- What are the times of preschool?
- Is there a fee for preschool?
- Who do I call when my child will be absent?
- How do I know when to keep my child home from school?
- What do I do if my child is the Star of the Week and brings home Classroom Clifford?
- Can I send something in to celebrate my child's birthday at school?
- How can I get involved in my child's preschool career?
- How do I reach Miss Kowalchik?
- Why is there early release on Wednesdays?
- What is Miss Kowalchik's Discipline Procedure?
- Why does the classroom want to use my child's picture, roster information, and website allowance?
- What is provided for snack at preschool?
- What is the preschool curriculum?
- Is there additional support in the preschool classroom?
- What specials does my child receive in preschool?
- What type of experiences do you have with children with disabilities?
- What practices do you implement in your classroom for children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder?
- What if my child attends an additional day-care, preschool, or child-care center?
- What are some speech/language/social, fine motor, and academic activities my child can work on at home?
- What should my child wear to preschool?
- What if my child cries the first day of school?
What are the times of preschool?
Preschool begins on Wednesday, August 25, 2010. The AM session is
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday AM Session is 8:00am-11:00am.
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday PM Session is 11:55am-2:55pm.
Wednesday is our early release day. On Wednesdays the times are
as follows, AM Session is 8:00-10:30am and PM Session is 11:25am-
1:55pm.
Is there a fee for preschool?
The fee is $29.00 for Early Childhood.
Who do I call when my child will be absent?
AM Attendance Absence 708-524-3080
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PM Attendance Absence 708-524-3080
Bus Company: 708-234-5555
How do I know when to keep my child home from school?
Preschool Parents Please refer to the "Whittier Health Office
Note" and "Information From Your School Nurse Page" for
guidelines in your packet to help keep your child healthy while
in preschool. Preschool is not mandatory and we do not want
other children to get sick. Please be respectful to the health of
preschool staff and students.
What do I do if my child is the Star of the Week and brings home Classroom Clifford?
Please refer to the Star of the Week Link on this website for
directions.
Can I send something in to celebrate my child's birthday at school?
If you DID NOT circle "Birthdays" on our "Parent Survey" (meaning
we can celebrate your child's birthday), then we will
celebrate :) You may send something small
in via your child's backpack. Please be respectful of classroom
food allergies and restrictions. We will sing "Happy Birthday"
to your child before snack that day and they will be given
Birthday Crown to wear. I would appreciate healthy, safe/age
appropriate, and clean-up fast snacks(individual Small Goldfish
Cracker Bags). Age appropriate non-edible treats (mini coloring
books, crayons, etc) are encouraged especially
if there are food restrictions or allergies. Summer birthdays
will be celebrated the week before school lets out or the week
after school begins. (Please NO cupcakes!)
How can I get involved in my child's preschool career?
1. Be a parent helper
2. Parents can help with Star Student of the Week
3. Help circulate and read classbooks together with your child
4. READ READ READ to your child daily, perhaps a bedtime story
they chose
5. Ask them questions, work on home-fun listed on Weekly
Newsletters, Read Today At School with students, review any
therapy Sheets sent home, encourage INDEPENDENCE- we don't know
how unless we do it ourselves!
6. Participate in local parent groups or workshops- Star Net
Region II
7. Check your child's folder daily and Weekly Newsletters each
Monday
8. Attend and participate in your child's IEP meetings and
conferences
9. Provide activity boxes for your child at home (playdough,
small blocks,crayons, paper, etc) and help with the toileting
process at home if needed
10. Have clear expectations for your child at home, check for
understanding of expectations, present consequence as child's
choice, back up words with actions, don't give in when your child
tests you, use pictures if there is a language delay, be firm and
consistent.
11. Supply materials for projects
12. Make phone calls
13. Participate in field trips
14. Make projects at home with your child
If you would like to set up a preschool appointment please just
contact me. Thank you.
How do I reach Miss Kowalchik?
1. The best way is by email: lkowalchik@op97.org
2. Phone: 708-524-3080
3. Website: http://teacherweb.com/IL/Whittier/Kowalchik
4. Note in child's backpack (Communication Notebooks will be
used only if agreed upon by team)
*Emergent with a quick transportation change: 708-524-3080
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Why is there early release on Wednesdays?
Wednesdays are set aside for teacher lesson planning and
preparation, meetings with the team.
What is Miss Kowalchik's Discipline Procedure?
In accordance with State Regulations, "State Discipline Policy".
I use much positive reinforcement with classroom consistency,
classroom picture schedules, verbal praise with meaning and name
(i.e. "I like the way
John is cleaning up.", instead of just "Good job"), and class
rewards. I run a very balanced classroom, firm yet fun.
I use the Traffic Light System in my classroom:
1. Green- Simple Verbal Reminders (We are younger and need
redirection in our
new social environment)
2. Yellow- Verbal/Gestural Redirection with a count-up to 3
3. Red- Time-out, a minute per age (i.e. 3 minutes if child is 3
years old)
and Miss Kowalchik getting on their eye level to ask them what we
can do next
time to make a good choice.
Why does the classroom want to use my child's picture, roster information, and website allowance?
In preschool, we take many pictures. Many preschoolers cannot
read yet, so we
pair up pictures with their names. It helps the students locate
their nametags, locker, job chart, etc by seeing their portrait.
In preschool we encourage playdates with preschool peers, the
roster is sent
home, compiled by the teacher and only the parent/child first and
last name
and phone number is given and all families have agreed to release
their
information.
Also, in preschool I have my own classroom website for
interactive learning at
home, for your child to bring home the preschool fun, and for
parent/teacher
positive communication.
Parents may or may not sign the release consent forms.
What is provided for snack at preschool?
I provide a nutritional snack daily that follows our food
allergies or
restrictions. Students with food allergies/restrictions provide
their snack. I encourage
independence by having the children pour their own water from
child-size
pitchers (we have to spill to learn how!). I provide water only,
no juice or
carbonated beverages (except on class party days- 2x's a year).
Some examples
of snacks that I provide are fruit, vegetables, dry cereal,
Goldfish Crackers,
animal crackers, pretzels, pudding, yogurt/ice cream, graham
crackers, fruit
snacks, cheese and crackers, etc. The featured snack will be on
my Weekly
Newsletters. Please let me know if you child is not allowed a
certain food.
Snack encourages expressive language, manners, fine motor skills,
adaptive/self care skills, socialization, and independence. And
it is usually
our favorite part of the
preschool day!
What is the preschool curriculum?
Usually our preschool sessions are play-based and language-based,
since
we have 3-4
year olds primarily in our sections.
I implement our PreK curriculum for those transitioning to
kindergarten the follownig year.
Both sessions will be exposed to Handwriting Without Tears
Curriculum, Creative Curriculum, and some of the Embedded
Alphabet. Please see
my Weekly Newsletters as I incorporate each content area. I base
my lesson
plans on the Illinois Early Learning Content Standards. I also
assess my students
using the standard objectives, individual portfolios, data
collection on IEP
goals, charting, ancedotal records, and progress monitoring.
Is there additional support in the preschool classroom?
We are so fornuate to have two classroom assistants, a speech
therapist, a social worker, a social worker intern, occupational therapist, APE Teacher, and physical
therapist. Please refer to your child's IEP to see their therapy
minutes.
What specials does my child receive in preschool?
Adaptive Physical Education and Library is part of our preschool
curriculum. Your student will participate in Adaptive P.E. for
two 30 minutes sessions a week. Please dress your child for P.E.
with tennis shoes or send in shoes. Please see our schedule under "Early Childhood Announcements" to see when P.E. occurs!
Your child will also participate in Library/Story time for 30
minutes once a week. Preschoolers will browse
books during library, listen to theme-unit
books read by our School Librarian, and checkout books to take to our classroom.
What type of experiences do you have with children with disabilities?
I have worked with Children on the Autism Spectrum (ASD),
Diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, Autism, Pervasive Development
Disorder
(PDD), Rett's Syndrome, Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), Ring
22
Chromosomal Disorder, Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum (ACC),
Cerebral Palsy
(CP), Learning Delays, Cognitive Delays, Batten's Disease
(Neuronal Ceroid
Lipofuscinoses), Hearing Impairments, Vision Impairments, Fine
Motor Delays,
Gross Motor and Physical Delays, 2q37 Deletion Chromosome, Down's
Syndrome,
Children on Behavior Plans, Sensory Processing Disorder,
Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD),
Speech
Impairments, Speech Articulation, Communication Delays, Children
who are Non-
Verbal, Children who use augmentative devices to communicate,
Apraxia, Fragile X Syndrome, Prader-Willi, Obsessive Compulsive
Disorder
(OCD), Children with Anxiety, and Children with Dyslexia. I
provide many
interventions to the preschool curriculum for all preschoolers.
I welcome all
children and all of their “labels” are left at the door. I
prefer to use the
“person first” terminology in my classroom and in life; which
means saying a
“child with autism” rather than “an autistic child”. We are
people first. I
have collaborated and worked with many related services such as
SLPs, School
Psychologists, PTs, OTs, Classroom Assistants, Itinerant
Teachers, Social Workers, Coordinators, Local
Preschool Teachers, Teacher of Students with Vision Impairments,
Orientation
and Mobility Instructors, Audiologists, and Outside and County
Programs.
What practices do you implement in your classroom for children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder?
I am trained in ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) and I implement
ABA, picture
schedules, consistent routines, tangible reinforcers, first/then
strategies,
TEACCH, PECS, sign language paired with "words", sensory diets
and integration, and other best
practices
that I demonstrate
in the classroom.
What if my child attends an additional day-care, preschool, or child-care center?
I have had many students attend an
additional
preschool in the morning and come to my classroom for the
afternoon. Please
provide a lunch if necessary. The children are more than welcome
to eat their
lunch in my classroom if that works best. I can also consult via
phone with the private preschool if there is a signed parent
release. I
suggest two different colored pocket folders then: 1.
Labeled "Early Childhood/Miss Kowalchik" 2. Labeled the
additional preschool name i.e. "Children's House", etc, so
papers go home
correctly.
What are some speech/language/social, fine motor, and academic activities my child can work on at home?
Speech/Language/Social
-Asking your child questions when reading a book- "What is
that?" "What is
the duck doing"
-Labeling objects and pictures with your child to increase their
vocabulary
-Having them use their words ex.: "I want crackers please"
-Be understanding and positive, try not to get frustrated
-Following multi-step oral directions for receptive language (get
backpack,
pick up crayon, and then put the truck away)
-Modeling correct pronoun usage and sentence structure
-Bubble blowing or whistles for oral motor
-Encourage play groups, socializing, and playing with peers,
imaginative play and provide age-appropriate toys
Fine Motor
-Sidewalk chalk or drawing lines, circles, faces, or first name
with small
chalk following a model
-With an adult, snipping/cutting cardstock paper/index cards,
straws, or
playdough with scissors safely with correct positioning/aligning
-Using broken crayons in half to color a specific spot on a paper
(broken
crayons, so the child has to begin an emerging tripod grasp)
-Encourage correct elbow placement by using a slanted service
like an old
2" binder
-Encourage independence with adaptive care such as eating with
spoons/forks,
pouring, finger foods and dressing, buttoning, snapping
-Provide small safe objects for the child to manipulate such as
puzzles,
tweezers to pick up cotton balls, wind-up toys in the bath tub,
pulling pop
tubes apart and together, rolling playdough, using index finger
isolation to
trace the first letter of their first name in shaving cream or
pudding
-Hand dominance can be tricky sometimes with younger children-
see what foot
they lead off with when they walk or what hand they use for most
activities
like eating or completing a puzzle. Don't force any hand, let it
happen
naturally for their motor planning.
Academic
-READ everyday to your child! Bedtime stories are perfect!
Provide a variety of
books for them to chose from (photograph books, illustration
books, picture
books, books with many
words or many pictures to create your own words, board books, etc-
the library
is a great source!)
-Counting left to right together, reading environmental print
together
(S-T-O-P sign), labeling objects and pictures
-PreK can make flashcards together for- colors, shapes, letters,
numbers, name
recognition, home address, parents first names, phone number
What should my child wear to preschool?
Please dress your child for independence. We really push
independence with
fasteners, buttons, zippers/zipper pulls, toileting, etc. Many
preschoolers
will become wonderful "coat flippers" in our classroom! In
preschool, we
learn from hands-on experiences, so any clothes you do not mind
getting messy
with shaving cream, fingerpaint, playdough, etc work well (please
let me know any allergies to sensory items). The
preschoolers wear
smocks, but sometimes we can get a little messy. We of course
will not
complete messy activities on picture day! Comfortable gym
shoes/sneakers are
encouraged on our P.E. days (Mondays and Thursdays), because
of the physical activities. If you prefer, you can send in an
extra pair of gym shoes that can be kept in your child's locker-
but please LABEL the soes. Please dress your child
appropriately for the
weather. We do go outside on the playground when it is warm
weather, so
sunscreen is encouraged to apply on prior to preschool. We are
not allowed to
put sunscreen on your child at school, so please apply before
school. Boots
(with a change of shoes in a bag in your child's backpack), hats,
gloves/mittens are encouraged during the winter time. We
occasionally go out
to play in the winter, but this is seldom.
What if my child cries the first day of school?
Please please please do not linger if your child is crying. It
does not help
either the parent or child. I usually follow-up with a phone
call after the
parent leaves. Your child will be fine, rest assured. It is
very typical for
children to cry leaving home (and parents too). The bus is also
a neutral
factor and is strongly encouraged. Usually the children will
forget what they
were upset about and find friends, toys, and a joy for
preschool! Thank you
for trusting our preschool team! It will be okay, I promise :)
