Mini Miner Preschool Post
March 5, 2024
Dear families,
After 23 years living in Park County, my family and I have decided to move to another state where we will enjoy four seasons and a garden on our new property! It's been a beautiful place to raise our two boys and experience all the adventures Park County has to offer. Edith Teter Preschool will always hold a special place in my heart as this is where I began my early childhood education career back in 2002.
I will be finishing this school year as the Early Childhood Director and will assist the Superintendent in helping to find and train a new Director which will begin in the fall. It's been a pleasure and a privilege serving our youngest learners and you, our wonderful families. I've been honored to be part of this district for 16 years! Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns. I will do my best to keep you posted with any updates.
Warm regards,
Heather Hall
As we continue in the second semester, our focus continues to be centered on teaching self-regulation skills as well as executive-functioning skills or social intelligence skills, while increasing targeted academics for kindergarten readiness.
Studies prove that when children have social intelligence or executive-functioning skills needs to be in place before big success in academics. The ability to focus, use working memory, label their feelings and work through emotions, along with the ability to be flexible are the keys to lifetime success in education, relationships, work hobbies.
Our teachers use observations of each child to create classrooms and individual lesson plans that target areas of growth so that children are ready to move on successfully. The classroom is set up intentionally so that every minute in school children are learning valuable skills and academics as well as providing each child individual teaching times with teachers.
We accomplish preparing each child for kindergarten through a variety of ways including:
- Individual meetings with your child's teacher at the beginning of the year
- Developmental screenings
- Social-emotional screenings
- Hearing and Vision Screenings
- Continued teacher education and training
- Targeted instruction
- Group and Individual Instruction
- Collection child progress through authentic observations
- Inputting child progress into state required tracking system
- Creating individualized learning plans based on progress observations
- Parent teacher conferences
- Daily and weekly communication with parents
- Following state academic education standards for preschool
- Partnering with elementary school to align our education outcome with kindergarten entrance requirements
- Utilizing state approved curriculum
These are just a few things we continue to do that provides quality learning for your children. If you have any questions, or would like more information, I am always available for you.
Hello, March! This month we start thinking about the color green. We can’t help it! Spring puts us in the mood to eat more green vegetables—and spinach is one of our favorites. It’s so tender and mild that you can add it to lots of different dishes without changing the flavor very much. But your body will know it’s there, and it will be grateful for all the vitamins, minerals, and fiber that those leafy greens are bringing. Plus, baby spinach—already washed and packaged in bags or plastic clamshells—is so easy to use that there’s no reason not to add a handful to your next smoothie, quesadilla, or salad.
Happy (almost) spring.
Spinach Egg Bites
These spinach-filled egg cups make a perfect grab-and-go breakfast or lunch. If you don’t have a muffin tin, though, you can bake it in a greased 8 x 8-inch baking pan, 9-inch pie pan, or 9- or 10-inch ovenproof skillet instead!
Hands-on Time: 30 minutes • Total Time: 1 hour • Makes: 6–8 servings
KITCHEN GEAR
- Cutting board
- Sharp knife (adult needed)
- Box grater
- Medium bowl
- Fork or whisk
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
- 1 (12-cup) muffin tin (see note)
- Pot holders
- Plate
INGREDIENTS
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 8 large eggs
- 2 cups (packed) spinach leaves, chopped
- 1⁄2 cup shredded or crumbled cheese, such as cheddar, Swiss, feta, or Parmesan
- 4 scallions, roots trimmed off, green and white parts chopped
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄4 teaspoon black pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
- Turn the oven on and set the heat to 350 degrees. Using your clean hand or a paper towel, use the oil to generously grease 8 of the muffin cups.
- Crack the eggs into the bowl and beat them with the fork or whisk until pale yellow. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Fill 6 to 8 muffin cups to the top.
- Once the oven temperature has reached 350 degrees, carefully move the tin into the oven.
- Bake until the tops are golden and the eggs are set, 20 to 25 minutes. (To see if the eggs are set, use pot holders to jiggle the tin back and forth: you should not see the eggs moving around as if they’re still liquid in the center.) Remove the tin carefully from the oven and set it aside to cool.
- Once the “muffins” have cooled a bit, tip them out of the tin onto the plate. Serve warm or at room temperature, or cover and refrigerate up to 2 days.
TIP: If your tin holds 12 muffins, simply put a teaspoon of water in each of the cups you aren’t using. This will help keep the pan from warping and burning in the oven.
