Message from Heather Moore, Head of School
|
|
Dear Parents,
On Friday, January 17, 2020 our whole school joined together for our newly restructured
Shabbat Sing-a-long.
It was such a wonderful community “
Kehilla
” building opportunity bringing together our Primary Years students with all their Early Years friends! We look forward to Parents re-joining our whole school Family Shabbat Sing-a-long in February.
We kicked off this week with
International Baccalaureate Professional Development Day
for our faculty. This training was conducted by the faculty and administrators who attended the IB conference in Washington D.C. this past December. The Professional Development Day covered some important IB components which we are currently working to implement.
- Approaches to Learning through: Social Skills, Research Skills, Thinking Skills, Communication Skills, Self-Management Skills
- Provocation – How to Inspire Inquiry and get students excited about the topic
- Approaches to Teaching: Based on Inquiry, focus on conceptual understanding, developed in local and global contexts, focused on effective teamwork and collaboration, differentiated to meet the needs of all learners, and informed by a variety of assessments
- Student Involved/Student Led Conferences and making students a part of the conversation. Next school year we are planning to implement Student Led conferences. This spring we have several teachers piloting this process. Bringing students into the conversation with parents and teachers is in integral part of developing student agency. Don’t worry, parent will still have opportunities to speak with teachers in private as necessary.
Finally, you will see that our
Program of Inquiry (POI)
is under construction in our lobby. We hope to have the final POI completed by the end of the school year.
Our Second Grade preview for all rising second grade Parents
is Thursday, January 23 at 8:15am is in the second grade classroom. Meet the second grade team and enjoy coffee and conversation.
Calling all First Grade Families!
Please join us for a
Second Grade Preview
with the Second Grade Team on
Thursday, January 23, 2020 @ 8:15am in the second grade classroom for coffee and conversation.
Click the link for more info or to RSVP.
Step Up Day
is on Friday, January 31, 2020. Step Up Day will provide our students with the opportunity to experience a day in their upcoming grade. Students in grades K-4 will have the entire day to meet the teachers and learn about some of the opportunities the next grade will have to offer and our Early Years students will spend a portion of their day with their rising teachers.
Re-enrollment begins February 3 -14, 2020
! Please check Parent Square for important information and instructions to re-enroll through our new IB software for the 2020-2021 school year. We are grateful that you have entrusted us with your children. We look forward to strengthening our partnership and to celebrating their many milestones with you. All re-enrollment contracts are due by
Friday
,
February 14, 2020
.
Below you will see some reminders for next week.
Shavuah Tov,
wishing you all a wonderful week ahead!
Heather Moore
Head of School
|
|
|
Teachers Engaged in Learning during our IB Professional Development Day
|
|
Fifth Graders as Mentors
By Melanie Columbus, Library and Technology Teacher
|
|
The SIA fifth grade students demonstrated excellent leadership skills as "Digital Citizenship Mentors" to Kindergarten White. The fifth graders joined the kindergarten students during technology class last week and helped them learn new skills such as typing, entering website URLs, navigating web pages, and closing down programs. They were kind, patient, and caring to each student that they worked with. The kindergartens students had a great time interacting with the older students and learned so much from their guidance.
|
|
Developing Gross Motor Skills in Early Years
By Lorna Orleans, Director of the Early Years Program
|
|
Dear Families,
You might ask, what are gross motor skills? Simply put, they are those (physical) skills which require whole body movement and which involve the large (core stabilizing) muscles of the body to perform everyday functions like standing, running, walking and climbing. Working on gross motor skills helps a child gain strength and confidence in his/her body. It also helps them get exercise and physical activity, which is important for a healthy lifestyle. Developing these skills has an influence on other everyday functions too. For example, a child’s ability to maintain appropriate table top posture (upper body support) will affect their ability to participate in fine motor skills like writing, drawing, cutting and sitting upright during circle times to attend to class discussions. Finally, being able to move with stable core strength and balance allows children to more fully explore their surroundings and develop in cognitive areas.
There are many opportunities to develop gross motor ability and we are fortunate we have some of them at our fingertips in our Strelitz Early Childhood Program. Our 2 to 4 year old students have P.E. classes with our certified P.E. teacher, Mr. Adam Leiderman on a regular basis each week. Mr. Adam provides planned activities that build core strength and
conditioning, reinforce body and spacial awareness and develop hand eye coordination.
We also have multiple playgrounds for our various age groups. Our infants and toddlers each have their own playground for outdoor time and our 2 to 4 year old friends have a playground separate from the elementary age students. Outdoor recess on our playgrounds is a regular part of each day, weather permitting. Visiting the playground is a great way to engage multiple gross motor skills. Climbing or hanging on playground equipment helps to strengthen many muscles at once. Swinging on a swing set provides sensory stimulation and challenges the vestibular system in regard to balance. Some of our playground equipment is set up on various levels, requiring your child to engage his sense of depth perception and spatial awareness. We also have an indoor play area where our toddlers are free to explore movement with their bodies.
Our 3 and 4 year students visit the pool each week for structured lessons and play time in the water where they can move freely and exercise all the large muscle groups. Finally, as we experience our music class each week with Morah Michal, our children learn coordinated hand movements and dance uninhibited with a free range of motion to favorite songs. Below are some other ways to develop gross motor ability:
- Climbing hills and walking on uneven surfaces. ...
- Coloring with sidewalk chalk. ...
- Playing with Open-ended” toys. ...
- Riding bikes and scooters of course
- Organized sports and ball games. ...
- Outdoor painting projects.
- Yard work
- Trampolines
- Balloon and Bubble Play
Happy moving!
Lorna Orleans
Director, SIA Early Years
|
|
Our toddlers love the indoor play area.
|
- Exploring his ability to climb, this toddler develops both physical and cognitive skills.
|
Above: Our two year old friends are following directions from Mr. Adam and getting ready to move. Below: This young friend follows Mr. Adam's movements for building core strength. .
|
|
Above and below: Riding bikes, as well as swinging and climbing on the playground use lots of large motor groups for these year old friends.
|
|
Above and Below: During
Family of the Week, this 4 year old friend brought her Dad to P.E. class to share golf skills with her class.
|
Below: Mr. Adam often sets up hand/eye coordination activities to challenge our students.
|
Left: Enjoying a free range of motion in the pool allows for the exercise of many large muscle groups.
|
|
Upcoming Events and Programs at SIA
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
