MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD EARLY LEARNING CENTER
OCTOBER 2016 NEWSLETTER
GENERAL HOUSEKEEPING
SIGN IN/OUT…. it is required that parents sign their children in & out. This also includes SAP. After you sign your child in please walk them to their classroom.
TUITION PAYMENTS…Tuition payments are due at the beginning of the month. If you have any questions concerning tuition or need a receipt please contact Kellie at .
WHEN PICKING UP YOUR CHILD…Please let a teacher know that you are picking up your child at the end of their day. We like to see that you have them and are taking them with you. At the 1:00 pickup time please be respectful of the preschool children who are trying to go to sleep. It can get very loud in the hallway.
CELL PHONES…Please complete all phone calls before entering the building. It is very distracting to have parents on their cell phones during drop off/pick up time, or during parties, etc. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.
FAST DIRECT…The website for MPB School’s fast direct page is
CONFERENCES
This year the ELC will hold fall parent teacher conferences on Friday, October 14th. We will be closed on the 14th so that both teachers can attend the conference with the parents. Please look for signup sheets outside your child’s classroom the first week in October. If you are not available for a conference on the 14th please see your child’s teacher to set up a separate conference date.
DATES TO REMEMBER
Wed., Oct. 12thBook Order Due
Fri., Oct. 14thConferences
Mon., Oct. 17thPicture Retakes
Mon., Oct. 31st Halloween!!
CLASSROOM NEWS
ROOM 1
What a wonderful start to the school year! We have gotten to meet and make new friends and have lots of fun. We have worked on learning the letters A, B, C, the color red (in English and Spanish), circle shape, and the number 1. October will bring more letters, shapes, colors and numbers as well as continuing to spell our names. October will be filled with some extra fun days and our Halloween party. On Monday, October 3rd we will be going on our first field trip to Songs for Seeds. Later in the month together with Room 2 we will be having our pumpkin patch here at the ELC. It will include an in house special visitor, a special lunch and each child will get to pick a pumpkin to take home. More information on the cost and the date will follow. We will be contacting our room mother’s soon for planning of our spooktacular Halloween party.
Ms. Barb and Ms. Brittany
ROOM 2
Welcome to our classroom. During September we have been working on spelling our names, the letters A, B, and C; the numbers 0, 1, and 2; the color red and the circle shape. Our class schedule is Science on Monday, Art on Tuesday, Music & Movement on Wednesday, Religion on Thursday, and Library and Reading Buddies on Friday, alternating between Mrs. Haling’s and Ms. Collins 2nd grade classes. In Science we have covered Germs and Hand Washing skills.
In October, we will be focusing on the letters D, E, and F; the numbers3 and 4, the color orange and the triangle shape. We will be covering the fall season, Fire Safety and Halloween, the 5 senses, parts of the body, skeleton, muscles and organs for Science this month.
On Wednesday, October 26th, we will be having our fun filled “Pumpkin Patch Day” at the ELC again this year. We will visit the MPB pumpkin patch to choose a pumpkin, and then make a scarecrow for our room. The Butterfly Pavilion will be bringing “Creepy Crawly Story Time” with stories and live animal encounters, the children will experience various invertebrates through some of their most beloved storybook characters! Meet and touch living invertebrates in a way that is safe, fun, and relevant to literary connections. – including their celebrity spider Rosie! We will top it off with a special lunch. The cost will be $9.00 per child. Everyone is welcome to attend that day.
We have a great class that works well together and we think it will be a wonderful year!
Ms. Regina, Ms. Cristi and Ms. Jan
ROOM 3
The beginning of the school year is always anadventure. It’s filled with new friends, new teachers, and new things to learn. We have worked hard on learning the rules so that the classroom will run smoothly and everyone will have fun learning. We have also spent September learning about each other and how to care for one another along with all of the other things that come along with going to school.
During September, we studied the letters A, B, and C, and have done some fun letter themed activities. We’ve talked about fall, and friends. We had a great morning with our Grandparents for our Grandparent Tea.
In October our focus will be on the Circus, Fire Safety, Community Helpers, Feelings & 5 Senses, Halloween, and more onfall and Harvest. We are off to a great start and all the kids seem to be settling in and eager to learn. Please feel free to talk to either of us with any questions or concerns you may have.
Ms. Traceeand Ms. Becky
ROOM 4
Hello Pre-K families! The children are adjusting well to their new surroundings and the classroom routines. The first weeks of school have centered on getting to know one anotherand learning all about our routines in the classroom. We have been exploring the classroom and gaining new interests. We are learning to use our words to express our feelings and needsto our friends. We are learning to work as a team by doing class jobs. Some of the jobs include cleaner, leader, prayer leader, sweeper, librarian, plant helper, and frog helper. Our hand washing skills are improving as wellas we practice singing “tops and bottoms” as we wash. We need to remember that rinsing the soap off our hands and drying them well will keep them from getting dry and sore.
So far this year we have explored friends, families, grandparents, and community helpers. We went on a field trip to the Firefighter’sMuseum and had a great time exploring fire hydrants, clothes, and trucks.
The Grandparent Tea was a success!It was wonderful to have all of our wonderful grandparents join us in our classroom to see our friends in learning action. The children were all very excited to enjoy breakfast treats with their grandparents.
As we move into the new season we will begin learning about fall, the harvest, and before we know it, Halloween.
Ms. Nicole and Ms. Dora
Kindergarten and SAP
September has been a fun-filled month after-school! We would like to welcome back all of our old students and send out a heartfelt welcome to all of our new students.
Our after-school schedule has worked out very nicely. We begin each afternoon meeting in the cafeteria and walking over together. We then have snack followed by some time outside on the playground. When we return inside we have some time for homework (20 minutes of quiet time when children do homework, read, or do a quiet activity at the table).
October will be a busy month. Keep in mind that there will be conferences on October12th and 13th. We will be open on those days. We will be closed on October 14th for our ELC conferences. Please remember that the sign-up sheets for “half” and “no school” days will be posted in the SAP (room 6), a weekprior. Also remember to bring lunches (no peanuts or tree nuts please) on “half-days” and “no school days”. Thank you for all of your support.
SAP Staff,
Ms. Dora, Ms. Brittany, Ms. Tess and Ms. Annabelle
DENVER PRESCHOOL PROGRAM/COLORADO SHINES
Did you know that our Early Learning Center is part of the Denver Preschool Program? The Denver Preschool Program (DPP) is the result of a voter approved initiative to provide tuition credits for parents, and quality improvement grants to preschools. DPP is open and voluntary for all Denver children the year before they are eligible for kindergarten. Tuition credits are awarded to all Denver families regardless of income. If your child is in Pre-K and you have not yet applied please go to for more information. We look forward to you joining the Denver Preschool Program and the movement of quality early childhood education!
To be part of the Denver Preschool Program ourclassrooms get rated every three years byColorado Shines. During the month of May 2016ourschool was rated in five areas: Workforce Qualifications and Professional Development, Family Partnerships, Leadership, Management and Administration, Learning Environment, and Child Health. The Preschool classrooms were rated using the Environmental Rating Scale (ECERS) which looks at space and furnishings, personal care routines, language and reasoning, activities, interaction, and program structure. The Pre-K classrooms were rated using the CLASS scoring system which looks at teacher/child interaction.
The rating process is very involved, and requires many extra hours of work by the staff. We did very well on ourrating and received 4 out of 5 stars! Thank you to all of the parents who filled out the family survey. I appreciate all of your kind comments. We will be rated again in May of 2019. The Colorado Shines website is
HALLOWEEN
This year our Halloween parties will be held onMonday, October 31stfrom8:30a.m.tonoon. Please have your child here no later than 8:30 with their costume on and Halloween bucket handy. At 9:15 the classes will take turns walking through the “Trunk-or-Treat” in the ELC parking lot. To keep the kids safe we will be blocking off spots in our lot for the “Trunk-or-Treat”, as well as closing the parking lot completely at 8:30. Parking will be a little crazy on Halloween morning (you may need to park along the street). The classroom parties will be going on during the “Trunk-or-Treat”. If you would like to volunteer to help with the “Trunk-or-Treat”, or theHalloween parties please look for sign-up sheets outside of your child’s classroom, and on the parent board. You may also contact any member of our advisory board if you wish to volunteer. Our 2016-2017 board members are Bridget Currie, Sandi Dumas,Laura Higgins, Marie Ronan, andSara Spence.
I also wanted to say thank you to Nicole Davidson and Samantha Kinnonwho volunteered to help with ourschool pictures.
We appreciate your help!
Kellie Peterson
Director MPBELC