|
Director
|
Message to Our STEM Families:
___
Dear Families,
A warm welcome to all for the exciting new beginning of our 2017-18 school year. I am honored to be the director of the Jericho STEM Academy here at Jericho Jewish Center.
Our school is staffed by a group of highly dedicated and creative educators who are passionate about early childhood. I am happy to welcome back Vicki Circle, Sona Bisom-Yaglom, and Marlene Cacciola, Cindy Chen, Amy Romano, Susan Frankle and Hong Jie Lin. We would like to welcome some new staff who will be joining our team this year- Billi Goldman, Dana Angel, Clara Tracy, Wei Li (Da Da), Allysa Biello, Christina Shriebman, and Yogesh Joshi.
Mr. Mike will continue with our music program.He has been teaching music to young children for over 15 years. He uses a multi sensory approach to keep the children engrossed during music class.
This year we are introducing a new handwriting program called Handwriting Without Tears.
Mindy and I are always here to meet your needs and answer your questions .Please do not hesitate to call us at 516-938-2540. After hours we can be reached at 516-900-IKEN.
Early childhood is the gateway to learning & here at Iken we are committed to providing our children with the foundation needed for future success.
Warm Regards,
Ilene Morrin
Director
********************************************************************************************************************************
Dear Families,
It’s hard to believe that Fall is here. We have been so fortunate to have great weather for lots of outside play. It seems like our pre-
schoolers can’t get enough of the playground: swinging, running, climbing, and sliding. We have a new outdoor music wall in the playground. The children enjoy hearing the different sounds they can make.
It’s amazing for us to see how they’ve already grown so much in the past two months. Thank you for sharing your children with us!
The beginning of a school year is such a busy time: the children are getting used to a new routine, meeting new friends, and separating from home . All of the children have been doing awesome. Sometimes there are a few tears, but once they realize it’s going to be a lot of fun and form relationships with their teachers those tears dry right up!
We strive to provide an environment rich in possibilities to explore, think, deduce and discover, not only for future success in school, but for success in life. We also strive to provide an environment which encourages respect and courtesy for ourselves and for others.
The STEM curriculum at our school exposes children to a variety of cultural experiences that encourage the development of values such as respect for diversity, giving, sharing and learning to be good friends. Children also hold small “jobs” in class, such as snack & lunch helpers, door holder, line leader and line caboose. Children learn about responsibility and taking turns and how to recognize their names and other children’s names by referring to the job board.
It will be getting cold out; please be sure your child has a warm coat, a hat, and mittens as we will still be playing outside in the fresh air. Also, if your child is ill, has had a fever or vomited; they should remain home for 24 hours before returning to school. We are going to do our best to keep everyone healthy during these “germy” months. Thank you!
Scholastic Books
Each month the preschool will participate in this book program, that many of you probably remember from your own childhood. There are numerous books to choose from each month and at a discounted rate! The preschool benefits by earning bonus points, that we can use to buy books and materials for the classroom!!
Warm Regards,
Ilene Morrin
Director
*******************************************************************************************************
Dear Families,
The first two months of the school year have been a success for teachers and children because we have settled into our daily routines and are following our busy schedules. Each classroom has established rules with the children in their class. The rules although worded differently in each class are all about respecting each other, caring for self, others and the school. The children are making friends and are completing daily STEM activities in their classrooms.
Thanksgiving is one of our themes for November. Our learning themes integrate into each of our subjects making learning new and fun. We will be counting turkeys and feathers at Math Time and learning about history and geography with the story of the first Thanksgiving. Our children have many reasons to be thankful. It is time for us to give back. Our families will be sending in a new book, toy or DVD to donate to children at Cohen’s Children’s Hospital for the Smiles for Scott Foundation this Thanksgiving season.
Warm Regards, Ilene
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Families,
We begin the month of December with many lessons on cold weather, hibernation and arctic animals.
On December 18th and on the 20th our children will enjoy holiday parties with their families at our school!
An author, Bonnie Grubman will be coming to our school on December 19th. She will read her book, How Do You Get A Mouse To Smile? to the children. You may purchase a book through the preschool which Bonnie Grubman would autograph for your child or grandchild. We have hardcover books for $15.00 as well as paperback books for $5.00 in the school office.
This holiday season gives us an opportunity to learn about holiday celebrations around the world beginning with Chanukah. Research shows that children who learn to have a strong appreciation of their own family traditions and culture have an easier time appreciating the traditions and cultures of others. With this foundation, as children progress through our school they will have more social confidence and success in interacting with many different types of people.
We wish everyone a very happy and healthy New Year!
Warm Regards,
Ilene
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DEAR FAMILIES,
Well, it is hard to believe that 2018 is already upon us. December was filled with lots of holiday fun and much learning about the different holidays. We talked about Hanukkah and Christmas!.This time of year gives us lots of opportunities to talk about how we are alike, yet different. It also gives us opportunities to celebrate those differences by sharing our holidays. We also were very busy practicing for our Holiday celebrations that we hope you enjoyed! January will bring lots more excitement.
This month our children will learn about seasonal changes, Martin Luther King & arctic animals and penguins. Our author of the month is Jan Brett. The children will enjoy this author study and her fabulous books!
Cornell Coop will be at Jericho on January 10th. Our children will milk a “cow” and make ice cream! They will enjoy a program called Dairy Delights! Otto the Auto will be sharing his tips for auto safety with the children this month too!
We have several STEM challenges that are very exciting in January. We will celebrate National Kids Inventors Day this month. The creativity and ingenuity of our students will shine when they are asked to invent something with a friend. Did you know that children have invented things we use in our everyday lives? Some of these inventions include: trampolines, earmuffs, popsicles, water skis and swim flippers.
Another exciting STEM challenge this month will be to develop a Rube Goldberg machine. An example would be the game Mousetrap.
At the end of January the STEM school will complete several Polar STEAM activities. We will study how animals keep warm and make blubber gloves. We will also try to build igloos using several different materials.
Our early bird registration will run through January. Register now to take advantage of 2017-18 tuition prices. Our summer program and June school fliers will be shared with you in February!
Warm Regards, Ilene
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Families,
Even though February is the shortest month of the year we have much going on! It is the international month of friendship which we will honor with discussions, stories, and encouragement on how to show love to friends. It is national children’s dental health month, so we will begin introducing our students to health and nutrition which will play a greater role in the upcoming months. Our school will have a visit from a dentist this month that will perform a puppet show about dental health for our children.
Our children are very excited to complete STEM challenges relating to light, darkness and shadows. We also have activities planned using magnets and everyday tools. We will end the month learning about rockets, stars and planets. We hope the children will gain experience and confidence by asking questions and searching for answers. They have been learning to trust themselves, and their decision making abilities. Their curiosity has been met with enthusiasm.
We are looking forward to our new Learning Adventure Enrichment clubs being offered here at Iken. We now offer Mad Science, Dino Discovery, Creative Dance & Movement, Super Soccer Stars, Green Thumb Club, KinderReady, and Art Safari.
Summer is quickly approaching and next month we will fill you in on some of the special activities we are planning.
Important Dates
Feb. 7th- Smiles Station Puppet Show
February 15th-Chinese New Year celebration Ballroom 12:00
March 3rd- Come visit our booth at the Broadway Family Expo 12:00-5:00 at Broadway Commons Mall!
March 4th- Lil Aardvarks coming back to Iken. Please register your child at wwwliqaardvarks.com
March 12th-Scholastic Book Fair at our school!
Warm Regards, Ilene
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Families,
With the days getting longer and springtime just around the corner we leap into March with a renewed sense of excitement! We’d like to welcome Miss Lorraine, our aftercare teacher. Please introduce yourself and help her feel at home here.
One of the themes this month is Dr. Seuss. Not only are Dr. Seuss book’s loved by children all over the world but they help to introduce the fundamentals of reading. With Dr. Seuss’s simple word repetition and rhyming words a child can easily begin to hear it, learn it, and read it. Being able to identify rhyming words is a prerequisite for reading so during this month we will be focusing on teaching the children to think up simple words that rhyme together. We will all celebrate his birthday on March 2nd.
Some other themes for March will be Wind and air, the 5 senses, Passover, spring and flowers. Our children will do several STEAM challenges. We will also begin work on our Science Fair which will be on April 24th.
Before everyone begins preparing for summer plans we would like to invite our parents to sit down and discuss this school year with your child’s teacher. Conferences will be held on March 15th. Look for information regarding conferences in your child’s folder.
We are now accepting registration for our Summer Sensations Camp. Please see Ilene or Mindy in the preschool office for information. You can sign up for 7 weeks or for one week at a time.
Warm Regards, Ilene
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Families,
We seem to finally be enjoying some warmer weather. “April Showers bring May Flowers!” We have spent so much time indoors and will be excited to spend time outside. Our children strengthen growing muscles when they are climbing, running, playing ball and jumping. This month we will also be taking time to discuss all the changes around us. In the month of April children will be learning about flowers growing, Life Cycles, Rain Forests, and recycling. Earth day is April 22. You can take your child out and show them how to fly a kite, ride a bicycle, or spend an afternoon watching cloud shapes and blowing bubbles. Keep in mind, your child is always learning. Parents are invited to our Science Fair on April 25th. We always encourage our students to think like young scientists. During the month of April in school and at home our students will design a science project that uses the scientific method to solve a problem. We thank you for your continued support of our many ongoing projects. We are now requesting used ink cartridges that our school can use towards the purchase of new ones. By recycling we teach our children to take care of the earth. By setting this example we hope our children will continue to have a great place to grow up.
Towers of Learning; Block building is one of the children’s favorite activities and I will tell you why we encourage our preschoolers to spend time at the block center each day. We know that giving them the time to build each day with blocks is such an important part of their development. Once you know how many different areas of learning are being developed through the simple act of building with blocks you will never look at blocks the same way. Scholastic even goes as far as to call blocks "Towers of Learning" and explains that, "The benefits of block building are deep and broad. Children increase their math, science, and general reasoning abilities when building with blocks."
Stay tuned for our Science Fair on April 25th!!
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Families,
We hope you find our preschool newsletters valuable and informative. The Month of April was an exciting Month filled with many fun activities.
Many engaging and exciting activities will take place in May. Our children will experience seeing caterpillars turn into butterflies as we learn about life cycles. This year we even have ladybugs! We will also cover the following themes: Life cycles, the globe (culminating with an International feast and craft), famous artists and an art show.
Please bring your preschooler to school in comfortable clothing. We may get messy from time to time.
Graduation is just around the corner. Our graduating preschoolers will begin with the preparations for their Graduation this Month. We will keep you posted on the date of this important event.
Our staff is dedicated to your children, showing patience and love in their work. Please take the time thank them for all they do. May 7-11 is teacher appreciation week.
We will teach our students the skills from the Pyramid Social Competence Model.
As a recap, the Pyramid Model focusses on teaching children how to bring together a host of skills – managing daily schedules, routines, and transitions, learning to follow school rules, following multi-step directions and problem solving a variety of situations, learning about emotions of self and others, and learning how to build friendship skills.
We encourage you to continue to teach these skills over the summer, as they are building blocks to future success.
When teaching your children, remember the quote -
“Show me & I forget. Teach me & I remember. Involve me & I learn”
Parents once again we would like to thank you on behalf of our entire staff for your ongoing support.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Families,
I can’t believe how fast the school year has flown by. I am amazed at how the time has passed me by this school year. This is my end of the year salute to all that is STEM ACADEMY -Jericho JC.
This year, as in any preschool year, has had its challenges and rewards. I have learned a great deal and know that there is much more learning to come. Our school has grown to 59 children and enrollment for next year is growing rapidly. Our Learning Adventures Enrichment Programs offer invaluable instruction that build upon the children’s cognitive and gross motor skills. The children learned how to write with ease with the addition of our Handwriting without Tears Program which we added to our curriculum this year. Our success would not have been possible without my “DREAM TEAM.” The teachers of our STEM Academy-Jericho JC are honestly the hardest working, most devoted and professionally minded group of teachers. I am proud to work with each and every one of them. I want to give a special thank you to Mindy who has always been by my side. She has been the best assistant director and I couldn’t have been as successful this year without her.
Some highlights for June to share:
School wide Regatta on June 5th
Pre-K Prom June 7th-5:00-7:00,
Graduation -June 14th at 10:00
Moving Up Party/ Toddler End of year Party June 12th
Dance and piano recital- June 14th 10:00
June Mini Camp begins June 18h
Looking forward to our summer camp beginning June 25th!
There isn’t a child who hasn’t impacted my life and touched my heart!
Warm Regards,
Ilene
