Literacy and numeracy, developmental milestone, parenting advice, and more!
Literacy and numeracy, developmental milestone, parenting advice, and more!
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 - The Day It Rained Hearts
The Day It Rained Hearts is the perfect book to teach your child about creating and giving valentines. During the story, Cornelia Augusta creates four unique valentines that are "just right" for each of her friends. At the end of the story, we discover why the valentines she created fit each of her friends, and this offers a great opportunity to teach empathy and help your child connect with others.
In Fay's Primary School, our teachers frequently use books like The Day It Rained Hearts to help young children consider new perspectives and explore complex topics like empathy, race, and kindness. Recently, Fay's Head of Primary School, Katie Knuppel, shared the book Swimmy with students to spark conversations about similarities and differences between people. You can click here for an article that lists more books that Katie has shared with students this year.
LITERACY AND NUMERACY - Writing
Did you know that emergent writing skills, such as name-writing, are important predictors of children’s future reading and writing skills? However, like most tasks with young children, if it is not fun, they usually are not interested. To make writing fun for your child, read our tips below making valentines a literacy opportunity. You can also click here for a resource shared by Lauren Cilley, the Assistant Director of the Early Learning Center at Fay, that includes methods teachers commonly use to build children's writing skills.
  • Write short terms associated with Valentine's Day, like "I love you" and "xoxo" on a separate piece of paper for your child to copy and include with their valentines. 
  • Ask your child to write their name on their valentines, as well as the name of the person the valentine is for. To help your child with spelling, you can write names on a separate piece of paper to copy, dictate the letters to them, or even help them sound the name out. 
  • Watch what your child is drawing on their valentines and help them label things like Cupid, hearts, and candy.
  • Let your child write a pretend Valentine's Day love letter. Even pretend writing that may look like scribbles and includes fake letters is an important part of children's emergent writing.
ARTS & CRAFTS - Valentine's Day Flowers 
Materials Needed:
Instructions:
  1. Mix the flour, salt, and water together in a bowl to create salt dough. 
  2. Place 2-3 tablespoons of the salt dough into a plastic planter.
  3. Pick out the flowers you would like to use for your arrangement and stick their stems into the salt dough.
  4. Let the salt dough dry overnight so it hardens.
DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONE - Friendships
Preschool friendships can be complicated! Even though they are filled with a lot of fun, these first friendships can also feature fighting, jealousy, and even exclusion. Parents can help their children navigate their friendships more successfully by helping them build a few key social skills. Click here for an article shared by Lauren Cilley, the Assistant Director of the Early Learning Center at Fay, that lists five ways to build and nurture your child's social skills. 
FIELD TRIP - Tower Hill's Yarnstorm
From now until March 31, Tower Hill Botanical Garden in Boylston has a special exhibit inspired by the global phenomenon known as yarnbombing. Trees, benches, statues, and more are decorated with colorful knitted and crocheted art, created by local artists, students, and volunteers. Click here to learn more and to plan your visit.
PARENTING ADVICE - Help Your Child Deal With the Uncertainty of the Pandemic

While struggling with their own pandemic fatigue, parents are seeing the toll this extended experience is taking on children, and parents are looking for ways to ease their children's stress and anxiety. At Fay, where our students are at school in-person and have been throughout the fall, Head of Lower School Lainie Schuster has been observing the effects of this experience on her students and shares her advice on nurturing resilience in children as they navigate the next few months.
Six Tips to Help Your Child Deal With the Uncertainty of the Pandemic
Kindergarten is the beginning of your child's educational journey.
Make sure it's a strong start.
Learn more about Fay's approach to kindergarten, and what comes next, at an upcoming Virtual Information Session on Wednesday, February 10 from 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM.
RSVP and More Information
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