| Previous | Next | Patter Index | Home Page |
| BETTER BEGINNINGS PENNY PATTER |
July 30, 2004
| Can it be true? Is it August already? Summer has certainly slipped on by. Mother Nature has veered a little off course, depositing record amounts of rain and then offering a warm and sunny day here and there as if in atonement. I am too much the farmer's daughter not to enjoy the rain. I know we need rain and sun and rich soil for the crops to grow. And thank you, East | Windsor Mayor and Council, for adding again to the preserved acres. We humans need that. In the meantime, we have a bumper crop of children who will be entering East Windsor Regional School District for the first time this Fall. They are SO ready; how they love to remind me, "Soon I will be getting on the big bus and going to the big school". |
| Our K-bound Kids recognize their own name and
can recite their phone number. Soon they will be learning the name of
their school, their new teacher, and which bus they will ride. They will
wear a tag for the first few days, but the families and we will be working
on helping them memorize these important facts. It helps them feel a
little more confident. Think about your first day on a new job, and you
will halfway understand what a big step this is for our little guys. Ooops,
I mean, of course, our "big" guys.
They love stories and being read to. They can relate their own stories and dictate them to |
an adult. Many of them can name objects and use verbs in two languages. They have lots of experience in developing their fine motor control and can use pencils and scissors with elan. They can sort objects and recognize and name shapes and colors. They can count at least to ten, and recite their alphabet. Many recognize (read) some common words, such as "I love you", "Stop" and "Yield"..¶ They follow a daily routine, express their feelings, and have learned to share, take turns, and pick up after themselves. (Most of the time) |
| Boy are they ever ready! Of course, as always we are a little bit sentimental and have been known to shed a tear or two. Take good care of our little guys, world. Take | good care of our world, little guys.
Wrapped inside each of these young students is a gift. Please open carefully. |
| The list of supplies they will need appear is
posted on the East Windsor Regional School District website. For those of
you who want to help, our Kindergarteners will be needing back packs and
our First Graders may need more: a pencil box, glue sticks, pocket folders
and four spiral notebooks.
Enrollment in Better Beginnings' state-contracted child care is on the basis of the most needy first. Donated backpacks and supplies will be distributed on the same basis. I have a preference for those backpacks that are on rollers; I have one myself and it is much easier for me to roll along than to lug heavy books etc. Lunch boxes will be handy for toting K-Snacks and milk or juice. |
Special thanks to Susan Lloyd, a parent, a
teacher, and a member of our Board of Directors as well as the East
Windsor Regional School District Board of Education. She is one who is
always tuned into the needs of the children and, as a teacher herself, is
very aware of educator's concerns. She is always responsive, dependable,
prompt and energetic. She and our new Superintendent of Schools have been
especially helpful in the project of providing standardized lists.
If you do not have access to the lists at the http://www.eastwindsorregionalschools.com, let me know and I will run off a copy for you. Note: some of the lists presently available at stores are not the same as what appears at the EWRSD website. |
| A generous contribution from a K(ind)
contributor will buy several backpacks as well as supplies for the
backpacks as well as replenish a few supplies and such for our preschool
art centers. Pretty papers, crayons, markers, paints and brushes and the
like always seem to get used up.
Generous donations from George & LuDella Miller provided children's books, adding |
to the "home libraries" of our
children; Ondina Jeffers, a Kindergarten Teacher (R.), donated enough
learning books and materials for every child in the Heart Friends to have
one; she also donated many other great learning items, such as wooden
puzzles.
Thank you, every one.. |
| Please write to me at bewith@mail2peace.com; or PO Box 187, Hightstown NJ 08520. Remember you can visit our Web site at | www.princetonol.com/groups/bbcdc. You can also call Better Beginnings at (609) 448-6226. |
|
Bettie Witherspoon is a former executive director of Better Beginnings, which has provided affordable child care to the East Windsor/Hightstown area since 1967. |