##VIDEO ID:vJE6cs0CI0s## I'm going to um start right on time so in case you have a PTA meeting to get to or sporan event or just want to get to your warm home um want to be respectful your time I'm Sean shorter the assistant superintendent in the district and this is Dr Carol with soon or superintendent of the district and I'm going to go around we have Dr Pana who's our principal at Van skyber School Mr heckers will probably K me but Mr heckers is in fact te for us tonight I appreciate that and then around we have Mrs Massie she is the principal of sto and Jenny Miss Lunsford is under the weather right now but she is the principal of Edison and straw BR and then we have M doy preschool teacher and Mrs SRA another preschool teacher we have a host of preschool teachers but we have these two lovely ladies represent team tonight and then we have sh um with our a CARE program for an a prr and then Mrs Gray will be joining us as well she's our district register so thank you so much for coming out on this very um frigid evening we do have a signning sheet that's at the front table if you did not get it just raise your hand and we'll get that to you we have a host of heart free sugarfree fat free cookies on the table none of those things are true but you should grab them on your around um or candy or water I know a lot of people um we had our Roundup today first day of Roundup for registra usually our snacks go pretty quickly but we usually have in February I think people are still really sticking to their resolutions so far this is January 15th so if you feel so inclined grab a snack on your way out um tonight is really just tonight for you to get all the information that you can about our preschool program do you know about you know your first step for some of you into the district um as part of our you know partnership Community how many of you already have children in the district okay so this will be an old hat for some of you um or an older hat as I enter into like my later years I like to use older um so you'll hear about the district this is a partnership feel free to raise your hand ask questions we'll stop for questions as well but just sit back relax get comfortable I thank you guys for sitting up front that is the VIP section nobody else wanted it look at that no need if anyone wants to move later feel free um I'm going to tr to you guys and get us started on our preschool night thank you welcome my name is Robert visero I'm the superintendent of schools here in the ha Cal this is my fifth year uh it's nice to see some familiar faces I'm going to ask the question the other way how many folks are brand new tonight where tonight would be the your first experience in the district your okay most of the room so I'm going to tell you a little bit about hi in Township but the first thing I want to show you is the amount of folks that are here tonight that our current employees in the district that are here tonight as parents so just raise your hand there three one more we have three of our professional staff and teing staff here tonight um that I think it's a good Testament to our pre program when our staff uh chooses to um again it's not it's not tuition free for them uh they're paying the same tuition uh that residents are paying uh so it's always a test to see um when our staff chooses tooll their children into our free program and um come to work here we're fortunate enough to come here to workday and the first thing I do want to tell you about not only our pre program but about the had school dist is that the adults that work with the children every day they really do care it's a Caring Place our staff is highly motivated and highly skilled but also highly caring and um they don't just come here because it's the job um they come here because it's the purpose that's what they're that's what they been chosen to dedicate their life to and every day I have the opportunity to walk to Halls of each one of our schools right there um and um and see this stay soly very forunate this is my fifth year in having toship as a superintendent okay it's going very quickly we got lot of positive things H hat has five elementary schools okay and uh these schools historically are call the neighborhood schools the boundary lines for will your children attend school each year sometimes can shift depending on the population uh but when they reach kindergarten uh we have kindergarten all five elementary schools right now we have current a current pre- program in three schools and those three schools are Edison story and Dan guy I'm not able to tell you tonight exactly which section your childhood be placed in but that will that information will be part of the registration process um and we replace kids for the best of our ability balance the class SCI and to honor whatever wishes that you may have I don't want to overpromise we're not always able to give folks their their first choice but if your child has siblings um at a particular building and we happen to have an opportunity to place them there we will make a good faith effort couple of things that are going on on the district I think it's important that you should know um the first one I hope that you do know because uh I hope that you voted in favor of it is that we recently passed a $30 million referendum which is uh $30 million worth of Capital Improvements across our district K to2 so the space that we're in now um will be transformed sometime in the next 12 months to the 21st Century Media Center um we are making major upgrades to most of this um special area spaces in middle school high school um and our goal is to um stay as carent current as we can um with educational Innovation because that's what the best the best interest students command you as taxpayers are voting for this referendum and uh we look forward to the work ahead the next thing that's uh happening in our school district right now is we are in a major um campaign along with many other districts that have been on the wrong side of uh school funding uh in the last 12 months okay so we recently took uh a huge hit in state 80 last year was very much unexpected and we had to cuss some programs that we did not want to come um on Thursday evening I'll appear for the second time in Fr of New Jersey legislation and the uh new Department of Education to Advocate uh for more funding uh for districts such as and uh if You' like to talk more about that at the end of the night I'm happy to be the last one to leave tonight uh but I know from the intens of purposes of this evening we're going to talk about the last thing that I do want to say is I want to assure you what our number one priority is for every single student that had toship that has changed over the last decade um we take academic learning very very seriously we take social and emotional Child Development very very seriously those things are at the top of the list they're not the top please be assure that as a parent the best thing I can say to you tonight the best thing I can say to you as also parent of um to school age children in the South jorgia Community is that our number one responsibility now for you and for your child is student safety um so we have a u comprehensive plan in place and as part of our mission statement there on the board and our vision statement uh it's imperative that every student is not only physically safe but psychologically safe every single day every student sens of every student every day thank you for coming out tonight thank you for listening at this time I'm going to turn it over to our pre staff who are going to introduce some of the programmatic elements of our thank you very much have a great so yes hello everybody I'm Courtney smaro I teach preschool at van skyber in our district and I believe this is my 13th year here I kind of always forget um but I have been here for such a long time because as Dr fisar was saying it's a very lovely place to be I feel a sense of community when I walk through our doors and that's what we want all of your little ones to he too um I live right naon I have two children that are also school age elementary for one and middle school for another so I'm approaching different stages but um I certainly lived with little people and I know how nervous some of you might be but also how excited I hope all of you are to hear what have to say so this is Ella Miller she's probably 29 now Ella she must be like Ade um but we we stuck with this picture forever because she's so proud of her environment and her classroom she's like this is my world my class come on and let me show you so that's really how we want your children to feel when we're with us that's their world and I think she came and this is my third year in the district I think year one she came and she spoke to the parents now she's you know a middle schooler so she's has a busy SCH you know she not hang out with old fol but um she did come that night to express like hey I survive right she's like really good care of me but she really had a good time as you can see and she spoke about that and her mom who cried dropping her off with the biggest nurse now works with us and I don't think she'd have it any other way so it does speak to that family community that's well you'll see when um let me next to the slide but it is of the Pete M um and we were kind of talking about oh this slide what do we do with this slide but it does still talk about it it sums up our program we're going to talk to you about multi-age learning and why that's so beneficial and so important and we're going to talk about different ways that we differentiate our instruction which is a big buzz word for how we can meet your child at their individual level um and developmentally appropriate so Pete the Cat um is in the books by Eric Litwin and he tells us that it's all good it doesn't matter if your child doesn't know how to zip their cook yet because that's something they can work on it doesn't matter that they can't sit still for a story yet we're going to work on it so no matter where they are um yeah so our um preschool programs do a multi-age setting um which basically means we have kids from 3: to 5 um so some kids will start with their three some kids maybe start with they're four so some are turning four some are turning 5 so basically every child is kind of at their own level um and there're really we'll talk more about it but there's really like beautiful things to that whereas we're not expecting every kid to do the same thing to act the same way um some kids might come in at 3: being able to write know their letters some at 4: 5 are still working on it so you know there's not really any like mold that we're expecting your kid to be able to do um we're going to you know plan activities games that kind of stuff that meets them at their level keeps them interested um and develop whatever skills they have you know build on the skills they have um so you can so we kind of say every kid is multi-age and again they're all at you know different um skill sets so our younger friends you know come in this could be their first time their first time around other kids if they don't have siblings um like you know their first time being in a group um realizing they have to share things they might have you know all their toys at home um here in school you know we have to keep it you're sharing the people with you um maybe they're not as social so this is their chance to kind of see how oh like I see Miss marrow talking to her friends like I kind of want to get into that too um so there's a lot of good models for them um then our older friends sometimes they need a model as well or um they get to kind of you know be the leaders they get to be a good example um maybe they're the younger sibling at home but here in school we kind of say oh if you're one of the big guys like or a big girl um you can to you know be a good example they're building confidence um they're working on some of those like higher level skills if we're getting them ready to move on to the next grade um so there's a lot of good stuff about having the multi-age I think it can like seem scary at first or you wonder how your three-year-old might fit in with the 5-year-olds but really everything they yeah they integrate really nicely and naturally so yeah do L um this is an example of some parts of our day we use a lot of visual R AIDS in our classroom because as our children learn to reprint having a picture there is just going to um facilitate that that learning and that structure in their day so we're not expecting them to recognize the written word but we're certainly talking about it pointing it out and some kids do or they just need the picture and they they say oh that's the home time and they see it and they feel nice and calm so our pictures might be helping with a transitional time our pictures might be helping us to teach our younger kids some new language that they haven't discovered yet um but these are things that we do in our schedule and we might do them in all different times depending on what classroom your child is in but we all have access to Choice time which you'll hear more about Circle time which is a time we can meet together on the rug sing songs um for the community we all have an opportunity to develop our VAR motor skills on the playground going for walks outside and we come together and we read stories where we're talking about you know what happened here and let's make predictions and really getting into that higher over of thought and then you have a lot of kids that want to break out and draw pictures that they saw or write some words that they saw and try to sound something out so like was saying 3 four and 5 if you really meet your child where they are within our entire schedule snack time isn't just snack time we're talking we're sharing we're asking for help and we're working on daily living skills such as watching our hands opening our snack you'd be surprised you go and buy a child-friendly container at Target but they cannot open it um and it's important that they feel like they can or that they can ask for help so it's a time to work on Independence and the confidence piece is just so beautiful because once they build confidence in any of these areas of our day they just are ready to take off you're like yep you're going to go to kindergarten and leave me and um and they always like when we J about that but reading we all want them to see themselves as readers and writers even though that might not be you know what we're doing it looks like play but they are readers and writers in PR the foundational skills we devel just steal and then we vot um but we do a lot of other things during the day too and I was in so I am all throughout the district so it could be preschool and then and in the hour it could be at the high school but I was in the preschool classroom two days ago all of these things were happening and it was just very invigorating and refreshing to see them in January and they are all you know playing but they're making choices they had a choice of centers they were fishing for letters some were making snow after they read a book there were comprehension activities Etc but my most um my aha moment was when what they could get extra you know food dye coloring in their snow and the one um student was saying can I please have more of the beautiful pink and it's January but very polite very and some like I don't want the texture of this like I don't think so or I don't want to get it on my white shirt so they get the choice of you know I get to choose in certain circumstances what what I am comfortable and what I'm not comfortable with so it was a very um it was an hour but there was a lot of things going on and a lot of very um mature behavior for a preschool classroom and fun it's hard to it up they change a lot from September to yeah January you'd be surprised to like grow so much um these are great examples of choice time and when we start our day over at VRA this year the kids are coming and they're signing in they're finding their name card and they're trying to write their name however they're able to do so then they get to do Choice time so it's that day where they're making choices based upon things that we might put out for the day or maybe as they get to learn what's in the classroom we don't necessarily put it out and they have to ask for it so it's really nice it's an opportunity for us to say yes or no um and for then us to scaffold their play if you know we're doing the alphabet blocks and we know they know all their letters well let's talk about what sounds they make or maybe we can find the friend in the room who starts with that sound um and they really just develop themselves it's it's amazing you don't have a plan and you follow their lead and all of a sudden you're writing and you're reading and they chose it so they want to be there and they want that challenge um students can also choose what peers they enjoy playing with and we might also ask them to have a different peer group one day and that's something that they can build upon when they're getting along or maybe not getting along we have a lot of conf conflict resolution in preschool um but they're able to access any environment yeah and in my in my classes this year we end our day with Choice time so just you know based on what at school which teachers you have again we all do the same key elements but the day is going to look a little different based on the class you have the numbers um that kind of thing um that's also a fun time to work on the fun skills of cleaning up you know we make sure if you're in an area you got to clean up take turns we might say like only four friends can be there so they kind of have to figure out all right I can't go there yeah I go there now but as soon as someone leaves um so they do they start keeping track of that kind of stuff um we also all do a small group activities so again they might look a little different but usually it's um each teacher um in the room will have a little group and working on something specific um so it could be a math activity it could be about letters um it could be like a sensory thing um so like one of them looks like they're doing like shaving cream they're tracing letters um you know getting a little messy um one of them they're playing a little game with animals um and this one they're kind of doing a little gross motor F motor thing little pom poms um so basically the teacher is going to lead them in activity we might have like five or six based on the kids in the class um and we're kind of leading it but again they're working on taking turns they're working on you know keeping their space in materials sometimes they're working on literacy so you know there's a targeted goal um and a lot of times we'll do like different groups and they'll kind of rotate throughout the week so they know you're going to get to do each thing again you're waiting your turn if you didn't do it today you're going to do it the next day um and it gives us a better chance to see like you know how they do oh if this friend really needs help with letters we can kind of plan the next thing to help them um so really yeah there's you know endless possibilities of what the small groups can be a lot of times they might be just based on like the theme we're doing um I'm doing like snow this week in my classes oh yes so yeah because it's snowed um that's usually you know winter time's pretty easy talk about real what's in their envirment and then it's easier to hang on to yeah so yeah it'll just kind of be like theme based or it doesn't have to be it's kind of openend so someone may have shared that you needed this the other day too that I need to smile I yes they're like oh she is right there so you walk into a class you might not automatically see the teacher CU they like all I know I feel like I don't know of all these big people but yes give me love yes we're in it you have to which is great like you could take that mindset to have a group of preschoolers all over the place but I thought that was interesting it was not even part of conversation they like oh yeah I need SM and she was like give me one put it on um so differentiation is a huge part of our day because again as we said we have multi-age so we're not expecting um every kid to do the same thing the younger kids the older kids we also have some inclusion classes um so you know we're going to gear our activities to your child's needs strengths weaknesses um so that kind of can happen throughout the day if it's in circle time they need a special Cube or cushion to sit on you know we're going to give them that if they need to go for a break we're going to give them a Break um if we're doing a small group thing and it's you know a letter thing maybe they don't know their letters yet we'll find ways to adapt it so they're you know always part of the group but get to do it at their level so you know making sure everyone all the kids feel supported um they're still building their skills they feel successful um and again it's just throughout the day if they need help to in play like maybe it's the social piece um you know we have a teacher or an aid you know modeling the language to use um so again no matter their abilities their age you know we're kind of differentiating everything we do to make sure you know your child is feeling supported and participating at the same level as everyone else Circle time um a very nice way to invite the kids over to the r we'll start singing or we'll just announce that Circle or to our schedule but they all always want to come they always want to be with you um like laa was saying if somebody is having a hard time transitioning to the r that day we're not going to pick them up and force them to come over but is going to be so much fun they're not going to be able to avoid it and they're going to come over um we have a lot of tricks of par STS I feel like many children are learning when they don't look like it so we we are always looking for the opportunity to catch them in that teachable moment and and jump in there but Circle time is a great way to build confidence through song through dance through music um it's a little bit of choice time because they get to pick what songs we want to do maybe even what games we do um and for our class because one of the classes that I teach is an inclusion class so we have different therapists that come in and out they do not service all the children but we are we benefit from their knowledge so they might come in and we might benefit from a group less too um I feel like in our district because it's small we have a lot of people that do special things so you know somebody might owe me a favor one day and they might come in and play guitar um my dad's an organist he's definitely going to come in and play the keyboard this year and Dr assens um we really want to involve all of you and circle time just makes me come back to that because I feel like that's the time we learn about what you guys did that morning or you know I was upset at breakfast because I had to whatever with my little brother and we get to know your kids so this is a great way to go I can go on and well find motor and sensory okay so developmentally three four and 5year olds they have little hands they need to build up the strength in their body um not just their hands but their trunk so they can sit at the table so they can write their name when it's appropriate to do so um so we meet those fine motor development skills in different ways we lay on our belly when we listen to stories or write on whiteboards we maybe right underneath the table when we're drawing pictures we use all different kinds of things that get our fingers in that age of PR grass so we can hold a pencil later but we have broken crayons that are chunky if your kid can't do that and they need to do that we're going to do that first we try not to skip the steps in development so like I mentioned before we have the knowledge of some great therapists so I've gotten to talk to a lot of OTS and PTs in our district and you're just able to check in and say like hey am I doing this right yeah you are it's just the nice thing that we have um but we have a lot of materials in class that we can meet that fine M skill which is amazing just close by mind what we make it CL I don't they're very yeah they get very proud of the things they make um based on those pict we might know that's how we get messy a lot so like yeah maybe don't send your child in their nicest outfits and all cuz yeah we're getting messy yeah we're doing Play-Doh we're doing big snow real snow paint all that stuff um so we like to also do gross motor activities every day again we understand they're you know little people they're not used to they're not going to sit at a desk or a table all day long so we make sure we move um every day the weather allows you know each school has a playground we like to go to they're climbing you know they're again talking to each other they're coming up with these like all kinds of play scenarios there zombies they policemen they like you know they everything under the sun um if we can't go outside to like the days it's snowing or it's really really cold obviously I don't like going outside the freezing cold um so we'll take them to the gym um we might you know have a big parachute in the gym we have like balls they can throw around um a lot of the schools have these like uh sensory path things so we might go in the hallway do that um you see they have scooters on the one um so just you know we want them to have a chance to move we're asking them sometimes to you know sit nicely keep your body under control so this is the time that now it's like all right go ahead now now be free run around and again we're working on putting their coats back on if it's cold out you know hanging their stuff back up um and they know they're going to get this time every day um to kind of you know run around I think personalities really shine through all day but I definitely witnessed some of the the uh play time or the wiggle time and um I won't use me with one student you know she's kind of just doing her own thing and another student a little boy like it's time to wiggle looking at him like I will wiggle it when I'm writing she just proceeded to do what she wanted and then that another occasion on the playground someone was very nice like they're so kind they got like somebody left their little jacket behind they got warm the student picked it up gave it to the other student well this other student was looking like well my jacket is there I need you to get mine too I'm it's going to be so delightful to see these Personalities in middle school I can't wait because they really already are who they are um we're just developing developing them academically socially emotionally Etc but those personalities are going to and you see but we just get a little CL switch thank you for sharing that with us video right excellent job Julia nice that was just some an activity that we could work on gross motor and fine motor and it was dur Choice time and they're working together for that little one to go that slow also build a lot of skills in playground time you wouldn't expect like if they if they're scared of something at first maybe they don't like going down the slide maybe they don't like going across some of the climbing things like you know they're used to getting help from you guys and we kind of get to work on like all right like you know it's your turn the monkey bars like you're going to do them like let's work on it such a big deal yeah so by the end of the year they're like you know moving around like crazy okay I think C said it before you know we want them to view themselves as readers they're not maybe not reading words yet some of them are like getting close or they see their siblings doing it um so we're kind of you know having reading activities throughout the day obviously we read to them you know we do a big story time um you know like you said making predictions looking at the pictures um but we really encourage them to have their own little book time so again a lot of people will be like well I can't read and we're like but you are reading you know look at the pictures what he thinks happening um we have again all kinds of like cozy rugs chairs Cube chairs so they kind of get their own little Library area um then you you'll start seeing them sit together and maybe an older friend's like you know reading to one of the younger friends sometimes you just hear them like making up the words to a story and you're like yep that that's right like that's it do it or we read a story that's familiar enough that they're like oh I'm kind of you know I'm remembering those you know the Dr Seuss the really popular ones um we know we work on treating the books gently you know this might be their first time they're taking care of a book that's not theirs um you know we have to put them back on the Shelf a lot of times we'll do again book maybe put books out based on the theme so like if we're doing snow most of the books in the classroom will be about snow um and then we'll kind of change it every few weeks so they don't get like you know bored of it um but it's really cute like what you know you start seeing them sit together Point things out to each other spot yeah they're squeezing like three kids onto a bench that maybe was supposed to one or two but it's you know it's sweet and then you know they'll start to take the steps to reading themselves yep we have um a lot of opportunities to just be in a scientific mindset we're very much um explorers in preschool and Hands-On so babies explore things with everything like they put everything in their mouth so do some preschoolers so we we talk about safety but we honor that and we don't rush them past it if there's snow outside and somebody wants to put it on their lips wouldn't you I mean so I'm not going to yell at your f we're going to use it as a teaching moment I feel like that's just important because they're such little humans and this is their world and everything they do is really really big deal um but science everybody loves because it's their world literally they can see it outside it's snowing it's icy um sunny it's you know not even just the weather just talking about how big the trees are and what do the leaves look like in the fall versus in the spring um a lot of our books will then tie those things in but you'll just see some pictures here I think the top one that's key in kn he's old now too he's prob great but those were ice cubes and so we were able to make it fun and encourage them to touch it with their hands which also was hard for some kids CU it was old but then he worked on spelling his actual name and it was a big deal because holding a pencil or a typical Crown was a little bit harder so this made it easy levels the playing field he still did it and it's great he's really proud of it um oh no no you're okay um just basically talking about we use what is right in front of us and we're so lucky in had in Township to have you know Sab on we all have playgrounds so we really try to use to teach this is you um so we sometimes get to have other like special little activities throughout the year so um we actually get to go to a library time where um we have parent volunteers who run the library at certain schools and you know we go they read to us the kids get to bring home a book um and again maybe they're not reading yet but they get to understand the responsibility of having to pick something out you know bring it home I have to try to obviously with your health work on bringing it back um so it's exciting for them and we have art classes special throughout the year um again they get to go leave a like you know leave the classroom so it's not always us kind of doing the stuff with them they have a different art teacher um you know follow her rules doing art projects we try to do a field trip again every school class is kind of different um based on the year but we've gone to you know Farms we've gone to the aquarium um brought people in um like um Paul's nature farm that was around and Cedar Run the aquar might come in yeah we TR and if yeah if we're not go if we're not you know taking the bus to go somewhere we might take a little walk yeah we all have kind of nature areas around us um some special things certain classes we've done in mystery reader which is where um we have you guys who get to sign up and come into the class to read it's like a surprise you know they cover their eyes we like we do it on Fridays this year and you know one of you gets to come in and it's a you know big exciting event when a parents were you to them instead of us or you know parent Aunt Uncle grandparent yeah sibling who siblings that come down now that's a big deal toit that's exciting so we try to you know find ways to you know give them special experiences outside of school as well as inside and you know kind of keep you guys involved yeah on call a few times to do reading and they're just like I said genuinely and naturally innately who they are like I sat down I went to class just to visit and the student was like I just started so they don't me and she like thought do a camera I'm like hello I'm Miss sh so nice to meet you but I'm glad that you know who he is cuz that we want to be in the classrooms and all around the district so that was really sweet another student in another situation how old are you well a fer and would not let me start reading until we got to the oh my gosh yes that's like yes old yes so they just blurt it out there and I I love it and um it's just really nice for them to feel comfortable it's like it really is their home away from now Less Fun slid but we talked so so but look at the rainbow um you know we we talk about all the fun activities and you know things we do um and we do we like to let the kids help us with our planning you know what do we need to work on but we do have a curriculum um that we're following it's called creative curriculum um and kind of you know just based on the name it's like a preschool friendly program because we like to be creative we want your kids to be creative um and it kind of that's what it you know is about them growing in their own way not like you know expecting them we're not sitting there testing them like they you know older kids um so kind of basically it'll have a bunch of objectives so this one just say objective 10 um uses appropriate conversational communication skills so that would fall under like the language category um there's literacy um number social emotional fine motor gross motor um and language there be more missing but so there's a bunch of objectives that we're you know we have in our heads when we're working with your kids planning activities that we're kind of basing them on and what's nice about creative curriculum is it's uh Continuum as you can see so it's not like thumbs up they can do it thumbs up they can and they stink like you know it's judging them again they're multi-age so I'm not expecting the three-year-old and 5-year-old to kind of scale the same way um so again you're not going to need to worry about this but it's what we have in our mind when we're um you know assessing them in our way which is just observing and keeping track of what they're doing um so the color bars are kind of based on their age you know the green like blue and purple is even like Beyond kindergarten so it does go you know for many years but um we just want to make sure or whatever skills they have they're developing um they're making progress uh at their own way uh okay I will jump in here and then miss Gray she's our regar um she'll jump in as well so just a couple of high levels but before we get into like the logistics of the program and um you know hours of operation and things of those those um things of that nature any questions so far that what's already been yes um do you have screens in the classroom at all like are there like iPads or anything like that or is it screen free um I would say that it's not screen free but that's because we have a Smartboard in our room that might support the lessons that we're doing or song or music or a video the pil it's not something that's on all the time but then individual students that have IEPs might require that for talking or to assist them in their communication so I would say they're around but I we definitely would rather be in the forest than on the street we don't have like a class yeah we don't have like a class it's there to support if it's a good thing yeah but they don't really want it usually no they're fully fully engaged without that they you know let it's serves a time you know there's a time and a and a place for it and it serves its purpose but this is just the you know everything is me to them so we really want to get them in Hands-On activities learning and growing and really being as communicative as possible um so you we've all seen studies out there with out scrolling and such and you know benefits and not so beneficial um things that come along with that so we already went through um threes fours and FES so we look at the so we're doing preschool Roundup right now so today was our first day of Roundup registration tomorrow is another day so we haven't signed up yet I think there's still a few um slots available where you can come to the board office tomorrow from 3: to 7 and register your child for preschool so we look at everything whether the child needs wrap around how much space is available Etc um you will have a space but we have um sto Edison and Van skyber for our Preschool location so miss gray will ask and if you want to be to this process we can like you know First Choice second choice Etc and then we all sit together and we plan out how you know can we meet everyone's needs preferences Etc um to make sure that we have space for room in the preschool program the program rounds from 8:40 to 11:10 that's the a.m. preschool p.m. preschool is 12:40 to 3:10 but if you need care all day you can do you know before care or after care after preschool before preschool and have a full day that makes sense any questions about that the logistics of it how long I'm Christina shy I um I'm the wraparound supervisor at sto I've been doing it this is our fourth year of wraparound I've been in the district for like 12 years my girls came through the district as well the best way to do it if you want to I mean think of it you want to do WRA your kid comes to school at 8:30 they're done at 3:10 half that time is going to be in wraparound and the other time they're going to be assigned to one of those preschool sections so for example if you have WRA around in the morning you would drop your child off at 8:30 B rings at 8:40 they're with wrap around till 12:40 um and that includes recess and lunch and then at 12:40 staff brings them to the preschool classroom which is St next door is one of them um and they're there till 3:10 so I mentioned about the for here and is that right now if you need care before 8:30 there is before care which starts at 7:00 a.m. at all of the schools um you can drop off at 7:00 a.m. and the staff there then gets the child to the appropriate line for um the start of the day for preschool one of our staff goes and gets the kids and brings them to the line um and then if you need care after 310 there we what we do is have a separate prek after care till 4:30 they stay in the preschool room um with staff and it's just the preschoolers till 4:30 and then at 4:30 they move with that staff if they're still in after care to um what I call the general population of the after care um so it's k through 5 after care kids um and after care goes till 6:00 p.m. so technically your child could come to school from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. okay but if you're doing wraparound we just fill in the other part of the day for you so wrap around um we do our lunch in our classroom with staff and just the preschool they don't partake in the cafeteria and they can't get out lunch um and then in the afternoon it's the same if they have wrap around their preschool in the morning and then come they'll come to wrap around actually at 1110 and then stay with us thank you so right when we register for prek do we have to indicate if we want wraparound care and after care yes is that part of the process and I just oh um if you know that you're going to need that after PA like after 310 um do we need to indicate if it would be only until at 4:30 you're paying till 6:00 p.m. and you know once yeah and some kids come 3 days a week some come two and we get a schedule every week because some parents are on Flex schedule so the child's schedule might change and then come Thursdays one week and Mondays on another um there's drop in so uh you can just sign in sign up to be a drop in student that doesn't that so in case you're running late from an appointment or late from work and you can't get to school at 3:10 you know your child can be brought to after care and be taken care of to highlight one thing so Mr you talk about the U procedure for students that are believe uh that are going to transfer of care school that's talk that they will be in the preschool classroom with just their peers until that 4:30 time and then that time we have to go to the K to 5 they're escorted down and there's different spots we have our all purp room we we all of our after students go Min are pread that are still down with their their peers um but then as time starts to go sometimes they will go into a smaller classroom whether that's watch a movie because of the amount of students that they are escorted down with everyone um in the act so they're always with their peers and with someone that like different lines going you know we know every day like who's going where like who's on the bus who's getting picked up who's going a that's a critical element right the parent of my first child going Tok you have this K to 5 school you know how am I going to know as a par that you know that my child doesn't get on a bus they don't walk out the front FL it who's in charge of that how's it happen how do we make sure where's the double check there's always staff with your child no one ever says okay yeah they're not going anywhere by themselves and we all overlap what's great is that you know I'm right next door to preschool and so I feel like we work as a team you know we know this we all know the same kids um I can say some um m was the other side of my day you know the students have a rough morning we're not sure what you know whatever it is we're always communicating and um I just want to just add about wrap around is even though it it falls under child care which it definitely is and we care no number one is we care for your kids while they're with us but we do have a routine we do have a schedule lots of crafts lots of play and we just get to reinforce all the things that they're Le learning in preschool lining up sharing you know how to put a book Away how to put the toys away how to clean up so it's a really great day for them you know and I think that there's never a moment where yeah everybody's always taken care of I can't stress it enough and I go into the classrooms so whether if you were to come into the building and just observe you wouldn't know which classroom is wrap around and which one is they are out on the carpet and wrap around they are doing their own Circle time reading a book they're doing their choice centers they're outside so you wouldn't even know the difference by looking because the activities are so similar and what they're doing so that structureal procedure of the day is very similar from preschool to wraparound so it's a very easy transition for the students and I have to say these little ones they like routine they like you know on a half day the routine is a little bit different they all get sort of thrown because it's a shorter day and snack's coming earlier and lunch is a little bit later but um they they do great they do great so I just wanted to um just talk on a little bit of what Miss TR said regard before and after there was a question today around so van skyber only hold PM preschool um story holds full day as well as a.m and p.m. and so does Edison is our second location for full day and we do have students who only come a or p.m. before care would not be available at van skyver because it's only a PM program so then if I if I gave you before care that would technically be like a full day but you are able to have after care at van skyber if you wanted to because you're there for the PM program so that was confusing for a couple parents today so I just wanted to just clear that part up okay question absolutely um we always welcome email or phone call but we do have an online newsletter that we've been using for a little bit um and I think things might change but it would be similar to this it's called seesaw so basically you can get pictures you can get a message um or the whole class could receive a picture or message and you get it on your phone on your table you can to communicate with us that way so if you do a vacation that your child might want to come in and talk about you can send us pictures or video um it's like real lifetime so it almost feels we liken it to like Instagram but it's it is not Instagram it's private it's private only you guys are signing up that you have to have a code from us for yeah yeah it's it's just nice because um developmentally not all kids want to you know tell you what they did and you really might not remember it's a long time away so showing them a picture to help page a conversation is just really cool so if we ever didn't have that we would search for something like it yes um this is for a wraparound here so I'm a nurse so my schedule rotates so I never know it like 6 weeks more in advance than like I wouldn't know it now for the summer so for instance if I needed wound care for like Monday Tuesday one week but then none the next is that possible to pick like that W is the 5day week program um correct I mean yeah yeah you're signing up for 5 days a week if you choose to send your child just a couple of days a week that's of course on you and of course the question was week one yes week two was yeah like can it fluctuate which days not for extend day before an after care yes correct but yes but for wrap around no so wrap around tuition is one fee and it's due monthly and it's for the purpose of 5 days if for some reason you don't want to send that's up to you but it doesn't change weeks yeah and I think we covered a lot of these details already but I do want to highlight here talk about the snacks and the lunch go back to that one right so we make these decisions there's a reason why we can't be um your Tri come Monday Wednesday Friday only weeks two and weeks four the reason we can't do that is we have to and again goes back the first objective is sa and start these uh complicated not complicated for the parent because you know you're really concerned about your child's schedule we have these moving shifting schedules um you know for many students at a time that's where the problems occur sometimes we deal with this school districts deal with this in larger places where students may have to take the school bus um to certain jop off locations on suay and then on other days they're taking a different bus and the the risk in that ISS on the wrong bus in the wrong day and we don't have an adult for every single kid so we like to be really consistent not just half but most school districts is my 23rd and um consistency is good when it comes to transfer of care between school and home is there any rest time built into the day the rest time um it's a good question we don't have an in wraparound we don't have a specific nap time um I will say this in the beginning of the school year um a lot of Threes new threes are still maybe napping at home and through the summer and we can accommodate them if they fall asleep have some cops but we don't really have we don't have a separate napping place um we do have quiet quieter time after lunch excuse me so we do recess lunch and then we we usually like you know read some books we might watch a short video but it's just kind of quiet chill time the lights are off um so yes does that answer your question yeah I I mean I had a kid once who barreled through every day but he napped three hours on Saturday and Sunday but every day he managed to get through so um we like I said we can accommodate they do fall asleep okay um I just wanted to highlight one point on this Slide the students are supposed to be fully potty trained before starting the program and we understand accident happen um you know we don't expect Perfection just we know that they're you know little but um the goal is to have them fully potty training before September in order to attend the program I think we cover it everything else on this slide this um tuition is for this year the 2425 school year is $4,950 if you do preschool and wraparound care it's $9,200 this is um something to change because we have not finalized our budget for the 25 6 school year and that will be finalized miday approved at the board meeting and finalized so then we will have the um updated bre but this is where we are right now um and as Dr car spoke to it's a you know highly sought after program because it's fun it's robust it's thorough academically sound all those things but we do get a lot of parents are like oh my gosh like that's a Prett good like I think I paid more than my kids are old my daughter is 25 my my oldest and I think I was paying more so we're not trying to you know like make money off we just want to make sure that we can cover you know the program and get the students what they need um so that's the tuition and fees part I know this part is a little difficult to read but as I mentioned earlier the Roundup if you go to our website it's right there if you haven't registered yet um our registration Roundup is tomorrow through 7 there is a list of everything that you need um birth certificate gr of residents deposit um if you're still not quite sure you know I think this is what I want to do but I'm not 100% maybe my you know my family member is doing a schedule change and can watch my child for a little bit at home you can feel like trying to roll May 30th 2025 so you know there's still some time to decide what you want to go ahead and secure your spot anything else you want to say about that pleas like if you round up if you didn't come today or if you didn't come tomorrow please come see me within a week because I'm done at the end of this month and I would really like to get your kids in um and the deadline is February 3rd so anyone registered for preschool after February 3rd you go on a waiting list you're not um considered you know guarantee a spot they fill up very quick so um questions about that so up to that February 3rd you should you know be able to have a spot like it's very interesting to see like people like oh so if I get there like if I get there at 7 but my appointment is on until 9:00 then that's going to like put me ahead you're going to get a spot like you just come for your appointment time don't you know don't worry don't fret um there's a list of everything that you need and here um I'm going to have this put up on our website but there are just some highlights of parent comments throughout the years this recording will be put up on our website as well but just people speaking to you know their feelings as parents sending their students off their children off and how they were just thrilled with the program and the growth of their of their children we are not perfect by any means but we will always put our perfect effort forth for your students making sure they're safe making sure that they're having a good time but they learn through play so they may come home and just say like I play all that they did but they were learning and um it's very evident in the teamor grow so these are just some comments like I said you can read through those later um when I put that information up Miss gray is our registar as I said there's our contact information um Miss scopio is our after Care supervisor um sack works with u Mr sha so you can email um Don piscopio as well if you have questions and then preschool mrso and Mrs stne me are available for questions as well and then I put all preschools up here we have stoy obviously for our preschool program Dan skyver and Edison um you know lots of opportunities and then we have our little little angel at the end say thank you any other questions um what's General class size for General class size 16 17 but this year we have 14 yeah it's like 16 to 20 the r and is there like a teacher student ratio TR yes I the number let's use let's use the number 18 as a as a right so how many adults besides the teacher would typically be in a class of 18 if it was one of our in class resource classes so an inclusion class some kids with IEPs special needs some kids without we would have two teachers two two teachers and how many assistants I at least one at least one and I think they try to get us too the class I was in the other day there were four adults so that case four adults in inclusion class how about non non-inclusion class if we're talking number 18 one teacher is profess certified full time SE and we're pretty squeaky more help like we want to keep your safe so if we don't feel like it's safe going to say something but I think we're all pretty much used to the way we all work now we try to stand yeah but childhood education that's where most of our services are typically provided um children will come home and say adult in the class right so in a special education class there's one general education special education teacher general education class there's one professionally certified teacher but there may be more adults in and out of that classroom because students receive a Services speach Services there's OT OCC physical therapies it's a comprehensive public school um so don't assume that every adult in the classroom is a teacher could be a support Aid or could be a special services provider other questions so is this program with the school year so it's September through June okay and then you just have to figure it out in the summer yeah is um when does summer um summer start starts the M oh yeah you have to be a rising kindergartener to go to the summer wre program in the district which is a six we summer program at Edison so when you're entering kindergarten in the fall of that that September you can go listen we would love to be able to offer you know yearr round programs um the summer rep program it's 6 weeks um we we're partnering with and all sports camp this summer um that's going to run the entire summer of straw school I don't actually know it's an outside group um we know that the parents uh have had T it many of them need be around programming on site we are bringing an outside group throughout a full summer it's an all sports program in strawber I don't know enough about it right now but I think it's going Vari Studios town that bring in sports uh and it's it's I think it's 7 a.m. to like 6m um we would like to do more of that okay the issue is that uh we have to clean the schools you know so we do need to shut down uh at some point pull every desk out that we Locker you know and and the kids can't be here when that work happens so we do the best we can to add program District we want these schools you used as much as possible um but yeah so that's where we are any other questions what uh percentage is the sibling discount for the second it's between there's there's a discount um I believe it is 50% but don't quote me yeah call me tomorrow and I'll tell you but I think time of registration like I think I told you today you do do a deposit for each and then once September Comes don't credit you whatever that disc was yeah I'll I hope watching so yes we will confirm that I'm gonna say is up to so what's the goal right for financially for the district it's not it's not Cas we want to run this program with as many kids as possible Revenue neutral right that's the that's the Sweet Spot Revenue neutral um because you know it's not a business right you know we we want to educate as many kids as we can in the highest quality way that's our it's our job um but we we can't run it as a deficit we have had to increased um tce in recent years uh because if it runs out a deficit then we have to take resources away from our 12 student population um to supp or to support preschool population certainly you like that right what child goes to kid 12 grade level so a little bit it's a little bit of balancing act with the r an analysis but we do things like cly disc can depends on space and things we're happy to do it we're not business um when do we typically um get informed about their placement at at which school they would be place in May in May yes I'll F you a letter in May it have placement it have commission information and then there is a deadline listed on the uh letter to if you do want to unenroll that you're able to still receive um your deposit um you mentioned earlier you were taking precautions or steps to keep the children emotionally and physically safe um given the kids are so young you know what are some of the precautions you take to keep the preschooler safe and you know a very challenging environment right now but with schools and what not like doors are locked there's drills I'm assuming things like that I mean you know for o child education I think the number one thing that's the most important is this the transfer care between school and right uh so this one to one kind hand off to make sure every student where where they're supposed to be and that that we know every parent that our data is up to you know current we're checking things like this right so this this transfer of care I think is critical at prek-k because those are the grade levels where we don't we don't know the child's routine you know by the time second third grade if there special circumstances um we kind of understand you know we pride ourselves I'm KN every kid KN every family but for 3kk we don't right so we have to be extra dent in you know transer care but outside of that you know say for all elementary schools the number one thing um that we do and I don't want to too much away because I'm video here um but we for fortifying the uh the entrances in the school and for the classrooms okay um things have changed lot so we're adding um different security elements to the entrances we're adding different security elements to the exterior of the school okay um we are also and and as an administrator I struggle with this but it's it's the best for kids and I think teachers struggle with this too when teachers are teaching now um in a classroom all the classroom doors are been locked okay and I struggle with that because I used to pride myself on going in the classrooms you know you know the classroom wide open Don class all time um she have the door open right used to go in I was math teacher teaching ma um we learn day and I to see everybody you know um and now the door is not only uh closed it's locked so even as a superintendent you don't have to get a key in there'll the door so it's a little bit of a barrier right so kids don't necessarily know their Administration um and things they go to the bathroom kid goes to the bathroom they got to come back they got to knock on the door bring a bell that that's that's a pain it's a pain for the teacher it's those are the types of things that you know those things that were once view to be nuisances you know when school district started making these changes 5 seven years ago are now Necessities we also work with the very deeply with had C and police um we conduct a variety of drills um they are doing things behind the scenes to make sure that they have uh access not only access to our schools but you know if they ever need to enter the school that they have all our blueprints they know where you know everything is coded always classroom numbers um in a way that is um our schools extremely difficult to enter if if you're not supposed to um extremely comfortable if you're part of law enforcement and you're their first time coming does any answer your question yeah thank you it's not not a great question we have two School District safety Specialists Mr Mr Rising mon Chief p is um chief of police ad is not only chief of police who's also a parent I'm an elementary school student uh who's very handson and uh we work you know very close together very frequently if you want to stay after if you have other specific questions I'm happy to go a little bit deeper some those anwers that's prur thank you can I just throw in one thing about our something that we changed recently um we do a meet and greet and open house opportunity for preschool and kindergarten at the beginning of the school year before school starts so you will get information about that but the intention of that is a so your child's comfortable coming into school on the first day they've already been to their classroom they've dropped off their tissues and all their supplies they've met the teacher they've seen their space but there aren't any other students in the building it's before school start so when school opens on that first day they come into the school it's not just an open it used to be where everybody came in you dropped your student your child it was there's a that's a lot of In-N-Out you know and it's not the safest of um of environments if someone doesn't have the best of intentions so that for safe school is your students come in and you know you will see them after school so there's a you know sometimes they're like see you later it's usually more difficult for the parents than it is for the for the child but they feel comfortable because they've already been there with you the day before or you know um a few days before and they've seen it but that's one safety measure that we have implemented recently just to kind of um make sure that only those who are supposed to be in the building are in the building yeah and listen that was very unpopular me for 30 years in kindergarten Here when parents dropped their children off from kind on the first day the history of District probably not only 30 years but parents would walk into the school walk into the school and actually like go into the classroom to drop their kid off in that inter classroom and we stopped that last year because there other students in the building you know first and fifth grade first day of school and you know we don't know these adults who say they're pan it was just too it was too easy to enter our school so you know we stopped that was a very unpopular decision um I this is shorter just kid I'm just kidding but these are things that we have to make uh for the uh the safy safy it's either the number one priority or it's not and if I could just add to that with the safety issue when you come to school it's a hand toand drop off when you bring your child to preschool you hand your child to the teacher that hold hands they bring them inside if you come to school late that day doors are closed you come to the main office once again your child is not coming in the main office and then walking down to preschool it is myself we call down in the classroom it is a hand toand where we walk down the classroom I'll say the okay which classroom are we going to whose room are we going to and we walk down and we hand to hand if the child needs to go to the nurse they are escorted from their classroom to the nurse's office um by maybe the support staff in that classroom or the nurse will go down to that classroom to support the the student in there so at no point will your child be walking in our school unintended with an adult with them at any point can I add something just about after here sure um when you fill out the end with WRA around you list three people that you aside from the parents or the Guardians that you will release your child to sometimes I'll up to three up to three they no not but sometimes I'll get an email that says you know my neighbor Sam is going to pick up my kid I said so please let that person know I'm going to ask to see their ID and all after Care staff and wound staff AR and sometimes they're willing to do it other times they don't like it or sometimes I've sent people back to their car to get it and also on dismissal I don't let any child go until that parent is right there to hand them off to so yes ma'am um say your child is a year of prek and is then eligible for kindergarten but you may consider why to delay them starting kindergarten are they eligible for second year of prek um yes I just we should talk offline about that yeah they're eligible if if I just throw in the caveat like if there is a need so we have had that request in the past and that's a usually a meeting with the the family the teachers the administrators ET if there is an identified need for why that student would need another year of kindergarten that is an option but if there isn't an academic social emotional or behavioral mean for it the suggestion the recommendation is for them to move to kindergarten and let's see if there are any gaps at the end of kindergarten fire to move listen why would I why would I charge a tuition for a half day the following year why not just promote your child to kindergarten and at the end of kindergarten if this gaps let him repeat Kindergarten now you're getting a full day twice for free right I I just don't like to charge parents that second year for hand program let's take our chances in kindergarten repat that you even if you other questions so for the inclusion classroom you mentioned this what's the ratio of children with IPS versus not is that something that you can request is that based on you know all those other factors you're putting together you're trying to figure out uh up to eight uh children's and just this will be my last comment whether it's preschool or fifth grade or 12th grade or I have had the most success with my own children when they've had you know like opportunities for that diversity of thought and being in a class with a lot of different types of students um inclusion classes do bring that extra adult which is great like my um students were um general education but it was always nice to have that extra adult in there and just um those were my favorite classes is because it just seemed that they they really just came home with a lot of opportunities to experience that diversity of all and help others and learn and grow so I just kind of let the chips fall where they may that's how I did it that doesn't mean that you don't you can't make a ref or what have you but that's just my my two sents as a parent every every building that whole preschool has iscl just classes you get a second full-time professional certified teacher in the classroom that's not just there for the incl students students with I by the way a lot of the students with I just have the I from speech so if your child happens to been in inclusion class get the benefit of having that second and it's a team teaching model teachers and you can't tell who is the special education teacher and who's the general education teacher which is how it should be you really cannot it looks like aen no the adult oh I was going to say there is any concern to we do meet twice a year for parent teacher conferences or whenever you'd like to talk you can zoom we're all really good at it now and we did Co on Zoom we can do anything um we really taught and they really learned it was amazing but we meet twice a year for parent teacher your conferences we do send him a report card that like Laura was saying is a bit more of a narrative so it really speaks to your child it's not just a check um it's a beautiful thing you can ride and send to your um and that's twice a year too back to school once you get spot you have the back to school night which would be like more specific than we for tonight but yeah but oh I'm worried about this let's check in in December at our next meeting and um why don't we make this the last last question and then we're willing to stay but cost up 745 kids that's why last question folks tonight I know you said that they can develop at their own p is there anything in the lead up to next September we can be working on with them to get them ready other than body training um I mean would depend on like how old your child is if this is like their first year um but not really yeah we don't like need them to be doing anything when they arrive just what's your question what what do you think what are you worried about not worried about anything but is there any skills that you'd like them to have sipping their coat or you know that that would be that would be so cool don't need like knowing their you know many many things I would say if you think you should be working on it or all they might struggle for a read aloud maybe just take note what's your read aloud look like are you reading every single word in the book is it too long like assess what you're doing first that maybe you want to see more growth with and then see how you can meet it at home but it's hard when you don't have a clroom in your home but talking about how other people have thoughts and other people have ideas is a great one because it isn't always their way when they come to preschool and they're so used to come that just like you know moving around safely like you know if you're going places take like you know emphasize you know we walk slowly for going somewhere you always stay with you know your grownup um you know simple things they're going to have to get used to being in the school Community but recognizing their name is a good one you could just put in your house and have a spot to put their backpack so you can practice this is where this goes this is my name um some of us write in all cap sometimes we do lower cap or lower case and uppercase um they're going to be exposed to a lot of different prank you could always just have their name hanging out start to label things listen the the probably the best Elementary School principal I ever work for name was Flo gson I was in L and she used to tell parents she ask questions like this regardless of grade Lev she would say you know the three things you want to tell your kid every single day is I love you right you make you love him every day tell you forgive them every day cuz you know things wrong kids choices so we have to know that we forgive them every single day and the last thing you used to say that you want to tell your kid every day is it's time for dinner right and over the last you know 20 years um the breakdown of kind of like families eating at least one meal together has uh has diminished right so the found structure isn't one that that it used to be um and here I am you know than was it Wednesday I'm for three right I'm for three with my but as much as you can right that's the structure structure at home kids that have structure that are emotionally supported at home that have routine and structure at least one meal a day I love you I forgive you this hyper dinner as much as you can during the course of a week that those kids have kind of come loaded for Success right um so that that would be the advice in the academic side if if we're comfortable learning how to share sharing is and uh uh attribute um and if you really want to get academic before students can actually read sounds um they have to be able to hear sounds so if you if you really want to do some type of enrichment project with your job leave to your child just see if they can just hearing sounds don't even connect connect the letter to the S just ah can you hear a apple repeat it see if they can hear that or that those sounds um because hearing sounds is the beginning that's that piece that's the first building block in in Pre expide Small Potatoes compared to the there are some signing Sheets still floating around so if you can just make and there's one over on the table as well when you get your carb free sugar free fat free cooking um please make sure you sign in I know it's really none of those things are um they're full of fat sugar um grab something snack make sure you sign in if you have questions just let us know but thank you so much for coming have a great night warm