Preschool Special Education Class Newsletter
Morning Edition
January 2016
Dates to Remember:
Jan 1-3
Jan. 4-8
Jan. 11-15
Jan. 18
Jan. 18-22
Jan. 25-29
Jan. 29
School Closed for Winter Break
Land transportation (roads/rails)
Rail and air vehicles
School Closed for Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday
Water transportation
Wrap up transportation unit
Schools Closed for students; Professional Activities
Reminders:
 Be sure your child wears appropriate footwear, sneakers are best. We plan to play
outside on the tot lot every day as the weather permits.
 Read all school correspondence (especially information in the front pocket inside the
cover) and respond in a timely manner by placing papers in the pocket of the
communication book or paper clip them to the book. Students unpack and pack as
independently as possible; we do not check bookbags.
 Be sure all clothing and materials from home are marked with your child’s name. This
helps us stay organized, insures your personal items get back to you and that there is no
confusion with which items belongs to which children.
 Be sure to review your inclement weather policy. If we have a 2 hour delay, the
morning class is cancelled.
Absences
Send a note to school every time your child has missed a day of school explaining the reason
for the absence (school requirement), or you may choose to call or email the school at
HAMAttendance@carrollk12.org instead. Absence notes are included in your school folder.
Literacy Folder
Red folders are due every Thursday. We have been singing and adding many songs and
poems to the folder. Be sure to practice those that fit our theme and revisit your child’s
favorites. Keep it interesting by giving your child choices of how to sing/say it. “Do you want
to sing it loud or soft, fast or slow, or use a silly voice?” Repetition helps in memorizing but doing
the entry the same way gets boring. Spice it up. As your child learns the entry, leave off the
last words for him/her to complete the rhymes.
Letter Rings
We use letter rings as a practice tool for home. Both the upper and lowercase letters will be
shown with a picture prompt. The picture is to help students listen for and remember the
beginning sounds. We are adding some new letters which target the sounds we are working
on for articulation and include early sounds all preschoolers should be able to make.
Sound Play in Literacy
We work on listening for and making the beginning sounds of words. As we sing about the
monthly vocabulary, we reinforce the sign language movements, beginning sounds, and the
word. “I see boat. I see boat. /b/ /b/ /b/, /b/, /b/, /b/.” You can do this at home with the
vocabulary books and toys that fit our transportation unit. You can also sing about what you
hear. “I hear a train. I hear a train. Choo, choo, choo. Choo, choo, choo.”
Preschool Special Education Class Newsletter
Morning Edition
January 2016
Vocabulary and Early Reading Skills
Please be sure to read the vocabulary book daily. Having your child turn the pages and point
to pictures and words will improve his/her understanding of print. We want the children to be
interested in and able to navigate books. We also ask you to read daily 5-10 minutes each
day to help increase your child’s attention to books. Stop every page or so and engage your
child in pointing to a picture, guessing what will come next, and telling about the pictures.
When reading books of a similar topic, you can make connections from that book to the
vocabulary words and pictures. Making connections to other books and real activities helps
extend our understanding of the word and its meaning. Many of the children are working on
answering questions about the story. Start with basic “wh” questions: who, what, where, when,
why. You can also have them help “read” stories with repeating lines or phrases.
Our focus as you read with your child is holding the book correctly, turning pages 1 at a time,
and attending for 10 minutes. If your child can’t do this, build the attention span by pushing to
the limit and saying 1 more page. This will assist in building attention but not making it a battle.
Questions? Just call me.
Theme
This month we will focus on the different types of transportation and are using where they
travel as the focus of each week. This categorization will help students understand how the
vehicles are different, yet similar and share a common way of moving. Activities will
incorporate following directions. We are building skills for pretend by dressing up and driving
or steering different types of vehicles. We’ll use art to apply what we know about vehicles and
explore textures (paint, water, glue). In addition, we’ll do sorting and puzzles to practice
problem-solving skills. We’ll practice some environmental reading of signs for stop and go and
practice position words (on, under, over, next to, in). You can practice these at home by
moving and placing vehicles: in the box, under the blanket, over your head, on the road, next
to the garage, and so on. Pretend play helps students internalize the concepts and
vocabulary and make things make sense. Play is a young child’s work.
Extensions
This month I’d like you to focus on reading each night for at least 15 minutes, extending
matching skills with vocabulary sets, and completing the January calendar of activities. The
activities can be switched around or changed to fit your schedule and opportunities that
come up. In addition, we sent home a list of web resources with access codes and
passwords. Check them out and let us know your favorites.
DID YOU KNOW?
A sharing of developmental information and ideas to promote learning at home.
*Children construct their understanding of print through meaningful reading and writing
experiences.
*Art provides an opportunity to represent thoughts and ideas.
*Children learn about musical patterns and relationships between notes.
*Children feel a sense of mastery and expand their understanding of everyday life through
pretending.