March 3, 2023
Dear PAWS Families,
On Tuesday, when we had the 2 hour delay due to the snow, some children told me they had been out sledding, others played in the snow and some shared that they had made “snow angels” before coming to school. During February vacation I visited southern California and met some families whose children had never seen or experienced snow. They were going to take a special tram ride way up into the mountains to the Mount San Jacinto State Park so their children could have the experience of playing in the snow. I was reminded that we are so fortunate to have snow delivered right to our doorstep where our children have the opportunity to experience and enjoy it with ease. I hope you will have the chance to enjoy the simple delight of playing in the snow this weekend with your child!
Recently I have been asked to share resources that will help parents understand some aspects of child development. I share these resources with some hesitancy as we know that all children develop at different rates and sharing these resources may feel helpful to some parents and difficult for others. As with anything, take what feels useful to you and leave anything that does not serve you at this time. If you have specific questions about your child’s development, we are always happy to help you.
The sharing of these items is not an endorsement of any program or organization, but are just a few resources that you might find useful:
From the ECTA Center: Age-Expected Child Development from Birth to 5 Years Additional resources may be found on the Outcomes section of the ECTA Center website http://ectacenter.org/eco/index.asp under Training Resources.
Centers for Disease Control: This webpage provides bulleted information on developmental milestones for children from 3 months to 5 years of age. The site also offers interactive charts and checklists by age, video on milestones, and select areas of development, and examine expected changes in milestones over time. http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/index.html
Some of the staff at PAWS use the CDC Milestone Tracker App with their own children and report that it has been useful to them.
Zero to Three – https://www.zerotothree.org/why-0-3/
Specific to 4 year olds:
General preschool age development articles:
https://www.healthychildren.org/english/ages-stages/preschool/Pages/default.aspx
I hope some of these resources will feel helpful. If you have any questions, always feel free to reach out to your child’s classroom teacher, to our school psychologist Devon, nurse Sue or to me. We are all here to offer support.
The snow has not started to fall outside of PAWS yet, so I will head home now before the flurries fly. I look forward to hearing about the children’s snowy day activities when we return to school on Monday!
As always, thank you for your ongoing support and positive participation in the PAWS preschool community! We appreciate your kindness and partnership!
Best,
‘Becca Z.
Important Dates:
March 16/17 – Green Day Spirit Day – everyone is invited to wear something green
March 21 – 12:00-1:00 – Tea with ‘Becca