wish to inspire children’ s learning and growth by creating a beautiful environment as the setting for their development, we are considering the possibility of serving a catered lunch for the children, Monday through Thursday of every week. This potential improvement was inspired, in part, by the recent trip to Reggio Emilia, where the kitchen and the children’ s meals are central to their educational experience.

In researching the possibility of cooking a lunch in St. Paul’ s Parish Hall kitchen each day, we learned that the regulations governing the lunch preparation would require very expensive renovations to the kitchen and the hiring of a certified person to do the shopping and cooking. Instead of undertaking this large scale project, we are investigating the feasibility and cost of ordering a catered lunch each day from a local restaurant or company that specifically offers children’ s meals.

Our vision is for the lunches to be served to (and by) the children in each classroom—with tablecloths and appropriate plates and utensils. (Our dishwasher currently sterilizes all of the children’ s plates and cups used for snacks –and we would also wash the lunch plates, cups and utensils in our dishwasher.) Healthful menus would be created in advance for the week or month and we would like for parents and children to take part in organizing the selections. We are trying to make the cost reasonable and not too much more than the cost of packing a lunch for children each day.

Ultimately, we would like for the catered lunch to become a part of our program—not be an optional service. Part of the purpose of the lunch is to create a civilized community-building experience for the children that encourages appropriate table manners and conversation. Lunch boxes and the many containers and kinds of food that are part of our present lunchtime do not really contribute to the kind of shared eating experience that we would like to offer the children—and teachers.

During this next month, we will be sharing more information about the possible cost of a catered lunch and special considerations for children with food allergies or other special diets. We will be asking for parent response via an email survey later in January.

We would like to base our decision regarding Lunch for the 2012-13 school year upon parent input, realizing that our annual tuition for the coming school year will already include an additional cost in the form of an 11th month in our preschool calendar. Please look for an email survey in the next few weeks. We look forward to your response. Thank you.

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Health Reminders

The return to school this month signals to us once again the importance of maintaining a safe and healthy environment for the children and for the teachers—especially during the cold and flu season. We do our best to keep toys, plates, cups, and surfaces clean, following the guidelines required by our state licensing agency. We also make sure that children and adults wash their hands frequently during the school day.

We strongly request that parents also do their part to prevent the spread of illness and infection by keeping children home when they show symptoms of illness which may include:

• unusual irritability or fatigue
• fever
• a runny nose that includes green or yellow mucous
• a deep or persistent cough
• complaint of an earache
• complaint of an upset stomach
• an undiagnosed skin rash

Teachers and directors will call parents during the day if we observe signs of illness and we will request that children go home early. Please check with Karen to make sure that we have current contact information for the adults listed on your emergency contacts form.

Please be sure to call or email us when your child is absent and we especially ask that you notify us right away if your child is diagnosed with a particularly contagious illness. Children should remain at home until they are fever-free for 24 hours—or, in the case of contagious illnesses such as chicken pox or conjunctivitis, for example, a doctor’ s written confirmation that the child may return to school is required. Thank you for your cooperation and consideration.

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2012-2013 Preschool Year—Class Placement Information Meeting

Recent changes in California’ s admission age for public kindergarten will impact our own classroom organization for the coming school year. We anticipate that several 4 year old children in the current Dandelion room with fall birthdays (who will attend PPS for a third year before starting kindergarten in the 2013 school year) will move to the Sunflower room in the coming fall, causing some reorganization of the current Cherry Blossom and Rosemary children when they move up to the Dandelion and Sunflower rooms for the 2012-2013 school year.

Choices about the placements of Cherry Blossom and Rosemary room children will be based primarily upon birthdates, but we would also like to take into consideration children’ s friendships, as well as balances of boys and girls per class. It is our plan for at least one teacher from each team to move with members of her current group to the next classroom, respecting the importance of relationships between children and their teachers.

Parents whose children are currently in the Cherry Blossom and Rosemary classes are invited to meet with Nancy on Tuesday, Jan. 10th at 9:15 in the Library (or Parish Hall) to talk about possible class placements for the next school year. Please RSVP to Karen by Monday, Jan. 9th. Thank you.

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2012-2013 Preschool Year—Tuition & Calendar Information

Our administrators and Board of Trustees are currently involved in the process of figuring the tuition and fees for the 2012-2013 school year. Letters with this information and applications for the coming school year will be mailed to returning families on Friday, January 13th.

As announced last fall, PPS will be adding an 11th month to our annual calendar, starting school in mid-August of 2012 and ending the school year in mid-June, 2013. The extension of the PPS preschool calendar will be reflected in the new tuition amounts.

Applications for returning children are due to Karen by Friday, Jan. 27th.

Enrollment Agreements will be mailed to returning and new families on Friday, Feb. 3rd.

The signed Enrollment Agreement and $500 registration fee are due to Karen no later than Wednesday, Feb. 15th.

We will then know if we have spaces for any additional new families and will be contacting them in late February to let them know we are offering their child a space in our program. With a full toddler program and many applications for the new school year, we will need to adhere to our deadlines so that we can make timely enrollment decisions for 2012-2013.

The June, 2013 tuition payment will be due on June 1st, 2012.

Please keep in mind that we ask that children in the Dandelion and Sunflower rooms attend school 5 days per week. And, please speak with Nancy if you are interested in applying for financial assistance; we do give priority to returning families when awarding financial aid each school year. Please contact Nancy if you have any questions. Thank you.

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An Afternoon with Teachers

Rosemary Room Teachers, Nathalie Fournet and Tanya Folsom, invite the parents of children in their class to join them and additional members of our faculty on Wednesday, Jan. 11 from 1:20 to 2:30 p.m. in the Rosemary Room. The meeting’ s focus is to look together at selected examples of recent documentation and to share information about the process of documenting the children’ s play for the purpose of creating curriculum based upon the observations. The teachers will post an RSVP for this event. Childcare will be provided free of charge.

Cherry Blossom Room Teachers, Anne Roberts and Lisette Sandoval, will hold An Afternoon with Teachers on Wednesday, Jan. 25th from 1:15 to 2:30 p.m. Childcare will also be provided free of charge.

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Sensory Processing

“Sensory processing refers to how people use the information provided by all the sensations coming from within the body and from the external environment. We usually think of the senses as separate channels of information, but they actually work together to give us a reliable picture of the world and our place in it. Your senses integrate to form a complete understanding of who you are, where you are, and what is happening around you. . .Sensory Modulation refers to how the central nervous system organizes the way it responds to sensory stimuli. If a person has sensory modulation difficulty, his responses to sensory input may be out of proportion to the actual experience, and he may be overresponsive, underresponsive or engage in sensory seeking behaviors” (Biel & Peske, 2005).

If this is a topic that sounds interesting to you as a parent, you might like to read Biel and Peske’ s book, Raising a Sensory Smart Child.

You might also like to join our guest speaker, Melissa Idelson, an occupational therapist from Child Success Center in Santa Monica, on February 3rd at 9:15 a.m. in our Library (or Parish Hall). Melissa is an experienced specialist in the field of sensory integration and sensory processing difficulties. She has spoken with our faculty about this very important aspect of young children’ s learning and development and we have invited her to share her expertise with our parent community.

Please RSVP to Karen.

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CPK Day for PPS

On Friday, Jan. 20 the Santa Monica California Pizza Kitchen on Wilshire Blvd. will donate a percentage of each lunch and/or dinner tab to our preschool—with the presentation of the flyer for the event. This is a “fun-raiser” as much as a “fund-raiser” for our community and is something board member, Jennifer Mirner, arranges for us on 2 dates each school year. It is great fun to head over to CPK right after our 12:30 dismissal and have lunch with friends! –Flyers will be available the week of Jan. 17.

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Winter Session Hundred Languages Small Groups

• Monday
  Spanish with Sylvia from 1:45 to 2:15
• Tuesday
  Ballet with Laura from 1:45 to 2:30
• Wednesday
  Sewing with Valeria from 1:45 to 2:30
• Thursday
  Karate with Carol from 1:45 to 2:15

After-school Small Groups start the week of Jan. 9. Please see Karen to enroll.

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January Calendar

• Jan. 3—Teachers & directors return
• Jan. 4—Preschool classes resume for children
• Jan. 9—New Toddler Explorations session begins After-school Small Groups begin
• Jan. 10—Cherry Blossom/Rosemary parent meeting with Nancy at 9:15 a.m.
• Jan. 11—An Afternoon with Teachers—Rosemary teachers & parents—from 1:20 to 2:30 p.m. (Alfie Kohn to speak at Willows Community School in the evening)
• Jan. 12—PPS Board of Trustees meeting
• Jan. 13—Applications and new tuition schedules mailed to returning families
• Jan. 16—Preschool closed for Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday
• Jan. 18—Susan Stone, MFT, to talk with parents about Limit Setting at 9:15 in the Library
• Jan. 20—California Pizza Kitchen Small Fundraiser (from 12:30 through dinner hour)
• Jan. 25—An Afternoon with Teachers—Cherry Blossom teachers & parents, from 1:15 to 2:30 p.m.
• Jan. 27—Applications for the 2012-2013 school year due from returning families

February Calendar

• Feb. 3—Enrollment Agreements mailed to new and returning families Feb. 15—Signed Agreement and $500 registration fee due to Karen

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Preschool Mission Statement

Our mission is to serve our community by offering a preschool experience for children and families that celebrates diversity, creativity and kindness. These values are embedded within a rich child-centered curriculum that provides individuals and groups with opportunities to investigate, explore and express themselves through meaningful play.

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Pictures from School Events

Holiday Songfest

Holiday Sharing

Teacher/Parent Meetings

Educator Tour

Observations

“The ideas and skills that families bring to the school and, even more importantly, the exchange of ideas between parents and teachers, favors the development of a new way of educating, and helps teachers to view the participation of families as an intrinsic element of collegiality and as the integration of different wisdoms” (Spaggiari, 1998).

Dear Families and Friends,

As we end these first months of the new school year, I would like to thank each family for accepting our invitation offered last September to participate in the life of the preschool. Welcoming teachers at home visits, attending the Family Picnic and Back to School Nights, involvement in classroom celebrations, service as a Board Member or a Room Parent, membership on committees, and the tremendous support of our Silent Auction all represent your overwhelming response to our invitation to become involved in the Palisades Preschool community. Thank you!

Spaggiari’s words begin to express the significance of family participation in children’s education. The work we do as co-educators is enriched and expanded by the sharing of ideas, talents and skills and by the relationships that we form throughout our PPS experience. I am enjoying getting to know each new family in our program and am also pleased to sustain relationships with families who started with us in recent years—or who returned to PPS this year with a younger child. I am certain that Karen and the teachers share my enthusiasm and appreciation.

We are looking forward to welcoming you to classrooms on Friday, December 9th for Parent-Teacher Conferences, when teachers will share individual portfolios dedicated to the documentation of each child’s growth since September. The conferences offer an additional and personal moment for reflection and collaboration.

In addition to the December 9th (and March 30th conferences), the coming months bring other opportunities for participation: Afternoons with Teachers, parent meetings about kindergarten and other topics of interest, seasonal celebrations, additional committee meetings, community initiatives, and Poker Night are all on the PPS calendar for Winter, 2012. Many of these occasions will include dialogue and idea-sharing—what Spaggiari describes as “the integration of different wisdoms.” We sincerely hope that you will continue to exercise your right as a member of our community to listen and to exchange possibilities with teachers and directors. Our integrated knowledge and caring benefit the work we undertake in support of children’s development and learning at Palisades Preschool.

I wish you all a joyful holiday season.

Warm wishes,

Nancy

Click on the links below or scroll down for this month’s topics:

• Auction News!

• Parent Conferences

• Food and Toy Drives

• Thank-you!

• Alfie Kohn at Willows Community School

• Toddler Explorations News

• Holiday Songfests

• Atelierista Position

• Professional Development Experiences

• Declaration of Intentions

• Preschool Mission Statement

Auction News!

We are thrilled to announce that the benefits to our private, independent, nonprofit organization from this year’s Silent Auction totaled approximately $20,000!! This amount will help to offset the costs of this year’s facility improvements and financial assistance to current families—and will also help us to sustain these endeavors in the future. Each year in our budget planning, we frame our income estimates so that tuition income covers operational costs which include payroll, rent and insurance (our major expenses). In addition to tuition income, successful fundraising allows us to improve our facility, enhance professional development opportunities for teachers and directors, and offer financial assistance to those who apply and qualify for the aid. We thank all members of our PPS community for your generous support of our mission and goals!

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Parent Conferences

On Friday, Dec. 9th the preschool will be closed in order for teachers to meet individually with the families in each class. Teachers are looking forward to sharing their observations and reflections– and are also open to hearing those of parents. Please know that many hours of thought and care go into the creation of children’s individual portfolios and it is our hope that you will enjoy and appreciate this particular form of documentation. Childcare will be provided during the time of your conference. Conference Sign-ups are available on classroom clipboards—and please let teachers know if you need to schedule for another day. Thank you.

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Food and Toy Drives

Large bins from Westside Food Bank and baskets from Connections for Children will be present in our hallway and in Karen’s office for the collection of food and new, unwrapped toys. Please look for flyers with more information coming soon! We thank the members of our Charity Committee—Mary Nadler and Gary Lionelli, Lisa and Hugh Fitzgerald, Luciana and Larry Klein, Annaka Harris, Dalit Toledano, Kristin Grannis and Simona Patierno–for organizing these opportunities for our families to reach out to the greater community. The food and toy drives end on Dec. 13th.

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Thank-you!

–To parents who organized the children’s beautiful and delicious Thanksgiving celebrations:

Cherry Blossom
Kim Egan and Simona Patierno

Rosemary
Dorothy Kozak Snoke, Liz Borstein, Lauren Wolf, Tannaz Silkman, and Allison Lovus

Sunflower
Rebecca Walker and Olga Lavinthal

Dandelion
Janna Boelke and Mary Nadler

–And to families who supported our small fundraiser—the annual Wreath Sale!! Thanks, also, to the Wreath Committee whose members will help Karen distribute the wreaths when they are delivered later this month. Congratulations, Karen, on another successful Wreath Sale!

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Alfie Kohn at Willows Community School

Free and open to the public, What Does It Mean To Say We Want Our Kids To Be Successful? Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012 at 7:00 p.m.—The Willows Theatre—Reservations required. Alfie Kohn is perhaps best-known for his book, Punished by Rewards, and for his strong suggestion that adults find ways to support children’s accomplishments without the phrase, “Good job!”

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Toddler Explorations News

As part of each 8 week toddler class session, Laurie and Nancy will be utilizing one class meeting to engage in observation and reflection-sharing with parents. Laurie’s classes with toddlers and their family members or caregivers include an observation time during 20 or 30 minutes of each morning. The parent meeting once each session is designed to highlight the importance of this segment of the Explorations experience. Meetings will take place in the preschool Library.

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Holiday Songfests

Please join Parker Bent, children and teachers in the Parish Hall on the morning of Thursday, Dec. 15th for our annual Holiday Songfests!

Cherry Blossom/Rosemary classes—9:00 to 9:45 a.m.

Dandelion/Sunflower classes—10:00 to 10:45 a.m.

These time slots include about 20 minutes or so of social time with holiday treats served in the Parish Hall for each group. All family members and friends are welcome!

We will follow our regular dismissal schedule on the 15th, but will not have Stay & Play or Karate.

The preschool will be closed on Friday, Dec. 16 and will reopen on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012.

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Atelierista Position

As many of you have already observed. . .Summer’s baby is due in January, 2012!! Summer has worked as an amazing atelierista at PPS for the past 3 years– and we are anticipating her return in August, 2012 for the new school year. While Summer is at home with her baby (and her husband and 3 school-age children) from January through June, studio work will continue in both our outdoor and indoor spaces for the Cherry Blossom and Rosemary children. Nancy is currently interviewing substitute atelierista candidates and will share plans for studio staffing in the January Storyteller. We will miss Summer during the coming months, but are happy that she will have time at home with her baby before returning to her teaching responsibilities.

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Professional Development Experiences

In addition to the wonderful Learning Tour in Reggio Emilia last October whose benefits to our entire community will continue to resonate for a long time, each year our teachers and directors participate in a variety of professional development opportunities. In October, Anne and Liz spent a day at Growing Place, observing and meeting with teachers at both Ocean and Marine Park sites. Soraya attended a Saturday Clay Workshop with Patricia Hunter McGrath and Nicole participated in Patricia’s recent Wire Workshop. Early this month, Nathalie and Tiffany will spend a morning at Growing Place. We are also making plans for return visits to First Pres. later this year. Also this school year, we will be inviting educators to PPS on three dates for morning or day-long experiences that will include observation of our environments and reflection meetings/presentations with our faculty members. In the spring of 2012, Craig, Valeria and Nancy will collaborate to present at the annual CAEYC Conference taking place in San Diego. —Teaching others is one of the best ways to learn.

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Declaration of Intentions

After a good deal of observation and conversation, we have formalized our school-wide and classroom Intentions for the 2011-12 school year. Please find written copies of the Declaration of Intentions in the “news-stands” at each classroom entrance. Observation as well as the formation of small groups and the documentation of small group work will be guided by the Intentions that teachers, atelieristi and the pedagogista have created for this school year—and possibly the next. Meetings with parent committees such as the Music Committee and the Materials Committee are planned as part of our work in exploring, in particular, this year: self-regulation, communication and problem-solving.

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Preschool Mission Statement

Our mission is to serve our community by offering a preschool experience for children and families that celebrates diversity, creativity and kindness. These values are embedded within a rich child-centered curriculum that provides individuals and groups with opportunities to investigate, explore and express themselves through meaningful play.

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Pictures from School Events

Auction Gallery

Photos courtesy of Philip Folsom

Thanksgiving Gallery

Observations

Daniela Lanzi, pedagogista at Ernesto Balducci Preschool, on professional development:
“The process asks you to get involved as teachers and to learn together with children and families. Professional development starts in our daily life with the children. Work with families is also professional development—as is work with colleagues and with documentation.”

“The pedagogista is ‘in relationship’ with all members of the school network, continually nurturing their professional development with a greater vision in mind.”
- Elena, pedagogista at Bellelli Infant Toddler Center, Reggio Emilia

Dear Families and Friends,

Atelierista, Valeria Vacchi, and I had an exciting and inspiring week of study in Reggio Emilia—October 15-22. We so appreciated the opportunity to attend presentations given by the Italian educators, to meet other North American teachers on the tour, visit some of the beautiful preschools and infant toddler centers, and spend time in the lovely historic city of Reggio Emilia.

During some of our visits to the RE schools, we were joined by a study group from Sweden. One of the highlights of our trip was meeting Gunilla Dahlberg, the leader of the Swedish study group. She is an internationally recognized scholar on the definition of quality in early childhood education and began her relationship with the educators in Reggio Emilia many years ago. It was a privilege to speak with her and share part of our study tour with her and the Swedish graduate students.

Daniela Lanzi, quoted above, played a significant leadership role in this first Learning Tour to take place in RE during the 2011-2012 school year. Daniela has worked as a pedagogista in the Reggio Emilia municipal school system for the past fifteen years—and she was an interesting, passionate and inspiring speaker. She and Elena, from Bellelli Nido, are part of a twelve member pedagogical team, working with about four schools each—two preschools and two infant toddler centers. This organizational strategy allows them to work with children ages infant through six years old.

The pedagogista looks with the teachers and the atelierista at documentation in order to help make choices about what observations to develop and how to construct research projects with the children, including the selection of materials and the shaping of research questions. She collaborates with teachers and the atelierista in the creation of documentation. The pedagogista’s role includes coordinating family involvement at the schools and it is her job to interpret professional development projects envisioned at the network level at each of her schools. (This means that she guides the creation of declarations of intent at the school and classroom level.) The pedagogista is also the person who interfaces with health and social service agencies for her schools.

She is not, however, in the public preschool system in Reggio Emilia, an administrator who is in charge of the finances of the school. While she may be responsible for the ordering of materials and equipment, she is not responsible for the school budget. The municipal school system has a central office for financial matters and for human resources.

In my own role in our PPS context, I am involved in both the pedagogical and administrative aspects of our school life. As a private, independent, nonprofit organization, there is no central office taking care of budget, payroll, health insurance, etc. –I am fortunate to work with a supportive Board of Trustees and I am very grateful to have Karen’s partnership in the administrative responsibilities at our site so that I can participate in the pedagogical elements that are such an important part of our work—and the part of my work that I most enjoy.

One of my personal learning goals for the trip was to understand more about the role of the pedagogista and with this intention in mind, I listened and asked questions related to this topic. The definition of the role became clearer to me throughout the week and I realized that my own interpretation of the pedagogical role is fairly similar to that of the Italian pedagogista. –And, much of what I learned during the week in RE about many aspects of our educational approach will help me do a better job of supporting the work of children and teachers at Palisades Preschool.

I was especially interested in the Italian educators’ definition of professional development. We have already demonstrated our sensitivity to this type of interpretation by renaming our “staff meetings” as “professional development meetings.” Nevertheless, as Daniela described last week at one of our first encounters, many of our endeavors at PPS can be considered as part of our professional development. We are always learning.

As a result of our trip to RE, Valeria and I developed the following list of possibilities for further exploration at PPS:

• An expanded and renewed image of the child within the context of teaching and learning
• Roles of the adult (“a wave calling another wave” –”a conductor, film director”)
• What does it mean to be a co-researcher?—specific strategies for our context
• Progettazione—review this definition/interpretation
• Re-shaping our documentation– the continuum of styles and formats—also video
• Professional development opportunities at team meetings—strategies and expectations
• Re-shaping our environments (the hallway and yard entryway as piazzas)
• The mini-atelier
• Children’s drawing
• Composizione and microlandscapes
• The role of the atelierista—collaborator (support person, but also Guide)
• How can children’s involvement in set-up support their participation in clean-up?
• How can learning and outside experts in a variety of fields enhance our work? –the role of parents within this initiative
• Declarations of Intent—further development
• Atelier of Sound as a new research project
• List of equipment and materials to add to our environments
• Atelier of Taste—ideas for Lunch and Friday Snack
• Making PPS and young children visible in the neighborhood

Valeria and I engaged in an amazing professional development experience in Italy and we are looking forward to sharing our learning with the rest of the community during these next weeks, months– and beyond. We have collaborated to create a slide show presentation of our experience–that we shared with our PPS colleagues on Friday of last week–to initiate dialogue.

We invite parents to join us for further discussion on Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 9:00 a.m. in the Library. We will view the slides together, share some examples of documentation we brought back with us from Reggio Emilia and answer questions. (Please RSVP to Karen if you are planning to attend. If we have more than 15 people, we will plan to meet in the Parish Hall.)

We thank all members of our learning community for your support of the ongoing professional development initiatives at our school.

Warm wishes,

Nancy

Click on the links below or scroll down for this month’s topics:

• Halloween Celebrations

• Parenting Advice

• Auction News

• Committees

• A Few Words about Safety

• Thanksgiving Celebrations

• PPS Educator’s Tour

• Mission Statement

• Preschool Event Pics

Halloween Celebrations

Our teachers and children would like to thank the parents who volunteered to make the Halloween celebrations so special in each classroom. We appreciated your efforts to collaborate with teachers regarding food allergies, party timing and appropriateness of activities. The parties were wonderful!

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Parenting Advice

Susan Stone, MFT, will join us in the Library on Wed., Nov. 2nd from 9:15 to 10:45 a.m. to offer advice on the subjects of eating and toileting. Susan has shared her expertise with our community for a number of years and we look forward to her informative, practical and sensitive suggestions.

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Auction News

This year’s Silent Auction is shaping up to be both a wonderful party and a successful fundraising event! Many thanks go to our Co-Chairs, Judy Tyler, Marika Spielman and Lisa Fitzgerald for their behind-the-scenes efforts on behalf of our organization. “Thank you” to the Klein Family for sponsoring the live music for the event. “Thank you” to the Rocca Family for donating the non-alcoholic beverages for the evening. Our Room Parents are organizing fantastic themed baskets representing each of our four classes–and the auction items (2 per family) are currently being submitted to Karen so that she can include them all in the Auction Program—to be distributed via email to all families in advance of the Nov. 18th Silent Auction. Have you responded to the evite? Have you made arrangements for childcare?

This year’s fundraiser will include a Live Auction!

Please plan to have all items to Karen by Thursday, Nov. 10th. Please be sure you have purchased your auction tickets by Nov. 10th as well. Thank you!!

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Committees

Charity Committee
A meeting is planned for Friday, Nov. 4th at 9:00 a.m. in the Library. Previous initiatives have included a Food Drive for the Westside Food Bank and a Toy Drive for Connections for Children. We generally begin the initiative in mid-November and continue through mid-December. We look forward to hearing any new ideas.

Music Committee
We will meet in early December to share ideas for the enhancement of Music at PPS.

Please look for an email message about the date and time for our meeting. Meanwhile, if you would like to make an appointment with the teachers in your child’s class to visit and share your talent, please do!

Emergency Prep. Committee
We will meet in early Jan. after our Winter Break to take stock of the items in our emergency bins. (I checked recently and am replacing a couple of items that are expiring, but the rest can wait until Jan. Thank you! -ns)

Materials Committee
We would like to form this new committee to help research/collect/purchase materials for the children’s explorations and projects. Please see Nancy or Karen if you would like to participate. This new group will meet in January.

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A Few Words about Safety

Our Crossing Guard, Jim, has asked parents and children to please wait for him to escort you as you cross the street from the parking lot to the school. Recently, there was a fatal pedestrian accident at the corner of Lincoln Blvd. and Santa Monica Blvd. and Jim feels strongly that he should accompany all families into the intersection in front of our school. Thank you.

Also, we are noticing that children are still playing at the side of the church and in front of the house next to the school. St. Paul’s is very serious in their request that children not play in unfenced areas on the property. Thank you for your cooperation.

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Thanksgiving Celebrations

Please remember not to pack a lunch for your child on Tuesday, Nov. 22nd. Volunteers from each class have signed up to organize a simple lunch for each group in honor of the Thanksgiving holiday. Children will be dismissed at their regular times that day, but there will be no Stay & Play or after-school classes.

The preschool will be closed on Friday, Nov. 11th (Veteran’s Day)

and on

Wed./Thurs./Friday, Nov. 23, 24, 25 for Thanksgiving

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PPS Educator’s Tour

On Tuesday, Nov. 29th, we will welcome a group of child development students from Pierce College to visit our environments and to meet with teachers and with Nancy. This event represents a professional development opportunity for both our visitors and our faculty. –The preschool will be open as usual.

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Preschool Mission Statement

Our mission is to serve our community by offering a preschool experience for children and families that celebrates diversity, creativity and kindness. These values are embedded within a rich child-centered curriculum that provides individuals and groups with opportunities to investigate, explore and express themselves through meaningful play.

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Pictures from School Events

Halloween

Observations

“The documentation is in fact a process of ‘participation,’ as the teacher ‘is part,’ and thus participant, in the process. For this reason, the reflectiveness necessary when writing and possible when re-reading (individually and in groups) is what transforms the anecdote into knowledge and the knowledge into collective and connecting knowing” (Rinaldi, 2010).

Dear Families and Friends,

Thank you for sharing the Back to Preschool evenings with us last month. We appreciated your thoughtful questions and insights about the documentation process and look forward to your reflections about the documentation we share with you and the children during the coming months. The process is an ecological one that involves all members of our community. As we noted, the subjectivity of the observation process is reduced when multiple perspectives contribute to the interpretation of children’s words and play.

As part of the observation/documentation process and our own professional development each week, the teachers and I exchange reflections about our learning regarding children, families, colleagues, and ourselves as early childhood educators. We do this in weekly team meetings, at our faculty meetings on Friday afternoons and informally as we meet in hallways, classrooms and outdoor environments. Following the first real week of preschool of the school year, the teachers emailed me their reflections for the week. It was so interesting to note the frequency of comments about children’s competence during this early part of the school year. Teachers observed the children’s mostly successful efforts to cope with good-by’s to parents, seeking self-regulation at the water table and the wood-working center. They commented on how much the returning children remembered about their routines, environments, friends and teachers.

Teachers also commented on their own sense of disequilibrium as new communities are forming; it is a challenge to play a variety of roles (facilitator of play, conflict resolution, independence and comfort) while simultaneously becoming acquainted with individuals and new group dynamics. The sharing of these reflections is helping us to co-construct an image of the first weeks of our experience together as a preschool community and supporting our efforts to respond appropriately to individuals and groups—of children, parents and colleagues. As Rinaldi expressed in her words in Reinventing Laura: An educational diary in a Reggio Emilia nido (2010), our observations are transformed when together we reflect and speculate.

Warm wishes,

Nancy

Click on the links below or scroll down for this month’s topics:

• Silent Auction News

• Room Parents

• Committees

• After-School Small Group Classes

• Wreath Sale

• Toddler Classes

• North American Learning Tour

• Intake Conferences

• Halloween Parade

• Thank You

• Mission Statement

• Preschool Event Pics

Silent Auction News

Invitations to our November 18th Silent Auction evening fundraiser at the Annenberg Beach House will be emailed to all families this month. Please be sure to RSVP to Karen and make arrangements for childcare! Also coming to you this month are the two donation letters for each PPS family. Karen will be distributing the donation letters so that you can begin collecting items and services for the auction. The donation letters, auction items and certificates for services will be due to Karen by the week of Nov. 7th so that she can create the Silent Auction Program in advance of the event.

In addition to donating two items or services, we also ask that each family make a contribution to the Class Basket organized and created by the Room Parents in each class. Themes for the four baskets will be selected this month and Room Parents will communicate with the parents in their class.

Co-chairs Judy Tyler, Lisa Fitzgerald and Marika Spielman will be meeting with the Silent Auction Committee in a couple of weeks. Please look for a flyer announcing the date and time of the meeting.

Please remember that friends and extended family members are welcome to participate in the Silent Auction. All donations are tax deductible.

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Room Parents

We would like to thank our new Room Parents for volunteering to serve as this year’s coordinators of some of the activities and events in their children’s classrooms.

• Cherry Blossom Room
  Kim Egan, Simona Patierno and Luciana Souza
• Rosemary Room
  Allison Lovus, Dorothy Snoke and Tannaz Silkman
• Dandelion Room
  Megan Histand, Kelli Haas, Jenny Hayden and Kyo Yamashiro
• Sunflower Room
  Emily Chase, Lisa Fitzgerald and Laurie Montgomery

Please look for communications from the Room Parents in your child’s class about the date for the Class Coffee planned for this month.

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Committees

Our Refreshment and Housekeeping Committees have already begun their support of our program for the new school year. Thank you!! Soon to “launch” will be the Library and Emergency Prep Committees. Please look for emailed announcements of meeting dates and times.

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After-School Small Group Classes—10 week Fall Session began on Sept. 26th

• Clay Class—Mondays
• Ballet—Tuesdays
• Soccer Shots—Wednesdays
• Karate—Thursdays

Please check with Karen if your child is interested in one or more of these classes.

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Wreath Sale

Several years ago this successful small fundraiser became a tradition at PPS. You can order beautiful fresh holiday wreaths that are delivered to the preschool for pick-up—or shipped to your home. The wreaths also make lovely gifts. Order forms will go out to you this month and you can speak with Karen for more information about these fragrant decorations for home and office.

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Toddler Classes

The Toddler Parent Orientation meeting is planned for Monday, Oct. 3rd at 9:30 in the Library with Nancy and Laurie. Classes will begin on Monday, Oct. 17th. We are currently fully enrolled for the fall session.

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North American Learning Tour

Studio teacher, Valeria Vacchi, and Nancy will be participating in the 2011 Learning Tour for North American educators in Reggio Emilia, Italy from Oct. 14th through Oct. 22nd. The week-long tour offers a challenging schedule that includes meetings with Italian educators at the Malaguzzi Center and tours of some of the municipal preschools and infant/toddler centers in RE. This is an amazing professional development experience and we look forward to sharing our learning with the PPS community!

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Intake Conferences

The teachers in the Cherry Blossom and Rosemary Rooms will be meeting with individual families on Friday, Oct. 7th. Prior to the conferences, each family will receive a copy of the Ages & Stages Questionnaire-3 for the purpose of observing children at home and sharing the observations with teachers on Oct. 7th. The CB/Rosemary classes will not meet on the day of the conferences, but childcare will be offered for the time of your conference.

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Halloween Parade

On Friday, October 28th, all Palisades Preschool children are invited to participate in the annual Halloween Parade. We are planning to hold two parades in order to accommodate children and adults on our play yard for this event. The Cherry Blossom/Rosemary children will start the day outside as usual in their costumes and their parade will take place from about 9:00 to 9:30 a.m. Following their parade, CB/Rosemary children who usually attend school on Fridays will go inside for the party and be dismissed at about 11:00 a.m. Children who do not usually attend school on Fridays will go home with their family after the parade.

The Dandelion and Sunflower children will start their day inside as usual at 8:45—wearing their costumes. Their parade will take place at about 9:30 or so. They will come back inside after the parade for their party and be dismissed at about 11:15.

Please make sure that costumes are appropriate for our ages. We request that there be no scary masks or weapons of any kind. Also, please think about your child’s ability to move safely and easily around the parade route (the bike path).

While our curriculum does not formally include Halloween, we do like to help children interpret a holiday that includes a lot of commercialism and “fright.” Halloween offers an opportunity to talk about what is frightening to children and to explore rich language, music and stories. Our classroom will feature natural seasonal decorations.

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Thank You!

We gratefully acknowledge the Patierno family for their gift of a digital camera and the Baum family for their purchase of a new MacBook computer for the teachers. Both items will be used to document and share children’s learning at PPS. Thank you!

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Preschool Mission Statement

Our mission is to serve our community by offering a preschool experience for children and families that celebrates diversity, creativity and kindness. These values are embedded within a rich child-centered curriculum that provides individuals and groups with opportunities to investigate, explore and express themselves through meaningful play.

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Pictures from School Events

Family Picnic

Back to Preschool Night

Provided by Susan Stone, M.A., M.F.T.
View the chart below for a nice overview of normal quantities of sleep for children from ages 1 week to 8 years old. Thanks to Susan for making this available. For a “printer friendly” version, click here to download the PDF.

Also, here are some quick links to resources about children and sleep from Dr. Sears…

Sleep Trainers, Buyers Beware

Myths About Bedwetting

Observations

“Emotional well-being and social competence provide a strong foundation for emerging cognitive abilities. Together they are the ‘bricks and mortar’ of the foundation of human development. The brain is a highly integrated organ. Social development and regulation of behavior are as much a part of development as cognitive learning.”

- Jack Shonkoff, Director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, (2007)

Dear Families and Friends,

As we prepare to begin another school year together—or to begin our first year together—I imagine that many of us are reflecting upon our hopes and intentions for the children’ s experiences at Palisades Preschool during the coming months. Fundamental to our expectations and planned possibilities is our shared definition of the underlying purpose of preschool. Why is it important for children to have a range of high quality experiences in a group setting before beginning their elementary school education?

There are, of course, many answers to this question and throughout the coming school year we intend to create numerous opportunities to engage in formal and informal dialogue with all of you with the goal of sharing our understandings about children’ s preschool years and explaining why we do what we do –as both parents and as teachers. Back to Preschool Night, Parent-Teacher Conferences and Afternoons with the Teachers are examples of meetings already planned for the new school year that will give us time for conversation about children’ s learning.

One piece of the explanation for the importance of preschool lies in the significance of the development of appropriate social and emotional skills. In a cultural and political era in the United States that places a high value upon “academic readiness,” it is essential that we acknowledge the role of social-emotional development as a foundation for cognitive growth–and as a pathway to successful social interactions throughout the life span. Many early education experts believe that being prepared for kindergarten—and beyond–has its roots in social-emotional learning.

In her book, Me, You, Us: Social-Emotional Learning in Preschool, Epstein (2009) describes four components of social-emotional competence:

• Emotional self-regulation and self-awareness
  “. . .responding to experiences with an appropriate range of immediate or delayed emotions,” characterized by thinking ahead and acting with less impulsivity (e.g., “I can sit on the waiting bench or play in the sand box until it is my turn on the tire swing”). Language development and the ability to form and hold mental representations contribute to the growth of these abilities.
• Social knowledge and understanding
  Becoming a participating member of the classroom community. The process of “decentering” during the preschool years happens as children begin to be able to take the perspective of others in the community. The knowledge of social norms and traditions is a part of social understanding. Classification skills also contribute to this area of growth (e.g., “I like to play with trucks, but my friend likes to play with helicopters”).
• Social skills
  Employing a “range of strategies for interacting with others.” Again perspective-taking and empathy play a role in the development of these kinds of problem-solving skills (e.g., “I will get my friend a cup of water to make her feel better”).
• Social dispositions
  Developing “enduring character traits” such as curiosity and generosity. Expressing feelings and taking responsibility for our actions are also components of generally valued social dispositions.

It is our intention that children’ s experiences in our small and large group settings at Palisades Preschool be rich with opportunities for the kinds of social-emotional learning described by Epstein (2009). When young children engage with peers, materials and teachers, the possibilities are often surprising and challenging—but also inspiring and exciting. We look forward to our work in support of children’ s social-emotional development this year and to our conversations with the children, colleagues and with you about this essential component of children’ s growth—and readiness for kindergarten.

See you soon!

Warm wishes,

Nancy

Click on the links below or scroll down for this month’s topics:

• Relationship-Building

• School-wide Intentions

• Music Committee

• Friday Snack

• Tuition Billing

• Credit Card Payments

• ASQ-3 at PPS

• Save the Date

• PPS Calendar Change, beginning with the 2012-2013 School Year

• Wish List

• Thank You!!

• Stay & Play/After School Small Group Classes

• PPS Calendar Change, beginning with the 2012-2013 School Year

• Preschool Mission Statement

• PPS Faculty Members for 2011-2012

• Pictures from School Events

Relationship-Building

Certainly, before we are able to guide and support children’ s budding social-emotional skills, we first must establish trusting relationships with both the children and their families. The early part of the school year, especially, is dedicated to this effort—in all classrooms. For new families and children, the July Transition classes, Home Visits and individualized separation strategies are all part of the relationship-building process that continues throughout our interactions over two or three years. If you were not able to arrange for a Home Visit during the summer, we will be happy to make appointments with you to briefly visit you and your child during the first weeks of school. A sign-up will be available on Sept. 14.

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School-wide Intentions

As a metaphor for the coming together of individuals to create new classroom communities and a new preschool community, we would like to explore the art of weaving with both children and adults. We have been investigating different kinds of looms and materials and we invite any of our family members with particular expertise in this art form to help guide the exploration. Please speak with Nancy if you would like to participate.

Additionally, with the initial goal of expanding the children’ s–and our own—sense of place at PPS we would like to explore the many sounds we hear in our indoor and outdoor environments. These explorations will be shaped by the developmental stages of the children in our program and by the children’ s interests and responses as observed by teachers and parents.

As part of our preparations for the new school year, we are in the process of modifying our Studio of the Senses (previously a light and shadow room and a paper room) to create opportunities for the children to play with sound. (Please look for requests from teachers in coming Weekly Stories for materials found in your homes that make interesting sounds. We plan to include these items in our Studio of Sound.)

At Back to Preschool Nights in late September, teachers will share Classroom Intentions related to our School-wide Intentions and other aspects of preschool life that are important to each age group.

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Music Committee

One of our new parents, Julie Smith, has suggested that we form a Music Committee this year. I think it is a great idea—given that we have some particularly musical adults in our community this school year. The teachers and I will find several dates during the year chosen so that family members can visit children’ s classrooms and/or the Studio of Sound and share their musical talent or interest. We will have the sign-up available during the early part of the school year and family members who are interested can select dates and make appointments with teachers.

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Friday Snack

Another opportunity for family involvement at our preschool this year will take the form of a Friday Special Snack. We will create a sign-up for your participation and will share specific information for each class at Back to Preschool Nights. Parents do not have to be present on Fridays to participate; foods can be sent to school or left with teachers before drop-off. We will also be sure to share information about the food allergies represented in each class so that these foods can be avoided.

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Tuition Billing

During the summer, Karen mailed your September tuition invoice along with several other items in a school-wide mailing. All subsequent invoices will be emailed to you, starting with the October invoice. If you are paying tuition on a monthly basis, the payment is due to Karen on the first of each month. A late fee will be charged for payments received after the 7th of the month. We do appreciate prompt payment of tuition and other fees. Thank you.

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Credit Card Payments

PPS does accept credit card payment for tuition and fees as well as for the purchase of items sold by the school for fundraising. The bank charges for the transaction fees have increased in recent months and we will be adding a 2.4% to 2.5% charge to credit card transactions used to pay tuition and fees. We will reduce the charge or absorb it completely for the purchase of items related to fundraising—such as Silent Auction purchases in November. Please speak with Karen if you would like to have your credit card info securely saved at the preschool for monthly payments–or you can contact Karen at the beginning of each month with the information.

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ASQ-3 at PPS

Two years ago, our teaching staff participated in a training sponsored by First 5 LA and UCLA and facilitated by Dr. Richard Cohen. The purpose of the training was to become familiar with the Ages and Stages Questionnaire-3, an in-home assessment completed by parents and then shared with teachers at an intake conference. At our New Parent Orientation #2 on Sept. 13th, we will share more information about this effective screening tool used to help parents and teachers detect developmental delays in young children.

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PPS Family Picnic

All families are invited to enjoy a couple of hours of community fun at Rustic Canyon Park on Saturday, Sept. 17th from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Bring a picnic lunch and a blanket and join teachers and directors in the shade of the lovely trees at the park.

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Save the Date

Our 2011 PPS Silent Auction is planned for Friday, November 18th! This is an evening event for “grown-ups” only and will take place at the Annenberg Beach House. Please look for more information about this exciting evening once our school year is under way. We thank our co-chairs, Judy Tyler and Marika Spielman, and their committee members for getting a head-start on the planning for this year’ s auction.

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Welcome!

We are very pleased to announce that Elizbeth Kuo will be joining Soraya as a co-teacher in the Sunflower room! Many of you met Elizabeth during the summer and probably observed how much the children enjoyed her presence with us during Camp. And, we would also like to welcome Leigh Johnson to our faculty. Leigh will serve as the fifth co-teacher on the Sunflower/Dandelion team, a new position we have created for the four year old classroom teams. Both teachers have interesting education and experience backgrounds. Please look for the Teacher Bios for our two new faculty members in the preschool hallway.

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Wish List

High on our list for the coming school year is a request for contributions to our PPS Scholarship/Financial Aid fund. We have a number of families who have asked for help with tuition for 2011-12 and we would like to expand this area of our funding. We do follow a confidential protocol for the award of financial assistance and have a small sub-committee of administrative staff and board members who make decisions about this aspect of our work with children and families. The ability to offer financial assistance helps us to fulfill our mission with regard to diversity—which includes economic diversity. Donations are tax-deductible. We thank you for considering a contribution to the PPS Scholarship/Financial Aid fund.

Also on our Fall, 2011 Wish List:

• 2 new white MacBook computers (to add to the 6 MacBooks we purchased last spring)
• Donations for the purchase of new birch shelving for the Sunflower and Dandelion rooms (to add to the 7 new shelves we have recently purchased for the Cherry Blossom/Rosemary rooms and for the Studio of Sound)
• 4 new small Canon digital still cameras
• 1 new deluxe digital still camera
  

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Thank You!!

Special appreciation goes to Jeff Rouze, PPS Board Treasurer and the man who has helped us this summer with painting and floor waxing inside our preschool and with the clean-up and interior renovation of the little house next door to the school that we use for the storage of so many of the children’ s materials. A million thanks! Another big “thank-you” goes to Ben Haines, a new member of our parent community, who gave us numerous hours on his summer weekends, painting the outdoor furniture and play structure. We also want to thank Laurie and Oliver Cornell, who volunteered their time this summer to help with the cleaning and organization of the storage house next to the school. What an effort! And, once again, former parent, Doug Mirner, has organized a number of facility improvements for the preschool—new doors inside some of our indoor spaces, a new fence behind the building and a new cover to our sandbox. Thank you! An additional expression of appreciation goes to gardener, Francisco Santos, who manages to make our grass and flowers look beautiful in spite of all the “love” they receive from the children!

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Stay & Play/After School Small Group Classes

We currently plan to begin Stay & Play (1:30 to 2:30, Monday through Thursday) during the week of Sept. 19th. Children who are dismissed at 1:00 or at 1:15 are also eligible for Stay & Play and stay with their teachers until the Stay & Play teacher is available. After school small groups will begin on Sept. 26th. We plan to include Soccer Skills as one of our possibilities this fall. Please look for more information about the classes offered for the coming 10 week fall session.

Toddler Program
Toddler Explorations Classes begin on Oct. 3rd with a Parent Orientation from 9 to 11 a.m. in the preschool Library. Children start the program on Oct. 17th.

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PPS Calendar Change, beginning with the 2012-2013 School Year

As announced via a recent email message to all PPS families, the preschool year will begin in mid-August of 2012 and end in mid-June, 2013, creating an 11 month preschool calendar. The school will close for cleaning and maintenance each July, with no summer program. Please speak with Nancy if you have any questions about the new 11 month calendar.

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Preschool Mission Statement

Our mission is to serve our community by offering a preschool experience for children and families that celebrates diversity, creativity and kindness. These values are embedded within a rich child-centered curriculum that provides individuals and groups with opportunities to investigate, explore and express themselves through meaningful play.

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PPS Faculty Members for 2011-2012

Cherry Blossom/Rosemary Team:

• Anne Roberts—Cherry Blossom Room
• Lisette Sandoval—Cherry Blossom Room
• Nathalie Fournet—Rosemary Room
• Tanya Folsom—Rosemary Room
• Nicole Bertholet—Support Co-Teacher
• Summer Jefferson—Studio Teacher
• Craig Parks—Outdoor Studio Teacher

Sunflower/Dandelion Team:

• Soraya Pursoltani—Sunflower Room
• Elizabeth Kuo—Sunflower Room
• Tiffany Romero—Dandelion Room
• Sylvia Maximo—Dandelion Room
• Leigh Johnson—Support Co-Teacher
• Valeria Vacchi—Studio Teacher
• Craig Parks—Outdoor Studio Teacher

Toddler Explorations Class

• Laurie Cornell

Music Specialist

• Parker Bent

Directors:

• Karen Booth—Preschool Co-Director
• Nancy Sadler—Preschool Director

Support Personnel:

• Oliver Cornell—Webmaster
• Matthew Waldman—IT Consultant
• Gloria Serrano—Housekeeping

PPS Board of Trustees:

• Judy Tyler/Jennifer Mirner—Co-Presidents
• Jeff Rouze—Treasurer
• Darren Hereford—Secretary
• Kristen Abraham—Former Parent
• Marika Spielman—Current Parent
• Richard Lin—Current Toddler Parent
• Megan Histand—Current Parent
• Susan Dickinson—Current Parent
• Karen Booth—Preschool Co-Director (non-voting member)
• Nancy Sadler—Preschool Director (non-voting member)

Pictures from School Events

June Teacher Appreciation Luncheon

Franklin Haynes Puppet Show

By Dr. Sears, www.askdrsears.com

1. Toilet-training is a partnership, with proper roles assigned to each person. You can lead a baby to the bathroom, but you can’t make him go.

2. You have not failed Parenting 101 if your baby is the last on the block to be dry. As with eating and sleeping, you can’t and shouldn’t force a baby to be dry or clean, but you can set the conditions that help baby train himself.

3. The bottom line is helping your baby achieve a healthy toilet- training attitude. Approach toilet-training as an exciting interaction rather than a dreaded task; consider this event an initiation into your role as instructor. From baby’s viewpoint, toileting is his initiation into “bigness”-a
rite of passage from toddlerhood into preschoolerhood. (This explains why the desire to stay little makes some procrastinators resist.)

4. Toilet-training is a complex skill. Before you rush baby to the potty at the first squat, consider what’s involved in learning toileting skills. First, baby has to be aware of the pressure sensations of his bowel and bladder. Then he must make the connection between these sensations and what’s happening inside his body. Next he learns to respond to these urges by running to the potty, where he must know how to remove his clothes, how to situate himself comfortably on this new kind of seat and how to hold his urges until all systems are go. With all these steps, it’s no wonder many babies are still in diapers well into the third year.

5. The muscles surrounding the opening of the bladder and bowel (I call them doughnut muscles when explaining the elimination process to six-year- old bed wetters) need to be controlled to open and close at the proper time. Bowel training usually precedes bladder training, mainly because the doughnut muscles surrounding the bowel are not as impatient as those around the bladder. When a baby senses the urge to defecate, he has more time to respond before soiling his diapers. A solid substance is easier to control than liquid. When the bladder is full, the urge to go is sudden, strong, and hard to control.

6. The usual sequence of gaining bowel and bladder control is (1) nighttime bowel control; (2) daytime bowel control; (3) daytime bladder control; (4) nighttime bladder control.

7. Girls are rumored to be trained earlier than boys. This observation reflects more the sex of the trainer than the trainee. Culturally, toilet-training has been left to mothers; naturally, women feel more comfortable training girls, and baby girls are more likely to imitate their mommies. Picture mommy standing and trying to show baby Bert how to urinate. By imitation, babies learn that girls sit and boys stand, but in the beginning boys can sit, avoiding sprays and dribbles on walls and floor. When your son figures out he can stand just like daddy, he will.

8. The pressure is off parents to toilet train early. Don’t equate toilet-training with good mothering. The idea that the earlier baby is eating three squares a day, weaned, toilet trained, and independent, the “better” the mother is nonsense.

Read all 13 tips at www.askdrsears.com

By Alfie Kohn, Young Children

NOTE: An abridged version of this article was published in Parents magazine in May 2000 with the title “Hooked on Praise.” For a more detailed look at the issues discussed here — as well as a comprehensive list of citations to relevant research — please see the books Punished by Rewards and Unconditional Parenting.

Hang out at a playground, visit a school, or show up at a child’s birthday party, and there’s one phrase you can count on hearing repeatedly: “Good job!” Even tiny infants are praised for smacking their hands together (“Good clapping!”). Many of us blurt out these judgments of our children to the point that it has become almost a verbal tic.

Plenty of books and articles advise us against relying on punishment, from spanking to forcible isolation (“time out”). Occasionally someone will even ask us to rethink the practice of bribing children with stickers or food. But you’ll have to look awfully hard to find a discouraging word about what is euphemistically called positive reinforcement.

Lest there be any misunderstanding, the point here is not to call into question the importance of supporting and encouraging children, the need to love them and hug them and help them feel good about themselves. Praise, however, is a different story entirely. Here’s why.

1. Manipulating children.
Suppose you offer a verbal reward to reinforce the behavior of a two-year-old who eats without spilling, or a five-year-old who cleans up her art supplies. Who benefits from this? Is it possible that telling kids they’ve done a good job may have less to do with their emotional needs than with our convenience?

Rheta DeVries, a professor of education at the University of Northern Iowa, refers to this as “sugar-coated control.” Very much like tangible rewards – or, for that matter, punishments – it’s a way of doing something to children to get them to comply with our wishes. It may be effective at producing this result (at least for a while), but it’s very different from working with kids – for example, by engaging them in conversation about what makes a classroom (or family) function smoothly, or how other people are affected by what we have done — or failed to do. The latter approach is not only more respectful but more likely to help kids become thoughtful people.

The reason praise can work in the short run is that young children are hungry for our approval. But we have a responsibility not to exploit that dependence for our own convenience. A “Good job!” to reinforce something that makes our lives a little easier can be an example of taking advantage of children’s dependence. Kids may also come to feel manipulated by this, even if they can’t quite explain why.

2. Creating praise junkies.
To be sure, not every use of praise is a calculated tactic to control children’s behavior. Sometimes we compliment kids just because we’re genuinely pleased by what they’ve done. Even then, however, it’s worth looking more closely. Rather than bolstering a child’s self-esteem, praise may increase kids’ dependence on us. The more we say, “I like the way you….” or “Good ______ing,” the more kids come to rely on our evaluations, our decisions about what’s good and bad, rather than learning to form their own judgments. It leads them to measure their worth in terms of what will lead us to smile and dole out some more approval.

Mary Budd Rowe, a researcher at the University of Florida, discovered that students who were praised lavishly by their teachers were more tentative in their responses, more apt to answer in a questioning tone of voice (“Um, seven?”). They tended to back off from an idea they had proposed as soon as an adult disagreed with them. And they were less likely to persist with difficult tasks or share their ideas with other students.

In short, “Good job!” doesn’t reassure children; ultimately, it makes them feel less secure. It may even create a vicious circle such that the more we slather on the praise, the more kids seem to need it, so we praise them some more. Sadly, some of these kids will grow into adults who continue to need someone else to pat them on the head and tell them whether what they did was OK. Surely this is not what we want for our daughters and sons.

3. Stealing a child’s pleasure.
Apart from the issue of dependence, a child deserves to take delight in her accomplishments, to feel pride in what she’s learned how to do. She also deserves to decide when to feel that way. Every time we say, “Good job!”, though, we’re telling a child how to feel.

To be sure, there are times when our evaluations are appropriate and our guidance is necessary — especially with toddlers and preschoolers. But a constant stream of value judgments is neither necessary nor useful for children’s development. Unfortunately, we may not have realized that “Good job!” is just as much an evaluation as “Bad job!” The most notable feature of a positive judgment isn’t that it’s positive, but that it’s a judgment. And people, including kids, don’t like being judged.

I cherish the occasions when my daughter manages to do something for the first time, or does something better than she’s ever done it before. But I try to resist the knee-jerk tendency to say, “Good job!” because I don’t want to dilute her joy. I want her to share her pleasure with me, not look to me for a verdict. I want her to exclaim, “I did it!” (which she often does) instead of asking me uncertainly, “Was that good?”

4. Losing interest.
“Good painting!” may get children to keep painting for as long as we keep watching and praising. But, warns Lilian Katz, one of the country’s leading authorities on early childhood education, “once attention is withdrawn, many kids won’t touch the activity again.” Indeed, an impressive body of scientific research has shown that the more we reward people for doing something, the more they tend to lose interest in whatever they had to do to get the reward. Now the point isn’t to draw, to read, to think, to create – the point is to get the goody, whether it’s an ice cream, a sticker, or a “Good job!”

In a troubling study conducted by Joan Grusec at the University of Toronto, young children who were frequently praised for displays of generosity tended to be slightly less generous on an everyday basis than other children were. Every time they had heard “Good sharing!” or “I’m so proud of you for helping,” they became a little less interested in sharing or helping. Those actions came to be seen not as something valuable in their own right but as something they had to do to get that reaction again from an adult. Generosity became a means to an end.

Does praise motivate kids? Sure. It motivates kids to get praise. Alas, that’s often at the expense of commitment to whatever they were doing that prompted the praise.

5. Reducing achievement.
As if it weren’t bad enough that “Good job!” can undermine independence, pleasure, and interest, it can also interfere with how good a job children actually do. Researchers keep finding that kids who are praised for doing well at a creative task tend to stumble at the next task – and they don’t do as well as children who weren’t praised to begin with.

Why does this happen? Partly because the praise creates pressure to “keep up the good work” that gets in the way of doing so. Partly because their interest in what they’re doing may have declined. Partly because they become less likely to take risks – a prerequisite for creativity – once they start thinking about how to keep those positive comments coming.

More generally, “Good job!” is a remnant of an approach to psychology that reduces all of human life to behaviors that can be seen and measured. Unfortunately, this ignores the thoughts, feelings, and values that lie behind behaviors. For example, a child may share a snack with a friend as a way of attracting praise, or as a way of making sure the other child has enough to eat. Praise for sharing ignores these different motives. Worse, it actually promotes the less desirable motive by making children more likely to fish for praise in the future.

Once you start to see praise for what it is – and what it does – these constant little evaluative eruptions from adults start to produce the same effect as fingernails being dragged down a blackboard. You begin to root for a child to give his teachers or parents a taste of their own treacle by turning around to them and saying (in the same saccharine tone of voice), “Good praising!”

Still, it’s not an easy habit to break. It can seem strange, at least at first, to stop praising; it can feel as though you’re being chilly or withholding something. But that, it soon becomes clear, suggests that we praise more because we need to say it than because children need to hear it. Whenever that’s true, it’s time to rethink what we’re doing.

What kids do need is unconditional support, love with no strings attached. That’s not just different from praise – it’s the opposite of praise. “Good job!” is conditional. It means we’re offering attention and acknowledgement and approval for jumping through our hoops, for doing things that please us.

This point, you’ll notice, is very different from a criticism that some people offer to the effect that we give kids too much approval, or give it too easily. They recommend that we become more miserly with our praise and demand that kids “earn” it. But the real problem isn’t that children expect to be praised for everything they do these days. It’s that we’re tempted to take shortcuts, to manipulate kids with rewards instead of explaining and helping them to develop needed skills and good values.

So what’s the alternative? That depends on the situation, but whatever we decide to say instead has to be offered in the context of genuine affection and love for who kids are rather than for what they’ve done. When unconditional support is present, “Good job!” isn’t necessary; when it’s absent, “Good job!” won’t help.

If we’re praising positive actions as a way of discouraging misbehavior, this is unlikely to be effective for long. Even when it works, we can’t really say the child is now “behaving himself”; it would be more accurate to say the praise is behaving him. The alternative is to work with the child, to figure out the reasons he’s acting that way. We may have to reconsider our own requests rather than just looking for a way to get kids to obey. (Instead of using “Good job!” to get a four-year-old to sit quietly through a long class meeting or family dinner, perhaps we should ask whether it’s reasonable to expect a child to do so.)

We also need to bring kids in on the process of making decisions. If a child is doing something that disturbs others, then sitting down with her later and asking, “What do you think we can do to solve this problem?” will likely be more effective than bribes or threats. It also helps a child learn how to solve problems and teaches that her ideas and feelings are important. Of course, this process takes time and talent, care and courage. Tossing off a “Good job!” when the child acts in the way we deem appropriate takes none of those things, which helps to explain why “doing to” strategies are a lot more popular than “working with” strategies.

And what can we say when kids just do something impressive? Consider three possible responses:

* Say nothing.
Some people insist a helpful act must be “reinforced” because, secretly or unconsciously, they believe it was a fluke. If children are basically evil, then they have to be given an artificial reason for being nice (namely, to get a verbal reward). But if that cynicism is unfounded – and a lot of research suggests that it is – then praise may not be necessary.

* Say what you saw.
A simple, evaluation-free statement (“You put your shoes on by yourself” or even just “You did it”) tells your child that you noticed. It also lets her take pride in what she did. In other cases, a more elaborate description may make sense. If your child draws a picture, you might provide feedback – not judgment – about what you noticed: “This mountain is huge!” “Boy, you sure used a lot of purple today!”

If a child does something caring or generous, you might gently draw his attention to the effect of his action on the other person: “Look at Abigail’s face! She seems pretty happy now that you gave her some of your snack.” This is completely different from praise, where the emphasis is on how you feel about her sharing

* Talk less, ask more.
Even better than descriptions are questions. Why tell him what part of his drawing impressed you when you can ask him what he likes best about it? Asking “What was the hardest part to draw?” or “How did you figure out how to make the feet the right size?” is likely to nourish his interest in drawing. Saying “Good job!”, as we’ve seen, may have exactly the opposite effect.

This doesn’t mean that all compliments, all thank-you’s, all expressions of delight are harmful. We need to consider our motives for what we say (a genuine expression of enthusiasm is better than a desire to manipulate the child’s future behavior) as well as the actual effects of doing so. Are our reactions helping the child to feel a sense of control over her life — or to constantly look to us for approval? Are they helping her to become more excited about what she’s doing in its own right – or turning it into something she just wants to get through in order to receive a pat on the head

It’s not a matter of memorizing a new script, but of keeping in mind our long-term goals for our children and watching for the effects of what we say. The bad news is that the use of positive reinforcement really isn’t so positive. The good news is that you don’t have to evaluate in order to encourage.

Observations

“There is in every child at every stage a new miracle of vigorous unfolding, which constitutes a new hope and a new responsibility for all.”
- Erik Erikson (1950)

Dear Families and Friends,

Recently, as I have been selecting books and articles for teachers’ and director’s professional development reading over the summer, I have been reviewing the work of theorist, Erik Erikson. Interested in psychosocial development across the lifespan, Erikson described four stages of growth and learning that pertain to early childhood: trust vs. mistrust (0-1 year), autonomy vs. shame and doubt (2-3 yrs.), initiative vs. guilt (4-5 yrs.), and industry vs. inferiority (6-12 yrs.). It was Erikson’s belief that the successful completion of each stage would lead to the development of certain strengths: hope, willpower, purpose and competence (Anselmo and Franz, 1995).

While not all parents and educators may subscribe to stage theories or to Erikson’s delineation of the ages at which children enter and exit these stages of growth—or agree that each stage must be successfully completed before another can begin, many of us would probably agree that trust represents an essential human disposition underlying subsequent development, that a certain amount of autonomy and initiative are desirable, and that we certainly want our children to feel competent both at home and at school.

The educators in Reggio Emilia assert that children enter the world as competent, curious, meaning-seeking individuals who learn to become autonomous and purposeful within the social, political and cultural context of their environment. They believe that supporting children’s very early sense of competence is a significant aspect of the role of parents and teachers (Dahlberg and Moss, 2006).

Last summer and fall, we spoke and wrote a good deal about our intention to establish trusting relationships between children and teachers, teachers and parents and between the children in each class. Transition classes, home visits, parent-teacher conferences, preschool activities and events, and the daily interactions with materials and with one another have, we hope, helped us to create a disposition toward trust within our community.

Now, in June, as we prepare to end our school year together, we look back on the beautifully documented, authentic examples of children’s experiences with trust, autonomy, initiative and competence compiled in each child’s individual Portfolio. We look forward to continuing this growth process as teachers and learners with our returning children and parents.

And, it is our belief that those who will be moving on to kindergartens throughout the area in September will begin this next phase of their education with all of the enthusiasm and confidence generated by their experiences at PPS. It is our wish that children’s hope in the future, ability to self-regulate, sense of purpose and capacity for competence will contribute to their happiness and success now and in the years to come.

Warm wishes always,

Nancy

Click on the links below or scroll down for this month’s topics:

• Hundred Languages Open House

• Raffle Winners

• Teacher Appreciation Luncheon

• PPS Annual Carnival

• End of Year Celebration for the Dandelion and Sunflower Rooms

• End of Year Business

• June/July Calendar

• Pictures from May Events

• Preschool Mission Statement

Hundred Languages Open House

We would like to express our appreciation to all families who attended our Open House on Wednesday, May 25th. The response to the beautiful classroom books created by teachers and children was fantastic! The books will be ordered from MyPublisher.com during the first week of this month and distributed before the end of the school year.

I would especially like to thank our teachers for the dedication and creativity they pour into their work with the children at PPS. The explorations, projects and beautiful environments evident last week -–and throughout the school year–certainly celebrate the hundred languages of children and make children’s learning visible. Bravo!

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Raffle Winners

Congratulations to Renee and Warren Berghoff, parents of Corbin in the Sunflower room, for winning the excursion on the racing yacht, Azzurra!! We thank our many families who participated in the raffle—that raised about $2,000 for the preschool! Special thanks to Judy and Russell Tyler for making the arrangements for the trip on the Azzurra as the raffle prize this year.

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Teacher Appreciation Luncheon

The teachers, Karen and I are looking forward to Wednesday, June 1st.The Teacher Appreciation Committee, led by Marika Spielman, is putting a lot of love into Wednesday afternoon’s special luncheon in honor of our staff. It promises to be a very lovely occasion. We thank you.

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PPS Annual Carnival

Tuesday, June 14
A magician, balloons, snow-cone cart, face-painters, a hair braid and airbrush tattoo artist, pop-corn machine, games and a Bounce House will all be a part of our annual Carnival! All children arrive at their usual 8:45 time. The event starts at 9:00 for the Cherry Blossom and Rosemary children and at 10:30 for the Dandelion and Sunflower children. A pizza lunch will be included at the end of the morning for all classes. Please note dismissal times will be: 12:30 for Cherry Blossom and Rosemary rooms and 1:15 for Dandelion and Sunflower rooms. THANK YOU to our Carnival Committee members for your help with this FUN event for the children. Mary Ann Hereford has offered to take photos at the Carnival and create a book that will be available for order in the fall of this year. Thank you, Mary Ann.

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End of Year Celebration for the Dandelion and Sunflower Rooms

Parents, friends and relatives are invited to attend a bittersweet “good-by” to our graduating preschool children. The celebration will take place on the last day of school, June 15th, from 9:15 to 10:15 a.m. in the Parish Hall. Our music specialist, Parker Bent, will be present to lead the children in singing some of their favorite songs and teachers will present children with their individual Portfolios as a symbol of their growth and development during their years at PPS. Refreshments will be served following the ceremony and children can go home with parents at 10:15—or stay until the 11:30 dismissal.

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End of Year Business

Karen will soon be preparing invoices that may include final balances for Stay & Play, book orders, and any outstanding tuition amounts. These amounts are due by Tuesday, June 13th. Thank you.

Returning Families: We ask that the June, 2012 tuition payment be paid by June 3rd, 2011. Thank you. This payment continues to hold your child’s place with us for the 2011-12 school year.

Summer Camp and Transition Class tuition payments are due when children start our summer programs in late June and July.

September tuition invoices for children attending preschool in Fall will be sent out in mid-August and will be due in early September. Please note that, starting in the new school year, invoices will be sent via email each month and payments will be due by the 7th day of the month to avoid a late fee.

The last day for Stay & Play for the current school year will be Thursday, June 9th.

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May/June Calendar

• Wednesday, June 1 — Teacher Appreciation Luncheon —12:30 dismissal
• Friday, June 3 — New Parent Orientation #1 from 10 to 12 in Parish Hall June, 2012 tuition due for returning families
• Wednesday, June 8 — Marionette Puppet Show for children in a.m.
• Thursday, June 9 — Last day for Stay & Play
• Monday, June 13 — All outstanding balances due to Karen
• Tuesday, June 14 — Carnival (12:30 dismissal for CB & Rosemary/1:15 for D and S rooms)
• Wednesday, June 15 — End of Year Celebration for D and S rooms from 9:15 to 10:15 a.m. Dismissal at 11:30 for all children Staff lunch at 12:30
• Thursday, June 16 — Teacher Work Day
• Friday, June 17 — Preschool closed
• Tuesday, June 28 – Friday, July 22 — Summer Programs
• July 25 — Preschool closes for maintenance and improvement projects
• Sept. 1 — Staff members return for planning and preparation
• Sept. 14 — New Parent Orientation #2 from 10 to 12 in Parish Hall
• Sept. 15 — First day of classes for 2011-12

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Pictures from May Events

100 Languages Open House

Lunch with Loved Ones

Cinco de Mayo

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Preschool Mission Statement

Our mission is to serve our community by offering a preschool experience for children and families that celebrates diversity, creativity and kindness. These values are embedded within a rich child-centered curriculum that provides individuals and groups with opportunities to investigate, explore and express themselves through meaningful play.