See You at Our Book Fair!

The Scholastic Book Fair comes to our school on November 6 and 7 to share exciting books and learning products from more than 150 publishers for readers of all ages. The Fair will be held in the Connan Room, which is on the first floor of the University Center. The Book Fair features traditional children's favorites and new works by popular authors and illustrators. Parents will find plenty that will interest them too. The fair is open each day from 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM. The Book Fair helps the Children's School promote literacy while raising money for the school!

Special Friends Visits

Children are invited to have special adult friends (grandparents, parents, caregivers, aunts and uncles, etc.) visit them at school. Preschoolers may invite up to two visitors at a time to share snack and playground time with them. Kindergarteners may invite up to two visitors at a time to share lunch (please pack your own lunch). Because of limited parking and classroom space, only one child in each group may invite visitors for any specific day. Please call Rachael Fairweather (412-268-2199) to schedule a visit. The preschool snack time is 10:30 for the morning groups and 2:20 for the afternoon groups. The kindergarten visit time is 12:30 to 1:00 PM.

Giant Eagle Apples for Students

The Children's School is participating in the annual Giant Eagle Apples for the Students program effective November 4, 2001 - March 23, 2002. This program provides a way for the school to receive free educational equipment. To participate this year, register now by calling 1-800-474-4777. Have your Giant Eagle Advantage Card and the Children's School ID #0151 ready when you call. Please be patient, many parents are calling this number and you may get a busy signal. After you register, every time you use your Giant Eagle advantage card, it will automatically count toward free equipment for the Children's School. Visit www.gianteagle.com for more information.

Carnegie Mellon Food Drive

Along with the University Community, the Children's School will collect non-perishable items for the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank from October 29 ­ November 9. We invite all the children to donate items for this food bank. Last year the Children's School collected 300lbs worth of items! The most needed items include canned foods, soup, peanut butter, evaporated milk, dried fruits, whole grain pasta, cereal, crackers, diapers, toothpaste and cleaning supplies.

Committee News

Vision Screening
In October, some of our parents, and Mrs. Simpson attended the vision screening training program with the Pittsburgh Vision Services. In December, they will be screening our children for visual acuity, muscle imbalance, lazy eye (amblyopia), and color deficiency. Please return the enclosed permission slip to Mrs. Simpson before Thanksgiving vacation. Screening is important because children's eyes are fully developed by eight years of age, yet few children have eye examinations before entering grade school.

School Pictures
We would like to thank Lisa Glick, Paula Zunder and the committee for organizing the School Pictures. The two days "Photography by James" was here went very smoothly. Since we had two beautiful fall days, the pictures were outside on our playground. Now we are anxiously awaiting the finished products! Parents will have their child's school pictures before Thanksgiving.

Look for other committee news as they get started this month.

Sarris Candy Sale

The school is conducting a candy sale fund-raiser from Sarris Candy again this year. This is a great opportunity for parents to purchase candy as holiday gifts. Children are not expected to sell candy door to door. Order forms are enclosed with this newsletter. Orders are due in the office by Thursday, November 8th. You will have your candy order on Thursday, December 6, just in time for the holidays!

Parent Conferences

Parent Conferences begin this month for the three-year-old, four-year-old and kindergarten classes! Be sure to schedule a time to meet with your child's teacher. The November conferences are wonderful opportunities for the teacher and parents to discuss their observations of the child. We are not staffed to provide childcare during conferences. Please find someone who can watch your child(ren) during your conference! For ideas on how to prepare for your conference, see this month's Director's Corner.

Staff/Parent Brown Bag

Our First Staff/Parent Brown Bag on Friday, October 19, was a time of great discussion on literacy. Mrs. Grabowski and Mrs. Perovich lead the discussion on Early Reading and Writing. They talked about how we promote literacy at school and how parents can help promote literacy at home. If you have comments/suggestions that will help plan our next Brown Bag on Friday, December 7, please click here.