On June 25, 2025, CareerLink of Fayette County had the privilege to participate in the 2025 Experience Works Plus Summit, hosted by the Westmoreland-Fayette Workforce Investment Board. This inspiring event gathered an energetic group of summer interns, informative...
There is something satisfying about helping those in need who are working toward turning their lives around and building stronger relationships with their families. My name is Tishala M. Cooley, and as the Project Supervisor of Private Industry Council’s DADS MATTER...
Microsoft has announced that support for Windows 10 will end on October 14, 2025. This means the system will no longer receive security updates, bug fixes, or technical support. While your computer may continue to run, it will become more vulnerable to viruses,...
Every December we have Polar Express Day in our Pre-K classroom. During this time, we are working on our Box Study, a box is so much more than just a box. This activity connects home and school together. We have families along with their children create/decorate a...
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Head Start / Early Head Start FAQs The Private Industry Council discusses frequently asked questions for Head Start and Early Head Start students. Private Industry Council operates the Head Start / Early Head Start program for Beaver and Fayette Counties in the...
During the month of December, PreK was busy exploring one of the many STEM bins we have to help get us ready for the holidays. STEM, short for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, allows children to explore and discover how things work and make sense about things around them. The STEM bin we focused on this month centered around the book The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg.
To start, we first listened to the story. During small groups, students drew a picture in their journal about the first gift of Christmas they would wish to receive.
On the following two days, we discussed the boy losing the bell he received from Santa. The students were presented with the task of building a maze so the bell could find its way back to the boy. Students worked in pairs using straws, scissors, and tape to create a maze for the bell to race through.
Continuing with The Polar Express,we listened to the story once again and the students sequenced the events of the story.
Moving on to another great train story, we listened to The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper. This book led to a great discussion about carrying things that are heavy and light and the ability to move with or without ease. Over the next two days, students decorated and designed trains to race down a ramp. Students filled their created train engines with little pebbles or larger rocks, buttons or gems and observed how fast or slow their train engine would slide down a plexiglass ramp.
As a culminating activity to this unit, the families were asked to design a train car at home from a box so their child could sit in it to watch the movie The Polar Express at school in their pajamas, complete with milk and cookies. What an enjoyable way to end a fun filled unit.
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