Upcoming Pre-K Registration Dates for the 2012-2013 school year -

Please mark your calendars with these very important dates to remember.

Canastota - January 26, 2012 @ Peterboro Street Elementary School from 8:30am- 6:30 pm

Stockbridge - January 30, 2012 @ SVCS from 8:30am-6:00pm

Oneida - February 15, 2012 @ Willard-Prior Elementary School from 9:00am-6:00pm

**On registration day, you will need your child's birth certificate, immunization record, and proof of residency (current mortgage/lease or utility bill) Applications for the pre-k program are available at the elementary school offices or by calling Madison-Oneida BOCES at 361-5903.

Applications for the Canastota and Stockbridge school districts are also available online at www.moboces.org.

Upcoming Early Childhood Direction Center events :

The Central Early Childhood Center is proudly presenting/hosting two new professional staff development training opportunities in the upcoming months: January 23, The Therapist Forum "Sensory Stories" designed for therapists or special education teachers working with children with sensory processing disorders.

February 8 & 15 Two Part Series on Challenging Behavior designed for teachers of preschool age children. Please share the attached flyers for these trainings with appropriate staff. These trainings are offered free of charge after school hours.

Susan Calandra, Central Early Childhood Direction Center Project Coordinator Madison-Oneida BOCES Spring Rd, Verona N.Y. 13478 (315) 361-5654 (315) 361-5653 (fax)

What do you get when you add about 750 graham crackers, over 200 cans of frosting, more than 1000 pieces of candy and 240 smiling 3 &4 year olds each with an adult? You get a very large Gingerbread House Village! Students and parents and grandparents in each of the Pre-K and Preschool classrooms built gingerbread houses during their recent Parent and Child Activity. Early Childhood Program classes in Morrisville, Stockbridge, Oneida, Canastota and McConnellsville invited parents to join their child for this annual activity. Students created houses while practicing skills such as color and shape identification, patterning, fine motor skills and positional concepts. For the 25th year in a row, 240 gingerbread houses were created by students in the EC program making this the longest running tradition in the history of the program.

The McConnellsville preschool participates in a weekly cooking activity to expose all children to a variety of math skills, as well as tastes and textures. In December, one of our preschool families brought in a cotton candy machine to utilize with all current and future students as an additional cooking tool to use for these activities. During our  Thursday cooking class,  the children were able to taste, smell and feel a variety of  different textures and flavors. These flavors included peppermint, sour grape, strawberry, orange and butterscotch. Every child tried the cotton candy. It was a great December treat!

DECEMBER CONSTRUCTION ZONE AHEAD! All M-O BOCES Early Childhood Program classes will be constructing Gingerbread Houses in December. Parents will be invited to join their Pre-K or Preschool child for this annual activity. This will be the 26th year that the program has offered this fun event to families. Graham crackers, icing and candy are the materials used to build the houses. Color identification, patterning, and counting are a few of the concepts practiced to enhance the math and vocabulary skills of  the students. Dates, times and locations of the construction are listed below:

Dec. 15th Oneida Pre-K at Willard Prior in cafeteria at 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM

Dec. 16th PSES Pre-K in classrooms at 10:15 AM and 1:45 PM

Dec. 20th McConnellsville Preschool in classroom at 1:00 PM

Dec. 21st Morrisville Pre-K in classroom at 10:00 AM

Dec. 22nd SVCS Pre-K and Preschool in cafeteria at 9:00 AM

AFS, Eileen Allen 361-5882

Oneida Pre-K families took to the bowling alley at the CAC Recreation Center in Sherrill on Oneida CS district half-days, Nov. 15 and 18. Pre-K children had fun knocking down pins and building up muscles as they bowled, some for the first time, with classmates, parents and staff. Students took turns and kept "Pre-K score" while having fun with this gross-motor activity. eileen allen 361-5882

On November 17th, 2011 Robin Pierce, a Canastota CSD Pre-K teacher was honored  at Harts Hill by the Mohawk Valley Genesis Organization for outstanding teachers. Robin was honored for her professionalism, collaboration with building staff, and ability to continually exhibit exemplary evidence -based instructional strategies to all pre-k students in the Canastota district. Colleagues, family and administrative staff were all able to celebrate the evening with Robin and demonstrate their appreciation for all of her daily efforts.

 Robin is pictured at the event with the Assistant Superintendent for Instruction, Patty Vacca of Madison-Oneida BOCES.

On November 16th at 6:00 all families for students in the BOCES Early Childhood Preschool and Pre-K programs were treated to an evening of singing, sweets and surprises. Families were invited to come and visit with each other, as well as enjoy some songs and finger-plays presented by the students. The varieties of desserts ranged from cookies to cream puffs and were enjoyed by everyone. It was a great way to bring families together and enjoy some time with teachers in the school setting.

At the November Parent Network Meeting, Oneida Pre-K parents heard an introduction to the Strong Start program that is part of the Social-Emotional Learning Curriculum used with their children. Eileen Allen, Assistant for Family Services, explained the background leading up to this new program and an overview of the main components. Eileen also shared information on the Parent Volunteer/Visitor philosophy of the Pre-K program as well as information on the various learning centers found in a Pre-K classroom. Parents heard about the learning goals of each center and why classrooms are set up as they are. Pre-K classroom centers incorporate skills such as identifying and labeling materials, letter and name recognition, math and science concepts, social interactions, and independence.

Parents of Miss Awad's Camden preschoolers joined their children for a Sensory-Motor Cooking Project on Nov. 10th. Speech Therapist Jay Caiella and Occupational Therapist Toni Vanderlan led the sensory based activity. The goal of the activity was for children to experience foods and the joy of cooking without the pressure of having to eat and for parents to learn new techniques for encouraging children with sensory processing disorders at mealtime. Children tasted, touched, smelled and stirred ingredients for cornbread. Unlike the story "The Little Red Hen", that was read at the end of our activity, all students, parents and staff worked together to make the batter for this tasty treat and enjoyed the final product. Eileen Allen 361-5882