Ashley Read '05, Head of Early Childhood

September 1, 2023

 

 

Dear Families,

I hope this email finds you well. I want to take a moment to express my gratitude for your support and involvement during our first full week of school. It has been a great start, filled with laughter, love, and friendship-building. We also enjoyed celebrating College Shirt Day, allowing our students to showcase their aspirations and dreams. Thank you for encouraging your child to participate.

 

To further support our Social-Emotional growth, we focus on a “Thought of the Week” every week. Our mornings begin by gathering in the ECC Big Room with Preschool in front, followed by our Pre-K and Kindergarten students. Each Kindergarten leader for the day stands on the steps at the front and holds either the Texas flag, the American flag, or the thought of the week quote. This is a great opportunity for our oldest students to model how we respect our nation and display appropriate singing voices to our younger students. At the culmination of the singing, we discuss the thought of the week and how we can practice these actions. This week, we are focused on “We welcome each other.” All week we practiced welcoming each other with our eyes, voice and body language. We practice by looking our friends in the eyes, saying, “Good morning! I am glad that you are here!” and by waving or signing I love you in American Sign Language. I cherish morning announcements as it is a wonderful way to start our mornings and to practice our soft skills to ensure that we are adding to our students’ whole selves. 

ECC 1st Tuesdays - Coffee, Snacks and ECC Calendar Chats

On Tuesday, September 5, at 8:15 a.m., we will be hosting our first “ECC 1st Tuesday” in the Kindergarten Quinn Big Room. During these informal gatherings, we will look at and talk through our ECC upcoming dates. Whether you are brand new to our Oakridge Family or a returning family, these gatherings provide a space to learn about all things ECC, ask questions to better familiarize yourself with our calendar, and meet other families. We hope to see many of you there! 

St. Jude Trike-a-Thon: September 29

We are excited to be hosting our annual St. Jude Trike-a-Thon yet again this year. St. Jude Trike-a-Thon is a fun and educational way for young cyclists to learn trike safety while making a difference for St. Jude kids. During the week of September 25, students will spend time during morning announcements learning about trike safety. During the morning of September 29, students will culminate their trike safety unit by putting the skills they learned to the test. Each child will be asked to bring a riding toy (tricycle, scooter, bicycle…) and a helmet to school on September 29. Each class will spend time riding around the parking lot. Parents, you can help your child prepare for this day by practicing riding their riding toy at home over the next month. Additionally, we invite you to join us for this fun event! If your child does not own a riding toy, please let us know, as we have extras. See the flyer below for more details and riding times.

Sincerely,

Ashley Read, Oakridge Class of 2005
Head of Early Childhood