i Pads

Over the summer the Burlington Integrated Preschool was fortunate enough to purchase four i pad's. As a team we spent lots of time researching appropriate applications and how to introduce them to young learners. At the present time, we are using the i pads for several different purposes. For some children they are exploring the i pads and working on applications that enhance early skills such as letter, number and color recognition. We have purchased applications that work on learning how to form letters and numbers and create puzzles. All of these applications are working on development of visual perception skills. However, one of the most exciting ways we are using the i pads and applications is to work on enhancement of communication skills. For some of our students the i pads have become their voice and they are using them to communicate wants and needs and to interact with their peers. We are also using i pads to work on facilitation of both receptive and expressive communication skills. The children are enjoying using the i pads and developing lots of great skills.

Down by the Bay

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The children will be singing this song at school this week. Sing it with them and point out the words that rhyme. After you finish singing the song see if you can find other words that rhyme around the house. For example, pan/fan , sock/lock, bed/red etc..

Professional Development

Today the staff of the Burlington Integrated Preschool spent the day with consultants from HILL Literacy. We have had the pleasure of having Dr. Linda Camp and Etta Rosen support us as we have implemented our new curriculum, Opening the World to Learning (OWL). Today we worked on assessment and how we meet the needs of the diverse group of learners that we work with in the integrated preschool. We spent much of the morning reviewing data that has been collected on each individual child and aligned their needs with early literacy rubrics. This work will help support the teachers when figuring out groupings for instruction. We examined how we are introducing new concepts and teaching students to ensure we are optimizing all opportunities for language and literacy development.

In the afternoon we reviewed the different types of assessment tools we use and fine tuned them so that they were also connected to the OWL curriculum. We will begin working on revamping our progress reports as well as our portfolio assessments. One of our short term goals is that we are able to complete the revamping of progress reports for the end of the year. Portfolio collection will change tomorrow and teacher's will be collecting some standardized things to show growth over a period of time. We will also use portfolios to share individual growth in all developmental domains. Portfolios may have a photograph of your child using beginning writing skills in the dramatic play area, or a picture of a fantastic structure they have spent a lot of time creating. We will also find a way to document social growth and development in order to do this we might video tape your child socially interacting with peers. As a team we concluded that these type of assessments will be more meaningful than if your child could complete a pattern several times through out the year.

The day was very successful and as a team we are working hard to ensure the needs of all learners are being met.

We would like to thank the Fox Hill School for providing us with a home for the day.

No School

School will be closed on Tuesday November 2nd for professional development. The staff of the Burlington Integrated Preschool will participate in a training for the day on Early Literacy Development.

Book Backpacks

On Thursday October 28th, we will be sending home our book backpacks. Each backpack will have 3 to 4 books related to a common theme. Included in the backpacks will be book prompts that go along with each story. Over the weekend read the books with your child/children. After reading the books together use the book prompts to ask questions about the story.

Backpacks will go out on Thursday and are due back on Tuesday. Please remember to return you backpack on Tuesday, so we can send it home with another family on Thursday. This is a new initiative for the Burlington Integrated Preschool and we would love feedback or suggestions on the program.

Enjoy!