Early Childhood Newsletter - October 4th, 2021

Oct 4

Written By PCS

Hello PCS Families!

It is hard to believe that we are already in the month of October. We are ready for some fall like weather and the changing colors! This week we are moving right along with our next deep dive in our relationship/community building focus in the Early Childhood building. Our focus this week is all about Project Based Learning (PBL) and how we use this learning system in building community.

Project Based Learning gives students an opportunity to learn content standards by posing a meaningful question to explore and engage in a real world problem to solve, or a challenge to design or create something. Students do this by inquiring about the topic by asking questions and developing their own answers. Students then create high-quality products and present their work to other people. Students often learn success skills through PBL such as critical thinking, problem solving, and working collaboratively with their peers. Below are current units that some of our grade levels are focusing on to build community and connection within their classrooms and our larger community.

Our Kindergarteners are currently learning about communities by working to answer this question...How can we, as authors, teach others about our classroom community? The students are exploring various types of ways to build a classroom community. They are using team building activities to get to know one other, establish classroom norms and start to build relationships with one another. Students will use number sense and pre-writing skills to create and publish a classroom book that can be shared with families/our school to educate them on their classroom and community members.

First graders are learning about communities by working to answer this question; How can we celebrate different cultures in our community and share our learning with others? The students are working together to learn about different cultures in our community. Our students are exploring different types of communities & culture within the communities individually, in teams, or in whole group settings. This exploration will lead to students celebrating the various cultures in their chosen community. This is something they will highlight and share with our school community during our Multicultural Fair.

COVID POLICY UPDATE:

As we continue to move through another year with COVID-19 we are constantly reviewing data and guidance around how to handle the nuances of keeping the spread at bay. Right now we are finishing up language to propose a modified quarantine plan to our policy for board approval. We anticipate that it will be reviewed and hopefully approved in the next 24-48 hours. We know that there is frustration for those families who have already been impacted with quarantines and we understand how this does not seem sustainable for the entire year ahead. It is our intent to add the modified quarantine option to the standard quarantine process so we have more flexibility when it is safe to do so. We will push out the updated plan once we have formal approval from the board. We appreciate your continued partnership on keeping our environment a safe and healthy place for our kids and staff!

FALL BOARD EVENT:

Join us on October 14th from 6:30-8:00 in the courtyard. This will be an opportunity to meet and chat with some of the board members of PCS as we kick off the fall season. We will aim to keep this a covid friendly outside event- with a fire pit and some light appetizers for your enjoyment! Please RSVP to events@premiercharterschool if you plan to attend. This will help us get an idea of numbers for the food. Thanks!

Upcoming Dates: