Literacy and numeracy, developmental milestone, parenting advice, and more!
Literacy and numeracy, developmental milestone, parenting advice, and more!
Welcome to Fay School's Kindergarten Readiness Newsletter! We hope that you find the content in this newsletter helpful and that you enjoy these activities with your children. Parenting a preschooler can be challenging, and we hope that this newsletter will add to your parenting toolbox by delivering inspiration and expert  advice to your inbox each month. 
Do you have burning parenting questions or a topic that you would like us to cover in a future newsletter? We would love your input! Please contact Nicole Casey at ncasey@fayschool.org with any questions, comments, or feedback.
BOOK CLUB - Apple Picking Day!
Fall is here, and so is apple picking season! Get your child excited for apple picking while reading Apple Picking Day!, a Step Into Reading book designed to promote early literacy. Written with preschoolers in mind, all Level 1 Step Into Reading books feature simple, easy-to-predict text with one- or two-syllable words. Our Primary teachers recommend that as you read aloud, focus on the rhymes, rhythms, and repetition in the text to engage your child. Encourage your child to "read" the book along with you by  finishing sentences or saying the common words in unison.
Not surprisingly, the word "apple" appears frequently in this book! Try pointing the word out to your child the first time it appears in the book and spell it out together. Alternatively, you could also write "apple" on a notecard and have your child hold it while you read the book. Every time the word comes up in the book, have your child point to it on the page after you finish reading it. 
ARTS & CRAFTS - Apple Stamping
Materials Needed:
Instructions:
  1. Gather apples and cut them in half. The part with the core exposed will be used for stamping, and the paint will be applied here. On the rounded side of the apple, you can cut a handle out so that the piece is easier to hold. Do this by cutting two rectangular pieces out of the sides so you are left with a long and narrow (about 1/2-inch) piece to hold on to in the center.
  2. Pour a small amount of paint into bowls or onto plates for each color that you want to stamp (a little goes a long way here). 
  3. Place the apple (core side exposed) into the paint and then firmly press the apple on to paper.
  4. Keep stamping apples using different colors, and let the paint dry.
  5. Once the paint is dry, you can cut out your apple stamps and give them faces by placing googly eyes on them and drawing noses, mouths, or other features. You can also use mini clothespins as the apple stem.
LITERACY AND NUMERACY - Apple Letter Tree
Help your child practice letter recognition with this letter matching activity for lower and upper case letters. 
  1. Create an apple tree out of construction paper.
  2. Place white dot stickers on the tree and write all the lower case letters on them.
  3. Cut out red dot stickers and write all the upper case letters on them.
  4. Encourage your child to fill their tree with apples by matching the upper and lower case letters. 
DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONE - Putting on a Jacket
With the cooler weather approaching, jackets are going to become a wardrobe essential again. To help students put on their own coats, the teachers in Fay’s Early Learning Center use “the flip trick.” You can click here to watch a video that demonstrates the trick. 
FIELD TRIP - Apple Picking
Tougas Family Farm, located in Northborough, MA, is a great orchard for families to explore. The orchard itself is fairly large, and there are over 30 varieties of apples to pick. Admission to the orchard includes access to their animal barnyard, playground, picnic area, wagon rides, and farm store. Due to COVID-19, reservations are required for apple picking. Visit tougasfamilyfarm.com to learn more.
PARENTING ADVICE - Four Tips for Boosting Your Child’s Social and Communication Skills
Due to social distancing and pandemic related closures, families are experiencing a rare phenomenon, time to have a real conversation! During our normally hectic schedules, it’s easy for communication between parent and child to turn into a series of commands and responses. “Put your toys away! Get off screens!” However, it’s important to remember that we lay the foundation for our children’s communication and social skills early on. Let’s use this time to practice and teach good communication skills. 
Click here for our four tips!
Kindergarten at Fay School
Kindergarten is the first formal step in a child’s educational journey, and it often lays the foundation for their entire learning experience. At Fay, our small class size and individualized approach helps each kindergartener establish the skills they will need for a successful educational journey. Our teachers focus on each child’s literacy, numeracy, science understanding, and social-emotional development, supported by a team of expert specialists who coordinate instruction in art, music, French, and Spanish, and P.E. Our teacher also focus on fostering a love of learning, and they know that when students believe that their learning matters, they give their all.
Learn more about kindergarten at Fay.
FAY SCHOOL   48 Main Street   Southborough, MA   01772   508-490-8201   www.fayschool.org
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