Hello, my name is Samantha Abila, and I am the Disabilities Coordinator for Long Early Learning Center.  I am available as a resource person in the area of disabilities. 

I will be happy to visit with you about your concerns for your child and assist in meeting your child’s educational needs.It is my goal to  ensure your child is getting the best education for future success. If you have any questions about your child’s individual education plan, please do not hesitate to reach out.  

 We have a great staff on our campus to meet the needs of our students and families.  

Our staff includes:

Krista Gonzales ~ Inclusion Teacher

Marie Hutton~ Speech-Language Pathology Assistant

Maleika Fitzgerald ~ Speech Language Pathology 

Samantha Cowling ~ Diagnostic Speech Pathologist 

Erin Chapman ~ Diagnostic Speech Pathologist

Sharla Raughton ~ Educational Diagnostician 

Shiloh Bibb – Educational Diagnostician 

My contact information is: samantha.abila@abileneisd.org or (325) 671-4594 ext. 4534 

September 2024

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION 

Instructional Coordinators: Amanda Johnson 

Welcome to the Education section of the monthly newsletter! We are so excited to have your family as a part of OUR School Family here at Long Early Learning Center. Your children have already learned many new things in the short few weeks they’ve been here!

This year we will be implementing Scholastic Pre-K on My Way. Classrooms will also be learning through Heggerty, a Phonological & Phonemic Awareness Curriculum. We are all excited to watch your children grow as they learn social skills, literacy and math foundational skills and develop a larger vocabulary through hands-on, engaging learning experiences and quality literature here at school. Coming soon, there will be some information on how to log onto the Scholastic Family Portal, so we can partner with you in your student’s education. 

Along with the family portal, families and staff have the opportunity to set goals to support each child’s growth in all areas of their development. A copy of our School Readiness Goals were given to you at Meet the Teacher Day. School Readiness Goals are the expectations of all children at the end of their 4-year-old Pre-K year to be prepared for kindergarten. We have all year to master these goals! 

  At the end of September, we will be setting up either a home visit or parent conference for you to visit with your child’s teacher and family advocate about your child’s progress. It is also a time to set parent goals that will aid in your child’s growth in education.  

Your child is so important to us! Please let us know if we can help you in any way.

Family Literacy Newsletter Article

So many Fun things happening this month!

  We will be giving out a FREE copy of Dinosaurs Love Tacos at Open House. Along with this book we will be handing out a parent involvement activity.  This activity will go hand in hand with the book.  Please take the time to read this book to your child and complete the activity as a family.  Send the activity (with signed  participation slip) back to your child’s teacher so we can decorate our hallways with your family’s imagination.  

  Also at Open House Family Literacy will be opening our Lending Library to our school families.  The Lending Library is for any adult who would like to check out books to read at home to their child.  Simply stop by our room #??? to see our collection and start a Family Reading Club.  This month we will be spotlighting our Conscious Disciple books to teach children and their families how to work out BIG FEELINGS and self regulate into a calm state of mind.  

  Speaking of reading, your children will start to visit the Library here at Long ELC for Storytime with Mrs. Janet and Ms. Annie. We are so excited to start reading to our little Cubs and planting the seed of reading in their hearts.  

  Keep a lookout in backpacks and folders for our Save the Date and Invitation to Dad Reading Night later this month.  We will be kicking off our FRED program at this event and of course each family will receive a FREE book to take home and build up your Family Library.  

  We look forward to seeing your family at these upcoming events!

Composure is the ability to self-regulate. Active calming is at the heart of composure and is a three-step process.  Each step is in response to one of the three general brain states we are most likely to experience. From a survival state, the urge is to physically attack or withdraw. To manage this state, we S.T.A.R. by taking three deep belly breaths. From an emotional state, the urge is to verbally defend or attack through blame, name-calling, or guilt-inducing lectures. To manage this state, we must actively overlay our CD-ROM chatter with the “I’m safe, keep breathing, I can handle this” mantra. From the executive state, we are able to access compassion by wishing well, Oops or Q.T.I.P (quit taking it personally), and utilizing our executive skills to discover win-win solutions. We upload calm for ourselves first by conducting this active-calming process internally. Next, we download our calm state to the child. Then, and only then, are we ready to address the behavior, solve the problem, and/or teach a new skill.

Wishing you well, 

Kori Stewart

School Counselor 

ConsciousDiscipline.com 

Our Motor Labs, (Gym, Music and Equipment)  have been working on teaching routines and procedures to our new little students.  We’ve incorporated Brain Start Smart from our Conscious Discipline curriculum and we are teaching gathering and closing songs.   Our lesson plan this week is teaching about personal space.  We all pretended to have a big bubble surrounding but not touching our bodies.  We discussed how the students are the bosses of their bubble (personal space) and that it not ok for anyone to touch your body without permission,  We are also learning respect our friends bubble.  It has been fun to see so many new little faces and welcome them to Long.  We also have several new teachers in Motor Lab and they are all fitting in great. This month in Music we are learning new songs and finger plays as well as our instrument of the month-the egg shaker( part of the percussion family), in equipment we are learning what an obstacle course is and different ways to move our bodies through various obstacles and in the gym we are enjoy the beautiful new turf that was laid and spending ½ our gym ml time outdoors and ½ indoors w/ the daily lesson.  Its so fun watching the little students settling into routines and understanding.  Life is good in Motor Lab!  

Registration is held every Tuesday we have school from 10:00 to 12:00. Please be sure to bring all required documents in order to be able to apply. 

Documents Needed: 

• Your child’s birth certificate

• Your child’s social security card

• Your child’s shot record

• Your proof of address (Must be a Lease agreement or a utility bill with your name on it)

• Proof of income of any parents in the household (Income tax or W2 is best.  If you bring check stubs, we will need 12 months worth).  Also if you receive SSI or TANF we will need a copy.

• Your picture ID

If you have a question or need to talk to someone, please call Tammy at 325-671-4594 Ext.5725