Ashley Read '05, Head of Early Childhood

 

August 29, 2025

 

Dear Families,

At this tender age, fostering social-emotional skills is crucial for building a strong foundation for your child's future well-being and academic success, enabling them to navigate relationships, understand their feelings, and develop empathy. In efforts to help children develop these skills, the ECC utilizes a resource called Dan St. Romain, 10 Simple Lessons. Each week during morning announcements in the Big Room, we introduce a Simple Lesson, which we've named the 'Thought of the Week. The teachers spend the week reading stories that relate to this social skill and provide space for children to practice the skill. Because the home-school partnership is so important at this age, the weekly newsletters will begin with sharing what the “Thought of the Week” is and how you can support that skill at home. 

This week’s thought of the week: “Treat others the way you wanted to be treated.” Throughout the week, we discussed how this is known as the “golden rule” and that we treat others with respect. We always include other friends during recess, at lunch or centers while we are exploring new activities. Good friends watch what they say and use kind words with each other. We discussed the old saying of, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” It is important that our actions match our kind words.

Book Options to Support Being a Good Friend:

Peanut Butter and Cupcake by Terri Border

Can I Play Too? by Mo Willems

Stick and Stone by Beth Ferry

Be a Friend by Salina Yoon

Mark your calendars for Wednesday, September 3 for our first 25-26 ECC 1st Wednesday Chat. During these gatherings, we will dive into the ECC calendar to ensure you feel prepared for upcoming events. 

We hope that you and your family will enjoy the three-day weekend. See you on Tuesday! 

 

Last chance to purchase the 2024–2025 Oakridge Yearbook—order today before it’s too late! Order here (Pre-K through current 7th graders)

 

Warm regards,

Ashley Read, Oakridge Class of 2005

Head of Early Childhood