September 22, 2025

Important Dates…

Thursday, September 18: Overfield Family Partnership (OFP) meeting, 6:30 p.m. in the Gathering Place.

Tuesday, September 30-Thursday, October 2: Class Photos. Please see detailed schedule below.

Tuesday, October 7: Dine to Donate, 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Chipotle in Troy.

Friday, October 17: School CLOSED for Teacher Professional Development/Conference Preparation.

Saturday, October 18: Autumn at Overfield. Games and food will be available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Pumpkin Glow walk will be open from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Monday, October 20-Friday, October 24: Visiting artist, Jake Lockwood of Muse Machine, at Overfield for week-long residency.

Letter from Leadership

Thank you to everyone who came to the Overfield Family Partnership meeting last Thursday! It was wonderful to get to meet and talk with some of you about your wonderful children, and why we do what we do here!

At the meeting we discussed some of the foundational aspects of our program, which is inspired by the Reggio Emilia philosophy. We began by reflecting on our Image of the Child, which is where all teaching begins–whether that teaching takes place at school or at home. We reinforced that here at Overfield we see children as strong, capable, and deserving of a voice in their own learning. We believe children are competent at forming relationships with each other and the world around them, and that they are active, critical, and capable of producing change in their families, schools, and cities. We think children are born researching their world, using all of their senses to investigate; they participate in gaining knowledge about their world, and they have their own ideas and theories about life. We believe and witness that children use a hundred languages; they have a hundred ways of listening, thinking, playing, marveling, and loving. And because we believe in this image of children, it follows that children are citizens from birth, with the right to be listened to, cared for, and autonomous.

In addition to this strong image of the child, one of the other main features of our pedagogy which we share with the educators in Reggio is our image of families. We place great importance on teachers, children, and parents listening to each other, meeting, and sharing perspectives. We believe that families have the right to meet, and to exchange ideas which enable the family unit to grow and develop. We assert that schools are places of connection; they are places of life and relationships, a part of the community and a reflection of the community. It is through meetings like the one we held last Thursday that these values become manifest.

We look forward to partnering with you in myriad ways this year. Whether it is through a conversation at pick up or drop off, at your child’s individual parent-teacher conference, during a class meeting, through your time spent in the classroom on your child’s birthday, at one of our parent project meetings this year looking at parenting in the digital age, or just chatting together at a school event–we want to be in dialogue with you. You are your child’s first and most impactful teacher, and we are here to listen, support, and connect with you in a reciprocal way, for the betterment of your child, our school, and our world. We are a program built on relationships, and we are looking forward to continuing to building a solid and meaningful relationship with you all!

Beth Poronsky – Program Lead

REMINDERS…

Please check your child’s extra clothes at school and make sure they are still seasonally appropriate. Some shorts may need to be replaced with warmer options soon.

Please send your child in close-toed shoes that are suitable for play; we ask that you not send your child in flip flops or Crocs. Kindly send in a pair of rain boots and a rain jacket if you have not already done so.

Make sure to put your child’s name on all items: their boots, lunch, extra clothes, rest time items, and water bottles.

If your child will not be at school or has a schedule change, please notify the Office by calling 937-339-5111 or by e-mailing office@overfield.org. You may also send in a written note and give it to your child’s teacher to be passed on to the office.